In the coming of the winter, a blizzard had come and basked the land in a field of white powder.
By the location of the forest and sheltering within the hollow part of the large tree, Natsu with Éclair are inside as it is quite dark but that changes when the young salmon haired boy lifts up his right hand finger that made some light.
Natsu looks around in the tree as there's only him with Éclair, a small pile of fruits and berries that were collected by animals, and the sound of the blizzard that came from some holes above his head.
"man, I hate blizzards." Natsu mumbled as he adjusted himself in the hollow tree as there's enough space for two to three adults to be sleeping in it for a few days. He looks around and saw some dead branches near him which he gathered and made a small fire that was enough to keep the place warm and bright. "there."
Natsu holds a hand near the fire before he heard some coughs from Éclair who he sees is seeming feverish due to her weak and sweaty complexion.
"why did I have to be with this girl during a damn blizzard?" Natsu asks himself before he heard a pained groan from Éclair whose face was very red and seeing it made him feel worried. "god damnit."
Natsu looks around to see if there's anything that he could use to help Éclair and he finds the herbs that the girl had been collecting beforehand in her basket.
"There should be a herb for fever and stuff…" Natsu looks around and then picks around the herbs one by one that he checks. "Which one did gramps say that it's the right one for it?" he keeps on checking the herbs and just couldn't tell which one is the right one. "agghh, I should've paid more attention to gramps' lessons!"
Natsu keeps on fumbling around the herbs before to the pile of food collected near him. He looks at them and then got an idea.
"gramps said that fruits of the forest are also used for medicine, right?" Natsu muttered as he rummaged the pile and made a big smile when he finds a few greenish red berries. "got them! Lutta Berries! These ones are the ones that gramps said are the best cure for fever, right?" he then bursts the berries in a flaming grasp as he is baking it. "first got to roast them till they are brown…" afterwards he begins to mush them around in his palm. "and then make them all mush.." afterwards he grabbed a herb that he mixed in the mush. "better to add this one for good measure."
After a minute, Natsu made a messy mush ball in his grasp that is leaking reddish blue juice.
"There, that should do it." Natsu said as he then went near Éclair while holding the mush ball near her lips. "hey, open your mouth and eat this. It'll make you feel better." He watches the girl who didn't respond at all. "hey, come one. Wake up."
Natsu waits on Éclair as he watches her and sees that she isn't even waking up, only stuck in a feverish dream.
"now how are you going to get better if you don't eat this?" Natsu said as he tried to think of a way to feed the mush ball to Éclair. "forcing it would make her choke and just drinking the juice won't help. So the last thing to do is…" he thought of some ideas and he got one that made him look at the ball. "There's no helping it now."
Natsu opened his mouth and plops the mush ball in before he begins to chew it. He then gently held Éclair up in his arms as he leans her head to his shoulder.
'here goes nothing.' Natsu keeps on chewing the mushball before he leans down to Éclair.
In an instant, Natsu connected Éclair's lips with his as he begins to transfer all the chewed up mush ball into her mouth.
Éclair made groaning noises in the connection before she began to unconsciously gulp the content in her mouth.
A minute later, Natsu separates himself from Éclair as he sighs and wipes his lips with his arm. He looks down to see that the girl is still breathing heavily but he could see that she's a bit relieved now.
"I hope that works…" Natsu whispers as he watches Éclair before making a noise when he sees her lips moving and she's mumbling. "what?" he leans down with his ear near her mouth as he listens to her.
"w-wa..ter…wa-…water…" Éclair mumbled out weakly as Natsu hears her voice and request.
"got no water here, but…" Natsu looks around before to the pile of snow that blocks the entrance. He looks a bit unnerved for a moment before he went and grabbed a bunch of snow that he looks at in his grasp. "I hate doing this." He put all the snow in his mouth as his face looks a bit blue before he slowly uses his magic to heat up the inside of his mouth that melted all the ice into water.
Afterwards, Natsu repeated his previous action and connected his lips with Éclair's before passing the water into her mouth.
Éclair drank all the water transferred into her mouth as she finished it all in a few gulps.
