~ The Bad Boy's Scar ~

That Tuesday afternoon, looming grey clouds dampened everybody's mood. One male in particular, however, was not affected; his flirtatious behaviour never ceased whether rain or shine.

"Ah, my delicate flower, you look even more beautiful than you did the last time I saw you," Loke said as he adjusted his azure-tinted sunglasses.

The attractive girl he was talking to giggled in response.

"You too, my angel," he turned to that girl's companion. "Whenever I see you, my day becomes as radiant as your smile!" He exclaimed dramatically.

While this went on, the irritable Natsu was just passing by and he was not pleased with what he heard at all.

What's wrong with this asshole? He thought. He already has Lucy and he still goes around flirting with other girls? Accidentally hearing those nauseatingly honeyed words, while on his way out of school, only served to make his already low spirits even lower.

But even though he felt indignant for Lucy, today wasn't a day where he wanted to get involved in a confrontation with Loke. Today, he just wanted to be left alone – because it was Lisanna's death anniversary.

Home early that day was Lucy as she had to wait for the plumber to arrive. She led him to the first floor bathroom when he did, and observed as he examined the problem.

"So," she said. "What's wrong with it?"

"Ughh…" The plumber groaned as he got up from under the sink. "It's clearly a burst pipe."

"What? That doesn't sound good."

"No, it's not, and there's more," he said. "While I was inspecting your pipes, I noticed they seem to be faulty and not well maintained. When was the last time you had plumbing maintenance?"

"Err… um… I don't know…? I haven't lived here for that long actually."

"I see. Then it could be oversight on the previous owners' part. Just to be safe, I'd better check all the taps and pipes in this house, alright?"

Lucy nodded and proceeded to show him all the bathrooms. When he had checked the kitchen sink as well, he let Lucy have the bad news. "Unfortunately, quite a few pipes need to be changed and uh… it might take awhile."

"Oh no. How long? A couple of days?"

The plumber shook his head. "A week, at least."

"What!" The blonde cried out in dismay. I have to live with that idiot for at least another week?!

Although she was averse to the idea, Lucy had no choice. She urged the plumber to do whatever he had to do as quickly as possible and thanked him before he left. Then she went back to 'that idiot's room and flopped onto the bed. After that earth-shattering declaration on Saturday, she wanted very much to avoid Natsu but because of the inconvenient living arrangements she couldn't do so at all.

In fact, over the past two days, Natsu was everywhere. He found all sorts of reasons to enter his room and invade her private space. He followed her around the apartment and refused to leave her alone. And what was worse than all of his stalker-ish antics was that she felt her heart beginning to waver. She didn't know whether it was because of his fearless confession, but whenever he was around, she couldn't calm down. It was almost as if he knew. It was almost as if he knew that pestering her would keep him in her thoughts constantly, and so he deliberately stuck to her like honey.

Ugh, what do I do? She worried while she lay on her front, her face buried in the pillow. Her unfamiliar surroundings had turned into a stifling environment and she longed for nothing more than some space so she could think clearly. She considered pouring out her grouses to Juvia or Levy and then decided against it. What she needed right now was not a listening ear but a faraway place where nobody could sway her emotions anymore or add on to her troubles. Did she have a place she could go to that was like that?

She rolled onto her back. Now spread out like a starfish, she let out a long sigh.

Maybe… over there…?

Lucy walked with a sense of urgency, not wanting to get caught in the rain even though she had brought an umbrella with her. The ominous rainclouds hanging overhead promised a relentless downpour and she preferred to stay dry if she could. With a few wrong turns and several right ones, she reached her destination without having to open her umbrella.

She stood outside the door, hesitating. What if he's here? Then that would just totally defeat the purpose… She put her ear to the door and tried to listen for any sign of his presence. Not sure whether it was because the door was too thick or it was really as it seemed, she could not hear a sound. It was surprisingly quiet, the complete opposite of the liveliness she encountered that day when she came here with Natsu.

Lucy glanced around the alley and saw no one. Then she looked up at the sign to make sure it was the correct door. That sign definitely reads 'The Tavern', but why is it so quiet? Finally, curiosity got the better of her and she was about to push the door open. Just at that moment, the door swung open from the other side, revealing a pair of siblings she remembered as Mirajane and Elfman Strauss. They were clothed in black from head to toe with a large black umbrella hanging at Mirajane's elbow and a bouquet of flowers resting in Elfman's arms.

"Oh–!" Lucy stepped back instinctively.

"Lucy?" Mirajane immediately recognized the blonde. "What are you doing here?"

"Um… are you heading out?" She didn't know what to say so she asked a question instead.

"Yes," the white-haired beauty replied. "Are you looking for Natsu?"

"W-Wha– no! No, I'm not. I was just– just…" She stammered awkwardly. What was I thinking? Why did I come here?

"I remember you now! You're Natsu's girl!" Elfman exclaimed.

"NO!" Lucy flatly denied. "We're not like that!"

"No…? I thought–"

"Is there something on your mind?" Mirajane intercepted. She had picked up Lucy's vexed mood and wondered what was wrong.

