Inner Fire

Chapter 1

Pictures of you

Lucy stared out the window of the carriage with a sour look on her face.

"Honestly, I don't think today could've gone any worse!" she huffed.

"Yeah.." said Natsu in agreement.

"It could've gone a lot better.." he said, trying to keep from vomiting out the window.

They'd gone out on a mission, trudging through heavily wooded areas and rough terrain for a whole day, only to find that in the time they were traveling, somebody else had already completed the task. Lucy was practically in a sour mood since then, and had been stepping in puddles, tripping on stones, and catching her hair on things.

The coach slowed to a stop.

Natsu looked up.

"We've stopped?" he asked, almost sounding relieved.

"I'll go check with the driver." said Lucy, standing up.

Natsu looked over at her seat just as the carriage door closed behind her.

She'd left a book behind.

He picked it up.

The cover was blank.

"Hey, Luce, I think you forgot this." he called, just as the book flipped open.

Despite wanting not to look, his eyes betrayed him, and scanned the pages.

The book was filled with hand-drawn pictures by Lucy.

'I didn't know you were into drawing as well, Luce.' he thought.

The first pictures were of the Fairy Tail mark. Next there were some pictures of all of her celestial spirits.

Cancer, Aquarius, Holorgium, Lyra, Taurus..

Natsu snickered at the picture of the ferocious-looking, thong-wearing, axe-wielding bull.

Next there were realistic pictures of Mirajane, Erza, Macau, Happy, even Gray.

He glared at the picture of Gray for a second and then flipped the page again to find..

More pictures of Gray..

'Why Gray?' he wondered to himself. He frowned.

'Could she have feelings for h-' he started to think, but was interrupted by Lucy's face peering through the window.

"Hey Natsu, the driver says he's not going to take us any further, so we may as well gather up our stuff and-" but she stopped mid sentence as her eyes fell on the book in Natsu's hands.

She gasped as she rushed through the carriage door.

"What are you doing with my book?!" she said, snatching it away.

"Nothing." he said plainly.

"How much did you see?" she asked, quickly snapping it shut.

"Not much." he said, standing up.

'But I've seen enough,' he thought bitterly.

"You better not have," muttered Lucy, turning away so that he didn't see the red streak across her face.

* . *

. * .

"'I wish we were still in that carriage' she says." repeated Holorgium, who marched just behind Natsu.

"Really? I think it's great to get out of that thing. Just GREAT." he said, his irritability coming through.

Lucy gave him a funny look from inside the clock.

"'When will we be back at Fairy Tail?' she says." said Holorgium.

"Probably two days." he said stiffly, dragging his feet petulantly through the dirt.

"'Are you okay?' she says."

"I'm just FINE." he lied, kicking a stone.

She left it at that, although she was absolutely baffled about his behavior.

'Why in the hell would she like Gray?!?!' he thought.

'What's he got that I don't???'

Then suddenly another voice popped into his head.

'Sounds like you're jealous, Natsu..' it teased.

'Am not! I'm way better than he is!' he retorted in his head.

'No, I mean your jealous that Lucy likes him and not you.' it said.

Natsu stopped in his tracks.

'What? That's ridiculous! I mean Lucy and I are just friends..'

'Right.. And that would explain why you're blushing..'

Natsu's eyes widened as he realized that he was blushing.

'You can't prove anything..' he thought.

'Gray and Lucy sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G..'

Natsu's hands balled into fists, his eyes narrowing.

'Shut up..'

'First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes-'

"I SAID SHUT UP!!" he yelled.

"Why are you yelling?" came Lucy's voice from behind him.

He peeked over his shoulder, careful not to show the fact that he was blushing.

Lucy was no longer inside of Holorgium, and was staring at him oddly.

"Natsu?" she asked again.

"Um.. No reason." he said, turning away.

No matter how much he fought it, the redness on his face simply would not fade.

"Are- are you blushing?" asked Lucy, peering at him.

"What? N-no, of course not," he stuttered, reddening further.

He looked off to the side, into the trees, off somewhere in the bushes. Anywhere except for Lucy's face.

"Nice weather today." he said, trying to change the subject.

Lucy glanced up at the cloudy sky with an arched eyebrow.

"I guess.." she said.

Natsu looked down at his feet, wondering when it would be over.

. * .

* . *

They'd set up camp in a small opening in the trees, and made a small tent in front of the fire.

Natsu and Lucy were sprawled out in the tent, their faces alight in the flickering flames of the fire.

Lucy was busy sketching something in her little book as Natsu stared into the flames, lost in thought.

"You know when I woke up this morning, I didn't think I'd be all the way out here." she said, her pencil etching fine lines across the page.

"It's nice though." she said, smiling.

Natsu peered at her.

Her brown eyes sparkled beautifully in the fire light.

"Drawing the fire?" he asked.

Lucy looked up from her drawing, blushing faintly.

"No.." she said.

"Ah.." he said, staring at the fire.

'She must be drawing Gray or something..'

"So. You like drawing?" he asked.

Lucy nodded, remaining silent.

"Sorry." he said.

Lucy looked up.

"For what?" she asked.

"For looking in your book without permission."

"It's fine. I'm just glad you didn't get too far.." she said, blushing at the thought.

Natsu glanced at her funny.

"What, were you drawing people naked?" he teased lightly.

Lucy smacked the book on top of his head.

"No!... It's just... someone.. I like.." she said slowly, averting her gaze.

Natsu looked down, trying to hide his pain.

"Oh." he said.

'So she does like Gray..'

"Well, I think I'm gonna hit the sack. 'Night, Lucy." he said laying his head down to get some rest.

"Goodnight Natsu." she said, gazing at him for a moment before returning her gaze to the picture.

He was there, gazing up at her from the paper, grinning.

Completely the opposite from how he was acting now.

She closed the book quietly, laying down next to Natsu, who seemed to already be asleep.

"Eventually I'll find the courage to tell you the truth." she said, as she closed her eyes.

Lucy fell asleep.

Natsu gazed at her quietly, wondering what on earth she had meant.

"Whatever it is, I wish you would just tell me already." he mumbled softly into her ear.

He pulled back to stare at her face.

She was so pretty.

He smiled, twirling a small section of her hair with his fingers.

'I think I love you, Lucy..' he thought.

'Please don't leave me.'

Chapter 1 is done! :3

Yes. I couldn't get enough of writing about NaLu, so I started writing another one!

Hope you enjoy.

Let me know how you like it.

I'll update soon. :)

- Anni Mae15