Disclaimer: All characters and the series belong to Hiro Mashima. :) I own nothing but the plot! XD

A Cake for Her

Fairy Tail was as rowdy as usual today; with the drinking, the fights, and the laughing. Today was just a normal day for all of them. With this excited atmosphere, all of them are bound to want to do something. Just like Lisanna. She had been at the guild for too long and hadn't had any missions to do. Even a simple one would do, so long as she could do something. Admittedly, she had a lot of chores at the guild and she often helps her sister and brother out, but those were everyday tasks that she's used to doing. Missions are always new and unexpected, so she at least had to have a change of pace.

"Mira-nee, I'm thinking of going on a mission…" The white-haired girl began, going to the bar counter as she saw Mirajane cleaning a beer glass with a clean piece of cloth. The elder sibling turned to her with a smile on her face and set the glass down on the counter.

"Sure thing, Lisanna," She replied. "Just pick a mission from the board and give it to me. Are you going alone?"

"Uh-huh… I want to do something different today." The younger sibling replied. "I'll take an easy one so I can get back here quickly."

"Well, the easy ones are on the board over there," Mira said as she points to a board surrounded by some newbie wizards. Lisanna thanked her sister and went over to the request board, trying to find what mission would best suit her. After the Grand Magic Games, Fairy Tail has been gaining popularity again. More and more new wizards would come by almost every week, and the request board began piling up again. Everyone seemed to have almost forgotten the tragedy of Future Rogue and the Dragon Festival, but all's well that ends well.

"There sure are a lot of missions here…" She muttered as she scanned the vast amounts of missions pinned on the board. It ranged from big missions such as capturing bandits and guarding a high-ranking person, to odd jobs like watching the dog and washing cars. They were still missions, so it was acceptable. The white-haired girl made sure to choose the easiest and least time-consuming because she didn't want to be away from the guild that long. She just needed a fresh change in her daily routine. Luckily, she found a perfect mission that would do just the trick. She grabbed the paper pinned on the board and rushed over to her sister, putting the paper on the counter.

"Mira-nee, I'd like to take this mission, please~" She said as the latter looked at the request.

"Hmm… This is a request from Sabertooth…" Mira muttered, a bit surprised at the odd request. "GuildMaster Sting Eucliffe requested if a wizard from Fairy Tail with experience in cooking could help his guild tomorrow."

"It sounds pretty easy, right?" Lisanna asked. "I'll be done with it in no time!"

"The mission doesn't start until tomorrow, so while you're still here, I'll teach some of my cooking techniques." Mira offered. The younger sibling smiled and accepted the offer, and they spent all day learning new things from the kitchen.

The next morning, Lisanna departed from Magnolia by train, promising to his siblings that she would get the mission done quickly and return before dark. The trip took only an hour, and in no time, she was standing in front of the Sabertooth headquarters.

"So this is Sabertooth…" Lisanna muttered, staring at the tall, brick-patterned building. She took a deep breath and stepped through the door. The first thing that greeted her was a flying, green cat wearing a pink frog costume.

"Oh… Hello there… You're an Exceed, right?" She asked, smiling at the little cat. "Do you know where your master is?"

"Frosch," A man called the Exceed before it could answer. The white-haired girl glanced at its back and saw a black-haired man walking towards her. She immediately recognized him and waved at him.

"Oh, hello there Rogue!" She said. Rogue nodded at her as Frosch approached him, petting the little Exceed on his head.

"Hello…" Rogue said. "You're from Fairy Tail, are you not? May I know your name again?"

"I'm Lisanna…" She answered. "I came here for the mission your GuildMaster sent to us. I was hoping you could show me where he is…" Lisanna handed the piece of paper over to Rogue, and the latter sighed after examining the content.

"He even went this far…" Rogue muttered. "Lisanna, was it? Well, let's go… He's waiting over there." The two traveled inside the guild, and Rogue cleared up any questions that the other guild members asked, particularly why she was there. No one knew about Sting's request to Fairy Tail, so they were all really surprised when Lisanna showed up.

She and Rogue went further in, where the kitchen was located. They could hear audible grunting and miniature screams of panic as it got overpowered by pots and pans colliding to the ground. Rogue sighed and Lisanna let a drop of sweat roll down her cheek. This was going to take longer than she had imagined. When Rogue opened the door, the kitchen was a complete mess. Bits of food were scattered not only on the floors, but also on the ceilings, the windows, and the counters. The pots and pans were all dirtied or burnt, plus an awful smoky smell filled the area, making it a little hard to breathe and see.

"Seriously…" Rogue muttered. "Sting, your help has arrived…" The moment he said that, the smoke distorted a little and Sting rose from them, running towards the two of them. He was covered in dirt and food, but not entirely dirty.

