A/N: Well, I decided so squash everything else into this chapter. Anyway, hope you all like it! =x I'm going on camp tomorrow, so i probably won't be back till thursday, or friday. Hah!

Disclaimer: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima.

Date: 7th December 2008

Lucy!" Natsu squat down beside her, "Could you help me do something?"

"Like?" She rolled her eyes, apparently her conversation with Gray was abruptly interrupted by Natsu.

"I'm going fishing, could you two take care of Erza for a while?"

"THANKS!" Natsu turned around and ran towards the ocean, "You two are the best nakama ever!"

"He didn't even wait for an answer…" Gray mumbled.

"He's been in that hut the whole time?!" Lucy and Happy exclaimed before reluctantly heading into the hut together to tend to their one and only Erza.

Natsu reached the hut not long after that, and he had caught a massive menacing looking crab, with pincers (obviously) and huge eyes.

"Look, it looks just like Plue!" Happy pronounced.

"No way! It looks more like Cancer!" The stellar-spirit mage lying down in an indecent posture on Natsu's mattress retorted.

"How does something look like a disease?!"

"You're stupid!"

"What has that got to do with anything!" Happy said. Gray was too busy competing with the crab to see who had the larger eyes, since Gray immediately got annoyed after seeing the crab having such protruding eyeballs.

Natsu couldn't be bothered with such lame talk when his friend was ill. He crouched down silently beside Erza, shaking her shoulder slightly, "Erza."

Erza moaned and shuffled slightly before opening her eyes, "Natsu." She replied.

It was awkward that they both said each others names as if it was a perfect sentence. "What do you want for dinner? Everyone else has eaten." Natsu turned towards the others who were still arguing among themselves, "You guys have eaten already right?"

"You interrupted us!" Lucy howled.

"All because of you, Natsu!" the talking cat joined in the assault on Natsu, who was frowning with his hands at his hips now.

"Although we already finished eating!" Gray said bluntly, "You bastard!"

Ignoring their comments, Natsu returned his attention back to Erza, caring features on his face, "So, what would you like? I'll try to cook it."

"I'm kind of full at the moment, maybe later." Erza said, and disappointment flashed across his face for a moment, before his smile concealed any signs that he felt disappointed at all.

When Natsu went into the kitchen with the crab, the trio on the mattress began to doubt, "He can't kill such a cute crab!" Lucy squealed and brought her two clenched fists up in front of her face, pretending to be the cute crab.

"He'll catch the disease!" Happy cried, tears flowing freely from his eyes, apparently this cat had a serious problem with tears.

Gray however had a different reaction. "Kill the crab.. Kill the crab… Kill the crab…" He chanted over and over again.

To their surprise, Erza sat down beside Happy and Gray, "Erza, you're feeling better?" Gray asked.

"Much better, must be thanks to your sponge bath. Thanks." Erza bent her head slightly in gratitude.

"We all want you to get better soon, Erza, since it's no fun without you." Lucy said, sulking.

"It's no fun without Natsu either…" Happy added.

"Sorry about all this fuss guys, I never wanted to fall sick… But I don't think I'm used to being in a bikini…" Erza said faintly.

Silence triumphed over the conversation for a moment before Natsu could not suppress his aggravation any longer and stomped out of the hut; with the crab. Apparently he had heard every single word that was said.

Erza was first to recover from the shock and stood up quickly to take off after him, but Gray grabbed her wrist tightly, "Leave him be."

But Happy couldn't leave his best friend alone like that, and flew out despite Gray's attempts to stop him.

"He's been so strange lately…" Lucy said sadly, "I want my old Natsu back."

"Since when was he not strange?!" Gray growled.

"He was always happy and energetic, but he seemed so depressed yesterday and today!"

"I thought he was always like that."

"Since when? Even when Erza got hurt last time, he never acted this way!" Lucy snapped.

"That's probably because you didn't know the house Natsu." Gray said, and continued after he received wondrous looks of idiocy from Lucy, "The Natsu when he wasn't on missions."

Erza nodded, "Natsu cooked for the guild last time, and everyone knows he cooked well."

"Until…" Gray said, "Until he quarreled with someone, and he never dared to cook for anyone but Happy ever since."

"Who was it?" Lucy interrupted their explanation.

"That…"

"That was me." Erza said, "We were both young then, and I flared up when he cooked a portion of food for me, since I didn't like anyone to come near me then."

"It was all out of good will to help her open up actually, but this… woman" Gray said, and Erza glared at him, "Didn't want any of Natsu's niceness and ended up tossing Natsu's signature dish—"

"Crab fried together with dried dill tips and parsley with mushrooms." Erza clarified.

