Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail

Seeing how Hisui her friends were in the rowdiest guild in her lands, she most certainly didn't expect to find that it was palm fronds rapping against the window that woke her up. She sat up to find the rest of her friends remained unfazed by the whipping and scrapping. The lack of light told her that the sun is far from rising. She flopped back down her bed. Tossing and turning on her bed did nothing but irritate herself at her activeness. She tried staring at the ceiling in hopes that her eyes get tired—they never did. Hisui threw her arms up in surrender, getting out the bed for a walk in the dead of the night.

Careful not to kick whisky bottles that were lying around, Hisui slipped on a coat, left a note by Karie's pillow and softly close the door as she met the chilly night. To Hisui's surprise, the resort held a different vibe from the day—it made her skin crawl. With nothing but street lights as her guide, shadows from the people that she saw were drawn out to long, creepy puppets. Everyone wore coats or jacket—not that Hisui blamed them, but they gave people a scene of mystery that put her on edge. The bushes rustled either from wind or animals—Hisui couldn't tell, but startled her nonetheless. She left the closeness of her friends and the building they were sleeping in and followed the sign that told her of the garden's location.

In the vast number of flowers arranged in shapes of sea creatures, dolphins, fish even sharks, Hisui spent the same amount of time admiring the gardener's work. Bushes trimmed to simple shapes like spheres, to a whole castle. Walking further in the garden, Hisui found a fountain with benches facing it. Couples snuggled together in a display of warmth that made Hisui look away and kept walking.

Then, Hisui came across a bed of flower that made her stop entirely. No way would she forget these flowers. Five, pink petals. Each pink star tugged at Hisui's heart, their smell rooted her closer to the ground, caressing each petal of the flower with a sense of longing. "Mother…" Hisui got lost in her own world, replaying the time when her mother was alive, moving on to forging the potential time she could have spent.

When Hisui could see a golden outline on the flowers, she felt a hand on her shoulders, realising that the smell of azaleas was over powered by a sweet, comforting scent, Hisui relaxed. "Come on, like you said, you're here to have fun, not get sad about what happened to Carol." The voice of deeper the child she was dealing with yesterday, mixed in with worry.

"Aren't you supposed to be sleeping? I thought plants prefer the sunlight."

"You know, some plants bloom in the night."

"And you happen to be one of them?"

"Why are you turning me away?"

"I'm not—"

"I wish that you won't lie to yourself, the old stickler already warned you about that didn't he?" Fiore crouched to meet Hisui's dried eyes. A small vine sprouted from her fingertips to brush away the tear residue. "Now who's the child now?"

"Can you…tell me what her final words were?"

"How would you know that I'm speaking the truth? You're so shaken right now, I'm sure I can get away with a lie to make you feel better."

"Are you planning to twist my mother's words just for that!?"

"I know your mother far better than you ever will." Fiore calmly replied. "She wouldn't mind."

"At least tell me, why didn't me talk to me one last time before she went away? I'm lost without her, father never helps me. At least…not in the way that I want him to…I just…I just wanted to talk to her one last time…"

"That's something that I can't tell you, I have to honour my promise with Caroline." Fiore pulled Hisui to her shoulders. "But that's enough of that," the voice Fiore used was much softer, "do you want me to tell you why Azaleas are Carol's favourite?" Hisui pressed deeper in Fiore's shoulder.

"Isn't it because father proposed to her with them?"

"No," Fiore giggled, "that was much later." Fiore flicked her wrist; the flower bed grew larger and twisted itself to a shape of a bench. They sat down with Hisui stroking the petals mindlessly while waiting for Fiore's story. "Looking back, it was a silly thing. It was back when Carol was still unwed, her beauty attracted far too many admirers for her liking. One day, a man went to Carol's front door and left a flower for her every day, a note accompanied it without fail. I read every single of them, each of them always made me laugh.

"They were romantic compositions, it was strange honestly, the style of each note was different, Carol figured it was a different poet and the man just hired another one when she didn't replied to any of the notes."

