Hello boys and girls. I'd like to tell a story.

Does anyone still remember me? I do apologize. There have been lots of things happening in my life, including a three month hospitalization, losing my job, moving to a new country and losing my drive to even write. It took a lot of effort to regain the ability to want to write but finally I got something out. Again I do apologize. So please forgive me...or don't. One more thing. To those who have asked if I have a tumblr. I now do. It's LeonAlmalsy. I'll soon be adding stuff onto it.

Oh yes. So Fairy Tail has finally ended. And yeah, NaLu is somewhat canon. Yeah, open-ended conformation.

Let's go to the reviews.

Dr. Ukato, that is a great use of math.

SpudyPotato, Kauia, I'm glad that you liked Iggy. This is actually the second time I've written him with lines, the third time he's been in my fics but this time he's had a starring role. This is one of the first Nalu stories I came up with so, yeah. Thanks for telling me your feelings about him.

As for this story, this is another Natsu story. I find it really hard to get excited to write from his perspective. I find Lucy to be more interesting because, of the two, she goes through more character changes. Natsu is more static and so I find it more challenging to pull off a successful story with him at the helm. I do enjoy a challenge though. So sit back, relax and enjoy this story.

U is for Underwear

I see London. I see France. I see Lucy's underpants.

Silent as a shadow... Nin Nin

Swift as the river... Nin Nin

Invisible as the wind... Nin Nin

The great ninja Natsu Dragneel was on a mission...a mission of utmost importance. It could not be denied that this was a life or death mission. Success would depend on whether or not he got caught. Sure, there was a little danger in taking the mission, but it wouldn't be half as exciting if this was easy. The chance of getting caught makes success twice as sweet. Sneaking in alleys, hiding behind dumpsters, covering his face behind his scarf, the pink-haired Dragon Slayer was everything he believed a ninja should look like and behave, at least in his mind.

Soon, his target was in sight, the familiar apartment building he had multiple times in the past. Thankfully, the resident of this apartment would not be in tonight. She was currently at Fairy Hill, doing whatever girly things girls do at a sleepover. He didn't know and, at this point didn't care. All he knew was she wasn't there so it made getting what he wanted that much easier. A feral grin crossed his covered face. This was going to be sweet. With practiced ease, he made a single leap to the windowsill and opened it.

Unlike previous times he had visited this place, Natsu didn't jump from the windowsill to the bed. He took great care to avoid disturbing the neatly made sheets and instead jumped to the floor as silently as he could. He didn't want to disturb the gorilla-like landlady who would no doubt have a fit if she knew what was happening. Man, that woman could channel Erza levels of scary strength.

"Infiltration, successful. Nin Nin." Natsu muttered to himself, holding his hands just like a ninja would.

As any ninja would know, the first part of any good infiltration is surveillance.

His onyx eyes scanned the room, starting from the feather-soft bed that was super comfortable the times he slept on it. That bed smelled so good. Lucy must have put something in the sheets because it wasn't natural that anything smell even half as good. It made him want to bury his nose and inhale, maybe take a little nap...

"No, Nin Nin." He told himself. "Evil bed, begone. Focus on the mission, Nin Nin."

With a calm and refocused purpose, Natsu collected himself and continued his survey. His eyes immediately fall to the desk. There was a sheet of paper on it with writing the Dragon Slayer couldn't make out from his vantage point. A mischievous grin flashed across his face.

"What secrets is Lucy hiding? Nin Nin." He chuckled. "I suppose I better go find out. Nin Nin."

With the grace of a cartoon character, Natsu tiptoed towards the letter. What a scandalous look into the mind of his blonde nakama, he thought. That is until he actually read the letter.

Milk

Eggs

Fish

Chicken

Pasta

"It's only a shopping list. Nin Nin." Natsu muttered as he placed the paper back where it was before. What a gyp, he thought. But at least he knew that there was going to be some good food coming into Lucy's fridge. He'll need to be around when she starts cooking. Lucy's food was great. Just even the thought of food made his stomach roar. The Dragon Slayer stopped immediately to punch his stomach, demanding that it be quiet.

Food was something Future Natsu could worry about. Present Natsu had a mission. And that's when his sharp dragon eyes caught sight of his target, a mahogany dresser drawer. A toothy grin grew on his face and flames escaped his nostrils. He started to giggle but then the pink haired mage felt something off.

Natsu's ears pricked up when he heard something from outside Lucy's apartment. Heavy footsteps outside the door made the would-be ninja stop in his tracks. It couldn't be Lucy, he thought. She was suppose to spend the night at Fairy Hills. But then he identified the scent as belonging to the landlady. If he got caught now, it would be all over. He'd never be able to complete his mission. With great effort, the Dragon Slayer made himself still and slowed his breathing. He waited until he could no longer hear the footsteps before he continued his mission.

"Back to work. Nin Nin." He whispered with his hands positioned like a ninja again.

He tiptoed towards the dresser and opened the top drawer. Natsu could swear that there was light emanating from the drawer as he opened it.

"Panties. Nin Nin." Natsu said gleefully. "Now let's see what all the fuss was about."

It was funny. This all started when Natsu was, for lack of a better word, assaulted by Macao and Wakaba. Some time after the Phantom Lord incident, the two older men had wanted the inside scoop on his partner.

"So Natsu, how's everything going with Lucy?" Macao asked slyly while Wakaba was off to the side snickering.

"Oh, everything is going good." He said while stuffing his face with chicken. With a cartoonish gulp, he swallowed. "We're even going on a mission tomorrow."

"And are you going on one tonight?" Wakaba insinuated with a wolfish grin. "Show Lucy a good time? I heard that she got all dolled up for you last time."

"Yeah, Lucy was acting really weird." Natsu laughed, remembering the incident. The way he remembered it, Mira was talking to Lucy about something and then she got really weird. She would freak out whenever he said something, her face would heat up and then she would run away. He was trying to get Lucy to use Virgo in order to get something that was under the large tree in Magnolia Park. But she hit him. Lucy is weird but he liked that weirdo.

"I see you two are getting close." The way the word drawled from Macao's mouth but Natsu didn't catch the insinuation as he was more focused on his food.

"Of course, we are. Best of friends." He said, gulping down his last bit of food.

"She's really something." Wakaba said in a somewhat sagacious manner. "I've never seen you so close to a girl before."

Up until those tragic events that rocked the Strauss family, many people thought that Natsu and Lisanna would end up together. The youngest of the Strauss siblings was rather enamored by the Dragon Slayer and Natsu spent a lot of his free time with the white haired girl. They even hatched Happy from that egg together.

But in some ways, Natsu's relationship with Lucy was more significant. He spent more time with her at her home. He constantly went on missions with her, something he rarely did with Lisanna. And there was a certain closeness, physical closeness, that he shared with the blonde, more touchy-feely. Certainly, many people suspected that there was something there between the two and that's what Macao and Wakaba were trying to ascertain.

"She's fun to be with." Natsu smiled, missing the insinuation. "And her angry face is funny."

"She's a good looking girl, isn't she?" Wakaba sighed, a perverted smile streaked across his face and smoke coming from his cigar. "Oh if I were just a few years younger... or maybe she likes older men."

Natsu ignored him, more interested in finishing his plate than in the conversation.

"So, have you seen her panties yet?" Macao leered.

Natsu's eyes narrowed. "Why would I want to see her underwear?" The Dragon Slayer asked.

"Come on." The smoke mage shook his head in disbelief. "You've never seen a girl's panties? Those are the best clothes a woman can wear. When I was young, hoo boy..."

"Of course, I've seen a girl's underwear. What does it matter what underwear a girl wears?" Natsu asked, quickly getting irritated by the two older men. "It just covers what the best parts of a girl, right?" And he made suggestive squeezing motions with his hands to his chest.

Macao and Wakaba wore similar stunned expressions. Maybe Natsu isn't as naive as about women as the guild thought him to be. This could be interesting.

"Well, yeah. That's true. " Macao recovered. "But look at it this way. You like Christmas presents, right?" He watched Natsu nodded vigorously. "Well, the best part is opening the gifts, right?"

"I guess." Natsu sighed indecisively. He had no idea where the two were going with this.

"And you get to see the treasures she has in her panty drawer." Wakaba said with a perverted grin.

"Treasure?" Natsu was now wearing a fanged grin on his face.

Now we got him, the two men thought.

"Yeah." The smoke mage continued. "Buried treasure that she hides from everyone. You want to find out her dirty secrets, right?"

And that's all it took to get Natsu to spend his night about to panty raid Lucy's apartment.

It was much more organized than his own underwear drawer. There were four rows. In the first row were bras followed by its matching panties then another row of bras and matching panties.

He grabbed the first pair of panties, a powder blue with white stripes. By itself, it was nothing but an article of clothing. The moment, however, when Natsu imagined Lucy wearing it, something changed. His body got a bit warmer and he could feel himself getting worked up.

"What's going on?" Natsu asked himself as he stretched out the piece of fabric in his hand experimentally. "Underwear never used to be that exciting." Tossing the panties to the floor, he grabbed another.

This time, it was a pink pair with a winking dog with something white in its mouth on the crotch and the words "Wanna bone?" on it.

A dusting of pink tinged his cheeks, understanding the meaning behind the graphic. "Why would she even own a pair like these?" He asked himself, gritting his teeth to keep himself from yelling. But he could feel his lower half reacting. This had never happened before. He didn't like it. He dropped it and reached for another.

This time the Dragon Slayer's hands reached for a jet black bra. His imagination ran wild. He could see Lucy, dressed in this and the matching panties, lying on her bed, crooking a finger in his direction. If he concentrated, the pink haired Dragon Slayer could hear a breathless "Natsu" in his mind.

"What the hell?" Natsu roared with fire coming out of his mouth, momentarily forgetting that he was breaking into Lucy's apartment without permission, which is apparently a crime in some circles.

"Found you, Natsu." A familiar voice called to him.

"Happy?" Natsu blinked, completely forgetting that he was still holding Lucy's bra in his hand. "What are you doing here?"

"I went looking for you but I couldn't find you at the house." The Exceed explained. "So I went to the next place I knew you'd be. And what are you doing with Lucy's underwear?"

Natsu panicked. Happy had a notoriously big mouth. If he said anything to Lucy, there would be no telling what she would do to him. She could be scarier than Erza if she put her mind to it. Best not to stir that hornet's nest.

"Macao and Wakaba told me that Lucy had treasure in her drawers." The Dragon Slayer had no reason to lie to his friend. However, it was better not to say anything about how holding the underwear made him feel.

The greedy part of the Exceed flared up. "Did you find anything?" He asked, flying over to his friend.

"Nothing yet." Natsu admitted. "But I just started."

Happy dove into the underwear drawer, not caring that he's completely ruining the orderly way Lucy made her drawer. He came up with a powder blue bra on his head, the cups covering his ears.

"Natsu, Natsu, who am I?" He asked. "Help me, Obi Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope." The Exceed said in a falsetto voice.

The pink haired man giggled. Leave it to Happy to make him laugh while wearing a bra. Well, two can play that game. He tried putting on the bra. However, he had no idea how it worked. So instead, he put the bra against his chest and held it with his hands.

"Oh, I'm Lucy." Natsu squeaked in the highest pitch voice he could. "Natsu, don't burn that. Natsu, don't eat that. Natsu, stop destroying that. I'm telling Erza."

Happy cackled at his friend's bad impression of their nakama. It was all in good fun though. Friends can make fun of their friends, right. The two of them were so distracted by their fun, they didn't feel the presence behind them.

"Natsu." A voice behind them whispered.

The Dragon Slayer wasn't always the sharpest tool in the shed, but even he could feel the enormous feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach. With great trepidation, Natsu and Happy turned around and saw a rather livid blonde, clenching her fist and shaking in rage. At a later time, he would try and figure out how it was that he didn't sense her coming. But for right now, Natsu had more important things to do, like stay alive.

"Lu...Lu...Lu..." The duo shuddered in fear. We are so dead, they thought.

"Natsu, Happy." The Stellar Spirit mage's voice was surprisingly even. Natsu knew this was only an act. She was on a warpath.

"Now, now." The pink haired man tried to placate his teammate. "Let's not do anything rash."

Before Natsu and Happy realized it, the two of them were on the receiving end of a Lucy Kick. It had so much force that it knocked them out of the window and into the canal with a big splash."

"The next time you two idiots come into my apartment and mess up my stuff, I will rip you to pieces." Lucy raged, shaking her fist out of her window.

As Natsu dead man floated down the river, he contemplated what tonight taught him. It was strange. He never thought girls' underwear could be this exciting. Sure, he had woken up with erections before, and yes, he had tried sneaking to see girls naked in the hot springs. But nothing like this. Why though? Why now was he popping boners and getting hot just by looking at underwear.

A revelation hit him.

Was it because of Lucy? If so, why did it only happen with her? Why not any other girl?

He would have to think on this at a later date. Now, the Dragon Slayer had to come up with a way to apologize to his partner. It shouldn't be too hard. I mean, how long can a girl hold a grudge, right?

And that's the end of that chapter.

Yeah, I suck. Apologies.

Once again, I find it really hard to write from Natsu's perspective.

I have made note before that Natsu isn't as innocent as some fanfic writers make him out to be. He knows what attractive women look like. And although he doesn't make a habit of pursuing them like Loke does, that shouldn't mean that he's completely clueless. It just means that he isn't driven by baser instincts. So I made him uninterested in the panty raid itself and more interested in seeing whether or not Lucy has some hidden secrets.

I also wanted to end this story on a more perverted note, saying that one day he would learn what it meant to see Lucy in underwear but I felt like it would have been superfluous.

So, liked it? Hated it? Have no opinion one or the other? Want to yell at me for being away for a year? Leave me a review. I'll be happy to answer each and every one of them.

Here's the prompt for the next chapter.

It made him sick every time he had to go on these machines. They were the devil incarnate. It was a good thing that Lucy was there to rub his back and alleviate the symptoms of motion sickness.

So what is the V word here?

Until next time,

A. Angel