All rights to Hiro Mashima

~ Fifteenth ~

-Natsu-

"What in Mavis' name are you playing at Natsu? I completely embarrassed myself in front of everyone! I bet they will be taking bets and crap like that on all the facets of our non-relationship…thingy. Didn't anyone tell you to keep your hands to yourself while in public?" Her pout is absolutely adorable. Bottom lip stuck out, nose slightly wrinkled, arms crossed under her chest. It's a wonder I haven't jumped her in broad daylight yet.

I'm seriously considering it at the moment.

"OH MAVIS!" Lucy stops dead in the middle of the street. She hangs her head and takes a huge sigh, then…fingers the sky? That woman is a true weirdo. One of a kind.

"Mira is going to be insufferable after this!" She pinches the bridge of her nose and squints like she's remembering something terrifying. "Ugh, and Erza! AND CANA! SHIT!"

I can believe that, anything to do with that pack of shippers is truly scary and should be avoided at all costs. When they all get together and just stare at a guild member it's like a glaring yellow sign with flashing lights saying 'Incoming craziness! Get to higher ground! Demon crossing.'

They reel you in with the promises of good alcohol – courtesy of Cana – and then before you know it, you're spilling your life's secrets.

They almost got me last week. Luckily, I don't remember my anything useful so I wasn't much fun for them and they lost interest as soon as they found Evergeen and Elfman in the supply closet, in what can only be described as a…intimate embrace.

With no clothes.

I give Lucy my widest, most feral grin. "Come on Lucy, you know I have no memories. So to answer your question, no. Not one person has told me not to touch you like that in public. But I have a way to solve that problem."

I grab her tiny hand in mine and forcefully pull her by her arm into the nearest alley. Pushing her up against the brick wall, I box her in on both sides with my arms and legs. My body is almost completely flush with hers and the temperature is rising, making the air around us muggy.

I can barely contain myself.

Her shocked expression slowly fades into what I would like to call an equal mix of excitement, arousal, and embarrassment.

A faint blush starts to creep up the sides of her face towards her ears. I love seeing Lucy flustered. Its right up there with 'freshly showered Lucy in nothing but a towel' and the face she makes just before she kicks your ass, all fiery and passionate.

"Natsu, tell me. Just what do you think you're doing?" She questions me. She is using a 'don't fuck with me' tone, but she has a glint in her eyes that she only gets when something is starting to excite her.

"Well, you were worried about what the public would think, so I fixed the issue." I gestured around the empty alley way with my hands and lean in closer towards her. "There's no one around Luce."

I grin at her again. "So, can I touch you now?" I brush the hem of the scrap of fabric she calls a skirt with my fingers, lightly grazing her thighs.

I can hear her breathing stutter but her eyes are clear, no hints of hesitation or regret. "Natsu, let's cut the crap. I want you, in all ways possible. I don't quite know the extent of my feeling for you, I just know there's…something there. And I know you feel something for me too."

Can't deny it. And I have a feeling that I'm a truly honest and straightforward person, so I'll speak the truth. Maybe not the whole truth, but as much as I can at the moment. "Yah, there's something there alright. You make me crazy, I just can't help myself. Do you know how many times I've had to stop myself from attacking you over these last few weeks? You are constantly on my mind Luce."

I lean my forehead down onto hers and close my eyes for a moment, focusing on the way she smells. "Gods, you're even in my dreams, I can't escape you." I breathe in and open my eyes to look into those deep pools of amber, the first thing that I truly saw when I woke up with no magic.

I can feel her shift slightly from foot to foot, like she's getting antsy. "I know Natsu, me too, you're the reason why I've been taking cold showers for days now. And I hate the cold."

A devilish glint creeps into her eyes, but her face stays as innocent as a child's. "I would much rather be warm, Natsu. I like when it's…hot. It makes everything more enjoyable. Don't you think?"

As she purrs in my ear I can feel a certain anatomical structure waking up, trying to stand to attention at her words. My thoughts of how I could make this amazing woman - who is pressed intimately to every part of my body - all hot and sweaty in the most enjoyable way possible, are not helping one bit.

I groan low in my throat. "Luccee, Gods, what are you doing to me?"

I want to kiss her. I want to know if her sinfully delightful mouth is as hot as I'm picturing it. I need to know if that tongue of hers that can make me fall to my knees at just a few words is a skilled as I think it is.

