The Huntress

■Chapter Six-Suspicious happenings■

"Oh Natsu thank goodne-OH MY GAWD SHE'S BLEEDING!" Grandine, Natsu's mother screeched.

She ran forward, a bittersweet feeling blossoming in the pit of her stomach. She was so glad Natsu was back. She got so worried. That glint in his eyes, she'd never seen it before and it made her think horrible things. Like, maybe he was running away or he hated private school. Seeing his face made her feel so relieved. But then there was the bleeding girl in his arms. As a mother she felt protective of her son, immediately suspicious of their relationship. But as a doctor she was seriously concerned.

"Mother, please, help her." Natsu said, keeping his head close to Lucy's.

Grandine nodded, pulling Lucy's bangs out of her face. Her eyes widened, instantly recognizing her. Oh my gosh....

"Grandine what's all th-" Igneel said, jogging over to them. He looked over Grandine's shoulder, his eyebrows flying to the top of his head at the sight of Lucy. He knelt down next to Natsu, pressing a kiss onto Lucy's forehead. She weakly opened her eyes and slowly rolled them in his direction.

"Uncle I-Iggy, *cough* I'm s-sorry." she croaked, her eyes shutting soon after.

Natsu wanted to ask how he knew her but he knew it would be better to take care of Lucy first. She came first, and he wanted his priorities to always circle her. He realized he wanted to keep her in his life. He wanted to learn more about her. Make her smile and laugh. Make her happy.

Igneel went to pull her into his arms and Natsu jolted back, tightening his arms around Lucy. He couldn't help but feel like he was her protection, her firey dragon. He didn't feel comfortable with the idea of passing her along to someone else.

"Son, please, we're losing her. We gotta get her inside." Igneel pleaded.

Natsu's hair fell over his eyes as he nodded, quietly handing her over to him. Despite his arms losing the weight, his heart felt heavy. His jaw felt weak, as if forbidding him to speak, or tell Lucy everything would be alright. He couldn't utter a thing.

He followed his parents into the house and noticed they went into a room he'd never seen before. It had a red cross on it, a pad lock attached to the doorknob. He squinted his eyes at it, then at his parents's backs. Why would they be so secretive?

They quickly typed in the password, Natsu looking over their shoulder out of curiosity. He narrowed his eyes in on the keys, trying to see them under his mother's fingers. Once the pad lock made the noise to notify that it was unlocked Grandine and Igneel dashed into the room, slamming it behind them.

Natsu clenched his fist.

■+++■

6786 Starbank rd.

That was the password. Natsu scribbled it onto a piece of notebook paper and sat down at his chair near his desk. He ran his fingers through his hair, ruffling it as he thought.

He was so perplexed by his parents' dubious behavior. First they somehow knew Lucy, then, suddenly his father is her uncle, and now they were hiding some secret room from him.

The password had to mean something. For them to keep something from him, it had to. They told him everything. From how their dyas at work were to the birthing process his mother went through to bring him into the world. That was definitely not an enjoyable conversation. He shuddered just thinking about it.

It sounded like an address but why would they make their password someone else's adress? He quickly slid his chair towards his desk, the wheels underneath him screeching from his force. He ignored the noise and began typing.