Forever by his side (nalu)

The river

Natsu POV

When we arrive at the stream, I crouch down again to let her get off my back without putting weight on her feet. I sit her down on the river bank so she can dip them in the water. Again, I have some weird feeling inside when I let her go. She was warm against my back, and it was kind of fun to have someone rely on me. It was the first time. Acnologia never relied on me. He was strong enough to take care of everything on his own. Also, he had for principle to never rely on anyone.

When she puts her feet in the stream, she takes in a sharp breath, teeth clenched. The pain must be atrocious, I think. Then I see her relax and take a deep breath in, a peaceful expression on her face. Seeing her feet still dirty with grime and blood despite the current, I put my satchel down to take a bar of soap out. Taking my sandals off, I step into the river. Kneeing, I go to take one foot, but as soon as I try to touch her, she jumps and brings her legs to her chest. Damn it. I startled her again. For an unknown reason, that reaction makes me mad, not at her but at the people who are the cause of these reactions. Not wanting to make her more skittish, I school my expression, hiding my anger.

"Wh-What are you doing?" she asks, her voice shaking.

"I was just going to wash your feet," I answer gently. It's weird. I'm never gentle. Acnologia never let me be gentle. Nobody before made me want to be gentle. But she does. For once, weakness and fragility doesn't annoy me. Maybe because I know, somewhere inside, that she's not weak. Physically, yes. She is like all the other humans. She is as breakable. But mentally. I can tell at one glance that she lived in hell before escaping to the forest. It's in her eyes, in the way she reacted when I moved too close to her, in how she did not know how to respond to kindness. It did not escape me that she most likely never had a piggyback ride. Her strength is not physical but in how she still lives despite all the abuse she suffered through. Somewhere inside of me, a seed of respect for that girl begins to blossom.

Slowly, she puts her feet back in the water, choosing to trust me. I can see in her eye that it had been hard for her to do so. I can also see it in the way she is clenching the little leather pouch so hard her knuckles were whites. I gently (again that word) take her foot in my hands and begin to rub it carefully, mindful of the cuts. She hisses a few times when I accidentally touch a sore area and when I have to press harder to get the dirt out of the scratches, but otherwise, I think I do a good job of cleaning up her wounds without hurting her too much. I don't know why, but it annoys me when she's hurting. Someone who has already been hurt that much in her life should not experience pain again for the rest of it. When I look up, I see her staring at me. I realize I have only seen her right eye, her left one hidden behind her hair. "What is it?" I ask her.

It takes a few seconds before she answers me, "Why are you so... kind to me?" She says 'kind' like it's a dirty word. Like it leaves a bad taste in her mouth.

As an answer, I simply shrug. To be honest, I don't really understand either why I want to help her. Might be because she intrigues me. People don't go running barefoot in the forest for no reason. She wants to escape something, and I want to know what. Not one to beat around the bush, I decide to ask her directly, "What are you running away from?"

At first, she doesn't look like she wants to answer, but I give her no choice and pressure her more. "Listen," I tell her, "I'm pretty cozy here alone in the woods, so I don't want you or anyone to bring trouble here. Unless you want me to ditch you, and from the looks of it, you won't survive on your own, you will answer me."

"I'm running from everyone," she finally tells me, looking down. I can't say I like that answer. I really, really don't like it. But what I don't know is if it's because she might bring me trouble or because many people want to harm her. Strangely, she sets off every protective instincts I did not know I had. Peeking up at me, she sees what must be a glare on my face because she hurriedly adds, "but don't worry. No one will bother to chase after me all the way here."