Wheels of Fire

A Week in Earthland

Four Days To Go

Lucy woke up momentarily shocked to find herself naked in bed. She never slept naked! Especially not when she could wake up to find Natsu in bed with her.

Natsu!

Suddenly, she remembered why she rushed into bed so quickly and stripped out of her clothes. How was she supposed to face Edo-Natsu after hearing him making moaning noises like that in the bathroom? Merely remembering it made her cheeks burn. Grasping the covers to her chest, she bolted up and looked around her apartment. The shikibuton was folded up, with the blankets on top and his pajamas on top of those. She glanced around nervously. She had slept naked, and he was at the foot of her bed. He could have seen her. He must have seen her!

Or maybe not. She had woken up with her blankets pulled to her chin, so maybe he did not know. She grabbed her housecoat and tied it extra tight around her. That should work until she could find clothes.

"Just four more days," she whispered to herself. Then she headed to the kitchen. Today, she smelled bacon and frying vegetables.

"Morning, Princess," Fireball called out cheerfully. "Spring veggie omelet with bacon and buttered wheat toast. Is that okay?"

"Y-yeah," she muttered, staring at him uncertainly. Was it just her, or did he look happier, more relaxed? His instant smile rather than cringing fear was awfully suspicious.

When the pink-haired boy heard her unsteady voice, he looked away from the stove and over to her in concern. "If you want something else, I can cook it. Let me know what you feel like. I can add meat or rice or just about anything. Just tell me."

"No ... no, it's fine, really," she insisted, and quickly slipped into the bathroom to escape from him.

She could hardly help but search the bathtub, worried that he might have left a mess behind. However, the entire area was cleaned to a shine. She might have thought it was too clean, except this was how Natsu Dragion left the bathroom every night. Or had he been doing that every night, too?

After she dressed and took care of her morning needs, she sat at the dining table, still worried about what to do regarding this problem. There was no delicate way to bring it up. Besides, could she really insist that he not work off whatever lust he felt? If she did that, what if Edo-Natsu turned that lust onto her? That would be far worse. She was just coming to a decision to let the matter go when a steaming mug of coffee clacked in front of her. Lucy jumped and quickly drew away from her house guest.

"You look like you didn't sleep well," Edo-Natsu said, and he took a seat beside her with a concerned look on his face. "Did you have a nightmare? Was I snoring? If I'm too loud, you just have to tell me to be quiet."

"No, you're ... you're definitely quiet," she muttered. Lucy blushed as she remembered how she had placed her ear against the door to hear him. If she had not been spying, she never would have known.

"Is anything troubling you?" he asked, truly sounding like he sincerely wanted to be of assistance.

"It's nothing," she said, waving the matter aside. "I ... I don't know what to do today. We saw most of the town already."

"Well, what do you normally do?"

She grimaced as she realized that her days off were actually quite boring compared to the insane adventures she went on while working with her teammates. "Usually, I sit at home to write my story, or go to the guild to talk to people. I also like going to the bookstore, but I'm short on money now."