Natsu was halfway home from the fair by the time he finished the turkey leg his father had bought for him. They stopped by an alley way so he could throw the bone away. When he dropped the bone into container of garbage he heard sound come from the bottom of it.

Meow!

Curious, Natsu looked down in the container and there he saw a kitten with blue fur all curled up and shivering. He looked awfully thin, Natsu could even see his rib-cage the poor thing.

"Wow, you're just skin and bones aren't you?"

Natsu leaned over to grab him. The kitten hissed a little and tried to claw at him but he missed. Natsu laughed and picked him up.

"Oh you're feisty little rascal aren't you?" He grinned, watching the kitten struggle. "Now don't be afraid, I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to help you. Where's your mother?"

The kitten looked at Natsu as if he could understand him, and maybe he could because the kitten's eyes were so full of sadness.

"Oh...You don't have a mother do you?" He said sorrowfully. "You're all alone."

"Natsu what's taking so long?" He heard Igneel call. "Come on boy, we can't keep your mother waiting."

"Father, look what I found. Can we keep him, please?"

"I don't know. We already have so many animals to look after. We have the horses, the pigs, the cows, and the chickens."

"Well we can't just leave him here. Look at him, he's cold and hungry and alone. He'll die if we don't help him."

Igneel looked down at the half-starved kitten in his son's arms. He wasn't sure if he could afford to have another mouth to feed. Then again, cats were very useful to households. Mice and rats were always trying to get into the cupboard and in the cellar to eat up their food and harvest. A healthy and well-fed cat would surely keep them away. Not to mention this creature did look like it was ready to spend all of its nine lives.

"Alright, we'll take home with us tonight, but I have to talk to your mother about if he'll stay or not."

Mrs. Dragneel had no qualms about keeping a cat in the house.

"If he can keep those damnable rodents away, then he's more than welcome to stay." She had said. "But make sure that he doesn't have any fleas or ticks. The last thing we need in this house is the black plague. And he's your responsibility Natsu. It's up to you to keep him fed, keep him clean, and keep him from scratching up my curtains."

"Don't worry Mother." Natsu had replied joyfully. "I'll take good care of him. He's going to be my best friend."

Natsu was so happy that he almost leapt up to the heavens. He had always wanted a pet, an animal to care for that he wouldn't eventually have to sell for meat or milk or eggs. As much as he enjoyed taking care of the farm animals, he knew that the bulls, the pigs, and the roosters would eventually have to be butchered and the hens and the heifers would have to be killed once they could no longer produce eggs or milk. Sure the horses could stay and live longer, but they couldn't leave the farm and follow Natsu wherever he went. He wanted a pet to serve as his friend and constant companion. Natsu came from a very loving family but had no friends, so he was often very lonely.

But that all changed the day he found that kitten. After Natsu fed him and nurses him back to health, he perked right up and never once left the boy's side. From that moment on, everywhere Natsu went the kitten was sure to follow and he quickly became Natsu's main source of happiness. And that's why Natsu chose to give his new friend the name Happy. Natsu and Happy, always together, always making the other smile just by being near. There never was a boy or animal more fond and loyal to each other.

"Mother will be serving us fish for dinner tonight Happy." Natsu told the kitten as they walked to the market together one day. "So we better be sure to get the biggest and juiciest one we can afford."

Happy nodded in agreement and as planned, they bought a big, fat, and tasty salmon from the fish market. The cat tried once or twice to get a nimble of it on the way back but Natsu cleverly kept it out of reach.

"No, no, no Happy. Not until we get home and Mother cooks it up."

Happy pouted.

"Now don't give me that look. You know that if I let you eat even a small piece of fish before supper, Mother will tear into my hide. Besides, if I have to wait for a meal, so do you. That's what's most fair."

Happy gave him an irritated eye roll.

"Don't roll your eyes at me." He told him. "And don't forget just who is the master here."

