Disclaimer: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima (unfortunately). Also, the cover belongs to AyuMichi-me.

"Hey, did you hear?

"No. What's happening?"

"I heard that her mother died a few days ago. Heard she got cancer and couldn't make it."

The whispers of her classmates made her want to crawl into a hole and justdie. They would never understand what she was feeling. They would never understand how it felt like to lose a dear one. They would never understand what it felt like to be ignored by their own father who locks himself up in his room to deal with business deals and negotiations.

It hurt. All she could feel was a burning in her chest as if somebody had just taken a knife and stabbed her repeatedly into her heart and had taken something important from her. A huge part of her was missing, and there was nobody to comfort her from all this pain.

She swallowed down a sob that crept up her throat. Covering her eyes with her hands, she placed her head against the desk, hoping that the cool wood would help her calm down.

It wasn't fair. It just wasn't fair. Why did she have to endure all this pain? Why couldn't it be someone else? Anyone other than her. She didn't ask for this cruelty. So why did the world show no mercy to poor five year old girl?

The bell rang throughout the elementary school. Lucy cringed when she heard the shuffling of feet of all the kids in her class entering the room to start the day.

'I can't do this! I can't do this! I CAN'T DO THIS!'

Lifting her head back up and wiping her semi wet hands against her school skirt, she willed herself to remain calm, to keep a front until she was away from everybody else and locked in her room.

She could see children sneaking peeks at her direction, probably noticing her slightly puffy eyes and red nose. Taking deep breaths, she slowly calmed her nerves and relaxed her body.

Once everybody was seated, Lucy's teacher walked to the front of the classroom and called attendance in alphabetical order.

She would get through this day. She won't shed a tear in front of all these people. She'll pretend that her mother's death wasn't bothering her. She'll pretend that she doesn't have this constant burning sensation in her chest where her heart is.

She'll just pretend that nothing ever happened at all. Only until she's sure that no one was watching.

"Okay class! Today we're going to learn how to add!"

"Why are you sitting alone?"

Lifting her head up from her hands, she stared up to see a man. He was definitely older than her. He looked mature, yet he had some boyish features that reminded her of the boys in her grade.

"Why are you talking to me?" she retorted, not taking any consideration about her rudeness. Staring right into his onyx eyes, many thoughts rushed through her head in almost super sonic speed.

'Why would he talk to a five year old kid when he himself is like eighteen?'

'He's such a creep. If he touches me, I'll scream rape.'

The only thought that stood out the most was also the most amusing to the young blonde.

'Why's his hair pink?'

The pink hair made the stranger in front of her seem less like a threat and more of a boy in her grade. The wind picked up, and she saw his white scaly scarf blow with it, waving calmly like the waves on a beach that she used to go to with her parents before her mother's death.

He had a slight tan, probably from hours out in the sun playing whatever games boys (who always had cooties. Girl Rule #1: Never touch a boy or you'll get a disease) play.

"You just seemed lonely sitting here. All the other kids are playing while you're here sulking," the stranger replied to her question, pretending to not notice the blonde's glare, which was directed towards him.

He just smiled, revealing his perfectly white teeth and tilted his head, staring at the girl with laughing eyes. He shuffled closer to her, and slightly bent down.

"Mind if I sit next to you?"

"Yes I do."

His grin grew wider before standing straight up like before. He didn't budge; he just stood there like a statue, staring into her eyes as if he was trying to reach into the depths of her soul.

"You're very mature for a five year old," he simply stated after a few seconds of uncomfortable silence between them despite the shrieks from her classmates who were busy playing.

"I get that a lot," she muttered, but it seemed like he heard her because he just nodded as if agreeing with the people who have also called her mature.

Lucy stared down into her hands, which were neatly placed on her lap. She was wearing a longer skirt than usual for the slightly cool weather. She heard the crunching of leaves, so she looked up to see that the pink-haired man had sat down on the ground that was littered with dead leaves.

He folded his legs into a pretzel shape and just stared at her. Feeling slightly embarrassed, she tore her gaze away from him, trying to will the rising heat in her cheeks away.

"I'm Natsu by the way," he spoke, breaking the silence between them.

Scoffing, Lucy rolled her eyes before extending her hand as if she just made a deal with a huge business company, like her own father would do. He took the extended hand, which was tiny in comparison with his own tan ones.

