HI

I should've done my homework but…lol

Natsu stared up at the sky as it spun more than it should have, blues mixing with pinks and purples of the setting sun.

The grass was slightly damp from whenever the sprinkler went off that day, soaking spots into the back of his hoodie.

His thoughts were blank and paused, what was he thinking about before he got knocked on his ass?

Gray and Gajeel were staring down at him and staring back at her, before looking back at him with their mouths agape.

He slowly picked himself up, dragging himself to his elbows, looking at the fiery glare of the blonde who had knocked his ass to the ground.

She came out of nowhere, he didn't even know who she was. One second he was eating a sticky pork bun from his favorite food stand, and in the next it was probably halfway across the park and he was left with a streak of sauce on his chin. And a bruise on his stomach that probably wouldn't go away for a few days.

"That's what you get for messing with my cousin! Talk to Aries again and I'll make sure you don't live to see next week!" She spat at him before turning on her heel, stomping angrily back from wherever she came.

"Dude…what the fuck?" Gray said slowly, his voice trailing off as he watched her walk away. "Are you okay?"

"I dunno…" Natsu didn't register the motion of him accepting his cousin's hand, Gajeel helping him to his feet. "That was…"

"Fucking insane." Gajeel finished, none of them able to tear their eyes away from the long gone blonde attacker.

"Who the heck is Aries?" Gray asked once they'd made the decision to go back home, the remnants of his afternoon snack sadly forgotten in the dirt of a flowerbed.

"Isn't that the girl Loke was talking about the other day? She goes to the all girl's school across town, right?"

"Pretty sure, now that you mention it," He answered Gajeel, Natsu shaking off the rest of his shock to answer.

"Then why'd she kick my ass?" Natsu asked, looking to his two friends who could only shrug.

"Guess we'll have to ask him, let's go over to his place while we're out."

The moment continued to run through his mind in a continuous loop, the feeling of her knee making contact with his gut. His scales flecked out instinctively to protect the incoming impact of her leg completing its full swing, knocking him from the bench and into a skid on the grass.

He never knew anyone who could kick like that save for Erza, especially with enough raw power to actually expel him from his seat.

He couldn't stop thinking about her.

Loke's house wasn't too far from the park they left, just a couple of streets away from their own.

They knocked on his door, still sort of spaced out even when it swung open to reveal their friend in question.

"Hey, guys, what's up? What's with that weird look on your face?" He asked, one eyebrow cocked as his friends pushed past him and went up the stairs toward his bedroom.

"You all looked like you saw a ghost, seriously," Loke closed his door as they all took a seat around the small table on his floor, flinching when they all faced him with their blank stares. "Quit it! You're creeping me out! What are you here for?!"

"You're talking to that girl that goes to Mermaid Heel, right? Aries?" Gray spoke up first, Loke nodding slowly as he finally joined his friends on the floor.

"Urgh, yeah, well, kinda," He sighed, holding his head in his hand. "I was working and she saw me flirting with one of my aunt's regulars. She ran away before I could say anything and she hasn't answered my calls in a couple of days,"

Loke's aunt ran a maid cafe and he worked as a butler whenever someone called out sick. She said he was great for business, his natural flirty talking enough to make girls continue to come back even if he wasn't working.

"I just happened to run into her with her friends and figured it was a good chance to promote the shop. Aries came out of nowhere, she doesn't usually go out since she's so shy."

"Do you know her cousin?"

"Cousin? I mean we haven't really been talking that long. You guys have no idea how many crocheting classes I had to go to to get her to even look at me."

"Her cousin just came out of nowhere to kick me in the stomach, saying that if I ever talked to Aries again, she'd kick my ass,"

.

.

.

"Kick your ass?"

"Kick his ass, we saw it," Gray nodded, Gajeel joining him, Natsu lifting up his shirt to reveal the purple-ish mark that began to form. "She practically threw him across the park with one kick."

"And my spicy pork bun, you owe men five-hundred jewels."

"Aries never mentioned her," He shook his head quickly, a shiver running down his spine. "Geez, I wouldn't want to meet that psychopath. I sent Aries a picture of all of us a couple of weeks ago, maybe she just chose one of you to pass the message along?"

"That kinda makes sense," Natsu sighed and shoved the thousand yen bill Loke handed over into his pocket. "…what a scary girl…"

~000~

Natsu couldn't fall asleep that night, not that his bruise hurt or anything. It wasn't the first time he got injured in a scrap, if he could even call it that.

She had a fire in her eyes, a real fire, not just some rage-induced aura. It was blue and glittered, hotter than his own. He was sure her kick would've done more damage if not for his defense's reflexes, and that idea was somewhat exciting.

Who was she, what was she? He knew Aries was the embodiment of the constellation of the Ram, as Loke was the embodiment of the constellation of the Lion. He went on about it during lunch one day, saying how it was fate that he found her.

So, since she was her cousin, was that blonde girl some sort of star as well?

Loke had a light rather than a fire, magic his other cousin Sting would probably find tasty.

That girl and her fire, he wanted to meet her again. His heart thumped a little at the thought.

Maybe he could catch her after school tomorrow? At the most he'd be able to clear the air with her, unless she was likely to kick people she didn't know for good reason.

