Hey :D It's me Merikatori and I bring you the latest chapter of Pure :D

First of all thank you all of you for reading, making this your favorite story

Special thanks to Sakamaki Hikaru, AnimeWhoLock, DarqueDeth4444, Spyka, SimplyIsabelleS, Guest and Mandy422 for reviewing :D You guys are the best XD XD

Guest: I like RoLu as much as I like StiCy really :D Thank you for your opinion but actually ... I don't have the intention to put Rogue and Yukino together from the first place, you know :D I think that they could be good friends and that's enough :D I want to create a love triangle among three of them (Sting, Lucy, Rogue), not in the competitive way but in the ... I don't know how to say it but I guess in the understanding way? I don't want to choose between RoLu and StiCy XD I just can't :D

Mandy422: Yeah I know, I even love him more than Sting when I wrote that chapter XD He'll have more scene I promise, three of them were main characters so I want to be fair with them.

Anyway, English is not my mother language so I'm sorry for any mistakes that I made :D Enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail.

Pure

Chapter 8 - Tsundere?

Yukino yawned, pulling the strap of her bag a little to make her shoulder more comfortable. The lack of sleep made her shoulder and back feel weary. She had left a while after Rogue, heading back to the girls' tent and trying to sleep but her eyes refused to close, her thought just kept bothering her mind. She finally could sleep an hour later. When she assumed it was about 2 AM, Lucy still hadn't been back. That probably explained why she was having a doze on Rogue's shoulder while he was giving her a piggyback. The girl couldn't even open her eyes properly when Erza and Yukino tried to wake her up at 7 this morning. Yukino wondered what did they do last night after she had left.

She felt completely lost after she heard Rogue said that he would never choose her over Lucy. If it came from someone else, she would just shrug it off and still tried to give her best shot, but… it wasn't. It came from Rogue, someone was very close to him and that made her anxious.

"Sting, I'll cut your hand off if you don't leave her alone right now." – Rogue's voice broke the line of her thought.

"Can't help it, she looks cute when she's sleeping." – Sting said nonchalantly. She saw him kept poking Lucy's cheek slightly.

"Stop it, Sting. She'll get bitchy if she doesn't get enough sleep." – Rogue was getting more and more annoyed at Sting, but he tried not to bust. He didn't want his little girl to wake up, then turned into a monster.

"Fine." – Sting finally gave in.

Yukino sighed. What should I do? Erza caught that, but she didn't say anything. Erza just gave her a strange look.

"What did she do last night anyway? She looks like she didn't sleep a wink." – Gray asked and his eyebrows knitted together in confusion.

"Sting said that he and Lucy went out to collect the last specimen so they came back late." – Erza answered him, looking at the camera to check the photos.

"The last specimen? We couldn't find them whole day yesterday. How did they find them anyway?"

"It's because we could only find them at night, in the stream we passed yesterday." – Sting said swiftly.

"Why did you have to wake her up? Why not Rogue or me? Who knew what you were gonna do with her in the middle of the night?"

Gray said harshly, he narrowed his eyes suspiciously at him. Sting halted when he heard what just came out of Gray's mouth and clenched his fists. How dare him imply that he would do something bad to Lucy. He would kill himself first if he ever tried it. He tried to keep his composure in check.

Breath, Sting, breath. Things between you and Lucy are pretty good, don't ruin it again.

He turned around and gave Gray his infamous smirk.

"I like being with her so I wanted her to go with me. I don't care if you have the problem with that. And for your information, I will never, ever do something that will bring her harm. So don't you dare say that again or you're gonna regret that." - That was not a lie, he said it and he meant it.

Gray was about to retort back, but Erza glared at him to make him stop. He looked away. Tsk. And scowling hard at the ground. Erza could feel the tension was rising in the air. Sting seemed pretty offense by Gray's words, but she could see that he was trying to hold back, for his sake or for Lucy's sake she was not sure.

Probably both.

She must admit that being in the same team with them wasn't so bad. Rogue was smart, that was no doubt. Sting was not so bad either, the fact that he was the one who could find out where was their last specimen was pretty impressive. And Yukino... such a sweet girl. She seemed nice, not as mean as many girls in Sabertooth.

