In Heat: Dragon Slayer Mating Season

Chapter Five

Lucy sighed as she and the rest of the girls set up camp. She couldn't stop thinking of Natsu being locked away. It wasn't even his fault!

"Y'know," Cana began, looking around. "I don't think I've ever been on a mission with so many girls before."

"I'd have to agree," Yukino said, tending to a camp fire. "Sadly, it feels strange."

"It's always like this at Mermaid Heel," Kagura replied. "It doesn't feel strange to me at all."

"You guys must be desperate for boyfriends," Cana teased, pulling out a flask from seemingly nowhere.

"That's enough teasing, Cana," Erza scolded, having finished setting up the tents. "Those women are powerful mages and may not be concerned primarily by their relationship status. I think it's good for women to band together."

"Mermaid Heel has cultivated a rather supportive environment for women of all backgrounds," Kagura explained. "Not everyone gets along, but that happens in all guilds."

"I never had a lot of girl friends growing up," Lucy said wistfully, not mentioning that in truth she hardly had any friends at all. "It's been really nice to make friends with so many since joining a guild."

Wendy nodded. "I feel the same way, even though I'm much younger than you all."

Erza set a hand on the girl's shoulder. "There's no need to factor in your age. We all consider you a dear friend, Wendy."

Lucy smiled at the exchange, watching Wendy's happy reaction. The girls continued to talk for a bit, about the mission, and about how everyone was doing. Cana tried her best for some girl talk, but everyone had a lot on their minds. Eventually, one by one, everybody went to their tents and fell asleep.

Lucy was peacefully sleeping when a loud crash woke her. Hurriedly, she sat up from her sleeping bag. "Cana, did you hear that?" she mumbled to her tent-mate, gripping her keys instinctually. Cana rolled over with a frown, getting up to check on the noises.

"It's Sting!" Cana hissed, and Lucy rushed out of the tent to join her. Sting was indeed there, dodging Kagura's sword swipes.

"Let me see her!" Sting demanded, fighting back quicker than Lucy's eyes could follow.

"No!" Kagura said, as she tried to use her magic keep him down. Quite unusually, it didn't seem to be having much effect on him.

"Sting! What are you doing here?!" Erza demanded, as she exited her tent, already requipped into armor. Wendy rushed to Yukino's side, as stood by the tree line.

"He's here for Yukino," Lucy said, frowning, watching Erza and Kagura fight him. She kept her distance, but was prepared to step in. "They seem to be keeping him back alright, but it may not be enough."

"Where's Rogue?" Cana asked, a serious look on her face, as she slowly began to edge in Yukino's direction. The girl was stunned, watching the fight with a distraught look on her face.

As Lucy and Cana approached, Wendy suddenly tensed before letting loose a Sky Dragon's Roar. It had no effect on its target, however, as suddenly Yukino became engulfed by shadow.

Hearing Yukino's yell, Kagura immediately whirled around, coming straight for the newly appeared slayer. "Stay away from her!"

As Rogue became distracted by Wendy and Kagura attempting to fight him, Sting sped past Erza, grabbed Yukino from Lucy's hands and ran faster than she'd ever seen him run before. Immediately, Lucy and Cana attempted to run after him, and Erza followed him, using an armor with wings.

"It's no use, he's too fast," Cana finally panted out. "Maybe Erza will be able to catch him."

"If she catches up she might slow him down," Lucy panted back as they kept running. "We can't let them take Yukino too!"

"We should be careful, Rogue could be anywhere around here," Cana said, looking around the dark forest.

"Hopefully, he's still tied up fighting Wendy and Kagura!"

-

Rogue was indeed still tied up with Wendy and Kagura. Wendy cast a movement spell on the older girl, but it helped only slightly. Rogue was even harder to fight than Sting.

Wendy's wind magic didn't seem to effect him very much, as he spent a lot of time in the shadows, not tangible enough to hit. She tried to hit him at these strategic moments, but he seemed to be enjoying frustrating Kagura, who was attempting to also hit him at strategic moments, but without the superior senses of a dragon slayer.

"I'm not even breaking a sweat," came the cool voice of Rogue from behind them. "I thought you were stronger than this."

Kagura's expression tightened. "Why are you both here? Shouldn't you be off trying to find a mate to claim?"

Wendy seemed concerned at this, eyeing the space his voice was coming from. She realized when he began to speak that he was moving very slowly around them. It would be hard to beat him like this with so much darkness everywhere.

"I have no special person in my life, so I felt a small tug towards Yukino, seeing we spend so much time around each other, but Sting's pull to her is much stronger," he explained. "Though, if you're volunteering to fill the position, you're piquing my interest more and more by the minute."

Kagura scoffed. "You'd have to actually fight me to do that, instead of hiding in the shadows."

"Very well," his voice said, and he appeared right in front of her, reaching out. Wendy tried to aim another attack at him but he moved far too quickly, and dodged it, grabbing Kagura's arm mid-swing and disabling her from behind. She refused to surrender, however, attempting to use her magic to send him flying, but failing to work, as it did on Sting.

"Why isn't my magic working?!" Kagura demanded, glaring at him. He met her gaze, and suddenly she couldn't look away, becoming overly aware of his scent and the warmth from his nearness.

"Kagura!" Wendy called out, hitting her with an air attack, succeeding a separating them. It unfortunately caused the older girl to knock herself unconscious on a nearby tree.

Rogue didn't spare Wendy a glance, as he rushed to Kagura's side and quickly disappeared with her into the shadows. Wendy could tell by his scent he was already far away.

"Oh no," she muttered. "Its all my fault."

Standing, she tried to latch on to the closest scent she could find, that of Lucy and Cana, and sped towards it.

-

Yukino held on for dear life as Sting ran. Initially she squirmed and kicked and punched his back, but he held steadfast and she began to feel very comfortable in his arms.

"Where are you taking me, Sting?" Yukino demanded, still trying to resist, even though her heart wasn't in it.

"Somewhere we can be alone," he said, smirking. He could hear Erza in the distance, and was purposefully altering his route so that she'd have trouble tracking him.

"But why, Sting?"

"I have a very strong urge to make you mine and mine only," he growled, speeding up if that was even possible. Yukino flushed deeply. Isn't this what she always wanted?

"You're only saying that because of the mating season!" she insisted, not letting herself be fooled.

"I'm having some clarity," Sting replied, sparing her a heavy, heated glance. "And I need you desperately."

She wasn't prepared for this situation. On some level, she wondered if he'd go after her, but had brushed it off. She was glad to know he felt for we in return, though she wasn't very happy about the situation.

"Don't you think Erza will find us?" Yukino asked, trying not to nuzzle into him. What was wrong with her?! A vision of Levy reading the book reminded her of dragon slayer pheromones, but it was making her head feel funny.

"No," Sting said, still running. "She's in the wrong direction."

'That's not good,' she thought to herself, gripping him tighter all the same.