OK DON'T SHOOT ME! I'm sooooooooo sorry that it's been awhile. I had finals and not to mention my grandma passed, and also let's not forget about PHOENIX COMICON! WOOT! It was awesome! I got to meet Vic Mignogna again, and saw him like four times, I got to meet Caitlin Glass and she is uber sweet. I also got to meet Yuri Lowenthal who is freaking hilarious! Anyways if anyone happened to be there we could have seen each other! *Audible gasp!* I was dressed up as a sailor Saturn with the actual Glaive on Thursday and Saturday. So I'll go on with the story. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL OF THE REVIEWS AND FAVS AND FOLLOWS. Ok I'm done now ON TO THE STORY! :D
Disclaimer: yada yada yada
EDITED: wow I forgot all of that happened that was three years ago already, geez. On with the editing.
Chapter 4: A glimpse of the past
I glared at the man in front of me who was casually eating his cake. He watched me carefully with his bright red eyes. I was about ready to slap that fork out of his hands and smash his face into the cake.
"I don't understand why you call me Bunny girl! Do I look like a bunny to you?" I questioned. He gave his creepy laugh and set his fork down.
"You act like one." He said. I growled and stood up. "How is that even possible? I don't hop around like an idiot! I'm really glad that my month with you is almost-"Did I hear someone compare Lucy to a bunny?" Natsu yelled running up to me. His onyx eyes were full of excitement. I rolled my eyes and sat back down. Great, he is involved in this now.
"Why would you care?" I asked. He held up a hanger that consisted of a bunny outfit. My eyes widened at the slutty looking thing. I might as well just run around in my bra and underwear.
"Because I found this and thought you might want to wear it since you love to cosplay and all." He said holding it out to me. Where did he get that idea?
"Natsu you are insane! I am not going to wear something so, so-"Whorish?" Gajeel questioned from the side. I glanced at him and glared. "No one asked you!" I yelled then looked back at Natsu.
"Now go throw that in the closet before someone thinks that you're a pervert." I said turning back around in my seat. His shoulders sunk and he walked away looking dejected. I sighed and picked up my fork, slicing down on the cake. I brought it to my lips and placed the fluffy dessert into my mouth.
"Ok so you never answered me on why you call me Bunny girl." I commented after a moment of silence. Gajeel shrugged.
"Just let it go. Is it that big of a deal?" He questioned. I rolled my eyes and continued to finish off the cake. It's been three months so far since I came to this crazy school and it's been one and a half since I started the violin. I had learned how to play twinkle twinkle little star and hot cross buns. Oh and to add to that list, I've had to spend almost every day of the week with three different weirdo's. So far Gajeel takes the cake. Also, the concert that Natsu practically volunteered me to do is a couple of months and I sure as hell wasn't even close to being ready. I looked around the room at the multiple girls swooning over the five boys. How could they be so naïve? I was currently the only one not going 'ga-ga' over Gajeel, who honestly didn't seem to mind that much. It almost looked like he was enjoying himself for once.
"So why do you have so many piercings?" I asked him. Might as well talk instead of staring at each other aimlessly, right? Which is how it has been for the past three days.
"No reason. I thought it looked cool. It's more of a trademark thing. Why?" He asked glancing at me with his dark red eyes. I shivered and shrugged. He looked so intimidating, but Levy insisted he was a 'sweet heart.' Yeah ok…
"I don't know? You would think that many piercings, especially in those places, would hurt really badly." I said. Once again he shrugged and continued to think in la-la land. I rolled my eyes and sighed. I bet he was thinking about a certain blue haired bookworm. No one else knew but me, but they were a secret couple. Well, kind of a couple, they wouldn't admit their feelings to each other, but I was the only one that knew they both shared the same feelings towards each other.
"Gajeel what the hell are you doing! You know you should make sure that the lady always has a smile on her face!" Loke yelled running up to our table. Oh boy here we go again. Before I could pull Loke away from Gajeel, who at the moment looked like he wanted to punch the flirt, a hand landed on my shoulder gently. I turned around to see Levy with a large smile on her face.
"Hi Lu-chan! The girls are having a small get together tonight, would you like to join us?" She questioned. I chewed on the inside of my cheek, a bad feeling was pooling in the pit of my stomach.
"I don't know Levy, what would we be doing?" I asked. Her sweet smile turned into one of the devil. Oh god what am I getting myself into?
"You'll just have to wait and see." She whispered. I gulped, the feeling growing larger in the pit of my stomach
We all sat in a small circle of five girls that included Erza, Levy, Cana, Juvia and I. Juvia was one of Gray's worshippers, and also a friend of Levy's. I never talked to her much because she thought I was her love rival. Yeah right.
