Animal, Person...Or Dragon

And thus the two children made a trail of breadcrumbs...

Chapter 2

Hansel And A Blue Kitten

The man had come home from a successful all night hunt. He managed to kill enough food for the rest of the week. He even had time to get a little fishing in before deciding to go home. The pink haired guy knew how happy his pet cat named Happy would be when he came back. The taste of juicy fish according to the feline species was the most appealing and tempting snack to ever tingle their taste buds.

Hunting and fishing weren't the most interesting activity he did that night, he was more preoccupied staring at a beautiful blonde haired angel. Natsu, who had lived in the forest all his life, didn't have any communication skills with…anyone. The cottage was the only place he lived in since his father left him in the woods, with a small blue kitten in a basket.

His father told him that he was just leaving for a little while, to stay put and wait for him. Sadly, he never came back, leaving his twelve year old son in the forest alone. Even today, Natsu still waited for him in the cottage, thinking his dad would come back one day. That was the reason why he never left the forest. He didn't want to miss the return of his dad. It made him think of the story of Hansel and Gretel, where there father left them in the forest. The difference was that Natsu didn't get to roast a witch, didn't have a sister, and didn't have the pleasure of eating a candy house.

Before the young man's dad left, his dad was a woodcutter, earning enough money to take care of him and his son. Barely scraping through. They resided in the yellow cottage and Natsu's father taught him all the techniques about hunting and everything else he needed to know about living in the wild.

Now the happy life with his dad was gone, but he still had Happy, swearing to take care of him forever. He was an odd pink haired guy, having a cat for his best friend. However, he did not seem to care or find it weird for a grown man to have a feline companion.

Nothing had ever peaked his interest as much as watching the strange blonde woman walking in the forest, in the dark. He didn't want her to see him, so he hid, aimlessly glancing at her with intrigue, wondering what she was going to do next. Natsu, you could say, was quite dense up above. He seemed not to realise that the lady was in trouble, lost. All he was thinking about was if she was a mystical fairy or a princess. He had a thorough imagination, sometime a little too eccentric.

Throughout his many years of solitude, only including his cat, he became overly interested in the many Fables of fantasy, centering more specifically on the dragon species. It was impossible to comprehend why, perhaps because Natsu found that his long lost dad had the personality of a dragon, making him love the reptilian species even more. His dad was fierce at some times, expert huntsman and had a fiery hot gentle heart. Indeed, the aspects of a dragon...so books say.

Although in the numerous Greek, Roman, British and Middle-Age tales, dragons were seen and written as the enemy. Natsu Dragneel perceived them as marvellous, heroic fire breathing creatures who rescued everybody from evil. He had a whole different view of them. It made him sad somehow; knowing that a person had just made them up. No chance of them being real and encountering one for himself.

He always wanted an adventure or something different to happen to him, and now, there was a girl roaming around in the dense forest. Looking out from a shrub he was camouflaged behind, he could see the blonde beauty, around his age, sitting on a rock. She looked disgruntled, unhappy and annoyed at the same time, chucking her device to the floor in a burst of anger. Natsu continued to stare wide eyed, staying crouched. Accidently, a leaf frolicked along the proximity of his nostrils, feeling the ticklish feeling enter his sinuses. He could not contain the sneeze inside, some allergies were hard to contain.

"RRROOOAAARRR!" His sneeze was one of a kind. Every time his spring allergies began to work up in his house, Happy would cling to the ceiling, fearing for his life. If the cat had wings, he would probably zoom out the window.

Clutching and wiping his nose with his sleeve, the girl look terrified and started running for her life. Dragneel had tried to find her, but to no avail; he lost sight of her. Feeling down for ruining his chance to speak to her, he went back to his hunt, still on the lookout for the intriguing woman.

The morning sun rose and the fresh dew grew heavy in the air, condensing on the greenery. Yawning, Natsu entered his small cottage, ready for breakfast with Happy. He did not know a snoring guest was sleeping on his couch. It came a shock to him when he saw the woman from last night in his house, dreaming with Happy curled up next to her. He had no inkling of what to do. Albeit that it was his house, he dared not kick her out and he didn't want to wake her. The face she was making was too cute for words. Her snoring was a little loud, but her peaceful face balanced the loudness out.

Not finding a solution, he scratched his head, sitting cross-legged on the floor next to her; just thinking (if it was possible for him to sit still). A few minutes trotted by slowly for Natsu, and began to tap his foot on the ground repeatedly. After that he started to fiddle around with his black and white scaled scarf, securely fastened around his neck. He never took it off, it was the only possession of his dad's he had left. His impatience was overwhelming his tolerance too greatly. He had to eat breakfast. He felt that his stomach was about to shrivel away from the lack of food and water. When Nastu was hungry, he couldn't focus on anything else. When he wasn't thinking about Happy, his father or dragons, he thought about food. Those four topics were the only things on his mind; every day. Until a certain Goldilocks came along.

Leaving the woman's side, he went to prepare himself and Happy something to eat. Cooking wasn't his strong suit, but his favorite dish was meat and he didn't care how it was cooked. The only thing he needed to know was that what he was eating was the juicy flavour of mammal.

He glanced over his broad shoulder to the still sleeping blonde while fixing a plate of fish for Happy and a nice steak for himself. Breakfast time was usually light and healthy, but to Natsu it was just any other meal like lunch or dinner.

Now sitting at his small table for one, he set the fish dish on the floor and immediately Happy rushed up to it purring gloriously. Nibbling and sucking on it, like it was something so precious that it deserved to be cherished.

Digging into his meal, his mind was somewhere else. Figuring out who the woman was and why she was in his house. He then looked at Happy and remembered how they were cuddled up together before he came back. Happy seemed to like her, so he decided to like her too.

It was plausible that the salmon haired boy had fewer neurones than everyone else for some of his decisions were made because of his cat's love for certain objects or people. Once, because his cat loved to groom himself with his tongue, Dragneel desired to try it himself. He coughed up pink hair balls for a week. He didn't do it again.

After breakfast, the girl still hadn't woken up. She was quite a heavy sleeper. Natsu still didn't have the balls to wake her up, he didn't know what to say if he did. Instead of worrying, he removed a book from his collection and flipped to a certain page. It contained a beautiful water paint drawing of a princess. Its name was Celestial Spirit Queen. He held the book next to Lucy's face. Looking back and forth. The woman on his couch looked like the splitting image of the fictional Celestial Spirit Queen. How queer.

He chucked the book on the table, making a loud "BANG". That's when Lucy began to stir. Natsu staggered when he heard a slight grumble and an almost inaudible sentence flow out of Lucy's mouth. "Mother…don't wake me up…I'm sleeping."

Natsu went to her and stuck his face right next to hers, not understanding that it would probably scare the hell out of her when she would wake up. Opening her eyes to see a stranger towering over her—especially a man—could make her think pervert, axe murderer or kidnapper. All three of them were hardly joyful to think about.

Lucy's eyes flickered open and a piercing, ear bleeding scream was heard. It was quite a creepy way of meeting someone for the first time…

Next time's intertwining fable is...

Grumpy: Ask her who she is, and what she's doing here!

Doc: Ah, yes. What are you, and who are you doing here?

Figured it out yet?

See you next time...

~welshcanadian14~