Dish Washing Trauma

I wake up to the pre-dawn gloom and the loud snoring of my roommate. (Well, this is a craptastic start for my day. Couldn't really sleep due to my nose throbbing, and Natsu's snores are worse than dad's! Ug. Those painkillers were way too weak.) Swinging my legs to the floor, I slowly work my way up to a sitting position from where I was laying on my stomach on the couch. I yawn widely as I stretch my arms high in the air.

(How the hell was I able to sleep the last two times I was in the same room as him? Guess I was more tired then than I thought.) I yawn again as I lay on my back to stretch my legs and pop my joints. After getting a series of satisfying 'pops' I swing my legs to the floor again and stand up. I bite back a sigh as I stare at the mess of clothes piled on the other couch.

(This is going to take a while to clean, especially those clothes. I wonder if he has a washer/dryer? Wait, do they even have washer/dryers in this world?) I scratch my head in confusion. (Cleaning this place up could turn out a lot harder than I expected.)

I look over to Natsu and Happy as they are almost cocooned in the hammock. Happy is currently spooning Natsu's head and I let a small giggle out at the sight. (How comfortable is that? I don't think I would want to sleep in one. Knowing my luck, I would fall out and mess up my nose for good.) I grimace at that thought, feeling the bandages move uncomfortably on my face. I hear chirping of unfamiliar birds and I look out of the biggest window to see an overcast sky.

(]Hmm, might rain today. If there isn't a washer/dryer here, I'll have to hold off on cleaning the clothes. I could start on the dishes, or maybe see if Natsu is ok with me going through the boxes in that attic-like space. I should get that place taken care of first before I get to the dusting, sweeping, and mopping. And that all should be taken care of before trying to paint anything.)

Feeling an urge to get out of the house, I carefully pick my way through the mess still on the floor and open the door with a slight squeak. I slip out and shut the door as quietly as I can before making my way over towards the woods wanting to sit under a big tree to enjoy the serenity of this place. I take in the morning air with deep breaths.

I relish the feeling of the dewy grass on my bare feet as I'm walking across the clearing. The cool, wet feeling refreshes and invigorates me. It reminds me of when I was a child and would run around like crazy having the tall dew-filled grass drench my legs while giggling the whole while.

I smile at my happy memories as I stop to enjoy breathing in the fresh air again. (Oh to hell with it.) I laugh and take off running through the grass. I twist and turn, making intricate loops and patterns. I feel my nightgown twirling around me, making me feel like I'm wearing a fancy dress. Soon out of breath, I stop running and turn to admire my handiwork. The grass was darker where I ran through, as the dew gave it a slight silvery shimmer.

Huffing and puffing with a satisfied smile, I move towards the trees I have originally planned on sitting under. I pass by a few of the smaller trees before I decide to sit at the base of a particularly large one that is still in sight of the house. My breathing eases up as I recover from the impromptu reenactment of my childhood days.

(Those days were so simple and full of joy. Mom would be feeding the chickens, I would help her and gather the eggs. We would milk the cows and on the way I would stop and run in the tall grass. Hehe, the grasshoppers would jump and fly all over the place trying to get away from me.)

I let out a relaxed sigh as I think back to those happy days while I listen to the birds chirp. (I wonder what Mom and Dad are doing now? I bet they are worried sick by now.) My happiness fades with this thought. (I need to get back, Dad can't handle taking care of Mom and his job. We can't afford to hire someone to look after her.) I start to frown in concern. (We were barely making it with my income as it is. If I'm not there, we won't be able to pay for her medicine and… and…)

I didn't want to complete the thought as tears begin welling up in my eyes. I love my parents so much, especially my mother. She is my closest friend, my big sister, my rival in pranks, the only person I shared all my secrets with. We have such a close bond and when she got diagnosed with a brain tumor and pulmonary fibrosis[1], it terrified all of us. I choke back the sobs as they form, my throat getting tight making it hard to breathe.

(Mom! I have to get back, I have to help her! But how?! I don't even know how I got here or where here even is!) Warm liquid trails down my face, the tears now falling freely. I curl up my knees as close to my chest as I can and lay my head down careful not to jostle my nose. (I miss my home. I miss my family. And because of me, they'll…she'll…) I can't think anymore, the grief overtakes me as I break down crying my eyes out.

My eyes burn from the strain, and my bandages get soaked from my crying. Feeling exhausted from the lack of sleep, and the pain of my emotions, I lay down on the ground and fall asleep. Tears still spilling out onto the ground.