Once they made skin contact, she couldn't help but notice the lack of warmth from the man's hand. Instead, she felt like she was only holding air, yet she could feel the solidity of his hand at the same time.

"Weird name," she simply stated. He raised a pink eyebrow, but he didn't let go of her hand. The longer Lucy held onto his hand, the more she could feel the heat from his hand warm her skin, and the blonde felt herself relax the slightest bit.

Though he was a stranger that she never met before, the blonde couldn't fight the feeling of being safe and secure around him. She hadn't felt this relaxed around someone before in a while.

It was…nice, if she had to admit. This feeling was nice.

Slowly pulling her hand away, she felt Natsu curl the tips of his fingers as if he wanted to keep on holding her. His arm was still in the air for a few seconds with his hand extended before dropping it to the ground.

Tearing away from his heated gaze, Lucy stared at her classmates having fun. Maybe she should go to them. She could use it as an excuse to stay away from the creep in front of her.

Even though he practically looked harmless, he could be this rapist who was waiting for her to trust him enough to tell him her name so that he could stalk her. She didn't exactly want to see this guy's face outside her window in the middle of the night.

She shuddered at the image. That would be really creepy.

The wind blew, and she felt the cool air sink into her skin and chill her bones. Rubbing her hands against her arms, she let her natural heat warm her.

Glancing back down, Natsu was still staring at her with those black eyes of his.

Getting tired with his continuous staring, she glared at him and stopped rubbing her arms.

"What's so interesting about my face?" she spat, folding her arms like a spoiled brat. Her cheeks puffed out and started to heat up when he suddenly started laughing at her. It took a while, but he seemed to realize that he was being disrespectful, so he cleared his throat before smiling at her.

"Everything's interesting about you, Lucy."

She stared at him in complete shock and amazement. She should have been scared at the moment, but for some reason, she felt as if she had known him for such a long time, that when he said her name, it felt right.

Squinting at him, she couldn't deny that his grin made her feel warm inside. She couldn't deny that his eyes caught her attention with how intense his gaze was, and she couldn't hide the fact that she felt cared for when he decided to sit with her, despite her rude comments.

He was just supposed to be a complete stranger with weird pink hair. However, she felt so safe around him. She trusted him enough to not feel scared when he said her name, even though she never told him what it was.

The way it rolled off his tongue made it seem as if he had been saying that name for years before. Just…what was up with this guy?

"Who…?" she continued staring at him, and he at her with those same black onyx eyes. He was so familiar, yet so new. She knew what she felt when they shook hands. He wasn't really there, yet at the same time, he was.

The blonde felt like she should just run up to the teacher and scream rape while she had the chance to get away from this guy. But…she didn't want to.

"What five year old thinks as much as you do?" Natsu joked, hands clenching the dead leaves on the ground around him. She was about to retaliate, but he beat her to it with another statement.

"Only you, Luce. Only you."

She couldn't help it. He wasn't normal. There was no way he was normal. No. No.

"Who are you?"

"Why are you always here?"

Natsu glanced down at Lucy as she gently pushed the tips of her shoes against the dirt to move the swing she was sitting on. Once again, her class was out on a mini-trip to the park. The weather was getting colder each day, and she knew it wouldn't be long until winter arrives.

After her first meeting with Natsu, her teacher had taken her class out a total of five times the past month, and each time, Lucy would sit alone, away from the laughing children, and each time, Natsu would always come up to her and sit with her in silence.

It felt so natural, despite it only happening five times.

And during those times Lucy would sit alone, she and Natsu would talk more and more. He still called her by her name as if it wasn't creepy that he knew her name without the blonde herself telling him.

The girl blew out warm air from her lungs, resulting in a small cloud escaping from her lips. It was fun pretending to smoke like the adults. No wonder they always blew smoke rings.

While she was entertaining herself, Natsu walked to where her back was facing him and grabbed the cold chains that held the seat where the blonde was sitting on. At first startled, Lucy noticeably jumped, but relaxed when she realized that it was just him, though she still kept her guard up.

He could still be a rapist who was trying to get her to trust him enough to take advantage of her.

