KTKG Says: Alright, I'm back with another chapter for this collection of one-shots. Are you guys still interested? Anyways, on with the story and remember… I DON'T OWN FAIRY TAIL!

In Sickness, Part II

Something was off; Natsu Dragneel was sure of it.

The sun was out and shining, nothing but blue skies and the occasional white cloud here and there. Hm, so it wasn't the weather.

Onyx-colored eyes roamed their surroundings as coral-colored eyebrows met in confusion above them. There wasn't anything off with the guild either. Looking around he noticed that the regular people were milling about doing their everyday thing. Mira was at the bar as usual, her younger sister tending to an order beside her. Cana seated was front of her on the other side of the bar working on barrel number two of… whiskey, if his nose was right.

On the other side of the guild, Gray was caught up in a card game with Sting and Rogue, who were visiting, Erza sitting at the table with them eating a slice of cake and more than likely making sure no one was cheating. Juvia was hovering at a table a ways back from them, her sights set on his best friend and rival.

At the sound of a fight breaking out somewhere in a far corner of the guild (by the sounds of it Laxus and Gajeel), Natsu turned back to face his long forgotten plate of jalapenos covered in hot sauce and folded his arms in frustration.

Everything around him seemed as normal as ever, but something was definitely off.

His eyes wandered again as absentmindedly took another bite of his food when his eyes landed on Levy to find her alone in the corner reading a book as usua-

LUCY!

That was it! He felt off because Lucy had yet to make her appearance at the guild!

His eyes swung around to the huge clock that hung on the far wall next to the steps that led up to the second level. Immediately he frowned as his mind processed what the arms were telling him.

Where the hell was Lucy? It was way past her normal time…

"Hey Natsu! Where's Lushi at? She was supposed to buy me a fish for getting that mouse out of her apartment yesterday!"

Natsu glanced at his blue fur-covered partner and frowned. "She's not here yet for some reason Happy. She should have been here a while ago." Happy's huge eyes swung around the guild, looking for a familiar blonde haired head with it's signature side pony tail only to land back on his unhappy and slightly worried friend. After a moment, a frown matching Natsu's graced Happy's face as well.

"What's the matter boys?"

Both males at the table turned to find none other than Mirajane giving them a worried look. She surveyed the group again and noticed that a certain female was missing. "Where's Lucy? Is she not here?" When the two nodded, she placed her hand on her hip and gave them a look. "Why don't you go check on her at her apartment? I'm surprised you guys haven't already headed over there."

Natsu laughed nervously as the events of the previous day flashed through his mind. Lucy had been downright pissed that she had broken her window, and her was pretty sure that had been about ready to murder him for laughing at her reaction like that as well. "Well… Lucy might be a bit mad at us…" Happy gave him a look but he ignored it. They were a team, so if she was mad at Natsu then she was mad at Happy too. At least in his eyes.

"That's never stopped you before!"

Natsu's eyes widened slightly. Mira did have a point there.

Before the white-haired woman could say anything else he was up and out the door of the guild, Happy trailing not far behind him as he headed in the direction of Strawberry Street. Hopefully Lucy wasn't as mad as she was yesterday and he'd figure out why she didn't come to the guild today.

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"Natsu? Why aren't we going in?"

Natsu blinked himself out of the daze he had slipped into and looked at the blue furball beside him, Happy's huge eyes looking back at him in confusion. He look back at the door in front of them to find that his hand was already on the doorknob, and slightly embarrassed, he continued with what he had started and turned it, opening the door and letting the two of them into their teammate's home.

After the fiasco with Lucy's uninvited visitor the night before, Lucy had banned him from coming in through the window, saying that he probably left it open and that's how the rodent had probably gotten in.

He snorted at the memory, chuckling at the other reason why he couldn't come through his favorite entrance at the moment besides being banned.

Lucy had had a fit when the small brown mouse made it's appearance on her kitchen table, and without thinking, she threw the pan she had been about the cook with at the poor unsuspecting animal but missed entirely. Needless to say, within a couple of seconds Lucy found herself pan-less and windowless while Natsu, well…

He had had the laugh of his life.

Thinking back on it now, he felt himself shaking a bit with laughter. He couldn't help it! The screech that she had let out just before she launched her pan, on top of the face she had made, had been what did him in. He had been laughing so hard that Happy had been the one to actually do something about getting rid of the mouse.

Shaking his head, he brought himself back to reality just in time to see Happy disappear around the corner and into the kitchen. More than likely he was looking for his promised fish.

Looking around, he found the living room and dining room empty, everything clean and neat as always. The room wasn't as bright as normal though, thanks to the plywood he had placed over the window for the time being, but other than that, nothing was out of the ordinary.

Again, Natsu was overcome with the feeling that something was off.

Taking a deep breath, the feeling eased a bit. She was here, in her bedroom, he could smell it. He took another breath and paused in the middle of the hallway that led to Lucy's bedroom.

Her scent… wasn't quite normal.

He thought he was just imagining things when he had initially smelled it in the hallway, however, the closer he got to where Lucy was the stronger it got. It still smelled like her normal flowery scent however now there was another underlying scent there with it, something… alluring.