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With a sleepy yawn, Natsu's head pokes up out of the hammock and he starts to sniff the air greedily.

A quiet "Good morning, sleepyhead." greets his ears and he swivels his head to see food sitting on a cleaner than usual table. He blinks his eyes to make sure that he is seeing things clearly, and when they don't change a large grin appears. Excitement fills his eyes as he pokes his sleeping friend in the side.

"Hey Happy! Wake up!" he semi-shouts out eagerly.

"Natsuuu, five more minutes…" whines out the blue cat as he struggles to stay asleep. A slight chuckle is heard behind them. Natsu also laughs along as he pokes the cat harder.

"Well then, I guess if you won't get up, Krysti and I are going to have to eat all the delicious fish she cooked." Natsu sing-songs in a teasing manner. Before he can say another word, a small blue whirlwind appears in the house. The sounds of chewing are heard right after the whirlwind dies down to show Happy sitting on the table, munching away on his favorite food. A howl of laughter escapes from the brunette woman and the dragon slayer joins in as he hops out of the hammock.

"Happy sure loves his fish, doesn't he?" Krysti asks, looking at Natsu.

"Aye, sir!" shouts out the cat in agreement before taking another bite out of the fish. This causes another round of laughter between the two humans. Settling themselves down, they enjoy a nice, hot breakfast of rice, baked fish, and ginger tea. Letting out a satisfied burp, the fire mage leans back in his chair feeling content with a full belly after he finishes the last bite of rice.

Krysti laughs quietly at his actions as she starts picking up the plates to clean them. Putting them in the sink with all the other dishes that were found yesterday, she turns on the hot water. Looking around, she notices something is missing.

"Hey, Natsu?" she calls as she starts searching around the sink.

"What is it, Crispy?" he answers in a relaxed tone.

Rolling her eyes at the nickname, she turns to face him before asking, "Where is the dish soap so I can wash the dishes?" He looks at her with a confused look.

"Why do you need dish soap? Regular water is enough." he states casually. The woman looks at him with horrified eyes before looking down at the dishes they ate off of for breakfast and dinner the night before and takes a step back. She shudders and her stomach does a queasy back-flip.

"You don't use dish soap? Like ever?" she gasps out. He slightly tilts his head to the side, curious and slightly worried about her reactions.

"No." he replies slowly while giving her a wary look. She shudders again.

"That's disgusting! Oh dear god, and I ate off those plates." cries out Krysti in disgust as her face pales. She rushes for her bags, jumping over some clutter on the floor. Natsu and Happy are frozen in place as they watch their new housemate rush off into the bathroom with some bottle of liquid in her hands. Gargling noises are soon heard which are followed by spitting and more gargling.

Happy leans towards Natsu and whispers, "Krysti is weird." Natsu nods in agreement. A hacking, choking sound erupts from the bathroom, sending the dragon-slayer on red alert. He hurries over to the bathroom and stands by the doorway to survey what is going on. The brunette in question is hunched over the sink coughing violently and spitting out globs of phlegm.

"Uh, Krysti…" he starts out hesitantly. He clenches and unclenches his hands, not knowing what to do.

"I'll live... Gimme a bit." she pants out, voice straining. This just causes him to worry more. Happy flies in and takes in the scene with an unreadable expression on his face. She stays hunched over for another minute to make sure she doesn't have another violent coughing fit. She straightens up slowly and the boys are stunned when they see her red face and tears in her eyes in the mirror above the sink.

They start panicking as boys usually do when they see girls cry. Ignoring them, she pushes her hair back behind her ears and starts to gargle again with the stuff in the bottle she brought in. Spitting it out, she turns on the water and sticks her head in the sink to drink up the water to gargle with that as well.

To the boy's relief, she finally finishes with whatever she was doing. They had no idea that she was trying to kill as many food borne illness germs that she can without throwing up. She stands up with a relieved sigh and uses her shirt to wipe her face off, careful to not jostle her nose in the process. Feeling angry at how worried she made him, Natsu walks up and confronts her about it.

"What the hell was that all about!? So what we don't have soap, they're still clean!" he shouts out angrily while grabbing onto her shoulders and turning her to face him, more because of how she scared him than actual anger. She looks taken aback at the ferocity of his words before narrowing her eyes at him.