Before I can get a chance, I feel her arms wrap around my waist and her forehead press onto my collarbone. "Natsu, we could go forward now, but it wouldn't be right."

I stiffen at her words. 'Could I have missed something? Did I overlook something she said?'

She starts to back track and rubs soothing circles on my spine with her hands. "Wait, Natsu, I mean…It wouldn't be fair. To the both of us. What if something happened between us, and then you never gain your memories back? I would have to live with the knowledge of something so amazing that I could never have again. And you deserve to have that choice when you are all put back together. I won't do that to you, and I know that you would never do that to me."

I smile and lean my cheek onto her blonde head. "I know Luce, it's just getting to the point where I can barely resist. Everything about you is familiar, it's…home, Luce. I can't explain it any better than that."

She knows me so well. I would never take her choice away from her or saddle her with something so heart wrenching.

I'll just have to wait.

I give her a squeeze and take one last whiff of her hair and kiss the top of her head. Because I can. "Come on Luce, let's go get packed. We need to get to the train station before that red-haired demoness can pull out my teeth and wear them as a necklace."

"That is a truly gruesome and terrifying thought."

Shrugging, I grab her hand again, lacing her dainty fingers with mine and direct us out onto the road again. "She threatened both me and that Ice Prick last week after that massive brawl."

"You mean the one you started when you announced to everyone that Gray had sex with Cana in the guild hall? I have no sympathy for you. You brought that one on yourself." She shakes her head slightly in mock anguish.

"Luce! I was knocked out for three whole hours! And I had a bruised jaw for the next four days until that little slayer relented and fixed me up. But not before she made me promise to 'not do anything to reckless again. Ever.' I have a feeling I won't be listening to her advice." I pout at Lucy. She can't resist my puppy dog eyes.

She just laughs, a true happy laugh, her eyes sparkling. "Keep those eyes to yourself mister. Now come on, hurry up. I need another cold shower before we talk to the others and get on that train." Her lips quirk up into a grin and she picks up her pace towards her apartment.

"Mind if I join you? You know, to conserve water." I try to say it as nonchalantly as possible, but the excitement I feel for the upcoming adventure with her and the possibility to getting my memories back, bleeds through a little.

"Only if you're a good boy Natsu." She winks at me, her cheeks flushing a healthy shade of pink.

I cackle and jog to keep up. She's such a little spit fire, and I'm pretty sure I love her.

-Lucy-

After forcibly removing Natsu from my bathroom and insisting that he just wait outside the door while I shower. We made it to the train station with minutes to spare.

Three hours into the first leg of our journey to Era, and I'm bored.

To say that our group of four has expanded slightly on this trip is an understatement. I'm currently sitting in a booth with Natsu's head in my lap, as well an almost completely naked Gray and a sleeping Erza across from us.

However, due to the…interesting nature of our quest we have had some tag-alongs. Wendy and Charles are quietly talking with a blushing Juvia, while Happy naps on the next seat, leg twitching every once and a while. Wendy is here to quickly implant the lacrima as soon as possible into Natsu, seeing as the dead line for magic deterioration is swiftly approaching.

And we have a sneaking suspicion that Juvia snuck on just to watch over her precious Gray.

The more the merrier. I guess.

Levy and Freed are a long for the ride as well, seated across from each other with the equivalent of the guilds library strewn about them. Levy has her favourite pair of wind readers on and is currently decimating a book in an obscure ancient language that no one else can read. Freed is working his literal magic on the lacrima that is sitting on the seat beside him, muttering about 'the fifth rule of darkness', whatever that is.

An ashen faced Laxus is slumped over in a compartment across from the researchers, trying not to hurl his breakfast all over the other passengers. Master asked him to join us to gather more information on Ivan, and seeing as Laxus is the son of the escaped convict, his rights to information are more concrete than if anyone else in the guild asked the question.

The only problem with this is where the Thunder God goes his entourage inevitably follows. Bix is lounging across one seat reading a magazine and Evergreen is painting her nails a truly horrendous shade of neon green.

And the last of our extended group is the ever present Gajeel and Patherlily, acting like Levy's intimidating iron studded shadow. Although he looks more...pukey than scary at the moment.

