April was an enjoyable month. The weather was nice, there was plenty of work, places to go, things to do, and the cherry blossoms would be in bloom. Many people waited in anticipation for when they could gaze at the beautiful trees. Whether it be superstition, to grant a wish, eternal happiness, love, or just to enjoy nature, everyone had their reasons; and that Sunday was a special day for one of those reasons for many people.

"Lisanna, can you give this to Lucy?" Mira asked, handing her little sister a small card.

"Of course," Lisanna nodded.

"Thank you, I have a shoot today, and Lucy won't be arriving until ten," The older sibling informed, gathering her bag.

"Kinana should be here by eleven and then you can take off," Mira called over her shoulder, as she strode away.

Lisanna looked at the card in her hands. It was pretty, and almost like a fancy invitation, with its golden swirls on the cream background. Before she had a chance to read it, the card was snatched from her grasp.

"What's this?" Bickslow inquired. He tended to hang around the bar in the morning after training, and mostly ignored everyone, especially Lisanna, until now. Except for another 'thank you' and 'sorry for any trouble I've caused' she hadn't spoken to him either since the time he had walked her home after their second job together. They had fulfilled their minimum job count, so there was no reason for them to continue interacting in any way, and she was always afraid to be a bother.

"Hey!" The girl protested, reaching for the stolen object and accidentally tipping over Bickslow's empty glass.

Bickslow just smirked as he lifted it out of her reach and read the contents. "Heh, Ever was trying to get her hands on one of these."

"Well, it's for Lucy so please give it back," Lisanna held her hand out. Bickslow twirled the card in between his fingers checking her reaction. When she remained straight-faced, expectantly holding out her hand, he gave in.

"Aw, you're no fun," he tossed it back to her.

"I know that," she replied, shoving the card in her back pocket and reaching for the washcloth to wipe down the counter. As she allowed her mind to wander to the card's contents, she failed to notice Bickslow snatch the card from her pocket with a snicker, when she gave him her back.

So, it's basically a couple's ticket to see the Sakura Blossoms, Lisanna thought to herself. Knowing her sister, Lisanna decided Mira probably had a big matchmaking scheme underway. It seemed like Natsu and Lucy had an interesting day before them. In a way Lisanna wished she could be like them; to go out with a friend and have fun. She didn't mind being alone either. Today was a special day to see the blossoms and even if she went by herself, she would be happy enough for the experience.

"I wish I could see the cherry blossoms…" she murmured, unaware that she had voiced her thoughts aloud.

"Blossoms, blossoms," Bickslow's dolls teased, making the girl stiffen as she realized she had been heard. However, she made herself ignore them and continued doing her work. It turned into a typical morning at the bar, and as members started trickling in, more began asking for breakfast. By the time the clock reached ten Lisanna was dashing around fulfilling orders.

"Lisanna?" called an uncertain voice, "Is Mira here?"

Balancing four plates, Lisanna turned to find Lucy at the counter.

"No, she went out, but she gave me something to give to you. Hold on." The girl scurried out, delivered the food and came back to Lucy.

"Um, she gave me this…" She reached for her back pocket, feeling around she felt nothing.

"Huh?" she gasped.

Shoving her hands into her pockets, they came up empty. Her heart stopped. Did she lose it? Seeing Lucy give her a quizzical look, she plastered a smile. "I'll be right back," Ducking behind the bar she scrambled around looking for the missing paper. She was sure she had put it in her pocket, and she hadn't thought it would have fallen out, so where could it be?

Bickslow smirked from where he had been watching, and casually strode over to the bar, leaning over the counter.

"Shouldn't you be working?" he questioned, watching her from behind.

Still on her knees, Lisanna looked over her shoulder to give Bickslow a frown, "I'm working. On finding something."

"Hm…" he mused.

"You don't happen to know where that card went, do you?" she accused.

Bickslow grinned, waggling his finger like a magician he pulled the sought for object seemingly out of thin air.

Lisanna gaped, "How…?"

"Magic," he winked.

"Hm." She grabbed the card and went over to Lucy.

"Um, here you go Lucy," she smiled handing over the card.

