Cat Bath

Lucy danced around puddles. She twirled with her umbrella and laughed at the rain. Juvia thought she saw Gray kissing Cana—both fiercely denied it, but their blushing faces were suspicious—so Magnolia was now plunged in a downpour. Still, Lucy was in a good mood. Not that she didn't feel bad for poor Juvia, but at least for the moment the rain woman was no longer glaring at her. Her jealous rage had focused on the scantly clad alcoholic instead.

Such a heartbreaking scene would never make Lucy happy intentionally. No, it was an idea that came to her while watching the argument from the sidelines. The love-triangle scene between Juvia, Gray, and Cana had inspired an entire chapter of her novel, just as she moaned to Levy about writer's block. Now she was eager to write...sadly at the grief of her friends. She wanted to quickly jot down her ideas. She could comfort Juvia and Cana later, and maybe try to explain the situation to poor, confused Gray.

Out of nowhere, someone appeared in front of her. She shrieked as the man ran at full speed, tried to stop himself, tripped on the cobbled road, and crashed into her. Lucy was knocked backwards and fell hard into a puddle she had just avoided. Her backside hurt as she laid there, face up to the falling rain. She heard a man's groan nearby.

"I am so, so sorry, miss. I...well!" He ended in surprise and a tone of delight.

Lucy slowly rose up and looked. The man who ran into her was now collapsed between her legs, his ginger head about at her askew knees, with a perfect view right up her skirt. She noticed the blue-tinted glasses, now knocked sideways, and the smarmy grin.

"Loke!" she screamed and immediately shoved her skirt down.

"Don't worry, I won't tell the guild you have underwear like that."

She scrambled away. Loke quickly leaped to his feet and genteelly offered her a hand up. She accepted only because she could yank him hard in anger, yet his powerful arm easily lifted her to her feet. She was ready to dust herself off, but her clothes were covered in splashed mud. She sighed in exasperation. She really liked this blouse, too! Just as she began to go after her rolling umbrella, Loke strode over to it and graciously carried it back to her. When she reached for the umbrella, he refused to give it up.

"What sort of gentleman would I be if I let my lady hold the umbrella?" he asked.

She sighed and gave in. It was such a little issue, anyway. "Why did you appear so suddenly and running like that? I wasn't in any trouble."

"Ah." He looked aside, and she was surprised to see embarrassment in his regal face. "I sort of...ran away."

"Ran away? You?" She could not imagine Loke retreating from any sort of enemy.

"Hey Lucy," he smiled ingratiatingly. "Do you think it's possible for me to stay with you for a little while?"

She folded her arms, sensing that this was not going to end well. "How long is a little while?"

He rubbed the back of his head with a sheepish grin. "Not too long. Only...say...a week," he muttered.

"A week! Loke, you do realize that for normal Celestial Spirits, a week in the Human World is a death sentence."

He looked aside with a shiver of horror. "Beats what's waiting for me back home."

She jolted in fear. "Is something bad happening in the Spirit World?"

"No, not bad. At least, I hope it doesn't get bad. It's just I sorta...well..." The Spirit of the Leo Constellation looked aside and pouted. "I pissed off Aquarius."

Lucy physically shivered at the thought.

He proceeded with a rushed explanation. "I went over to her place because Scorpio and I were supposed to go out drinking, and apparently I...ahem...interrupted them," he grimaced. "I had to wait while he showered off. Aquarius was rather peeved already, obviously, and she hid somewhere without even offering me some tea—not that she ever does that sort of thing anyway. Well, Scorpio was taking way too long in the shower, and I was starving. Aquarius has a lot of fish tanks with every sort of fish imaginable. I figured she wouldn't miss just one. I even picked an ugly one. So I managed to catch it pretty easily, cooked it up, and ate it while I was waiting. Then she and Scorpio came out of the shower together—which explained why it took so long—and there I was, eating a fish. I figured she'd be a little mad that I used her kitchen, and I quickly offered to clean up, but...well..." Loke shivered at the recent memory and rubbed out what Lucy guessed was some sort of painful injury. "How was I supposed to know that ugly fish was some distant cousin of hers? I didn't quite catch the entire explanation since I was more focused on running the hell away." He cringed slightly. "She is one scary bitch."