But Erza knew that there was something going on between her and Sting. Well, probably just Yukino, Sting didn't take much notice at her. Erza could clearly see that. Lucy gained all his attention when she was around, Erza was about 90 percent sure that Yukino liked him. The girl just kept looking at him secretly, or frowned when he was fooling around with Lucy or smiling at her. Erza was never an observant person, but it was so obvious that she couldn't help but noticing. She felt bad for Yukino, it was hard when someone who you was attracted to couldn't even see your affection for them, let alone returned it.

That made her kinda worry because she had a crush on someone *cough* Jellal *cough* too and she was really scared that he wouldn't feel the same way about her. But that was the story for another time anyway. It was also kinda funny to see the high and mighty Sting, the cold and bad boy of Fiore turned 180 degrees into someone who was childish, impartial with a stupid grin on his face all the time. She never knew that the boy had this side in him.

And about Rogue… well... He was still the same as far as she could see, but… he was different at the same time, too. He seemed more relax and more tender. He sometimes would smile a small smile, but only when you looked really, really closely that you could see it. It was a privilege that only Lucy could receive. She saw the way he look at her with his red eyes, the cold and the cruelty because of their color were just disappeared and the admiration as well as dearness replaced them perfectly.

Her lips turned up a little, Lucy seemed like she had some kind of super power that could turn this two boys of her into someone else. There was no doubt that they would do anything for their girl and protect her even from the world. The three of them were very lucky to have one another, they were family, they were friends and perhaps lovers in the future. Erza wondered who Lucy would choose between Sting and Rogue. It sounded kinda stupid to her, but Erza hoped that she would never have to, because it would surely break her heart whatever her decision was.

"So where is the meeting place again, Erza?" - Rogue asked her. She pulled out the paper to read it again.

"About 2 miles West from where we had started" - Rogue nodded. It was 11.30 AM and the sun was on their sinciputs so they had to define the direction again.

That means the North from where we're standing. He thought.

"Sting, look for some moss at the foot of a tree, they grow at the North. Yukino, try to find an ant nest, they shield their nest with leaves at the North too, just to be sure."

They nodded and did what he told them. After a moment, they could find their right direction again and continued to finish their journey. Lucy had waken up after a while, and the noise started again. Lucy looked over her shoulder to give Sting and Yukino a smile. They smiled back at her. Sting seemed tired and yawned a couple of times.

He looked at the girl who was walking beside him and saw her frown. He blinked.

"Give me your bag."

Yukino snapped out of her thought then looked at him with confusion.

"P…pardon me?"

"They seemed heavy, I'll carry them for you for a while".

"N..no, it's…it's okay, I'm fine." - She raised her hands to decline, but he didn't listen to her, just pulling the straps of the bag off her shoulders. She blushed at his gesture and tried to hide it by looking at the ground, covering her red face with her hair. Fortunately that was unnoticeable by him.

She glanced at him and saw his eyes lingered on a certain girl. Lucy seemed cheerful after she had her sleep. She was walking backward, talking something to Erza and they both laughed at Gray's miserable face. She then walked toward Rogue, holding his arm then swing both their arms back and forth like they were 5. Sting exhaled a soft laugh. Kid.

"How long have you known one another?" – Yukino asked out of the blue – "I mean, you and Lucy….". She didn't know what else to say so she tried the easiest way: asking about their relationship.

"Huhmm… almost ten years… I guess. Wow, it's been a really long time." – Sting nodded to himself.

"How did you guys meet?" - She continued and suddenly felt curious.

"It's a long story anyway, my cat brought me to her." - He looked at Lucy and grinned. Talking about Lector, I've never given him a proper thank after what he had done, maybe I should do it after this trip.

"Is Rogue always like that around her?" She tilted her head, looking at Rogue's smiling face. Erza, Gray, and Rogue, they looked like they had got used to one another. Lucy was sandwiched between Erza and Rogue, Gray was walking right next to Erza. Sting and Yukino were walking closely behind them.

"Yeah, only around her." – Sting smirked.

[Flash back]

"A girl kidnapped Lector?" – Rogue asked his friend, his eyebrows knitted together.

