So, it's been almost six years since I've last posted/updated anything on this account... My apologies for any of you who have been following me/my stories. I wont give you a boring explanation for my absence here, but if you're really curious, I have an explanation on my profile.

Anyways, I wasn't going to post anything new until I finished, or at least continued, my older stories. But, I just couldn't resist; best to get an idea out there before it fades away into nothingness.

I've been really into Fairy Tail lately, and I had a few ideas pop into my head for stories, so here we are: my very first Fairy Tail fan fiction. As a note, Natsu will be smarter and more thoughtful in this story (and probably any other Fairy Tail story I might have up my sleeve).

Story Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail.

Mira's Secret Notebook

Found Out

Mira was leaning over the bar in the Fairy Tail guildhall, waiting for someone to call for her services. But, she doubted that would be happening any time soon. At the moment, she had nothing to do as Kinana was taking care of the majority of the guild's needs. She also didn't have anyone to talk to, seeing as no one was sitting at the bar right now. On top of that, the Master was away at 'Some dumbass Guild Master meeting', as the old man had put it before stomping out of the guild. Considering she would have a bit of down time, the Take-Over mage's almost permanent smile grew a bit wider as she looked around to see if anyone was watching her.

Scanning the guildhall, she observed all of her friends either drinking, having animated conversations with one another, or both. The barmaid saw a group of mages in one of the corners arguing, shouting and getting in each other's faces.

Fairy Tail wouldn't be Fairy Tail without some form of constant commotion, she thought as her smile once again grew a bit wider. As she continued examining her fellow guildmates, her eyes fell on the most animated, the most commotion inducing, and the loudest table in the whole guild. Team Natsu's table.

Lucy, Gray, Happy, Carla, and Natsu himself were all sitting at the table, with Juvia hovering in close proximity to the Ice-Make mage. Erza was out on a job by herself, but the Requip mage should be returning either today or tomorrow, Mira recalled. She wasn't sure where Wendy had wandered off to, but guessed the young Sky Dragon Slayer might have gone to use the restroom at some point. After allowing her gaze to linger on their table for a few moments longer, she continued her scan.

Once feeling satisfied that there were no prying eyes, she ducked down behind the bar. Moving some glasses and bottles out of the way, Mira grabbed hold of what she was looking for; a very special notebook of her own creation.

Standing up, she looked at the notebook with a fond smile. A smile which would be easy to mistake as a smirk if you didn't know the young woman all that well. Setting the pink colored journal down on the bar top, she once again made sure no one was watching her. Nodding to herself, she rested her elbows on the bar and opened to the first page, revealing a list of names; each name paired with a second.

The first pair of names on the list were Gray and Juvia. Even though the Ice-Make mage seemed to ignore all of the water maiden's advances, Mira felt that the two would end up with each other at some point. After all, she caught Gray glancing at Juvia every now and then with a far off look in his eyes. On top of that, the usually indifferent man would become upset if he heard someone either making fun of, or even worse, making a move on Miss Lockser. He could try to ignore it as much as he wanted, but she just knew Fairy Tail's resident stripper had feelings for the water mage.

Moving down to the second pair on the list, Elfman and Evergreen, the barmaid grinned. She knew both of them liked each other. Hell, it was clear to almost everyone that the two had mutual feelings; it was just a matter of time before they accepted their infatuation for one another. Though she wouldn't admit it out loud, Mira was hoping it would be sometime soon; she was almost desperate to be an Aunt, after all.

Skipping to about half way down the page, there was one line which was crossed out: Bisca and Alzack. Mira glanced at the married couple and grew a warm smile at the sight of the two playing with their young daughter, Asuka. The atmosphere of the happy family brought a tender feeling to her heart. For years, even before the Tenrou Island incident, the two had always shown signs of interest in one another. It was clear to anyone who had half a brain that they were in love with each other, even if the two gun mages had been too nervous to admit it.

