Heeeeeey guys! I hope you're hooked on me like I'm hooked on you! I've gained nearly a thousand views and 21 beautiful people have continued to follow me. I love you, and I thankyou for all your support.

Btw Snavej, no worries! Learning that someone may have misinterpreted what I wrote will only make me a better writer in the future, I love that you brought it to my attention and hope that you continue to let me know exactly what you think.

Rated M.

M is for MATURE people.

If I can pretend to be, then you can too.

DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING! *sob* However sometimes I wonder if Mashima-sama used to follow me around and take character ideas from my friends and I.

At least let a girl dream!

I like Pepsi

Chapter 7

Clear Skies

Lucy giggled and giggled, yelling for him to stop every time she found a breath between giggles. His fingers were so warm as he tickled, tracing them down her skin. Her pink haired dragon slayer finally stopped, leaving his hand flat on her stomach. She laid there trying to catch her breath. When she turned her head she saw him laying next to her in a bed of flowers. His head was propped up in one hand, his deep golden eyes glazing over at his other that was laying on her belly.

"Why did you bring me here Natsu?" Lucy sighed, breathing in the morning air.

"So that we could be alone." He said it like it was nothing.

"But why?"

"Cuz I can't ask you to join me for the party, and if I can't—then I don't want you around any other guys til we can figure this out." Natsu shrugged.

"F, figure it o-o-out?" Lucy felt as if she was about to start sweating.

He turned to look at her, all kidding aside, "How do you not understand that you're mine Luce? I've had a claim on you for a long time now. You need to be with me." As he spoke his face was lowering to her's, the hand he'd had on her stomach slowly trailing it's way around her waist. His eyes looked to her in a way she'd never seen before, as if he were reading her soul like an open book. Suddenly he pulled her close to him roughly, Lucy yelped in surprise. Natsu held her there tightly, pushing his heat onto her. Had she tried pulling away it wouldn't have worked. He closed his eyes and lowered his lips to her's, whispering one last thing.

"So be mine already."

Somehow the dragon managed to hold her tighter still as he melded his lips to hers. She opened her mouth to try and reciprocate, but she couldn't keep up. His hot searing tongue was exploring her mouth with a hunger Lucy could not get a grip on. His hand was creeping up her back and shirt until it held the crook of her neck securely. She could tell Natsu had no intention on waiting for her to keep up with his ministrations. He held her neck steady, securing her lips to his as he rolled slightly to hover above her. Lucy moaned in the warmth of his kiss and he returned her tiny noise with a deep rumbling beginning from down in his chest that made it's way to his mouth, transforming into a growl. The vibrations from the primal sound made Lucy tilt her head up, finally breaking the kiss to let out another louder and more rewarding moan. Natsu never missed a beat, nipping at her neck here and there as he pressed his lower body down onto hers, causing another growl to come out from where he now sucked deeply from the soft skin above her collar bone. It was just too much, Lucy knew she was helpless in his hands. …...And she liked it.

"Oh Naaa~stuu!"

"Hey Luce, I'm here."

"Naaa~"

"You're starting to sweat, what's wrong?"

She moaned and clutched his hair, unable to speak.

"Wake up Luce!" He rubbed her shoulder.

^.^ *Maniacal author's laugh inserted here*

What's wrong with her?

The only thing Natsu could think of was to wake her up. Her face had turned feverish and she rubbed her legs together in a way that was really bugging him.

"Hey Luce, I'm here," He frowned as nothing discernible came from her lips.

"You're starting to sweat, what's wrong?"

All of a sudden she groaned and dug her hands into his hair. "Agg!" Natsu barked as she pulled him over to her far shoulder. He became incredibly skittish when his chest made contact with her's in such a manner. He couldn't take it and bounced up off of her ripping his hair from her hands... yea, it hurt, "Wake up Luce!"

Natsu sighed in relief when her eyes fluttered open. He lowered himself to all fours and put his cheek on her forehead. "You feel warm, are you feeling okay?"

Lucy's eyes went wide when she noticed it was still dark out. She bolted into a sitting position, causing Natsu to tumble into the flowers behind her. She was breathing like she'd been trying to outrun a train. The fire wizard lifted his face out of the flowers and glared at her, "What was that for! I was just seeing if you were sick!" She didn't look over at him or say anything, just kept breathing as if soon there would be no more air to drink in—ever.

Natsu blinked, staring at her backside. What's her deal?