"No, she didn't kidnap him, she found him." – Sting said, smiling and petting Lector. Rogue was sitting on his bed, holding Frosh, his own kitten. Both of them had come back home just in time for dinner. Fortunately that Sting had found Lector, he told Rogue about the girl he met near the river bank. Rogue had never seen him so exciting before, not after his mother's death. He was curious and wanted to know who was this girl.

"She looks really cute, with her blond hair and her eyes look delicious, too." – Sting exclaimed.

"Did you just describe a person's eyes as delicious?" – Rogue made a disgusting face. He sounded like a monster that wants to eat people's raw eyes.

"No – yes… I mean, her eyes look beautiful, they're brown and remind me of chocolate so I said they looked delicious." – Sting said loudly, his smile never faded.

"Come with me to the park tomorrow to see her, you'll like her."

Rogue only nodded, although he didn't feel enthusiastic at all.

[The next day]

"She stood us up, Sting." – Rogue said nonchalantly.

They had been waiting for this girl for almost an hour and she was nowhere to be seen. Rogue began to get annoyed. he just kept grunting, frowning, and murmuring something about 'Idiot Sting' or 'Idiot Blondie'.

"She'll come, she promised." – Sting talked back, but he also began to doubt his words. She's just a… little late. He sighed, he didn't know why but something told him that just kept waiting, kept waiting and she would come, so he waited even though he didn't know how long he was gonna have to wait.

But… his effort seemed worth it. He caught a glimpse of yellow at the horizon and immediately stood up. He grinned widely and waved at her, Lucy was running really fast toward them. She stopped in front of Sting, putting her hands on her knees and panting.

"S..*pant*... sorry...*pant*...*pant… for *pant* being...*pant* *pant*...late."

Sting patted her back slightly.

"It's okay. We've just come here, too." - He lied.

"Really?" Lucy asked with her wide eyes.

*cough*

Rogue coughed and cleared his throat loudly. Idiot. He glared at the girl, he did not like her although she looked kinda pretty, just like Sting had said. But how could he like her when she made him wait for her almost an hour. Rogue back then was impatient and even more hot-head than Sting.

Sting frowned at him and mouthed 'Don't be rude to her', but Rogue just 'Tsk' at him. Lucy looked at Sting, then at Rogue, then at Sting, then at Rogue again.

"What are you looking at, Blondie? We've been waiting for you for an hour. Next time, if you can't come just in time, then don't come at all." - Rogue said rudely, ignoring Sting's dead glare.

"I said don't be rude to her." - Sting half shouted half whispered to him.

Lucy flinched at Rogue harsh tone then set her eyes at the ground guiltily.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. My mom's sick today, I was so worried that I totally forgot, I'm sorry." – Her eyes began to water and they widened their eyes, both at her sight and her words.

Sting scowled at Rogue then flung his arms around to hug her, patting her head slightly like a big brother.

"Oh don't cry Luce, I don't blame you, don't pay attention to him, he's always mean like that." - He heard Rogue's growl so he turned around and stuck his tongue out at him.

Lucy rubbed her eyes to get rid off some of her tears. She then freed herself gently from Sting's arms and approached Rogue. She put her hands behind her back and looked at him sheepishly, he folded his arms and raised an eyebrow at her.

"I'm sorry for making you wait. It won't happen again, could you forgive me?" – She didn't know if that was enough so she gave him her puppy dog eyes. She did it all the time with her mother and it always worked. Rogue's eyes widened, she looked so adorable that all he wanted was giving her a bear hug.

W..wh..what the heck? Sh…she…

He was taken back by her cute face and unconsciously gulped. He couldn't even think straight with her staring at him like that. Rogue looked over her shoulder then spotted Sting who was silent laughing. He scowled hard at him and regained his composure, then cleared this throat.

"Fine, you're forgiven." - He mumbled.

Lucy's face lit up, she grinned widely then flung herself at him, giving him a tight hug.

"Thank you so much."

"Blon… Blondie… can't… breath."

Lucy immediately let him go and laughed nervously, she extended her hand at him.

"I'm Lucy, nice to meet you." – Rogue looked at her hand then back at her face, considering his option.

"She won't eat you Sting, it's just a handshake." – Sting scolded him. Rogue sighed then took her hand.

"Rogue Cheney." – He said and she smiled.

"Nice to meet you, Rogue."

Memories brought him back to the old day when he first met Lucy.

