Natsu Dragneel, a man of nineteen years, knew he was a very straightforward person. He liked that. His personality and morals often got him into fights when he was younger, but he loved a good fight. It didn't bother him that he'd go home bruised and sometimes bloodied because he knew he was able to beat some sense into someone who'd done something wrong. Justice had always been a big part of his attitude and even now, as he was steadily leaving his teen years, he had a very keen sense of what was right and wrong.

He was simple minded, loud, friendly to those who were friendly back, loyal, reckless, and protective. Natsu knew where his priorities lied, and didn't take shit from people who tried to mess with them. Not that he was a rude person in nature, he just hated when people were untruthful and just plain bad. It boggled his mind that people would want to do wrong anyway. It was just one of those things he couldn't wrap his head around.

Most of his way of thinking had been drilled into him, not unwillingly, by the people and boss down at the place he worked. Well, he didn't exactly work there, more like he worked for them… if that made sense. It was a unique kind of workplace, and though the kind of business they ran was beginning to become a little more common, he still thought that they were the absolute best. It was practically his home.

Fairy Tail Odd Jobs. Or normal ones. It didn't matter to be honest, that was just the name of the place.

They were pretty famous in name and reputation, recently anyway, and hell yeah he was going to brag about that, he was proud of it. Jobs come in from all over, to people who're working there at the time. Some are artists, some are good with metal works and others are really damn smart. Whatever you needed, Fairy Tail could provide. Of course your job had to be approved and accepted by someone, but it usually was. Though some jobs, that were probably pranks and if not then the people who submitted them were sick, pissed him the hell off.

Anyway, that was where Natsu had decided to place his loyalties.

He'd grown up with most of the people there anyhow, so to him it was normal that his home was a place like that. They were his family in a lot of ways and he'd do anything for them. The boss, old man, had kind of taken him in when he was a kid. There had been a lot of children there when he arrived, most of whom were just like him. No parents, no home, but they didn't seem like they were sad and helpless. He liked that a lot.

His smaller self had been going through a rough deal around the time he had met his boss, Makarov. His dad, well foster dad but he was still like a dad to him, had for some reason ditched him one day. He didn't have any kind of clue as to why that happened, but in result Natsu had been left to fend for himself at a very young age.

The boy had wandered into a town after a few days of aimlessly walking through the woods where they had lived. Igneel, he'd always loved his dad's name, had a small cottage for the two of them in the middle of a clearing, so he never really knew where he actually lived. In his mind all there was to the world was just him and his father. Of course the two of them had made trips to the town once or twice, Igneel would go by himself most of the time, but you can image the shock young Natsu went through when he was forced to give up his previous lifestyle.

A few short hours after asking locals where he was and if they knew of a place to get food, a "possibly abandoned child" had been reported to the authorities. Some nice people he couldn't remember the names of had bought him food in attempt to keep him in one place long enough in order for the city to take him into custody.

Natsu hadn't understood what was going on until a full day of answering questions later he was temporarily placed inside a foster home. It took him two hours to run away.

And it was as he was making his escape that he met Makarov.

The old man, well old-ish man, at the time had been going about his business until a full speed Natsu had rammed into his chest, causing the both of them to curse up a storm and fall to the ground.

Long story short, and it was a very long story, Makarov ended up taking Natsu back with him to his hometown and to Fairy Tail. Promptly introducing him to all the kids he'd come across in his lifetime that were similar to him in some way. Taking in all those kids was the last thing Makarov had expected himself to do, but his life had always been very unpredictable.

He allowed them all to stay in a small apartment strip he owned near the warehouse. There were a few adult tenants there so the kids were never completely unsupervised or unfed at night, but during the day they were free to do whatever. Most of the time they would just hang around Fairy Tail and leech free food and air conditioning off him, but despite his outward attitude, he didn't mind in the least.

In the end, Natsu was able to live a nice childhood along with all the other children while still maintaining his freedom. That "freedom" being he was able to camp out in the woods whenever he wanted. Which he guessed was odd by the looks people gave him when he told them, but he didn't care, it soothed him. Sometimes the city still felt like a stranger.

