Author's Note: Welcome!

I hope you're ready for some action (more like drama I guess) packed bullshit, because it's coming soon.

LoriStevens: I don't really know what Nashi's general personality is like, but I guess Sakura's is the closest to it, she just has a different name. For a reason, I might add ;)

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Oshibana

It's the Japanese name of...

xXxXx

'When will this ride from hell stop?' asked a very green faced seventeen-year-old Ryū Dragneel as he tried to find a comfortable sitting position on the train "from hell".

'It'll be over soon, Ryū,' said a white exceed named Corban, petting the blonde boy's spiky head.

They were on their way to Oshibana, a town that's main point was the railway station, so it wasn't hard to find a train that took them there. Ryū obviously protested, saying it would be fine if they just walked, but Corban told him that it would take too much time to walk there on foot.

The reason they came to this town was a job request, which they didn't know the details of, because the flier only said the reward was 500,000 jewels, but that was enough for the two of them to accept the job immediately.

'Did it stop?' muttered Ryū, then he suddenly perked up as he realized that yes, the train had stopped. 'We're finally there!'

And with that he ran off to the platform, pushing everyone out of the way and kissing the ground in joy. Corban sweatdropped as he flew towards his partner, his brown coat flapping in the wind behind him. It was slightly bigger than it should've been, not to mention he didn't bother with buttoning it up. Luckily his mother didn't see it, because Mavis help them if Carla finds one of his sons looking like a hooligan.

Ryū himself was wearing a red T-shirt, dark green trousers and of course, the precious white scaly scarf that his father gave him when he was younger.

'Now, what did that paper say, where does the client live?' asked Ryū more to himself, as he took out the job flier from his pocket. His dark hazel eyes scanned it for no longer than a second, before he already put it away.

'So?' asked Corban as they started walking into town.

'Avocado Street. Tell me if you see it!'

'Aye! I see it.' Corban pointed left towards a short street.

'Great job, Corban!' cheered Ryū as he took off towards the only house that was on the street.

He rang the doorbell, and a few minutes later the door opened slightly. Ryū had to look down to see a small girl, her brown hair in two long braides on each side, blinking up at him curiously with her big blue eyes.

'Hello there. Are your parents home?' asked Ryū, crouching down to her level, but she simply shook her head. 'Do you know when they'll be back?' She shook her head again. 'I see. Thank you. Just an advice: you shouldn't open the door for strangers.'

He smiled at her then stood up and walked away after he heard the door click shut.

'Now what?' asked Corban, ever the wise one.

'I'm not sure. How about we go exploring? Maybe find a good restaurant?' he answered back with a big grin.

'That doesn't sound bad!' said the exceed as he grinned back. 'I'll order fish!'

'Yes, I know.'

And so the pair walked around for a while, looking for a place to eat. They found multiple restaurants, but none of them had fish on the menu, so they had to keep searching. They lost track of time at some point, because when they realized how hungry they actually were, it was already well past noon.

'Aw, man!' whined Ryū. 'Why must you only eat fish?'

'Because it's yummy!'

'Not that much, though,' he muttered, and the cat gasped loudly.

'How can you say such a mean thing? What kind of best friend are you, Ryū?'

'A very good one apparently. I refused so much food just so you can eat your favourite one,' grumbled the blonde before sighing. 'How about we check the client's house again to see if they've come home?'

'But I'm hungry!' whined the white feline.

'What's that?' mumbled Ryū as his sensitive hearing picked up a strange sound.

'I said I'm hungry!'

'C'mon!' he yelled and he started to run.

'Wait, where are you going?' asked Corban as he spread his wings and flew after him.

Ryū knew what he heard. Someone was being attacked in the alley next to them, and he was planning on helping. He ran through the street then took a sharp left, but poor Corban couldn't take the turn fast enough and flew straight into a wall.

However, Ryū did arrive to see a brown-haired man with glasses being attacked by two mages. They used Fire magic to threathen the man with burning his skin off, and Ryū's blood just about boiled at the sight.

'You better pay us before the boss comes himself,' said one of them. He had a huge nose ring that was so big, Ryū couldn't make a difference between the ring and his nose.

'He's not as forgiving as we are, you see,' said the other one, cackling to himself.

'Stop it!' shouted Ryū at them, and the two shirtless monkeys turned around to face him. They both had a huge black guild mark located on their chest.

'Oh? Are you lost, kid?'

'If you aren't, then get lost!'

The two laughed at their lame joke, but Ryū stood his ground and kept glaring daggers at them. Corban also arrived and – despite not knowing the situation – still stood (hovered) next to his partner in silence. The man with the glasses stared at the boy with what looked like pity (Ryū couldn't care less, he knew he was not someone that needed pity).

