Prologue: The Hostess Club

In the bustling city of Tokyo, tucked between a ramen shop and a clothing store, in the Kabukicho district, nestled the Yakuza owned Hostess bar: Fairy Tail. It was open twenty four hours a day, fitting in with the city that never sleeps. It was one of the best places to unwind after a long week. The atmosphere was surreal; full of singing, laughter and joy- a welcome change from the soul crushing weight of life in the city.

Friday night was a time when the bar was always packed. The customers were a mix of Yakuza and civilians, often keeping with the same people they came with. Some had 'illegal' business to attend to in the private rooms while others hung around good naturedly in the main floor, drinking with friends, singing, or flirting with the beautiful hostesses.

One of the most popular hostesses was the compassionate and beautiful Lucy Heartfillia. She could put a smile on anyone's face. Feeling down? She'll cheer you right up with her breathtaking smile and a bowl of Miso soup accompanied by a bowl of rice. Need a partner for a duet? She's a songbird. Want a drink? She'll ask how many.

She was a beauty and probably why she had gotten the job so quickly. She'd only been working at Fairy Tail for three months and almost instantly, she went from the awkward new girl to the main attraction.

"Welcome to Fairy Tail!" Lucy had a cheerful smile plastered on her face as she led a co-ed group of, what seemed like, university students to a booth on the main floor. The booth itself was only ten feet away from the stage with three leather sofas surrounding a rectangular table.

"Is this your first time here?" She asked.

"Yeah, couple of my friends recommended it." The self-appointed leader of the group answered. His eyes darted around and soaked up every aspect of the place before they returned to her. He leaned forward and rested his chin on his hand. A flirtatious grin grew on his face. "So, tell me. What makes Fairy Tail so special?"

Lucy knew what the grin implied but her brilliant smile never left. "The atmosphere of course! Just look around you. People are laughing, singing and having fun. They come here to relax and unwind after a stressful day. Speaking of stressful days," The blonde hostess turned back to the students. "Why are you lot here? Shouldn't you be studying or something?"

They all groaned simultaneously.

"Aww, don't bring up studying! Our exams are coming up and I came here to forget about them." A girl with a high ponytail buried her head in her hands. She was stressed out; all of them were.

"Yeah," Another sighed, this time male. "I don't know how well I'll do on my creative writing exam."

Lucy perked.

"Pfft," The ponytail girl rolled her eyes at her companion's words. "We all know you'll do fine. Your average is like 95% while the rest of us are 80%." Her fingers drew lazy circles on the wooden table.

"You take creative writing classes?" Lucy's gaze was directed at the male with the supposed 95% average.

"Yeah, but I'm not very good at it." He rubbed the back of his neck and gave her an awkward smile.

"Bullshit." Ponytail girl butted in. "This kid, I swear he is our version of Stephen King. His works are dark and makes you question your very existence." She shivered. "It's chilling."

"Ellie thinks it's 'chilling' but I disagree. I think that humanity is an ugly thing. You see, we are like a moving mass of meat that is colonizing the Earth. We take, pollute, and eliminate everything we see as a threat. We care only about ourselves and how we, individually, can live our life to the happiest extent, no matter how many people or creatures we have to step on to reach that goal. Furthermore, we-" His sentence was abruptly cut off by a hand slapping over his mouth. Only a few muffles escaped.

"Sae, that's enough of that. We came here to relax, not listen to you talk about your story." The self-appointed leader removed his hand and straightened up. His attention went back to the blonde hostess.

"Would you mind bringing us drinks? I'll have a Happoshu"

"Chuhai for me."

"Highball."

Lucy smiled. "Coming right up!" She quickly made her way to the bar and placed their orders. The barmaid beauty set the icy cold drinks on a serving tray before she took more orders from the various hostesses and customers. Friday nights were always the busiest.

With a bounce in her step, Lucy set the drinks on the university group's table.

"Here are your drinks. Is there anything else I can do for you?" She batted her doe like eyes at the 'leader 'of the group. The trick always worked and sure enough, the man was caught in her web.

Six minutes later, Lucy was in his lap. Her elegant fingers gently played with the collar of his shirt while she whispered sweet nothings in his ear. He was having the time of his life with a busty blonde hostess in his lap. His two friends, they would have protested if they weren't drunk. But all that came out of their mouths was a slurry of incoherent words.

