Dumdumdum...

Okay, I guess I'll apologize again today for the late update, muu I'm so slow, aren't I? OAO

Well, actually I'm in the middle of a mid-term exam right now but here I am updating my Huckleberry. Ckck.. I must be crazy but I just don't wanna make you guys wait again, Ha! I can be good person for a while rite xD

Okay, I shouldn't waste ur time so, here you go Huckleberry chapter 7!

Hope you like iit! xD


Chapter 7

Yesterday was a very long day for Lucy. Summoning and apologizing to all her spi –friends wasted too much magic power and when she went back to the Dragneel's house, without eating dinner or even took a bath like she normally do after a long day, she collapsed onto the bed in the guest room that Wendy already prepared for her.

The sun shined brightly while peeking through the curtain's gap beside the bed. The chirps from the birds outside woke her up from her slumber and the blonde cracked her eyes open lazily.

Yawning, the mage-singer rubbed her tired eyes and whined when the tiredness still took over her body. Though the sun was still shining out there, the autumn's cool air still swept her skin creating goose bumps along her spine. She was about to pull the blanket closer to her chin when a familiar warmth spread from her back.

Rolling over, she blinked when a very familiar figure with pink hair was laying beside her, close enough that she could feel his breath on her face as she rolled over to face him. Blush coated her pale cheek at the sight of the handsome fire mage in front of her.

Holy Mowly.

The funny thing was, she wasn't too surprised to see the one and only Natsu Dragneel laid close beside her, okay, a little bit too close, but still, she couldn't help but notice that the warmth, the comfort, the gentleness she felt came from him.

With a sigh, she faced him fully and decided not to wake the peaceful sleeping man up.

She wasn't sure how long she stayed there, staring at the ceiling and Natsu back and forth. Judging by the light, it was probably 8 in the morning, when was he going to wake up?!

Just like magic, as soon as she thought about it, the rosette stirred and groaned in his sleep, rubbing his eyes as seconds later her brown orbs met his onyx ones. He blinked rapidly at the sight of the blonde and sent her a goofy smile. "Morning Luce!"

She gave him a look, "Morning. Now give me one reason why are you sleeping here."

His grin turned sheepish as he snuggled to the pillow they shared, "Your bed is comfortable."

"And you really think that I would buy that?"

"…Yes?"

Lucy rolled her eyes, "Natsu, this is your home, the beds here are all the same!" the man chuckled childishly, his hand reached up to brush some bangs away from her eyes, another set of blood lined up on her face, this time darker than usual.

"But this bed is more comfortable."

"T-That doesn't mean you can sleep here!" his chuckles got louder as she scowled at him, face red with embarrassment. When he saw how flustered she was, the man's laugh slowed to a stop as he smiled at the flushed girl. He didn't know why, but he just couldn't help to stare at her. But the stare he put on her paused when she yawned widely, covering her mouth with her palm and blinked to clear the sleepiness in her eyes.

"Still sleepy?"

She shrugged, giving him another look but not attempted to get up from the bed and move away from him. "Considering the amount of magic you put out earlier, it's reasonable that's you're this tired – " He added. " – You're strong." He complimented again, giving her a toothy grin. She scowled with red face and backed away just slightest bit, couldn't bring herself too far because it was just so damn cold. Feeling more heat stammered to her face and her heart beat quicker, she peeked up to the man.

"Natsu.."

"Hm?"

She couldn't contain the embarrassment on having the rosette staring at her so intensely. "T-thanks. For accompanying me yesterday. I was pretty scared to meet the spirits actually, and... it was nice having you there…" she mumbled quietly, the last part came out as whispers, her face got even darker.

Natsu grinned at the lady and scooted closer, "You really love them, huh?"

"Of course, they were the only one I have after my mom died, and realizing that they're lost scared me."

His lips curved upwards a bit at her sentence. "What did happen exactly with your life, Luce?" she jumped a bit at his question, finding it was shocking that he asked right now, on this very morning. She fell silent for a moment, not daring to open her mouth and say something. Sensing her silence, he opened his mouth again, "Come on, I've been so curious and there's always something that keeps in the way whenever I asked it!"

She giggled, "Why are you so curious?"

His lips curled into a smile, "That seems interesting, and…I don't know, I just, feel like I want to know you. Is that weird?"

She gave him a heart-warming smile that seemed to work the butterflies in his stomach. "No, that's cute."

