(-")è

Lisanna climbed to the second floor. She saw Laxus on the sofa, alone as usual. She put his lunch in front of him, and then she sat next to him. After a few seconds staring, she realized that he was sleeping.

"Laxus…" she whispered to his ear.

When he raised his hand to push her away, she quickly ducked. Then, she whispered to his ear again.

"Shut up, Mira. I'm trying to sleep," he said. His eyes still closed.

"Mira-nee?"

The name woke him up. She grinned and waved at him when he glared at her.

"So, you're dreaming about Mira-nee?" asked the white-haired girl.

"What are you doing here?" he asked. He was obviously uncomfortable with the question.

"Laxus-san…" She moved closer to him. "Are you, by any chance, like Mira-nee?"

"Get out of here before I kick you out," he warned.

Lisanna giggled. She could see he was nervous about the question.

"Okay. I'll go." She stood up. "Fried-san is a good person. But…" She turned back to him. "I like you more."

The girl skipped merrily down the stairs. At the counter, the girls were still talking about their previous mission. However, when Lisanna joined them, the topic quickly died out.

"Hey, you haven't given me my reward yet," said Lisanna.

"Girls, Mr. Sean Grim invited us to be his waitresses again," Erza said.

"Serves those pirates again? No!" Lucky declined.

"They are creepy. Especially the one in black suit." Lucy agreed.

Erza shivered as she remembered that guy.

"I would love to be their waitress again," Lisanna interrupted, shut the other girls up.

They glanced at each other.

"Lisanna, can I have some coffee?" Cana asked.

"Wow, quite a different menu today. I'll bring it right up." Lisanna disappeared into the kitchen.

"Cana-san, you'll make her curious when you suddenly ask for coffee," Lucy said, after she made sure that the white-haired girl wouldn't hear them.

Cana turned to the girls.

"Since none of you going to ask, I'll go. But, of course all of you didn't want me to ask something unnecessary, so I need to make sure that I'm in control," Cana replied.

"Control to what?" Levy asked.

"My brain," Cana answered, pointing to her head. "So, don't worry. I'll never blurt out that we stalked her before."

"Stalked who?"

Mirajane put her tray on the counter and looked at the girls smilingly. The girls quickly dismissed. Saying that they had something to do. Only Erza stayed at the counter, enjoying her drink. Lisanna came back with a cup of coffee, but Cana had left.

"Erza-san, where's Cana?" she asked, put the cup in front of Erza.

Erza shrugged. Lisanna then turned to her sister.

"I don't know. They were talking about stalking someone, but when I asked, they quickly dismissed," said Mirajane.

"Stalk who?" she asked.

"I wish I knew." The older sister sighed. "They shouldn't hide such interesting thing from me," Mirajane said.

Lisanna gulped when she heard her sister. But she just smiled and nodded.

"Oh, Lisanna, can you do some shopping for me?" her sister asked.

Mirajane took a list of groceries she made when she checked on them the day before.

"There are a few for our house," she added. Lisanna learnt the list while nodded. "You can go home after the shopping. We'll bring them tomorrow," said Mirajane.

Lisanna shoved the list into her pocket.

"Alright then. Bye." She waved to her sister while heading to the guild's door.

Suddenly, Natsu appeared right in front of her.

"Where are you going?" he asked. His face looked curious.

She showed him the list of groceries.

"Shopping. Want to help me?" she asked.

Natsu crossed his arms over his chest.

"If you don't have someone waiting for you somewhere that you might hope for me to say 'no', then yes." Lisanna's brows rose. Natsu seemed very weird. "Come. Let's go."

Natsu walked toward the guild's door. Lisanna was a little curious when Natsu suddenly being so helpful when he actually not a fan of shopping. Suddenly someone grabbed her arm.

"Let me help too," Lucy said smilingly.

"Me too." Happy came running.

Natsu glared to both of them. Lisanna noticed it. Maybe Natsu had something in mind that he wouldn't want to talk in front of others. He used to be like that.

"Sure. I don't need to take few turns to bring all the things home then," she said.

Happy ran forward to walk with Natsu while Lucy walked with the white-haired girl. They chit-chatted on the way to the grocery store Mirajane used to go. They talked about their previous mission with the pirates. Lisanna found it very enjoyable while Lucy thought those pirates were creepy.

"Remember the pirate that wore a straw hat?" Lucy asked. Lisanna nodded. "I'm still thinking that his friends should help him."

Lisanna giggled to Lucy's innocence.

"It's because they care. When Natsu broke something or when he was scolded by Erza-san or when he was left knocked out after fighting Gildart-san, I just ignored him. It was not I'm tired of taking care about him, just that I wanted him to learn. I wanted him to realized that everyone care about him."