Of course once he reached a certain age, and he was finally able to take on jobs which he was ecstatic about, Natsu moved out of the arranged housing he'd hardly lived in. The old man had told him his room would always be open to him if he wanted it, given no one else was paying to stay there, but Natsu had refused. Makarov had done enough for him already, and he thought it was finally time for him to repay some of it.

But on that particular day, that sunny, warm, perfect summer day, Natsu's mood was very, very sour.

He'd gone out, hoping to get some fresh air and get his mind off certain things, and decided to go to the warehouse, thinking maybe some company would distract him from his thoughts.

Wrong decision.

As soon as he walked in he wanted to walk right back out.

Every pair of eyes he saw were looking at him with the words, "Are you alright…?" behind them… and he knew why. He knew very well why. This happened every year.

The "anniversary", if you could even call it that, of the day he was abandoned was coming up soon. It was later that week actually, and every time it came around his mood dampened unwillingly. His friends seemed to take note of this and thought expressing their condolences would help him. Which it didn't, but he hadn't the heart to tell them that. So why was it he forgot that going there around that time was a bad decision?

"Hey Natsu!" Mirajane, the bartender of Fairy Tail, yeah they had a bar too, called out to him as soon as he entered, "You up for some food?"

He smiled and waved back, trying desperately to seem like he was feeling the exact opposite of what they thought, "Yeah sure!" he yelled from across the building, catching a few more eyes as he walked toward the woman.

"What are you up to today?" Mira grinned as she leaned on the counter, "Do you have a date?"

"Nah no date." If he had a dollar for every time she asked him that he'd have enough money to buy an island. Which kinda seemed like an awesome idea when he thought about it.

"Aw…" she actually sounded disappointed, "What a shame. Any girl would be lucky to have you!" She stood upright and smoothed out her apron, "So? What'll it be? The usual?" The usual being flaming hot jalapeno poppers with extra tabasco.

If it were any other day his mouth would already be watering, but he just couldn't bring himself to want it right now… he wouldn't let her know that of course, "Sounds good."

Her eyes thinned the slightest bit, measuring his reaction. She must've asked him that as a test.

In an instant her cheery smile was back, "Okay then! It'll be right out!" she chimed and disappeared into the kitchen.

Maybe company wasn't such a good idea… Natsu thought to himself as he brought his elbows onto the bar.

No, he knew it wasn't a good idea, because right as she left all he wanted to do was leave. He could feel all the stares practically burning a hole in his back. They meant well but it felt like hungry wolves who wanted nothing more than to hug were threatening to attack him.

He looked to his left and saw Macao, who had a funny looking mustache to Natsu, speaking to Wakaba and daytime drinking. For a moment he considered if leaving was the right thing to do, but his body moved before he could fully consider it.

"Yo Macao." He hopped off his stool and walked over to the man, gaining his attention, "Could you tell Mira I had to take off?"

Macao looked confused, "Didn't you just get here?"

He nodded, "Yeah but I forgot I had a job on hold so just tell her I had to bail."

Just as he began to walk off he remembered, "Oh and she's makin' my poppers so do me a favor and eat them for me will ya? You know she doesn't like to waste food."

The middle-aged man choked on his drink and Wakaba laughed, "Are you nuts kid?! No one can eat those damned things but you! You want me to die or somethin?!"

"Thanks man!" Natsu grinned and slapped him on the back before leaving, pretending to be on his phone as he made his way out to avoid any more conversations.

Man he felt like shit for avoiding them…

But it just wasn't something he could deal with. It was never something he could deal with. Maybe he should just hole up in his house for a few days… he had a cat… so he was more than enough for company.

As he walked the streets of the town, he thought about it more and more and it was really starting to seem like a valid idea. But before he could form a decision, his train of thought met a brick wall when he saw what was happening across the road.

Two men, probably around nineteen or twenty were ganging up on a much smaller man in front of them, your typical mugging. They had him pinned against the wall of an alleyway between a crafts shop and a restaurant, making sure no one could see them apparently. Natsu sighed and his eyebrow twitched. There was nothing he hated more than people taking advantage of others they knew had no chance of resisting, well there were things he hated more but you get the picture.

"HEY!" Natsu's voiced boomed from the other side of street and immediately caught attention of the two larger men.

