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Fight Me, Bite Me	By : Rhov Category: +. to F > Fairy Tail Views: 39447 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 3
Disclaimer: Fairy Tail is the property of Hiro Mashima. I make no money, I just do this for my own pleasure.

Chapter List
- 44
- 45
- 46
A/N: The chapter title comes from the organization "Walk a Mile in Her Shoes®: The International Men's March to Stop Rape, Sexual Assault & Gender Violence" - http://www.walkamileinhershoes.org/
Warning: Contains triggers for sexual assault.

Chapter 45

Walk a Mile in Her Shoes

The four chosen victims were marched through hallways to another area of the castle and ordered to line up. They stood in front of what had probably once been the throne, although only a humble chair was now on the raised dais. Around was an open, airy hall with towering pillars, the stone walls stark, all signs of nobility long plundered, and instead there was graffiti sprayed on the walls.
"So, we're to be picked, huh?" Natsu asked. "Is this like a contest?"
One of the guards shoved Natsu in the back. "Shut up, lesbian."
Natsu glared back at him defiantly, and the guard began to raise his wooden club. The head guard gave a ceasing hand signal. Slowly, the burly man lowered the baton and backed away.
"This isn't a contest," the man in charge explained. "You all get picked. He just decides which client you go to."
From just that, Lucy deduced something. "There's more than one."
"Oh, many." The head guard laughed with a smirk as he strode up to her. "You're going to go to someone special, I know that." His large, sweaty hand caressed her cheek. Lucy turned her face away in disgust.
Natsu glared hard. "Get away from her."
The head guard pulled away from Lucy in amusement. "Easy there! Feisty." He patted Natsu's cheek as he walked away.
Natsu rubbed his face from the sweaty touch. He could hardly help but remember something dreadful.
"Easy there, boy. Feisty, aren't you? I was warned you'd be trouble, but y'know what? I'm good at taming troublesome brats. We'll see how feisty you are in a week."
Natsu pinched his hand, yanking himself out of the flashback. He needed to stay focused. These men were dangerous, and he could not get lost in bad memories, not at a time like this.
Minutes ticked by. An hour. The large room began to heat up as the morning went on. Guards began to drift around, and the two girls with Lucy and Natsu finally sat, too weakened from fear to keep standing.
"He's late," one guard complained.
"He's always late," another griped.
"Pays good, so can't complain," added another.
Natsu realized there were no longer any guards within earshot. He went over to Lucy and whispered her name, glancing around. Sure enough, none of the guards looked over at his voice.
"What?" she breathed back softly.
"Erza had me hide one of your keys."
That cheered her up. So that these captors would not realize they were wizards, all four of them had to temporarily hide their guild marks and also could not carry anything magical. Lucy felt naked without her keys. She had figured she could mentally link up with Loke or Virgo, someone who could break through their gate on their own, but that was not a certainty. Sometimes it worked and she could summon them without the key, most often she had to pray that at least one of her Celestial Spirits could sense her call. Who exactly showed up was really up to chance.
"Wait, hide it where?" How could Natsu hide it when she had nowhere? She had even debated about slipping one key up her … No! No way! (Especially not Loke's key; he would have liked that too much.)
"In the corset." He shifted the constrictive binding. "It's really uncomfortable, too."
That made sense. The corset had stiff stays that were meant to shape Natsu's square waist. Hiding a key in binding like that guaranteed it would not be felt if these men began to grope them. They would only feel the stays of the corset. More than once, Lucy had hidden one of her keys in her cleavage, but these men might grope Lucy's breasts—she already knew that was a possibility. Even if they groped Natsu, the stiffness of the corset hid the contours of the key.
"Which key?"
"Taurus."
A strong fighter; they would need that. "Good. Although he's a pervert," she admitted with a grimace. Just what they needed; another pervert amidst all these vile men. "Still good," she decided. Pervert or not, at least now she could truly fight. "Okay. So, when we get an opening, can you give it to me?"
"Uh-huh. That's the plan."
"Okay, but not until the buyer's here," she insisted quietly, glancing around at the guards meandering around to make sure they were not paying attention. "And we need to make sure he really is the buyer. He might send in an assistant."
It had to be the right guy, the buyer these abductors were selling girls to, or they would never discover where these women had been distributed. If Lucy's suspicions were right, this sex slave ring was likely international. They had to get everyone back, not a single girl left out there to suffer such a horrific life.
Natsu nodded in agreement. They had a plan now. Wait for the buyer, wait until they were positive this was the man they needed, create an opening to give Lucy the Key of Taurus, and then kick these bastards' asses.
The mousy girl next to Natsu whimpered. She had been on edge that whole hour, and she looked ready to break. Natsu sadly knew how she must be feeling. Hopefully, she had not been molested yet, but just sitting in that room … and the head guard said she had been there for a while! How long? Weeks? Months? A person could only take so much. Now the thing she had dreaded most was here, she was picked to enter this disgusting life, and by now she certainly knew what this meant. Natsu knelt next to her.
"Hey," he said confidently. "It's going to be all right."
