Sensitivity

(It all started the day Azariah arrived at the guild. This was about a year after my sister, Lisanna, passed away…)

"Hey, I'm talkin' to you!" Natsu barked.

Mira looked up from the rag in her hand and the shiny counter top she'd made. Wandering into the guild hall was a-

Tall, dark, and handsome? she thought. Today must be my lucky day!

"Hello, and welcome!" she said to the stranger as he approached the bar. She politely bowed as he didn't take a seat, nor did he sneak a peak at her cleavage like most newcomers did, both men and women alike. Mira didn't mind; it came with the territory of being a pin-up model. Everyone wanted to know what her curves looked like in-person, since those curves had a reputation.

(Gee, way to toot your own horn, Mira.)

(Well, Lucy, why don't you become a pin-up model? Then you can find out for yourself.)

Not this stranger, though. He kept his dark blue eyes squarely on her face. Oh, she hoped he would stay.

"Is this the magic guild called Fairy Tail?" asked the stranger.

"It is," Mira nodded, adjusting the straps on her red dress so as to shift her bosom. Once again, the stranger's gaze was set in stone. "My name is Mirajane Strauss. I'm the guild master's attendant and head waitress."

"I'm here to join," he said.

"And so is I, Big Booby Albino Girl!" warbled a creature that flew up from behind the stranger. The stranger swatted at his companion but missed, his brown lip curling into an annoyed scowl.

"Well, I don't see why not," Mira said as she moved around to the front of the bar. "Follow me and we'll clear your entry with the master."

His glittering blue cloak flowing behind him, the stranger followed Mirajane to the bar, where the diminutive master was trying to enjoy his drink and ignore the mountain of paperwork waiting for him back in his office.

"'His Majesty's Royal Blockhead'," he muttered, referring to the kingdom's chief accountant. His normal enthusiasm about new recruits was dulled by the prospect of more rowdy children leaving a paper trail. "Who's this, Mirajane?"

"This is…" She frowned and turned to the stranger. "Sorry, I didn't get your name."

"Didn't give it," he said. "Azariah. The guy orbiting me is Caspenar."

"Fine, fine," said the Master. "Mira, get them squared away. The rest of my day is booked by this audit."

"Right away, Master!" Walking them through the forms and briefing about the notice board, the process of taking a job, how to expect rewards to be delivered, and the importance of the Fairy Tail emblem. All the while, Mira kept itching and fidgeting with her dress, trying to draw his eyes to her body, trying to find that crack in the armor that all men had which allowed her charms to lever open their better judgment.

(Wait, what?)

(I used to be… Less nice than I am now, Lucy. Even after my sister's passing, when I realized the importance of living a happy life, old habits were hard to shake. Others took new forms.)

(So, you don't do that anymore?)

(Well… Not automatically.)

"Now then," said Mirajane, "one last question: where and what color do you want your official Fairy Tail guild mark to be?"

"Don't care." Azariah lifted his cloak and exposed his right shoulder. "Right here."

Mirajane kept smiling, even as she thought, Oh, pooh. I wish he'd stop being so standoffish. Is he shy or just rude?

Regardless, she went with a deep blue, like the color of his eyes. In hindsight, it didn't really mesh with his dusky tan as well as she'd thought, but on the other hand, if he didn't like it, it was his own fault for being so stand-offish.

She turned to his small, flying demon friend. "What about you?"

"Ces-, I means Caspenar does not needs demon mark," said the creature, who Mirajane could sense was some kind of demon himself.

Mirajane shrugged. "That's not normally how we do things, but for you," she said, prodding Azariah's strong, lean, strong shoulder, "I'll make an exception."

"Do whatever you feel is right," Azariah grunted, before making his way over to the request board. It only took him a minute before he came back to her holding a flier. "This one will do."

Mira inspected the paper. "'Clear out a small nest of feral demons. Reward: 80,000 Jewel'." Her smile dimmed a little before she remembered to keep it up. "Are you... sure you don't want a different job? Something a little easier for your first one?"

"Great One's ease is-!"

A snap of Azariah's fingers stifled Caspenar, whatever comment the creature had been making. He regarded Mira only long enough to say, "Just mark it down."