'I don't plan on going anywhere until you leave that guy alone!'

'Didn't your parents teach you not to meddle in someone else's business?' growled the one with the ugly nose.

'No, they taught me the opposite, actually,' said Ryū grinning.

'Why you little-' yelled the other one as he sent a fireball in the boy's direction. Both his and his buddy's eyes widened when they saw the kid swallowing his attack.

'Thanks for the food.'

'W-What was that?'

'That was your magic not working against mine,' answered Ryū with a confident smirk. 'Wanna try again?'

'Eat this!' shouted the nose ring guy as he sent blue flames towards him. They were coming so fast that Ryū didn't even have the time to think, he simply consumed them. And they were very cold.

'Ow, ow, ow! Brain freeze!' he yelled as he put his hands on his temples. The two men grinned triumphantly at each other, then they went in for a punch. A soon as they were within an arm's length, Ryū acted.

'Fire Dragon's Roar!'

The two recieved his breath attack in the face that left them blinking confused, their faces a little black, but otherwise looking perfectly fine.

'What are these guys made of?' asked Ryū as he turned around to get away, but one hand grabbed him and pulled him back with such force that he painfully slammed into the ground.

'Ryū!' called Corban, but the nose ring guy caught him and squeezed him in his fist.

'You bastards! Let Corban go!' demanded Ryū, the man behind him was shaking with fear.

'Make us, boy,' told him the other one before laughing.

'Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!'

The powerful attack caused an explosion. Ryū used that as a distraction and grabbed the confused man with the glasses, kicked the nose ring guy where no man wants to be kicked (Corban flew away shouting "I'm free!"), then made a run for it. Flames licked at his feet as he used his magic to add more speed, when he heard a yell and looked over his shoulder to see the man flailing in the wind behind him like a flag. He smiled sheepishly and stopped right away, with the man slamming into him, making both fall.

'Ryū, I think I will carry him,' said Corban with an amused smile, obviously enjoying their suffering.

'Yeah, that'd be a good idea,' muttered Ryū as he rubbed the back of his head, grimacing when he found a small bump.

'I think they're far gone now,' the man said, and meanwhile Ryū jumped up with a satisfied grin, Corban was sure that the guy just didn't want to be dragged by either of them again. 'But we should hurry, just in case.' The man sent them a tense smile, further proving the exceed's point.

'Are you sure you're okay?' asked Ryū, and the stranger hesitated a little at his serious expression.

'My name's Morty Tate. Thank you for helping me.'

Ryū grumbled something that suspiciously sounded like "...saved your ass...", but Corban decided to play nice. Just this once.

'You're welcome!' he chirped happily.

'You're a mage, right?' asked Mr. Tate as he turned to the teen. 'What guild?'

'Fairy Tail!' exclaimed Ryū proudly.

'Then you came to accept the job, is that right?

Ryū did not believe his ears. 'You're the one who hired us?'

'Yes, but first I'd like to show some gratitude for your help. Come with me!'

'Who were those guys?' asked Ryū as they started walking, but Mr. Tate was taking his steps a bit faster than necessary. This made Ryū suspicious and very curious.

'Oh, nothing important,' answered Mr. Tate smoothly, but the speed of his pace increased again.

'It seemed kind of important to me. I mean they almost burned your face off-'

'Okay, okay! I'll tell you later!' whispered Mr. Tate irritated.

The rest of the "trip" was silent, but at least short. Mr. Tate led them straight to the only house on Avocado Street and invited them in. The moment Corban entered through the door, a blur of white tackled him to the floor.

'Waaah, Ryū! Save me!' he yelled while the big ball of fur kept licking his face, and the blonde kept laughing.

'Andrew!' called a familiar small voice. Ryū looked up to see the little girl who opened the door for them running to the dog (now identified as Andrew).

'This is my daughter, Dina. Say hello!'

'We already met when we came by earlier,' said Ryū as he crouched down to her level and smiled at her. 'So your name's Dina, huh? That's a pretty cool name. How old are you, Dina?'

The small girl turned a little pink before proudly holding up four fingers.

'I'm five years old!' she exclaimed as her dad held her fifth finger up. Ryū chuckled quietly as Andrew started licking the hand she was holding up.

'You didn't save me, Ryū!' cried the white cat as he tried to wipe off the dog's saliva. 'You really are a horrible friend!'

'Oh, please!' called back Ryū, rolling his eyes.

'Kitty!' said Dina as her eyes lit up.

'I'm a grown exceed!'

'What's the kitty's name?' she asked as she took him in her arms and squeezed him into a hug.

'Ryū!' begged Corban, but the teen simply shrugged before answering the girl.

'His name is Corban.'

'You traitor!'

'How can I thank you for your help?' asked Mr. Tate after talking to the maid.

If Dina wasn't alone, then why didn't this lady open the door? wondered Ryū, and quickly decided that this woman was a terrible babysitter.

'We're really hungry!' blurted out Ryū, before remembering the manners his mother taught him. 'If it's not a problem, then could you prepare some food for us, Mr. Tate? Preferably fish.'

Corban beamed at him after hearing the name of his favourite food, and Ryū knew he was forgiven. An hour later they all sat by a fancy looking wooden table, which was full of different kinds of fish. The Tate family all watched as the boy and his cat stuffed their faces (except Andrew, he sometimes got a bite or ten).

'So what's the job about?' asked Ryū before letting out a huge burp and muttering an apology.

'I want you to bring me a very rare flower in this area. I'd go but I have work to do, and it's very difficult to find it.'

'Alright,' said Ryū as he saw Dina disappear with Andrew. 'And what was that with those mages?'

'That...' The man sighed. 'That was some trouble I got myself into. I owe them some money for their services.'

'What kind of services?'

'I'm a scientist, but I work from home, you see. I asked them to buy me something that was sold with an affortable price only on the black market. If word got about me getting something illegally, I'd lose my job.'

'Which guild are they working for?' asked Ryū, who was being uncharacteristically serious again.

'I'm afraid I can't tell you that.'

'We can't help if you don't tell us!'

'That's not the job I hired you to do!' told him Mr. Tate strictly. 'I'll show you where to look for the flower.'

The two of them left the dining room, but Ryū quickly ran back and picked Corban up from the table. He was still munching on his fish, completely oblivious to the entire conversation.

Ryū was sure that this Mr. Tate was a total wuss, but when he was safe at home surrounded by his money, he thought he could do anything. He even hired two wizards when he had a debt to pay!

He just hoped that the guy did better as a scientist and as a father.

Corban looked for the flower as he hovered next to Ryū, who was still pondering about the unknown wizards. He could've sworn he saw that guild mark before.

'Ryū, what does that thing look like again?'

'It has yellow and pink petals, no specific fragrance, and its leaves are dark turquoise. Its size varies from 5 to 8 inches, and for the last time, it's a flower!'

Corban giggled. 'That was funny. You're like a book.'

'Shut up cat and keep looking!' shouted Ryū, his cheeks turning pinkish in embarrassment.

'Ryū-'

'What?' he snapped as he sent a glare to the cat. However, his eyes widened as he noticed what Corban was pointing at. It was exactly what they were looking for.

'Isn't that it? What's its name?' asked Corban, calmly flying above the flower.

'Mr. Tate didn't say,' murmured Ryū as he slowly walked over to his friend, not believing how easy it was to find it.

Wait a second...

Corban reached for the flower as something clicked inside Ryū's head.

'Stop!' yelled the blonde as he slapped the feline's paw away.

'Ow! Why'd you do that for?'

'This isn't it. I've read about something like this before-'

'Of course you did. Are you sure you weren't born as an encyclopedia?'

'-and there's a carnivorous plant that actually uses magic to create illusions to lure his prey in. Mr. Tate said that this thing is hard to find, so isn't it suspicious that we find it right next to the town?'

'Hmm,' hummed loudly Corban, as if he were thinking. He even put one paw on his chin to look more dramatic. 'Nope.'

Ryū sighed and watched his friend starting to pull the flower, but it soon disappeared and turned into a dark green vine. Corban screeched as it trapped him in his hold, but Ryū immediately grabbed it and burned it into crisp, freeing the exceed (who got trapped for the third time that day – fourth if you count Andrew).

The duo continued searching after the incident, both unusually quiet. And the flower was really really hard to find. It was so frustrating!

The sun was starting to set as the two were still walking on a clear path.

'I'm too tired and hungry to move,' whined Corban as he slowly flew back to the ground, landing on his empty stomach. 'We've been searching all day! I can't move another muscle.'

'We have to or we won't get paid. If we don't get paid, we can't eat. If we can't eat-'

'Let's keep going!' exclaimed the cat as he suddenly jumped up, fearing famine.

About an hour later it got dark, and Ryū used his flames to light the way. He feared that it would be harder to find it now, since he couldn't smell it out, but they soon caught sight of another one (or the first real one).

'We found it!' cheered Ryū.

'I'll go and get it!' volunteered Corban, his mouth watering at the thought of finally having money for fi- food.

Corban flew closer to the plant, but didn't see the bush behind him starting to move. Ryū heard the rustling, and immediately knew that he would have to save his buddy again.

Corban touched the flower and as he was about to take it, something tried to snatch it away, but he didn't let go. Neither did the uninvited guest, and Corban soon found himself at least 8 feet above the ground.

'Ryū!'

