A few days later the boys had developed a craving for mangoes but they didn't know where they grew. Well they thought they knew and they bickered about it.
"I'm telling you they grow on the other side of the river." Natsu said.
"Wrong they grow over by the cliffs." Gray argued.
"Okay let's make a bet. You go over to the cliffs and see if you can find mangoes, I'll go search across the river. Whoever's wrong has to groom the other guy for a week."
"You're on."
The boys shook on their deal and went off in seperate directions. Natsu hurried over to the river, it was shallow there so he could just walk across to the other side. Walking further down that way he found some trees. Licking his lips, he climbed up the first tree and began searching for mangoes. Sadly he didn't find any but just before he could he saw something headed his way. Thinking that it could be a predator he stayed hidden in the tree. The figure grew closer and closer, he was expecting it to be a bear or a wolf but it wasn't. It was something that he had never seen before. He wasn't sure what it was, it didn't look like any animal that he had ever seen.
It had no claws, fangs, scales, talons, wings, feathers, or a tail. It had fur but only on it's head like him. In fact it's body looked a lot like his and Gray's. What was it that he saw? It was a little girl with blonde hair and big brown eyes. She wore a choli and a skirt and on her head she was carrying a jug. Curious about her, he quietly followed her but remained hidden in the bushes. She stopped at the edge of the river. He climbed up another tree so he could see her better.
He watched her cup her hands into the water and pour little droplets of it on to her head. Then she started fixing her hair and ringing it out. Once she was done she began to fill her jug with water from the river.
"Father was wrong." She said. "Here I am at the river and nothing terrible has happened to me."
Natsu could tell that she was speaking but he didn't understand the language she spoke. He leaned out a little further to get a better look at her however by doing that it allowed the girl to see his reflection in the water. She looked up at him.
"Hey didn't anybody ever tell you that it's rude to spy on people?"
Suddenly the branch he was sitting on broke and he fell right into the river. Lucky for him though it was the shallow end so he didn't have to worry about drowning. The girl laughed.
"That's what you get for spying."
Natsu quickly picked himself up and started to hurry back to the other side.
"Wait! Don't go over there!" She called. He stopped at the sound of her voice. "Come back! Don't go into the jungle! Don't you know it's dangerous?"
He didn't understand a word she was saying. He just stood there looking confused. After a few minutes he went back to the other side of the river and into the bushes. She sighed and put her jug full of water on top of her head and started to walk away.
"Lucy!"
Natsu was startled by a frightening noise and then a large man wearing a bandhgala suit seized her by the arm.
"I told you to stay away from the river!" He told her.
"But Father I was only getting some water." The girl said.
"You are not allowed to leave the village! Ever! Is that clear?!"
"Yes sir."
He didn't understand at all what they were talking about but he could tell that the man was angry. He pulled the girl along causing the jug to fall from her head and roll down to the edge of the river spilling all the water out.
"Father my jug!" She said.
"Come along Lucy!" The man ordered.
"But Father I dropped my jug!"
"Leave it Lucy! We have plenty more jugs!"
Once they were gone Natsu came out from his hiding spot, picked up the jug, and refilled it with water. He decided to return it to her.
He followed the trail that the man and the girl took which led him to a place he had never seen. He thought that it was another kind of jungle, one with no trees or grass and the animals who roamed in this jungle looked like him and Gray. They all had no fangs or claws or talons or scales or wings or feathers or a tail and they all only had fur on their heads. However most of them were a lot bigger than he was.
"Wow. Gray has got to see this."
He would have rushed back to find his brother and tell him that he had found a jungle with animals that resembled them but he remembered why he came to this strange jungle in the first place. He searched for the girl until at last he saw her at the window of a house. She looked sad. Why was she so sad? Was it because she had been forced to leave behind this thing called a jug?
"What are you doing here?" She asked him.
He still couldn't understand her but he could tell by her confused expression that she wanted to know why he was here. He answered her question by presenting her jug to him.
"Oh my jug. Thank you."
She took it from him but he could see that she was still sad. He wanted to cheer her up. Whenever his mother Erza was sad he would try to make her laugh by juggling fruit. There wasn't any fruit around but there were some pebbles on the ground. He picked some up and started juggling them. The girl smiled and she looked amused.
"Wonderful." She said clapping.
He was glad that he had impressed her.
"What's your name?" She asked.
He didn't respond.
"What's wrong? Can't you speak?"
Not a word came from his mouth.
"Why don't you speak? Are you mute? Or deaf?"
He really wished that he knew what she was trying to say.
"You poor thing you must be deaf. I know you can't hear me but still I thank you very much for returning my jug to me."
"Lucy who are you talking to!"
The angry man came back and when he saw Natsu he came out of his house and grabbed him roughly by the arm.
"What are you doing here boy?!" He demanded.
Natsu didn't answer due to not understanding him and due to his fear of the man's anger.
"Answer me! Why are you here?!"
Still he could not answer him.
"You dare to ignore your chief?! How insolent!"
"Leave him alone Father!" The girl cried.
The man moved to strike him but Natsu acted fast and bit the man's hand as hard as he could. He shouted in agony and released the boy. Natsu then ran back down the trail and across the river. His heart pounding in his chest. He had never been more frightened of anyone or anything in his life. Not even Jellal scared him as much as that man did. True Jellal had often raised his voice at Natsu like that man did but he had never tried to strike him like that. Him or Gray.
Once he was sure that he was safe from that odd jungle he started to make his way home. Suddenly he heard the sound of thunder cracking and looked up to see the clouds darken. It was going to rain. He needed to find shelter until the storm cleared up. He found an old den that had been abandoned by whatever animal that used to live there. He sat there and waited for the rain to clear up.
As he waited he began to think of the girl he had seen. He wondered what she was and why her hair was the color of the sun? Why were her eyes like that of a young doe? Why did she smell so sweet?
It was getting darker and still the storm would not clear up. He realized that he was going to have to spend the night here. He hoped that Erza and Gray wouldn't worry too much about him when he didn't come home that night. He made himself a soft and cozy bed of leaves which he quickly fell asleep on them.