"Hey! Guys aren't cute!"

"But you are!" she laughed, he pouted for a moment before launching himself on her, tickling her fiercely as she burst out laughing, her sounds echoed among the walls. Soon, the fire mage followed after her laugh, rolling on the bed as the feathers from the pillows flew everywhere, surrounding them.

When he stopped, looking down at the still giggling girl under him, her face flushed and a big smile on her face as she looked at him, brown eyes locked with his stunning onyx eyes.

He stifled laugh and laid back down to the mattress beside her, raising a brow with amused look, she smiled back and sighed, "You won't stop asking until I tell you, right?" he nodded sharply. The girl's eyes darkened for a slight moment before went back to normal, inhaling the air sharply.

"I don't remember much. But I remember myself being the luckiest girl ever in my childhood." She smiled, closing her eyes, memories of her parents popped in her mind. "My father was very rich, owning everything and can get everything in a blink of an eye, but he was caring, and he loved me and my mom more than anything else in the world."

"Hmmm…" she shot him a look. He stared back at the blonde with questioning eyes, "What? I'm listening! Just continue, weirdo!"

She heaved a sigh, "That day – a week before her death, I remembered my mom tucked me in at night and said that she'd go on a…trip? – I'm not sure, and I was whining and all but she gave me a joke and teased me that I'm scared without her there and I denied, pouting at her and we laughed and we laughed and… and…"

Her voice trailed off as she bit her lip to prevent cries, burying her face in the pillow. Natsu's eyes darkened and he put a hand on her head, patting her hair. She smiled a bit and took a deep breath.

"It was just… she went away on my birthday and a week later she…went forever. It was so unfair…right?" she asked herself, turning to face the ceiling, thinking her life over. "I mean, every little girl would think that they were cursed if they were me, and that was what I thought."

He scoffed, "You're such a weirdo."

She didn't even yell at him for the comment like she usually did. She just stared at the ceiling, smiling dumbly even though her heart cracked a bit at the memory.

"The ironic thing was my father changed that day. He became cold, rude, and only thought about money and even planned to marry me to some jerks. Though, I never paid attention to his antics either but still, it just added more sadness and –" she laughed bitterly, " – Jeez, my past wasn't so happy, huh?"

Natsu's eyes widened at her story, he never thought Lucy had such a sad past. She looked like a cheerful girl! He started to doubt if she was saying the truth or not but her face said it all.

It was true.

"Hey you don't have to continue if you don't want to…"

"No it's okay. It'll be better this way." She replied, cutting him off as she looked at him determinedly.

"I guess my father and I didn't exchange another father-daughter relationship ever since. I moved to Clover Town since I was sixteen, practicing singing with my mother's old friend but when I turned eighteen, Father died."

The fire mage beside her held his breath at how calm her voice sounded. Her face was peaceful, not a single hint of sadness and that about-to-cry tone wasn't heard. He wondered how many more secret this lady got in her.

"I don't know what I did next. The next thing I know was I became a singer in Clover Town, and I almost forgot about magic, about how my mother taught me to love magic and spirit dearly and I almost forgot that I was a mage either.."

He didn't say anything.

"But I guess that changed, since this Huckleberry came." She smiled, pulling the amulet out of her clothes and watched in sparkling with the light from the sun peeking from the window. Something about that sentence warmed his cheek a bit but he managed to form a small smile. The pair smiled at each other before Lucy sighed.

"What about you?" he looked down as she snuggled to his chest, the man instinctively wrapped his arms around her small figure. "What happened to you and Wendy that day?"

A sigh leaved his lips, "Wendy was crying I guess. She was just a little girl and she was scared, she didn't used to have Mom and Dad away for too long."

"What about you?" she urged again, peeking from his chest. The way her eyes shined curiously made him chuckle, a teasing smile curled on his lips. "I don't feel like talking about it."

"But I told you my story! You should tell me too!" she pouted, puffing her cheek and was about to get up but got stopped when Natsu's warm hand held hers and pushed her back to the bed, squeezing it a bit. "Wait, don't go."

"Shush, Wendy must be up, I have to help her with breakfast!"

She paused when he pouted and wrapped his arms around her body, caging her and stopped whatever she was doing and all the blonde could do was blinking her eyes. Holding her breath as she felt his nose in her hair and his warmth around her, Lucy didn't say anything, her face tucked on his shoulder.

