Heya! :3 So it's like this... I felt that I kinda ignored the other straw-hats and I wanted Brook and Franky to appear some more so I decided to write this. That's why this chapter is some kind of filler, there's no real progress. Gomen ne~~ ^-^ As a side note: It was really hard to write this T_T

Chapter 10: Music for the Soul

Chopper stared at the mage in front of him, wondering if he really was that slow.

"Natsu", he said. "Could you please repeat what you said?"

"I think I'm sick?"

"Not that, the symptoms."

"Oh, yeah, let's see", Natsu scratched the back of his head. "I have a weird feeling right here." He placed his hand on his chest. "And my face sometimes gets really hot, I mean hotter than usual. And what else was there?" He placed his hand on his chin. "Yeah, right. I keep thinking about Lucy!"

Chopper couldn't help the grin which was slowly showing on his face. "And when do these symptoms occur?" he asked deviously.

"Well, the last time it was yesterday. Lucy and I were outside on deck, looking at the stars and then she fell asleep and I brought her to the girl's quarters and then…" His face suddenly looked slightly embarrassed and Natsu stared at the ground causing Chopper's grin to widen.

"Then?" Chopper asked mockingly.

"I kissed her", Natsu mumbled and looked irritated at Chopper who was now rolling on the floor and laughing his reindeer-butt off. "Hey!" Natsu said. "What's so funny?!"

"I'm sorry", Chopper said while trying to control his fit and wiping away tears. "It's just that I never thought there was somebody this stupid", he explained and started laughing again.

"How am I stupid, you tanuki?!" Natsu was now quite angry at the little reindeer that was under control again.

"Natsu", Chopper said as seriously as possible. "You're not sick."

"I'm not?"

"No", Chopper said trying to hold back another fit of laughter. He cleared his throat. Humans could be so weird. "I guess you always feel like that when you're with Lucy, right?" The mage nodded. "Well, it's easy then. You like her."

Natsu didn't answer a while, just staring at Chopper with an indifferent expression. "That's it?" he then said.

"Yeah", Chopper said confusedly.

"How is that an explanation?" Natsu asked doubtingly. "Of course I like Lucy! She's my nakama! I also like Erza – even though she's scary – and that doesn't happen with her!"

Chopper couldn't believe this guy. "Natsu", he tried again, "have you ever heard of the word 'love'?" Natsu nodded causing Chopper great relief since he didn't have to explain that as well. "That's it", he simply said. "You love her."

"Who?" Natsu asked. "Erza?"

Falling from his chair Chopper let out a sigh. "No, you idiot! I mean Lucy!"

Now it was Natsu's turn to break into laughter. He didn't stop for a while and was holding his stomach until he stopped promptly and looked at Chopper as though he had seen a ghost. "I do?"

"You do", Chopper said, climbing on his chair.

"Nah", Natsu said with a grin. "That's not possible." Then he left the infirmary, leaving Chopper behind who was wondering when the mage would realize it himself. Humans sure were weird.

It was weird. No matter how hard she tried, Lucy was not able to forget what happened. Maybe it was childish of her since he only kissed her cheek but she couldn't shake off the feeling of it. It was really exhausting to keep thinking about it so Lucy simply kept wandering on deck while searching for distraction.

"Hey, Blondie!" Somebody called and after she turned around Lucy saw Franky steering the boat and looking at her curiously.

"Is something the matter?" Lucy asked and walked up to him.

"That's what I wanted to ask you, Blondie", he answered and was looking at Lucy as thought he was expecting something.

"What do you mean?"

"You've been walking around with that suuuuuuuuper long face and I couldn't stand it anymore."

"Me?" Lucy asked, feeling caught.

"Yeah", Franky said with a frown. "Got any love problems?"

How could this guy be this accurate without even knowing anything?

"You know", he continued, "if a girl has problems with love, it's super obvious."

"Is that so?" She had to avoid this conversation somehow. The last thing Lucy planned to do was talking about her love life with a swim suit wearing, perverted cyborg – a nice cyborg, but nevertheless perverted. "But you know, Franky, I'm completely fine", Lucy said and smiled her most convincing smile.