"What the hell are you doing?" he asked roughly, his voice changing with the volume.

"Get lost." One man spoke simply and returned to harassing the victim for his wallet.

"Hey man what's the big deal?" the other spoke in a voice Natsu thought was quite possibly the most annoying one he'd ever heard, "It's not like you need the money right? You ain't gotta girlfriend to take out so just give it to us."

"I… actually do have a girlfriend…" the dude tried to level out the grounds, and Natsu knew what was coming next.

"Huh? You think it's funny to talk back don't you?! Let's see how much your laughin' when I beat the shit outta you!"

But the swing never made it to the younger man's face. Instead, Natsu, who had crossed the street in a matter of seconds, caught the man's fist and shoved it backwards, making it connect with the assaulter's own face.

Douche number one, which is what Natsu had labeled him in his head, made a confused noise, as he backed up wondering how the guy made it to him so fast. Immediately, Douche number two, who was making a god-awful expression, yelled out "you fucker!" and began to rush the pink haired man who was now in an extremely bad mood.

He ducked the swing easily and kicked number two in the gut before he came back up, not giving number one enough time to register what was happening when he landed a solid punch on his face.

"SHIT!" number two, staggering, groaned and held his stomach tightly.

Number one, who looked like he was on the verge of tears as he fell on his ass grabbed the side of his jaw and yelled, "What the fuck's your problem man?!"

Natsu, who'd had just about enough of this, let his calm demeanor fade and made a fear worthy expression, "You think you can just take and steal whatever you want? You think it's okay to rough up people who can't stand up to you in a fight?" he spoke as he walked closer to number one, who was almost whimpering, "If I thought the same as you, there'd be nothing to stop me from beating you all to a pulp right now… you want that?"

"n-n..o-"

"Cause it seems to me like you do."

Just as he was about to take another swing, he heard his name thunder in the alleyway.

"Natsu!"

He turned his head and his mind snapped back into place. He let go of number one's collar, unsure of when he'd grabbed it, and stood up, also unsure of when he had squat down.

"Yeah old man?" Natsu replied as he scratched his head and walked passed number two, who looked scared out of his mind, and the dude who'd almost been robbed.

Makarov stood at the opening into the street with his arms crossed over his chest, "What's going on here? First Mira comes and interrupts my work, acting like you died and now I see you beating someone up?!"

"I didn't exactly beat them u-"

"No excuses." He scolded.

"Yeah, yeah." Natsu said as he bent down and grabbed the guys' wallet that'd fallen, "Here you go. Try not to let it get almost stolen again." He put it in the guy's hand and walked past both him and Makarov, heading back onto the sidewalk.

"Thank you!" the dude managed to get out before Natsu disappeared from sight.

"Don't mention it!" his voice sounded from around the corner.

Makarov stayed where he was, eyeing both douche number one and two who were still in their same positions, "If you don't want that boy to teach you another lesson…" his expression became cold, revealing his own disgust at their actions, "you'd better clean your acts up. Today."

He motioned for the blameless one to leave the alley, looked back on the pair one last time, and moved on to find where Natsu had gone to. As he'd suspected, the boy, in his eyes he was still a boy, had made his way to the local park, and was sitting at the very top of the jungle gym.

The park was a nice one, it was large and off to the side of the town, so it was close to where the woods met the city. It was very shaded with an abundance of trees and benches and open spots for people to have a picnic if they wanted. If Makarov were being honest, it was one of his favorite places in the city; next to the bar in his warehouse of course.

Natsu only liked it for the trees and jungle gym.

"What are you doing up there?" the old man called up to the nineteen year old.

"Dunno." He replied simply.

He was actually kind of mad at himself for almost losing it back there, but his mind had gone back to being elsewhere so he couldn't really bring himself to care all that much.

Makarov sighed, "Are you sulking?"

Natsu brought his legs up to his chest, resting his chin upon his knees, "and if I am?" his voice was sarcastic, "Are you going to scold me for that too?"