Then, he turned and walked away. Mira hiked up her dress and trotted after him, cutting in front just outside the guild hall.

"I really think you should reconsider," she said, dusting herself off.

(Actually, it was just to bounce my chest a little.)

(You really don't quit, do you?)

(For better or worse.)

"I can help you find a more suitable job, if you like," she said. She tried to take his hand but he yanked it away and shouldered past her.

"It's none of your concern."

That tore it. Mira's smile cracked and broke, thunderclouds settling on her brow.

"It's completely my concern, you-! You-...!" Her hands, at her hips, balled into fists. "You inconsiderate rookie!"

Now Azariah turned, a small amount of fire in his eye as he regarded the woman, shorter than him, calling out his aptitude and experience all in three words.

(At least, I think that's what bothered him.)

She jabbed a finger into his chest, eyes holding their ground against his simmering stare.

"Fairy Tail is the #1 guild in Fiore because we all know how much we can handle and what we're good at! You're not some lone wolf wanderer anymore, or whatever you were before you came here. You're part of a guild! Failure on your part reflects on the rest of us. And this-"

She snatched the paper out of his hand and waved it in front of his nose.

"-isn't a job that a newly inducted guild wizard, who no one's heard of or recognizes, should be taking alone to prove themselves on their first day!"

Quick as her, he snatched the paper back. "I've got nothing to prove," he said. Now he jabbed a finger into her chest, right in her collar bone. It actually pushed her back a little. "I'm taking this job because it's what I know and what I can do."

Mirajane puffed out her mouth and harrumphed. "Fine. That's all I wanted to hear."

Hiking her dress again, she turned around and marched back inside. She would've blown off marking the job down and informing the client, just to spite him, if it wouldn't have made her a massive hypocrite.

(I got a little egg on my face for that one, because he came back the same day with the reward. The next time we spoke was the next day...)

Mira clutched at the black coat she wore. The wind cut through to the bones of her face and ankles, as if trying to turn her back or maybe remind her of her failure. Either way, she endured it. In fact, it seemed fitting: she still felt terrible for what had happened, for the role she'd played in Lisanna's death. For all her boasting and all her feuding with Erza, when push came to shove, she'd come up short and Lisanna had paid the price. That was something she'd never be okay with. She wouldn't allow it.

The wind began to calm, enough for the biting chill to linger on Mira's face rather than grow. Confident that her offering would now not be stolen, she withdrew her hand from inside her coat and produced a small bouquet of white daffodils. Laying them on her sister's marker, she absorbed the epitaph carved in the stone:

Lisanna

beloved sister and

friend to animal souls

X768 ~ X782

It was small comfort, but comfort nonetheless, knowing it's how Lisanna would want to be remembered.

Footsteps disrupted her reverie. Smiling sadly, she turned to regard her brother who'd-

…

It was the newcomer, Azariah. Mirajane's sadness turned to… She didn't know what, but it made her frown.

Azariah returned her frown, then pivoted. "I'll come back later."

"Come back for what?" Mirajane demanded.

His back to her, Azariah remained frozen like a statue.

Mirajane folded her arms. "Come back here for what?"

With a sigh, Azariah faced her and presented… a white daffodil.

"To put this on the marker."

Mirajane's frown shifted, ever so slightly. Whatever caused it, the feeling was slowly annexed by surprise and curiosity. A million questions and answers began spiraling out from Mirajane's mind, one right after the other.

How did he know to find her here? She hadn't told anyone. This wasn't the anniversary.

How had he known about the white daffodils? Had he been following her? Even if he had, he wouldn't have known what they were for.

Why had he gotten his own daffodil? Mirajane had picked these on the outskirts of town and made the bouquet herself. Did he think they were for herself? Did he think she just liked daffodils?

If the flower was for her, why… Wait, he said he'd come back here. So, was he planning to meet her…

…No, actually... He wasn't. Nothing about this made sense if he'd been looking for her. The only way it made sense was…

The frown had unclenched its hold on Mirajane's face, in the few seconds it had taken to process Azariah's decision.

She walked up to him and gently laid her fingers on his shoulder. He flinched, startling her, but a second attempt saw her hand settle in.