"That sounds familiar…" Hisui's smile drew Fiore to do the same, knowing that she managed to divert Hisui's attention.

"Afterwards, Carol let the flowers pile up on the doorstep, hoping that the sender will get the message. Somehow," Fiore giggled, "the man took it as Carol wanting bouquets instead of single flowers. So, from that day onwards, a bouquet appeared at the doorsteps. Soon Carol got sick of it, she asked Racheal to find out who was sending her flowers."

"Karie's mother!?"

"Of course, the Forrest family has been serving your mother's family for ages you know."

"I know that! I just didn't expect that mother would ask her, she rarely asks her maid for things like this."

"That just shows how annoyed she was. Anyway, with my help, we were able to follow a pollen trail to the shop the man buys the flowers from. So Racheal watched the shop to see if anyone suspicious was heading to Carol's mansion. It was Luther." Fiore snickered.

"So that's how they met, Karie would never tell me."

"You wouldn't either, if your father was once stalking a major noble of the kingdom."

"I suppose."

"Anyway, Racheal apprehended Luther when he was on his way to Carol's house. He apologised afterwards of course. After that, Luther tried his best to make it up to Carol for being such a creep, but he didn't know how to, so he asked Racheal to help him. They started out normally, Racheal finding Luther pathetic at his insecurity. Soon, she found out how gentle and kind Luther was, it wasn't long until they fell in love, a few years later, they got married and had Karie not long after.

"Though it wasn't how Carol expected the letters to end, but it was so amusing to her, at the time, she was going through some stress from her family. That incident taught Carol to look for things to cheer herself up in dark times. And that's how Azaleas became Carol's favourite flower."

"You're right, that was silly."

"You know, the lesson the flower taught Carol changed her a lot. And let me tell you this, you are the best Azalea to her. And just like most people, she doesn't like to see flowers wilt, keep that in mind. It might not be flowers but, find something to remind you; to find things to cheer yourself up."

"Thanks." Just then, Fiore felt her skin crawl, she turned around, a pair of daggers faced her. Standing in front of the rising sun, was Karie, leaking magic and struggling to maintain her composure. She casted a long, horrifying shadow, the tips of the daggers formed horns. While Fiore couldn't see Karie's features, the murderous eyes, creased eyebrows and scowl, she could see Karie's hands tighten around the knives, like fingers around a neck.

"While I appreciate you cheering Hisui up," Karie flashed a knife pass Fiore's ear, burying it deep in the ground, leaving only the end cap of the knife sticking out, "I'd rather you didn't tell her about mother and father meeting."

"H—hey! That's not fair! Can't you forgive me this one time?"

"Y—yeah Karie, please let Fi go, or at least don't hurt her too much, she needs to experience the resort more, if you send her back, she can't do that."

"Fine…I'll let this slide, just don't share anymore embarrassing stories of my parents." Karie's weapons vanished, leaving behind the hole in the dirt as the only evidence. "Breakfast is almost ready, it's about time we head back. I hear we're going to experience their outside dining they're so proud of."

"What time is it anyway?"

"Roughly seven."

"I've been out here for quite some time then. Fi, remember to change the flowers back."

"I got it, it's not my first day doing this you know."

"I'm just reminding you, who knows what will happen if I don't tell you."

When Hisui arrived at the courtyard, she found that most of her friends were always seated. That wasn't the first thing she noticed, it was the saucers flying back and forth delivering drinks. To Hisui, it was a dance colourful that held no flaws, never once did Hisui see a drop spill out from the glass vessels while presenting itself perfectly at the middle in front of the people sitting by the tables.

"Hisui! Over here!" Erza called out. Sitting by the same table were Erza's teammates along with the Strauss sisters. The three vacant chairs pull themselves out when Hisui, Fiore and Karie got close.

"So, this is what's special about it?" Hisui sat down, running a finger through the clean, white sheet. "I can't say I've seen something like this before."

"Me neither." Lisanna said. "I think it looks great."