She looked at him as if he was mad. "No, it's not!" Granted, their group came in only last night, but she reasoned that they definitely must realize what was happening to them.
"What's your name?"
She snuffled. "Lilya."
"I'm Natsu. You've been here a while, huh?"
She nodded sadly. "All of my friends have been chosen already. We were in a group, we were coming back from a birthday party, and we were all taken." She buried her face down into her hands. "I always knew I was the ugly one."
"You're not ugly."
"Yes I am," she sighed in exasperation. "All of my friends were taken, and I was left behind because I was too ugly. For once in my life … I was glad! I was glad I wasn't pretty like them. Now I don't know where they are or what's happened to them. I always thought, since I'm ugly, I'll just stay there, and maybe one day they'll release me. They won't need me. They'll realize I'm no good."
"Hey, don't say that about yourself," Natsu scolded. He offered the edge of his scarf to her, and Lilya dabbed her wet eyes. Natsu stroked down her hair. "Look, you're not ugly, okay?"
She pouted in disbelief. "But my teeth and my hair!"
He shrugged. "So what about your teeth? Your hair's not bad."
She tugged at the stringy blondish-brown strands. "It's weird, it never grows long, part of it's curly and part of it's straight—"
Natsu looked over to the blonde. "Hey Lucy!"
"Yeah?" she asked, suddenly drawing her attention over.
"When we're done with this, let Cancer at her."
Lucy looked down to the girl in surprise. "What?"
He grinned. "Trust me."
"Um, okay." Lucy shrugged, not really getting it since she had not been listening in, but maybe Natsu knew best.
The small girl grimaced. "Cancer?"
"Oh, don't worry," Natsu assured. "He's a friend."
"Oh, okay," she said in relief. "I thought you meant like a disease."
"Nah! And don't you worry. We're going to get your friends back too."
Lilya stared into those gleaming green eyes in confusion and amazement. "Who are you?"
Natsu saw guards starting to come back over toward them. He chuckled and patted the girl on the head. "You'll see soon enough," he whispered with a wink.
He was hoping these men gathering back together signaled the buyer finally arriving. Natsu was really itching for a fight. Instead, they jostled each other and began to eye the girls. It seemed that waiting around was making them bored, and they wanted a little fun.
"Hey, she's a pretty one," one said, touching Lucy's hair. Another laughed and smacked her butt.
"H-Hey!" Lucy yelped, trying to move away only to bump into another man who put a too-friendly hand on her.
"How about it, pretty?" he asked, caressing her arms. When she tried to pull away, he squeezed her in a painful grip. "A little kiss?" He leaned his face in.
Lucy yanked free and tried to slap him, but another man grabbed her wrist and tried to pull her over to him.
"Get away from me," she shouted as the men circled around her.
Natsu leaped up and raced to her side, shoving three of the guys away. "Hey! Leave her alone."
One of the men Natsu shoved strode back up. "Or what, huh? Is she your girlfriend too? Well, lesbian, you like doing it in the open, don't you? So how about it? A little kiss?"
Natsu glared in quiet, suppressed fury. "Back off," he warned, his voice taking on a deeper, dangerous tone.
The man laughed and looked around at his companions, who were all chuckling at this feisty girl. Then he grinned back down at the pink-head. "Make me!"
The man grabbed Natsu's cheeks hard and smashed a kiss against his mouth. Natsu's eyes went wide with revulsion. He struggled, but two men held him by the arms. He managed to punch one of the men, and three more came over to hold him still. As Natsu felt the man's tongue lick across his lips, he kept his jaw clenched tightly. No way in hell would he allow tongue!
"Natsu!" Lucy screamed, but two large guards held her back.
The man pulled away with a smack of his lips and chuckled lewdly. "Feisty," he purred. "We should put you in handcuffs."
Natsu spat the taste off his lips. "Fuck you," he seethed.
The guard just laughed and patted Natsu's cheek. Then he looked around at the others. "So how about it, boys? Wanna have some fun with this one?" They laughed as Natsu began to growl. "Y'know, when the boss is late, sometimes we take a little … bonus," he said, stroking down Natsu's neck and pulling the scarf aside. "He's making us work overtime." He caressed Natsu's exposed neck. "We deserve at least a little bit of the product."
The man leaned over and licked up Natsu's throat. He slammed his eyes shut and jerked away. His neck was always sensitive, and there were so many bad memories associated to it. Now the white scarf fluttered to the ground, and he felt like a major piece of emotional armor had been stripped away.
Natsu felt like he was trapped in a nightmare. A memory he really did not want to recall was bubbling up
"Wake up, boy. I'm bored."
"If you're bored, go jump off a cliff."
"Shut up, brat! Do you know how much trouble it is for me, having to stay here in the middle of nowhere? I don't even have a prostitute to keep me company."
Natsu shook his head. No! Not this memory! Not this one!
He felt the guard tugging on his chin, trying to force his mouth open.
"Come on, I just want a kiss. Open up."
Natsu clenched his teeth together tighter.
"Open your fucking mouth, boy!"