"So what are we doing ladies?" Cana asked taking a sip of her 'water'. For the record I was right that it wasn't water. Levy had closed the door to her bedroom, two bowls of goodies in her hands. The smell of the popcorn made my stomach growl.
"Well I say truth or dare." Levy said plopping down next to me. I sighed. I never understood the point of the game. And why does it always have to be played at a girls sleepover?
"No that game is for sissies! No way in hell am I playin' that." Cana shouted, some of her words already slurring. Erza grabbed her bottle and sniffed it. She retracted away quickly with the look of disgust on her face.
"Cana what have I told you about drinking!" Erza yelled glaring at her. She shrugged and just took it back. "Whatever, I'm already a bit tipsy anyways. So what are we doing?" She asked for a second time.
"Well girls, I wanted to get Lucy's opinion on Natsu." She said grinning slyly at me. I felt my cheeks heat up. And there it was, I knew it was going to happen sooner or later.
"What are you talking about!? I have no opinion about Natsu except that he's an idiot." I said taking a handful of popcorn and shoving it in my mouth.
"Oh come on, everyone can see the way you look at each other." Cana said. I nearly choked on a kernel.
"What in the world are you talking about? I don't look at him." I said. Damn how did I know this was going to be bad? I should always listen to my intuition.
"I see you glance at him every five minutes during host hours. Come on admit that you like him even just a smidge." Levy said leaning in closer. I shook my head.
"I deny everything! He's just a friend." I said scooting away from the blue haired girl. She pouted and crossed her arms.
"That's not how we see it. Don't you all think it's weird how he made that deal with Lucy? I don't think I've ever seen him be that excited over a girl before. At least not since Lisanna." Erza stated. I frowned, that was the second time I had heard about Lisanna and Natsu. I was about to say something before Cana beat me to it.
"You know you're right. He seems a lot happier especially when he is around you Lucy." Cana said. My frown deepened.
"What happened between him and Lisanna?" I questioned. They all looked at each other. "We forgot that you didn't know yet." Levy said quietly.
"Natsu-san and Lisanna-san used to date." Juvia said as a matter-of-factly. I felt my heart drop at that comment. Those two? Why would Lisanna ever want to be around that idiot? "What happened?" I asked.
"They had been going out for two years until Natsu found out that she had been cheating with a football player. We were all mad at her for breaking his heart. But she eventually apologized and he forgave her because it's Natsu. He has such a big heart, but we all know he's still hurt about it. He hasn't really been the same since. Yeah he was still loud and obnoxious, but whenever Lisanna would show up, he would lose some of his energy. Until you came along." Erza finished. I pointed at myself. How could I have that much of an influence?
"Yes you, we all think that he's trying to court you, but he doesn't even realize it himself." Levy said. I felt my cheek burn again. Who still uses the word 'court'?
"How do you not realize you're courting someone?" I questioned. The girls giggled, except for Juvia. I felt so out of the loop. They all knew about this stuff except for me!
"This is Natsu we are talking about here. The only thing on his mind is food and fighting. He doesn't know jack shit about romance." Cana said.
"Then how the hell does he do the hosting?!" I asked bewildered. Levy shrugged.
"We think that the guys help him out with what to say. But when it comes to real life romance, he seems clueless." She said. I sighed. Of course I would be falling for someone like that. Wait what?
"So what makes you think that I would fall for someone so clueless?" I questioned, chewing on some more popcorn. There is no way I'm falling for that ditz. Right?
"Because of the way you act around him. You blush all the time, and not to mention your eyes get all sparkly." Levy said in a teasing tone. I growled.
"My eyes DO NOT sparkle Levy!" I defended. She rolled her eyes and took a sip of her energy drink. "Can we please talk about something else other than the non-existent relationship between Natsu and me?" I questioned. My heart was thudding in my chest at a million miles per hour. Did I really like Natsu? How did the girls figure this out before I did?
"How about we talk about Gray-sama!?" Juvia asked excited. Her cheeks turned a bright red and her dark blue eyes started to sparkle.
"See that's how you look around Natsu." Cana said flipping a thumb at the curly blue haired girl who was currently surrounded by hearts and thoughts of Gray. If you stared closely you could see her little thought bubble with a scene of her and Gray hugging and kissing in it.
"NO I DO NOT!" I yelled glaring at the drunk brunette. She just shrugged and grabbed a new bottle from her bag. I sighed and stood up.
"Thank you for having me over Levy, but I should probably head home now." I said picking up all of my things and shoving my feet into my converse. Why was I so angry? They were just being my friends.
"But it's almost ten. I should drive you home; I don't want anything to happen to you." Levy said also standing up. I shook my head.