It was the funniest thing really, Happy didn't speak a word of English and Natsu didn't speak a word of a cat, yet the two could somehow always understand what the other was trying to say. Talking just wasn't needed for the kind of friendship they had. All they needed to do was just look or smell or feel to know what their friend wanted or needed.

"Just be patient and I promise I'll make sure that you get a big piece of the fish at dinner tonight." Natsu assured his feline friend. "And Mother says that if we have enough flour, we can have corn bread with-"

But he stopped mid-sentence when he saw a familiar group of women and a familiar little girl passing through town again that afternoon. It was Lucy and her ladies in-waiting, this time coming back from the temple and returning to the palace. Natsu felt bad for all the trouble he caused her the other day at the fair and he wanted to make it up to her. But he also didn't want to cause her anymore distress by approaching her without an invitation like last time.

Then he got an idea when he saw that woman from the fair, whom had been giving away flowers, was now selling them at a stand. Her name was Sherry and she was a florist with a reputation of growing the prettiest flowers in all of London.

"Hello there little boy." She said when he approached her stand. "What can I do for you?"

"How much for one flower?" Natsu asked.

"Five farthings."

Natsu looked down at the only money he had in the palm of his hand.

"I've only got one." He said looking at Lucy with disappointment. Sherry read his look and the situation almost instantly, and being a romantic, she just couldn't resist helping him out.

"Keep your money." She smiled. "Have one flower on me."

"Really?"

"Yes. But just this once okay? I only give away flowers on special occasions, so don't expect any more free blossoms next time your in the market."

"I won't. Thank you ma'am. Thank you very much."

Natsu carefully looked at all the flowers Sherry displayed on her stand, after five minutes of looking and thinking, he chose one.

"Okay Happy now I need you to do me a favor." He said to the cat.

After that the boy and the cat discreetly followed the women to the royal castle and once the group stopped at the castle gate, Happy was sent walking right up to Lucy carrying something in his mouth.

"Well hello there little kitty." She greeted with a smile. "Where did you come from?"

She picked him up and he immediately started to nuzzle her and purr.

"Oh you're so fluffy and cute." She said running her fingers over his blue coat. "What's that you have there?"

Happy dropped a single red rose into her hand.

"Is this for me?" She asked. Happy nodded. "Oh how sweet. Thank you. I simply adore red roses."

She closed her eyes and sniffed the rose, wondering why a cat would bring her something like this. However she quickly received her answer when she opened her eyes and spotted Natsu, shyly watching her from across the street, behind a barrel. She smiled at him, he hid feeling bashful.

"Lucy come along now." Lady Victoria said. "It will be dark soon."

Victoria followed Lucy's gaze over to where Natsu was trying and failing to hide from them.

"What a strange boy." Lucy said.

"I think he likes you milady." Victoria chuckled.

"Really? How can you tell?"

"Because boys his age sometimes act like that. They tend behave in a very silly way whenever they really like a girl."

"Why?"

"I don't know. It's just the way boys are."

"Should I go over there and thank him for the rose?"

"Not now dear. It's much too late and dinner will be ready any minute. You can thank him another time."

"Tomorrow?"

"Perhaps. We'll see."

Lucy thought for a moment, then she put Happy down and removed something from her finger. Afterward she entered the castle with her ladies in-waiting. Happy then returned to Natsu and dropped something at his feet. It was a gold-band ring.

"Is this from her?" He asked Happy and again the kitten answered with a nod.

The ring was a token from the young duchess. Something to show the boy she was grateful for the rose and that she had now become especially fond of him. Natsu happily slipped the ring on to his finger and made another vow to himself. He didn't care if Lucy's mother had not been a queen, in his eyes she was a princess and no less, and all princesses needed a trusted knight to protect her. Especially if the princess had a wretched and wicked father like King Faust.

Natsu vowed to become that trusted knight. He would train hard to become a solider in the royal army, so that he could not only protect Lucy but so he could always be by her side.