Natsu's eyelids felt like sandbags as he forced them open to the sound of his alarm, the morning light jabbing his retinas like sharp needles. His head pounding as hard as his heart, reminding him That's why I hate drinking before a big fight.. or school this time I guess. With an audible groan, he rolled over, his body fighting him every step of the way. All he could think was he had made a promise, to the Ice Princess of all people, and how against he was about not fulfilling it.

"Damn," he muttered, pushing himself up and realizing that the damage from the to fights yesterday had been part of the pain he was experiencing. He looked at the alarm: 6:30 AM. He had exactly one hour to wash away the blood and stench of booze and smoke that his pores were exuding. Natsu swung his legs over the edge of the bed, groaning slightly from the ache in his muscles. It was only through his spirit that he could move at all.

He stumbled to his feet, room spinning fast, and shuffled to the bathroom. He assessed the damage by looking at his reflection. Bruises scattered throughout his face, Guess I got hit more than I thought during that morning fight. He proceeded to shower in cold water, hoping the temperature would lessen the swelling that had already started.

Sure enough, he immediately began to feel better as he stepped out and got dressed. He stepped out of the bathroom to go grab his bag, which held nothing but a few pencils and the orientation materials from the start of the year.

"Where the hell are you going looking like that?" The gruff voice rang out through the hallway.

"School." Natsu answered, without turning to face his father.

"Who are you kidding? I've been getting calls from your school saying you haven't been going" Mitsuo, Natsu's father, snorted back at him with mockery.

"I'm going now." Natsu replied, short and to the point.

"Well no son of my is going to school looking like a no-good thug."

"I haven't been your son in a long time." Natsu said as he walked toward the front door.

A bottle went flying past Natsu's head, slamming against the door, barely missing him. Natsu felt a pang of fear, as memories came flooding back quicker than he was able to dismiss them, but he continued walking without a reaction. Mitsuo's temper was volatile but predictable, and Natsu knew that he would not risk harming him if he was about to be in front of others. He stuffed his umbrella into his bookbag, and opened the front door, slamming it hard behind him without uttering a word.

"Get back here!" Mitsuo commanded behind the closed door, but Natsu was already gone. Like hell I will, I can't be late today.

***

Natsu hit the streets toward his school, a 30 minute walk, with a purpose. The bright early sun, one that Natsu quite honestly barely saw nowadays, shone against his blonde dyed hair. The air buzzed with the same energy it always did, whispers clinging like shadows as he passed people, shifty glances overtaking him, but having a goal in mind, it made the walk easier than usual. He had somewhere to be. He was also no fool, he knew in this small town, talks of his fights and exploits spread quicker than wild fire.

He strode on, though his nerves were on full alert. This was the norm, as he never knew when someone would jump out and pick a fight with him, but to the extreme considering his lowered senses state from the night before. The echo of his footsteps seemed to get louder, the chatter of students and regular people living their life seemed to get quieter the more he walked - a sign he knew predated a fight. It was almost a sixth sense he had picked up over the years, and it almost never did him wrong.

As he clenched his fists, feeling the tender spots on his knuckles ache, and turned the corner, he froze for a second. There they were, the welcome party he had been sensing, with their arms crossed and sneers across their face. Four this time, huh? Natsu's eyes narrowed, an entirely different spirit filling him. One who wanted nothing more than to take out those in front of him. In the gathering, one thing stuck out to Natsu the most, a glint of bright red spikes.

"Look who decided to actually go to school" Akemi sneered, nursing an injured arm.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world," Natsu shot back in a monotone voice that sent shivers up everyone present but Akemi. "Should you really be fighting after what happened last night?"

"Are you kidding? I'm more fired up than ever!" Akemi yelled dramatically, but the wince from the pain was obvious, "Besides-" He spoke in a quieter voice, "There are a lot scarier people than you."

Natsu expected what happened next. Fists first, words later, he thought to himself, as he dodged a wild swing from one of the guys next to Akemi. How is this supposed to land. Undisciplined. The rush of adrenaline was instantaneous and as equally intense, pumping through his veins like fire.

His own powerful fist connected with precision and force, landing directly on his intended target. The impact reverberated through his arm and into his core, tingling with a mix of the satisfaction of a well-executed punch and lingering pain from his previous bouts. His opponent stumbled back, caught off guard by the accuracy and strength behind the blow, before completely falling on his back.

A flurry of curses and grunts rang in the air as he continued his onslaught, knocking each of the boys down as the first. For some reason unexplainable to Natsu, he hit Akemi the softest, but enough to have him laid on his face, knocked out.