A plate of spaghetti was delivered to every table. It was a nice consistent red, orange colour, with a crown of mint. A stimulating smell wafted in Hisui's nose, and from looking at Natsu, she could tell that it was much more stimulating for him than for her.

"Can we eat yet?"

"We can't," Erza chided, "we have to wait until everyone gets here."

"Can't I eat a little? No one would know."

"Natsu," Hisui interjected, "it's only good manners."

"Fine…" Natsu pouted.

"Flame Brain actually listens, so he does have a brain!" Gray hollered.

"What does you mean by that you bastard?"

"You're stupid, want me to beat that in your head?" Gray formed a massive hammer above Natsu's head.

"Gray!" Erza warned, voice cutting Gray's nerves. "Remember what Master said?"

"T—to not cause damage?"

"And what are you doing?"

"Err…"

"Serves you right Stripper!"

"That doesn't mean that you can cause trouble!" Erza slammed her fist at the bickering people.

"I think that everyone is here," Lucy said, looking around, "why not we give it a rest?"

"Alright!" Makarov bellowed. "Today we don't really have anything in planned. After this, you're free to explore the town or continue to enjoy the resort. For now, cheers!" The area they were eating in erupted in an outburst of cries, followed by the clinking of glasses.

"Firually!" Natsu said in relief, fork holding on a huge portion of the spaghetti

"Don't speak with your mouth open." Hisui said, the slight glint of distaste in Hisui's eyes were showing, making Natsu chew and swallow his food before doing anything else.

"Sorry…"

"Where do you want to go after this?" Mirajane asked, taking a sip of her glass of water. "If you don't have anywhere to go, why don't we check out the town?"

"Agreed!" Lisanna shouted.

"It seems fun, Fi said earlier that she wants to see how much this place has changed."

"You've been here before?"

"Of course!" Fiore puffed out her chest. "There isn't a place in Fiore that I haven't been! This is my kingdom after all."

"Technically, it's my father's"

"Shut up! Without me, Fiore wouldn't have existed, I deserve to have part of it!"

"You do, it's named after you isn't it?"

"That doesn't count!" A plate of freshly baked bread flew in.

"Well, let's finish breakfast first, we got a long day ahead." Erza suggested.

The town was charming from what the little part that Hisui had seen on her way to the resort, and she was able to confirm the fact now that she's exploring it with her friends. Each house hugged each other in lines that would follow a river, running down to a vast ocean view complete with a clean beach and clear water. Fishing nets hung from the roofs, fish were hooked to them for drying. Other houses had vines clinging to the nets, flowers woven in patterns of a symbol that Hisui can't derive the meaning of; an anchor inside a triangle.

Taking a quick walk across the market place gave Hisui a good impression of the locals, jolly and energetic. If Hisui wasn't used to the loud environment of the Fairy Tail building, it may have come across as overwhelming. However, in the midst of haggling and cries, Hisui felt quite at home.

"Why don't we have a barbeque at the beach for lunch?" Mirajane suggested. "It would be a shame to not use these ingredients," she continued, examining a fruit, "we haven't been to the beach either, I think that it will be great!"

"That's true," Karie said, "and the seafood here is as fresh as it gets."

"It tastes amazing!" Happy shouted, taking in another mouthful soon after.

"You did pay for that I hope?"

"I took money from Natsu's pocket."

"Hey!"

"You would have given me the money anyway."

"That aside," Karie said, "is everyone fine with having a barbeque?" Seeing nods, Karie continued speaking. "Then leave buying ingredients to me and Mira, until it gets close to lunch, why don't we go enjoy the sights?"

"Do you have any place in mind?"

"I was thinking that we split up in groups, we can cover more ground, at lunch, we can talk about the things we've done."

"How did I end up getting lost with you again?" Hisui groaned, looking at her companion with hate. She no longer found the pink hair of his enjoyable to look at, his cheery smile only made her fold her arms, giving him a stronger glare. Hisui and Natsu was in the middle in the street, watching people walk around with envy at their knowledge over the streets. Just earlier, Natsu bumped into Hisui while she was finding a toilet and now, they found themselves lost in a sea of people.

