Disclaimer: Fairy Tail is owned by Hiro Mashima. This sorry is of my own design, and is not Canon in any way.

Author's Note: Hey guys, WillVanry here. This story is not original, I just decided to put my own twist on it. I can name at least three other writers who did the same thing. Speaking of other writers, the person who influenced me to write this is my friend FTNaLuCelestialFire. Quite the mouthful, don't you think? This story is somewhat influenced by their work, but it's my hand that brought these words to life. Also, this story has no connection to my other Fairy Tail story, The Dragon's Little Fairy.

I'm going to throw a few limes in the occasional chapter from time to time, but no lemons until much later. Until then, it's rated M for language. You were warned.

Anyway, enjoy!

Black Tears Don't Hide In Rain

Chapter 1: A chaotic afternoon

Lucy kicked at a few pebbles on the street grumbling about prices and keys, when she heard a bunch of girls squeal in delight. Curious, she walked over to them. "Hey!" she greeted them cheerily. "What's going on?"

One of the girls gasped. "You haven't heard? The Salamander's in town!"

"Oh my gods, really?!" Lucy usually didn't traffic with gossip, but she wasn't about to let her chance of meeting a celebrity slip away. "But why would he visit a small port city like Hargeon?"

"Who cares why he's here! The reason doesn't change the fact that he's really here!"

Lucy couldn't argue with that. When the group of friends asked Lucy if she wanted to go with them to meet Salamander, she couldn't have been happier.

On the way over to where Salamander was, Lucy's foot snagged on an uneven flagstone and tripped. Attempting to keep herself on her feet, she took a few clumsy steps and ran face-first into a wall. Or at least, it felt like a wall.

"Watch where the fuck you're going, blondie."

That voice. Oh sweet Mavis, that voice! Just the sound of it was enough to melt Lucy's heart. It was ritch and dark, alluring and terrifying. It was beautiful beyond explination, but she could tell that the owner of the voice was extremely dangerous. If Lucy had to make a comparison, she'd say it was like melted dark chocolate mixed with blood.

"Yo wierdo! You heard what I said?!"

Lucy snapped out of the trance-like state she was in and looked up to see a man in a cloak. His hood was drawn, and he was wearing a white, scaly-looking scarf, but from what little she could see, he was gorgeous. "Huh?" she uttered, sounding very unintelligent.

"I said, watch where you're going!"

"I-Im s-sorry, I didn't mean to run into you!" Lucy stammered.

The guy snorted. "I know. That's why you're still alive." Then he turned and walked away, cloak billowing outward to reveal an open vest. The end of his scarf fluttered in the breeze. Suddenly, there was a huge gust of wind, and the guy's scarf came loose. The current of air smacked the length of stark-white fabric into Lucy's face. Between the time when the scarf hit her and when she peeled it off, the stranger dissapeared, so Lucy decided to keep it until (if ever) she saw him again. She folded it up and put it in her purse and went back to her new little group of friends.

When Lucy rejoined the group of girls, she could see they were just as shocked by what happened as she was.

"Did you see his torso?" one of the girls giggled as they continued onto their destination. "You could grind meat on those abs!"

Another girl snickered at her friend's remark. "Yeah, and his chest was perfect! What did you notice?" The question was directed at Lucy.

Lucy's face heated up as she blushed. "His voice."

"His… voice." a third girl said, clearly unimpressed. "That's all?"

"Did you even hear it?!" Lucy exclaimed breathlessly. "If he asked me to, I would've done anything he wanted without a second thought!"

The girls were more intrigued than ever.

They continued to chat with each other until they reached an enormous horde of girls circling around someone. They heard screaming, swooning, and a whole lot of "Salamander-san!" They all looked at each other and broke out into laughter as they merged with the crowd. Somehow, Lucy lost her new-found friends, and in the process of finding them got pushed into the middle of the circle. There was a guy standing there, a guy she had never seen before.

Lucy pointed at the guy, and in a confused tone asked "Who the fuck are you?"

He didn't look very offended. In fact, he was acting really cocky when he responded. "Hello, beautiful lady! You must have heard of me by now. I'm the illustrious Salamander!" he shouted the last part while striking a really dumb pose.

"No you're not." Lucy said flippantly. "But what you really are is the worst con artist I've ever seen."

"What ever do you mean, young lady?" It was a well-rehearsed line.

"For starters, the real Salamander's hair is pink, he's sometimes followed by a blue cat, he always wears a cloak…" she saw the cracks in his facade deepen and spread as she listed more and more reasons why. "And to top it all off, the real Salamander hates people!"

All the girls were silent for a few seconds. Then out of nowhere, someone shouted "Get that fraud!" and they crashed down on the navy-blue haired idiot. Lucy was pushed out of the crowd, but she didn't care.

Lucy ended up getting bored of Hargeon by midday, so she bought a one-way ticket for Magnolia.

As Lucy boarded the train, she saw the cloaked guy from earlier sitting in a booth hunched over like he wasn't feeling very well. Sitting next to him was a blue cat.

Lucy walked over to the guy, and touched his shoulder lightly. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Natsu's got motion sickness. He'll be fine."

Lucy looked around for a small child, as that was what the voice sounded like.

"No, silly, I'm over here."

She looked at the oddly colored cat, and saw an unusual intelligence shine in it's eyes.

"Hi! I'm Happy!"

"A talking cat?!" Lucy screamed in shock.

Then her attention was drawn back to the guy, whose cloak had slipped off. She could now see that he was not a man, but a boy around her age. Eighteen, maybe nineteen at the most. And he had spiky, bright pink hair. Lucy reached into her purse and pulled out the scarf, and she finally put two and two together. The kid right in front of her, incapacitated with motion sickness, was none other than Natsu Drakon, Fairy Tail's resident Chaos Dragon Slayer.

As frightened as she was by this new information, Lucy's kindness outweighed her fear. "Move it, cat." She shoved Happy out of the way, then took his seat. She gently pulled Natsu toward her, and his head landed in her lap. Natsu nuzzled her thigh, took a deep breath in through his nose, and let it out in a gentle sigh. Before Lucy could blink, he was fast asleep.

"So, what's your name?" the blue cat asked.

Lucy smiled nervously. "My name is Lucy Heart-" She stopped herself mid sentence.

"Your last name is Heart? So that's why you're so caring!"

"Yeah, exactly…" Lucy let the little blue animal believe the misconception. She nervously started to pet Natsu's silky pink hair surprised at how soft it was, but jerked her hand away when he started to make a weird rolling, rumbling noise. Cautiously, Lucy slowly placed her palm on Natsu's chest. "Holy shit, I think he's purring!"

Of course, the cat found it hilarious.

Hey, guys! I'm back!

I know what you're thinking: "This is a little bit too much for a first meeting." Well, you're not wrong. It is a bit much. However, it's going to tie into the next chapter. (Natsu feels humiliated at needing help from a human)

Anyway, please leave a review and tell me what you thought of this chapter. I need to know how many people like it and if I should continue it.

Thanks always!

WillVanry.