A/N: This is another little story :). Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail! Only my imagination :)!
"Natsuuuu!" Lucy whined. "How much further do we have to walk?" She was trodding at least five meters behind Natsu, who was still full of energy. "Aren't we going to take a break?" She continued after Natsu came back to take her hand and pull her along. "Too bad you can't fly Lucy," Happy spoke up, flying around Lucy's head. Deciding to ignore the bratty cat, she freed herself from Natsu's grip. "Enough! I can't walk anymore," she announced. Natsu looked at her, then to the road ahead and back to her. "I can see our destination, it's the next town. It's so close," he told her.
"Natsu, your definition of 'close' is not the same as mine," Lucy explained, while she squinted her eyes only to see a some darker spots on the horizon of the road ahead. Happy posed like Lucy above her head and tried his best to see what Natsu saw. "Do you think they have fish there?" Was the only thing he said. The blonde woman was tired of the blue cat's constant aerial display around her head. She caught him by the tail and held him upside down. "Are you doing this on purpose?" She narrowed her gaze, daring Happy to lie. "No, not at all," came the all too innocent reply. "What would you do, if they didn't have fish there?" Lucy asked. Happy seemed terrified of that situation.
"Don't be weird, Lucy," Natsu suddenly cut in. "The town's next to a river, so of course they'll have fish. Don't worry buddy," he assured his partner. Lucy merely gawked at him. Now there was supposed to be a river too? The difference in their vision kept amazing her every time. Happy had escaped her grasp when Natsu stood up for him and was now walking beside the Dragon slayer. "Why are we going there when we already completed the mission?" She asked.
Natsu ignored her, pulling her along once again. "Come on. We'll be late," he revealed. "Late for what?" But Lucy was once again met with silence. She puffed her cheeks. "Are you going to continue ignoring me?"
He looked at her and then at their hands, as if stating that their physical contact at that moment was enough. "You know what I mean!" She continued her one-sided conversation. He only grinned widely at her before returning his attention to the road. Lucy blushed when she felt his warm hand tighten around hers.
When they finally reached the town, the first thing they did was enter a restaurant. Everyone was pretty hungry by the time they got there. And the Celestial mage was parched. She needed water and quickly. Happy immediately flew over to the waitress to ask if they sold raw fish. The waitress said that they had an option on the menu with raw fish, which put a bright smile on the blue cat's face. They ordered their food and drinks and consumed it in record time.
"Phew, that was delicious!" Natsu exclaimed. He then saw the sun was already setting and his eyes enlarged. He pulled Lucy along with him again and hurried out of the restaurant, shouting at Happy to follow them. Lucy was too confused and startled to even scold him for not telling her anything.
"Here! This is the place," he told her, proudly standing in front of the building where they'd stopped. She looked at it. Before them was a bookstore that was well known for selling the rarest books. Ones that regular bookstores seldomly sold, even then they would be the same. The catch about this store was that it was a magical store. It would transport to another place once every few days, without ever sharing the knowledge to their customers. Only those who were attuned to fine literature would make an effort to find out where the bookstore had transported to. Unfortunately, the owner of the bookstore preferred letting readers find out by coincidence rather than by use of magic. Thus, he coated his store with a spell that prevented anyone from finding it with any kind of location magic.
Lucy beamed. She had been trying for years to figure out the location of this particular bookstore. But she had failed miserably each time. When a passing traveller would mention the store was somewhere and she was not preoccupied, she always rushed over. Despite her usual luck, the store was always gone when she arrived there. Spreading the news by word of mouth was practically the quickest method for book lovers to find out about it. So Lucy really cursed her luck for not working for something like this.
"How did you know?" She asked him, eyes full of wonder. "I overheard some random person talking about this. I figured you would like it, so I brought you here. Aren't you going to go inside? I heard it closes after sunset," he explained and looked at her questionally. "Yes, of course I will!" She entered the bookstore and squealed at the sight of all the rare books. She cheerfully greeted the owner and made her way over to the first path on the left side. Natsu wanted to wait outside, but suddenly thought about how the store could transport. Did that mean it would do so after sunset? If so, would it matter whether or not customers were still inside?
Deciding not to think about it, he followed his best friend into the store to keep an eye on her. He walked around, looking at books with dragons on them as well as books about fire magic. "Would you like to read those?" Lucy asked him while coming to stand next to him. "Nah, it's fine. Igneel taught me all I need to know," he claimed. "Aren't you discovering new spells and stronger fire magic every now and then? Don't you want to know what more Igneel would have taught you?" She encouraged him. He went still for a moment, thinking about it. "I guess," he shrugged, although he imagined how Igneel would teach him even stronger magic.
"Great, I'll buy them," she assured him as she plucked them from the shelves. Lucy had taken four books for herself that she had been dying to read. One of them was extremely special to her. It was a book her mother had used to study the Celestial spirits. Its information was written in the form of short stories. Lucy knew most of the facts that were explained in the book, but she loved the memories it held for her. When she was little, her mother used to read the very same stories to her and she'd be awestruck by the Celestial world and its magical inhabitants. Natsu had noticed her staring at the book, eyes filled with love. And a gentle smile appeared on his face. He liked her fierce personality a lot, but her calm and tender side never failed to amaze him as well. He loved how she stood there, admiring the different works.
Lucy had bought everything she held in her hands that moment, for once not caring about her rent money. She had time to do another job to earn back the money she now lacked to pay the landlady. That might be because of the present she bought for Natsu, but she wanted to thank him properly for bringing her to this store. "These are for you then," she said, handing him the two books. "Thanks!" He happily accepted them. "That's what I should say to you. I have only dreamt of seeing this store (literally). Now I've finally been there and I have this wonderful book that my mother and I both love so much," she told him, showing him the precious book. "Looks great Lucy," he grinned at her and she smiled back.
"Let's go home!" Natsu exclaimed, while stretching himself. Lucy nodded. Some more walking and she'd be able to read her newly bought books in her comfortable bed. "Let's go," she said.
Happy flew around them. Seeing his friends happy made him happy too. "Lucy, Natsu, the store is disappearing!" He informed them just in time. They all watched as the building began to glow a mixture of green and purple. The blonde mage frantically waved at the owner, who returned it with a small wave of his own. "See you next time!" Natsu and Lucy shouted together. "Whenever that might be," she added, then laughed because no one would know when the next time would be.
A/N: Thanks for reading!