"I already said sorry, what more do you want me to do?"

"Find the others."

"I can't pick up anyone's scent with all these people around."

"Really?" Hisui exchanged her annoyed look with upturned eyes.

"Don't give me that look, I can't doing anything about it." Natsu pointed down the street. "We might as well make the best out of it, why don't we check out the town together?"

"Why not?" Hisui replied, throwing away her sour mood. "I never really had a dragon as an escort." Hisui hooked a hand around Natsu's arm much like how she had done countless times, only that she enjoyed the firmness of Natsu's muscles and the tingling at her fingertips from Natsu's heat. "What's wrong?" Hisui stared into Natsu's adverting eyes when she noticed that her escort wasn't moving at all. "Ahh," Hisui chuckled, "you haven't done this before."

"Uhh…"

"Don't worry, it's quite simple, just walk and lead me to anywhere you want us to go. I'll be frank, I didn't think that you had no experience in this, seeing how you have so many chance, you know, with so many beautiful girls at the guild."

"Shut up."

"How about this, since I've been these situations so many times, I'll tell you how you compare to the other guys that escorted me, if you are planning to date me, you need to at least learn how to do this."

"Then, where do you want to go?"

"Have some confidence Natsu, you're leading, which place do you think I'll like?"

"You're not even going to give me a hint!?"

"Natsu!" Hisui's sudden harshness made the man flinch. "Did you propose to me without any preparation at all?"

"Of course not!"

"Then you're telling me that you don't even know what I like?" Hisui made Natsu face her—made him look into the piercing eyes that picked at every little detail, honed from the hours of shining light on lies. "Don't make me use my already little time to think of a reply on a question that wasn't even serious in the first place."

"Are you making fun of my feelings?"

"Prove it to me that you're serious, relay to me that you are committed, show to me that you will become king." Seeing that Hisui wasn't receiving a reply, she sighed, she disappointedly loosened her fingers around Natsu's arm, feet turning away. Then a sigh along Natsu's arm tensing stopped Hisui.

"Sheesh, all I need to do is make you happy right?"

"Can you?"

"I'm all fired up!"

"Where are we going first then?" Hisui gripped onto the Natsu's arm again, making sure to press a bit closer than she was before.

"Just wait and see." Natsu delivered with his signature smile.

Natsu walked at a gentle pace that considered the person at his side, making small talk that kept Hisui engaged as they admired the buildings or birds flying by. Natsu's nose twitched every now and then whenever they got near a stall. His eyes lit up and his pace sped up but still manageable. Hisui's looked at the stall Natsu stopped at with curiosity. Behind the stall was a man in his later years, a balding head and kind brown eyes caught Hisui's attention. Her eyes drifted to the wares, they were trinkets, decorations with the same symbol that Hisui had seen previously, shells bracelets and other products from the beach nearby. Hisui stared at the animals on display while Natsu walked up to the older man.

"Pops, what's that symbol mean?" Natsu glanced to see Hisui's lips curling upwards.

"You're a tourist huh? Then let me tell you, that's our town's charm for safety. I'm not sure how true this story is because its been well known in our town for ages but, we had a hero that saved hundreds of people. This place was once cursed you know, we couldn't fish anything no matter how far at sea we sailed, the crops would die mysteriously overnight. The people at the time had the idea of appeasing the sea Gods to stop the nightmare, so they sent a man to set out to sea.

"Before the man went out to sea, his wife gave him a small anchor to hang around his wrist as a safety charm. When the man was out on sea, he was hit with a storm. And just as he was about to get thrown out the ship, the anchor hooked onto a plank. Without the anchor, he would have drowned. Ever since then, we used an anchor to represent safety."

"Can I have that one then?" Natsu pointed at a small sea turtle carrying an anchor on its back.

"A paper weight? Are you sure? You don't seem like the type of person to—ahh… it's for that young lady over there."

