A week after waking-
Rissa and Natsu were sitting in the bar waiting for the food that they had ordered when a loud ruckus started behind them and Natsu half turned in his seat and reached out with his hand and put it on top of her head.
"Duck." Natsu said as pushed her head down until her chin was almost touching the bar as a glass came flying towards the back of her head as he glanced over his shoulder at the huge brawl taking place across the room as the glass whizzed over Lucy's head and smashed into the wall behind the bar and shattered.
"If any of you dumbasse's throw another beer mug this way and hit Lucy; I'm going to hurt you!" Natsu called out warningly, his temper spiking somewhat at how close Lucy had come to getting hurt when she was still trying to recover from her month long coma.
It had only been a week since she had woken up and though she generally rebounded from illness and wounds pretty quickly, Natsu and the rest of her friends in the guild weren't taking any chances with her health this time.
They had taken her off of the job rotation, and had more or less confined her to her home, the village, the bar...
Since she was having memory problems, she wasn't allowed to use her magic, or go out by herself. Their reasons for this were sound considering that she'd be easy prey to any enemy that happened to wonder through the village.
Which was part of the reason Natsu had attached himself to her like a shadow. The other part of the reason was that his partner was in a weakened condition and needed to be protected. And as odd as it sounded, he didn't trust anyone to take care of her but him.
"You tell them Natsu-" Elfman said as he came through the swinging door leading to the kitchen, several feet away and walked over to them with two trays of food and drinks perfectly balanced on the tips of his fingers. "It's a man's job to protect his partner. Especially when she's been sick and is helpless." The giant said as Natsu lifted himself from his seat a little bit and took one of the trays from him.
And carefully set it down in front of her, startling her slightly as she lifted her head a little bit and muttered a soft 'thanks' to him and the giant before she started to arrange her food on the tray so that she could eat while she mulled over what the giant had just said, and silently debated with herself on saying something about how she wasn't that helpless and how he had just offended her.
But in the end decided to keep quiet about what she was thinking since she didn't know what the other girl would think or say, and she didn't want to cause any trouble. "Lucy isn't helpless Elfman-" Natsu said as he glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. "Not totally anyways. I just don't want her hurt again."
"Understandable, Natsu." Was all Elfman said with a smile as he set Natsu's tray down and winked at Lucy, and grinned as she blushed a little bit before he walked away.
The second that the giant was gone Rissa glanced at Natsu and asked, "Am I weak?" Natsu paused in mid motion and looked at her, his expression blank. Uh-oh. That sounded like one of those loaded questions that Lucy used to nail him with before she had gotten hurt and lost her memory.
Sort of like the questions, 'Does this shirt make me look fat' or 'Does this outfit make me look slutty'.
If he answered her honestly she was probably going to stab him in the hand with her fork or break a beer mug over his head or something. But if he didn't answer her honestly, she'd probably ban him from her presence until she got sick of being by herself. Which could take months depending on how pissed she was at him. And he couldn't have that with her in her current condition.
So he had no choice but to answer her honestly and hope for the best.
"N-No." He said nervously as he reached out and none too subtly grabbed her beer mug full of juice and her silverware and put them on his other side so that she couldn't reach them without having to go through him first. She frowned at him and craned her neck a little bit as she leaned to the side and stared at the silverware and mug of juice that he had taken from her then looked back at him and thinned her lips.
"You look nervous." She said in an bemused tone.
"I'm not." Natsu said hastily as he propped his elbow on the bar and then settled his chin in his hand and tried to look as if he wasn't as scared and nervous as he felt. It didn't seem to be working since Lucy gave him a knowing look then said coaxingly.
"Then give me my silverware and drink back."
Natsu gave her a mock oblivious look. Apparently thinking that playing dumb would save him if she lost her temper. It wouldn't but she'd give him an A for effort. "Silverware and drink? What silverware and drink?"
She sighed and rubbed the tip of her thumb nail along the skin over her right eye brow then dropped her hand. "Natsu, are you worried that I might hurt you or something?" She asked out of curiousity and was a little bit taken aback by the uncomfortable expression that crossed his face as he reached up and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.