Five minutes after, Lucy walked away from the table with bounce in her step and her pocket full of money. She didn't steal it by any means. She convinced them to give her a huge tip with only her words and feather light caresses. It was easy-university students were always easy pickings, even simpler if they were male.

The night went on. The hostess bar was incredibly busy. Anyone from the outside could see that.

"Oi punk! Yer wanna fight?!"

"Tch, no offence but I don't want to beat up an old man. It'll just leave a bad taste in my mouth."

"Why you little-!" A sluggish fist came swinging. The man ducked with a grin on his face.

"Is that the best you can do?" He was waiting. His opponent, by the smell of his breath and sluggish movements, was drunk. His physique was bad as well with hunched shoulders, a small beer belly and balding head. He looked to be about in his early fifties. At around this age his bones and muscles would be weak and start to deteriorate.

Best course of action? Wait for the old man to tire himself out.

After ten missed attacks, the man was out of breath. He steadied himself on his knees before glaring at the kid through his sweat laden hair. The kid just shook his head and 'tsked.'

"Old man, you really outta take some cardio." With a swing of his leg, he knocked his attacker out cold. The kid left the man in the streets before he pulled his white scarf closer around his neck. It was his 6th birthday gift from his father- the last one before he ran out on him and his mother. That bastard.

Someone would find the unconscious man and drag his ass to a hospital. The kid made sure he didn't kill or severely injure the man.

As he walked down the chilly streets, his ears were drawn to the sounds of music. His eyes were drawn to the festive little bar squeezed between a ramen shop and a closed clothing store. He squinted, barely able to make out the bar's name in the darkness; Fairy Tail. What a strange name for a yakuza owned bar.

He glanced at the night sky. The moon was covered by thick clouds, obscuring it from the world below. The night was still young.

His worn out sneakers took him to the doors of the lively club's twin doors. Bar club lights danced in his onyx eyes, able to lull any passerby into the bar and take all their money. However, neither the atmosphere nor lights compared to the busty blonde hostess who served tables and entertained the guests.

The kid's heart sped up in his chest, blood rushed to his ears, endorphins released in his brain. He just had to meet her. Before his brain could drift down from the high of dopamine, he was on a barstool contemplating how to get the blonde's attention.

"What can I get'cha?" He was shook from his thoughts by a voice surely befitting of an angel. It was her. He had to play it cool, suave, sexy.

"Um, I'll take a beer?" It came out as more of a question than an answer.

The hostess giggled cutely, all part of the job. "Sure," Lucy walked behind the bar and gestured to the wide selection of chilled beers in the fridge. "What kind would you like? We've got Saporo premium, Kirin Ichiban, Orion draft, Asashi super dry. You name it, we got it." She flashed a breath taking smile, designed to entrap anyone- male or female- into her tangled web. The hostess did a quick scan of the man in front of her.

His hair. His pink hair. Who in the world has pink hair? It has got to be dyed; no way was that natural.

"…Kirin Ichiban" He said with hesitation. He wasn't a drinker.

"You got it," A wink was sent his way as she grabbed a chilled on from the fridge and popped open the top. "I've never seen you around these parts before. Are you new?" The icy beer was placed in front of the pink haired man on a small coaster.

He shook his head. "I live on the other side of town. I came here to …relieve some stress." It was partially true. He had to get out of the house. Mom was having another fit. He needed to get away; get away from her.

"You've come to the right place." Her fake smile reached her eyes as she watched the pink haired man. He was young and quite handsome; probably has a lot of money as well. Let's see how much she can get out of him. "Oh! I haven't even introduced myself yet. I'm Lucy, Lucy Caelum." He didn't need to know what her real last name was. It was too risky. He could be a kidnapper working for her aristocratic father.

Lucy, the name rolled off his tongue like melted chocolate.

Caelum, a constellation in the night sky; a cluster of stars forming an elegant shape- just like her.

"I'm Natsu."

"Natsu, Natsu…" She tested the name on her perfect lips, tapping her manicured nails against her flawless cheek. Brown eyes trailed up the man in front of her. Said man shivered under her gaze. He felt small and weak when she looked at him like that. Normally he'd be fine with anyone attempting to do an analytic scan of him but Lucy; Lucy just sent shudders up and down his spine. It was… pleasant yet, unnerving.

"If you don't mind me asking, what kind of dye do you use?"

"… Uh, come again?" What was she talking about?

