"Natsu!" Lucy shouted, glaring at the pink-haired boy who was, as usual, running ahead of her, "get back here! I was talking to you!"

"C'mon, Luce, ya gotta catch up if you want me to talk to you!" he shouted back, his trademark grin crossing his face.

Growling and muttering under her breath, Lucy started to run after him, but soon grew frustrated. Every time she almost reached him, he darted out of her arm's reach once more. "Natsu!" she shouted again, her annoyance growing with each step he took away from her, "It's important!"

"Then prove it! Catch up!"

"Fine!" she growled again, putting on an extra burst of speed. Again and again, he slipped through her fingers until, with one last leap, she wrapped her fingers in the collar of his shirt and pulled him down to the ground next to her. With a grin, she propped herself up on her elbow and stuck her tongue out at the boy staring up at her in shock.

"Ha!" she gloated, glorying in the slightly put out expression on his face. Silence ensued, and Lucy found her humor subsiding as she stared down at the boy, watching as his expression slowly changed from frustrated, to resigned, to, finally, pride. Grinning up at her, Natsu shook his head and laughed.

"So, didn't you have to talk to me? It was important, wasn't it?" he reminded her.

A blush suffused her cheeks as she realized she had completely forgotten the reason she had chased him down in the first place. Plopping down in the grass, Lucy turned her head to keep him in her vision, and furrowed her brow. No matter what she did, she couldn't recall what she had wanted to say, only that it was essential she said it.

"Luce?" Natsu said, a frown crossing his features.

"I know, I know, but I can't seem to remember." she finally admits, her cheeks reddening further.

Natsu laughed at her and reached over to grab her shoulder, shaking her a little, "Luce, you dork. C'mon sleepy head, it's time to wake up."

"What?" she asked, confusion crossing her features as she felt a lethargy settle into her limbs. "Natsu?" Lucy called, as his image began to fade away without explanation. Into darkness she was plunged once more, and, though she couldn't remember why, she felt a terror rush through her. She began to kick and scream, and her eyes flew open, showing her a scene that she didn't recognize.

Lucy quickly sat up, instantly regretting that decision as her sides and legs flamed in protest. Groaning, Lucy wrapped her arms around herself and hunched over, trying to release some of the strain on her muscles.

"Luce?" said a voice to her side. Swiveling her head around, Lucy was happy to spy her best friend, his characteristic grin on his face, though worry lingered in his eyes.

"What happened?" she tried to say, though all that emerged from her throat was a small croak. Frowning, Lucy reached up and hissed as her fingers came into contact with the bruised and swollen flesh. As though it were the trigger on a crossbow, the memories flooded back, causing her to gasp and recoil from the world in general.

"Luce?" Natsu asked again, leaning towards her. She looked at him again and pointed towards the sink, gesturing for water. It took him a second to make sense of her sign language, but, upon comprehension dawning on his face, he grinned and jumped up, running to the sink and bringing back a cup filled to the brim with water in record time.

He was rather energetic when handing the drink over, no doubt due to his excitement at her awakening, and, thus, he was faced with another of her famous glares as a now sodden Lucy leveled a look at him from beneath her sodden bangs.

"Natsu..." she growled. He merely stared at her for a couple seconds before he burst out laughing. Taking that as her cue, Lucy forgot her protesting limbs in lieu of her irritation and leapt at the boy.

He gave a short grunt as her weight landed on him. "Luuuce," he whined, "what was that for?"

"You spilled water on me, idiot!" she shouted, glaring down at him.

"By accident!"

"I don't care!"

"Am I interrupting something?" a voice spoke up from the doorway. Lucy's head snapped around and she stared at the dark haired mage standing in the threshold. Her mouth opened and closed repeatedly as she attempted to restart her brain. It seemed as though the shock of realizing their rather compromising situation had done wonders on her cognitive abilities.

"Yeah, you are. What do you want, slushee-breath?" Natsu finally growled from his position on the floor. As though someone had finally hit play on a paused video, Lucy sprang into action. Leaping up from Natsu, she shot the reclining boy a quick glare before turning her attention back to Gray.

"No, you aren't. What's up?"

"We need to meet with the mayor. Erza's already waiting for us,"

At the mere mention of Titania's name, the room was emptied within moments. Soon after, the group stood before the ranting and raving man, who was insisting he wouldn't pay a cent of the reward money simply because a single man-albeit, the leader-got away. As he continued to drone about their incompetence, Lucy flushed and lowered her head. Mentally, she knew that her teammates wouldn't think so at all, but deep down she couldn't shake the guilt that laced its way through her emotions.

Finally, after what seemed an interminable amount of time, the man excused them from his presence. They made short work of gathering their packs and getting out of that city. It was a good two hours' walk to the nearest train station, and all of them were desirous of returning home.

Lucy walked behind the others, who were able to regain their normally cheerful spirits with aplomb. Periodically, she would laugh and interject some comment, but for the most part, she remained withdrawn. Natsu, to her surprise (and slight frustration, as she thought she had been hiding it better), was the only one to pick up on her less than stellar spirits.

