Falling For The Florist [Natsu Dragneel] | ✓

twelve; waterlily

     When Natsu left for seven months of training and working so he could make enough to bring home, his girlfriend was utterly devastated. 

     It was another day for her at the flower shop; outside, the rain dripped from the shingles and the sky looked like it hadn't shed a tear for years and had finally gotten its revenge. The weather was bittersweet to the heavily pregnant Izumi Akihiko. 

     With a sadness incalculable to one who didn't experience it themselves, the florist arranged a bouquet for a funeral. It had been a while since she had needed to make such a cluster, but someone needed to do the job. It was almost ironic to her that, at a moment where she felt so lonely and complained about it, someone else was suffering a loss far greater than her own. She felt a little guilty just acknowledging the fact. 

     Izumi sighed and slipped the flower arrangement into the cooler, shut it, and leaned against the glass door. Her hands traveled to her stomach, and she remembered the instance so long ago when Natsu estimated his daughter was to be a girl. As she'd found out a few months prior, he was right. Very soon, a baby girl was due to enter the world.

     The woman couldn't have been more excited about it, even with her loneliness as a playing factor. 

     Motherhood was always fascinating to her. As she wiped down the countertops for closing, Izumi reminisced about her silly ideas of having a child when she was only one herself. Even though her core ideas were now different, the aspect of starting a new life was just as enthralling to her at that point as it was when she was only a girl.

     Izumi shook herself from her thoughts and snatched her worn leather satchel from the bench. The woman toddled to the door with a hand on her stomach and slipped out into the pouring rain. 

     Even though she should've been primarily concerned with the rain soaking her clothes, she all at once had different priorities when she saw a head of pink hair, wet as could be, stumble up to the storefront and pull her into a loving, bone-crushing hug.

     And, of course, it was accompanied by a chaste kiss.