"No! What the hell are you doing?"
"I'm not a pedophile, but I need a fucking blow job. You're my sex slave. Might as well make you work for me."
"Get away. Don't get that near me!"
Natsu felt tears running down his face.
No way would he open his mouth. No way!
"Touch it! Keep rubbing. If you won't open your mouth, you can at least do this much."
"You're sick."
"See this knife, boy? I will slit your fucking throat if you stop. Both hands. Stroke me. Come on, faster. Yeah. Ooh yeah, like that. You're pretty damn good at servicing. Your hands are warm and soft. Fucking cute little boy hands! I can see why people like using kids."
"Please. I'm tired."
"Almost there. Now, open your mouth."
"What? No!"
"I said open your fucking mouth, boy! You're gonna take this."
"Stop! Oww! Stop it!"
"You're either going to swallow, or I will slit your throat and pour my cum down into your stomach."
"Screw you! No! Ahhhhhhhhhhh! Ow! Stop, stop! That hurts."
"See? I'm not joking, boy. This knife is sharp enough to cut your head off. Now open your mouth. I'm ready to blow, and you're gonna swallow it all down. Spit it out and I will kill you."
"No! I don't want … mmph! Gmmmgh!"
"Bite me and my knife will be in your eyeball. Now get ready. Almost … fuck!"
"Nghmmmmmmmmmmm!"
Natsu's stomach began to heave. That memory had made him vomit so many times over the years.
The guard laughed at the faces Natsu was making, but he saw Lucy struggling with tears in her eyes. "Now, this one's pretty," he admired, taking a few steps over to her.
Natsu shook his head, forcing the flashbacks aside. "I said leave her alone," he shouted, but he was weakened, worn out from the vile memory. "If you're going to touch anyone—" He looked over at Lucy, and although it made him cringe, made him shiver with deep dread, he still whispered, "—touch me."
No way would he allow her to go through what he did. No way would he let any of them suffer the same thing. Natsu knew how it was. He knew the sickness of being touched without permission, unwanted groping, even worse perversions! He knew how that could scar a person for life. He was not about to let Lucy suffer nightmares like that.
Natsu felt he was already stained, dirty, smudged in his soul by the vile touches of that man. That filth had been slowly getting purged out by Gray. He knew he would need to cleanse himself again once this was over. He told himself he could handle this, he could protect them this way, and no matter what happened, Gray would be there later. He would beat the filth out of Natsu again. They did it once; they could do it again. Just so long as Lucy and the other two innocent girls were not subjected to that horror. He would never let anyone go through what he did years ago.
The guard barked a laugh and turned away from Lucy, striding back over to the Dragon Slayer. "You're willing, huh?"
Lucy gasped. "Natsu!"
Those narrow eyes gazed up calmly at his captor. "Just leave her alone."
The guard sauntered up and rubbed his hands across Natsu's body. "Well, if you're begging me to touch you, who am I to deny a pretty girl?"
Lucy struggled against the men holding her. "No!" She wept as the men began to grope at Natsu's chest and rub their hands along the shapely waist. "Stop it! Don't!"
"Lucy," he said sharply, and his eyes looked straight at her.
She looked on in astonishment. Lucy was used to enemies sexually harassing her. Natsu was not even a girl. He had no idea what horny men could do to a woman.
A chair was brought over, and Natsu was thrust down hard. He felt handcuffs snapped onto his wrists behind his back, yet he did not fight. This was familiar, and he stared ahead blankly. One of the men who had been holding Natsu now rubbed a hand over his waist. Luckily, the corset blocked most of the physical sensations. Natsu mostly just hoped the hard key pressed against his skin stayed hidden. So long as they focused on the soft parts and did not remove the corset, they would not get found out.
"Ooh yeah, you're a cute girl."
Natsu flinched. Cute! That other man had called him a cute boy so many times.
Another man wrenched Natsu's head over. "How about a little kiss from me?" He forced his mouth onto Natsu's, and the Dragon Slayer clamped his jaw closed again. He would not open it. He would not open it! Not again. Not like back then.
"Natsu," Lucy whispered in anguish, but the men holding her were not loosening their grip. If she protested too loudly, these men might turn their focus onto her. Natsu had tossed himself out into this shark frenzy to protect her, and it brought tears to her eyes. She wept to see him subjected to those touches, but she also did not want the same thing to happen to her. If they began to grope her, Natsu might honestly attack them all.
"You've got small breasts, but they feel good," a man said, massaging Natsu's chest.
He cringed and let out an unwanted moan.
"Aww, are they sensitive?" the man chuckled lewdly. "Is it true that women with small breasts have more sensitive tips?"
He suddenly ripped the blouse apart and yanked the bra down, exposing the small breasts. Natsu gasped, but the guard suddenly pinched Natsu's nipples hard. The Dragon Slayer let out a high, shuddering cry that echoed all through the throne room.
"Natsu," Lucy cringed. She hung her head, unable to watch anymore. "No … no!" Tears fell down. Of all the times Natsu put himself at risk to save her, this was the worst.