Pulling on the chains, Natsu lifted her up with her seat before letting go, allowing her to swing back and forth before she started to slow down. Not wanting that to happen, the pink-haired man pushed her lower back, earning a squeal of embarrassment from the girl before being rewarded with silent giggles.

Despite still being cautious around Natsu, she couldn't help but sometimes allow her barrier crumble and let him see that real five-year-old girl that had been hidden behind a mask for such a long time. It surprised her how easy it was to let her guard down around this man.

But…she still had her suspicions. Even now, she noticed how every time he pushed her lower back, she could only feel a faint touch, as if he wasn't actually pushing her. And she had noticed this before whenever they would shake each other's hands in greeting, or their fingers would accidentally touched whenever he would sit next to her on the bench.

But today she didn't sit on the usual bench, but sat on one of the swings in the park. Most of her classmates liked playing tag, so they barely paid attention to the swings. It was easy to get an empty seat, and not even five minutes had passed before the pink-haired boy arrived next to her.

After that, they only stayed there in silence, allowing the chirping of the birds to fill the space. Well, they did until Lucy decided to break the ice and ask a question that had been nagging her since their third meeting.

And she could tell that he had avoided her question. She didn't mind though because she was already used to his silence when it came to her questions.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she felt Natsu stop her from swinging by grabbing the chains. About to ask him what happened, she started to spin in circles on the swing.

"Noooooooo, stop it!" she yelled weakly, but she couldn't stop the giggles that escaped through her lips. She heard him chuckle, and it was only a second after that did the spinning stopped.

Opening her eyes that she had shut as he spun her, she noticed how close his face was to her own. His hands held the chains on either side of her, arms trapping her.

He was so close, and she thought that with their proximity, she would be able to feel his heat, but instead, she felt nothing. That wasn't the only thing that surprised her either.

For some unknown reason, she had the urge to touch his face. His dark shining eyes pulling her in a trance as she tried to figure out why he was looking at her like that.

Without her permission, her hand let go of the chain and reached out to cup his cheek. She still couldn't feel his heat, but at the same time, she could. His face relaxed the moment her hand touched his face and he shut his eyes as he pressed against her tiny cold hand more.

"Why are you here?"

Natsu opened his eyes and stared into her own as he contemplated her question. After a few seconds, he simply smiled and pulled away, hands still holding onto the twisted chains.

"I'm here because you're here," he answered with a shrug, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, yet at the same time, not.

Tilting her head in confusion, Lucy tried to make sense at his answer. She couldn't quite grasp on to the meaning behind his words.

"I don't understand."

"You're too young to," the pink haired man replied with a roll of his eyes. Upon closer inspection, blonde saw that he was in a distant world at the moment. He didn't seem to be focusing on her anymore.

"What do you mean?" she asked, trying to get the man in front of her to explain his answer in other, much simpler, words.

"Nothing," was the last thing she heard before she felt her world start spinning again when Natsu let go of the chains. She tried to stop it, but her efforts were in vain. Stopping, she waited until the swing stopped spinning, expecting to see the strange man laughing at her "weirdness."

Once the swing stopped turning however, he was nowhere in sight.

Frowning, she looked around, trying to find traces of Natsu. Unfortunately, her teacher was already calling for all students to form a line to go back to the school.

Glancing one last time around the area, Lucy just shrugged and ran back towards the teacher.

The blonde couldn't help but feel scared.

Scared that that pink-haired man won't come back next time she did. Scared that she would have to feel alone again.

Scared that he had jusy abandoned her, just like the rest of the world did.

Ooookaaay, so i'm thinking about doing a mini-story with this, but then again, I might not. It depends on the amount of feedback I get. I know, it's bitchy of me, but reviews help me keep motivated, so if I get enough reviews, i'll most likely write another chapter! So, I hope you liked it, and though it was kinda boring, I promise there will be more Nalu in the future if I feel motivated enough to write another chapter.

And just so you know, I made Natsu 18, so he's a big boy now. :) But don't worry, the age difference will be fixed soon. ;) And before you say, "isn't Lucy too mature for a five year old?", the answer is no. There are some kids out there that are younger and WAY more mature. Trust me, I was one of those kids. I could literally sit with adults who were in conversation and start talking to them like some adult. So yeah, Lucy is FINE.

So, hope you liked it, and please review. It really helps me stay motivated. And sorry for any mistakes, I was in a rush. :D