"Thank goodness!" He exclaimed. "Lector and I thought we were gonna die!" Out from the smoke, a tired Lector flew in an unstable manner, landing on Rogue's head before groaning in exhaustion.

"There are many things that Sting-kun is great at, but cooking is not one of them!" He whined before falling unconscious. The blonde rolled his eyes at the comment, before looking at the tragedy he made only a few minutes ago.

"I suppose you can handle this yourself, Lisanna?" The black-haired male asked. "I'm afraid I won't be able to help since I'll be taking care of Lector."

"That's okay." Lisanna answered with a smile. "I'll manage. I mean, how hard could it be, right?" With a nod, Rogue left the two of them in the disaster area they called the kitchen. Lisanna whistled at the amount of food scattered everywhere, placing her hands on her hips and sighing.

"Wow, this should be fun…" She smiled. "Let's clean up the place first, shall we?"

"U-uh, yeah…" Sting muttered in surprise. He was still staring at the whole mess he made just minutes earlier. So they began cleaning as best they can. They started with picking up the utensils and placing them on the sink. Lisanna handled cleaning the food bits scattered all around, and thanks to her Take-Over Magic, she could reach high places like the ceilings without much help. Sting was responsible for cleaning the dishes and letting the smoke out of the room before they suffocated to death. In a few hours, they finished and the room was sparkling clean. Although she was tired, Lisanna still had the energy to do more. She knew that this wasn't the mission she was sent to do.

"So, Sting-san…" She began. "What was the mission you wanted me to help you out with?" She turned to the blonde, blue eyes meeting blue. Sting looked exhausted, and he had bags under his eyes, too.

"I-it's a bit embarrassing, but…" He muttered, scratching the back of his head. "I need someone to help me bake something."

"Baking?" Lisanna asked. "Oh sure, I could help with that. But why didn't you just ask someone here to help you out? I'm sure they'll help you if you did."

"That's just it…" Sting replied. "I don't want anyone finding out about this. Only Rogue, Frosch, and Lector know about this. So you better not go around telling people about this once we're finished, got that?" He glared at the girl for a moment, ushering her to raise her hands in defense and smile nervously.

"I-I promise, I promise…" She said in an attempt to pacify the other. "I'll help you make what you want… So what is it?" Sting closed his eyes for a moment, breathing deeply. And for a moment, Lisanna thought she saw a faint blush spread across his cheeks. She must have been imagining it, she thought.

"Well… Don't laugh at me for this…" Sting began, nervousness already taking over his entire body. He looked into the white-haired girl's eyes, and continued, "I want to make a cake…"

"A cake?" Lisanna asked. "If that's it, then I–"

"And crepes… And cookies, and pastries, and, and…" Sting continued, counting with his fingers. He stopped however, when he saw Lisanna looking at him with a bewildered expression.

"What? You think I'm weird now…?" He asked, his shoulders visibly drooping. The white-haired girl blinked her eyes a few times before the question finally registered in her head.

"O-of course not!" She exclaimed. "So what if you have a passion for baking? That's not weird at all! I-I actually think it's kinda cute…" She muttered the last part softly, but thanks to Sting's enhanced hearing, he head it loud and clear.

"What?" He asked, pretending not to hear. Both their faces had a faint blush running across them, and neither one of them were looking at each other.

"I-it's nothing…!" Lisanna exclaimed. "A-anyway, why don't we start on baking…? What do you want to bake first?" She straightened herself up and looked at the blonde beside her. Why she told him that she thought it was cute to have a passion for cooking, she'll never know. But that's what she felt, anyway, so maybe it wouldn't matter.

"A-ah, right…" Sting muttered. "Let's see…" He paused, giving thought into his answer. It took a few seconds, but he sighed with an answer, "I have no idea…"

"I see…" The white-haired girl muttered, letting another drop of sweat roll to her cheek. "Well, why don't we start with a cake? I'm pretty decent in cake baking…"

"Okay then…" Sting muttered, giving off a friendly grin. The grin looked exactly like Natsu's, and Lisanna couldn't help but get entranced by the similarity, and at the same time, the mystery of meeting Sting personally for the first time. She'd only known him through the Grand Magic Games, and even then, they never spoke nor seen each other.

"I have the ingredients here, so we can start right away." The blonde said, putting on his apron and searching the drawers and hooks for an extra one. Lisanna pulled out a book of dessert recipes and searched for the easiest cake recipe she could find.

"Let's start with the easiest one, okay?" Lisanna asked. "Oh, and I haven't introduced myself. My name is Lisanna. Nice to meet you, Sting-san."

"Lisanna?" Sting repeated. "Oh, so you're sisters with that Take-Over mage, right? I guess that was obvious when you transformed into a bird when we were cleaning this place."