I changed a lot because of her.

Despite the dislike he gave her when she almost stood them up back then, she was still friendly to him. Rogue hated people who were late the most and she knew that. But instead of staying away from him, she tried to change that grudge because she truly wanted friendship to be blossom between them. She didn't have many friends, other kids didn't like her because her family was super rich. They said that she was hard to please and could tell her father to do something bad to them if they displeased her.

Rogue didn't like her at first, but not because of her family. It was because of what happened at the park. Plus she talked too much, always noisy and always trying to get under his skin. But the more he tried to push her away, the more she tried to get closer. The animosity slowly turned into something else that completely changed him: admiration, fondness, warmth…

"Hey, Rogue." – Rogue was cleaning his electric guitar in his room when he heard her voice. It was a Saturday afternoon when Sting invited her to come to dinner. He looked at her and gave her a nod. Rogue had begun to consider her as a friend but he still sometimes said something impolite to her. He tried to hide the fact that he started to like her as someone who was close to him.

"Did you see Sting and dad the way out?"

"Uh huh, he said they have to go to the grocery store to buy some vegetables and he told me to stay and keep you company." – She said and sat on his chair, watching him with her big brown eyes.

"Hey, you play guitar?"

"A little"

"Can you play me a song?" – She asked, her face filled with excitement. She liked music and all kind of musical accessory.

"No." – He said tersely.

"Why not?" – She pouted.

Rogue sighed. - "Why don't you just go and let me have some peace before I completely lost it at dinner?" – He said, still cleaning his guitar. He didn't hear anything from her.

"What? Cat got your tongue?"

Lucy frowned at his rudeness, but tried to push it aside. She'd already used to it. She looked somewhere else and let the sadness occupy her eyes, it was just… she tried to be optimistic, but it had been 6 years and he still didn't like her much.

She didn't know why, she tried to talk to him, telling him jokes to make him laugh, but he never laughed. He just stared at her with his red eyes, making her look like an idiot talking and laughing to herself. She heard from Sting that he liked sushi so she asked her mother to show her how to do it. Her effort still didn't please him very much. When she asked 'Is that good', he just said swiftly 'It's fine' or 'It's okay' and switched to other dishes. Sting usually scolded him, sometimes he would get angry at him for being so cruel to her, but she just laughed lightly and told him to let it pass. It seemed like she didn't get anywhere with this friendship and she felt very disheartened.

Rogue lifted his head to gaze at her and guilty crept through his heart, she seemed… down. She usually would laugh (nervously) at his harsh, retorted back, or pouted cutely and it was strange when one of those things didn't happen today.

He didn't know why he just kept pushing her away like that. He wanted her to stay with him instead of going to the grocery store. She had tried so hard to be friendly with him, to show him her good side but it still wasn't enough for him. He had been too greedy perhaps? Now when he thought about it, he felt really content when she did something for him. When she spoiled him with her attention or her foods she made, he told himself that it had to be that way, she had to treat him that way and that... was only natural. He didn't realize that he had hurt her more than once.

"Sorry, that's mean." – He said quietly but loudly enough for her to hear, then came back with what he was doing. The guitar was sparkling clean but he just kept cleaning and cleaning, didn't know what to say next.

"It's okay." – Lucy murmured.

"Maybe some other times, I still need to practice more before I can play it perfectly." – He said and Lucy just nodded.

She was unusual quiet that night…

"Rogue was mean to her back then" – Sting mumbled and shook his head.

"Really? Why?" – Yukino asked then turned to look at Rogue in awe. She found it hard to imagine Rogue being unkind to Lucy.

"Don't know, because he was a tsundere?" He said and she giggled.

Things changed, he changed and it was like he was trying to make it up to those days, when there was nothing but bitter and distance between them, even though it was just the outside.

"Rogue… Rogue are you okay?" - Lucy took his hand and gave it a squeeze. He was staring into space, lost in thought but snapped out of it when he felt the warmth from her hand.

"Yeah… I'm fine." – He forced a small smile. If only I could have been nicer to her. He sighed quietly, he looked at her face and his mind couldn't stop but reminisced about something.

Rogue took out his umbrella and was locking his locker when he heard someone cursed.

"Shit, how am I suppose to go home now."

It was Lucy...