"I live down the street, there is no need. I'll see you all on Monday." I said with a wave and walked out of Levy's room. I looked at all the lovely family photos on the wall of Levy and her parents. I smiled softly and continued my trek to the front door. I shivered when the cool night air came in contact with my skin. The moon was shining brightly, lighting up the entire neighborhood. In all truth my house wasn't exactly right down the street, but it was still close enough to walk to. I knew how to fight so if anything happened…
"Is that you Lucy?" A man's voice echoed around me. I recognized that voice, and the feeling I got in the pit of my stomach wasn't helping. I always ended up jinxing myself.
"It is you Lucy! Wow we all thought we wouldn't see our precious Lucy ever again." He said. I gulped and slowly turned around. Sure enough there stood three men, all of which I recognized from long ago. The middle one strolled over to me.
"So how's our little toy." He whispered in my ear, licking around the shell. I shivered and took a step back. "Don't touch me Sting." I growled. He sighed heavily and grabbed both of my wrists.
"Well if I obeyed that, then I wouldn't be able to drag you into the alley and have my way with you now would I?" He asked quietly. I felt the tears building up. My entire body was frozen in fear and I couldn't tell my legs to move away from him.
"Why are you here!? I thought you lived on the other side of Fiore!?" I yelled harshly into his face. He raised a hand and wiped away the spit that I purposely shot at him.
"We came looking for you. We missed our toy. We missed the sound of your helpless cries and-" I cut him off, kneeing him in the crotch and took several steps back. My heart was racing from the adrenaline rush. He grasped his private and fell to the ground gasping for air.
"That'll teach you to mess with me you bastard! I'm not the little girl you used to harass anymore. I'm stronger now so go to hell!" I yelled about to run away until two more hands grasped both of my wrists.
"Who said you could leave? We aren't done with you yet." Rogue said gently stroking my hair. I struggled away from him, but only pushed my body into the other man behind me, Rufus. Rogue's hand teased the skin of my stomach as he started to trail his fingers underneath my shirt.
"Please just leave me alone." I whispered trying to pull away from their iron grip. Sting finally got up and came up in front of me. I didn't dare look into his eyes.
"Why would we do that? We've been waiting for this day ever since you left Lucy." He said stroking my chin. He started to pull me in roughly for a kiss.
"Leave me-"HEY!" Another voice echoed towards us. I looked over Sting's shoulder and my eyes widened. I started to thrash about, gaining my senses back.
"NATSU!" I yelled. Relief flushed through my body when I spotted his unruly pink hair. I saw Wendy to the side holding a few bags. She looked very frightened.
"Get away from Lucy you bastards." He threatened walking closer to us. Sting turned around about to say something, but Natsu just punched him in the gut and then kicked his side. I watched in horror and amazement as my savior took down the three men in a matter of seconds. I felt him grasp my hand gently and pulled me closer to him. I breathed in his spicy scent and felt my heart slow down a bit. I clenched onto his shirt and gasped for air.
"Are you ok Lucy?" He asked softly. I looked up into his eyes and felt the tears coming. "Thank you Natsu." I whispered burying my face into his chest. He froze, not knowing what exactly what to do.
"Natsu, Lucy!" Wendy yelled running up to us. I pulled away from him and wiped my eyes. "Sorry, I didn't mean-"Just shut up you weirdo. No need to apologize. Now come on we are going to our house. I have to talk to you." He said picking up a bag from Wendy. I tried to take a step forward but I fell down instead. "LUCY." Natsu exclaimed instantly by my side again.
"I'm sorry, I'm must still be in shock." I mumbled. My entire body was still shaking, my heart speeding up again.
"Lucy, you need to breath and calm down, you're having a panic attack. Let me carry you." He said handing the bags to Wendy. He bent down and scooped me up into his arms. I felt like I was having an out of body experience. He looked down at me.
"Lucy, talk to me, tell me you're ok." He said. I looked up into his onyx eyes, finally regaining myself again.
"Natsu." I mumbled. He sighed and continued walking forward. "You really scared me there for a second." He said. I cuddled into his warmth and breath in his scent to soothe my erratic heart rate. "I'm sorry." I slurred.
"What were you doing out so late?" He questioned as we walked towards his house. "I was coming home from Levy's." I started, my voice gaining some power again. "My house wasn't too far away, but then they came." I whispered. We stopped in front of a rather large house.
"Hey Wendy, do me a favor and get the keys out of my pocket and open the door." Natsu said moving his hip towards his little sister. She complied, hesitantly at first, and opened the door for us. Natsu stepped into the house and looked at me.
"Can you walk now?" He asked. I nodded and he gently set me down. He still kept his arm around my waist just in case though. We followed Wendy to the kitchen and Natsu started to help her unpack.