"That wasn't for a job. You know that if it isn't for one you have no business getting into fi-"

"Yeah, I know. I got it." He cut the old man off and immediately regretted it. This was just not Natsu's day…

If it were any other time, Makarov would smack the teenager over the head and chew him out over interrupting him, lovingly of course, but he knew very well why Natsu was in a bad mood. It was to be expected. The kid was dumped by his father at a young age, who wouldn't be bitter? Natsu, obviously had denied that fact many times over the years, but he knew him better than that. Family was extremely important to him. That included his long gone dad.

"Natsu…" the elder began.

"Don't." he cut him off yet again but this time he stood up on the bars of the jungle gym and easily made his way down, "I'm fine. Nothing a job won't help." Natsu lied with a smile that could deceive any stranger.

But Makarov was certainly no stranger.

The old man could hardly bring a grin to his face but he managed anyway, "I'm all for you working, but maybe you oughtta take a break. Youth needs to be lived, not rushed."

"You sound ancient." Natsu joked as he walked off with his boss/caretaker, patting his head, "Should I get you a cane or something?"

"Shut up you damn brat!" the not so old man fumed and swatted his hand away.

Natsu only laughed.

"In all seriousness," Makarov began once he calmed down, "Do you have a life outside the warehouse Natsu? What do you do when you're not working or hanging around Fairy Tail? I know you do things with everyone there, but what else?" It'd been a while since they had a one on one talk and now seemed a good a time as any. He wasn't trying to hide his worry, but he wasn't going to force it on him either.

"I don't need a life outside my home." His response was simple.

An exasperated sigh left the man's mouth, "you…" he shook his head, "One of these days I'm going to kick you out. Go find yourself a girlfriend or something…"

"Now you sound like Mira."

And with that Makarov took his leave, giving Natsu a "Be careful." in goodbye, he still had his work to get back to after all. That boy was going to get his healing eventually, and he knew that no one around there was going to be able to give it.

Once he was out of sight, Natsu let his shoulders and chipper attitude fall. The thought of a job sounded alright, but the more he thought about it the more he knew he wasn't in any mood to work. If he wanted he could probably go a year without working, given how much he'd saved over the years, so taking a day off was no big deal. Though people immediately thought something was wrong when he did.

Damn… did he really have no life outside Fairy Tail?

He shrugged. There was always his cat at home. That seemed like enough most days. And it wasn't like he was antisocial anyway. He loved being around different people. It was just that particular week when he didn't feel like hanging around…

A long sigh escaped his mouth as he began his aimless strides, passing the trees and letting the warm breeze of summer sooth him. He would be okay again the next day. He knew he would. Sooner or later though, he was going to have to deal with that thing inside him. It didn't have a label, if he put a name to it, that would make it real and he didn't want to acknowledge it now. Not yet. It was just easier for him to ignore it. And that was saying something. Natsu, who always liked to take the hard way and loved a good challenge, take the easy route?

It's just a feeling. He assured himself. And though he greatly valued others' feelings, his own took a backseat.

Natsu wasn't completely aware of this himself. He figured ignoring it was all there was to it. That maybe one day all those negative thoughts and feelings would just go away if he tried to forget about them hard enough. He didn't have room for his own negativity. It was a hindrance. To what? He didn't exactly know.

He really felt like he didn't know anything about himself sometimes. But, he just supposed that was a part of life.

His disheveled and now deflated form continued on down the dirt path of the park he was on. His mind wandered and finally hardened back up when he decided he was hungry and needed to get some food. Meat, preferably. After that the day went on without another problem.

As he reached his home at twelve in the morning, he scooped his cat into his arms and collapsed onto his bed, smiling at how the animal curled into him. Once he was settled, he blocked out everything and tried to pass out, his usual nightly routine. He hoped the rest of the week would be as it always was, but what he didn't know was that a young, blonde haired girl, who was sleeping her night away on a train with puffy eyes, was about to come into his life and turn his world upside down.

A/N: Quick setting of the scene- this story takes place in the town you see in the new animes' first opening. the nalu fest one. so ya. anyway the first two chapters were supposed to be character intros, i hope you enjoyed them, and in the next one they'll finally meet. the idea for this was that i kind of wanted to play into the hands of what natsu and lucy could've been given the shit that's happened to them in the past. i mean we've seen a peek into their feelings concerning those events here and there, but i really just wanted to try and get deep into their issues. and yeah! thanks for reading and reviewing!