That's another reason why Mira wanted Elfman and Evergreen to get together and have some kids. Asuka didn't have anyone close to her age to grow up and spend time with. Granted, the little girl would be a few years older than the potential child of the 'couple', but she would at least have someone closer to her own age to talk with when she becomes a young adult.

Smiling once more as Asuka began playing with her mother's hair, Mira moved her attention back to the journal in front of her. However, before she could look over any more of her 'couples', she heard a loud crash somewhere in the guild. Turning to the noise, she saw that one of her guildmates had dropped their mug during an argument, the glass shattering all over the floor. It was the same group she had been observing earlier, in fact. Mira sighed before grabbing a broom and dust pan and heading over to clean up the mess. Unbeknownst to the barmaid, a certain pink haired Fire Dragon Slayer had been watching her with a keen eye for quite some time.

Once the mess had been taken care of, and the group responsible given a scarily gentle scolding, Mira returned to the bar. She walked up to a trash bin and dumped the numerous shards of glass into it before returning the broom and dust pan to their rightful homes. As she turned her attention back to the guildhall, she noticed someone was now sitting at the bar. He was hunched over with a focused, yet amused look on his face.

A bright smile made its way to the barmaids lips as she moved closer to him. "Ah, Natsu. What can I get for you this afternoon?"

However, as soon as the words left her mouth, the color of her face turned almost as white as her hair. Natsu was sitting at the bar reading her notebook. "Natsu! What are you doing!?" she said in a hushed tone, grabbing the notebook from his hands. She brought it behind her back, hiding it from view, and looked to her guildmate with a half embarrassed and half annoyed expression; much different from her usual cheerful and sometimes teasing demeanor. To her surprise, he was just looking at her with a wide grin plastered on his face.

"Can I look at it some more?" he asked, leaning on the bar top and propping his head in his palm.

"Of course you can't! Absolutely not!" she said, quiet enough to where no one else would hear her, but loud enough so the Slayer knew she wasn't all that happy with him. "No one was ever supposed to see this..." she said with a dejected tone, moving the notebook to her chest and hugging it close. Everyone knew Fairy Tail's head barmaid enjoyed playing matchmaker. Even a good number of people outside of the guild knew it. But, she felt embarrassed that someone now knew she would go so far as to keep her own little 'couples' journal.

"But I don't agree with some of them," Natsu said, reaching out to take the notebook again. Perplexed for a moment, Mira didn't stop the Fire Dragon Slayer as he retrieved the notebook from her grasp and began reading it once again. She wondered what Natsu didn't agree with; does he even know what the list is about?

"Huh? What are you talking about?" she asked, thinking the Slayer wasn't aware of things of a romantic nature.

"Well, I agree with some of them," he said, looking thoughtful for a moment before pointing to the first pair on the list. "Gray and Juvia for sure; it just depends on when that ice prick decides to stop being such a cold pussy."

Mira chuckled at his choice of words before Natsu continued, "Elfman and Ever...I think that's also a given. Whenever they're anywhere near each other, the tension is almost enough to choke you."

Tension? Does he mean sexual tension? Does Natsu even know about stuff like that!?

Just like a few moments ago, she had always thought the destructive mage to be oblivious in regards to anything dealing with relationships, never mind sex. But, here he is right in front of her, making her question whether the pinkette is anywhere near as innocent as everyone seemed to think he was. Deciding to find out if her musings were correct, she asked, "Tension?"

Natsu looked at her with a raised brow for a few moments before responding. "Sexual tension. What else would I be talking about?" he said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Mira, being astonished by Natsu's apparent knowledge, didn't notice her jaw go slack as she stared at him. How many times has she seen the women of Fairy Tail toy with Natsu, thinking he didn't understand what the word 'sexual' meant. How many times has she seen women from out in town or from other guilds flirting with him, thinking he wouldn't understand their suggestive words or innuendos. Remembering some of the more intimate moments she had seen, Mira blushed a bit. Those women would die if they found out Natsu knew what they had been doing and saying to him.

