LUCY'S POV:

"Let me go," I told Natsu as I thought, so this was it, huh? This was how I was going to die. God, I thought as I sighed, I never told Natsu how I felt, did I? I can't believe this is happening.

FLASHBACK

we were walking back from a mission, but happy wasn't with us because he was sick from eating so much fish. At first, he had told me that he had a date with Carla, but I knew how to separate the truth from the lies. We were just outside of town when a flash of magic hit us, well more specifically, it was aimed at me, but Natsu knocked me over. I landed on top of him, my face in the crook of his neck and his arms were around his waist. Don't look up, don't look up, I tell myself, already knowing that if I look up, I might not resist the urge to kiss him.

"are you OK, Lucy?" Natsu asked. Oh my god, I could feel his breath on my face. Squeezing my eyes, I stood and said, "yeah, thanks for the save," damn it, I already missed the feel of his body next to mine.

"Oh, my Lucy, are you OK?" a voice mimicked.

"come on out here, you bastard, and fight me like a man," Natsu yelled out. Boy, Elfman was rubbing off on him.

The voice laughed, and suddenly, there was a figure there. The guy was handsome enough, he had the muscle, and the had the face, with sand-colored hair and deep sea green eyes.

"Natsu Dragoneel, and his sidekick, Lucy Hearfilia," the guy said

"I'm-" I started, but was cut off by Natsu as he grabbed my wrist, put himself in front of me, and said, "She's not my sidekick, she's my best friend!" he turned and smiled at me, and even though it pained me to hear that he only thought of me as a best friend and nothing more, I smiled back.

"OK, so your lover?" the guy asks with a smirk, "she deserves so much better"

god, I was blushing so hard. "what's it to you?" Natsu asked, as I noticed he dodged the question

"well, before her father died, I was her fiance, Daniel, and I intend to make her my bride," the creep said with a smirk

"you've said it yourself," I said, speaking up for the first time, "before he died, and now he's gone, and I have no intention what so ever to be you girlfriend, much less marry you."

"you heard her, now shoo," Natsu told Daniel

"i don't think so," Daniel said, looking way too serious for my taste, "if I can't have Lucy, then no one can."

Daniel turned around and continued to walk away from Magnolia. We had just turned around, thinking it was safe, when Daniel surprised us, or more likely, me. He threw a ball of magic energy at me. Again. Only this time, Natsu wasn't fast enough to keep me from falling into the black hole and he barely caught my hand. From the look on his face, Natsu wasn't even thinking about Daniel anymore, I could see it in his eyes, I could see that his only goal right now was getting me on solid ground safely. The last I heard of Daniel was him laughing as he walked away.

END OF FLASHBACK

"Let me go," I repeat to Natsu. I smile at the one and only love of my life, but I can feel the tears forming in my eyes. Slowly, loosen up my hand, I'm not going to lie, I'm scared out of my mind, I don't want to die, but I know Natsu will never give up, and that eventually, I'll just drag him to his death with me.

"NO!" Natsu roars. Somewhere inside of him, he finds the strength inside of him, and he hauls me up. I land on top of him again, my hands are around his neck and his are around my waist. In a normal situation, I would have been blushing like crazy, but right now, I was too tired. I lay my head on his chest and breath in and out. Then I burst out crying.

"shh, it's OK now, Luce," Natsu says as he runs his hand through my hair. I hug him tighter and pull him closer to me. Natsu tenses, but then relaxes in our embrace. Hesitantly, he tilts my chin up, so I'm forced to look at him.

"Luce," he says so tenderly, that I search his eyes, to see if he's going to kiss me. In his eyes though, I see something I never thought I would see when he looked at me, I saw hunger. I saw the hunger to kiss me, to tell me how he felt to feel me, to touch me. I gladly obliged. When our lips met, all I could think about was about how this moment was perfect. I may have been dirty and sweaty, but Natsu didn't seem to care as his hands ran through my hair and pulled me closer to him. Natsu's lips... Natsu's lips were heaven on earth. They were soft, but rough and then there was when his tongue entered my mouth. We didn't fight for dominance or anything like that because I simply let him in. I wanted Natsu with me, by me, in me, everywhere. The kiss lasted for what seemed hours, but even then when we both broke apart because we were out of breath, it seemed like the kiss was too short.