This action gets repeated several times as Natsu keeps on putting more snow in his mouth which he melts into water before directly feeding it to Éclair who drinks it.
Five minutes later, the little campfire had died out as this left no more warmth in the little shelter. Éclair laid rested in Natsu's arms as the young man held her close to keep her body temperature warm in this cold blizzard.
"just why do I have to do this?" Natsu asks himself as he wondered how such things could happen all because he met Éclair.
"mo…ther…" Éclair muttered out as Natsu looks at her and could see her face looking sad. The girl shed a tear that slides down her eyes. "p-please…don't go..i'll…be good..i promise…please.."
Natsu watches her and could feel her sadness that made him frown a bit.
"I guess…we're alike in a way…" Natsu said as he then adjusted his hold on Éclair, bringing her closer to give her more of his warmth. "I'm sorry."
Natsu closed his eyes and leans back, the young man getting some rest after the events of the day while making sure to keep his warmth in the shelter and ensure to Éclair doesn't freeze at all.
Some hours later, the blizzard had stopped outside as it left the land completely covered in the white powder.
Meanwhile, in the tree's hollow trunk. Éclair began to slowly stir in her sleep. The young girl's fever has died down as she groaned a bit because of a small headache, but what really made her wake up was the feeling of constant warmth around her body.
"so warm…" Éclair whispers while slowly opening her eyes that sees everything being blurry. "what?" her vision slowly focuses and when it did, she sees that she is in Natsu's arms, the young man still being asleep.
It took one whole minute for Éclair to process everything and when she did, her face went completely red in embarrassment to the point that she screamed as loud as possible.
"AHHHHH~!"Éclair's scream causes the snow piled upon the tree just fell in an instant.
"wha?! What!? what!?" Natsu woke up in a jolt from the scream that rang right into his ears because of being in the hollow trunk which means that Éclair's voice just echoed non stop. "my ears!"
As Natsu was in pain with the deafening of his ears, he had another pain struck upon his face as Éclair slapped him as hard as she could.
"Bugeee!" Natsu felt that his jaw nearly got dislocated because of the slap as he held his cheek with the red hand mark in pain, he turns and looks angrily at Éclair. "what was that for!?"
"you pervert! Degenerate! Lowlife! How dare you take me in here!" Éclair shouted as loudly as possible with a furious look on her face. "you dare take advantage of myself when I am weak?! When I'm a- ah?" her rant stopped as she held a hand to her head while wobbling back and forth. "m-my head?"
Éclair nearly fell forward but Natsu catches her in time.
"hey! don't go crazy on me!" Natsu said. "you got a fever and.."
"l-let me go!" Éclair tries to push him away, but due to the remnants of her fever; she failed terribly. "let me…go!" her vision becomes blurry as she slowly fainted. "let…me…go.."
Natsu holds her as Éclair goes unconscious.
"what the hell is wrong with this girl?" Natsu asks himself as he watches how Éclair is out cold.
Sometime later, the day was gone as night had come to take its place.
Currently treading through the snow is Natsu who is carrying Éclair on his back. The young man planning to get her back to her village to take care of her.
Eclair who is in her dreams, felt a sense of nostalgia as she leans close to Natsu's back.
"Father…" Éclair muttered out, the young girl feeling the nostalgia of being carried on her father's back.
In a minute or two, Éclair wakes up and sees a patch of pink hair.
"what?" Éclair looks in a daze before she realizes that Natsu is carrying her on his back which made her face go red again. "why am I on your back!? What are you doing?!"
"oh come on! That's the first thing you say when you wake up!?" Natsu exclaimed before he stopped and tried to balance himself because Éclair was making a fuss. "hey! Stop it! You're going to make us fall into the snow!"
"put me down! Put me down this instant!" Éclair exclaimed while trying to get off from Natsu's back. "I don't ever want to be carried by people with magic! They're the worst! They're all liars and!"
As Éclair was making a fuss, Natsu turns and yelled out "ENOUGH!" so loudly that it stopped her.
Natsu looks at Éclair who was stunned before his face turns a bit soft and he glances to the side.
