Chapter 5: Not Everyone can be Happy

Cana left her dorm early and headed towards the guild, last night's adventure still fresh on her mind. She couldn't help but smile. Yesterday was fun. It wasn't exactly what she had in mind for her job with Natsu, but in the end, she still got to spend time with him. And that was all that mattered to Cana.

When Cana entered the guild, she was surprised to see most of the younger generation had already arrived at the guild, Natsu included. Usually she was the first there, so it was nice to not have to wait on her friends for a change. Another thing, that put a smile on Cana's face was seeing Natsu interacting with the egg he found last night. Natsu was sure it was a dragon egg and to him there was no debate. She was less certain than him. Sure, it could be a dragon egg, but dragons had been extinct for centuries now. How could an egg stay pristine for that long? And she wasn't even sure if dragon's laid eggs. They were reptile-like so it would make sense, but she had also seen pictures of feathered dragons and dragons covered in fur. But Cana was curious about the thing. She'd never seen an egg like it before. It was huge, bigger than any egg she had seen. And yet, it was so light. Then there was the issue of the markings on the egg. She just didn't know, so she'd just have to wait until it hatched.

Like usual, Natsu was sitting at a table away from everyone else, but he wasn't alone. His egg rested atop the table next to him. Natsu was surprisingly gentle with the egg. Natsu would let out a low growl if anyone came too close to his table. Cana wondered if she would get the same treatment if she decided to go sit with him. 'Well, there's only one way to find out Cana.' She thought to herself. Some of the kids had noticed Cana and began calling out and waving to her. Cana returned the wave but made her way to Natsu's table instead of her usual one with her friends.

Natsu was tending to the egg when he felt someone approaching. Almost instinctively, a growl came from Natsu's throat. He turned to meet the approaching person and saw it was Cana, and immediately his growl faded. "Oh. It's just you." Natsu said before turning back to the egg. While Cana wasn't thrilled with how Natsu greeted her, he wasn't nearly as rude as the last time she approached him. Seeing this as progress, she decided to press a little more.

"Wow, that's the greeting I get? And here I thought we were friends." Cana said in a playful tone.

Natsu turned back to Cana and a confused look spread across his face. "We're friends?"

"Yes stupid." She laughed as she took a seat beside Natsu. "Unless you don't want to be." Cana said with a hint of sadness in her voice and gave him a pouty look.

"I've never had a friend before." Natsu confessed.

"You've never had a friend?" Cana repeated Natsu's statement. 'That… that actually explains a lot of things.' Cana paused for a moment and stared at Natsu. "Well, you aren't going to be able to say you've never had a friend anymore!"

"And why is that?"

"Because I've decided that we are friends now Natsu."

"And if I decide we aren't?"

"Well, you see, I've already decided that's what I want. So you're just going to have to deal with it Pinky." Cana told him with a bit of sass in her voice.

"My name is Natsu. You know that."

"Yeah I know" Cana giggled out. "Just think of it as your new nickname. Friends give those to each other."

"You keep saying that word, but I still don't know what it means."

"What word, friend?" Natsu nodded and Cana's question. Cana started explaining what a friend was to Natsu and slowly he began to understand. Natsu, deciding he was done with the conversation refocused his attention back to the egg. Cana decided to watch the egg with Natsu, seeing as she had gotten a lot more of a conversation out of him than she was expecting.

"You should probably warm the egg up Natsu. I think it'll hatch fasted if it's warm." Cana said to the boy. Natsu mumbled something under his breath and then got up to go find something to warm the egg up with, but not before telling Cana to watch the egg.

Natsu returned with a blanket and saw that his table was not as he left it. Instead of only being inhabited by Cana and the egg, the rest of the children of Fairy Tail were gathered around the table, examining the egg. Natsu didn't like this. Not. One. Bit. Cana might be alright, but he did not like the other kids. Natsu dropped the blanket and marched back to his table.

"Leave." Natsu commanded. "Get the hell away from my egg."

"Natsu, it's okay they were jus-"

"Shut up." Natsu yelled at Cana, reverting to the cold tone he used with everyone else. Saddened by this, Cana cowered down.

"You can't talk to her like that" Erza shouted.

"I can do whatever I want." Natsu snapped. He was getting upset, but then he noticed Cana face. She looked sad. "Shit, Cana. I'm sorry." Natsu's apology drew a series of weird looks from the other children. They all knew this was something Natsu would never do. "Look, I'm not in the mood to fight today. Besides you know it won't end in your favor. So just go away and leave me and the egg alone."