Natsu held back any more cries. The breasts were temporary. Yes, he could feel them, but they would go back to muscular pectorals in a day or two. Their touches were sick, and the men who licked his skin turned his stomach, but he stubbornly put up with it.
Lucy stood there helplessly as the guards molested Natsu. She wanted to stop this, every fiber of her being wanted to protect him, but then she looked at the two other girls. How many dozens more had suffered through this? How many were raped, sold off, and forced into the sex trade? Natsu was not attacking, and she knew he easily could. His eyes showed that he was putting up with this for the sake of the mission. Dozens, probably hundreds, of lives were at stake.
Still, Lucy could not watch. Those men said disgusting things to Natsu, salacious desires to rape this pink-haired beauty and how much pleasure they would take. Their words made Lucy sick. She had to admit, deep down inside, she was glad it was Natsu and not her. That made her feel disgusting, but she still was glad he had offered himself up to protect her.
She owed him and Happy the best meal in the world for this.
Natsu closed his eyes and focused elsewhere. Long ago, he had almost perfected being able to thrust his mind away from the present, slip into a happy place, and ignore everything going on with his body. He felt himself doing the same thing now. It was just like back then. Slip away, ignore the touches, ignore the words, escape to somewhere happier.
"Oh, I'd love to fill up that wet pussy of yours!"
He realized, if this had been any other scenario, he would have freaked out and probably killed these men. However, he kept listening to them talk about breasts and pussy. These men were just as hideous as that man in the past, but they were different.
'It's not like then,' he said to himself. 'It's not like him. They think I'm a woman. It's … not … like … then!'
They were not after his semen. That was safe, and so long as that was not the issue, he could sit there, escape the moment, and let them touch this female body. It was fake, a temporary and artificial change due to magic. In just a day or two, he would be back to a male body. He just needed to put up with it a little longer.
Escape the moment. Go somewhere happy…
"Mmh, how I'd love to have a pretty pink-haired baby out of you!"
That almost broke him, something evil and dark surged up, but he focused back on the fact that they were assuming he was female. So long as they did not grope his groin and feel the hard plastic of the chastity belt…
One man began to run his sweaty hands up Natsu's thigh, dipping his fingers inward. Now Natsu struggled and pinched his legs together.
"Oh, so you're prudish after all," one of the guards laughed. "I was worrying that maybe you were a whore used to spreading it for men. The buyer wouldn't like that one bit. He likes them … feisty!"
Natsu yanked and kept his legs together. Even when two men each grabbed his thighs and tried to pull them apart, his muscles were stronger.
Natsu suddenly spit in the face of the head guard.
"Little bitch! Spread them!" The guard slapped Natsu hard across the face, and the shock loosened his muscles. His legs were forcefully spread, and a hand slithered up his inner thigh.
"No!" Natsu screamed, and a dragon's rumble reverberated deep in his throat.
"What's going on?"
His eyes had just begun to show a deep, dark madness when a middle-aged gentleman walked in. His tailor-made pinstripe suit showed he was wealthy, and the rotundness of his body showed he indulged in those riches. His double chin waggled as he walked, using a cane to support the heaviness of his round body on his tiny feet. The others scurried away from Natsu, leaving him a disheveled mess, blouse torn, breasts exposed, panting and glowering.
The Dragon Slayer's pointed eyes glared at the fat man in disgust and murderous hate that he was struggling to hold back.
'I could kill him. But I can't. I can't kill him; we need him.' He smirked to himself as the buyer glanced him over. 'But … I could kill him! Yeah, easily I could kill them all. I … could kill … them … all.'
That fact filled Natsu with dark glee, just as it had long ago. They needed this slave trader; with his forced cooperation they could rescue any other women who had gone through this horrific ordeal. Still, just knowing that he could kill him—kill all of them—was gratifying. Maybe later. Maybe after they rescued the girls. Natsu's eyes gleamed in mad delight as various ways of how to kill each one passed through his mind.
To the side, Lucy saw the look on her teammate's face and frowned with worry. "Natsu?"
He gasped and looked over in shock. "Uh … I'm fine."
She did not look the least bit convinced. "Are you really?"
He did not answer. "Did they hurt you?"
She was taken back by his question. "I'm fine. Natsu, you … you're…" Worriedly, she admitted, "You don't look all right."
Before he could lie and say he felt great—he knew he was anything but okay now—a guard unlocked his handcuffs and yanked Natsu up by the hair. Natsu adjusted the bra back up and pulled the blouse together as best as he could.
"Line up!" the head guard barked.
The buyer walked up to the four of them. He paused in front of Natsu. The cane swung out, caught Natsu under the chin, and lifted his head forcefully.
"This one is a definite," said the fat buyer. He caressed Natsu's face, and the Dragon Slayer had to struggle not to bite his pudgy fingers. "I know just the man who would love to break her in." He walked on down the row. He stopped in front of the mousy girl. "Hmm. She's plain, but her hips are good. Turn around." He poked her in the thigh. "Come on!"
Sobbing, Lilya slowly turned in a circle as the man inspected.