Lucy gestured to the mop of pink hair that sat messily- in the best way possible- on top his head. "Your hair- that color doesn't occur in nature." She leaned in closer for a better look, purposely giving pinky an eyeful of her cleavage. "I can't even see the roots. Seriously, what kind of dye do you use?"

Natsu's brain was currently trying to form cohesive sentences that didn't consist of awkward talk or her breasts in front of his face.

"I um, don't use any d-dyes." Scarlet arose to his face, tinging the tips of his ears which were covered by his salmon colored hair. Thank goodness he forgot to get a haircut; otherwise she might see his red ears and laugh at him.

The blonde pulled back, shocked. "I don't believe you. Your hair has got to be dyed. Pink isn't a natural color for human hair."

The 'pink' statement got him riled up. "My hair is salmon, not pink. There is a big difference." A slight frown appeared on his face. He hated when people said he had pink hair. It was salmon- Salmon.

"Salmon still isn't a natural hair color."

"Neither is blue but that guy over there has 'natural' blue hair." Lucy glanced to where he was pointing and sure enough, there was a blue haired man with a tattoo over his eye. There was no way his hair was naturally blue. Perhaps he'd just gotten a perm? No, she'd seen him before, multiple times actually. The blonde attempted to jog her memory of the blue haired man.

Bingo. He was a part of the Yakuza gang that owned this club. She'd seen his telltale hair going in and out of the private rooms where deals and negotiations were made since she started working here. He's been in the club quite often, meaning he was a lower classed Yakuza member; often doing the gritty jobs and ending up in jail.

Sucks.

Lucy's attention went back to the pink- salmon haired man. Her eyes were filled with an uncomprehend-able emotion. "…Touche."

The next couple of hours were a blur to the both of them. The blonde and the salmon haired man chatted up a storm, making witty remarks, exchanging stories and flirting with one another. Before either of them knew it, Lucy's shift was over. With a warm smile, a feather light caress on his cheek and her number written on his hand, the blonde began her trek home.

The journey back was thirty minutes total and all one had to do was take a bus to Ichigo Street and follow the river surrounded by cobblestone until the smell of fish prevailed.

Lucy sighed as she tiredly climbed up the stairs to her shack of an apartment above a small fish and seafood store. Her feet ached from hours of wearing torturous high heels, her eyes started to droop as the fogginess of sleep beckoned her.

"LUCY!"

Her spine snapped straight and the wave of fog was pushed out of her mind. She hated that voice- the voice of her pudgy landlady always demanding rent and trying to scam her. A grimace-smile crawled onto her face as the thundering footsteps drew closer and closer.

Lucy put on the most award winning smile she had in her and turned to her personal devil-landlord. "Ah, Mrs. Mamiko, you're looking lovely as usual-"

"Cut the crap, your rent's due. This month is 70,000 yen- pay up." The blonde nodded, clearly strained. She dug through her purse to pull out the money she earned from the past week, counted it in front of her landlord and handed it over before she went and unlocked her apartment.

Lucy threw her purse on her bed and collapsed face first into it, not even bothering to take off her heels.

"My hard earned money- gone." She groaned pathetically before a sudden weight settled on her back.

"Loke, get off." It took a few tries but Lucy managed to wrestle her cat off her back. The tabby gave a loud meow that sounded oddly smug as if he pooped somewhere he wasn't supposed to.

"Shh, quiet down Loke or my landlady will kill you and turn you into a scarf. She's been complaining about noises recently and I don't want you to become one- I'm not even supposed to have any pets here." Her cheeks puffed as she held the cat under his armpits, letting his legs dangle freely. Loke just stared at his owner with an unimpressed look across his feline features before he wiggled out of her grip and decided to settle himself on her chest, purring in delight.

"Crazy cat. You know, one of these days you're going to get caught and eaten while I get evicted, live on the streets and end up working as a prostitute." Lucy scratched his ears which elicited another purr from the feline. Her eyes drooped, the night of working finally started to catch up to her. Just as sleep was about to pull her under, her phone vibrated- a new text message.

Chocolate brown eyes opened wearily as she grabbed her purse and pulled out two phones; a work phone and her personal phone. She swiped open the work phone and a small smile lit up her face. It was a text sent by the pink-salmon haired man from the bar- Natsu Dragneel, another customer entranced by the blonde who would undoubtedly come to visit her again and again, each time bringing more money to spend on drinks with her.

Lucy texted back and before long, the two of them texted until the sun rose.

-Storm Caleum