"Anyway," he said, breaking her out of her thoughts, "I think your third pair is good, too; Gramps and Porlyusica. I agree with that, but I feel like they used to have something going on in their younger years, anyway."

Shaking all the bewilderment from her mind, Mira quirked a brow. "Then what pairs don't you agree with?"

"Like this one right here, for example," Natsu said, pointing to a pair of names a little more than half way down the list.

"Kinana and Laxus? Why not? They would be so cute together."

Natsu smiled at her statement and allowed a small chuckle to make it past his lips. "So you're basing all of these couples off of how cute they'd be together?" Looking up to the white haired beauty with eyes that could only be described as piercing, his smile became something more akin to a smirk.

Mira felt her cheeks heating up a bit, but shook her head, trying her best to ignore the sensation his gaze made her feel. "Not all of them, but I really think they would be cute as a couple."

Natsu looked thoughtful for a moment before he reached behind the counter and grabbed a pencil. He then erased the two names and began scribbling in Mira's notebook.

"Hey!What are you doing!?" she asked in a hushed tone, but with an obvious hint of annoyance at her guildmate for defiling her precious creation. Natsu didn't say anything, but simply turned the notebook around for her to read. "Huh? Laxus and Minerva?"

"Yeah, why not? Why do all the couples need to be made up of people just from our guild? We have friends in a lot of other places too, you know. Blue Pegasus, Mermaid Heel, Lamia Scale, and a ton of other guilds."

Thinking about it for a moment, Mira couldn't help but agree. But, at the same time, she liked to make couples out of people she saw on a regular basis; those people just so happened to be the denizens of Fairy Tail. "I suppose they don't, but..." she said, trailing off after not being able to think of anything else to say.

At her words, the Fire Dragon Slayer's expression changed to something resembling curiosity. Glancing once again to the list of 'couples' between them, Natsu pointed to another pair of names on the paper. "Then explain it to me. Why did you pair Cana with Max? Cana and Bacchus from Quatro Cerberus I can see. But Max?" Honestly, the Slayer had no idea how this potential couple was ever born in the sweet barmaid's head. The only explanation he could come up with at the moment is that her seemingly tranquil mind was, in fact, quite a bit more chaotic than she lets on. Though, he'd keep that to himself, lest he meet her Sitri form up close.

Mira did a quick scan of the guildhall, laying eyes on both the female drunkard and the sand mage; the two sitting on almost opposite sides of the large room. "Well, I saw them chatting by the mission board one day and..."

Natsu, waiting for the Take-Over mage to continue, decided to speak up after she kept quiet for a few seconds. "That's it?

"But I thought they were cute!" she said with a pout on her face; quietly, of course.

"So you do just pair people up who you think would make a cute couple," he said more than asked, a big, almost victorious, grin on his face.

"No I don't!" she said, planting her palms on the bar top and leaning closer to him. Right after the words left her mouth, her eyes widened in realization. She had just shouted, forgetting in that moment that she was supposed to be having a quiet conversation in order to keep her notebook a secret. Taking a quick look around the guildhall, she saw that everyone was now staring at Natsu and herself; confused and questioning expressions evident on all of their faces. It didn't help that not many of Fairy Tail's mages were on jobs at the moment, so it was pretty much a full house.

Mira looked down at the bar top and closed her eyes, taking in a deep breath. She looked up again and offered everyone the brightest smile she could muster, as if to tell them that everything was fine. However, her smile didn't seem to dissuade her guildmates from burning questioning eyes at her.

A few years ago, Mira shouting might not have been something to even bat an eye at. But, with how she is now, an outburst like that out of nowhere was very, very uncharacteristic. Not faltering in her effort to maintain the fake smile plastered on her face, she couldn't stop her eye from twitching in irritation at Natsu's calm and carefree expression in a situation like this. After all, he's the one who made her shout, so he should at least show some form of emotion other than the grin that was frozen on his face.