"Yes, not much of a looker, but those hips show … she is a breeder."
"Noooo!" Lilya shrieked insanely, and she collapsed in horror. "No, no, no, no!"
A life as some concubine, strip dancer, working in a massage parlor, or a brothel was horrific enough. To be nothing more than a womb, the barbaric rapes and agonizing pain that awaited her, to bear children only to have the babies ripped out of her arms and possibly sold even deeper into slavery, a womb and nothing else … it shattered the poor girl.
"She may require a vocal suppressor, though," the man sneered, turning away from her. Lucy had begun to kneel by the girl's side to console her, but the silver-tipped cane shot out and caught her under the chin. "Up!"
She gasped softly and was forced back up. The man leaned in, inspecting her closely.
"This one … you're not ordinary at all. Those limbs are too well developed, the shine of your hair shows you care about your looks, those breasts are certainly a prize, but … something about your face."
He squinted as he looked over her with professional comportment. Lucy knew right away, this man must be the real deal. He knew what to look for in a woman. This sick man sold humans into slavery as a profession.
"You are either the daughter of some wealthy family, or you're the bastard child of a noble. Tell me, Blondie," he purred. "Is there some sobbing mother waiting at home who would buy you back? I'm not so cruel as to ignore the possibility of exchanging a hostage for cash."
Lucy stood her ground as only the daughter of the Heartfilia Konzern could do. "My parents are dead. You won't get a single Jewel out of them."
"That's a shame … for you. You make one hell of a prize. I may keep you myself." The man grinned as he waddled forward, and he grabbed her face with his sweaty, fat hand. "Would you like that? I treat my girls with superb care. I don't even use them that often. I'm the sort … who likes to watch," he whispered salaciously.
"Hey boss," one of the men shouted out just as the man's face drew in closer to Lucy. "The sakura-head here is a lesbian. Seems to know the blondie too."
"Oh really?" the portly man chuckled. "Well, I was going to send you to a particular sadist who revels in breaking wild girls and turning them into pliant sex slaves…"
Natsu gasped sharply as nightmares swirled in his mind again.
"See, that wasn't so bad. Here, I'll even give you water to wash it down."
"You … you're … sick."
"I really am, to use a fucking kid. Might as well, though. Prostitutes are damn expensive, but you … you're my cute little sex slave."
"I might be greedy this time around," the buyer said, yanking Natsu out of the flashback. "Show me!" He stepped back, waddled up the dais, and took a seat on the chair where once a throne stood. Lording over them, he used his cane to point to Natsu, and then to Lucy. "Kiss her. Show me."
Lucy and Natsu looked at each other in horror. Sure, little Asuka once asked them to kiss, but she had been just an innocent child. This man was horrible.
"Natsu?" she whispered.
He pulled himself out of his daze and walked up to her. Lucy's eyes widened as he approached and took her into his arms.
"Wait, what?" she cried out. She really thought he would just ignore the demand.
"It's just a kiss. It won't kill us," he reasoned.
He closed his eyes and told himself, kisses were used as greetings in some cultures. Then Natsu leaned forward, feeling the stiffness in Lucy's muscles. When she began to pull back, Natsu's hand reached up to the back of her head to hold her still.
"Hey!" he said sternly.
Lucy froze. There was a dark gleam in Natsu's eyes, not like him at all. "Natsu?" she whispered, hoping to get through to him past whatever that darkness was.
The man watched and chuckled. "Obviously the aggressive sort. Oh, I like this sakura girl! Kiss her," he ordered. "With passion! Fail to amuse me and it's off to a sadist with you."
Natsu felt it deep inside him. Seeing Lucy gazing up in fear was triggering the same darkness as last night with Gray. He felt a memory on the edge of his mind, something locked behind many chained doors, shoved away to be forever forgotten, but now he heard the hiss of that shadowy, evil monster. His eyes narrowed as he pulled Lucy closer.
"Get ready," he said softly with a dangerous smile.
She jolted in surprise. Natsu now looked eager to take her, and that darkness in his eyes terrified her.
Suddenly, hot lips were on hers. Lucy gasped. He really did it! He kissed her! It was such a powerful kiss, so hot and strong and yet … gentle in its own way. Natsu's kiss warmed her cheeks, and she slowly went limp in his arms.
"Nice," the buyer chuckled lewdly.
In an instant, there was a gold flash and the roar of a lion. Natsu released Lucy and ducked just in time to miss a glowing fist.
"Natsu, you bastard!" Loke screamed in rage. "What do you think you're … wait … What the hell?" The ginger cocked in head to the side in confusion. "Why are you dressed like a girl?"
Natsu threw open his blouse, ripped his corset off, and pulled out the Gold Key he had hidden inside. "Lucy, catch!"
Lucy caught the key and grinned in relief. "Loke, Natsu was forced. It's that man," she pointed to the stunned buyer. "He's been buying and selling women. We need to capture him, interrogate him, and rescue all of the girls."
Loke cracked his knuckles. "Interrogate? With pleasure! Natsu, you're still going to pay for stealing a kiss from my master."
