A Mission: Words He Would Regret
It was another morning of accidental destruction at the Fairy Tail guild for Lucy Heartfilia, who attempted to feign ignorance toward the obnoxious members fighting, drinking, cheering and breaking everything around them. She leaned her head against the bar, while Mirajane looked on, her usual amused expression lighting up her delicate features, as she filled a mug of coffee for her blonde friend.
"Thanks, Mirajane…" Lucy sighed heavily, drawing the mug of boiling liquid to her lips and downing half the glass in one shot. "Honestly, how do you deal with these maniacs day in and day out...?"
"You know, I sometimes ask myself that same question," Mirajane giggled at Lucy's apparent exhaustion from just the competitive atmosphere. "But I guess it's because that, in truth, I admire their fiery spirits."
Lucy was silent as she reached again for her coffee cup, and wondered glumly to herself whether or not she would make the month's rent, the original reason for her less than energetic mood.
"Lucy!" A familiar, warmer than the average human arm, had been thrown over Lucy's shoulder, causing her to spill her hot beverage all over the bar table, much to the surprise of both her and Mirajane. Lucy twisted around in her seat to find none other than the biggest hothead of the lot, Natsu, grinning into her face, his eyes sparkling with ambition of some kind.
"Now look what you've done, Natsu!" Lucy stood up, her expression crossed between furious toward the boy and apologetic toward Mirajane, who was already mopping up the mess while holding back her laughter.
"No need to get upset, Lu-lu." Natsu smirked at the girl and her immediate and apparent disapproval concerning the way he addressed her. "I just wanted to ask if you were interested in taking on a job with me and Happy."
"I dunno…" Lucy bit her lip, unsure if she was in the mood to handle the boy's boisterous attitude for a prolonged period of time, but how else would she be able to pay up her rent at the end of the month?
"Come onnnn," Natsu clapped his hands together in a pleading gesture. "It'll be more fun if you join in, Lucy!"
The blonde sighed heavily, before finally giving a small, hesitant nod. Natsu leapt a foot in the air, a bright smile spreading over his face before he dragged Lucy from the bar so they stood before a large bulletin board, where job requests were pinned up, overlapping each other.
"You pick one," Natsu pointed at the papers, some laminated, others written on tiny, crinkly scraps of parchment. "It's your turn, after all."
The girl lazily grazed her finger along the different options, taking note of the reward amounts for each offer, before she finally ripped a particularly aged cut of yellow paper from the board: an escort application.
"Escort?" Natsu blinked at the paper that evening as he and Lucy sat at the end of a rowdy table. "Who are we escorting?"
"I made a call earlier today," Lucy explained. "Her name is Izayoi, and she's had trouble finding escorts ever since her husband passed away."
"Why's that?" Natsu inquired. Lucy shrugged in response as she rummaged in her purse before pulling out a photo of a beautiful woman who looked to be in her mid-twenties. She was dressed modestly in an elaborate black dress that fell all the way to her ankles while tiny black leather boots stuck out from under the skirt. Her blonde hair was done up in a twisted, half-hearted bun, for rebellious strands of the hair had escaped to curl around her face, which was concealed almost completely by a black, cobweb-like netting that dangled from the edge of her old-fashioned hat. Her unsmiling lips bore the color of a deep, crimson red, as if the she had been trying to make up for the fair, porcelain-colored skin that made her look almost dead.
"Her sister didn't say much," Lucy continued. "Apparently, she's been ostracized by the town she lives in, and no one will have anything to do with her."
"The reward money is pretty generous…"
"Her husband was the heir to a large sum of money and an ancient mansion. Naturally, all of that was passed on to her when he died. While alive, he was well-liked by most people in the town. Izayoi was shy though, and didn't really relate to people that well."
"Makes you wonder why he picked her as a wife, huh?"
"You are so not romantic at all!" Lucy rolled her eyes as she snatched back the paper. "I think it's wonderful! He could have chosen any woman in that town, but he picked her! It's obvious that they had a deep, unbreakable bond!"
"Yeah, whatever you say, Lu-lu," Natsu rocked hazardously on the bench across the table from his teammate, who shot him an exasperated side-glance.
"You're hopeless…" She muttered.
"Yeah, I get that a lot," Natsu replied. "But if I'm hopeless, what does that make you?"
"What do you mean by that?" Lucy asked, feeling suddenly defensive by his words.
"What do you think it means?" Natsu toyed with her, a smirk on his mouth. "Come on Lu-lu, you have to get this a lot, right? I mean aren't you interested in anyone in the guild?"
"Huh?" Lucy now blinked in a confused gesture; the query was unexpected.
"You know, like potential boyfriend material?" Natsu elaborated. "Anyone that catches your eye? A man-fancy, maybe?"
"Man-fancy?" Lucy frowned at the questions. "I don't understand."
"Don't play dumb," Natsu grinned, playfully punching her on the arm from across the table. "Or do you seriously not care about being single?"
Lucy stood up from her seat on the bench, so abruptly that Natsu's bench landed hard on all fours. He looked up at the girl, whose face turned swiftly away from him before he could see the look in her eyes. She then readied herself to retreat from the guild's headquarters, and from the onlookers who had stopped whatever they had been involved in to watch the tense scene unfold.
"What gives you the right to talk about me like that?" Lucy snapped, "Are you under the false impression that you can comprehend what has never been explained or confided to you?" She glanced back over her shoulder at the pink-haired boy, tears forcing their way to rest on her lower eyelashes.
"H-Hey, Lucy," Natsu's eyes widened in realization, "I-I didn't mean that-!"
"I can complete this mission without your help," Lucy interrupted him, "Don't bother yourself with me."
Without another word or look in Natsu's direction, Lucy left the stunned members of the guild behind her.
i know guyss...it's been a while..(if any of my old faithful readers are still out there waiting for my stuff, i just wanna sayyy...^_^ hi! i've missed you!) i just couldn't get anything going for fanfictions. lost my inspiration, i'm sure a lot of you know what i'm talking about. And just everyday life got really crap lol. huge knots of problems that still need to be fixed, but hopefully everything will be ok. I like to think that wen things get difficult: "sooner or later, everything will be fine, and you may even forget these problems existed". And it's been true so far ^_^ anyway, I have completely fallen for this couple. Except its got about as many pairing moments as Naruto...(so its like...non-existent for now). But if the author is going for a similar ending as his last series (rave master) then this couple is more than likely going to happen. I'm still continuing with the Miroku/Kagome fanfic, but for now, im really feeling this couple, so updates right now for that fanfic are being post-poned! Hope you enjoyed listening 2 my rambling (and the beginning of my fanfic!) Luv you all!