"I see, that's suuuuuuper!" Franky exclaimed and concentrated on steering the ship again. Lucy, relieved that she managed to get out of that situation, walked towards the swing and sat on it when Chopper suddenly appeared.

"Lucy!" He called and jumped onto her lap.

"What's up, Chopper?" she smiled at the little guy and held him close.

"Natsu's been acting strangely today", Chopper said with a sinister look in his eyes which caused Lucy to loosen her grip on him and back away a bit.

"How?" she asked carefully, trying a smile. The look Chopper gave her, didn't match his cute appearance at all.

"Well, he's been talking about strange feelings and walking around the ship without a certain goal. Just now he passed the infirmary for the fourth time."

"Natsu did?" Lucy asked, now very interested in what the reindeer was telling her. What would make Natsu that restless? And which feeling was he talking about? 'Maybe his motion-sickness finally hit him', Lucy thought. "Hey, Chopper", Lucy said but realized that the doctor was already gone. When did he disappear? Well, that didn't matter now, she had to find Natsu.

When she started walking around she suddenly heard a heart-warming melody. Following the sound she ended up right next to the main mast and spotted Brook playing his violin. Listening to the melody really calmed her so she squatted down and closed her eyes.

"Are you sleeping, Lucy-san?"

She opened her eyes just to find a skull right in front of her face. Screaming, Lucy fell back causing Brook to break into his unusual laughter.

"That's not funny!" she yelled while gasping for air.

"I'm very sorry, Lucy-san", Brook said and bowed after taking his hat off. "As an apology, I'd like to play something for you but before that…" Lucy looked at him expectantly. "Could you show me your panties?"

"Maybe I should go now", Lucy said, pressing together her eyebrows. But then she thought of something. "Hey, Brook", she said. "What would you think about another musician on board?"

"Yohohohohoho! The thought of enjoying music with another artist makes my heart beat faster! But... I don't have a heart! Yohohohohohohoho!"

Lucy smiled, stood up and took one of her keys. While holding it out she said: "Open, Gate of the Lyre! Lyra!"

A bright light appeared and Lucy heard an excited female voice saying: "I have been waiting for you to call me again."

"It's a woman!" Brook exclaimed after the light was gone and immediately went up to her. "Would you show me your panties?"

"I'll have to decline", Lyra said with a smile and hurried to Lucy to hug her tightly. "I already thought you had forgotten me!"

"I called you, didn't I?" Lucy said and smiled. "How about you play something with the skeleton?"

Lyra turned around and spotted the violin in Brook's hands. "You're a musician?" she asked excitedly and with a huge grin.

"That's true", Brook said. "And I've heard that you are as well."

Lyra nodded euphorically and took her harp. Brook positioned his violin right under his chin and both of them started playing a beautiful melody. Lucy closed her eyes for a moment and just listened to their music until she decided that it was time to continue her search for Natsu.

She found him in the Aquarium Bar. Lucy still couldn't believe that this ship had such a huge aquarium.

Natsu was sitting on the couch, looking at all the fish.

"Natsu?"

He looked up and seemed surprised to see her. He then grinned widely. "What's up, Luce?"

"That's what I wanted to ask."

"What do you mean?"

"Shouldn't you be running around on deck, doing stupid things with Luffy and the others?" She sat down next to him. "Why are you here alone?"

"I had to do some thinking", he simply said and continued to stare down the fish.

Natsu had really changed ever since they came here. He was much quieter and thought a lot. Lucy didn't like it. She looked at the acquarium and smiled. "I wonder how Happy will react if we tell him about this."

Natsu sniggered. "He's going to be jealous as hell."

Lucy laughed while imagining it. "Probably."

Again, they continued their talk and it seemed to flow just like the night before. They didn't even realize time flowing by.

Okay, so this chapter's basically a bridge to the next one xD I hope it's okay~ xD

Thanks again for your support and as always (you're probably sick of it already xD) I'd like to ask you to point out any mistakes and please review! ;D

Bye~ ^-^