Just as I was about to smile, Natsu said, "I'm so sorr-"

I slapped him. I enjoyed the kiss. Damn, if it meant I could have another kiss from Natsu, I would throw myself into the black hole again. But he was sorry. He was sorry he kissed me, and wished he hadn't. I walk away, letting the tears fall to the ground once my back was turned. Why? Am I that much of a bad kisser? Or was he just playing me? I smiled bitterly and thought, well, now I don't have to worry about whether he loves me or not.

WHEN LUCY GOT HOME...

I threw myself on my bed and felt sorry for myself.

"why? Why did that idiot have to play with my feelings?" I whispered to myself in the dark, "Can't he tell that I love him so much it hurts?"

I sobbed. I layed there in my bed and sobbed until I couldn't move anymore because it hurt my ribs. I sobbed for the fool I am for thinking that Natsu could love me, and as much more than a nakama. I stayed in my bed like that for 3 days, not eating. On the third day, I finally realized what I was doing. I realized I was destroying myself over a boy who didn't even deserve a second glance from me. I'm stronger than this, I thought, get it together Lucy, pull it together. The next day, I got dressed and went to the guild knowing all too well that Natsu would be there, yet not knowing at all what I would do when I saw him there.

When I opened the guild doors, there he was in all his glory, Natsu. I ignored him, and walked straight to my usual seat at the bar.

"hey Mira," I greeted the white haired mage.

"hey Lucy," she greeted with a worried look on her face

"what's up with the worried look?" I asked her

"do you know why Natsu's been like that the past 3 days?" she asked, motioning over to the dragon-slayer.

"i don't know," I lied, because I hadn't noticed that he was in the back right hand corner of the guild, just like I hadn't noticed that he looked up and had looked at me with a hopeful look on his face when I walked in, like I also hadn't noticed that he had already been expecting me, because I hadn't known that even before I opened the guild doors he had his eyes glued to the door, like—-

"hmm," Mira interrupted my thoughts, and knowing I wasn't a very good liar, I knew she could tell I was lying.

"OK,OK. I'll tell you," I said as I wearily took note of Mira's eager face.

"apparently, before he died, my dad had arranged another marriage for me, you know, before Tenrou," Mira nodded and I continued, " the guy's name was Daniel and on our way back here, he tried to get me to go with him, but when I refused, he threw a ball of magic energy that created a black hole and I fell in it. Natsu caught me by the hand and pulled me up."

"that doesn't explain why he's been so depressed lately," Mira said with a knowing look

I sighed and mumbled, "then we kissed."

Mira squealed, but then stopped, and looking confused asked me, "so why is he like that?"

"because, the kiss was... amazing," I said, a faint smile forming on my lips,"but he didn't mean to kiss me. He didn't want to, I guess it was, because I was about to smile and tell him that I loved him, when he said he was sorry. And then i slapped him and walked away. So my guess is that he's embarrassed he got slapped by a girl, and that's why he's moping."

just as Mira opened her mouth, a voice rang out in the guild, silencing everything else, saying, "you're wrong."

I snapped my head around to see no one other but the dragon-slayer himself talking to me.

"what do you mean?" I asked

"i said I was sorry because you looked shocked and I figured you were mad," Natsu said, looking me straight in the eye.

"so your saying this is my fault now?" I asked, shocked

"no, I'm simply saying that you misunderstood," Natsu said calmly. In fact, he was so calm that it annoyed me. I walked up to him, and raised my hand to slap him, but Natsu caught it, and kissed me, trapping me in his grasp. I struggled in his arms, not really wanting to get out, but eventually, I realized he wasn't playing me, and he really meant what he said earlier and I kissed him back. When we finally pulled apart the guild's faces were ones of shock, but those that had recovered started clapping. Natsu grabbed my by the waist, pulled me in front of him, and put his head on my shoulder.

"i love you," he whispered in my ear, and I smiled

"i know. I love you too," I told him as I turned to give him a quick peck on the lips, which quickly turned into a passionate kiss when Natsu refused to let me pull away. I smiled, and thought, at least nmow I don't have to worry about whether he loved me or not.