"Yup!"

"Natsu, hold on, I never said that I—"

"You were looking at it." Natsu broke into a grin. "What? You didn't expect that I would notice?"

"A bit…" Hisui shifted uncomfortably, hugging closer to Natsu.

"So how much is it?"

"Just a thousand Jewels."

"Here you go."

"Thank you very much." The man gave Natsu a paper bag. "Enjoy the rest of the town you two."

"We will!" Natsu said as they turned away. "What did you think of the story?"

"Interesting, but I didn't expect that you would be keen on learning the culture of a place."

"Like I care about some charm, I don't rely on those things, my friends and family are all I need. I only asked because I know you like learning about the Fiore. It doesn't matter how little it is, as long it's something you didn't know about before, you would smile, it's like what Erza looks like when she's eating her cake, or when gramps sees us grow."

"It appears you're more observant than I thought." Hisui reached for the bag in Natsu's hands which only resulted in a displeasure as Natsu shifted the bag away from her grasp. "I can carry it myself."

"It's fine, it's not that heavy anyway."

"If you insist…where are we going now?"

"You sure ask a lot of questions, kind of reminds me of when I saved you from those guys."

"Yes, I was being dragged around by one of the two brothers you know."

"Did you enjoy it?"

"Of course not, they were a vile duo, coming over here has kept my mind off things."

"Then I'm better than them?" Hisui looked up at Natsu with an amused expression.

"That doesn't mean much Natsu, I was incredibly biased at the time, you're quite similar with him in terms of how good of a job you're doing, the only difference is that I enjoy being around you."

"So, I'm making progress?"

"Hardly, there is no progress to make, the only thing that's preventing us from being together is my inner problems."

"And that is?" Natsu turned a corner.

"I'm not telling you, just wait for a while longer."

"That's fair." They walk and found the town square, hawkers sat on rugs at the side, overshadowed by a musician playing mellow music that swayed the ears to stay and enjoy the sounds. The two sat down on a bench with Hisui taking in the atmosphere while Natsu was kicking around a small rock, rolling it. Eventually, Hisui stared at Natsu, feeling his boredom grow in silence.

"Natsu?"

"What's up?"

"I've been meaning to ask for a while now but, you said that your scarf was given by your father correct?"

"Yeah."

"How did he get it?"

"Why do you ask?"

"It looks really comforting."

"You want to feel it?"

"Is that alright?" Hisui's hand already hovering over Natsu's neck.

"Yeah, go for it." Feeling her fingers sink in the scarf with no resistance, Hisui kept stroking the scarf. "What do you think?"

"It's really nice…"

"Then…" Natsu gently pushed Hisui's hand away, drawing shock from the girl. Natsu took off his scarf and looped it around Hisui's neck. "I'll borrow this to you until lunch."

"Thanks…" Hisui rubbed the scarf ends to her cheek.

"We still have time to kill until lunch, want to check out the local grub?"

"I would love to."

"This looks pretty spicy," Hisui slowly turned around a kebab in her hand, taking in the redness of the meat, recoiling at the stinking in her nose. "are you sure this is fine to eat?" This was the third time Hisui brought the food near she lips but she always pushed it away at the late second.

"Of course!" Natsu took a huge bite out of the snack. "See? I'm fine, come on try it." Seeing Hisui hesitation, Natsu took another bite. "If you're scared of wasting food, I'll eat what you can't eat."

"That's not the problem here!" Hisui faced the blood-red enemy again.

"Just take a small bite, it'll be fine, or are you trying to say that a Princess can't handle a little spice?"

"Natsu, just because you fall for those kinds taunts doesn't mean I will."

"If anything happens, I'll help you, now just take a small bite."

"Really?"

"Yes, don't worry about a thing." Hisui switched her focus from the taunting red to the sincere eyes of Natsu that whispered safety in her eyes.