"Well… yes… but it's not exactly a very big problem…" Lucy gradually shifted her gaze to the floor. She didn't know why she was talking to Mirajane – someone she had only met once – about this. Yet, somehow, Mira seemed to understand exactly how she felt without her having to explain anything; Mira just gets it, and that provided her with some much-needed solace.

"I see," Mirajane spoke. Her less-cheery-than-usual tone did not go unnoticed by Lucy and she soon learnt why. "We're going to visit our sister's grave today. Would you like to come along?"

"Your sister's…?" Lucy wasn't sure she heard it right and she looked at both Mirajane and Elfman's expressions to ascertain it.

Mira nodded sombrely in response while Elfman just looked down at the flowers in his hands.

"Okay." Lucy had no reason to go with them but, at the same time, she couldn't find a reason not to either.

By the time they got to the cemetery, it had started to drizzle. Mirajane shared her black umbrella with Elfman and Lucy took shelter under her own as she silently followed the Strauss siblings between the rows of tombstones. As they approached Lisanna's headstone, they spotted a familiar figure standing in the light rain and Lucy's heart skipped a beat when she recognized who that was.

Astounded to run into him here, she stopped in her tracks, just four headstones away, while Mirajane and Elfman continued walking towards Natsu. The pink-head noticed them approaching and looked up. What he didn't expect was to see Lucy a few steps behind and when their eyes unexpectedly met, he could not turn away.

Elfman laid the bouquet before Lisanna's grave and both the siblings stood in silence, taking some time to pay their respects to their late little sister. Lucy broke the connection first and looked away; her face had heated up a little from Natsu's intense stare. Not bothering to acknowledge his existence, she walked past him.

What is she doing here? Natsu watched as she walked up to Lisanna's grave.

LISANNA STRAUSS

Beloved sister and friend

19XX-20XX

Seeing the words engraved on Lisanna's headstone brought back solemn memories of her own mother's death and tears pricked at the corners of Lucy's brown eyes. She wiped them away quickly before anyone could see them. Her late mother's grave was rather far away in the front garden of Heartfilia Konzern and she hadn't visited in a while.

For about five minutes, everyone stood there without saying a word. Gradually the light drizzle became a heavy downpour, and Mira and Elfman decided to leave. Natsu, however, refused to go back and Lucy, for some reason, did not want to leave him alone here. And so, the two of them remained in the cemetery, shielded from the rain under Lucy's bright red umbrella.

The silence between them was filled with the droning sound of raindrops pattering against the nylon canopy and it stayed that way for God knows how long. It wasn't awkward between them and it didn't feel weird. Oddly enough, both of them took comfort in each other's quiet presence.

After a while, instead of staring at the headstone, Lucy's attention shifted to Natsu. She carefully observed his expression – or the lack of it. There wasn't so much as a crease or wrinkle on his face and Lucy didn't know what to think. In the end, she decided to say something.

"How long have you known her?"

There was a pause and for a moment, Lucy worried about whether or not Natsu would reply her, but then he spoke, "Since young. We were childhood friends."

"Oh."

"We played together all the time," he continued even though Lucy didn't pry. "We were very close and she was special to me… And then one day, two years ago, they went on a camping trip together, Lisanna, Mira and Elfman. They were setting up camp in a forest when they ran into a wild grizzly bear. They must have gone into its territory because it chased after them really angrily. They tried to escape but they couldn't outrun it. And then–" He choked on his words and Lucy already knew what happened next.

"You don't have to tell me…"

But Natsu carried on anyway. "Elfman tried to fight it off but how could he? It was a grizzly bear, you know? That's how he got that scar under his right eye, down the side of his right cheek. He needed seven stitches."

"I see."

Neither of them spoke in the next minute and then Lucy decided to share her own experience with death.

"Seven years ago, my mother died in a car accident."

Upon hearing that, Natsu's head shot up and he now looked up at her instead of down at the tombstone.

"I'm fine though," she hurried to reassure him. "It was seven years ago. The pain is practically all numbed now."

"It's been two years since Lisanna died, but each year on this day, I feel the same. It feels the same. And I don't know about seven years but it feels like I'll always be feeling this way on this day."

"You two must have been real close."

"…we agreed to marry each other when we grow up."

"Huh?" This piece of news came as a staggering shock to Lucy and she couldn't understand why her chest suddenly felt tight. It felt like somebody had just squeezed her heart and left it aching badly.

"It was a childhood promise and now it'll remain a childhood memory…"

The words got stuck in Lucy's throat and she found herself unable to utter a sound. She felt foolish for letting him creep into her thoughts so often when he wasn't even over his childhood sweetheart yet. He probably doesn't really feel that way…

"…I will never forget her…" He kept on talking but Lucy wasn't listening anymore. All of a sudden she just wanted to get out of there but the heavy rain combined with the shock hampered her escape.

"…I think it's natural since we grew up together. She just so easily became–" He stopped the next time he glanced at Lucy. His favourite brown eyes had lost their glint which told him something was wrong. When he thought back on the past five minutes of conversation, he realized the mistake he had made. Shit! Shit, shit, SHIT! He berated himself.

Okay, Natsu. It's okay, you can fix this. He composed himself and at once, his nostalgic self disappeared and was replaced with his usual haughty character, the one Lucy knew better.