"I'm sorry for yelling at you." Natsu said before he looks forward and continues to walk. "but I couldn't let you keep on saying that people with magic are bad and stuff." He pauses for a moment and then continues. "People like me are doing our best to use our magic for the best. That goes for the people in your village too. We're trying to do our best to keep our magic to be used for good." He glances back at Éclair. "I know that the people, who failed to save your mother, are now trying their best to prevent that same mistake."
"w-why do you?" Éclair muttered as she was surprised and confused because of how did Natsu knew about her mother's death.
"All that I'm saying is, people can do better. People can change." Natsu said as he looks back front and continues to walk. "You just got to give them another chance."
Éclair looks at Natsu for a moment before her face slowly frowns and she comes then leans to his back.
"Thank you for protecting me during the blizzard." Éclair whispers. "and thank you for everything else you've done for me."
"yeah, your welcome." Natsu said with a smile before he stops as he reaches the border of the forest. "look at that, we're already halfway there and the sky is showing us the way."
Éclair looks front and sees that they are near the location of their villages, but she looks in awe to the sight of the night sky filled with shooting stars.
"pretty…" Éclair whispers with a smile.
Natsu looks at the starry night sky before he looks down and continues to walk while Éclair stares at the shooting stars.
In time, both arrived to the Fire Village as they were greeted by Kalard who was worried sick for his daughter.
"I'm so glad that you're alright!" Kalard said as he hugs his daughter. "when the blizzard came and you didn't come home before sunset, I was worried sick!"
"I'm sorry, father." Éclair said in the hug which ended as both turns to look at Natsu. "but he helped and sheltered me from the blizzard."
"I see.." Kalard said with a smile and nodded. "thank you, Natsu-kun. for protecting my daughter."
"it was nothing." Natsu said with a grin. "we're both from two friendly villages, so we've got to help at times, right?"
"I guess so." Kalard chuckles before he checks on his daughter by placing a hand to her forehead. "it was a good thing you helped Éclair when she was slightly feverish. I had thought of the worse if her fever kicked up."
"don't worry, I gave her some Lutta Berries." Natsu said. "they're good for fevers, right?"
"oh, I see." Kalard nodded with a smile. "that's a relief."
"so that's why my mouth tasted a bit sweet." Éclair mumbled while tasting her mouth a bit with her tongue. "I must've swallowed it when I was unconscious."
"yeah, you did. But only after I directly fed the stuff to you." Natsu said and this made Éclair let out a confused noise. He then pointed a finger at his mouth. "you wouldn't wake up to eat the stuff, so I put it in my mouth and forced it into yours. Good thing it worked."
"from your mouth…to my mouth?" Éclair spoke out softly as it took a second or two for her to realize what Natsu did to cure her fever. The moment it hits in, her entire face went entire red. "you…..kissed me?"
"kissed? I guess I kinda did when I put my mouth over yours." Natsu said all nonchalantly as this revelation made Éclair surprised to the next level and even made Kalard's jaw dropped.
"Natsu! You!" Kalard looks in shock. "you've kissed…my daughter!?"
"it was to get her to eat the mashed up berries." Natsu said before shrugging his shoulders. "what's the big deal."
"you…" Éclair looks very red as she stares angrily at Natsu who looks back at her in confusion. "you!" the young girl clenched her right fist tight before she swings it up to deliver an uppercut to the young boy's chin. "YOU PERVERT!"
"BUGEEEHH!" Natsu went flying into the air before he fell knocked out in a pile of snow with his legs sticking up.
"PERVERT! DEGENERATE! MOLESTER! EVIL! BASTARD!" Éclair shouted all the possible bad or cursing words she could know as this made even her father shocked. "YOU ARE A FRICKING PERVERT FOR TAKING MY FIRST!"
A second later, Éclair ran off into her village looking furious and embarrassed at the same time.
"E-Éclair!" Kalard cried out as he took a quick glance at Natsu and then quickly follows after his daughter. "Éclair! Wait! Éclair!"
As Kalard chases after his daughter, Natsu is left in the pile of snow as his legs twitches.
"I don't get that girl at all." Natsu said in the snow before a rabbit suddenly pops out of nowhere and then quickly runs off.
That's a wrap!
Bye bye