"Thank you,"

Before she returned to her duties, Lisanna couldn't help but notice as Lucy's face went from curiously studying the contents, to surprised, to a look of horror. Her gaze shifted to the entrance of the guild as a familiar pink head appeared.

"Luuucy!" Natsu shouted, coming up behind her, causing the blonde to jump.

"So, about the job for today," He blushed scratching the back of his neck.

'Don't tell me he knows what it is…', Lucy internally begged.

"You see I felt bad about Levy, so I invited her and Gajeel to come with us." He told her.

"What?"

"Mira gave me the info already see?" He held up another card identical to the one Lucy clutched. Glancing past him, she spotted Levy trailing behind Gajeel who had his arms crossed.

"Give me that!" she snatched the card, putting it together with the one she already had. "Each of these is valid for two people, and now we have two tickets for four people…"

"Apparently Mira had a talk with Natsu, and had him invite us," Levy said, coming to stand beside her best friend.

"She set us up," Lucy glowered.

"Well, what's the worst that can happen?" Levy asked, taking one of the tickets. Before Lucy could respond Levy answered her own question, "We're with Fairy Tail Dragon Slayers…I shouldn't have asked."

"Come on Lucy! Mira said this would be easy, and she even said we would get a nice reward afterwards!" Natsu grinned. "I hope it's food."

"We're coming," Lucy muttered.

"Have fun!" Lisanna waved to the group.

"Bye!" The two girls responded, Natsu had already taken off, and Gajeel seemed to be a foul mood.

After the initial morning rush, the guild began to quiet down as the members went out. Lisanna's shift was almost over and soon she'd have the day off. Not that she had anything planned; she would probably just go home and try to make herself useful by cleaning up. She still felt dumb for not noticing that Bickslow had stolen the card, and then crawling around the floor like a fool looking for it.

"Hi, Lisanna you can take off now," Kinana arrived, "Sorry I wasn't here in the morning, I went to visit Erik, I mean Cobra," She smiled to herself.

Kinana was a quiet girl, and very docile. Only a few knew she had initially been cursed to be in a snake form before she was released from the spell and taken in by Markorov. She retained no recollection of before or during the time she was a snake. The girl couldn't help but feel drawn to the poison dragon Slayer. She liked his kind voice. Recently they had been spending some time together despite his protests of not wanting to mess up her life.

"You seem happy," Lisanna noted.

"Oh! Well, since he can't go out in public, because he's still an outlaw, we had a small picnic in the woods." Kinana blushed.

"Wow, that sounds nice," Lisanna grinned eagerly.

"Yeah, we even got see some cherry blossoms," the other girl sighed happily. "Have you seen them?" she asked.

Lisanna shook her head, "No, not yet."

"Well, there's still a few days left. You should go sometime," Kinana told her.

"Mhm," Lisanna nodded, "Maybe I'll go today,"

"Today there's a special event going on in the park, that you need tickets to though and it's all fenced in," Kinana informed.

"Oh, another time then," Lisanna hid her disappointment as she bid Kinana goodbye. She could always go next year, maybe she would even have someone to go with then.

"Hey, Lisanna," Bickslow called out, striding towards her.

"Hm?" she turned.

"So, you wanted to see the cherry blossoms huh?"

"Yes…" she cocked her head.

"Here," he held out a small white and gold card, which Lisanna hesitantly took.

"Wow," she grinned, when she realized what it was. "How'd you get this?"

"Like I told you before, Magic," he grinned, sticking out his tongue. She shot him a disbelieving look.

"Mira told me to give it to you," he shrugged, "she seems to have a lot of them to pass around."

"I see,"

"I don't know how you could have possibly found someone to go with you, but have fun," he waved, wandering off, leaving a stunned Lisanna standing in the middle of the hall.

"Thank you," she deadpanned. Looking down at the card she managed a half smile. It seemed that her wish had been at least semi granted. Just then she spotted a familiar blue clad figure brooding in a corner.

"What's wrong Juvia?" Lisanna asked, coming to sit beside her comrade.

"Juvia had a ticket to go see the cherry blossoms today, but she lost it," The water mage sniffed.

"Oh,"

"She wanted to go with Grey-sama, and he would have such a wonderful time," she gushed, hearts in her eyes.

