Understanding My Heart

Chapter 17

The Day Before Lucy's Date

Natsu's POV

Natsu groaned sleepily as he heard another bout of pounding on his front door. He opened his eyes a crack and saw very bright morning light coming through his window. It still had to be really early in the morning... Who was trying to break his door down this early?

"Natsu Dragneel you open this door right now! We've got a lot of stuff to do today!" yelled a woman's voice. He recognized it as Lisanna. He groaned and rolled over, wanting to get a little more sleep.

"Five more minutes Lisanna!" he called, trying to drop back off to sleep. He shot up as another, scarier female voice shouted at him.

"Natsu open this door or I'm breaking it down!"

It was Mira, and from the sound of it she was in her Satan Soul form. Natsu rocketed out of his bed and ran to the door, opening it before Mira came in and beat him to a pulp.

"There! I'm wide awake now, ya happy?" he panted, still slightly terrified. The two women smiled at him as they stood innocently just outside his front door.

"Yep! Now hurry up and get dressed! We're taking you shopping!" said Lisanna excitedly. Natsu groaned again. He had forgotten... Apparently he had to dress up when he confessed to Lucy.

Ten minutes later they were entering Magnolia's shopping district. Natsu was wolfing down some food he had gotten from a vendor as they had walked. He wasn't going to be dragged along shopping on an empty stomach.

"Alright then... Time to find you some dressy clothes," said Mira excitedly. She and Lisanna pulled the reluctant Natsu into the men's formal store. Natsu felt very out of place here. He was used to wearing clothes that were good for fighting in, not for looking good. He stared around the store not knowing what to do.

"So do you see anything that you like Natsu?" asked Lisanna, and Natsu shrugged in answer.

"You do realize that I have no idea what I'm doing right?" he said, giving her a pained look. "Why can't I just wear my normal clothes? Lucy won't care will she?" He cowered at the glare they gave him.

"Natsu do you want this to be special for Lucy or not?" said Mira, her tone indicating that he had better chose the right answer.

"Yes?" he said, scared that she'd get angry and transform in to her Satan Soul form again. She smiled and patted him on the head.

"Good answer! Don't worry, we'll help you!" she said, taking his arm and dragging him down an isle. Lisanna was right on their heels.

"I think we should put him in red Mira," said the younger sister excitedly, holding up a flame-red dress shirt. "Look! This even has a little gold dragons on the collar and cuffs!" Natsu examined the shirt, still unsure about this whole thing.

"I like the dragons," he said cautiously. Mira and Lisanna beamed at him.

"Progress! Let's not overcomplicate things and just go with this one. If we show him too many he may get confused," said Mira. Lisanna giggled and Natsu scowled at them. He was going to be so glad once this was over...

Next they had him try on pants, and he was surprised at how long it took to find the right pair. He thought that the first pair he tried on were just fine, but they had both rejected them and made him try on five more that all looked the same to him. When they had finally agreed on the pants they had picked out black dress shoes and a tie. Natsu hated ties... He felt like he was being strangled a little when he had to wear one. They had managed to find one that matched the red shirt, black with little golden dragons on it.