"Welcome home, cupcake. How was school?"
Natsu happily greeted his daughter as she walked in through the door. However, she just threw her backpack aside and threw herself on the couch in the living room.
"… Fine"
She responded clearly irritated while lazily blowing her scarlet hair off her face.
"Naza? What's wrong? Did something happen?"
It didn't require Natsu's superhuman senses to realize that his daughter was in a bad mood. Something must have happened in school again.
"Nothiiing."
Naza responded. She did not want to talk about it at all.
Natsu put the plates he was cleaning aside and sat himself down right next to his lovely little daughter. Naza, however, didn't bother to look at him and annoyingly continued to zap through the channels on TV, desperately searching for something interesting to watch.
"Come on. Tell daddy what happened~"
Natsu teasingly poked her cheeks to at least get some sort of response from Naza but she didn't react at all. Instead, her eyes got misty and she started to look down on the floor.
"I got into a fight again"
"…"
Of course, Natsu didn't miss the few scratches on his daughter but he didn't want to ask about it specifically. He already guessed what they were all about though. He was now just looking at her worriedly, waiting for Naza to tell the whole story.
"They made fun of you again! Those idiots always talk bullshit about you. They say you are a dragon and not a human and things like that…"
Naza was getting mad again as she recalled the events that happened earlier that day. It was nothing new though. A lot of people were talking and gossiping about Natsu like he was some escaped animal.
Natsu smiled lightly as he once again realized how his daughter resembled him. Sure there were lots of times when she resembled her mother like she was just a younger version of her like her strictness or her intolerance towards chaos or disorder. But at times like this Natsu saw his old self in his daughter. He recalled the times when Igneel left him and everyone made fun of him for telling everyone that he was the son of a dragon. Like Naza now, Natsu couldn't tame his temper and always got himself into fights, just like Naza. That's probably the major reason he couldn't be mad at her like her mother would be in these situations. Luckily, she wasn't home now so Natsu and Naza could just have this emotional moment.
"I know, that you notice everything even if I try to prevent you from it. I know you hear it from the other kids or the parents when they talk on the playground.
Other daddies don't make money by slaying monsters, get into trouble with the council or breathe fire."
Natsu put his arm around his daughter and pulled her closer to her. With Natsu's arm around her, she was now resting her head on her father's chest. No matter, how sad or angry she was before, the gentle rhythm of Natsu's heart that beat ever so strongly and the heat his body radiated was just so calming that all her stress was getting washed away. Naza closed her eyes and continued to her father.
"The other kids, parents or even the whole neighborhood may think that Daddy is doing bad and inhumane things but I do all those things so that you never have to do what I had to do once. The same goes for your mother you know. She works hard because she loves you so much, just like me.
But that's also the reason why I'm always away and why you always miss me. The answer when you ask Mommy why Daddy is on TV or why he always travels to dangerous places.
It's only important that you know: I'll always come back home!"
That's true. There have been so many times when she saw scary monsters on TV that came out of nowhere and tried to destroy everything on its way. She knew that her father was the first one to face those monsters she always heard horror stories about. So eventually, when everybody sees Natsu fighting those superhuman beings they associate him with the very things he was fighting against. Naza hated it that those blind people were so scared shitless by those monsters and desperately tried to find someone that was responsible for their appearances, so they just started to blame Natsu.
Before, she was afraid to let her Daddy go. Always, fearing that the next time he leaves through that door could his last time, that everybody casual "see ya" could be a farewell forever. Mommy was like that too once but Natsu eventually persuaded that it is enough already to have Naza's father to risk his life all the time. It would be too hard to bear the fear of losing both of her parents at the same time. Of course, Mommy was not that weak either. In fact, she was probably just as strong as Daddy, probably even stronger, but she reluctantly agreed to let Natsu do the fighting on his own. At least, when it was not too tough of a fight. When a truly powerful monster appears, Mommy wouldn't dare to let Daddy go alone. God forbid what she would do when she realizes that Natsu went on such a mission on his own.
"They wanted to take everything from us at some point. Even your place at school. Our house, our garden and everything else we had. But you know, we were strong. We didn't just agree to their plans. It's not always a good attitude to resist everyone else and just stubbornly push through. I know you are just like that too, cupcake. You will always choose to fight instead of simply accept what others say, even if they are way more in numbers. Even though I should scold you for picking so many fights for reasons that many would consider trivial, I can't help but be proud of you, you know? The urge to always protect your family and everything you hold dear is nothing but astounding. What else can I do but to be proud of the great girl you have become?"
Naza's eyes widened in surprise at the sudden exclaim of pride by her father. She could feel her usually pale cheeks turned a light shade of pink. The feelings of love and happiness that rushed through her heart was too much for her to contain. In response, she buried her face deeper into Natsu's hug to hide her embarrassment.
"Of course, they find mistakes when they genuinely search for them. Even if they try to cuss our family,
They are the bad ones, we're the good ones"
Surprised by that statement she looked up at her Daddy's face questionably just to be greeted with a genuine smile by Natsu. The smile was enough to burn away every concern Naza subconsciously had. If she wasn't before, now she was completely sure that there was nothing wrong with this family. It had everything a family needed: support, trust, and love beyond imagination.
"You don't need to be friends with everyone like that. Having a few enemies isn't actually that bad either but there will be those special that will be able to overlook all these stupid prejudices. When you find these rare people make sure to befriend them. Those people that see for who you are and not for what other people tell you to be, will be true friends. Friends you can trust with everything. Those people will support you when you need them but don't forget to support them when they need you too, okay? You have to rely on each other when the time comes."
Naza knew exactly what her father meant. There weren't many kids around her that didn't believe those stupid accusations or could handle Naza's strictness and temper. She immediately thought about the daughter of aunty Lucy and uncle Gray or the twins of aunty Mirajane. Those were the ones she considered her closest friends. Friends that would rely on each other for a lifetime. Having them, Naza didn't feel like she needed many more friends. They were the best friends she could ever imagine, even if they could be a little weird sometimes. Naza smiled as she recalled all the adventures she experienced together with friends up until now. Memories that would last a lifetime.
"Ah, but try to keep it a secret that I actually encouraged you after you got into a fight again. When Mommy asks, and trust me she will, just pretend that I scolded you or anything like that. I love you and I am so proud of you, cupcake"
Natsu suddenly proclaimed before he put his index finger on his lips to signal her to keep this Father-Daughter moment a secret from Mommy. She had heard those words so often by her parents up until now but it never felt like something that she took for granted. Every time she felt proud of herself to have these great parents by her side. This time too, these words were enough to repel every doubt the people around her planted into her mind.
"Love you too, Daddy"
Naza happily shouted completely happy to share this little secret with her father. She just hugged her Daddy as tightly as she could, completely ignoring the scarlet hair that started to tickle Natsu's chest. Naza just wanted this moment to last for a while longer.