"What the hell did you do to her?" she heard someone question. Looking away from Natsu, she saw Gray making his way towards them, followed closely by a concerned looking water mage. Thinking of what she should say to the Ice-Make mage, she then panicked, realizing that her notebook was still in plain sight; out in the open for anyone's eyes to see.

"What's it to you, droopy eyes!?" Natsu said, standing up and getting in Gray's face. But, Mira noted, not before throwing a napkin down on top of her notebook. Before bringing her attention back to the two bickering mages in front of her, she allowed herself a moment to wonder if he had hid it on purpose, or if it was just coincidence.

"Huh!? What'd you say, flame face?" Gray said, forgetting in an instant what brought him to the bar in the first place. In the same manner, the rest of the guild seemed to either have gone back to what they were doing before, or were now watching the battle of Ice and Fire in amusement, and a bit of hope that it would be a good fight. It had been a few days since the guild had seen a noteworthy brawl, after all.

Just as the clash started spilling out into the rest of the guild, Natsu ducked under Gray's fist and backed off a few feet. He glared at the raven haired man for a second, but ended up turning around and making his way back over to the bar. The Dragon Slayer didn't say a word as he sat down in the same seat he had been in before.

Gray was the most stunned by Natsu's actions. Since when did the pinkette ever leave a fight unfinished? The rest of the guild, who had been seconds away from jumping in on the fun, were thinking something along the same lines as they watched the Slayer shifting on his stool, trying his best to get comfortable.

"Natsu?" Mira said in a soft voice, a bit of worry in her tone at his unusual behavior.

"Hm? Oh, Erza's about to walk in and I don't really feel like dealing with her 'Justice' right now," he said in a lazy tone as he motioned toward the napkin covering Mira's notebook.

Glancing down, she gasped, having forgotten all about it. She was quick to grab the notebook and scurried to put it back in it's hiding spot behind the bar. Just as she stood back up, the doors to the guildhall opened, followed by the harsh sounds of metal boots clanking on the floor. But, Mira had to wonder why Natsu ended the fight with Gray. Any other day, he wouldn't have cared if Erza was two feet away from him; if Gray insulted him, he pounced.

The rest of the guild, having finally snapped out of their confusion at Natsu's odd behavior, turned to the armor clad mage as she walked toward the bar, greeting her fellow guildmates along the way. After not receiving any responses to her well meaning greetings, Era looked around the guildhall, a glare etched onto her face. "I said good afternoon."

"Good afternoon, Erza!" almost everyone shouted, fearful of what the Scarlet Knight might do if she were to become upset. Smiling in satisfaction, Erza continued on her way to the bar. After taking a seat, her eyebrow raised in curiosity at how the atmosphere of the guild seemed to be a mix of tension and awkwardness. "Hello, Natsu. Mira," she said in greeting to the two occupants of the bar.

"Hi, Erza," Mira said in return. But, Erza noted, the barmaid seemed to be more than just a little distracted by something.

"Yo, Erza! How did the job go?" Natsu said in a cheery tone, as if the events of a few minutes ago had never even happened.

The Requip mage's smile returning once again, Erza nodded. "It was good, Natsu. No problems at all." After a small moment of silence, Erza's curiosity wound up getting the better of her. "What happened here? Everyone seems tense."

"No clue. Maybe Gray was doing something stupid," Natsu said in a suggestive tone, loud enough for the nearby tables to hear.

Mira couldn't help but smile at this. Gray, on the other hand, wasn't too thrilled. "Oi! You're the one who-" the Ice-Make mage began, but stopped upon seeing another one of Erza's fierce glares directed straight at him.

Mira, wanting to stop her fellow S-Class mage from digging any deeper into the situation, cleared her throat. "Erza, would you like some strawberry cheesecake?"