Shaking his head, he kept his breathing shallow as he continued on towards the bedroom. The scent was starting to make him lightheaded, but not in a bad way. Eventually he got himself together enough to finally knock on the closed door. He had learned his lesson last time he had barged in on her.

Not that he hadn't seen anything he didn't like before his skull was bashed in.

"Yo, Luce! You in there?"

The groan that came back at him through the wood had him instantly opening the door, even though she hadn't technically said it was okay for him to do so.

The sight that greeted him had his eyebrows reaching for the sky.

There, in the middle of the bed was Lucy Heartfilia in the most compromising position that he had ever seen her in. If Gray were here with him, he was sure that he would have cracked some comment that would have left both of them with cracked skulls.

Her face was buried in the pink duvet, her knees bent and tucked beneath her. It would have simply looked like she was doing some sort of yoga pose to the average person, if it weren't for the large pillow stuffed between her thighs and abdomen which unfortunately made her rather plump rear stick straight up in the air.

What was even more unfortunate for her was the fact that she was at an angle on her bed, so when Natsu entered her room he had been greeted full on by her derriere. Thank goodness she was dressed in sweatpants and a large t-shirt. If she had been in her regular attire, he was sure he would have died of blood loss through his nose. Clearing his throat, he attempted to say something.

"Um… are you okay?"

The groan that came back at him told him the answer would in fact be a 'no'.

Slowly, cautiously, he approached the bed but stopped for a second when he was smacked once again in the face with that new scent of hers. Another scent caught his attention however and had him rushing over to her side.

"Lucy! Are you hurt?!"

Before he knew it he was on the bed, pulling her out of her bend, when she groaned in protest and swatted half-heartedly at him. "Natsuuuuu~~! I'm fine just, leave me alone!" He ignored her, instead pulling her into his lap as he pushed the huge pillow aside to survey her. After a moment, she stopped trying to get rid of him and sagged against him, his arm supporting her back as she gave up and leaned into him. Trying to ignore the way she felt pressed up against him, in his lap no less, he took the moment to look her over.

From what he could tell she looked alright. Aside from the fact that her face was slightly flushed for some reason, he didn't see any visible wounds or anything. He didn't dare pat her down, as he was pushing it already with yanking her into the position they were currently in. Still, he thought he had smelled…

Wait a minute, was she wearing his clothes?

"I'm fine Natsu. Honest."

Her breath was hot against his neck as she mumbled the words out, and he just barely suppressed a shudder. As much as he wanted to believe her, he didn't. "Bullshit. If you were okay I wouldn't have found you with your ass in the air groaning in pain. Now fess up, something's wrong." He felt her take a breath to reply but he cut her off, knowing her well enough to know that she was going to put on another front. "Don't lie to me Luce, I smell blood on you."

At his last comment, he felt Lucy freeze in his lap.

Oh shit, something was wrong.

Lucy on the other hand was actually freezing in mortification. He could smell it on her? Well of course he could, he was Natsu, the man who could smell food three miles away, so it should be no surprise he could smell that she was on her monthly since he was up close and personal like this with her.

How was she supposed to explain this to him? He couldn't have a clue what was actually going on since he thought she was hurt! Maybe she should just go along with it? She raised her eyes to look at him through her bangs only to find him giving her a serious look. Yeah, on second thought, maybe she shouldn't. If she went along and said she was hurt, he was going to want to play nurse, and there was no way that she was going to have him try to bandage her down there!

Ugh, time to fess up.

Mavis, this was going to be awkward.

"Um… yeah, I'm bleeding, but I'm not injured." He cocked his head to the side at her answer and she couldn't help but think of how cute he looked like that. "What do you mean?"

Of course he would ask that.

Sighing, Lucy peeled herself away from him, sliding off of his lap and onto the duvet. Instantly, she missed his warmth for more than one reason, but mainly because his warm body eased her cramps at the moment. Taking a deep breath, she attempted to answer his question in a way that wouldn't have her wanting the ground to open up and swallow her.

Not possible.

"Well… you see… once a month, women go through this thing where our bodies… um… cleanse themselves…?"

"By bleeding?"

She blanched, realizing what she said and how he took it, but it was the truth. Bravely, she continued on. "Um, yeah. By bleeding. Anyways, it's a natural process, basically nature's way of telling you you're not pregnant, although there are some nasty side effects. " His eyebrows raised as an indication for her to continue and she frowned. Why couldn't he just take her explanation at face-value and leave it at that! "Um, yeah. I get really bad cramps in my back and stomach and I also get bad headaches. I get really tired and really cranky too, so I apologize now if I'm worse than usual."

She watched silently as Natsu silently took everything in, silently praying that he just accepted her explanation this time because honestly, she didn't want to talk about it anymore. Eventually he leaned back on his hands, his eyes finally catching her downcast ones. Finally, after what seemed like forever, Natsu opened his mouth to give her a response.

"So, basically you're on your period."

Lucy felt as if her eyes were going to pop out of her head. What the hell, he already knew about periods and DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING?! "Wha-What? You already know about periods? AND YOU DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING!?"