"Ahem." Gray said, calling back all attention, "And ended up tossing his dish on the ground, and poor little Natsu then didn't move an inch. He just stood there like a statue."

"While I walked away without saying a single word." Erza sighed, "I can't believe I did that to him."

"Ahem." Gray was getting impatient, "And since then Natsu has been too kind to Erza, it makes even me feel slightly jealous." He sighed.

"And his porridge tasted so great too, it's the first time I ate his cooking." Erza groaned.

"It's your fault!" Gray howled in disappointment, "No one in Fairy Tail ever tasted his cooking in years because of you!"

"I never imagined Natsu was such a person last time…" Lucy murmured, "And to think Erza was so mean in the past."

"I didn't do it on purpose, and I didn't mean to hurt him at all!" Erza defended.

"You didn't even apologize!"

Erza was stunned, "I really didn't," she said, "maybe he's still angry because of that."

"Don't be stupid, Erza. How long have you known Natsu?"

"He won't be angry for years over something so… small." Lucy finished.

"Small?!" Gray asked, "He has been scarily nice to Erza ever since then and you say it's something small?"

"That's one thing I don't understand…" Erza and Gray said at the same time. They glared at each other momentarily and turned away as if nothing happened. "Why he's been that way."

"I know why…" The two female mages turned towards a now very serious sounding Gray, "Because, Erza…"

Erza swallowed some saliva that was stuck in her throat, "You are special to him…"

"You have red hair like him!" Gray exclaimed, only to be hit in the head by an extremely pissed off Lucy.

"Stop making us anxious over stupid things like that!" Lucy said.

"I wanted to make some food for Erza using your meat, oh little crab." Natsu said sadly taking a glance back at the hut, as if he could see through the walls and into the hut.

The crab looked back at him as if he understood, and snapped it's pincers slightly, but not aggressively, "She doesn't like my food…"

It shook it's head slightly, as if trying to deter Natsu's thoughts, "It's the same as last time, she hates me." Natsu growled, "Am I really such a bad person? The porridge probably didn't taste good at all."

The crab's eyes rolled slightly, as if sympathizing with the flame mage for a while, "That's why she thanked Gray for his thing and never even said a word of thanks to me!" Natsu swore loudly.

"That's why she looked as if she ate the porridge, she was obliged to since she didn't want me to be sad! That bastard Gray…" Natsu said softly.

The crab clambered down Natsu's thigh and onto the sand. Facing Natsu, it tilted it's head slightly and calmly. Finally, it dawned upon him, "No, it's not because of Gray. It's because I'm not good enough."

"I cook like an idiot, I talk like an idiot, and I'm only useful when it comes to fighting. And Erza's even stronger than me in that aspect. I'm not good enough…" He trailed off, trying to stifle his urge to yell as loud as he could, but the others would hear him.

"Igneel!" He cried out, "I miss you… If only you were still here, you could help me get better!"

"You could help me become good enough! You could teach me more magic, teach me how to cook better, teach me that weird thing I suck at—grammar, yes, that thing."

Happy stood a distance away from Natsu, seeing his best friend howl into the night air wasn't a wonderful sight. Happy knew that Natsu was just releasing what he had been repressing all the time, the hurt he felt when Erza treated him badly, and he couldn't help but treat her well.

Natsu slammed his fists into the sand, creating several miniature sand storms that disturbed the crab companion of his. Natsu soon lay panting on the ground, perspiring from the mental onslaught and emotional distress.

"I'm so tired…" Natsu groaned, and fell flat on the ground, his arms stretched out wide by his side, creating butterfly wings. "Crabby, I remember I thought Erza looked more dazzling than a butterfly last time."

Crabby nodded knowingly as Natsu continued his ramblings, "Her cool red hair, beautiful brown eyes, and she keeps putting a strong front. Someone needs to protect her…"

"And that would be you, wouldn't it?" Happy interrupted.

"Happy!" Natsu exclaimed, shocked that his cat-friend was here. He soon recovered from surprise, "Yes, I want to do that. But I'm not good enough…"

"That's not true!" Happy demanded.

"Then why isn't she saying thanks! Why does she talk so happily to everyone else but me!" Natsu yelled loudly, "She hates me!"

"I don't think so," Happy said in a comforting tone, placing a small hand onto Natsu's shoulder, "She treats you so well, you know."

Natsu's eye perked out of their holders for a second, as the message of a lack of understanding finally breached Happy's mental walls, "Have you seen Erza request someone to take care of her except you?"

