My Little Kitten

Chapter 24 - Missing

I took Lucy to the guild because we ran out of food at Lucy's place. I sat her on the counter and ordered some tuna slices for her. I hand fed her before ordering my own meal which a delicious spicy steak. I was starving thanks to running around the whole day after Gray. The nerve of him to steal Lucy from me. The next time I fight with him I'll make sure to give him one extra hard punch in the face for that.

After my delicious dinner, I noticed Lucy curled up asleep and decided to take her home to my place. I gently picked her up and carried her out of the guild. As I was walking through the street, Happy flew up beside me. "Natsu~. You should've told me you were leaving the guild" Happy whined. "Sorry Happy. Lucy fell asleep and I wanted to take her home" I replied. Happy looked down at the sleeping Lucy in my arms. "She looks so peaceful" he commented, "yeah she does" I replied as I looked down at Lucy.

As soon as we got to our place, I said "goodnight Lucy" as I gently placed her on her blue pillow. Happy flew towards the couch to sleep on while I laid in my hammock. "Goodnight Happy" I said as I got comfortable. "Goodnight Natsu" he replied and I slowly fell asleep.

I woke up to the smell of bacon and eggs. Wait a minute, whose cooking in my house?! I quickly sat up and looked towards the source. "Gray?! What are you doing here?!" I exclaimed. "Did you forget that I'm staying here till Lucy turns back to normal?" he said. "Oh yeah. How did you get in last night?" I asked. "You keep your door unlocked so it's easy to get in" he replied. "Oh yeah" I replied and then I noticed Lucy sitting at his feet. Her tail swayed as she looked up eagerly.

"I'll get your fish in a minute Lucy" Gray said as he moved away from the stove and grabbed a tin of tuna pieces from one of the many bags on the counter. He opened the tin, poured the contents into a bowl and then put the bowl on the floor in front of Lucy. She ate directly from the bowl as I walked up to the stove and stole a piece of bacon from the pan. "Hey!" Gray exclaimed, "mmm delicious" I said as I licked my lips. Gray can cook a really good bacon but I won't admit that to him. He glared at me before continuing to cook our breakfast.

"What's in the bags?" I asked as I looked at the bags on the counter. "Food. Before I came here last night, I went shopping for food" he replied. "Ooo what did you get?" I said as I dug my head through one of the bags. I felt a hand grab my hair and pull my head out of the bag. "Ow!" I exclaimed, "get your nose out of there. I didn't buy all this food just for you to eat it all in one day" Gray said and he let go of my hair. We gave each other a glare as I sat down on my couch besides Happy who's eating a fish.

After breakfast, we went to the guild and I put Lucy down on the floor to play around. I watched her play with a ball of yarn for a while from my seat at my table. She would hit the ball of yarn with her paw and chase after it, leaving a trail of wool behind. Once I was sure she would be alright without my supervision, I went to talk to Romeo and Macao.

A few hours later, my stomach started to rumble telling me that it was lunch time. I looked around for Lucy but I couldn't find her anywhere on the floor. 'Maybe she's with Mira, Lisanna and Levy?' I thought. I looked around and saw Mira and Lisanna at the bar working. 'Maybe Levy?' I thought as I looked around for her. "How many times do I have to tell you!" I heard Levy's voice from across the hall. I turned towards the voice, "I'm. Not. A. Shrimp!" Levy said as she shouted at Gajeel. "Gihi I understand Shrimp" Gajeel teased and Levy groaned. 'She's not with Levy or Mira or Lisanna so she might be with Gray?' I thought.

"Now where is that Ice Princess?" I mumbled to myself. I found him at the bar drinking a beer but I don't see Lucy anywhere near him. 'Maybe she'll come out when she's hungry? I'll eat my lunch with Happy till she comes out' I thought. I looked around for Happy but he was nowhere to be seen. 'Strange? I'll just eat by myself then' I thought and walked to the bar.

I ordered some spicy chicken wings and I devoured the whole plate of them. I let out a huge burp, "another plate please Mira" I said happily. Looking around, Lucy still hadn't shown up. I was getting a bit of a bad feeling, she would usually be hungry around now. That feeling disappeared for a bit when my second plate of spicy chicken wings was placed in front of me.

After finishing my filling lunch, Lucy still didn't come out. The bad feeling came back so I decided to look around for her again. She wasn't with Mira, Lisanna, Levy or Gray. Happy was nowhere in the guild which was weird. He would usually be near me or with Carla but he isn't with Carla either. I searched the entire guild from top to bottom. I looked all over the floor, under the table and every small place she could squeeze into but I didn't find her. "What are you doing Natsu?" Mira asked, I looked up and everyone in the guild was looking at me weirdly. "I can't find Lucy anywhere" I replied, "now that you mention it, I haven't seen her since this morning" Mira said. "Has anyone seen Lucy since this morning?" she asked the entire guild but everyone shook their head. My bad feeling increased, Lucy's missing!