Age Gap

Chapter 1

"GET BACK HERE, DAMMIT!" A spiky, pink haired teen screamed as he ran through the forest.

"Natsu, she's a criminal, it's not like she's going to stop and turn herself in." A long, red haired woman commented as she ran alongside him. A sly smirk formed on her face before chirping under her breath; "They always run."

Natsu's sensitive hearing caught what she said nonetheless and his eyebrow twitched involuntarily. He knew exactly what kind of a mean streak the "Titania" Erza Scarlet had. He'd had nightmares about it in the past. Looking back at the dark cloaked woman they were chasing, he quickly realised that she was pulling away from them little by little.

"Erza, you'll have to swap armour and go left." Natsu offered. "I'll go right and we'll flank her, otherwise this'll never end."

Erza nodded and her body glowed as her current, Heart Kreuz armour seemed to shatter and then reform in a completely different structure. Natsu only managed to get a glimpse of the leopard print, Flight Armour before she dashed off in front with incredible speed. He never got tired of seeing Erza get serious in a fight, her whole demeanour changed as fast and ferociously as the wind itself.

Natsu thought that it was about time he got serious too. He veered off to the right and sent a hot spurt of magic to his feet as he called "Karyuu no Kagitsume!" His feet burst in to flames and his surroundings blurred as his running speed increased tenfold. His dragon scale scarf flapped violently in the wind as he bounced from tree to tree, leaving scorch marks where he stepped. He saw flashes of yellow in front of him when Erza appeared briefly in between the trees. She was already level with the escaping cloaked woman and in a few more steps so was Natsu. His eyes met with his team mate's for a moment and an understanding passed between them.

They had done this countless times before; with Natsu's unrelenting force he would force the criminal to move closer to Erza and once they were close enough she would end it with a swift strike with the hilt of her sword. That would knock them out, they would apprehend them, hand them over to the Magic Council and claim their reward from their client.

He saw Erza nod at him and he gave one mighty push and darted straight for the criminal. He moved the surge of magic to his arms and let it force its way out of his system.

"Karyuu no Yokugeki!" Natsu called as he flung his arms down and two giant streams of fire followed them down.

Natsu knew then that he'd made a great mistake. Through the fire disrupting his vision he could see their eyes. Two golden orbs with slits as black as night, they were snake eyes, there was no way to mistake it. They met his own charcoal eyes with a desperate ferocity and fast as lightning she brought a wooden wand out from underneath her cloak and dragged it through the air.

"Aging Spell: Seppan!" She chanted. Suddenly there was a white beam in the air and as Natsu came down to the criminal, the beam slammed in to his stomach with the power of a bull, sending him flying back in to a tree where he hit his head hard.

Time seemed to slow as he fell to the floor. He saw the serpentine eyes of the criminal disappear under her hood as she pulled it down and in a puff of smoke she was gone. He saw Erza run through the smoke towards him, he could tell from the shape of her lips that she was shouting his name but he couldn't hear her. She threw her arms out and dropped her sword as she caught him and he lost consciousness.