"Loke!" Lucy said sharply, and the Lion jolted at her commanding voice. "You won't hurt Natsu. That's an order."
Loke grinned and lightly touched her cheek. "I told you how much it turns me on when you act this way."
Her cheeks went red when he said that, and immediately Leo the Lion pounced into battle.
Lucy held out her key and summoned her magic. "Open the Gate of the Golden Bull! Taurus!"
In a ringing flash, the Bull arrived with his massive ax. "Luuucy! Always good to see your nice body." Then he saw Natsu standing there with his blouse gone and wearing nothing but a bra. The Bully got a perverted smile on his bovine face. "Now, this one's got a nice body. Not so much with the chest, but sometimes the ones with the small, perky breasts are pretty good too."
"Hey!" the Dragon Slayer yelled, and his fist finally lit up on fire.
Taurus yanked back. "Wait a minute. You're familiar." He looked beyond the body to the eyes, the scowl, and those flames. "Natsu?" he shouted in shock. He had just flirted with a man!
Lucy cut right to the chase. "Taurus, we need your help. These men are perverts!" she declared, pointing at the guards. Suddenly, she knew what would really get her Celestial Spirit into action. She shielded her chest coyly and looked at him with large, sad eyes. "And they were trying to grope me."
"WHAT?" bellowed the Bull as steam of rage snorted out of his nostrils.
Lucy winked at how well that worked. "Perfect."
Loke took out the buyer's bodyguards and pinned down the boss himself while Taurus went after the guards surrounding the large throne room, screaming about how no one was allowed to grope Lucy's chest until he had a chance to touch those big boobs himself. Natsu saw some guards yanking the two other girls aside, and he ran over toward them.
"Hey, get your filthy hands off of them."
He swung a flaming fist at one guard near him and gave the other a fiery kick that slammed him backwards into a marble pillar. Then he leaped over to the other girls and slammed a flaming foot into the stomach of the man grabbing Lilya's waist. Three more guards came at him. Natsu circled his hands near his mouth and blasted them with a billowing fireball.
Grinning at finally having the chance to fight, Natsu ripped off a skin-like bandage from his bicep that covered his guild mark. At the same time, Lucy wiped off a layer of fake skin that had covered up the pink Fairy Tail mark on her hand. They stood firmly, just the two of them against dozens of slave traders.
Lilya stared at him in astonishment. "Y-You're … wizards?" she asked breathlessly.
Natsu looked down and saw the shock in the girl's dark eyes. He flashed her a smile. "I told you I'd protect you." Just then, his focus shifted behind her. "Get down!" He pressed on her head, forcing her down, and focused a jet of fire past her, right between Taurus and his ax, and nailed a man sneaking up behind Lucy, hitting the man with pinpoint accuracy.
The fight was brief. Although some of these men used magic, they were weak. Before long, the throne room was quiet except for the groaning of the few guards still partially conscious.
"It's over?" Natsu asked, swinging his head one way, then the other. There was no one left to fight. "Man, I didn't get fired up!" he complained. He growled in frustration and folded his arms. "Too easy."
Then he saw the blonde and her ginger Lion talking together, and it looked like Lucy was trying to explain something while Loke scowled. Natsu looked aside in shame. He had kiss Lucy! And the worst part was, he had been forceful.
Just like last night.
Natsu shook his head as something tried to surface, but now he was too scared. Maybe he didn't want to know whatever his mind had hidden. For now, he owed Loke one hell of an apology.
Loke wiped a thumb over Lucy's lips as if to purify her of Natsu's kiss. He looked anguished that some other man had tasted her mouth. As the Dragon Slayer came up to them, Loke glared in anger and pulled Lucy away with his arms wrapped possessively around her.
"You know I'd never hurt Lucy," Natsu assured the Lion. "I'd also never betray Gray. You don't have to worry."
"Then why did you kiss her?" Loke snarled, clutching Lucy to him. She let out of soft protest, and he loosened his protective arms.
"I knew that if I did, you'd come, and we needed more fighting power," he answered honestly. That had been part of his logic. Kissing Lucy would pretty much ensure Loke's arrival. The darkness and forcefulness had not been part of the plan. "You'd never let someone else have Lucy, just like I would never let another person touch Gray."
The animosity faded. "I guess … thanks for watching out for her. I knew what she had planned for this mission. I was seething with fears."
"I know the feeling," Natsu chuckled, scratching the back of his head.
He had not wanted Gray to experience something like he had in the past. Natsu was willing to take on that darkness, even face horrors of the past, if it meant protecting Gray.
"Hey, can you put your shirt back on?" Loke looked aside with a slight blush on his cheeks. "I know it's you, but it's still a female body wearing nothing but a bra that's standing right in front of me, and it's really distracting."
Natsu yanked his blouse on and picked up the corset. While Lucy went outside to send a magic signal up into the air to show local authorities that all was clear and it was time to bring in the military to cart away the slave traders, Natsu pulled the corset back around and cinched it up. Then Lucy and Natsu returned to the harem room, wondering if they would need to fight again. Natsu was looking forward to it, but they stepped inside to see all of the guards already knocked out. The captive women were already gone, leaving behind everything.