"Fine…"

"You haven't even taken a bite and you're already tearing up." Hisui answered by pulling a small piece of food in her mouth, ignoring her instincts to stay far away from the devil and believing in Natsu's words. The reaction was instant, Hisui dropped the kebab to fan her mouth, her back trembling, tears started flowing down her cheeks, gathering to her chin. "How…" She stumbled a few steps. "did you take this?" Lava creep down her throat, leaving behind a stinging aftermath.

"It's pretty strong stuff, right? I did my best to hide so you would try it." That was when Hisui noticed Natsu sweating.

"You're…horrible…it's so hot!" Hisui whined between hiccups, having lost all composure and abandoned her authority-filled posture. "I…hate you…" The final three words Hisui said before devolving to tightly clutching the scarf around her neck struck at Natsu in the way that Hisui hoped. Natsu panicked and pulled Hisui to a bench, wiping away the tears as regret drove every gentle movement.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't think that—do you want me to get you a drink?"

"Please do…"

"I'll be right back ju—"

"Hurry! It hurts…" Soon, Natsu came back with a cold milkshake that Hisui looked at with longingness—something not present when she faced Natsu's apologetic face. The scorn held in Hisui's green eyes were an acid burn to Natsu. A thought came across his mind: the drink was keeping him safe.

"Here." The cup left his Natsu's hand. "I'm really sorry." Natsu said, feeling his guilt intensifying at making Hisui suffer but also for enjoying the consequences of his immaturity, seeing Hisui like this roused a never-found allure in Natsu. Hisui's ponytail was undone, some fell behind her shoulders, stray strands clung to her nape while sweat started from her forehead, streaking across her healthy red cheeks.

"I think I can speak again." Hisui hoarsely said. Her stares were mellowed out, they became a fine sheet of glass; dangerous if broken. "It's still lingering." Hisui took another sip, sighing in relief.

"Sorry…can you forgive me?"

"Why did you do that?"

"I just wanted to have some fun."

"Some fun? I thought I going to be sick! Why? Why did you do that!?" Only betrayal was present in Hisui's eyes.

"Do you hate me?"

"Honestly, if a dog chews up an expensive carpet and ruins your day, you still won't fully hate the dog."

"I'm just a dog to you?"

"Of course not, that was just to help me illustrate my point, I won't truly hate you, I have too much fun with you, and I guess that your looks help too. However, just because I forgive you this time doesn't mean that I won't get you back for this."

"Thanks."

"For now, I want you to make it up to me."

"How?"

"Comfort me, I'm still recovering."

"What do you want me to do?"

"Again with the indecisiveness. Natsu, just do what you think is right."

"I'm just trying to be nice."

"Do I really have to say it?" Hisui pulled Natsu to sit with her. "There's a reason why I've been wanting you to make the decisions, it's because I'm embarrassed to say it. Sadly, you're too dense to get it. Well, a part of it is to test your resolve."

"Just spill it."

"Can you…hold me?" Natsu looked at Hisui incredulously.

"That's it? I've been wanting to do that for a while now." Natsu wrapped his arms around Hisui, he enjoyed her scent; she enjoyed his warmth. "Is this good enough?"

"Perfect." Hisui smiled in content. In Natsu's comfort, Hisui looked up at the sky, though, there was still one day left in her vacation, to her, it was more than enough, and the extra day was a bonus. "I just came up with your punishment, look forward to it."

Thanks for reading! Another long chapter, I need to shorten these things soon because it's a nightmare to proofread.

Anyway, that's it for the resort, the next chapter will finally go back to the normal stuff. It's really strange, when I was writing the previous chapters, I was suffering, and now I want to get back into the more serious side of the story even though I think that I didn't really improve. I guess the break was what I need. However, I expect to be suffering after writing the next chapter, wish me luck!

I'm still finding an opportunity to tie Natsu and Hisui together, I need to up my game in that department, I feel like this story is getting nowhere even though I know what to end this story at, it's really frustrating, I don't want to stretch this story out for too long. On the other note, I find that Hisui forgave Natsu too easily in this chapter, hopefully, I'll correct that in the future.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter, have a great day!