He scratched the back of his head nervously, looking at his toes at the end of his now stretched out feet on her bed. "Well yeah… I mean, I did live with Erza and the other girls at the guild for a while. I I didn't know what exactly a period actually was until you just told me now though. Macao just told me that when women basically go crazy once a month for a couple of days they're on their period and to watch out. I didn't know that you actually go through all of… that. I normally try to stay away from girls when they're really cranky at that time."

He brought his eyes back around to find Lucy looking at him with her mouth slightly hanging open, her eyes wide as dinner plates. Sitting up straight, he fidgeted a bit with his muffler as he asked, "Is there anything I can do to help?"

Her eyes widened further and he wondered if he had said something wrong. He was relieved that she wasn't seriously injured or anything, but she was still in pain and he wanted to help her feel better. He honestly really hated seeing her in any kind of pain. And anyways, when he thought about it, he owed her since she helped him out a couple of weeks ago when he was sick.

Lucy could feel her face heat up at his question. She couldn't believe that not only did he already know about periods, he was asking what he could do to help her out! Looking at his expression, she knew he was genuine in wanting to help her.

A cramp hit her hard out of nowhere and she folded in on herself with a hiss. Natsu scurried over to her side and placed his warm hand over hers where they were clutched at her stomach, moving them out of the way and putting his own in their place. Instantly she relaxed as the warmth from his hands spread throughout her body, relaxing her muscles and easing her pain enormously.

Suddenly she was hit with an idea.

Peeking up at his concerned face through her bangs once again, she bit her lower lip in apprehension. He wanted to help her right? And this would seriously help her, really it would, but…

"You okay Luce?"

Well, he looked like he really wanted to help her so, why not? "Um, there is one thing you could do to help me…"

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Lucy groaned as she slowly gained consciousness.

She wasn't in pain or anything, which was a really good thing considering how she had been feeling earlier. She was incredibly hot though, so much so that she was sweating to the point that her t-shirt was drenched. The reason for her spike in temperature let out a soft snore behind her, ruffling her bangs lightly. As much as she wanted to continue to lie there, she needed to get up and clean herself up. There was one problem though…

Natsu had her on lockdown in his arms and was currently spooning her in his sleep.

Inside, Lucy was squealing with delight. This wasn't the first time that she had awakened to find Nastu wrapped around her. As a matter of fact, he did it on a regular, although it was more than likely unintentional. There'd been so many times that she'd catch him snuggling up to things like pillows and Happy that she had just decided that Natsu was a cuddly person (which she thought was freaking cute by the way).

The real reason why she was currently emitting high-pitched noises to herself in her head was because Natsu was currently cuddling her willingly.

Normally, Lucy's periods weren't this bad. She would have a bit of cramping in the morning and a bit in the evening. It was normally nothing too serious and nothing her heating pad couldn't fix. Unfortunately for her, this period was one of her worst ones yet, and because a little rodent decided to chew through the wires of her heating pad so her normal remedy was out of commission.

That's okay, because she had a better heating pad now and his name was Natsu Dragneel.

She couldn't believe that he had agreed to basically snuggle with her, but because of his warm touch on her stomach helped her cramps, she had practically begged him. Surprisingly though, it didn't take much convincing for him to go along with it. Smiling to herself, she kicked off her socks and snuggled down further into his embrace so that her head was tucked right under his chin. Natsu's higher than normal body temperature usually was uncomfortable for her sometimes, especially when he crept into her bed during particularly hot summer nights. Right now though, she was in absolute heaven, even if she was sweating buckets on her couch.

A loud snore from beneath her alerted her to the fact that Happy had migrated from the back of the couch to the floor some time during her nap. The three of them had settled in her living room earlier on the couch to watch a movie while on TV while Natsu settled into his new role as her new personal heater. Looking at the clock on the far wall by her desk, she was surprised to see that they've been asleep for some time. She couldn't remember what movie they had been watching but it was boring according to Natsu who promptly fell asleep thirty minutes into it.

Her thoughts were interrupted by her stomach, which decided at the moment to growl loudly.

Natsu shifted suddenly behind her and she froze, silently praying that her stomach hadn't woke him up. He stretched slightly, his arm coming away from her waist before he brought it back down to wrap it around her once again. When he snuggled into her from behind, complete with nuzzling the top of her head, it took all of Lucy's self-control to keep her squeal of epic proportions locked in her throat.

Ignoring her stomach's whining, she snuggled back in return, sticking her feet between his bent legs. She would get up and make something to eat in a little bit, right after this second nap she was about to take since Natsu's warmth and even breathing were lulling her back to sleep.

Just before she slipped completely into unconsciousness, Lucy had one final thought.

She had never been more thankful for her period in her life, seeing as it just taught her that Natsu cuddles while cramping were the best. Not that they weren't every other day it's just that now, she had an excuse to ask for them!

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KTKG Says: Okay, so that turned out way longer than I thought it would. So, what do you guys think? It was just a little idea that popped into my head and I thought it would fit here. I kinda saw this going in another direction (like having Natsu go to the store to get pads/tampons) but I decided to make it a bit fluffy. Did you like it? Love it? Meh? Let me know!