Without even a seconds hesitation, Erza whipped her head around to face the barmaid with stars in her eyes. "That would be wonderful, Mirajane!" the Requip mage said, almost as if all of her dreams had just been fulfilled. Mira smiled and turned to get her friend's favorite treat. The Take-Over mage was very thankful in that moment for Erza's obsession with the sweet food, as it paused the Requip mage from asking any further into what had happened prior to her arrival. The thought of Natsu revealing the existence of the notebook to the world due to Erza's 'questioning' made the Take-Over mage almost squirm at the embarrassment it would cause. However, Erza's distraction didn't seem to last, as she went on to question Natsu anyway.

"So. What happened, Natsu?"

The pinkette, having been thinking about something altogether different, turned to his red headed friend and replied with a simple, "Hm?"

As luck would have it, before the Scarlet Knight could even begin to feel irritated, Mira returned to the bar with the blessed strawberry cheesecake. Her eyes almost sparkling, Erza immediately lost interest in scolding Natsu for his lack of attention, focusing solely on the glorious food that lay before her.

"Thanks, Mirajane!" she said before cutting a small piece of the cake with her fork, holding it in front of her face in admiration for a few moments, then bringing it to her mouth. At this point, it was clear the great Titania would be in her own little world for a bit.

"So," Natsu said, gaining the attention of the 'Demon' of Fairy Tail, "Where did we leave off?"

"Well..." she said, looking around to see if anyone was still paying attention to them. As luck would have it, the guild seemed to have gone back to their own devices; credit going to all the glares Erza had sent their way. "You were talking about how Cana and Max weren't a good match for each other," she said, reverting back to the whispering tone she had been using before her outburst. Although the barmaid did think the pair would be cute, she was curious as to why Natsu didn't think they'd make a good couple.

"Ah, that's right. Other than how cute they would look," he said in a teasing tone, causing a slight pout to form on Mira's face. "They're both members of Fairy Tail, but that's about the only thing they have in common with one another. On top of that, I've never seen anything hinting that they have any interest in each other."

"Well, that may be true right now, but you never know. Maybe one day they'll go on a job together and something will start to blossom between them!" Mira said with sparkling eyes, regaining the attention of a few nearby guildmates, bar Erza, who was still very much engrossed in her cake. Noticing a few people looking towards Natsu and herself once again, Mira just smiled at them, while on the inside she was screaming at herself for talking in such a loud voice. However, that didn't last long as her mind was pulled back to her romantic delusions. The most prominent at the moment being of what a child of the Card and Sand mages would look like.

Natsu, for his part, just gaped at the beauty standing in front of him. Did she just want to see people become couples, regardless of who they were, or how compatible they would be? He chuckled at how joyful and optimistic his white haired guildmate was, especially when she was talking about romance between their friends.

Mira, having returned from her little fantasies, narrowed her eyes at the Slayer. "What's so funny?" she asked with a noticeable hint of annoyance laced in her words.

Natsu just smiled at her and shook his head. "Nothing, Mira."

While he was still looking at her, Natsu's smile began to morph into something Mira could only describe as a sneer, and she began to feel anxiety take over at what he could be thinking about with a face like that.

"So," he said, moving just a bit closer to her, "Why isn't your name in here?"

"Huh?"

"You have almost every member of Fairy Tail paired up in that notebook of yours," he said, tapping the bar top right above where she was hiding it. "Do you not have someone you want to be paired up with?" he asked with a mischievous grin; one that could rival even her own.

Her eyes widening a bit, Mira began to feel anxiety creeping its way into her mind for the second time in only a matter of minutes. "That's not for you to know, Natsu," she said, mustering a rather large amount of willpower to steel herself in front of the Slayer.

Natsu continued to look at her for a moment, before turning around on his stool and looking away toward the rest of the guild. "I suppose it isn't," he said in a soft voice, a small smile on his lips. Even with that smile, Mira couldn't help but think his face looked a bit forlorn in that moment. In fact, after looking closer, the smile itself seemed to be a phony one.