He thought about it for a while, before shaking his head with a light suppressed smile, and Happy continued, "She's never dressed in a white dress; and extremely short as well in front of anyone except you."

Natsu nodded defenselessly, "And I'm sure you find her form pleasing too." He hid his blush in futile attempts, only to nod, mortified.

"Don't have to act that way around me, I'm sure every guy would gawk at her amazing body anyway." Happy winked devilishly, and Natsu chased him around, his worries long forgotten.

Regarding the crab, Mr. Crabby already left back to the ocean, unable to sustain Natsu's rants any longer.

Happy managed to convince Natsu to go back, and Natsu grudgingly agreed, despite his burning stomach.

Natsu and Happy arrived back in the hut to find Gray and Lucy already out, when asked, Erza just said that they wanted to make a campfire. "And they left you here alone…" Natsu growled in response.

Either way, Happy flew out immediately, saying he had some kerosene to add to the campfire, although that was a complete lie. Natsu wasn't aware that Happy was trying to give him a chance to talk to Erza alone, but he had always been unaware of such things.

He tried to strike a conversation, but he was still embarrassed from the earlier conversation with Happy and did not know how to start. In the end, it was the common, "Are you hungry?"

Erza pondered for a moment, "I am quite hungry now, actually." Erza flashed a beautiful smile, "You'll cook for me again, right?"

Natsu beamed immediately and replied heartily, "Of course! What would you like to eat?"

Erza was thinking of the greatest delicacies she ever tasted or wanted to taste, and they all came to her mind quickly, "I've always wanted to try Italian Pastas or the Baked Rice from the western world…" she said softly, afraid that her request may be too much.

"I'll prepare both for you!" Natsu sang, and rushed into the kitchen, the sounds of pots and pans clanging onto each other, or the table was heard, and soon the wonderful aroma of food trailed out at the bed.

Erza cuddled under the blanket in the cold room, hoping she had power to make a fire as well, or be near the campfire, but her thoughts always led back to Natsu. "He's such a kid." She said aloud.

"I heard that!" Natsu yelled from the kitchen, followed by a low growl.

Erza chuckled genially, "Okay, I'll lower my volume!"

He's really capable. He can cook, he can fight, he can take care of me when I'm ill—I mean, take care of anyone when their ill, he can crack jokes, he can be serious, and most of all, he can be really strong, like a knight.

Although out of all those, I doubt he could do any on a vehicle. Erza laughed to herself once more, the melodious echoes of her mirth threatening to knock Natsu into a state of high as well.

After a few more minutes, Natsu emerged from the kitchen, two plates in each hand, and he drifted beside the bed, "No sweat or spit, I promise." He smiled.

Erza leaned up once again, and Natsu noticed her shivering hands. "You're cold, aren't you? I could help you a little, if you don't mind waiting…"

He turned Erza so that her back was facing him and was about to start whatever he was planning when suddenly stopped, and Erza felt him stop, "What's wrong?"

"My hands, I haven't washed them after I finished cooking." He stated and winced, before rushing into the kitchen and washed his hands.

Natsu appeared from the kitchen soon enough, and Erza was close enough to devour the innocent-looking pasta and baked rice. She turned away so her back faced Natsu once more, and she caught him looking at his hands from the corner of her eye, "Still dirty?"

"Ermm, not really." He said, "It wasn't very dirty just now either."

"Then why did you have to make me wait while you washed your hands!" Erza whined, she felt playful now; it could be the moon that addled her mind.

"I would've dirtied your dress!" Natsu argued, "So much for good intention."

Erza remained silent as Natsu laid his two palms on her back, the warmth seeping through. It was a terrific sensation that removed the coldness; and her mouth gave way as she let out a satisfying moan.

I made a sound. Erza thought in horror, but received no response from Natsu. The process ended after a few minutes, and Erza was feeling perfectly comfortable, save a slight dampness on back—which she ignored.

"Feel better?" Natsu enquired, while offering spoon of baked rice.

"Much better."

She had told Natsu she could eat on her own, but he refused to hand her the plate of baked rice. Erza couldn't identify certain ingredients, and no one, yes, not even the author knew where he got the ingredients.

She decided that not knowing what it was, and just knowing that it tasted good would be better than knowing what it actually was. "Jellyfish, I fried it with Juniper, tastes good?"

"Very good." Erza mumbled before opening her mouth for more. He hooted softly and fed her spoon by spoon, and Erza felt like a princess, being served so sincerely.

Soon, Erza had finished both dishes, and Natsu suspiciously hid his left hand in front of him and turned towards the kitchen with the dishes in one hand, and Erza squinted her eyes in notion.

