Replaced
Lisanna's back and Lucy feels left out. Natsu wants Lisanna back on his team. What about Lucy?
YES! I didn't skip! I love it when I don't skip a weekend. Now if only I could do it every weekend then I'd feel really good. I bet you guys didn't see any of what you're about to read coming. ENJOY and REVIEW when you're done!
Chapter 21- Abandoned Puppy
"My name?" The girl asked, nervously fidgeting with the clasp on her cloak.
"Yes, your name." Erza clarified, waiting.
"Why do you want to know it?" She wouldn't look at the fierce red head, but at the floor.
"I would like to be able to call you something. 'Thief' is hardly a name." Why did she look so familiar?
It was warm in the inn, made even warmer by the cloak. So the girl took it off and laid it down next to her, revealing long blue hair. "Wendy?" The girl froze and slowly turned around.
"How do you know that name?" She asked, voice shaking.
"Wendy, you're in my guild. Did something hit you in the head?" Erza now came over and started probing her head. She struggled.
"Stop! I'm not Wendy! My name is Kaizoku dammit." The thief waved her hands around to swat the red head's hands away.
"Isn't Kaizoku a boy's name?" Erza asked, propping a hand on her hip.
A really offended look crossed the thief's face. "That's because I am a boy!" Erza laughed at the expression on Kaizoku's face.
"If that's true, then why do you look like Wendy?" Erza challenged.
"Because she's my twin!" Then, realizing he'd said something he hadn't intended, Kaizoku slapped both hands over his mouth and backed up until he reached a wall, then slid down to the floor. He looked like he was going to cry.
"Kaizoku?" Erza asked, hoping he wouldn't cry. She never knew what to do when she saw someone crying. "Kaizoku, don't cry. Tell me what's wrong. I know Wendy, so it's okay to tell me anything." Was that what she was supposed to say? She went over and sat next to the boy.
"How do you know Wendy?" He asked.
"She' joined my guild, Fairy Tail, a little while ago after a job we did together. She found out that Cait Shelter, the guild she had joined in the beginning, only consisted of her, the master, and Charle." Erza explained, remembering that day. There had been a lot of tears then.
"What happened to Grandeeney?" The boy asked.
"From what I know, all dragons disappeared on the seventh day in the seventh month, in the year 777." She turned to Kaizoku. "Now, explain why you're not with Wendy if you're her twin."
"Our parents died when we were really young. Grandeeney found us and took us in. She began to teach us magic, only I was completely hopeless at learning. Wendy seemed to have a knack for dragon slayer magic, so of course, she was the favored student. I knew that Wendy was safe with Grandeeney, so I ran away." He explained, examining the floor.
"At some point, I was caught and put into an orphanage, where I was adopted by the owner of the brothel." Seeing Erza's questioning look, he explained, "It has both sexes for those men and women who prefer the same sex." Erza nodded in understanding. "I stayed there from age four to-." He counted on his fingers. "eleven. So eight years. The people who bought me were always creepy old men. I ran away at the beginning of my twelfth year and have been on the streets since then."
"And you've survived by stealing I assume?" She cocked and eyebrow and the boy nodded. "Well," She sighed. "I can't just leave you by yourself when you're related to one of my friends."
Kaizoku looked up at her in astonishment and incredulity. "What? But I tried to steal that thing from you." He pointed to the gemstone she was still holding in her hand.
"True, but I can hardly blame you." Erza got to her feet at the same time someone knocked at her door.
"The food's here Miss." Said the maid through the door.
Erza answered it and took the tray the food was on. "Could you bring a pallet up and some extra blankets? I would appreciate it."
The maid dipped in a curtsy. "Yes Miss." And she scuttled away. Erza closed her door and turned with the food in hand.
"Here." She set the tray on his lap. "Eat."
The boy didn't need to be told twice. He attacked it like it was going to run away if he didn't eat it quick enough. "Slow down little man. The foods not going anywhere but in your belly."
He did slow down a little bit, only to speed up again. She didn't try to warn him again because the maid was back with the pallet and blankets. Erza was busy setting those out and by the time she finished, Kaizoku had eaten everything on the plate. "You'll sleep here tonight." She pointed to the pallet. "Tomorrow we're leaving even if this snowstorm is still going on."
He nodded and Erza left to return the plate. When she got back, she found Kaizoku fast asleep on the pallet. Erza laid his cloak next to him and then got in her own bed. Before she forgot, she put the stone around her neck again and turned out the lamp. It didn't take long before she fell asleep.
The next morning, when she opened her eyes, she nearly had a heart attack because Kaizoku's face was right in front of hers and way too close. "Gah!" He jerked away before she could hit him.
"Sorry. You were mumbling about something and I was trying to hear what you were saying."
He explained hastily.
"Wha?" She still wasn't completely coherent as she sat up and sneezed. Erza always sneezed in the morning when she woke up. It was quite annoying really. "Go order breakfast Kaizoku, while I take a shower."
"Uh, right." He turned to the door and exited the room, leaving Erza alone to take her shower. When she came back out, there was a plate with pancakes and strips of bacon waiting for her. She took the plate from the bedside table while equipping her standard armor and sat on the bed to eat. Looking around for Kaizoku, she found him sitting on his pallet in the corner with his knees drawn up to his chest.
The plate next to him was empty, the food having all been scarfed down the moment he had a hand free. Now that he wasn't wearing his cloak, Erza saw just how skinny he was. Kaizoku was twig skinny and looked very malnourished for someone his age. She reached into her breastplate and pulled out a small sack that clinked. One handed, she dumped the contents onto the bed and counted out some coins, then called Kaizoku over.
"Here." She dropped the handful of coins into his hands and he stared at them. "Go get some more food for yourself to eat. We need to pack some fat onto you if you're going to be traveling with me." He closed his hands over the coins and nodded before leaving again.
While she ate, and waited for Kaizoku to return, she looked outside. It was still snowing fat groups of snowflakes, but gently. She would be able to see where she was going. Good. Hopefully, it would stay that way. Kaizoku came in a few minutes later with three waffles on his plate, five strips of bacon, and about three scrambled eggs all doused in syrup with a big cup of orange juice to wash it all down.
"Don't scarf, or else you'll get sick and throw it all back up. You don't want to waste a good meal do you?" Erza smiled at him and got to her feet. "I'll be right back."
She picked up Kaizoku's first plate and went downstairs to return the empty dishes. Then she requested some food to be packed up for her to take with her and looked at the inn's convenience store. She found a backpack that Kaizoku could use and some other small things. It was a little harder to find some clothes that would fit the boy because the store was limited in clothing selection, but she managed to find three whole outfits.
Upon returning to her room, she found Kaizoku had taken care of his dishes and was dozing in the corner where his pallet was. As soon as she closed the door, Kaizoku jerked awake and stared up at her. "Why are you doing this?"
She slowly arched an eyebrow as she stared back. "What brought that on?" She finally asked, and walked over to the bed to begin packing everything neatly into Kaizoku's backpack.
"It doesn't make sense. What do you gain by doing this? Most people would turn me in for stealing. Why didn't you?" He asked, leaning forward.
"I'm doing this because Wendy would kill me if she knew I abandoned her brother and I didn't turn you in because you're just an abandoned puppy that nobody seems to want to love." Erza stopped packing and went to stand in front of Kaizoku. Then she crouched in front of him and put a hand on his head. He involuntarily flinched out of habit. "And I'm sure Wendy would love to see you Kaizoku."
He opened his eyes in surprise and looked at the red head in front of him. She was smiling. "Go take a bath before we leave." Erza got up and tossed a pair of clothes at him. Kaizoku caught them easily, but continued to watch her work. When she noticed that he wasn't moving, she turned, frowning. "Go. Shoo. Shower, now." She flapped her hand at him and he shooed into the bathroom hastily.
Erza sighed as she watched him retreat. He really was like an abandoned puppy, timid and very wary and untrusting of people. All she had to do was coax him out of his shell -slowly. One paw at a time. But that would take a while, and the only time she would be able to do that is on the road. Puppies needed lots of care in order to grow up strong and healthy -abandoned puppies were even more work because they had to go through the whole process of being able to trust people again.
This particular puppy had been abandoned for a long time, and abused along the way, so it would take doubly long to gain his trust. Kaizoku was a big puppy, so he would need a lot more care. But he was a tougher puppy than most because he'd had to fend for himself when he was abandoned. The fact that he was still here told her that he still didn't completely hate people, otherwise he'd have left last night.
When Kaizoku came out of the bathroom, Erza couldn't help but "Awww!" at him. The long sleeved shirt she'd picked out for him was black and grey striped and a size too big for him. His skinny frame made it seem even bigger, so one side slipped over his shoulder. His pants fit around his hips just fine, but they were too long and he stepped on them. He really did look like a cute puppy.
After much readjusting to his clothes, and tying his hair up so that it was out of his face, they loaded Erza's rented SE carriage and set off for the bottom of the mountain where they would hopefully be free of this white sticky stuff.
Told you you'd never seen it coming. Truth to be told, I got the idea from one of the reviews I read. I'm not sure if the next one will have Lucy in it or not. It might be about Happy again. REVIEW! ^/ . \^ Thanks!