Scraps of Paper

Wind

Natsu lurched off of the train and onto the pavement, trying his hardest to keep the contents of his stomach inside his mouth while he pushed through the throng of people. It wasn't all that difficult. Everyone who saw the boy cleared away, forewarned by his green complexion. 

"This is what you get for not taking your medication," an annoyingly familiar voice mocked him as he struggled by the last layer of people. Finally Natsu was left in a relatively clear area of space and he plopped down against the wall, leaning his head back against the cool bricks. His companion followed after him, muttering swears as he pushed through a group of men. They grumbled as he moved through, but finally they spit him out in front of his sickly friend. Gray's annoyance turned into satisfaction when he saw the state of the pink-haired boy. "I told you so," he said, just to play it up.

"Shut up..blurgh..." Natsu griped, clutching his stomach. He willed Gray's annoying voice to fade into the background and tried to focus on keeping the walls from spinning. It was a hard task, which only made his stomach more irritable. 

"Honestly," Gray sighed. Natsu looked up at him blearily. Was it the tears in his eyes or had Gray lost his shirt again. He blinked and found the latter to be true, much to his annoyance. "How many times did I remind you? How many times did Erza remind you?" Natsu cringed at the sound of the she-demon's name, but that only made his dizziness worse. Now he was sick and terrified. 

"Don't..ugh...tell her," he begged. Gray flinched at the sounds of Natsu's gagging, realizing that the situation was more serious than usual. It would be, after all, Natsu was used to dealing with an hour trip at most. Two to three hours was pushing his boundaries. Five hours was just insane. 

"Ah, jeez." Gray ran a hand through his hair, looking around distractedly. He spotted a small gift shop a few rows down and smiled. "Hang on, let me check out that shop over there. Just stay there!" He turned and ran off, pushing people as he went. Natsu groaned, internally asking the idiot where he was going to go. 

He tried to watch the people in attempt to calm his nausea, but it only seemed to make it worse. Closing his eyes, he leaned back and focused on the coolness of the bricks, but already they were adapting to his abnormal body temperature and becoming hot and uncomfortable. 

As if reading his thoughts, a cool breeze suddenly floated by. Natsu sighed, breathing in the scents of vanilla and cherry blossoms. The smell calmed his jumpy nerves and seemed to soothe his stomach. He didn't try to open his eyes, afraid to ruin the magic that had been cast on him, but the wind was already disappearing, carrying the scent along with it. 

Natsu opened his eyes and stood up uneasily. A little dizziness came back to him, but that odd odor spun through his mind, making his body feel light. He turned, sniffing the air cautiously. Most of the trail was covered up by sweaty, gross smelling people, but he could just detect traces of the sweet scent. He followed after it blindly, only thinking of relief. 

He followed the scent in and out of people, much farther from his space than he'd been expecting, but unable to stop. Finally he stopped under a store, sniffing and spinning in a circle. He'd thought he was closing in on the smell, but suddenly he couldn't detect it at all. His heart plummeted. 

Saddened, Natsu turned to walk back to his spot and wait for Gray. He had just taken a step when a cool wind blew past, whipping his hair into his face. He cringed against the onslaught, but froze when a familiar smell invaded his nose. Vanilla and cherry blossoms. 

Natsu spun around, his eyes widening. He didn't know why it hadn't occurred to him that the smell belonged to a person. For just looking at her, he knew it was her scent. 

He watched as she ducked her head, holding up a hand in attempt to block her face from the wind. Her blonde hair blew out behind her wildly, looking like strands of gold in the sunlight. The same tantalizing smell drifted towards him, making his head feel light. 

The girl looked up and her chocolate brown eyes seemed to lock with his just as a particularly strong gust blew. Her lips parted in a gasp as the wind tore the bow out of her hair, sending it spiraling directly towards Natsu. 

Acting on instinct, the boy reached out and snagged the little blue ribbon. He looked down at it and then at the girl. She was looking at him too, he was sure of it now. She looked confused as her eyes darted between his face and the bow in his hands, but then her friend was grabbing her and pulling her away. The girl's mouth opened in protest, but her little friend would hear none of it as she dragged the blonde onto the train. The last view he got of her was her golden hair before she disappeared into the train. 

Natsu stood stock still, the bow still in his hand. He looked at the windows to see if he could spot the blonde, but she was nowhere in sight. He felt lost and a little upset. Reluctantly, he turned and started to head back to his spot to meet Gray. As he walked, a light breeze kicked up the scent of vanilla and cherry blossoms. He looked up, expecting her to be there, but was met with disappointment. When the smell didn't fade, he looked at the bow. Carefully, he held the blue ribbon up to his nose and sniffed. Natsu gaped to himself as the scent of vanilla and cherry blossoms filled his nose. He smiled and leaned against the wall, carefully tying the little bow around his wrist. He sent a silent thank you out to the girl and a promise that he would return it to her. He laid his head back, his sickness completely gone.

That was how Gray found him fifteen minutes later. "Got it!" The boy exclaimed, now wearing a neon green gift shop t-shirt and holding up a bottle of medicine. He stopped when he saw his friend turn to him with a smile. Gray frowned at him, squinting his eyes. Natsu looked as stupid as usual, but there seemed to be something off about him.

"Thanks for trying Gray, but I'm fine now," the boy exclaimed, smiling secretively. Gray looked from the medicine in his hand to his smiling friend. 

"Like hell you are!" He shouted, the anger dawning on him. "I didn't spend thirty minutes talking to that crazy blue haired chick to have you tell me you're fine!" 

"Crazy blue-haired girl?" Natsu asked.

"Nevermind that! You're taking this damn medicine, flame shit!" 

"I don't need it, stupid block head!" 

"Flametard!"

"Ice Dick!" 

"Lava Brains!"

"Ice Bastard!" 

....

Lucy giggled to herself and turned away from the two bickering boys. She had ran out of the train in search of her lost ribbon, but she'd stopped when she saw that the pink-haired boy had it wrapped around his wrist. She didn't know why he had it like that, but the thought warmed her heart regardless. Besides, she wouldn't want to get in between those two's argument. 

"Find it?" Levy asked as Lucy settled back into her seat. The last call for passengers sounded. 

"Nah," Lucy dismissed. Levy frowned, looking apologetic. 

"I'm sorry, Lu-chan! If I had let you go you would've been able to get it back..."

"Don't worry about it Levy-chan," Lucy waved her hand, smiling. She turned to gaze out the window. She didn't worry about the ribbon. She knew her phone number was written down on the silk, and somehow she knew she'd be seeing the cute pink-haired boy soon enough.