"Ah man, I don't get to fight," Natsu complained.
Instantly, somebody leaped at him, and Natsu caught the body before he could clearly see who it was.
"Natsu!" Gray cried out, crushing him into a hug.
"H-Hey!" he laughed awkwardly. "Wow. That's quite a greeting."
Gray grabbed Natsu's cheeks and kissed him ardently. He looked at Natsu with reddened eyes, then kissed him again, and again, kissing him with every outrageous emotion that had been pummeling him for hours now.
Natsu laughed at the fervency. "Since when have you been one for doing this in public?"
"Shut up!" Gray rested his head on Natsu's shoulder, clinging onto him. "I was worried."
"I'm fine," Natsu said lightly. Natsu's hand drifted down Gray's torso to his lower stomach. He looked up with concern. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," Gray whispered, gulping down the sobs of dread.
While he and Erza had been waiting in the harem room, they heard Natsu's cry echoing through the hallways. Gray knew that sound. Natsu moaned like that whenever Gray touched him in an erotic way. So many fears had drowned him, worst-case scenarios, horrific visions of the vile things that might be done to both him and Lucy. Seeing him here, seeing Natsu okay and Lucy unhurt, brought tears of relief to Gray's eyes. He rubbed them away stubbornly.
"Dammit," he grumbled, embarrassed from crying in front of everyone. "Must be because I'm a woman now."
"It's not because you're a girl," Natsu said, cupping Gray's cheeks in his hands. "It's because of how you feel about me." He gave Gray a kiss while Lucy and Erza politely looked away and pretended to be talking about something else. Natsu held Gray's face and rested their foreheads together with their noses touching. "Thank you for feeling that strongly," he whispered.
Gray's shoulders shook. He kept blaming his emotions on being a girl, but he knew the truth. These strong feelings had always been there. He told himself, he was a man, a dominant, he was expected to be cold and aloof. In the end, he was merely using gender as an excuse.
"I love you, Gray," Natsu whispered, stroking their noses together. "I'm glad you're safe."
"Bastard," Gray sobbed. "Don't ever do something like that again. The next time you try, I will beat the shit out of you."
Natsu leaned up into Gray's ear. "I hope you will later."
Gray looked up, shocked he would say that with Erza and Lucy in the same room, although it had been a whisper. Then he saw something. Darkness! Natsu was looking at him slightly differently. His eyes somehow seemed to have a hollowness, like something had been carved out of his soul. Gray gulped when he saw that. What the hell actually happened to him and Lucy while they were away?
Natsu just smiled, trying to ignore it or maybe not realizing he was showing it. He sighed in happiness as he felt the softness of Gray's nose against his own nostril.
Erza walked up to them, and the two boys separated with a jolt.
"We freed everyone," she reported. "They ran. We took care of the guards too."
"That's great," said Natsu. "The buyer is tied up. Loke is watching over things in the throne room, and authorities are on their way."
"Good." Erza walked up to the Dragon Slayer and placed a hand on his arm. "Natsu."
He looked up questioningly, managing to smile, but Erza saw what he was trying to hide, the same thing Gray had seen: a hollowness that dimmed in the shine of his eyes, something so deep, no buoyant voice or smile could brighten it.
"Go on home. We'll take care of the rest."
Lucy nodded. "Yeah, it'll be fine now."
Natsu looked between the two of them, then over to Gray, who also looked worried. "I'm fine!" he laughed, although it ended with a hitch to his throat.
Erza looked more firm. "Natsu, you and Gray can go home."
Natsu scowled and looked away. Could they see it: that darkness that now haunted him? Was it visible? There was no way he could protest, though. Not when Erza herself ordered him.
"Hey Lucy, can you cut off this hair?" he asked, yanking on the long, pink locks.
"Oh! Um, sure." She began to reach for her keys, but she had only Taurus' at hand.
Erza did a Requip, but this time it brought out Lucy's pouch of keys, which she handed over. Lucy grasped them, smiling to have them back. She put away the Key to the Golden Bull and pulled forth another gold key.
"Open the Gate of the Crab! Cancer!"
The multi-legged hairdresser showed up with his standard "Ebi" greeting.
"Okay, haircut time!" Then Lucy saw a small lady peeking around the doorway. "Oh! You're still around."
Lilya timidly came forward. "You said something about a friend."
"Yeah, this is him!" Lucy said cheerfully, and Cancer gave her a slight bow with a flourish of his many legs.
The girl looked to the weird being, then back to the blonde. "A crab?"
"This is Cancer."
Natsu patted the girl on the shoulder. "You mentioned you didn't like your hair."
"Well, it's always bad," she whispered, tugging the stringy ends.
Natsu looked over to the Celestial Spirit. "Cancer, make her hair gorgeous."
"What?" Lilya gasped.
"Ebi," Cancer said, and suddenly his scissors went to work. In under a minute, with hair flung around on the floor, he stepped back and shoved his sunglasses up his nose to show he was done.