'I know, I know. I'm going,' grunted the boy and ran after the troublesome exceed. His flames lit up the silhouette of a tall animal, that had large hooves, a long neck and brown fur. Meanwhile Corban lost his hold on the flower as it got eaten by the giraffe-like creature, and he almost fell down before remembering that he can fly.

'It ate it!' he cried.

'Oi! Spit it out, you hear me!' yelled Ryū, but the animal wouldn't even look at him. 'Fly to his mouth and take it out!'

'What? Ew, no!'

'Do you want to eat or not?'

'Aye, sir!'

So the cat went to do as his friend asked, but it was a lost cause. The flower was long gone.

The sun could already be seen on the horizon, showing that the dawn has arrived. Our two heroes (or something like that) were still in the forest.

'I want to go home!'

'Me too,' agreed Ryū.

'What happened to inspiring speeches and not giving up?' questioned Corban.

'To hell with those, I just wanna sleep.'

Ryū dragged his feet over to a bush and promptly fell into it, falling asleep right away. Corban lay down next to him and was about to follow the blonde's example, when he saw a small ray of sunshine lighting something up. He rubbed his eyes and walked closer. His breath stopped and his eyes lit up in joy when he saw that it was the flower they were looking for.

'Ryū! Ryū!'

The boy only groaned in response, as he had no intention of getting up whatsoever.

'Come on, Ryū!' Corban tried again. 'I have the flower! I really have it this time!'

'You do?' asked Ryū as his head snapped up towards the grinning feline.

'Look!' Corban lifted the flower up high.

'Corban,' said Ryū slowly, 'you're awesome.'

'Aye! I know!'

In that moment an animal showed up, looking for something to eat for breakfast. Ryū panicked, afraid that this creature would eat it, just like the last one did.

'Fire Dragon's Claw!'

Corban screamed as Ryū hit the animal behind him head on. But he wasn't screaming because he almost got hit too, oh no. Something much worse has happened.

'You burned it, Ryū! It turned into ashes!' shouted the exceed as tears flowed down his face like a river.

'Eh? EEEH?'

And so he started freaking out as well.

'I hate you.'

'You don't mean that,' said Ryū nervously, trying to comfort his partner.

'Of course I don't! I couldn't get as much food without you.'

'Wow, thanks,' commented Ryū and decided to leave the cat alone.

Who needs enemies when you have friends like these?

'Ryū?'

'Hm?'

'Do you believe in miracles?'

'Where did that come from?' asked Ryū laughing.

Corban pointed to the top of a rock that was in front of them, and surprise surprise, there was another goddamn flower on top of it.

But Corban was right. This flower was apparently hard to find, and this is already the third one they've seen that day!

'Let's just pick it and run.'

'Aye, sir!'

Morty Tate was peacefully eating breakfast with his family when the doorbell rang. He put his mug of coffee and the newspaper down to see who comes over this early in the morning.

However, he sort of regretted opening the door when he came face to face with the boy and the cat he hired, looking (and smelling) like as if they just went through a survival camp.

'How can I help you?' he asked as he adjusted his glasses.

'Flower!'

'Here!'

The thing they shoved in his face was indeed the flower he asked them for. He smiled at them and gestured for them to come in. He disappeared into a room, but not before seeing the guests pass out on his couch.

'We made it,' groaned Ryū.

'Aye,' answered back Corban the same way.

Mr. Tate returned to the room, his daughter skipping next to him with a big book in her hands, and behind them Andrew was wagging his tail, drooling away happily.

'Thank you for your good work,' the man told them as he handed them their reward money. The two quickly shared it and started making plans on what to eat for breakfast.

'Oh, can I ask you something?' Ryū turned to Mr. Tate.

'You just did,' said the man laughing.

'Why is that flower so special? I mean I get that it's hard to find, but that can't be the only reason you paid us this much for it,' the blonde explained. 'So what's with it? Is it for your research? Can it be used for poison? Can it heal cancer? Can it-'

'No, no, no, no,' said Mr. Tate quickly. 'No.'

'Then what is it good for?' asked Corban.

'It's a very rare flower that my daughter saw in one of my botanical books. She loves pressed flower arts, and she told me that she wants to have it in her next picture. So I promised to get it for her. I searched for it for a long time before realizing that it grows in our forest. But since I don't have time to look for it next to work and looking after Dina, I asked you two to take care of it for me.'

'Thank you!' chirped Dina joyfully as he hugged her big book that she used for pressing flowers.

Ryū and Corban were completely done, by the way. They worked their asses off, thinking that this flower was for something important. They really did, I mean who would pay this much for an ordinary flower?

This man apparently.

It's okay, Ryū thought, because even though his personality is slightly unpleasing, he really is a great father.

xXxXx

...the art of using pressed flowers to make different patterns.