Fuck, I almost lost control again, he thought to himself as his breath came out in ragged gasps. Just then, the first boy he had knocked down had stood back up and swung again toward the back of his head. Without wasting a second, he twisted his torso and arms around, landing his elbow on his opponent's chin.

As Natsu stood over his hard-earned victory, he couldn't help but laugh inside. This was the best representation of his life. Brutal. Chaotic. But easy to grasp. Sometimes he feared his own disposition when he fought, reminding him of his father, but he also knew that life was this way. Hard, and needed to be conquered with decisive action.

***

Nearly limping, Natsu made it to the schoolyard. His breaths were shallow and ragged, God damn it.. How am I this messed up from a few fights?, silently giving respect to Akemi. He may have been an overly eager idiot, but he knew how to hit hard, when he actually landed a hit.

Natsu walked in, past the front desk woman who knew better than to strike up an inquiry. As he neared the entrance to his classroom, he heard the loud chatter of the students, resounding against his hangover in a way that felt more painful than the blows he had felt. There was a group of students in the hallway, putting up flyers of some event, who's eyes quickly flickered to his visage.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Hey.. Isn't that Natsu?" One student whispered, nudging the other next to him.

"The Demon?"

"Looks like he got into another fight" another hushed reply came, though not quietly enough as to not reach Natsu's ears.

Natsu clenched his jaw and decided to shrug off the whispers, Whatever, go do whatever you were doing, he almost pleaded internally, used to the comments. The pain at his side had been increasing in intensity, and he found it harder and harder to pay attention anyway. Natsu swung the door open for his class, and was met with the sharp eyes of the teacher and Nina, as well as the timid looks of the rest. Nina, stood up and walked over to the opening, facing Natsu.

"Explain yourself." Nina's voice sliced through the tension in the air.

"Keep it down can't you." Natsu replied, mustering the best smirk that he could, "Bit early for an interrogation isn't it?"

"You're late, even after telling me you'd be here on time, and looking like.. this." For a second, Natsu thought he sensed concern in her voice, but the overbearing pressure of disappointment in her voice took center stage.

"I'm not in the mood for this," Natsu replied, trying to push past her toward his deck at the back of the class, but was faced by her immovable presence.

"Why are you all hurt? Did you pick another fight?" Nina asked accusingly.

"Save the lecture, I don't need another warden."

"You said you'd come in on time starting today didn't you, does your word mean nothing then?" Her voice more pointed than before.

"Look, I'm here now aren't I?" Natsu said with finality, now heading to his desk and sitting down, looking out of the window. Nina snapped back to her senses and apologized to Ms. Yama for the disruption before sitting down at her desk in the front of the class. Ms. Yama was just happy the incident had gone on without any violence, so she continued the lecture without mentioning any of it.

Natsu's head was still swirling from the constant fighting and hangover he was feeling as the classroom buzzed around him in it's usual mixture of teenage drama and teacher's lecturing.

For a moment, he had wanted to explain the situation to Nina; how he had practically been jumped in the morning and he had fully intended to arrive on time as he had said, but something had kept him back. Admitting his plans had failed, all a consequence of his previous actions, would feel awful, he surmised. Besides, this isn't her world. No need to involve her in any of it.

Akemi was another entity that was floating in his mind. He had taken a major beating the night before, and while he did show signs of it physically, his spirit had seemed unwavered. He had also thought that Akemi appeared to be low on the totem pole for Nisha High, as he had challenged him alone last night, but he had brought over more guys pretty quickly. Who is he over there?, Natsu wondered.

"Natsu, right?" A voice coming from the desk next to him called out.

"Who are you?" Natsu responded confused. He wasn't used to non-delinquents initiating conversations with him.

"Hiroshi. I'm the Vice President of the class." Hiroshi responded while pushing his glasses back on his face.

"Yo." Natsu grunted, his eyes not leaving the swaying tree outside of the window but for a second, where he was able to see Hiroshi's serious expression, masking his intentions. "You with that brat Princess?"

"Don't insult Nina." A flash of red emanated in Hiroshi's eyes that caused Natsu to briefly tense up, as if expecting a strong fight, before calming back down. Odd one..

"My bad. So why you bothering me?"

"I was pleasantly surprised, that someone of your.." Hitoshi looked Natsu up and down with a slight disgust etched on his face, "Well someone like you, would listen to the President and start coming to class. It really makes her life easier."

"You got a problem?" Natsu asked, finally meeting his gaze.