Lucy stared to Lisanna's smile. She wondered if the girl was really happy.

"But such people never learned. Like that straw hat pirate," Lisanna added.

They giggled.

"Yes, they just do whatever they want, breaks all the rules, put everyone in trouble, and finally they save the day," said Lucy.

Lisanna giggled more.

When they arrived at the grocery store, Lisanna took everything that was listed by her sister. She collected them and gave to Natsu and Happy. They brought them to the cashier. Lucy helped her finding the goods.

"Em, Lisanna. Do you know someone from Sabertooth?" Lucy asked when they were away from Natsu.

"Who?" Lisanna asked back. Her eyes were looking for ketchup on a shelf. She looked up and down for the ketchup.

"Em, Sting," Lucy said.

Lisanna glanced at her before looked back for the ketchup.

"Sting? Who?"

"Sting Eucliff? You know him, don't you?"

"Nope. Never ring a bell," Lisanna replied. "Ah, found it." She reached a bottle of ketchup on top of the shelf.

"Are you sure?" Lucy asked again.

"Hey, there's more?"

Natsu appeared from behind them. Lucy quickly looked away when their eyes met.

"Good. Take this." Lisanna gave him the ketchup. "I want ten more."

Lisanna then walked to other section to look for other thing. Lucy quickly followed her. Deep inside, she prayed that Natsu didn't hear their conversation about the white dragon slayer.

(-")è

Lisanna took the change from the cashier. Lucy distributed the grocery bags to Natsu and Happy. She left two bags for Lisanna. Then she followed Natsu and Happy out of the grocery store.

"Thank you," said Lisanna to the cashier.

She took the two grocery bags left by Lucy. She pushed the store's door with her back. But she tripped and her goods all fell on the floor.

"Oh my..."

She looked for her friends but they were way ahead. She just then picked everything up. Only then she realized that one of the grocery bags torn off. When she was picking up the goods, she saw small hands helped her. She looked up.

"Oh, hey."

A red cat who was helping her didn't say anything. He didn't even look back at her. He just picked the goods and then gave them to her.

"What are you doing here?" she asked. "Where's your friend?"

"He's with Rouge and Frocsh, yup," he replied.

She raised her brows.

"Who are Rouge and Frocsh?" she asked back.

The cat put the last goods in her arms. He stared at her.

"He was right. Yup, you don't remember us," he said. "I should be happy, yup."

Lisanna carefully stood up. A few things fell on the floor again. Lector took them and he flew up to put them back in her arms.

"You might as well help me regain my memory."

Lisanna started walking. The cat flew next to her.

"No. You'll take him from me, yup."

Lisanna chuckled.

"Oh, jealous cat."

Lector crossed his arms over his chest.

"It was just the two of us. Before you stepped in."

"I can see that you don't like me. So, why are you helping me now, red cat?" she asked, glanced at him through the end of her eyes.

The cat turned his face sideway.

"It's…um…thank you. For helping him the other day. Yup. He has a bad motion sickness," he murmured.

She smiled.

"It's nothing. Just that, maybe, you can tell me your name and his name."

He glanced at her.

"Are you an old woman?"

"Hey, I'm not that old. I just lost a few memories. That's all." She snorted.

"Yup, your friend is here. Bye, yup, bye."

The cat flew away. Lisanna watched him left.

"Lisanna!"

She saw Lucy came running. She smiled at her and waved.

"I'm sorry. We already reached your house when we realized that you're not with us."

Lucy stopped to catch her breath. Lisanna chuckled. Lucy took some of the goods from her arms.

"Thank you. Where's Natsu?" she asked.

"He waits at your house," Lucy said.

"Wow, you made him wait. Cool."

Lucy chuckled.

"Em, Lisanna. About what we talked before, are you sure you don't know a dragon slayer from Sabertooth? He is a dragon slayer. Blonde hair. And he has a red cat."

"Now that you said it. I knew him. And the cat. But I don't know their name," Lisanna answered.

"Actually I saw you together a few times."

"Oh, you did?" Lisanna was extremely calm.

"Yes. First was on Hanami night."

Lisanna looked at her with a surprised face.

"Hanami night? That was a few months ago." She bit her lower lip. "Okay. I might know him for some times. But, you know, since the incident with the animal-soul feeder, my memory is, like, messed up. I didn't remember him at all. But I could feel that I knew him for a long time."

"So, he's good? I mean, he is kind to you, didn't he?" Lucy asked.

The white-haired girl chuckled.

"What are you talking about? If he's not, I wouldn't so into him."

Lucy gaped.