Feeling as though she had somehow upset her friend, though she wasn't sure how, Mira leaned over the bar toward him, "Is something wrong, Natsu?"

The Slayer offered her a soft chuckle, but didn't turn to look at the barmaid. "I'm fine, Mira."

Mira couldn't help but think that saying you're fine, and saying nothings wrong are two very different phrases. But, she decided against pushing the matter any further.

After a few more seconds had passed by, Natsu turned around to face her and sent a wide grin her way. "I'm gonna head out for a bit. See you later, Mira."

"Yeah, see you later," the Take-Over mage said in a delicate voice, still rather concerned about Natsu's apparent mood swing.

"Later, Erza," Natsu offered his content friend, who just nodded to him upon registering her name.

The grin he had shown Mira wasn't the same as his usual one. It lacked the warmth his grin was supposed to emit. It lacked the impact his grin was supposed to have. It lacked...Passion, Mira thought. That was the word that came to mind as she watched Natsu make his way towards the doors of the guildhall. After all, from the barmaid's perspective, everything he does is filled with passion. A fond smile made it's way to her face for a brief moment, before it shifted into a frown aimed at the Slayer's retreating form.

As he walked by his team's table, Lucy had turned to him with a smile. "Natsu, wanna go on a job?"

He turned to the blond and offered, what Mira thought to be, another fake smile. "No thanks, Luce. I'm gonna go out for a bit."

"Oh, okay," the Celestial Spirit mage said in a subdued tone, likely feeling confused at his lack of enthusiasm for going on a job. "Maybe later then?" she asked with a hopeful ring in her voice.

"Yeah, maybe later," Natsu said, his fake smile still plastered on his face, before turning to the door once more.

"Oi, what the hell is wrong with you, flame face? Is your brain already fried this early in the day?"

Erza had just finished savoring her beloved cheesecake when she heard this. Narrowing her eyes at the half naked man who was antagonizing the Fire Dragon Slayer, she stood up and began making her way to Team Natsu's table. About to scold Gray before the two men started a brawl, Natsu beat her to it.

"You used that one earlier," he said in almost a whisper. But, seeing as the whole guild was staring at him in anticipation of another fight due to Gray's taunting, everyone heard what he had said. To say they were shocked wasn't even close to how they felt. Not only had Natsu not gone straight after the stripper, he hadn't even offered an insult in return.

Without turning around to face his rival, the Slayer continued walking and made it out the guild doors before anyone had the time to recover from their bewilderment. No one but his trusty companion, Happy, who had flown right after his best friend upon seeing how bad of a mood he had been in.

After what seemed like minutes, but in reality was only a few seconds, the mages in the guildhall began to look around at one another with wonder in their eyes. One by one, every mage in the guild began to direct their gaze in the direction of a certain shirtless Ice-Make mage.

"Gray..." Erza said, her intimidating gaze making it's target shiver, "What did you do to Natsu?"

"I didn't do anything, I swear!" he said, throwing his hands up as if to surrender before he found himself in a heap on the ground.

Mira looked again to the door where the Slayer had just walked through, and a large frown marred her near flawless face. "Something is wrong..." she said in a whisper.

There's chapter one for your enjoyment and/or criticism. I hope you found it appealing, at least. I don't know how often I'll be posting, but once August comes around, I'll have quite a bit more free time for writing.

For anyone who cares, I'm also working on editing my older stories and writing new chapters for the ones I've left incomplete. Those might take some time, especially since I'm going to be rather busy until August. But, when summer comes, I'll be career free, and ready to write to my poor little heart's content.

Also, it would be awesome if some of you could give me your opinion on how I write. Was it easy to follow the PoV, or did you get confused from time to time? Things like that. (I'd actually prefer PMs for those of you who are willing to let me know what you think of my writing style)

Anyway, thanks for reading!

-Mystiirious