"Juvia made sure to take good care of the ticket, but somehow it still disappeared," her shoulders slumped.

"Here you go Juvia," Lisanna held out her card.

"But this is Lisanna's, is it not?" Juvia began to refuse.

The white-haired girl just laughed, "it's alright Juvia, it's not like I have someone to go with, I was going to give it away anyway."

"Juvia is very thankful! Lisanna is such a kind person," Juvia gushed clutching the tickets to her chest, as she bowed.

"Gray-Sama! Juvia has a surprise for you!"

Lisanna watched as Juvia ran to Grey, jumping up and down, begging him to go with her. He finally allowed her to drag him away despite half-heartedly complaining about it. Lisanna smiled contentedly.

"Hey, there," a voice drawled seemingly out of nowhere.

"Oh, Daniel. Hello," she smiled politely.

"You really seem like a nice girl, always wanting to make other happy," he noted, leaning against the doorframe of the hall entrance.

"Too bad no one wants to be with you," he sighed innocently.

Lisanna let her gaze drop. She understood that, but he didn't have to be so blunt about it.

"Well, I've got to get going," he declared, brushing past her.

When he had gone a certain distance from the guild he stopped, looking back. With a smug glint in his eye, and a toothy grin, he casually tossed a gold and white card in a neighboring trash bin.

Lisanna had no idea who Daniel was, so she assumed he was another member who had joined in the long time she was gone. However, he was rarely in the guild and tended to pop up now and then at odd times. With one last glance and the lively hall, she silently left the guild towards home.

Her heart felt heavy, and her steps faltered as her mind replayed the morning's events. She had been clumsy, oblivious, and then she had foolishly gotten her hopes up. She let herself replay her embarrassment for the little mistakes she had made, and berated herself for letting them happen.

She shook her head.

"Stop it Lisanna, you have no reason to be feeling sorry for yourself,' she scolded. Taking a detour, she ended up by the park. She may not be able to go in, but a glimpse would be good enough for her.

"Wow," she breathed, raking in the view before her. The park was fenced in allowing outsiders only the use of their imagination to figure out what lay behind the walls. Though she could only see the tops of the trees, the light pink blossoms seemed to glitter under the sun. For a moment her mind was clear, and she didn't worry.

She stood still admiring the scene, until she realized she was in the middle of a walkway, and immediately felt bad for blocking it. After the magic of the moment was lost she hurried home.

All day she swept, mopped, dusted, washed, and more. Finally, after a few hours there was nothing left to do, even the lightbulbs had been dusted and the front door painted.

"I guess I'll just hop into the shower," she decided, grabbing her pajamas.

Their humble home had two bathrooms, and only one was a full bath that she and her sibling shared. Mira always had her things nicely aligned on a shelf, while Elfman haphazardly left his in a corner of the sink. Stepping into the shower she turned it on, not caring that it was freezing cold at first. Closing her eyes she let the water wash away the weariness that blanketed her.

It didn't take long to wash her short hair, and after enjoying the warmth of a nice evening showered she stepped out. Her reflection was a distorted figure in the steam covered mirror.

Drying her hair with only a towel she left it down to dry on its own, and collapsed on her twin sized bed in the small room she shared with her sister. She lay there for a while, staring at the ceiling, and existing in the lonely silence.

Turning over to her side, her eyes fell upon a small frame, made of clay, straw, and sticks, and slightly charred at one end. It had been a gift to her from Natsu. He had made the frame and heated up the clay with his fire. She fondly remembered his toothy grin as he bashfully handed it over to her.

She bit her lip, picking it up. It was the one Reedus painted the day Happy hatched from an egg, after she and Natsu had taken care of it. Everyone had gathered together, and looked so happy and close; they were a family. Lisanna sighed. Things were a bit different now. Gently placing the frame back on her nightstand, she looked out the window. The evening sky was a painter's palette of reds, oranges, and yellows slowly being overtaken by the shadow of night.

'Maybe I'll go outside for a bit', she thought, getting up. Opening the back door, she made it just in time to see bright flames light up the sky.

So yeah...sadly things do not work out for Lisanna today