"You're kidding, right?" She nervously chuckled. "I thought you like Natsu."

Lisanna just smiled. She liked Natsu. But she didn't know how the Sabertooth mage could fill her mind.

"But I was rejected," she said smilingly.

Lucy's brows rose.

"By Natsu?"

Lisanna glanced at her.

"Natsu? No. I don't know if Natsu ever knows that. I'm talking about the Sabertooth mage. We were talking about him, right?"

She nudged Lucy's arm. The stellar mage lightly giggled, admitted her misunderstood.

"I'm sorry. So, you said that the Sabertooth mage rejected you?" Lucy asked. "But, from what I see, he cared about you."

As she glanced to the white-haired girl, she saw a tint of pink on her cheeks. And she was shyly smiling.

"He did?" Lisanna asked, without looking at her friend.

Lucy stared at the girl. She wondered if the rumours about her unrecruited love toward Natsu wasn't true. Because what she saw was a girl that was deeply in love with someone else.

"You really think he likes me?" Lisanna asked, leaned closer to Lucy and snapped her from her thought. "Because he kept pushing me away."

"Oh, really?" Lucy confused.

"And he said that Fairy Tail will never let him close to me. Is it true?" Lisanna asked.

Lucy nervously chuckled. How should she tell her that he was right, when the girl was so into him?

"Has he told you why?" Lucy asked back.

Lisanna shook her head.

"Nope. He just said, 'you shouldn't be here', 'your friends are watching', 'stop seeing me', something like that all the time."

They giggled. But they stopped when Lisanna stared at Lucy. Her brows fused.

"You guys didn't stalk me, right?" she asked. "Mira-nee said you were stalking someone. It's not me, right?"

Lucy cleared her throat. She pushed her hair to the back. However, before she could answer it, they arrived at Lisanna's house. Natsu and Happy were looking at them with a scowl on their face.

"Hi, guys! Sorry, making you wait."

Lisanna took the house keys from her pocket and quickly unlocked the door. They entered the house and placed the groceries on the dining table. Natsu went into the kitchen to look for some water. Lisanna went into the kitchen to put a few groceries in a cabinet. She found Natsu with a glass of water in his hand, leaned against the cabinet.

"Move, Natsu. I need to put these in the cabinet," said Lisanna. He didn't move. "Natsu!"

She pushed his body with one hand, but Natsu grabbed her hand.

"Natsu…" She stared at him.

He pulled her into his arms. Made her shrieked.

"You know Sting from Sabertooth?" he asked.

Lisanna gaped. She thought he was joking around, disturbing her from doing her works. Seemed that that was not the reason of him being suddenly helpful.

"Why?" she asked back. "He's pretty famous. And he's a dragon slayer. Like you."

Natsu pushed her away.

"I'm nothing like him. He's a murderer." He leaned against the cabinet and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Are you sure? He didn't seem like one," Lisanna asked.

He turned to her.

"He killed his foster parent! He killed his dragon who trained him to be a dragon slayer! He is a fucking murderer!"

Lisanna stared at him. She never saw him like that. His eyes were full of hatred.

"Natsu…" She touched his arms. Suddenly, he grabbed her arm tightly.

"You should stop seeing him."

Lisanna shocked.

"How do you know I'm seeing him?" she asked.

"I saw you so close with him during your mission at the pirate island. You shouldn't get too close with him. Who knows he has bad intention."

Lisanna stepped backward.

"You were there. That's why he said…" She looked away. "You stalked me!"

Lisanna walked out of the kitchen. She met Lucy staring at her with guilt.

"Lisanna…" She tried to catch the white-haired girl's hand, but Lisanna avoided her.

"You were with them. You stalked me, didn't you?" she asked.

Lucy looked down to the floor. Lisanna walked to the door.

"Lisanna! What's so good about him? Do you remember that Sabertooth is our rival?" Natsu appeared from the kitchen.

Lucy glanced at Lisanna who stopped right in front of the door. She didn't move, but she didn't show any intention to reply. After a few seconds, she opened the door. But once again she was halted. Cana, Levy, Lucky and Erza appeared at the door.

"Lisanna-chan…"

She bitterly smiled.

"What are you doing here?" She looked at every face in front of her. "Don't answer it. I tell you. I like him. Sting Eucliff from Sabertooth." Then she glanced at Lucy and Natsu. "Excuse me."

Lisanna walked through the girls and ran.

"What should we do?" Levy asked.

Lucy walked toward them. Sooner, her steps fastened. While she walked through the door, Erza grabbed her hand.

"Let her be," Erza said.

"But…"

"We'll talk to her again once she cools down."

Lucy nodded.

(-")è