~Most Cherished Treasure~
Chapter 1
"I'm sorry Lucy, but I have a family to feed. You understand?"
Lucy nodded and stuck out her hand. "I understand. Sorry for troubling you with my late payments." The elderly lady shook her head and took the offered hand. Waving goodbye, Lucy started to walk away with a heavy heart.
She couldn't believe it- she finally got evicted from her apartment because she couldn't get over her tardiness when it came to paying rent. At least the landlady, an aging grandmother of three and a widow, was polite about it and gave her a week to find new housing. Lucy didn't want to worry her friends about finding shelter, so she hasn't said anything to them and lied to the kind old lady about finding a house.
Honestly, Lucy was chalking up her pride and refusal to ask for help outside of missions to the fact that she has a stubborn independence streak in her. Her father's neglect forced her to learn how to take care of herself and not depend completely on anyone else. Running away didn't little to help ease the streak, only intensifying it, making it harder to break when she entered Fairy Tail after meeting a certain someone.
"Hey, Luce!"
Speak of the devil and the devil shall appear. Only in this case, a hotheaded dragon slayer.
The blonde turned her head to see Natsu and Happy coming towards her, hands waving madly in the air. The pink haired fire mage had a giant grin on his face, which threatened to spilt his face in half. 'That adorable idiot' thought Lucy as she waved back. She has long since admitted to herself that she loves the dragon slayer. It wasn't love at first sight- that was more of an admiration for his boldness and friendliness. Hell, she doesn't even know when she fell for him.
One day, as he was standing on the table and yelling across the guild at Gray to fight him, it suddenly hit her. She loves Natsu. At first, she denied it but that stupid little voice in her head just kept getting louder. She kept rolling that phrase around in her head and off the tip of her tongue as she lay in bed that night, startled by how natural it felt. It took about a week for her to come clean about to herself which was about a few months ago. But Lucy didn't bother to let Natsu or anyone else know- better keep the friendship and avoid the drama that may come about from nosy friends trying to be helpful.
A tan hand waving itself across her sight pulled the blonde from her thoughts. She nearly jumped as she realized how close Natsu was to her- their noses were almost touching and Lucy could smell the oddly comfortable mixture of smoke and mint that seemed to naturally radiant from him. "What's up, Natsu?"
"What's with all the bags?"
"I had to leave my place."
"Why? Did something happen?"
"Something came up concerning the apartment. That's all."
"Wanna stay with me and Happy?"
Well, if that didn't cut off Lucy's breathing than she didn't what did. Stay with Natsu? Always be around him, smell the natural smell of him that seemed to intensify when he sweat, see that rip body of his that she had dreams about…yeah, that wouldn't work out so well for her.
With a rather convincing smile is she did say so herself, Lucy lied smoothly, "Actually I'm staying with Levy." Something flashed across those black eyes but Lucy couldn't pin point it fast enough. Happy was tugging at her skirt now, and the female mage looked down at the little blue cat.
"Will you meet up with us after you get settled in?"
The blonde smiled and nodded. "Well, see you guys soon!" She started to jog, waving behind to the duo with a bright smile. After she turned the corner, her smile fell and she sighed. Well, looks like her pride losing to her lie. At least Levy's nickname was kindness…