He crawled over to her much like a slinking cat and slipped his head below hers, looking up at Lucy from where she had her head lowered, his mind bubbling with questions. "Did... did you have a bad dream..?"

Lucy's eyes began to water and she pushed him away, making him roll onto his back in the flowers this time, "Well if I did it's YOUR fault! Bringing me out here, making me sleep under the stars," Her unshed tears dried up without ever falling as she turned to glare at him, "Of COURSE I'd have a crazy dream!"

Natsu popped up from his back, sitting crisscrossed about two paces from her and blinked, not understanding why she was so upset. "It was just a dream Luce. I woke you up, you're safe now."

She watched him for a moment, then her eyes started to water up again and she quickly laid down and turned away from him.

Natsu watched her actions curiously. He couldn't figure out why she'd be so bothered. I woke her up, sheesh, shouldn't she be grateful? The flame tamer sighed and scratched his head. He crawled back over to her and paused. Considering his actions, he decided it best not to hassle her. Letting out a breath, he let himself fall to his back next to her and stared up at the night's sky.

They were both quiet for a while. Natsu didn't care for it much. If she was awake then he wanted to play, but she seemed to be bothered by something she wouldn't share with him.

And he didn't care for that either.

"Here lately," Natsu spoke into the air, "whenever I look at the stars like this," he glanced at her, "I think of you." He waited for her to respond, but she said nothing. "I think of how they line up to make pictures of your spirits, and then I think of how much your spirits care for you." Natsu regretted saying that the moment it came out. Loke likes her a little too much. "I think about how, for most of us, all we have are these pictures up in the sky.

"But you, you know they are more than just pictures. You speak with them, you know them." He smiled, "just like you know me."

Lucy chuckled and it was music to Natsu's ears, "They're called constellations, Dork."

He turned to look at her again, knowing an opportunity to make her smile when he saw one. "Consta-what now?"

She giggled and turned onto her back, looking into the night sky as well. "Constellations."

"Constipations?"

Lucy sounded like she was holding in a laugh as she pressed her lips together. "No."

"Constitutions?" Natsu smirked and poked her side.

She jumped and fwacked his hand away, FINALLY looking at him, "Constellations!"

He grinned at her, ecstatic that she was herself again. "I gotcha Luce."

Laying there in the flowers, their eyes locked. As a blush started creeping into the girl's face, she quickly turned back up the sky. She lifted her hand up and pointed to the heavens. "You see that one there, with the cluster of four stars?"

Natsu couldn't tell where she was pointing, so he scooted up so the their heads were touching. "You mean those?" He pointed up towards the sky as well.

"More to the left."

"Ahh," he grinned, "Yea I see it it."

"That's the hilt of Taurus's axe. The star over there represents his eye."

"I see it! Is he about to get into a fight?"

Lucy chuckled. "No silly. Stars are unchanging. They don't move around like a vision lacrima. They are there simply to let us know they are there. The constellations are their connection to our world. Without it, they would not have a gate to get here."

"I think I get it. Show me another!"

Lucy pointed out many constellations to him before she started to drift to sleep again. Natsu laid there for a while longer, watching her sleep. Confirming that her sleep would be peaceful this time, he curled up to her, bringing an arm over her middle and bent his elbow so that his hand rested on her far shoulder. Now that he held her protectively, he let sleep take him.

^.^

Lucy opened her eyes to clear skies. She stretched and let out a loud yawn. Out of nowhere, Natsu bent over blocking her view of blue.

"You're up! Come on Luce! I'm starving. Let's go!"

Lucy moaned and rubbed her eyes, "If you're so hungry, how come you didn't just catch a rabbit or something."

Natsu frowned and shrugged. "I don't like hunting here. This is home. I don't want the animals scared of me."

What an odd thing to say.

Writing it off as more Natsu weirdness, they started to trek home. Natsu led the way cupping his hands behind his head, talking about food mostly. Lucy trailed behind a little, watching the forest, thinking about how different this Natsu was from predator Natsu she'd dealt with yesterday. He was so intense. His eyes, his voice, even his body language. It's like there are three Natsus. Normal Natsu, the Predator, and the Provider. And I got a dose of all three yesterday. The thought made her nervous. He was all three in one, and she never knew which would become the most prominent. She found herself dwelling on this for a while, barely hearing what Natsu was saying. I need to go home and sort this out. I wonder how I can ditch the dragon.