"Natsu?"

"I don't remember much." He said, silencing her. The mage-singer closed her mouth instantly. "I woke up that day calling my dad to fight me but there was no reply, the house smelt different. My parents weren't there."

Her heart dropped at his sentence and her eyes burned slightly. She knew that feeling, that feeling of anticipation of waiting someone to come.

"Wendy was crying and we searched around the house. Their room – heh, they didn't even came out when we set the room in a mess – the paper, the contract they signed in front of me disappeared too. They're not there. They just…left."

Lucy knew that it was Natsu who was telling stories, but she found herself crying.

"I think we just waited after that, until Gramps came and we told him everything and…Those council guys came? Yeah, I guess so – they didn't help much, though. No, scratch that, they didn't help at all."

And for some reason, that hold around her just tightening and she for some reason, too, snuggling deeper to him.

"I guess I didn't give a good 'first impression' to the council –" he paused to let out a chuckle, " – I mean, I really did almost got the building on fire and just shouted random things, but Wendy and the cats just stayed back while Gramps knocked me off to calm me down."

She felt him playing with her hair and she just sort of letting him.

"They, you know, like I told you, how I joined the guild with Wendy and began stealing the artifacts -"

"You stole the artifacts since you were eleven?!"

"Ye – wait, No! It began when I was…15?"

She giggled from his shoulders, "You little thief!"

"Oh shut up. They're mine anyways."

The blonde giggled even more and pulled away from his hold, rubbing her eyes. "What happened after that?"

"Oh, I don't know. Everything just turned out fine, I'm sure wherever they are, that idiot old man will protect mom." A smile formed on her lips as she heard his response.

" What about Wendy?" he raised a brow at that. "What about her?"

She tapped her fingers together. "How did she feel?" a grin stretched on the fire mage's face. "Never underestimate a Dragneel, Luce. She was fine, of course!"

She sighed in relief and nodded. From her days in Magnolia, especially in the Dragneels house, she couldn't help but like the little girl. she was just so sweet, and cute an nice. Every other thing for a perfect little sister.

"But she was crying before, no?" he scrunched his face at that. "Well yes, I forgot why she stopped." Lucy face palmed at his idiocy and sighed. But seconds later, a soft smile replaced it as she stared up at him.

"Are you going to stop stealing after this?"

"Why should I?"

"Coz, we're stuck together?"

He smirked, "It's possible for you to come with me, no?"

The key user blushed, "No way!"

"But we're stuck together, Luce!"

"N-No!"

He laughed at her red face and hugged her again, laughing. She could hear his voice rumbled in his chest. "Gosh, you're just so weird!"

"And you're so stupid."

Another set of laugh could be heard and Lucy smiled, Natsu was just so dumb.

"But Luce, aren't you happy that I'm a thief?"

She hummed, "Why's that?"

"Coz that brought us together!"

Her heart pounded at his sentence and she buried herself to his chest tighter so he couldn't see her red face. "S-Shut up!"

"You mean you're not happy?"

"Yes! What if I get caught?"

"But I won't let that happen, remember?" he pulled away and held her shoulder. His smirk got wider when he noticed her flustered face. "You really should shut up." He stuck his tongue out at her and got up, pulling her with him. The girl squealed at the contact and glared at him. "Gosh! Can't you mind a personal space for a while?"

He blinked, "What personal space?"

"Urgh, you're so stupid!" she groaned, her face was still red from embarrassment and this guy was driving her insane. She felt his hand once again grabbed hers and played with her fingers. She let him and watched as he drew patterns on her palm.

"But you like me, right?" he asked, grinning playfully at her. Lucy bit her lip before smiling at him, pulling her hand back and get up from the bed. Natsu's black orbs followed the girl fixing her hair in front of the mirror before opening the door. Looking at him from behind her shoulder, she winked, "I guess I do. Really do."

And the door was closed again, leaving Natsu with blank expression looking at the wooden surface.


"How was yesterday, Lucy?" Mira asked, wiping the glass with a cloth when Lucy slumped to the seat in front of her. The blonde smiled towards the bartender, "It was fine. Except that Natsu had a little too friendly chat with one of the spirit yesterday." She sighed recalling Natsu and Loki's staring contest yesterday.

"What? He did it first."

"Loki didn't do anything, Natsu."