"Why were you out so late getting groceries?" I questioned. Natsu poked his head out from the pantry and threw a package onto the counter where I was at.
"Wendy wanted to bake a cake for our mom for her birthday. They are coming home in the morning so she wanted it ready tonight." He answered placed the frosting next to the package. He looked over at Wendy.
"Will you be ok down here squirt?" He asked. She stuck her tongue out at him. He shrugged and gently grasped my hand.
"Ok, now follow me." Natsu said walking out of the kitchen to the upstairs.
"Wendy don't blow up the house." He yelled down the stairs. She laughed. "Like you should talk!" She yelled back up. I giggled causing him to send a glare my way.
"So I can't cook? What's the big deal?" He growled with a pout on his lips. I shook my head. "With the way you eat, you'd think you would have learned to cook by now." I said. He opened the door and let me in.
"Well I did try, and I ended up setting the kitchen on fire, the food on fire and my mom and sister on fire." He said sheepishly. I raised my eyebrow.
"Their hair caught fire. So they never let me near fire when I'm around them. Though my dad thought it was hilarious." He said. I looked around the room, it was a little messy, but seemed homey enough. I sat on the bed while he straddled his desk chair.
"Lucy, who were those guys? They acted like they knew you. And the fact that they had the balls to touch you like that makes me sick." He said. He had true concern on his face. 'He has such a big heart.' Erza's voice echoed in my head. I guess that is definitely true. But why is he so concerned about me now?
"Why do you want to know Natsu?" I asked not daring to meet his eyes. "Because you're my friend, because I consider everyone in the host club part of my family. And that includes you." He said quietly. "Even that ice queen." He muttered. "Also I was concerned on that day that you were crying in the janitor's closet, and I have a feeling this might have something to do with it." He said. I felt my heart flutter and my face heat up. Damn him for giving me this feeling. I took a deep breath to calm myself down.
"Ok fine I'll tell you. But I trust you to not tell anyone else." I said looking straight into his eyes. He nodded and stared at me in anticipation.
"It started back when I used to live in Hargeon, when I was in middle school. Back then I was really quiet and didn't get involved in much school activities because of my mother's death. It was still eating me up inside. Instead I read books all the time about outer space and tried writing my own books. For some reason everyone at school started to tease me. They would constantly call me names and shove me around in the halls when teachers weren't looking. To this day I never fully understood why they picked on me. It could have been because I was the 'girl whose dad is extremely rich.' Or because my mom died, or because I read so much and never talked much, who knows? Well remember those three guys? Their names were Sting, Rogue, and Rufus and they were the ones who came to my rescue. I had been pushed into a puddle of mud while it was pouring rain and Sting came up to me, threw his coat around me and threatened all the kids around. He was so sweet to me, never leaving my side during school and after school and I was never bullied again. Well I had them over one day without having told my dad who was out on a business trip. We were having so much fun just laughing and talking all day. But Sting had been acting strange so I asked him what was wrong, and the three of them just started to beat me up then and there. I was left alone bruised and bloodied until our maid Mrs. Spetto found me. I later found out that a bunch of people around the school had made those three be friends with me. But I guess I was just too much for them." I paused trying to hold back the tears. The memories were replaying in my head, still fresh as if it had happened last week.
"I trusted them; I thought I had actually found some friends. But no, they were lying traitors. My father eventually found out what was going on and had us move here to Magnolia and signed me up for Fairy Tail high school. I did feel a lot more welcomed, but then I started to hear girls whispering about me stealing you from them and them planning to confront me. But now I have all of you, and I don't think I've felt this happy since before my mom passed away. It's the first time I've felt that I had true friends." I said with a small smile. I looked up at Natsu, he did not look happy.
"I swear I'm going to go hunt those bastards down and beat their asses to a pulp." He growled. I stood up and placed my hand on his arm.
"Natsu you've done enough for me already. There is no need." I said calmly. He suddenly stood up and wrapped his arms around me. I stood there frozen, my brain forgetting how to return a hug.
"We are here for you Lucy, don't forget that. We are all family." He said pulling away and giving his trademark smile. I wiped away my tears and smiled back at him.
"If you say so pinky." I said ruffling his hair. He pouted and pulled away from me. "You're so mean Lushi." He mumbled. I laughed and just shook my head. Damn it, I think Levy was right. I just might have….. No I won't admit it. That will only boost her ego.
GOOD GOD I'M FINALLY DONE WITH THIS DAMN CHAPTER! Sorry I was just having a really hard time motivating myself to write DX. Ok I apologize again on the wait and I will be in Iowa for two weeks so I won't be able to update. Review if you wish for this crappy chapter that I do not like. Ta Ta ladies and Gents. :)