Rissa lay curled up on Natsu's bed wearing a long sleeved silken cream colored shirt with one of Natsu's black vests over it, tucked into the waist band of one of her ankle length skirts, her thick hair pulled back into a braid that fell over one of her shoulders.

She'd woken up almost an hour ago after hearing Natsu leave and had gotten up and gone about her morning routines before taking a shower in Natsu's luxurious bathroom then gotten dressed in some of the clothes that the dragon slayer had provided for her while still trying to figure out what he was up too.

To her he wasn't acting quite right.

And then there was her paranoid belief that he was still going to kill her. She simply didn't understand why he was taking so long about it. Was he trying to lull her into a false sense of security? Toy with her a bit maybe?

She'd thought at first that part of the reason she was still alive must have something to do with his binding them with his flame and vows. But she had quickly shrugged that stuff off figuring that since he'd thought he was binding himself to Lucy, that it wouldn't hold.

Which meant that the binding was moot because he couldn't mate himself to a dead girl.

Still his normal, everything-is-fine act was starting to bug her. Honestly she didn't know what to make of it. Sure there was a chance that Natsu knew that she hadn't meant to take Lucy's place or cause anyone trouble or pain, but it seemed unlikely that his dragon half would be so reasonable about his partner's death. Especially if he had harbored romantic feelings for her.

Then again it also seemed likely that part of the reason he kept her alive and brought her flowers and such was because she was in Lucy's body and his mind had yet to accept that she was gone and make a distinction between them as different people. Perhaps he saw her as a convenient replacement for his lost lover.

That was also plausable. Right?

She sighed and rolled over onto her back and stared up at the ceiling. If Natsu was having trouble distinguishing her from Lucy then maybe she should do something about that. Sure it could enrage him and turn him murderous but...well, she felt uncomfortable thinking that he couldn't tell her apart from Lucy because of how she looked.

Maybe I should dye my hair black or scarlet like Erza's. She thought as she slowly pushed herself upright and looked at the tip of her braid with a contemplating look on her face. Either color would look nice on her considering her skin tone and eye color. Although she didn't really like the idea of dying her hair so dark that it was black. Maybe an alternative color would work just as well.

Maybe something along the lines of bleaching her hair then using a light pink to give herself highlights. Nah. She'd look funny with pinkish blond hair and Natsu would consider the color a form of flattery. She sighed and swung her legs over the edge of the bed and got to her feet and stretched her arms up over her head and arched her back.

She was about to start pacing when she heard the front door open and abruptly dropped her arms and turned around and walked to the door and peeked out. Her heart thudded in her chest, her breathing erratic as she saw Natsu walk across the living room and set his cloth grocery bag down on the kitchen table and dug out some little packets of paper and a bouquet of flowers.

Then seemed to sense her watching him and straightened his spine and slowly turned his head to look at her over one of his shoulders. He turned his head back to his task of digging out the groceries then took a moment or so to put the perishables away before absently picking up an orange that he'd laid aside and then made his way towards the bedroom.

Rissa made a funny little eek sound and scrambled across the room and laid back down on the bed and closed her eyes and pretended to be asleep as he pushed the door open and chuckled at her as he slowly peeled the rind from the fruit as she played dead. "You do realise that I could hear you running across the room right?" He asked in an amused tone as he finished peeling the fruit then pulled it into smaller portions and popped one into his mouth and chewed.

She didn't react. She didn't even twitch. So he decided to play with her a little bit and see how long her act would hold up. Walking over to the bed he set the orange and the rind aside on the small table next to it and then laid down on his side next to her and rested one hand on her hip before slowly slipping it down her thigh and gripped her skirt and started to drag it up a bit.

Biting the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing when she twitched and kept trying to play dead. He got her skirt up almost half way before she finally growled and tried to elbow him in the face as she came up off of the bed. Natsu dodged the blow easily and buried his face against the mattress and laughed harder as she snapped at him in an outraged tone as her face turned a vivid pink.

"Pervert!"

He tilted his head slightly and looked at her from under his bangs and couldn't help the grin curving his lips. So he was a little bit of a pervert when he was with his mate. Big deal. That was normal for a guy his age. Besides, he loved picking on her like this.

It kept her on her toes.

He sat up slowly and turned his body to face her and took up a relaxed posture that he knew would irk her and smiled at her. "Oh you're awake now. Awesome. Come here and let me kiss you."

"Nuh-uh. Your not kissing me after that little stunt."

"Stunt? There was a stunt?" He asked innocently.

She gnashed her teeth and growled at him like an animal before fairly shrieking. "You damn well what I'm talking about!" Natsu picked up another pice of the orange that he'd peeled a few minutes ago and stood up and closed the small distance between them, forcing Rissa to back herself up until her back hit the wall.

Natsu chuckled as he planted one hand next to her shoulder and leaned in close and put the orange slice in his mouth and then grabbed her. She jerked violently in his grasp and hit her head on the wall and he felt a twinge of guilt for making her so scared. "Settle down. I'm not going to hurt you." He said around the orange piece as he caught her chin in his fist and lowered his mouth to hers as she opened her mouth to snap at him again.

Feeding her the piece of fruit before bothering to kiss her for real.

He'd missed her in the short time he'd been out doing his shopping and talking with Leo and was content to show her by giving her a toe curling kiss that left her feeling so dizzy that she had to grab hold of his shoulders just to keep herself from falling.

Natsu made a funny sound as helifted his mouth from hers and licked his lips before noticing a small trail of orange juice from the slice he'd fed to her, running down her face from the corner of her mouth. And leaned back down to lick it away before he reached up and gently pried her hands from his shoulders and kissed her palms as he used his thumb to wipe away the spit he'd left on her face when he'd licked her, then said softly. "Try to eat the orange while I fix you something else to eat."

He stepped back away from her and quickly left the room as she slid down the wall to sit on the floor. Dear god she was really in trouble here, wasn't she?