Chapter 5. -3- YEY! Anyways, the summary is that Master and Maemi talked about something unknown, but relevant to the plot, making Maemi upset. Now, she didn't have breakfast, so Natsu decides rashfully to bring her out to breakfast. Awww. C:

Disclaimers: I do not own Fairy Tail or Hiro Mashima.

Claimers: I do own Maemi, A certain couple's wedding, and Red.

Natsu, as usual, gobbled up his food in who knows how fast, leaving a slow eating Maemi to wait on. Just like Natsu would, she'd normally eat fast. But right now, things flew in and out of her head, as she pondered if she could tell Natsu first, or Gray? Or maybe she should tell Erza first? She became frustrated as she didn't want to tell them what might happen. She just got back too, she was tired enough!

The pink haired boy watched her closely, realizing something was probably wrong. "Hey, everything alright over there, Mae?" He asked. She only glanced up at him in reply, and took another bite out of the food she ordered. "What happened?! Did Gramps upset you?!" He demanded.

"No, Gramps didn't upset me…" Maemi replied. She looked down at the ground, playing footsies with herself. Natsu stood up quite loudly, slamming one of his fists onto the table.

"Then why are you sad?!" He asked, almost yelling.

"…I can't tell you why, Natsu… I'm not ready to tell anyone yet."

"You can tell me."

"I know I can, but if I did…" Maemi sighed. "Just… do me a favor for now Natsu." Natsu looked at her and smiled.

"Anything for my friend that protects me from Erza!" Maemi giggled.

"Can you please not invite me on any missions that Lucy and you are doing?" Maemi asked. "I like Lucy and all, it's just…" She hesitated. "It's just I don't get between you and Lucy!" She said the first thing that popped into her mind.

"You wouldn't get between us…"

"Still… You guys have been doing TONS of missions together, so I don't want Lucy to feel like she's been replaced by someone, 'kay?" Natsu stared at her for a minute, and then nodded.

"Alright! On one condition though!"

"And what might that condition be?"

"Tell me what's going on!"

"Access denied!"

"But… but…"

"No buts, Natsu."

"How else can it be fair then?!"

"Uh… I'll let you sleep on my head again."

"Really?!"

"Yeah, of course!" Maemi said with a genuine smile. "Should we head back to the guild-?"

"Finish your food! Finish your food!" Natsu chanted. Maemi ate as quick as Natsu did to finish up most of the food, and gulped the rest down.

"DONE." Maemi shot up out of her chair and darted, Natsu falling close behind. They both forgot to bring money. "I'm sure they won't notice."

"Yeah… They won't!" Natsu smirked.

"WHO DIDN'T PAY FOR THIS FOOD?!" Some man in the background yelled furiously. The two looked at each other.

"Run?" Maemi suggested lightly.

"RUN!" Natsu quickly grabbed the girl's hand for the third time that day, and went crazy fast. Maemi thought she lost her legs.

They eventually reached the guild once again, everyone staring at them. Maemi collapsed onto the ground. She didn't get knocked out, she was awake, but she didn't feel like getting up at all this time. She huffed, and then began to pant. Wendy approached the older girl.

"Mae-San? Do you need help?" Wendy asked softly.

"No, I'm fine on the ground, Wendy… Thanks for the offer though-!" She was then slung over the shoulder by Erza. "Aaand I'm up."

"Don't lay on the floor, Maemi. It's not safe."

"But I do it all the time!"

"Yes, we are all very aware of that." Some guilds members laughed. "But with two certain idiots bickering and fighting all the time, it doesn't make it safe."

"You make it seem like I'm your younger sibling or something, Erza. You're always so protective of me!" Maemi complained. Erza hugged her.

"I now officially announce you my non-official sister!" Maemi stared at her as if: WHAT?! Erza turned to Natsu and Gray, who were now bickering over something random. Gray, obviously lost both his shirt and pants. His shoes also seemed to disappear as well… "Now, you two…" She glared demonically towards the two boys. She stormed over, leaving Maemi at the bar.

"Well, congratulations on having Erza on a bigger sister now!" She heard Mirajane's cheery voice. Maemi turned.

"Yeah, but the only problem is now is that if I want to date anyone…" She gulped. "Who knows might just what happen to the poor guy. A few guys in the guild flinched, somehow including Natsu and Gray. Laxus kind of hid away from Erza's sight. "Okay…? That was weird…" Mirajane put down a glass of water for Maemi. She picked up the glass.

"Thanks, Mira."

"Your welcome! I figured you wouldn't want alcohol, since you protested when you were younger that you wouldn't dare touch a bottle of it!" Maemi took a sip of the water.

"Yeah, I'd never touch a drip or a drop of it."

"So, have you heard the big, big news?" Mirajane chimed joyfully.

"Uh… Alcohol is banned?"

"Nope, guess again!"

"Uh… Um… I GIVE UP."

"Elfman and Ever's wedding is next week!" Mirajane giggled out. Maemi stared at her. She couldn't even think of what to say right then. All she then focused on is who the Maid of Honor might be, and the Best Man. Not that she should worry much about it, it's just… WHO WOULD IT BE?

"Who's the best man and maid of honor?" She asked eventually.

"Dunno, but I hope I'm it!" Mirajane smiled. "I wanna see my brother's face when I stand next to Evergreen. Lisanna's going to record it from one side. Do you think you could do the other though?"