"You think too much." She jumped when she heard Natsu right beside her.

The blonde frowned at him, "Maybe you just think too little."

Natsu grinned at that. "I like to keep people on their toes. If I spend too much time thinkin about what I'm gonna do," He gave her a sidelong glance as he walked beside her, "I'd be too easy to predict."

"That's not true!" Lucy focused on her feet stepping over a log. "I can predict you pretty well."

The trail began to slope up, a few knee high rocks forming as natural stairs. The dragon slayer hopped up the first one and offered her a hand up. "That's because you know me." He smiled down at her.

She blinked at him, then smiled and took his hand so he could haul her up. He didn't let go of it until she had fully breached the incline. Considering the different Natsus she'd seen yesterday, she couldn't come up with a way to respond to that. Lucy opted for silence. Ten paces after the incline led them out of the forest, right back to where their game had begun.

^.^

Natsu looked to the doors of the guild warily. His escape from Mira's little game was over. I'm still gonna get her for this.

"Natsu?"

He turned to look at his partner, "Yea Luce?"

"...Have a good lunch. I'm going to head home."

"Have a..." Natsu frowned, "you aren't coming in?"

Lucy looked nervous, "Uh, no... I just need to get home. Ya know, clean up a little bit."

"You want me to come with you?" She's being weird.

"No, no. I don't have much food at home, and I know how hungry you get. I'll see you later."

Natsu grinned, a tiny sweatdrop falling in his hair, "Yea okay Luce. I am pretty hungry."

He raised an eyebrow with how quickly she turned away and ran off. What's she in such a hurry for? He shook his head as he watched her run off.

Turning back to Fairytail's guild door, he took a deep breath and walked in.

It smelled of bacon and sausage!

He zipped to the bar counter and greeted Mirajane with much love and promptly asked if he could have some of that delicious breakfast.

"Well of course you can Natsu!" Mira smiled brightly. "How was your night?"

Levy took a seat next to him, "Yes Natsu, how was your night?"

Cana came over and sat on his other side, "Tell us all about it Slayer!"

Natsu looked back and forth between the two girls, "It was great...?"

That's all Cana needed. She started laughing up a storm.

Natsu frowned. "What's the deal guys?"

Mirajane returned with his breakfast in tow, she glanced at Cana laughing at him and turned back to him with a sympathetic smile. "Happy was here not to long ago asking about you. He told everyone that you never came home last night."

Levy had the same smile as Mirajane, "And then he added that no one was home at Lucy's either."

Natsu frowned at them but then smiled when Mirajane set his breakfast in front of him, "Aww! It smells great Mira! Thanx!" He lifted both his hands, preparing to dive into his food, but his neighbors caught his arms mid swoop, "H-eee-ey!"

Both Cana and Levy seemed to be trying to get a look at his arms. "Leggo of me!"

"Nothing here!" Cana yelled.

"No way!" Levy frowned, releasing him. "Nothing here either."

Natsu tore his arm away from Cana and snatched a piece bacon and ate it in one bite. "What are you talking about?"

"Your mark." Levy pipped up.

"What mark?"

Mirajane showed Natsu her wrist, and the rune that she shared with Freed. "This one."

Cana sighed. "I can't believe you were out with her ALL NIGHT and you never even got her to you ask to the Ball!" Somehow she adjusted her legs to sit crisscross on the tiny bench she sat on. "At this rate I'm gonna have twenty dates before you two even get one."

No meal is worth this shit. I should have just went with Lucy.

"Well I don't see a rune on either one of your wrists either!" Natsu growled.

Levy sweatdropped, a bashful smile creeping onto her face.

Cana leaned with her back to the bar and said, "I'm in no hurry." She closed her eyes with a smirk and held her empty mug up.

Natsu heard a bang from behind him and looked over his shoulder. The bang had been from Laxus slamming down his mug of coffee. He rose and stalked over to Mirajane who nervously handed him a pitcher of ale. The older dragon slayer all but snatched it from her, took two more steps over to Cana and poured the drink into her mug with a scowl across his face. Then not so gently set the pitcher onto the counter and stalked back off to his table.

Cana smirked at his retreating back, "Thank you Sparky!"

That's all I got for now my lovelies. Take care, and again, thank you for your reviews! Without those, I'd never spend so much time writing. ;D

Btw! How'd y'all like my "not lemon"? ^.^;;

Dun hate me, I still lovies youuuu!

Much love

Stay naughty

Seri!