"First I was late for the rehearsal and hit a bicycle. Now I forget to bring my umbrella and it's raining. Great." – She said loudly and slumped on the perron of the (almost) empty hall, waiting for the rain to stop.

Look like she just had a really bad Sunday. He smirked and shook his head slightly.

"The universe seems hate you."

"Tell me about it." She answered then jumped. Lucy turned around and sighed in relief when she saw it was Rogue. She looked surprise for a moment then murmured. - "Oh, it's you."

Rogue raised an eyebrow. - "You're expecting someone else?"

"N-no, it's not like that." – She stammered then stared at the blue sky filled with gray clouds. A supposed to be beautiful Sunday was ruined by God. It was raining like cats and dogs and there was no way she could leave here without an umbrella. Rogue put a hand in his pocket, his other hand held the umbrella behind his back. He stared at her, her back facing him, he wondered what was she thinking. He moved forward and sat down next to her.

"What are you doing here?" – He asked. He didn't feel very comfortable after last night when she came to have dinner, she was so quiet and avoided his eyes whenever he tried to look into hers.

"I got a rehearsal." – She extended her hand to catch raindrops falling from Heaven, they were drip-dropping on her palm like crazy and she smiled.

"What about you? What are you doing here?" - Lucy asked back, still didn't look at his face.

"I practiced soccer at the back yard." - She nodded.

They sat just like that, watching the rain in silence. He paused for a moment, then stood up, suddenly grabbing her hand.

"C'mon, let's go home, I have my umbrella."

Rogue pulled her and she struggled to stand up with one leg.

"W... wait, my…my…" - She looked down and Rogue followed her eyes. They lingered on her livid ankle, that the result when she hit a bicycle this morning.

"You sprained your ankle and you still go to school?" - He asked casually, but it sounded like he was scolding her.

"I didn't notice it this morning, it didn't hurt until a while ago, okay?" - She grunted.

She had enough bad luck today and she didn't want Rogue to make it worse.

Rogue stared at her, hand still holding hers. She blushed slightly, then withdrew her hand and he let her. He turned around and crouched down.

"Get on." - Lucy's eyes widened, she opened her mouth...

"And don't you dare say no to me." - He cut her off before she got a chance to protest. She closed her mouth then obediently took the umbrella from his hand. She embraced his neck and blushed hard. Fortunately he didn't see it, his hands were behind her knees, eyes looking straight ahead.

They were silent on their way home.

Rogue wanted to say something, but he didn't know what to say. Should he apologize to her about last night again? Should he wait for her to say something first?

Her scent faintly redolent, sunshine was replaced by rain blended with magnolia. It made him feel fresh and comfortable.

Lucy held the umbrella and tilted her head to look at his face secretly, it didn't express any emotion and she wondered what was he thinking.

Was he still annoyed with her? Her eyes glued to his. People usually got scared when they looked into his eyes because they were red, cold, and cruel but... Lucy didn't think so. She actually loved his eyes, they held strength as well as warmth, but also a hint of sadness… and lonely. Lucy could find a little bit of herself when she looked into his eyes. She didn't realize that she was slowly leaning on his shoulder, her cheek almost met the fabric of his shirt.

Rogue saw that out of the corner of his eyes, but didn't say anything. His lips twitched in amusement. He suddenly jumped over a puddle, startling her. She squealed and hugged his neck tighter, almost choked him. Rogue snickered and she blushed again, realizing that he was teasing her. She seemed blush a lot today. She smiled shyly at the sound coming from him, it was like the tension from the last dinner had disappeared. She bid her lips then slowly, yet boldly leaned her cheek on the crook of his neck, waiting for his reaction but got none.

She closed her eyes and inhaled his scent. He smiled back at her even though he didn't see her face, he knew she was smiling.

[End of flash back]

Rogue smiled widely at her and she laughed lightly.

"Okay mister, you're creeping me out, what's so funny?"

Rogue shook his head, but the smile didn't slip from his face.

"Nothing."

Sting saw Rogue pulled Lucy closer, their arms were touching and he chuckled.

You can see through me Rogue, but you forgot that I also can see through you, too.

Yukino looked at him quizzically. She had tried to involve him to talk to her but he just answered swiftly, then his mind would drift to somewhere else. She then decided to take all her courage then asked him directly, the thing that she had wanted to ask so many time, but was afraid to hear the answer.