"Oi, lunch time!" he suddenly announced, ditching his pack at the side of the road and grabbing Lucy's wrist. Natsu proceeded to drag her into the surrounding forest, calling something about having smelled apples to the remaining trio.

Gray, Erza, and Wendy shared a somewhat confused glance, but, with a communal shrug, set down their supplies. Having grown up with him, they were all long used to Natsu's antics. Besides, Erza even saw this as a wonderful opportunity to have a picnic and, as the thought occurred to her, she began to immediately rush around and set up.

Meanwhile, Lucy was quickly recovering from the shock that had taken hold. As she opened her mouth to protest how Natsu had grabbed her without so much as a "By-your-leave", she was rewarded with a face full of leaves and bark. Her sputtering made Natsu glance over his shoulder and give her a grin.

"Natsuu!" she protested, but he interrupted her before she could finish.

"Don't worry, not much further," and with that, he turned around once again.

With a small huff, Lucy glared at his back, just daring him to look her in the eyes. She'd Lucy-Kick him to the moon.

Just as she was about to forcibly remove herself from his grasp and storm back to the others, he stopped, causing her to collide with his rather extensive back. Glaring, Lucy rubbed her sore nose and warily stepped around him to see what had caused the sudden ceasing of movement.

Lucy blinked again, hoping to clear her disbelieving eyes. There was nothing there, nothing but a small clearing in the woods. Her glare intensifying, Lucy turned the full force of it upon Natsu, who just shook it off with a grin as he always did.

Sighing, Lucy walked past him and looked around, hoping her previous assessment had been incorrect. Still finding nothing of remote interest, she huffed and swiveled around to glare at him.

"Alright, so what's the big idea, dragging me out here?"

"Luce," Natsu began, the tone of his voice causing her irritation to wash out, "what is it?"

A trickle of cold ran down her spine and she looked to the side, trying to avoid his gaze.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said finally.

She heard him huff in annoyance and suddenly he was standing right in front of her. "Yes you do," he said, "What is it? Something's been bothering you since we left."

Lucy grimaced a little. Not only had he managed to pick up on it, but she knew there was no way she'd be able to get away before telling him. Closing her eyes, she sighed.

"I'm frustrated."

"With?" he prodded, reaching up to scratch his cheek.

"Myself. For getting in trouble and not being able to get myself out of it again, and then for costing us the job." Once she began, she found it difficult to stop, and by the end of her small speech, she was hyperventilating as she tried to prevent the tears that were beginning to swim in her eyes.

Just as she lost her control, warmth surrounded and suffused through her. Blinking through the saltwater running down her cheeks, she looked up to see black material before her gaze. As she began to realize her situation, the tears increased and, finally, she buried her face in his chest. Letting go of her restraint, she allowed her anger and frustration to run amok, battering against the unwavering stone that was Natsu.

Gradually, her sobs subsided and her tears dried. Sniffing and grimacing a little at the strong scent of iron that always appeared in her nostrils after a good cry, Lucy swallowed and tried to move away, only to be stopped.

"Not yet. Luce, stop being weird. You've saved us plenty of times. We're your friends. When you're in trouble, we want to help you. Besides, compared to how often I ruin jobs, I think you don't have much room to feel annoyed at yourself. The way I see it, it was about time you messed one up." He finished, laughing and grinning down at her with his signature smile.

Sniffing once more, she gave him a watery grin before throwing her arms around his neck. "Thank you," she said, hugging him.

It would be difficult for her to say how long they stayed like that, nor, if she was asked, would Lucy be able to answer when she felt her gratitude give way to something else. It wasn't until a crow let out a loud caw the wind snapped a twig from a tree that they were startled from their reverie and sprang apart.

Staring at Natsu, Lucy felt the blood rush to her face and immediately ran off towards the rest of their team, calling something about racing him back over her shoulder.

Blinking a little at the sudden change in the situation, an uncharacteristic frown crossed Natsu's features as he stared after her. It was soon wiped away, however, and, laughing, he took off after her.

From the forest canopy, two curious golden eyes shone, watching the seen below with interest. A hand reached up and pulled at the small branch that had snapped and entangled itself in hair. Grunting in annoyance, the figure dropped to the ground, unconcerned with it's nakedness as it began to walk towards the south. Soon enough, it would come across a town and would be able to find more information there. After all, a lovers' meeting wasn't exactly what was wanted when new to a land.

I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry x.x

It has been inexcusably long since I've updated. Also, this chapter is in a rough form, since I haven't been able to get in touch with my beta since, like, chapter six or seven x.x. Terribly sorry for that, too. I'm debating whether or not to try to find another beta, since I want to give her some more time to get back to me, and I'm also not fully willing to deal with a lot of the hassle that goes along with it. *Sighs* Your opinions as to what I should do would be very much appreciated!

Anywho, now that this chapter is out of the way, I should be able to get HIWTHI updated quickly enough. HUZZAH!

Until next time, readers!

Mix