"Heeeyy!" He called out light-heartedly.

But the dazed Lucy did not hear him. So he pinched both her cheeks and called again, "Earth to Lucy!"

"UWAAH!" She smacked his hands away from her face with her free hand and yelled, "What?!"

"What are you spacing out for?" He went.

"I'm not spacing out."

"Yes, you were. And now you're angry. Why are you angry?"

"I'm not angry!" She lied. Impulsively, she turned on her heel and stormed off with the umbrella, leaving him out in the rain.

"Wait!" He shouted as he went after her. He would have been drenched in less than a second if he didn't. "Let's go home together!"

"What home?! Who wants to go home with you?!"

"Are you mad at me?" He asked.

But she ignored him and started walking even faster. This caused him to half-run after her frantically in a bid to get out of the rain.

"Hey!" He called out once more. "Listen to me when I'm talking to you!"

Lucy definitely heard him but she showed no signs of slowing down. Finally Natsu was fed up and he shouted at top volume, "STOP RIGHT THERE, LUCY HEARTFILIA!"

She halted abruptly, allowing him to catch up and seek shelter under her umbrella once again. (It was pointless though; He was already soaked from head to toe.)

"Why are you running away from me?" He confronted her.

She sulked and turned away.

"Oh my God," it suddenly hit him. "Are you jealous?!"

"NO I'M NOT!" She vehemently denied but deep down she knew it was a lie. She felt dumb getting jealous over somebody who was dead and ashamed knowing that he knew.

But she couldn't help it.

Attempting to get away once more, Lucy thrust the umbrella handle into his hand and took off in the rain. But Natsu reacted fast and he ran after her. He easily caught up and this time, determined not to let her get away again, he grabbed her by her arm.

"Wait, I said!"

"Let me go!"

"Just hear me out, will you? Stop trying to run away from me! You know I'll just find you again wherever you go!"

That calmed her and she stopped struggling. Albeit with much difficulty, he had finally earned her attention once again and, trusting that she wouldn't run away this time, he released his grip on her.

"I told you about her because I thought you should know. As the girl I'm currently trying damn hard to impress, I thought you deserved to know. And if I made you feel anything less than what you're worth, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to."

"…the girl you're 'trying damn hard to impress'?" Her voice went up near the end of the question and she resisted the urge to smile to herself.

"Of all the things I just said, you chose to pick on that line? Just let me finish," he found himself feeling slightly bashful when she said it like that. "It's pretty early to let you know all this, but I thought, since you're here anyway… Wait, how come you're even here?"

"Well, I– I was just–"

"It doesn't matter," he cut her off. "Look, the point is, I liked her a lot but at that time we were just kids! When she left I thought I would never feel like that for anyone ever again. And then I met you. I met you, and the feeling was different. The instant I saw you I felt something and I knew it wasn't the same – it was more."

The earnest look in his eyes unravelled the knot in her stomach and her heart began to soften. He looked back at her breath-taking warm brown eyes and allowed himself to get lost in their depths. Helplessly drawn to those alluring orbs, he subconsciously took a step forward, closing in on the insignificant space between them under the medium-sized umbrella. And although he knew it would be wrong, he could not help himself when he slowly leaned in to kiss her.

Regardless of how frighteningly fast her feelings for him seemed to be growing, and regardless of how furiously her heart pounded in that instant because of him, Lucy wasn't one who would knowingly cheat on her (fake) partner. As such, she lightly laid her hand against his firm chest and said, "I have a boyfriend, and this is a graveyard." She glanced around the lifeless place.

"Who cares?" He shot back but then she gave him the look.

"And I already know about your boyfriend," he continued, undaunted. "I've met him. What a douchebag!" He nonchalantly threw in an insult. Deep down, he was juuuust a little disappointed by that light refusal, but he understood why she did so and it only made him like her more.

Not knowing when, the storm had calmed. There was no longer a need for the umbrella so Natsu closed it. The pair walked along the dirt path, cordially making small talk on their way home together.

"Hey, today I saw–" Natsu began but stopped short.

"What?"

"Nothing." He wanted to tell her about Loke but then decided that the day had been gloomy enough and he didn't have to make it even more depressing.

Lucy didn't think much of it and dismissed it as nothing important. "Oh, by the way, the plumber came by today."

"Oh right, what'd he say?"

"He said he needs another week or so to fix everything."

"Does that mean we'll still be staying together?!" Natsu's face lit up instantly and he made no effort to hide his elation.

"Ughh, unfortunately, yeah."

"YESSSS! WOOHOO!" He did a joyous jump and punched the air while Lucy, next to him, rolled her eyes.

Under the gentle warm rays of the now setting sun, everything around glistened from the after-rain effect and the two of them leisurely strolled back to Fairy Hills.

Ahh… initially I wanted to have Lucy visit her mom's grave and then coincidentally see Natsu there. But then, I remembered Lucy's mother's grave is at Heartfilia Konzern and it makes more sense for it to be there rather than at some public cemetery so yea.

Hope you have enjoyed this chapter! I certainly enjoyed writing it! ^^