His excuse to come with us was that 'someone could step on his Shrimp because she's so tiny and she needs someone to look out for her.' This earned an exaggerated roll of the eyes from everyone who heard him and a Solid Script 'Fire' to his ass which singed the bottom of his hair, much to his displeasure.

His reason is a load of crap and everyone knows it. We just stopped arguing with him because he seems to genuinely adore our resident bookworm.

He just won't admit it. He seems to be even denser than Natsu used to be. But I have a sneaking suspicion that Natsu isn't actually dense at all and is just playing dumb.

As soon as he gets his memories back, I'll be hunting him down until he has to beg for mercy for all the shit that I agreed to do because I thought he just didn't understand.

The little weasel. Well, dead weasel after I sick Virgo on his biteable ass.

"Does this feel a little, I don't know…surreal to anyone else?" Something is bothering me and I just can't put my finger on it.

Erza cracks one eye open. "I know what you mean Lucy, this is the quietest train ride that I think we have ever been on in a group together."

Now that I think about it, I see what she means. Happy isn't griping about Charles dislike of fish and Natsu isn't moaning about his stomach and or asking Gray to fight him.

It's super creepy and I don't like it.

But that reminds me. "How is your stomach Natsu? Do you need Wendy to cast Troia again?" I run my fingers through his hair, playing with the short strands that hang over his forehead.

"Troia? That sounds like a communicable disease. Is that a spell?" His voice rumbles through my thighs where his head is centered.

I still my wandering hands. "Wait, Wendy didn't use Troia on you? Do you have motion sickness right now?"

"Uhm…no? I feel fine. Why?" He looks up at me, getting a wonderful eye full of the undersides of my boobs.

I smack him lightly on the head. "Why the hell are you laying in my lap then? You only do that when you're motion sick and moaning about how you hate trains." He better have a good reason for using my lap as a damn pillow.

He just shrugs slightly and closes his eyes again. "Comfy."

Ah, yes. Of course.

I roll my eyes. "Whatever." Absentmindedly, I drag my hands through his hair again. Call it a habit if you will. Truthfully I don't mind. His weight on my legs makes me feel warm and secure.

I hear a snort across from me. Gray looks at us wiggling his eyes brows. "You look so cute together like that."

I don't have the heart to argue with him so I keep it simple. "Shut it, you stupid stripper."

"You know Juvia, you should definitely switch seats with Erza here. I'm sure that Wendy would like to chat about shopping with Erza, or maybe cake." Natsu, in all his glorious plotting ways. He's always got my back when it counts.

Sadly enough, the word 'cake' whips Erza into high gear and she forcibly ousts Juvia from her seat and plunks the stunned water wielder down into her vacated one.

This immediately garners a very forceful reaction from the smitten mage who sticks herself to the side of Gray and plants her head onto his shoulder with an audibly sigh. "Thank you Natsu, that was very considerate of you to think of Juvia that way. I hope this means that you are no longer a love-rival of Juvia's."

"Love-rival? What the hell Juvia? Why would I want Gray anyways? He's an icy bastard and I prefer things to be hot." Natsu looks stricken at the very thought of knowing Gray in a more carnal way.

I snicker at his expression and try to push the conversation away from the inevitable fight I feel brewing.

"How did you know that Erza wanted to talk about cake?" I raise my eyebrow at the prone Natsu, trying to ignore the disgruntled sounds from Gray. As well as his glares.

"It's all she eats! It's been over a week and I've never seen her eat a vegetable. So, I felt safe to suggest cake. My next guess was armour." He airily waves his hand around.

Yep. he was definitely playing dumb.

"Gray, your legs are so muscular. Can I feel them? Oh, your skin is so soft. Won't you touch Juvia?"

Damn, Juvia. Getting right to the point. "You know that we can hear you, right?" Gray looks like he is at the end of his rope.

Natsu just sighs underneath me. "Maybe we should have switched with Juvia instead of Erza."

All I can do is nod and try to tune out the very suggestive one sided conversation across from me. 'Gods, I don't know if I can take five more hours of this!'

"Do you think that Thunder Thighs would mind if I stole his sound pod to block out the noise?"

Natsu laughs. "Only if you want to die a horrible sparkly death. I just looked at him last week and he shocked me for 'being an obtuse asshat."

So, probably not the best idea. I turn my head to the window and watch as the scenery flies by.