Chapter 1: What's Happiness?
Natsu Dragneel had moved up to kindergarten. Nothing seemed to change for him, but something seemed off.
He sat across from Droy. Droy sat between Jet and Levy, and Gray sat by Natsu. There were a few other kids as well, but Natsu didn't even bother to learn their names. Still, something was wrong. Something was missing, or maybe someone...
On the third day of kindergarten, Natsu was eating lunch with Gray.
"Natsu stop! I don't want to eat spaghetti!" Gray yelled, attracting the attention of the twins, Jet and Droy. Natsu proceeded to stick a string of spaghetti up Gray's right nostril.
"IDIOT!" Gray screamed, yanking the noodle out. "That's not what you do to a friend!" Natsu sat there, puzzled for a bit. He had heard that word, idiot before, but he couldn't quite place his finger on the meaning of it.
"What's a friend?" He asked stupidly. Natsu meant to say idiot, but friend came out instead. The boy fiddled with the end of his orange tee-shirt, embarrassed. Gray looked shocked.
"You were best friends with Lisanna for the last two years!" An abrupt silence came across the lunchroom. Gray ducked his head. "Don't you remember?" he whispered.
But Natsu didn't remember. Nothing. He only remembered his brother and that there was such a thing as school. He had no memories of before his trauma. His brother had to tell him that he fell off the swings and had hit his head.
"I don't." Natsu said. Gray's mouth opened so wide that food came out. "Eww... Gray. Your gross." Gray didn't close his mouth. The others didn't close their mouths either. Everyone at the kindergarten table was in shock. Natsu had a crush/best friend that he couldn't even remember.
Natsu shrugged. "You guys are weird." The metal doors to the lunchroom opened as the teachers let the kids outside. The kindergarteners were let out first, followed by the first graders, second graders, and third graders. The older kids ate at a later time because the lunchroom wasn't big enough.
As the kids filed through the doors, they each found their friend group and went to their respective sections of the playground. Natsu and Gray met by the monkey bars. The bars were set in a dome shape, letting kids sit on the top or climb underneath.
"Natsu! Gray!" The two boys heard a yell coming from by the swings. It was the Great Titania. The red-head beckoned the kindergarteners over to where she was at with her best friend Mirajane. Gray lived across the street from Erza.
"Erza! Don't call those two over. They are only in kindergarten," Mira said, leaning into her. Erza ignored her friend.
"Hey Erza," Natsu said simply. Mira whispered something into Erza's ear. She nodded and chuckled maniacally
"Hey Natsu, why don't we go to the swings?" Natsu nodded. Gray looked at her in shock. That's where it happened, he thought. That's where he got hurt.
Gray's eyes narrowed. "That was mean!" He accused, pointed a finger at Mira. Suddenly, he barreled into the older girl with a yell. She let out a cry of surprise before laughing.
"Silly boy, I just wanted to let Erza have a little fun teasing Natsu." She leaned into his ear. "It's not a big deal Lisanna moved away. Besides, you guys were only in preschool." Gray grunted.
"It's not nice to tease people who were hurt, Mira." He kicked her in her exposed shin. She dodged his swinging head.
"Can't I just have a little fun with you stupid kindergarteners? Come on, I'll always be better, faster, and smarter than you. Us older kids will always be more polite and kinder than you. Can't we just have some fun?" Mira flicked his nose and Gray paused. He glanced at the swings. Natsu seemed to be having fun with the girl. Erza didn't have that creepy, knowing look on her face anymore.
Gray had never seen her truly happy. She was laughing and having fun, something he hadn't seen from her for a long time. He knew that she had a hard childhood. She was always the youngest of five kids. He was one of the only people who knew who her siblings were; Millianna, Shô, Wally, and his personal favorite, Simon. Erza ran away as a young child because of abuse from her parents. Simon had died from the abuse, and Millianna and Shô had already been taken away. She went to live with her grandfather, Rob, for a while, but he got sick and died. Soon after, her neighbor Jellal, took her in. However, he moved away soon after she finished preschool. Since then, Erza had been living with a nice old lady across the street from Gray.
Gray nodded. "Yeah," he breathed. "I guess some of it is true." He raised his head and met Mira's fierce gaze. "But not all of it." He kicked Mira again. "You're mean, you need to change and be nice. I can be nice to Natsu, so why can't you? He can't even remember Lisanna. She was his best friend! Lisanna was your little sister! Don't you care at all?" Mira stopped.
"I do care," she whispered. "I care a lot. Natsu wasn't a bad kid, we just didn't want her to see the things that Elfman and I have." She lowered her gaze. "It's been a long time since our family trusted something." Tears filled her gaze. Gray gasped, he had never seen Mirajane cry. "We don't want her to have to go through the same thing we did!" Her voice was trembling and rising. "Please someone! Help my family survive!"
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Welp. That was a strange ending. Sorry, I'm a little tired and still trying to figure out the plot. It's a little on the short side, and I'll try to do better later on! Thanks again for all of my awesome readers. Man, you guys are amazing! Please review, every word makes me feel amazing! Love you all!
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