"You like her, don't you?"

Sting blinked twice then gave her a surprised look.

"Huh?"

"Do you like Lucy...?" - She asked again.

"I mean, like like, not just like, you know…" – She tried to explain, thinking that he didn't understand, but he just stared at her.

After a minute but Yukino felt like forever, he turned away, looking straight ahead again and dropped their conversation. Yukino frowned, she was hurt when he ignored her like that. Bad move. She scolded herself.

"Oh-my-God, urrrggg… home sweet home." - Lucy jumped on the bed, her face hit the pillow and she sighed in content.

"Actually, it's my home and my room." – Sting said quietly, putting down his pack bag then covered his mouth again. He still couldn't get rid off the feeling of sickness when he was on the boat and the bus. It was 9 PM and they'd just returned from their trip, it was fun but also exhausting. Their team did a pretty good job, most of the students could find the right direction but not all of them could find all the specimens. Some teams couldn't even understand what the list was saying so they captured every picture of every tree and animal they found. Some teams had some right pictures, but some also didn't get any.

Rogue plopped himself down on the bed next to her, copying her posture and hummed. He was so tired from the travel sickness and couldn't even lift a finger.

"Okay, Rogue, not you too. It's my bed, go back to your room" – He said tiredly.

Rogue didn't budge a muscle, he didn't have enough energy to say anything so he just grunted and groaned. Lucy looked at Rogue then got up, she held his head, putting it on her lap and beckoned Sting to do the same. She fondled their hair gently and smiled. She did it all the time when they were young. They didn't have any problem with motorcycle or bicycle, but with the bus, the boat, the plane and other vehicles... that was another story.

"Feeling better?" - They sighed in content and nodded.

After about half an hour, she yawned, then decided to leave. But before she could even put a toe on the ground, two hands caught her wrists and pulled her down again.

"It's late, stay." – Rogue murmured and hold her waist, pulling her closer, Sting also put an arm around her and snuggled into her warmth, buried his face into her hair. She hummed then closed her eyes, drifting to sleep in peace with a smile on her face. They shared the same bed that night, something they hadn't done for a very long time.

[Two week later]

"Have you told Masters about her?" - Lucy asked Sting while preparing some pancake and omelet for them at her dorm. It was a Tuesday morning when they arrived at her dorm very early to have breakfast with her.

"Yeah, Master Jiemma didn't look very please when I told him that." – Sting took out a gallon of milk and poured to his glass as well as Rogue's.

"He said that he couldn't do something more than warning her, because we don't have proof and it could be a misunderstanding" – Rogue continued.

"Yeah, but I heard the teachers mumbled about Master was furious at her, guess that why she's backed off a little." – Sting nodded.

Lucy put down three dished on the table, thinking about something.

"Next time if she bother you, tell me, I have an idea"

"What idea?" Sting was curious, Lucy was up to something and when she was up to something, it must be really funny or really evil.

"Only when she bother you again, if you want to know then just invite her to come to you" - She deadpanned and Sting shut up immediately, there's no way in hell it's gonna happen.

Rogue looked at them and chuckled.

Lucy came to her classroom when the bell rung the third ring. She was wondering what the hell was happening with everybody, they seemed… very excited about something, she tugged Erza's sleeve.

"Hey Erza, what with all this… animation?" - Lucy asked her, she was really curious. Was there a festival going happen or something? Erza crossed her arm and sighed.

"It's been quite sometime, I guess."

"Ehhh … pardon me?" - Her eyebrows knitted together. She asked a question and Erza's answered completely unrelated to it, at all. Erza shook her head and smiled, she was about to tell Lucy, but the door slammed open loudly. A guy was standing at the door, wearing Fiore's uniform and Fairy Tail's bandage with a very serious expression on his face.

Striped scarf, black eyes… pink hair? Lucy's eyes widened.

"He's back" – Erza finished her sentence.

Natsu Dragneel?

End of chapter 8

:D Sooo? What do you think?

I want to put Sunday Morning by Maroon 5 in this chapter because I was listening to it while I was writing but I realized it maybe didn't fit :D

Anyway thank you for reading

Bye guys XD