But it seemed like she had confused him with Loke, however that happened, he wasn't sure. If his luck was good enough, hopefully she'd be open to talking about it tomorrow if he could find her.

~000~

Natsu stood outside of the gates of Mermaid Heel, having ditched his last period to get there before he missed their dismissal.

He felt a bit awkward as the students flushed out, some of them giving him weird looks before whispering to their friends. Of which he could hear every word, being a dragon did have its downsides at times.

Some of them thought he looked like a delinquent, a couple thought he was cute, others just confused and wondering if he was someone's boyfriend.

That comment made him blush, thinking about just why he was here.

He wanted to find that girl, and then what? Besides clearing the air and putting the proper blame on Loke. Maybe even helping out his friend and creating an opportunity for the two of them to meet up and talk. He wanted to know more about her fire, about her…to then become friends?

But already he knew that being friends wasn't enough. It was…well, it was love at first sight. Or first kick.

Natsu scanned the flow of students as they started to thin out, noticing a familiar tuft of pink hair. But that girl who kicked him wasn't with her. She walked with two blue-haired girls, the three of them talking about homework, nothing interesting.

He wondered if he should approach them and ask where she was, but he didn't want to seem like a creep.

"Hey, you have a blonde cousin, right? Well, she kicked me in the stomach yesterday afternoon and I just have to see her again,"

No…he didn't want to freak them out.

He waited, knowing that if he didn't see her, she would see him. And possibly kick him in the stomach again, but his scales were lying in wait just in case.

When it seemed like the last student left, aside from those participating in after school activities, he figured she was probably one of them. It was rude to walk around another school campus without an escort, but he really didn't want to leave without seeing her. Just a few minutes probably wouldn't hurt if he was quick about it.

But just as he was about to walk through the front gate, she came out of the front entrance, looking down at her phone.

Her fingers were moving as if she was answering a text, Natsu swallowing the forming lump in his throat. Oh, she was cuter than he remembered. And he could smell her from here, warm vanilla and sweet strawberries.

As if on queue, she looked up, slowing her steps as she noticed him. He could see her eyes narrow and glare at him, her stride picking up before he had a moment to register her speed.

"What? You come back for more, asshole? What did I tell you?!" She shouted at him, Natsu snapping out of his trance just in time to dodge her incoming attack. "Aries wants nothing to do with you!"

"W-Wait!" He yelped, ducking and flattening himself against the concrete as she roundhoused her leg and almost got him again. "I'm not Loke! You got the wrong guy!"

His eyes were clenched tight with his hands protecting his head, Natsu not daring to look until he knew it was safe.

"You're not Loke?" He cracked one eye open, shaking his head, looking up at her as she dropped one hand to her hip. "But Aries showed me a picture of you,"

"It was the wrong picture, I swear, my name is Natsu," He slowly helped himself up from the ground, careful of her suspicious glare. "Loke's a friend of mine, we go to school together,"

She looked at him for a second more as he held his hands up in surrender, taking her phone back out of her pocket to scroll through.

"It's this picture, she pointed right at you," She shoved her phone in his face, pointing to the picture of him and his friends. "Right here."

"He's the one with glasses standing right next to me, swear!" Natsu dug for the wallet in his back pocket, taking out his student I.D to show her. "I'm Natsu, Natsu Dragneel,"

"…Oh," The I.D card was enough to make her drop her scary demeanor, softening as she began to connect the dots. "Oh, oh my gosh, then I kicked you in the stomach for…!"

She gasped as Natsu sheepishly nodded, nervously rubbing the back of his neck.

"I'm so sorry!"

"I-I'm okay, honest. I figured I should find you and correct the mistake. Loke can be a real jerk sometimes, but what Aries saw was a misunderstanding. I don't know if I can convince you of that, but I thought I should try to convince you otherwise before you go tracking him down."

She stewed in her blush as they stood there, the girl too embarrassed to look him in the eyes, hiding her face in her hands.

"We'll see about that," She said as she finally lifted her face, fanning it gently as she spoke. "But, really, I can't believe that I attacked a total stranger…"

"We do for family," Natsu shrugged, his smile making a small one tug on her lips. "And I was actually pretty impressed by you, I've only known one other girl who could lay me out with one kick."

"Thanks, I guess," She let out a light laugh, his smile spreading just a little more. "I'm Lucy, by the way, Lucy Heartfilia."

"You know," He coughed, feeling a bit of embarrassment crawl up his throat. "I also…really liked that fire you had in your eyes, Lucy. You don't see blue flames that often around here."

He thought he could see a twinge of it light up at his words, Natsu feeling a little more confident even as he was pretty nervous to compliment her. But he didn't want to beat around the bush.

"O-Oh, thank you for noticing. I'm a celestial nymph, just a fallen star in other words." He watched her open up her hand and light a thin blue flame in the center of her palm.

"Wow," He felt his scales bristle, his dragon tail almost popping out on its own. "Wow…"

"Got a thing for fire?" She snorted, extending her hand to him playfully.

"I-I'm a fire dragon," He said, coughing to clear his throat. "So…a little, yeah…"

"O-Oh,"

Just a cute one-shot because I love y'all a little too much

I'll be posing another Sleeping Beauty on Tuesday, so please look forward to that!