"Loki?" Mira's ears perked up at the sound of another male from the pair's argument. "My friend. He's a Lion Spirit –"

"And a big flirt." Lucy threw him a dirty look, scowling. "He's a flirt, okay. What's that to you anyway?"

The man crossed his arms over his chest. "I don't like him."

"Because he's flirting with Lucy?" Mira couldn't help but to join the chat. Seeing Natsu that protective and jealous was something she always wanted to see for years. The rosette just pouting, looking away. "He's just getting on my nerve."

"Aw my, Natsu is jealous." Another voice spoke up, they looked to the side to see his childhood friend sat beside Lucy, grinning madly. Natsu gaped at her, "I thought you're on my side Lisanna! And no! I'm not jealous over that Kitty!"

"Natsu is jealous? My that's a hot news!" Lucy gasped at the sudden voice behind her and spun on her chair, seeing Levy piped up with Wendy beside her. The little girl stared at them in amusement. The man in the middle groaned.

"I'm not!"

"Natsu is already grown up." They looked to the side to see Erza crossed her arms over her chest, a satisfied smile on her face. Lucy sweat dropped and turned her attention back to the man beside her, smiling at his embarrassment.

"What's up with this girly topic?!" he exclaimed and stood up but got Erza and Lisanna glaring at him to sit down, Mira having a dark aura around her. The man gulped and sunk back down to his chair.

Wendy tugged Lucy's skirt lightly and smiled brightly at her, "Can you summon Loki-san again, Lucy-san? I wanna see the man that able to make my brother jealous."

Lucy grinned, "Of cou –"

"NO WAY." Natsu grabbed her hand and glared dagger at her and Wendy back and forth, "You are not calling Choky again."

"His name is Loki…" she corrected nonchalantly. The man ignored her as the girls began squealing again.

"He's really jealous!"

"Natsu is a man!"

"He's not that little cute boy anymore!"

Natsu growled at the girlish voice around him, feeling sick to the stomach at their voices. Taking a deep breath, he hopped from his chair and ran away from the group, much to their whines. Erza was about to tackle him to the ground when another question from Lisanna caught her interest.

"Nee Lucy, you know that he likes you, right?"

The lady in question froze and stared at the white head in surprise. "W-What?"

"Oh, stop playing dumb, girl. When a Strauss already said something about love or crush, that's the truth." A drunk voice spoke and all pairs of eyes in the little group turned to see Cana sat on a chair behind Lisanna, nodding. The youngest Strauss grinned and high fived the drunk mage.

"Mm! But what about you?" she asked again. All eyes turned back to Lucy. "What about me?"

"Well, do you like Natsu?" her brown eyes looked back at her petite friend. Her face flushed a bit but that went noticed by the girls. "Oh gosh! You DO!"

Lucy cleared her throat. "Of course I do. Who wouldn't like him?"

A chorus of disappointed 'Aawe' followed after. "We mean, do you likelike him? Like, like Love?"

The mage-singer nearly choked on her spit as she stared at her friends like they were crazy. "WHAT? Girls, we've only known each other for a week or two!"

"And you guys live together."

"And practically stuck together."

"I heard he never leave your side, too."

They gave her a look as she blushed, sweating all over. "You know it's because of Huckleberry."

A sighing contest continued as the girls looked at her in boredom, "Because of Huckleberry or not, you guys have a thing for each other. The whole guild can see it."

"But we really are just a best friend, not a couple." She smiled reassuringly at them, trying to brush the slight pinch on her heart off.

"Yet."

She sighed once more, "It's just Huckleberry, guys."

Mira pouted, Lisanna and Levy were rolling their eyes as the rest just stared at her. "You just can't see what we're seeing every day."

"But I've only been here for few days." She argued more, furrowing her brows. "He held you hand."

"We hold hand every time. He just got this habit to drag me everywhere."

"No, he reached for your hands instinctively. And you did that too."

"He's making sure we didn't get separate!"

"He likes you!"

She groaned in frustration, feeling the urge to cry at her friends' arguments.


"Those annoying, head wracking – pain in the ass girls." Natsu mumbled sets of incoherent words as he made his way to the guys table, slumping down beside Gray and Happy. The ice mage raised a brow at the rosette, not caring that he was half naked (again).

"What's wrong Flame Head? Girls got your ask knocked?"

Natsu turned to his frienemy and glared, "Shut up Ice Brain!"

"Natsu, what's wrong? You look unhappy." Happy commented, pausing with his fish as he looked at his best friend. "Did Lucy do something weird again?"