"Ah, yeah… I'm sisters with Mira-nee~" She said. "Where did you hear that from, actually?"

"I just hear stuff here and there…" The blonde replied. "Plus, you two look just as pret – I-I mean, just the same…"

"I see…" Lisanna smiled. "Well, I found a recipe here, so why don't we get started?" She showed him a recipe for chocolate cake. The instructions were pretty simple and didn't seem to be quite misleading, so Sting agreed with that. After giving an extra apron to the white-haired girl, they started to bake the cake. Sting was in charge of measuring the ingredients just as it said on the book, and he watched her and took pointers on how to mix all of them together. There was even one time during their cooking that Sting spilled some of the batter on his face, and Lisanna had to help him clean it up. Their distance was literally no more than a few inches, and only after realizing this did they find themselves separated by an awkward wall of silence. They still continued their baking, however, and Sting successfully made his first chocolate cake.

"Are you sure you want me to take this?" Lisanna asked again. Since they were finished with baking the cake, Sting gave her a reward of ten thousand jewels, a fitting enough reward for such an odd and simple job. But what puzzled her was Sting giving the cake to her. They were already at the train station entrance when she asked him out of feeling a sense of guilt. It was his cake, after all.

"It's okay, really…" The blonde muttered with a smile as he pushed the cake back to Lisanna's hands. "I don't want anyone finding it here because they'll suspect me. And I also want to thank everyone at Fairy Tail for being so kind despite the feud Natsu-san and the others had with us."

"Oh, I see…" The white-haired girl said with a smile. "That's really no big deal. Natsu and the others aren't ones to hold much of a grudge, especially if the other side is friendly like you."

"A-ah, so I see…" The blonde rubbed the back of his head again and smiled awkwardly. There were a few moments of comfortable silence this time. It was just the two of them at the train station entrance enjoying each other's company. The train's whistle blew, startling the two. Lisanna gasped and looked at the time by the clock on the wall.

"Oh no, it's almost dark." Lisanna said. "Listen, I need to get back to the guild now. I promised my sister I'd come back before dark to help around the guild some more."

"I understand. I have to get back, too." Sting grinned. Before the white-haired girl could leave, he called to her, making her turn around. "Would you like to do this again, you know, some other time?" He smiled warmly at her with his eyes half-lidded but full of silent expectation. Since Lisanna was in a hurry, she didn't quite notice it.

"Sure, why not?" She smiled and nodded. "I'll be going now. I'll see you soon!" She waved at him as she entered the train station, and never once looked back.

A week later, Lisanna was doing business as usual. It was already afternoon, and most of the guild members were still loitering around the guild.

"Here you go, Lucy. A fresh vanilla milkshake~" The younger Strauss sibling said. Lucy was sitting by the bar and was reading a book. She looked up and smiled at Lisanna before graciously taking the drink.

"Thanks for this, Lisanna. And sorry I had to ask you to make this when Mira-san is out on a mission with Freed."

"It's okay, Lucy." She answered. "I'm glad to be of help…" The two continued to chat until they noticed Elfman walking towards them with a package in his hand.

"Hey Lisanna!" He called. The two girls turned their heads in attention to the giant white-haired male.

"What is it, Elf-nii?" She asked. "And is that a package?" She added, pointing at the white box in his hand. Elfman nodded and set the package down on the bar table. Lucy and Lisanna exchanged looks of curiosity before taking a closer look at the box. To their surprise, it was a package for Lisanna.

"I found it by the entrance just now." Elfman informed them. "Do you know anything about this, Lisanna?"

"No, I don't." Lisanna muttered. There was an envelope attached to it that has the words "To: Lisanna" written in fancy script. She opened the envelope and read the contents:

"Dear Lisanna,

Hey, how's it going? Thanks again for helping me out the other day. I made this on my own this time. I tried my hardest in making this one, and I made it just for you this time, no friends or anyone else. This is just for you. So, I hope you enjoy the cake I made.

Sting"

"That's so sweet of him…" Lisanna sighed. She untied the red ribbon holding the box together and took off the lid. She was impressed and surprised to find Fairy Tail's insignia drawn on the cake using white icing.

"Who's it from, Lisanna?" Lucy asked, curiosity filling her eyes.

"It's from Sting-san…" She answered. "I helped him with a request he had for Fairy Tail, and he sent me this as a thank you."

"Oh, that's so sweet!" The blonde smiled. "I'm sure that cake will be delicious!"

"Yeah… I'm sure it is…" The white-haired girl muttered, holding the box unconsciously closer to her. Now she was sure she had to see Sting again, and all for various reasons revolving around her mind. But for now, she'll enjoy the cake he made especially for her.

~END~