Rumor Has It *Nalu*

Chapter Six

°Normal pov°

Rain. That's all everyone saw as they left their houses to go to school or work. Natsu walked with Wendy up to her school but he stopped at the corner. He didn't want people to see him with Wendy because they might start talking about her too. Wendy still hasn't told him that she knew about the rumors. She wanted him to walk her all the way to the doors but she understood his reasoning and let him be.

Natsu held his umbrella tighter as he headed to what he hated most. The only reason the rumors started to spread was because he picked a fight with the wrong person at the wrong time.

~Flashback~

While walking with his friend, Natsu wanted to take a short cut because he was a little late getting back to his sister. He had just lost Igneel and his mother was already gone so it was just him and Wendy now. He was 15 and working to keep up with the bills, his uncle would visit every now and then to check up on the kids. They were fine on their own and their uncle worked with the police so it helped them stay as they were as long as they had weekly visits and check ins.

Hibiki, Natsu's friend, wasn't sure of it. Then again, he wasn't really good friends with Natsu. He was jealous. His long time crush, Jenny Realight, liked Natsu. It wasn't fair. He thought Natsu always got the girls and he didn't know how. 'I mean, his hair is pink for crying out loud' he thought as he and Natsu turned down the alley.

When they got closer to the middle, someone blocked their path. They both looked up to see a man with two others behind him holding bats. They wanted to turn around but there were more men blocking the way they entered.

"What're you two doing out at this time?" The one who seemed to be the leader asked.

"We were just heading home" Natsu replied in a whisper. He was frightened and didn't want to show it but couldn't help but shrink back a bit. He glanced at Hibiki to see how he was handling all of this. He could see the fear but couldn't say anything as his attention was taken back to the three in front.

The men looked at each other, chuckled, and swung their bats a bit. Natsu knew that they weren't going to get home without earning a few hits. He knew how to defend himself as his uncle taught him how to protect his sister but he didn't know if Hibiki knew anything. The leader took his bat and swung it towards Natsu. The rest took this as their signal to do the same. Natsu blocked the first hit but was hit in the back and it knocked him forward a bit. He kicked one of the lackeys and managed to make him drop his bat. Natsu dove for it while Hibiki tried to block the attacks he was getting. He didn't like how Natsu was better than him. He didn't like how he couldn't defend himself. He was all bloody while Natsu managed to only get hit a couple times. Once again, jealousy ran it's course.

Natsu knew he had to take out the leader and the rest would fall into place. It wasn't the best idea as he was his friend but Natsu waited until the leader was ready to strike again but at Hibiki. When the time came and the leader was distracted, Natsu raised the bat and slammed it into the man's head with all the strength he could muster. It scared Natsu a bit because he heard a very loud Crack and was sure he had split the man's head, leaving him unconscious and bleeding. Everyone stopped and looked at the scene that happened when they weren't looking. They all heard sirens but Natsu, Hibiki, and the man unconscious stayed where they were. The two boys were frozen in fear until Hibiki had enough and quickly darted off before the cops managed to come.

After everything that happened, Natsu had to be questioned by the police and wasn't able to attend school the next day. Unfortunately for him, that was the day Hibiki decided to let his jealousy take over and spread rumors about how he killed a few gang members because and even attacked Hibiki, which "explained" Hibiki's injuries. He even claimed that Natsu was sent to jail. After a couple of days, Natsu finally went back to school. He and his uncle stayed at home and extra day because he wanted to relax a bit before going back. By the time Natsu went back to school, the rumors had spread and people gave him dirty looks and talked about him loud enough to where he heard them. Confused, he tried to talk to Hibiki about it. When he found the boy, he was surrounded by a group of people that Natsu didn't know. They all glared at him, making Natsu step back a couple steps. He tried talking but was hit and sent flying into the lockers. He decided then that he wouldn't try talking to anyone and would glare at everyone who even looked his way. 'Why bother with people if they just stab you in the back later?' He thought as he headed home, deciding that he'd skip the rest of the day.

~Flashback over~

Natsu realized that he spaced out during his first hour and headed to his second class. After sitting down and waiting for his blonde friend to enter, her friends looked at him and smiled a bit. Lucy had made them sit with him at lunch and they all didn't mind very much. If Lucy trusted him, then they did too. Although Natsu doesn't talk to them, they talk to him and he'll nod and whatnot. He wasn't ready to talked to a lot of people yet and they understood.

The bell rang signalling that class was starting. Natsu noticed that Lucy wasn't in class and was a bit worried. She never missed school so of course he was worried.

'I hope she's alright' he thought as he wrote down the notes the teacher had on the board.