"No, those girls just getting annoying and won't stop talking about that Loli guy!"

Gray stared at Happy in confusion. 'Who the heck is Loli?'

Happy snickered, "One of Lucy's spirit. She said he's the strongest of all."

The black haired man blinked, "Lucy's strongest spirit's name is Loli?"

The blue furred cat shrugged, not caring to correct the name, leaving Gray blinking blankly, "O-kay. So what is it with you?" he asked again to the fire mage who kept sulking, a scowl on his face. "Tell him Happy."

The exceed let out an 'Aye' before a "Natsu was jealous coz he flirted with Lucy."

Gray nodded in understatement.

"Oh, I thought – Wait, WHAT? NATSU IS JEALOUS OH GAWD!"

The background filled with some indignant and protested shouts from Natsu as Happy laughed at his friend's embarrassment.

The next second Gray was grabbing Natsu by shoulders and shook him back and forth, pulling his pink hair to see if that was an imposter. The rosette glared murderously at his rival and shoved him away. "The heck Ice Butt?!"

"No, I'm just seeing if it's really you. And considering by your still stink personality, yup. You're Natsu."

"What did you say?!"

"Are you going deaf too, Mister I'm-jealous-over-a-spirit-and-there's-nothing-you-can-do-about-it?!"

"I'm not jealous!"

"Yeah, and I'm the Prince of Fiore."

"…You suck."

"Why you!"

Happy cut them off, flying to cover his paws on their faces. "Guys! Don't fight! You'll ruin Erza's mood!"

They became quiet instantly and nodded sharply. Natsu turned to sit back down on the chair, his eyes darted back to the girls questioning things about Lucy while the girl sat in the middle, waving her hand in defense. He heard few things like 'Like', 'Loki' and 'Natsu' but the rest of their voice muffled against each other annoyingly.

"What's so good about this Loki guy.." he muttered, his chest burned at the thought of that man flirting with Lucy. With Luce. He groaned to his hands and took a deep breath to calm himself.

"Ooh, I got it." Natsu turned towards Gray who had his hand cupped his chin, a smirk on his face. "What?" he asked.

"He got the 'L' word. Happy, he got the 'L' word." He told Happy, the cat grinning mischievously.

"Yeah, Leukemia."

"Ye – Wait, NO! The four lettered word. Start with 'L', ends with 'E'."

"Ooh, That One!" he grinned wider than before, high fived with the ice mage. The rosette raised a brow at them, completely clueless by their conversation. "What 'L' word?"

"Lllooove~"

The mage blushed slight pink and shook his head rapidly, "Heck No."

They smirked at his reaction, "He's blushing Happy!"

"Aye!"

"Happy! I thought you're on my side!"

"But your blushing face is funny!" he laughed, Natsu pouted and looked away. His face felt a bit warmer than usual, he could feel warmth from his chest also, he concluded it caused by Huckleberry. Cursing at his friends' echoing laughter, he looked back at Lucy.

She met his eyes and smiled, her face was still red due to the questions her friends directed to her. To his Onyx, stunning sharp eyes, she looked so cute, so beautiful and so…bright,

Shaking his head rapidly, Natsu Dragneel sighed at his own thought. Sure, she was beautiful, bright, cheerful, a bit annoying and talk too much, but so caring and sweet. He knew he liked her as friend, and he would do anything to keep those Council bastards if they even try to touch her, and he knew it scared him to death when she was lost and Wendy said that she was suffocating before. He knew it'd break him if something happened to her.

Even though he knew her just for few weeks.

Even though she held so much secret which got him eager to hear more.

Taking one more glance at the pretty blonde, Natsu thought to himself.

So, was he in Love with Luce?


Oh, Natsu. You're just one hell of a slow young man -_-

But that's what makes you so cute xD

KYAAAA! I really did almost faint from excitement when I watched the newest episode. GOSH! WHAT THE HECK DID LUCY SAY TO NATSU IN THE INFIRMARY? They really r going to kill me by making me so curious OAO And yay! Natsu-Gajeel vs Sting-Rogue up next! xD I can't waaait ^^

My test are killing me with their God-Knows-Who-Created-Them questions and I really need to study, Biology up ahead xD

I'll update ASAP I can. So, pwetty pwease leave a review minna xD tat'll support me! ^^

till next time~

-Nachii