"It does matter if they were cleaned with soap or not! Haven't you heard of food poisoning? There are other diseases as well that can kill you from unclean plates!" she growls out. He takes a step back at the word kill.

"W-what do you mean kill? What does diseases have anything to do with food and dirty dishes?!" he asks, still angry and now confused as well. Krysti then straightens up in sudden realization that this guy in front of her most likely has no idea about food-borne diseases or how they even work. Natsu stares at her as her mood quickly shifts from angry defensive to quiet and thoughtful.

"Well?" he growls. "What are you talking about!?" The brunette looks him over before seeming to come to a decision. Without saying anything, she grabs his wrist and pulls him out of the bathroom.

"Hey, wait a minute? Where are we going?" he asks loudly, most of the anger gone from his voice.

Without looking back, Krysti answers him as she leads him through the house, "We are going shopping." Natsu lets out a groan.

"But we shopped yesterday! Why do we need to go again? Can't you shop with Lucy?" he whines while trying to tug his wrist free. At the door, she turns to give him a stern look that causes him to gulp in fear.

"We are shopping for you, not for me. I don't know my way around the town so I need you to guide me. This isn't about clothes, although I do need to talk to you about that at a later time. Lastly, I need to explain to you exactly why it is so important for you to have properly clean dishes and why it is connected to diseases. This might take a while, so its better to talk while we shop." she explains in a calm voice which contrasts with how she is glaring. Happy hangs back as Krysti pulls Natsu along behind her again, not letting go of his wrist despite his protests.

The blue cat laughs quietly to himself as Natsu keeps whining and protesting about going shopping. He doesn't really put up a struggle as he is being dragged towards town even though Natsu could easily break free if he really wanted to. Happy flies a ways behind them, not wanting to get caught up in the lecture that is soon to follow.

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"So you're saying these tiny invisible grimes…" Natsu says before I cut him off.

"Germs." I patiently correct him as we are walking down the street.

"Germs." he says with a huff before continuing. "are everywhere and are what make people sick?" he finishes. I nod.

"Yes, they invade your body in many ways, from cuts and burns, from eating bad food, or with some, even the air you breath." I inform him.

"So why worry about the plates? They're clean." he asks.

I shake my head in disagreement, "No they aren't. Just because they look clean, doesn't mean that they are. Food leaves behind a residue on the dishes and the germs will eat, live and grow in the residue. So then when you put food on that plate, the germs get on the food and in you." I turn my head to look up him as he scratches his head in puzzlement.

"I don't understand." he states.

"What do you not understand?" I ask him, still in the patient teacher mode.

"What's a residue?" he asks after a bit of thought. I face the front again as I start to answer him.

"Its what the food leaves behind. Like when you eat a piece of meat and there is the grease and oil left on the plate. It doesn't comes off completely when you wash it with just water. So the germs will eat that grease and oil and grow. That's why we need the soap, because soap with water gets rid of all of the grease as long as you wash it properly. And without the residue, the germs can't grow." He nods his head while looking serious.

"I think… I understand." he says slowly. I let a grin adorn my face. (This is great. He's learning.)

"But how come I never got sick since I don't use soap on those plates?" he asks in a wondering tone. I give it a bit of thought before telling him the most probable answer I can think of for now.

"Most likely because of your fire magic." I state.

"Huh? My magic?" he repeats.

I nod again before clarifying, "Yes, your magic. Its because of your magic that your body is warmer than most people right?" He nods at this and I continue. "Well in their own way, germs are like people. Some like it hot, others like it cold, and there are the ones in the middle. The almost all bad food germs do not like the heat. That's why its important to fully cook your food so it kills the germs. So I think that because of how much warmer it is in your body, they can't survive when you eat them so they just die and you don't get sick."

"I guess that makes sense." he says with a frown on his face. I glance over at him.

"Is something wrong?" I ask. He shakes his head before looking back at me with a wide grin.

"No, I guess it's just a lot to take in. It sounds really farfetched with these invisible things all over the place that make people sick. Are you sure it's just not a curse that people throw around that gets out of hand?" he asks in a curious tone but with a sly grin. This causes me to stop walking as I think seriously about it.

(What if he is right? There is magic in this world, so there could be curses as well. But there has to be germs as well in this world, or things just wouldn't work right! Or would it? Magic is a mysterious force. Hmm, I think I need to find a way to get a hold of or make a microscope to find out. Or maybe I should go ask Dr. Shibiwa when I go see him in a few days...)