Natsu finished clearing up the dishes, and went out to find Erza, once more, asleep. Sighing heavily, Natsu dumped himself onto the bed heavily, tired from the day's activities. "I haven't cooked so much in centuries!"

"And I didn't receive any 'thanks' as well. Maybe she really hates me." He whispered to himself, Natsu felt that he could think better if he spoke aloud, albeit softly.

"If only she wasn't sick," Natsu murmured with a red face, "I always enjoyed being by the seaside with her."

"Oh, that's because…" Natsu started to talk even softer as if afraid the sleeping figure could hear him in her sleep, "She looks good in a bikini."

"No, that's not all, I liked to play volleyball with her!" Natsu said happily, "And I used to pick seashells with her, but she soon grew too old for that."

"Of course I still keep them. But you better not tell anyone!" After a short pause, Natsu continued, "I'm angry all right, she said thanks to Gray and everyone, but not me! And I even cooked for her twice!" Natsu spoke as if he was conversing with someone and that was an awkward experience even to someone as weird as himself.

He sighed again, and noticed he was doing that a lot, "I'm so tired, I guess all the taking care of the sick has made me tired. And all this weird thinking thing, and thinking about thinking is all making me think hard just to think!" Natsu exclaimed in a soft tone, and clutched his bandaged finger in his sleep.

"Grrr." His stomach rumbled in exasperation, seeming to scream out He didn't even feed me, and he fed that stomach?! And the stomach points at Erza.

All of a sudden, he was asleep, but he didn't snore; Erza was sleeping as well—he thought.

She climbed over to the other side of the bed and reaching down; she caressed his cheeks and mumbled, "I don't hate you, not one bit. You must be so tired after all that, poor boy."

She giggled softly, playing around with his hair for a moment before pulling herself back onto the bed, "Thank you for everything you've done, Natsu."

So the sun set, and the sun rose, although Plue was trying to stop the moon from disappearing, and even jumped into the sea to attempt to touch the moon.

Natsu woke up and yawned as forcefully as he could, and shot a suspicious look towards Erza, who was awake, and was looking at him as well.

To any stranger, the two people inside the hut must have been some form of solid idiocy after seeing the two burst out laughing in spite of the awkward situation.

They had just finished taking turns to wash up when Lucy and Gray burst into the door, "Erza!!!" They yelled in unison, only to find her wrapped in a towel, just out of the bath.

They turned and glared at each other for a brief moment before Erza smiled softly, "Good morning."

"Good morning!" Happy cried out from behind Gray and Lucy, "Let's go to the beach today!"

"Beach!!!" Yelled an echoing voice from the bathroom, and Natsu rushed out with a tower wrapper around his lower body.

"Don't tell me…" Lucy's face wrenched itself into distortion, "You two bathed together?!"

Natsu and Erza's eyes bulged out enormously; "NO WAY!" was the response from the blushing pair.

"Just kidding, just kidding!" Lucy waved her hands in front of her defensively, and Natsu rushed into the kitchen for unknown reasons, only to get yelled at by several impatient creatures by the door.

"I'll go get him." Erza winked and entered the kitchen. Silence prevailed for a moment, before a startling scream broke the silence, "AHHHHHH!!!!!!!"

Erza rushed out of the kitchen with fearful eyes, her juice leaking out of her skin. Soon Natsu also rushed out of the same kitchen, his towel gone and replaced by a pants.

"I know what happened…" Gray murmured, "Natsu just stripped in front of Erza."

"Erza I'm sorry!" Natsu pleaded, his eyes trying to hide behind it's sockets in prediction of Erza's murderous aura.

"I didn't know you were coming in, and I kind of fumbled slightly so it took a little longer…"

"It's not that, you idiot!" Erza cried, "Where's your FINGER?!"

And everyone screamed, even Natsu.

"My finger?" He said peculiarly. No answer.

"My finger?!" He said even louder, and yet, there was no response.

"What's wrong with my finger?" He mumbled and lifted his two hands in front of him and noticed that the tip of his index finger was missing, it was disgusting.

The flesh was gone, the nail had been halved, and yet no blood seeped out. "What happened" Gray asked, stretching his body to see the wound.

Lucy and Erza kept their eyes closed, afraid of seeing it. "Oh, I cut it yesterday." He said and let out a nervous 'haha'.

"Why would someone chop off his own finger?! You dumbass Natsu!" Gray scolded, and Natsu went over to the two girls crouching by the door, eyes closed.

"Erza?" He asked in a kind voice, "I'm sorry."

In the blink of an eye, