In Heat: Dragon Slayer Mating Season

Yukino looked at her companion as they walked from Magnolia's train station. "You know, you really didn't have to come. I'd hate to have inconvenienced you."

Kagura scoffed at her side. "I own your life, Yukino, so I feel we may as well be friends. Besides, I can use this opportunity to visit Erza as well."

The celestial wizard nodded in response, continuing down a path becoming more and more familiar to her. Occasionally, she would visit the city to see Lucy an Mirajane again, and the day she decided to do just that, Kagura had dropped in to see her. it hadn't taken long for her to decide to go with, in a very Kagura-like fashion, especially when the alternative was to have a staredown with Minerva.

They reached the guild hall fairly quickly, and were immediately greeted by Lucy upon entering. She was seated with Natsu and Happy. "Hey girls, how are you?"

"Great, thanks, Lucy," Yukino said with a polite smile, as Kagura nodded in greeting and proceeded to head in Erza's direction. "How are you?"

"Great! We just got back from a job!" Lucy answered cheerfully. Her job had likely paid well, as she was in good spirits. Natsu sat at her side, idly playing with strands of blonde hair, seeming both bored and focused. "Natsu, cut it out!" Lucy snapped, turning to him.

He looked up as if a trance had been broken. "Sorry, Luce. Oh, hey, Yukino, didn't see ya there."

The blonde sighed. "Why don't you go sit with Gray and Juvia, huh? Yukino and I are going to have some girl talk."

"Sounds boring," he said, complying surprisingly easily. Happy followed, snickering all the while.

"Everything ok, Lucy?" Yukino asked, concerned. She seemed exasperated all of a sudden.

"Ah, not much, he's just been bugging me today more than normal. I woke up to find him in my bed again, except I don't remember him arriving last night, and then during our job he kept poking me, and then you saw him playing with my hair just now," Lucy explained.

"He sleeps in your bed? Are you dating?" Yukino asked shyly with a blush.

"Huh? No way, he and Happy just always wind up spending the night at my house and taking over the bed, but today I woke up and he was in it with me. Very annoying."

"M..maybe he just likes you?" the Sabertooth mage suggested quietly.

It was Lucy's turn to blush. "I doubt Natsu ever thinks of romance. I mean, he's probably seen me naked dozens of times and it doesn't even seem to affect him..."

"Are you disappointed by that, Lucy?" the voice of Cana asked from the table behind them. She turned around to face the girls, clearly having overheard everything.

"What?! No! Of course not!" she choked out, not appreciating the sudden attention.

"What's Lucy disappointed about?" Mirajane asked as she passed by with a tray full of drinks. Yukino chuckled, Mira was nosy as ever.

"About how Natsu doesn't react to seeing her naked," Cana replied before Lucy could. An excited gleam appeared in Mira's eye.

"I didn't know you two had that sort of relationship, Lucy," Mira said, handing her tray of drinks to Laxus passing by, before leaning on the table to join the conversation.

"We don't!" Lucy insisted, mortified.

"Mira! What am I supposed to do with this? I'm not a fucking waitress," Laxus said indignantly, surprised by her shoving the tray at him.

"Just hand 'em out," Mira said quickly before turning back on Lucy. "So you aren't dating but he doesn't react when seeing you naked... Maybe he likes men?"

"This isn't my job, Mirajane, I don't even know who these go to!" Laxus insisted impatiently, trying to get Mira's attention.

"Maybe Natsu is just dumb, Lucy. Maybe you aren't sending direct enough signals," Cana posited thoughtfully.

"I'm not sending any signals!"

"Well, there's your problem!"

"I'm sorry, Lucy," Yukino whispered to her friend, feeling bad for the ruckus she caused.

"So you are interested?" Mira asked hopefully, brushing away the finger an increasingly frustrated Laxus was tapping her shoulder with.

"Uh..I..well..."

"Spit it out, Lucy!" Cana jeered.

"...Yukino likes Sting!" Lucy shouted out, panicking. Yukino's jaw dropped and her face turned scarlet. Cana cackled, very amused by the turn of events.

"You have a crush on your master, Yukino?" Mira asked with a mischievous smirk, still ignoring the death glare Laxus was giving her as he stubbornly held the tray.

All the girl could do was make incomprehensible noises. Finally, she didn't have to respond, as Laxus became fed up an placed a hand on the bartender's shoulder. Mira glared at him in surprise as he gently pulled her up from the table.

"Mira, I'm sure you can take a break and do girl talk later, but I'm not going to stand here looking like a damn fool. I'd probably drop all of this shit," he growled at her, holding the tray out for her to take.

She sighed. "Fine, I'll get back to work," she replied testily, before looking at the hand still on her shoulder. "You can let go of me now."

"Oh. Yeah," he grunted, as close to embarrassment as he could, before hastily removing himself from her personal space and leaving.

"Methinks you've got an admirer, Mira," Cana teased.

The take-over mage rolled her eyes as she turned to step away. "He's been in a weird mood all day."

"So has Gajeel," Levy's voice piped up as she sat down with a huff. "Tried to keep me from coming in here. Even Lily was confused by his behavior."

"That is weird," Lucy mused. "Natsu wouldn't stop pestering me."

"Eh. Who needs boys anyhow?" Cana said with a shrug. She was currently off again with Bacchus, and seemed to delight in hearing about the romantic misfortune of others more than usual.

"Sting didn't seem thrilled about me wanting to leave town... I just kinda thought my feelings were reading into it too much," Yukino muttered with a blush. "That's weird too."

"It's not just weird, it's a pattern," Levy said, thinking out loud. Everyone stared at her expectantly, except Lucy who seemed to catch on.

"They're all dragon slayers," Lucy finished for her friend, having the same thoughts.

"Maybe they're in heat and ready for some hot action," Cana laughed, slightly inebriated and joking around.

"Or maybe it's a time of year when they become more aggressive for some reason?" Levy wondered.

"Sex seems like a good reason to me," the fortune teller continued with her joke.

"As much as it pains me to say this, you might be right, Cana. That sort of thing is vital to some animals' reproduction," Lucy said with a shudder. "And it is early spring."

"So the dragon slayers are trying to get people pregnant? But why would they need to?" Yukino asked, bewildered.

"Hopefully not that far," Levy said, frowning about the implications. "It might just be a left over side effect from actual dragons?"

Cana hummed thoughtfully. "Its not so funny if it's the truth, then."

"No," Lucy agreed. "I think we need to go to the library."