"Hehe. Krysti's face looks weird." laughs out Happy as he flies in front of us. That comment snaps me out of my thoughts and I frown at the cat.

"Well your large eyes look weird too." I retort huffily. This causes tears to well up in the cat's eyes.

"Wah! Natsu, Krysti's being mean!" he cries out as he flies into Natsu's chest to be comforted. I shake my head slowly in amusement as I roll my eyes before walking down the street.

"If you can't handle the heat, then stay out of the kitchen, silly cat." I say over my shoulder playfully.

"What does heat have anything to do with you being mean?" Natsu asks while he hugs his best friend before catching up to me. I chuckle at this.

"It's a saying from my world, it means if you can't handle getting insulted even as a joke, then you shouldn't go around insulting others, joking or not." I look directly at Happy when I say this. He just cries even more and I sigh again. (He'll learn, sooner or later.) I close my eyes as I laugh inwardly at Happy's dramatics.

"Hey, Natsu. Krysti is weird and mean." Happy says in a loud fake whisper, his crying suddenly finished. I open my eyes at this, but decide to not comment.

"Hmm, she sure is." agrees Natsu in the same fake whisper. (What are these guys up to?)

"You do know that I can hear the both of you clearly." I deadpan. From the corner of my eye, I can see the boys jump away from me in shock like they didn't expect me to hear them even though they are right next to me.

"Crap! She heard us!" Natsu exclaims with his arms and legs up in a weird karate pose.

"Does she have dragon slayer hearing?" Happy asks as he copies Natsu's position like they are some sort of comedy duo. I scoff at this.

"Are y'all really being serious?" I ask while quirking up an eyebrow at them. Their shocked faces stay frozen in place and I can't help but start cracking up at the two.

"You guys are just too much!" I manage to exclaim between laughs. I stopped walking when they froze and I wrap one arm around my middle and I have to reach out to grab Natsu's shoulder for support with the other as I keep laughing. My sides hurt after laughing for a few minutes and when I start calming down I lean up against his warm side to recover my breath.

"Hehe, thank you. I really needed that laugh." I manage to chuckle out between breaths. I really did need that laugh, it helped drive away the cloud of depression I been hiding since this morning. I peek up at Natsu through my hair that has fallen over my face.

I gratefully smile up at him and whisper softly, "Thank you." And I meant it from the bottom of my heart.

He gives me that happy grin of his that makes me blush while replying, "No problem, Crispy." An indescribable feeling of warmth spreads through me as I stand there looking at him.

"They lllllike each other!" shouts out Happy with that intense look on his face. I look down at him while he is standing on the ground looking up at us and my mischievous side takes hold.

"Happy!" Natsu cries out in irritation, a frown on his face.

"And what if we do?" I ask the cat matter-of-factly as I wrap my arms around Natsu's waist with a sly smirk on my face.

"She admits it!" Happy shouts out gleefully while waving all his paws in the air as he takes flight.

"Hey! Wait a minute!" Natsu shouts out, trying to get his friend's attention by reaching out to catch him.

Not paying attention, the cat does a back-flip in the air as he says, "I have to tell everyone!" Before another word is uttered, he zooms off leaving us to ourselves. Natsu stomps in place as his temperature rises.

"Dammit, Happy! Get back here!" Natsu roars out and fire spews out of his mouth at the same time. Unconcerned about his fire hurting me despite the way its going everywhere, I calmly stand there holding him still until he gives up and slumps over in defeat. He then straightens up and rounds on me.

"Why do you keep doing that?!" he whines. I snicker at his obvious distress and pink cheeks.

"Because it's fun." I chirp at him. He gives me a look of complete disbelief as his mouth works silently like he is trying to say something. I stand up on my toes so I can lean up closer to his face. His cheeks turn pink as I near. I give him a small smirk before pressing a quick kiss on his cheek. Dropping back down, I spin away from him as I release my grip around his waist. I walk down the street in the direction we were going before and stop after a few steps.

Looking back at him over my shoulder, I call out, "Well? Aren't you coming, Natsu-kuuun?" I purr out the kun part and watch as his face turns pink. I remember from my talk with Levy that this world uses the same honorifics as the Japanese of my world does. Hence, why I called him kun as part of the teasing.

Without waiting for an answer, I face forwards again as I continue to walk down the street while holdings my hands behind my back. I let a large smile grow on my face as I start to hum with pleasure. (Messing with him is so much fun!)