Natsu grinned. "There! Look in a mirror."
Lucy brought forward a hand mirror, and Lilya looked at her reflection. The limp, oily, stringy hair was now full-bodied, shimmering, and styled simply yet elegantly. The small girl gasped at seeing how just a small thing like that made her glow.
"How'd you do that?" she whispered, touching her hair. It felt the same, only softer.
Natsu stood next to her and gazed at the reflection, their faces mirrored together. "Because you're beautiful already."
"Thank you!" She burst out in a laugh, but seeing her crooked teeth in the mirror made her quickly close her lips and cover her mouth.
"Don't hide your smile," Natsu said, gently pulling her hand away.
"But my teeth!"
"Hey." Natsu grinned broadly enough so she could see the sharp canines he had. "Never hide your smile. Smiles are beautiful, no matter what your lips or your teeth or anything looks like." He poked both of her cheeks and lifted them until her mouth raised. "Smiles are always beautiful."
Lilya grinned and blushed. She saw Gray walk up to Natsu and rub his back, proud to see the Dragon Slayer acting mature for once. Lilya sighed wistfully.
"You're lucky to have a girl like her."
Gray coughed out a laugh. "Uh, thanks." He was so ready to end this gender swap.
"Take care, you guys," she said, waving to them all. "I hope you can rescue everyone else soon."
Natsu nodded firmly. "Yeah, we'll definitely get your friends back."
"Thank you." She bowed deeply to them. "Thank you so much!" With another happy wave, Lilya left down the hall, eager to escape this castle that had been her prison for months.
Lucy smiled proudly. "That was sweet of you, Natsu."
He shrugged it off modestly. "I don't like hearing a girl think that she's ugly. It's just not right. Gray's the only one who can be ugly as a girl," he teased.
"Hey!" the ice wizard snapped.
"Well, you're too sexy as a girl right now. I prefer that other time when you made an ugly girl." Definitely, when they visited Mermaid Heel as part of an exchange program, Gray's attempt at crossdressing was hideous, but at least no one tried to hit on him.
"Bastard!" Gray sneered.
"Cancer!" Natsu called out before Gray could fight with him.
"Ebi?"
"Let's go back to our normal haircut."
With a few snips, the long pink and black hair was gone. Natsu ruffled up his spiky hair, looking practically normal already. Gray dusted black strands from his shoulders, and together the two left the castle. As they were walking to town, the local police arrived, and Natsu waved to them. They looked at him strangely. He almost looked like the famous Fire Dragon Slayer. Almost! Just then, Gray yanked his blouse off, and Natsu struggled to get him to put it back on as the police gawked at the busty girl wearing only a bra.
Erza sighed as she watched them go. "They're going to be okay, right?" she wondered aloud.
Lucy smiled with confidence. "Natsu will be okay."
The redhead frowned. "He's who I worry about most."
"You should have seen him. He somehow was dark for a moment. I mean, I don't blame him. That was scary!" Just watching it was terrifying, and Natsu was the one who had to put up with it. "But he pulled himself out," Lucy said. Despite those few moments where Natsu looked ready to kill someone, or even possibly get violent and forceful with her, he had changed back as soon as the perverts were dealt with, turning back into the same silly Natsu as always. Scarred maybe, but recovering. "He'll be okay," she said with confidence.
"Yeah." Erza smiled with pride at Natsu's resilience. It was still something she would never subject him to again, but he made it through more or less okay. By the way he and Gray argued and scuffled as they headed back down the castle hill, it was impossible to tell that Natsu had gone through anything traumatic. "They'll both be confused for a couple of days, but they'll be back to normal in no time."
"Yeah," Lucy smiled, glad to know she could depend on the Dragon Slayer. Then Natsu turned a certain way, and Lucy saw the shapeliness to his waist. "Hey, is Natsu still wearing the corset? I figured he'd burn that."
Erza saw Gray whisper something to Natsu, and the Dragon Slayer's face went bright pink. "Heh! Maaaybe not."
She laughed softly to herself. She could excuse it this time. If Gray and Natsu wanted to keep playing a little bit of dress-up, that was fine. They deserved some time alone and a bit of play after all they had gone through over the past two days. She tugged Lucy back inside to show the army where the slave traders were. They needed to be arrested first before she and Lucy could take the human trafficking buyer in for interrogation. She smirked back briefly as the fire and ice wizards held each other's hands on their walk back to town.
End of Chapter 45

A/N: I offered my fans on "Rhov Anion's Minions" to name a character whom I merely called "the mousy girl." Akiko came up with Lilya. When I googled the name, she is the main character in the Swedish-Danish film "Lilya 4-Ever," which is about a girl getting caught up in prostitution, human trafficking, and the sex trade. How appropriate for these past three chapters, which are about one of the most vile practices still common in modern times: the buying and selling of women and boys to be used as sex slaves.

In case you're curious about the "cursed recording" that covers Chapters 44 and 45, it's at http://chirb.it/C0g7It. Don't worry, nobody has been cursed just listening to it, only if they offer to type for me.
- 44
- 45
- 46
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