"Why do you even care about that stupid egg?" questioned Mirajane. "You've been nothing but an ass the entire time you've been here and all of the sudden you want us to think you actually care about something other than yourself? What's so special about it?"

"Can't you tell?" Natsu spat out as he gently sat the egg down on the table. "This is a dragon's egg."

The others all stared at Natsu before breaking out in laughter. "There's no way that can be a dragon's egg, the last of the dragons died off hundreds of years ago." A smaller girl with blue hair and glasses said. Natsu couldn't recognize her and deduced she must have joined during his isolation.

"They aren't dead." Natsu said while clinching his fist.

"Oh yeah? You know any dragons?" Mirajane teased. Natsu stayed silent, thinking back to what the old man had told him. "Please, go on. I'm sure we'd all love to hear it Dragon Boy. What, have you met a dragon?" Mirajane prodded. "C'mon, tell us how some punk seems to know more than the bookworm." She pointed to the girl with the glasses when she said the last part.

"I didn't meet one." Natsu quietly spoke. "I was raised by one." This only refueled everyone's laughter. Natsu looked around and saw the children weren't the only one's laughing, everyone was. They were all laughing. Laughing at him. He hated this. And if Makarov wasn't upstairs, he'd probably tear this whole place down. Natsu looked to Cana. She wasn't laughing, but she also wasn't trying to stop them. "Screw this." Natsu grabbed his egg and ran out of the guild.

Cana watched Natsu run out of the guild with the egg. He left without the blanket he went to get. She saw it still lying on the floor. Cana gathered up the discarded blanket and set out to find Natsu.

Cana found Natsu sitting by a riverbank on the edge of Magnolia. She went up to him and wrapped the blanket around the egg then took a seat next to him. The pair sat in silence for a while until Cana broke it by asking a question. "Why did you get so angry? They weren't going to hurt it. They were just curious."

"A dragon protects its treasure."

"Natsu." Cana called to him, but he didn't respond. "Natsu look at me." Natsu let out a sigh and turned to face Cana. "Were you really raised by a dragon?" Natsu nodded. This explained a lot. She knew he was different, everyone did. But to be raised by a dragon, that was unheard of. If anyone else had told her that, she'd say they were lying. Natsu was a lot of things. Hot-headed, angry, rude, arrogant, but he wasn't dishonest. She could tell by the look in his eyes that he was telling her the truth. "Can you tell me what it was like? Growing up with a dragon, that is."

"Hell. It was complete and utter hell. But my father made me as strong as I am today. And in return, I will make myself stronger for his sake. I must. It's the only way I can go back."

"You keep saying strength is the only way back. Why?"

"Because strength and power are the only things my father respects. You don't seem to understand, it's not that I want to be the strongest, I have to. I have to show him that I'm worthy enough to be called his son. That I'm not useless. That I'm not a burden. I want to be able to stand beside him. I want to be able to return home. I just want him to be proud of me. But I can't… I can't because I'm weak."

Cana could only stare at Natsu upon hearing this. There was nothing she could think of to say. For the first time, she didn't see Natsu as the arrogant, angry, antagonistic, bastion of strength he boasted about being. Instead, she saw a broken and confused little boy. Rather than trying to comfort him by speaking, she offered it by simply just being there. The two sat in silence by the riverbank and watched the egg.

Nightfall came and Cana decided to finally break the stagnant silence. "It's late. We should get back to the guild." Cana shivered as the evening wind ran against her skin

"You can go. I'm going to stay here."

Cana frowned when he said this. "It's getting cold. Staying out here won't be good for you or the egg Natsu." Cana waited for a response, but one never came. With one last look at Natsu, Cana decided to return by herself.

Natsu watched Cana walk away until she could no longer be seen. Part of him was relieved she was gone, but there was another part of him that was sadden by her absence. He pulled out his necklace that Cana had mended for him and fumbled in around in his of everyone, Cana was the person he disliked the least. He wondered why that was. Based on everything he'd seen, she was weak. Much weaker than the rest. She even told him that when they first interacted. This went against everything he stood for. He saw absolutely no benefit in being around her. Yet, as much as it should, it didn't seem to matter. Natsu would never admit it, but he enjoyed being around Cana. She was amusing to him. But was he even allowed to enjoy things? When he was with his father, enjoying something was never an option. But his father wasn't here anymore. Natsu was on his own. Natsu knew he needed to become his own person in order to return to his father's side. That meant making his own path separate from his father. From now on, Natsu would decide what he would do.