"No no," Hiroshi glanced around before leaning in, his voice dropping to a whisper, "I heard that some kids from Nisha High jumped you this morning." This statement made Natsu's eyes widen.

"How did, you of all people, find that out so quick?"

"Oh, time to get lunch" Hiroshi ended the conversation abruptly and headed out of the room.

Another mystery huh.. Natsu thought to himself. He realized, a bit too late, that he hadn't brought any money, not that he had much to begin with, so he wouldn't be able to get any food at the cafeteria. Despite that, he started to walk toward it, following the crowds of people, in the hopes that he would catch Boro, Shadow, or Gale there who might have some to spare.

As he neared the lines that had formed all around him, to the various lunch lines and facilities that were housed in the cafeteria, he scanned around to see if he recognized anyone. The moment he stepped foot into the room though, it seemed that the air around him darkened, and everyone quieted down, stealing glances back at him. Natsu didn't allow this to affect him, and instead continued his search.

While he wasn't able to spot his usual crew, he did see a line, toward the end of the cafeteria, that looked as if all they were serving were salads. He noticed that one of the few people in that line was Nina.

"Yo Demon" A voice appeared, almost on top of Natsu's back. He quickly turned around to find a sunken eyed boy with a nasty grin on his face. Natsu internally groaned, knowing exactly where this was going. He had forgotten another reason he had stopped showing up to school; it wasn't only Nisha high that had a hierarchy of delinquents who were ranked by fights, it was also Hatsuka High. He had tried his best to avoid it up until now, but his name was mentioned everywhere, to the point that any try hard wanted to challenge him.

***

A crowd of people had formed around their fight as it got progressively more violent. Natsu was taken aback by how powerful some of his punches were, but the fight was nearing its end, as he could see the sunken eyed boy slowing down more and more.

Nina, having been guided to the scene by the large crowd of people, stared on in an expression that could only be called contempt. The awestruck looks of the spectators blended into the background around Natsu and his opponent. The sunken-eyed boy, struggling to keep his guard up against Natsu's relentless onslaught, took a staggering step back, his breath coming in ragged gasps.

Natsu, his knuckles bleeding from the exchange, felt adrenaline coursing through him, heightening his senses. His eyes locked onto his opponent, who seemed to be shrinking under the weight of each blow.As the sunken-eyed boy made a final desperate lunge, Natsu sidestepped with practiced ease. Time seemed to slow for an instant as he saw the opening, and with a swift, decisive motion, he landed a precise punch that sent his opponent crashing to the ground. The hush that fell over the crowd was palpable, broken only by Nina's voice.

"What. Are. You. Doing?" Nina's voice was imposing; the slow delivery only making it harsher.

"Stay out of this." Natsu responded, breath heavy. The constant fighting these last two days was starting to get to him.

"First, you're late this morning, and I even let that slide. Now I walk into the cafeteria, and.. this is what you decide to do?" Her voice was progressively getting louder. "It's obvious what kind of person you are, I made a mistake thinking you were anything but a brute."

"You don't know a damn thing about me!" Natsu nearly screamed. For a moment, the icy facade of The Ice Princess cracked, and he glimpsed the strain in her eyes from his comment. It was a fleeting sight, but pain shone through, and for a moment, made her seem more.. human.

Natsu didn't wait for a response. He walked past her, hands shoved deep into his pockets, leaving amidst the crowd of students, who all quickly got out of his way. As he disappeared, Nina's gaze lingered on his figure, a mix of emotions coursing through her. Hidden beneath layers of duty and discipline, her heart ached in a way that made her feel as if she had just said something really wrong to him. Her fingers began to twitch slightly at her side, a tell tale sign of her turmoil, and a sign that her second-in-command knew all too well.

"President." Hiroshi called out to her.

"Yes?" She composed herself before turning to face him.

"It might not be my place to say this but," He waited a bit, "Natsu was jumped by a few boys from Nisha on his way to school. And even here in the cafeteria, one of the younger students picked a fight with him."

Nina took in what he said for a second, unsure of how to respond.

"Thank you for the information" she uttered before walking away back to class.

"Idiot," She muttered to herself, "Why wouldn't he have just told me that to begin with?"

The only thing she could think of was that she should have been more understanding and compassionate. He HAD, after all, kept his promise of coming to school like he had said, and if what Hiroshi had said was true, then he had simply been defending himself. Her role as class president demanded that she maintained order, but what use was that order if it caused others harm? That was her role. She was supposed to be the only who took on the brunt of the stress so that her subordinates did not.

I'll apologize to him tomorrow. First thing.