"Maybe." Maemi shrugged. "What if I want to participate too?"

"Hmm… true. But who would you go with?"

"I dunno…" A devious smile grew onto Mirajane's face.

"How about Natsu or Gray?"

"H-Huh?!"

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-(Natsu's P.O.V.)~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

I overheard what Mirajane just head and kept playing it over, and over, and over again in my head. Sometimes, I hate her matchmaking skills. So what if I kind of like Maemi…? She's been my buddy just as long as Happy has! I mean, I like Lucy and Lisanna too! But she even teases that too! Well, I think I like Maemi more. She doesn't mind if I splatter food everywhere, we both destroy things, we think pretty dang similar, we both have exceeds, and we're complete weirdoes!

But now, my tummy feels all weird when I'm around her. I hope I'm not allergic to her…She's one of my many best friends! Right next to Happy actually! I turned to Gray, who was just dropped by Erza. Natsu scooted over. He scowled.

"Natsu, if you're gonna try pick a argument again I'm gonna-!"

"I'm not, calm down. I just have a weird feeling in my belly when I'm near Mae. What does it mean, dude?" I whispered franticly. Gray flinched and went all wide eyed.

"Eh… I-It means you have a crush on her, Natsu…" He whispered back.

"A crush? The hell does that mean?" Gray sighed.

"It means you still like her as a friend, except you want to be more than friends."

"So it's like a promotion from friend to best friend? Gray, she's already one of my BEST friends…"

"Farther than best friends."

"There's something farther than best friends?!"

"Yeah, that's where you're at with Mae. You have a crush on her, so it generally means you don't like her, you…" Gray paused. "You love her."

"WAIT WHAT?!" I screamed.

"They're your feelings. Either listen to them, or not…" Everyone stared at Gray and I, confused on what happened just now. I saw Maemi staring right at me. There goes my heartbeat rate… I feel like I just ran farther than I usually do. But when I saw her look at Gray, a new feeling came into my heart. Okay Gray, I hope you know to explain that one!

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-(Gray's P.O.V.)~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

Well, who knew Ash-Brain had a crush on her too?! Geez, it's already hard enough to even look at her with Juvia always stalking me… Meanwhile, Natsu gets all of the freedom to even grab her hand and drag her places. If I even got 4 feet close to Maemi, Juvia would somehow pulls me away. Plus, I don't feel like freezing anyone today… Already surprising enough Mirajane mentioned the wedding and Maemi going with either of us.

Natsu suddenly stormed up to me again, grabbing by the shoulder. "I got another unknown feeling-thingy." He sounded annoyed.

"Okay… what is it then?"

"Well, when Mae looked at someone else I felt angry and my heart ached, what does that mean?"

"That means you get jealous way too easy. Jealous is where… uh… let's say someone started dating Mae, but it wasn't you. So in conclusion, you end up HATING that guy, and try to get Maemi to start hanging out and seeing you more."

"Oh. OKAY." He stormed off. I swear, sometimes, Natsu scares the crap outta me.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-(3rd P.O.V.)~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

Maemi got up from her seat and saw Natsu storm off towards the Request Board. He then went to Lucy, and poked her cheek a bunch of times to get her attention. "Lucy, Lucy, Lucy, Luce, Luce, Luce, Lucy…" He repetitively said. She got annoyed easily and turned to stare at him.

"Yes Natsu?"

"I found us a mission!" He cheered. Happy flew over towards Natsu and landed onto his shoulder.

"Natsu, let me see it!" Natsu held the paper up to Happy, who obviously couldn't read. He understood the payment though. "It's a pretty high pay, aye!" The small exceed cheered. Red walked over to Maemi, tugging at her shoes.

"Maemi, we should go with them." The red exceed suggested. Maemi froze and franticly flailed her arms around.

"A-Ah, I can't! I have to go do something!" The exceed looked at her, confused.

"Like?"

"Training of course! And plus, I still need to clean our place up after 12 years!" Maemi quickly picked up the exceed and ran out of the guild, going down all the streets she had to go down to finally exit the city. Along the way, however, she bumped shoulders with someone. "S-Sorry!" She apologized quickly.

"It's alright… I wasn't looking-! Oh, hey there Mae!" Maemi heard a certain ice-mages voice.

"…Gray your clothes." Maemi told him, quickly turning around.

BAM. XD In my opinion, Natsu has had too much Maemi time. It's time for Gray Alwaysnaked Fullbuster's time to shine~! After he puts his clothes on, of course. C: I want to thank everyone for almost 300 views on this story, and 4 favorites too! This story has grown popular quickly. XD Over the course of about 4 days too! Anyways, the poll is still up for who she ends up with at the end of the story, so get voting. (Not like the ending is soon, but still)

QUESTIONS:

1. Do you think Maemi might be a celestial spirit?

2. Who else do you think likes Maemi?

3. Why do you think Mirajane suggested to Maemi that she goes with Natsu and Gray?

4. If she does end up going, who does she go with in your opinion?

5. Did you think it was funny when Natsu and Maemi didn't pay for the food and ran? Cx

6. Did you ever imagine a wedding in this story? C: Especially Evergreen and Elfman's?

OKAY. NO MORE QUESTIONS. C:

R&R?

~Strawberrycheezecake~