Oh yeah! Today's my birthday! *Starts dancing* Read on, please!

(No, Acnologia is the one who committed this crime. This dragon… is Berdea.) Natsu stared in horror.

"But if this is Berdea," he realized, then fled into the forest. "Midori! Midori! Where are you?"

To his relief, he caught her scent - and it was fresh. He tracked her to a hollow tree, where she was hiding.

"Hey," he said softly. "Midori?" She stared at him with wide eyes.

"Is he gone?" she whispered.

"Yeah. Hey, c'mere. You're gonna come back home with Igneel and me, 'k?" She shuddered, but took his hand as he pulled her out. Midori burst into racking sobs when she saw her foster father's corpse. She didn't stop until they were almost home, then fell asleep, exhausted, against Natsu. "What is she gonna do?" Natsu asked. Igneel's bulk was hidden in the dark.

(She'll stay with us, of course,) he yawned. (I'll complete her training as best I can, then give her to another green fire dragon to finish it up completely.) Natsu was quiet for several minutes. (Go to sleep, hatchling.) Natsu suddenly tackled Igneel's snout. He pulled back a little in surprise, but then shoved his nose into Natsu's gut.

"Don't leave me," he whispered. He could hear the fear in the boy's voice. "Promise me that you won't go." Igneel hummed.

(I promise, hatchling.)

Midori's life went on as usual, except now she had a brother. And her dad was the wrong color, but that didn't really matter. Every day, she and Natsu sparred, each getting better in their own way. (While both of you excel at fighting,) Igneel explained one day when they were ten, (Midori's talents also lie in healing.)

"Berdea never told me about that," she wondered.

"Do I have any special talents?" Natsu asked. There was a flash of something in Igneel's eyes, but then he started humming again.

(You can destroy many different things in many different ways,) he offered.

"Sweet!"

"So," Midori thought out loud, "basically, I build what Natsu destroys?"

(Basically,) Igneel chuckled.

Natsu's hammock swayed as he climbed in, Happy resting on his belly. The silver dragon swayed from its chain as he held it up. Moonlight reflected off of it. Oh, Midori. I miss you.

He closed his eyes as he remembered the sight he had seen that day. A cold hand wrapped around his heart as he pushed the image away. It still hurt too much.

"Igneel!" Natsu cried, frantically searching for his father. Where did he go? Why would he leave us? "Igneel!"

"Natsu?" Midori asked sleepily, rubbing her eyes. "What's wrong? Where's Igneel?"

"I…" he stammered. He swiped at his face. She saw the tears anyway.

"He's not…?" she whispered in horror. Natsu shook his head.

"No… Maybe… I don't know! I just woke up and he was gone!" Natsu could still feel the heat of Igneel's body from last night. Despite it being July, it had been cold that night. Igneel had used his tail to pull Natsu and Midori closer to his body, resting his wing over them like a protective shield.

(Sleep, hatchlings,) he had said. (You'll need your rest.) Had he been hinting at his disappearance? Why had he left in the first place?

"What's today?" Midori asked, gripping his hand tightly.

"July 7, isn't it?" It had been at least three hours since they had woken up.

"Natsu… we should prepare for the worst."

"What's the worst?"

"There's a good chance Igneel's not coming back," she said after a moment. Natsu pulled away.

"Of course he will! He… He's probably… I don't know! Doing dragon king stuff!"

"Then why didn't he tell us?" Natsu's jaw dropped as his mind worked furiously.

"Top secret," he said firmly.

"Igneel could've at least told us that he was leaving, and when he was going to be back," she shot back. "What reason would he have not to?" Natsu gritted his teeth as he turned away.

"I don't know!" They didn't talk for the rest of the day. Nearly a month went by with them waiting for Igneel. He didn't return.

"We can't wait here forever," Midori said quietly one day. "The Vulcans are getting bolder, and we can't defeat all of them. We're just eleven."

"We have to!" Natsu insisted. He was angry that she had lost faith that Igneel would return. "How would Igneel know to find us if we left?"

"He's not coming back," she asserted.

"Yes he is! He has to…" Midori placed a hand on his shoulder.

"It's been a month, Natsu. He would've come back already if he was going to." An idea slowly worked its way through his head. Oh, this was good, even for him.

"Midori, let's make a deal," he said. Her head cocked to the side in the way that he loved, though he never said anything. "I'm going to go look for Igneel for a month, ok? I'll also look for a place for us to stay, like… a headquarters! I'll be back in a month, and we'll go to the HQ, and everything will be great! And we'll find Igneel too!" Midori laughed.

"Ok," she smiled. His guts twisted. "Just a month, ok? If you are so much as a day late, I'll beat you up, got it?" He nodded frantically. Midori could be scary if she wanted to be. "When will you leave?"

"In the morning," he grinned. He would miss Midori, but they would meet again. He knew it.

"Um, Natsu?" Midori asked in the morning. She was all red for some reason. "I… wanted you to have this… Like a good luck charm!" She pressed something into her hand. Natsu's jaw nearly hit the ground when he saw it.

"I can't take this," he said. "This necklace is all you have of your parents."

"I know," Midori responded. "But… I wanted you to have it… for good luck. It's always brought me good luck, so I thought… you know…"

"Got it," Natsu said, pulling the silver chain over his head. "Well… I'll see you in a month."

"Yeah," she said, turning an even deeper shade of red. Suddenly, she grabbed his wrist and bit it savagely. He yelped, eyes widening in alarm as blood began to well up.

"What was that for?" he demanded. One of her eyebrows rose.

"Weren't you paying attention when Igneel taught us about… that?"

"About what?" he asked, distracted. His blood was moving around his wrist, and then a slight burning sensation began. Then the blood stopped acting weird. He licked it off, the salty tang filling his mouth.

"Um… Humans call it 'the birds and the bees'. Natsu frowned.

"The what?"

"Are you an idiot?" she asked, smacking him on the head. "It's a mating mark, you moron!"

"Who are you calling a mor- Wait, a what?" Midori turned fiercely red. Natsu began to turn red as he understood what she had done. He also recognized the red dragon that his blood had burned into his wrist like a bracelet. "You mean…"

"It's the only way I could be sure that it's you when you come back in a month!" Midori protested. Natsu pouted a little.

"Seriously? We could have just had a password, or something!" Midori clobbered him. "Ow!"

"One, you would have forgotten it, and two, can't you tell when a girl likes y-" She stopped and pressed her hands to her mouth. Oh. Oh. Oh, man… Natsu licked his lips nervously. He had had a crush on her for a while now, but they were practically siblings. It would be weird to give her a mating mark. "I'm an idiot."

"No, you aren't," he told her, wrapping his arm around her.

"Yes, I am. I should have asked you first." Natsu sighed and bit her wrist. She gasped, turning red again. He gently licked the blood from her wrist, smiling a little at the red dragon on her wrist, identical to his.

"Well, this is my answer." Natsu stretched. "I'm never going to leave at this rate. I'll see you n a month, ok?"

"Ok," Midori whispered, then gave him a kiss on the cheek before fleeing back into the cave. Natsu was frozen for a moment before a grin threatened to split his head in half. He started walking into the forest, whistling merrily.

So we got some Nadori fluff... I'd call it NaMi, but that's also the name of the Natsu x Mira pairing... so that doesn't work. Review please, as my birthday present!