Don't touch the scarf!
It was a normal day at the guild with a fight here and there. Natsu for once wasn't participating in a fight. He was eating his breakfast since he hasn't had the time to go grocery shopping for him and Happy. He had taken off his scarf and set it aside so nothing would get on it. Normally he wouldn't have cared because he could always wash it again, but today he was going to try and not get it dirty (even though that's going to be impossible to do inside the guild). So there Natsu was pigging out on his breakfast when suddenly Gray came crashing onto the table and Natsu's food went all over the floor. Now, normally he wouldn't have cared, but Gray had gone too far. Gray had landed on the part of the table where Natsu's scarf was laying, neatly folded up. The scarf now was caught between the broken table, the floor, and Gray's butt was rubbing on it. "Gray...you bastard!" Natsu growled standing up.
"You shouldn't get in the way then." Gray snapped at him. Natsu didn't feel his usual anger towards Gray. No, this one was like when he went up against Gajeel for the first time or Jellal.
"You messed up Igneel's scarf." He said as a deadly calm came over him.
"O-Oi, it was an accident!" Gray said stepping away from the dragon slayer very slowly.
"I don't feel sorry for you." Erza said as she continued to eat her strawberry cake. Natsu turned his glare on Gray and slowly started walking towards him as flames engulfed his body.
"N-Natsu, maybe you should calm down..." Lucy stuttered out. Natsu growled again. She squeaked as he took Gray by surprise and punched him, throwing him into the wall. Natsu didn't give him a chance to catch his breath and punched Gray again sending him flying to the ceiling. Natsu followed him and landed one punch after another. "Shouldn't we stop them?" Lucy muttered next to Erza. Erza sighed.
"At this point, Natsu can't be stopped. We just have to hope that Natsu has some self-restraint."
"I thought you'd say that." Lucy said faintly. Natsu finally stopped and Gray ended up landing behind the bar, nearly missing Mirajane as he did. Natsu took a deep breath and let it out slowly, grabbed his scarf, and said,
"Sorry Mira," before he walked out of the guild. Mira chuckled as Gray stood up.
"Damn, he acted like I tried to kill Happy or something." Gray said wiping the blood off his face with his hand. He was now bearing bruises everywhere.
"Well that scarf of his is important to him, so you should expect nothing less." Erza said standing up. "Now fix up the things you broke!" Gray grimaced. He didn't want to be Erza's punching bag after getting the crap beaten out of him by Natsu. That guy was definitely a beast. Gray thought as he started cleaning up the mess that he AND Natsu made.
"Ne, where'd Natsu go?" Happy asked yawning as he woke up from a nap.
"That way." Nearly everyone said pointing at the door.
"Natsu!" Happy yelled flying after his friend.
"Man that is one brave cat." Jet said wide-eyed.
"I don't think I've ever seen Natsu that angry." Levy said thoughtfully.
"I have," Lucy and Gajeel said at the same time.
"And I'm sure Happy has too." Mira said smiling.
"I am so glad he's on our side and not our enemy." Macao said wide-eyed too.
"You and me both." Wakaba said mirroring his friend. Lucy smiled. I guess everyone has learned not to mess with his scarf. I better go check on him. She thought following Happy and Natsu.
She found the two sitting on the edge of the lake in the forest. Well Natsu was, Happy was trying to fish. "Natsu, are you okay?" She called as she sat down on his left.
"Oh, yeah," Natsu said grinning at her sheepishly. "That's never happened before. I mean, Gray has messed with my scarf before, but this time it was just weird..."
"You've been thinking about Igneel a lot lately, haven't you?" He nodded.
"Yeah, I guess I just let my guard down and I snapped. I'm normally pretty good at keeping my anger in check." He said frowning.
"Hey, it can't be too bad if nearly the whole guild hasn't seen you like that before." Lucy said trying to cheer him up. He smiled.
"Thanks Lucy." Feeling a bit generous, she added,
"And if you want, you and Happy can come over for dinner tonight."
"Really?" Natsu asked wide-eyed.
"Mm-hm!"
"Thanks! I haven't had the chance to go get groceries, you're a life saver!" He said hugging her. Lucy blushed and hugged him back.
"What are friends for?" After that, Natsu, Lucy, and Happy spent the rest of the day grocery shopping, and then they returned to the guild for lunch (where everything was repaired by a grumbling Gray); Natsu apologized like crazy for a whole hour before the three were on the move again. He could tell that the rest of the guild was shocked at his sudden mood change after this morning. He did try to not get into any fights, he really did. He hoped Erza saw that and wasn't going to punish him for what he did to Gray and the guild. Then they took a job from someone in town and finally, the trio ended back at Lucy's place for dinner. Natsu was glad that he met Lucy. Life around the guild was more fun and he couldn't help but want to get close to Lucy. She was a warm and kind person and he thought maybe, just maybe he was attracted to her. Even though she got angry with him and Happy for sleeping in her bed without permission, Natsu couldn't help it. He always wants to protect her, so what perfect way to do that if he sleeps in her bed? Even if she hates it.