Natsu grabbed the egg and pulled it closer to him. This egg represented everything he wanted, power, strength, and a return to his normalcy. A dragon, even a young one, would grant him more power than he could imagine. Natsu couldn't turn into a dragon himself yet but commanding one would almost be as good. He rewrapped the blanket around the egg then stretched out on the ground. Natsu stared at the night sky, admiring the stars as sleep overtook him.

The morning sun beamed down on the dragon slayer, forcing him to turn on his side. As he did, a couple blades of grass tickled his nose, drawing a sneeze from the now awake Natsu. He stretched his arms and scanned the area for the egg. Panic swept over Natsu. He couldn't find the egg anywhere. Natsu looked all around the surrounding area. The bushes, the tree, the river. Nothing. The egg was gone. Natsu's panic was replaced by anger when a certain scent caught his nose. "Damnit." Natsu cursed as he rushed towards the guild.

Within minutes, Natsu was standing in front of the Fairy Tail guild hall. Natsu raised his leg and kicked in the door with a loud crash. "Where. The. Hell. Is. My. Egg." Natsu said in a quiet rage, each word leaking out with every step that he took.

"Natsu. Calm down." Cana stood up and began walking toward the boy. "I told you it was too cold last night, but you didn't want to listen. If you don't want to take care of yourself that's fine. But you are going to take care of that egg."

"I'm not going to ask you again Cana. Where is it?" Natsu was now glaring down at Cana.

Initially Cana was scared of Natsu, especially when he got angry like this, but she knew Natsu respected strength, so she decided to show him just that. "Well. If you calm down, I'll show you." Cana started walking towards the room Natsu was staying in. "Come on Natsu." Natsu snarled but followed Cana's orders.

The entire guild stood in a state of shock and surprise upon seeing Natsu listening to Cana. So far, the only one Natsu would actually listen to was the master, but that was mostly due to Makarov subduing him and basically forcing him to behave. With Cana, Natsu seemed to willingly listen to her.

Once they entered the room, Natsu saw the egg. It was bundled up in numerous blankets. Natsu rushed over and started examining the egg, carefully looking it over for any signs of damage. "The egg is okay. I promise. I went back to check on you before going to bed, and you had already fallen asleep. It was getting a lot colder, and I just thought it would be better to bring the egg back here where it was warm. Besides, do you really think I would do something to harm it? I know how special it is to you." Cana said with a pouty look.

"No it just you kn-"

"Hey look! The egg! Its hatching!" Cana yelled, interrupting Natsu. Cana rushed over and stood by Natsu eagerly awaiting whatever it was that would be coming from the egg. The pair watched as the egg shook back and forth then cracked down the middle. A blinding light illuminated the room as a blue figure shot out from the egg and landed on the table in front of them.

"Aye!" the creature called out!

'A CAT?'

'A CAT!'

Cana grabbed the small kitten and pulled it into a hug. "Oh my god Natsu, it's so cute!" Cana rubbed the cat's belly then held him in front of Natsu. "It may not be the dragon you were hoping for but just look at it! Here! Here! See?"

"It's… it's not a dragon." Natsu said with more than a hint of sadness in his voice. "I could've sworn it was a dragon's egg."

"Aye! I'm not a it, I'm a he!"

"IT TALKS!?" Cana and Natsu yelled out in unison."

As if talking wasn't enough, the baby kitten sprouted wings and took flight. He didn't get very far, but he did manage to fly up and land on Natsu's head, falling asleep instantly upon landing. Natsu reached up and grabbed the cat from his head and placed it back down on the table. Then he looked at Cana, who was happily looking at the blue cat. "Here." Natsu placed the sleeping cat in Cana's arms. "You can have him."

'But Natsu. You can't just abandon him!" shrieked Cana.

"It's not a dragon, and I only wanted a dragon." Natsu began pouting. "Look. Just think of it as a gift from me to you." Natsu huffed before stomping out of the room. Now it was only Cana and the small blue cat sleeping in her arms remaining the room.

Cana looked down at the quiet kitten snoozing in her arms. "A gift huh?" she smiled. "A gift from Natsu. That makes me… happy." Cana took another long look at the kitten, who had now snuggling deeper into her arms. Another smile adorned Cana's face.

"Happy."