"Ah. I see." She said as she pushed her food away and turned in her seat and got up, drawing Natsu's gaze to her back.
"What are you doing?"
"Leaving."
"But you haven't eaten anything yet."
"I'm suddenly not hungry. I think I'll just walk around for a little bit."
Natsu was quiet for a second before sighing and saying, "Hold up and I'll come with you." As he started to get up and stopped when she shook her head slowly and said.
"Don't bother Natsu. I won't go far." She started walking past him and he took a second to try and figure out why she was suddenly wanting to go for a walk and nearly swore when he realized that he had just hurt her feelings.
"Shit-" He growled as he scrambled out of his seat and ran after her so that he could apologize.
(*******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************)
Rissa was trying hard not to cry. But it was hard. She didn't understand Natsu.
Who in their right mind would willingly hang around someone who hit them and stuff? Did Natsu have such low self esteem that he felt he deserved to be treated like that? And what the hell was she supposed to do in the body of a person who treated others so poorly?
She clapped a hand over her mouth as her stomach lurched dangerously. Oh god, she felt so badly about looking like the person who hurt Natsu that she felt that she was going to throw up.
She heard foot steps behind her and sped up her walk a little bit, already knowing that Natsu had followed her even though she had told him not too, and knew she wasn't sure if she could face him at the moment.
"Lucy." Natsu fell into step right behind her, not even winded by the fact that he'd had to run just to catch up to her.
"Not now Natsu." She said softly, not really wanting to talk anymore. She just wanted to walk around and clear her head.
"Lucy please stop and hear me out. I wasn't trying to hurt your feelings-"
Did he think she was so stupid that she didn't already know that? She was tempted to snap at him but was afraid to take her hand away from her mouth. She could feel bile burning the back of her throat. She felt his hands grasp her shoulders a second before he forced her to stop and spun her around so that she was facing him.
Her stomach lurched again as she blinked back tears as she looked up at Natsu's worried face. "I didn't mean to upset you Lucy but you have a very good track record when it comes to reacting to certain answers. I was just being overly cautious and stupid. I didn't take into consideration that you probably didn't remember how you used to-"
Rissa finally took her hand away from her mouth and grasped his vest in her hands and jerked him down a little bit. Her temper finally getting the best of her. "Stop apologizing to me Natsu, you didn't do anything wrong-"
"But I hurt your feelings-" Natsu said lamely.
"So what." Rissa growled in irritation. He blinked at her angry expression and slipped his hands up from her shoulders to frame her face with his hands and said softly.
"I didn't mean to upset you, Lucy."
"I know that. What I don't know, Natsu, is why you would want to hang around someone who hurts you."
"It's because your my partner Luc-" Natsu said gently, silently willing her to remember everything that she had forgotten. She had no idea how much it hurt him to see her like this. Weakened, ill and unaware of their bond and how strong it actually was. "I'd do anything to be close to you." He admitted after a second or so of silence. Needing her to understand that as a dragon slayer bond that he formed with others were much stronger than normal bonds.
Bonds of friendship if established with the wrong type of person, could lead him to murder and madness. While bonds formed with people who had never tainted their souls with the blood of others strengthened him.
It was the same with affection.
His affection for everyone in the guild was different from the affection that he held for Lucy. Because her soul was brighter, clearer and purer than everyone elses. It was what had drawn him to her in the first place. It was also because of this his affection for her ran so much deeper than normal.
She stared at him for a second and sighed. "You shouldn't want to be close to me if I've been hurting you Natsu. You don't deserve to be treated like that." Natsu was quiet for a second before chuckling.
"Silly girl. Is that what's bugging you?"
"Wouldn't it bug you if you found out that you've been hurting someone close to you?" Rissa asked in a peeved tone as Natsu smiled and shook his head at her.
"No. Because it isn't in my nature to hurt the ones close to me. It's not your nature either."
"Then why did you-"
"Self preservation instinct. I wasn't born with it so I had to learn it. And I'm not sure if you've noticed this, but the other women in the guild are more than a little violent natured. Besides, Luc, you've never smacked me without a good reason and that's nothing to feel badly about. Now come on. You still haven't eaten anything and I don't want you fainting from hunger. The others might actually kill me if you do."