"That flower… It's for my sister?"

He nodded, making eye contact but saying nothing. Or at least, he kept eye contact until Mira's blue orbs darted about the ground, more questions and answers flying through her mind. After a moment, she met his look once more.

"Thank you for the thought, Azariah," she said, holding out her hand. "I know Lisanna thanks you, too."

Any other man would've taken her hand, at least in Mirajane's experience. That was what she'd intended. Instead, Azariah placed the daffodil in it and walked away. Quickly laying it down on the marker, for she knew what Lisanna would think about this situation, too, Mirajane hurried after Azariah, catching up with him at the gates to the cemetery.

(What would Lisanna think, Mira?)

(My sister was a hopeless romantic. She was always daydreaming about starting a family with Natsu, or me finding someone, or Elfman dropping his "real man" routine long enough to stop scaring the girls away. So, she'd probably have pestered me into doing what I did, if she'd been there.)

"Hey, Azariah?"

He didn't speak, but he stopped walking.

"If you're not busy, let's go back to the guild and try again."

(Speaking of, what would he be busy with, Lucy?)

(Mira, just because he's helping me doesn't mean I know his life's story. All I've seen him do is eat, train, and try to hit Caspenar.)

(Hmph. Anyway…)

"I was 'too friendly'?" Mirajane asked, confused.

"Yeah," said Azariah, his lean forearms exposed while leaning on the bar. Caspenar had rejoined them.

"Great One watches for things that goes too good," said the imp, for that was what he called himself. "Watches for people that goes too nice."

Mira's mouth hung open. "Who?" she breathed. "Who taught you to think like that?"

Azariah folded his arms. "Experience," was all he said.

Mirajane regarded the man before her. Yesterday, she'd wanted to slap him. Now, though, with his aversion to her demeanor making more sense, she felt ashamed for the thought. What kind of… everything had he gone through to make him like that? What had made a friendly, "please get to know me better" smile so dangerous to him?

The very thought that someone could be conditioned to see her, and her smile, as not merely teasing, flirty, diplomatic, or even "manipulative" (if they were feeling especially cynical that day), but outright treacherous?

She spun on her tush and slid off her bar stool. She then turned back around, rested her bosom on the counter top-

(Really, Mira? After all of that?)

(Hey, these things are heavy.)

(...Yeah, I know what you mean.)

-and slapped her hand on the wood.

"Azariah, I'll give you one chance, just one chance, to redeem yourself for being rude yesterday!" she declared.

What she got was a deadpan stare, barely even a raised eyebrow.

"I'll forgive you," she continued, nearly poking his nose with her finger, "for how standoffish and mean you were to me..."

She then dropped the act, and her hand, to offer him a warm smile.

"If… you let me cook you something as my apology."

The deadpan stare was wrinkled by a slight frown.

"Anything you want," Mirajane said. "If I know how, I'll make it. On the house, of course."

Azariah blinked, twice. "...You serious?"

Mirajane pouted and crossed her arms. "Of course I'm serious. Why wouldn't I be?"

"…"

That frown persisted, only a slight wrinkle of his brow.

"Trades offer for favor, Great One!" Caspenar warbled. "Yes, is best business strategy!"

"...Chocolate cake."

"Nuts or no nuts?" Mira asked.

"No nuts."

She giggled. "We are what we eat. Okay, I'll start right away."

Unable to help herself-

(You serious?)

(Well, maybe not entirely…)

-she folded her arms beneath her bust. "I'll give you the smoothest, thickest, tastiest cake you've ever had!"

(...Wow, you've really got it bad for him, don't you?)

(I can't help it! Not only is he gorgeous, but beneath all that lone wolf bristling is a sensitive, considerate man who was practically begging me to get to know him better! I want to untangle that ball of mystery; I have ever since. Now, you've gotten closer to him Lucy-)

(-and you want me to put a word in for you.)

(Unless you like him, too.)

(Not like that. He reminds me a little too much of my dad.)

(Then yes.)

(Heh… Ironic.)

(Tell me about it. I'm Fiore's top model, but the one man I want is the one I can't get.)

(Not yet, anyway.)

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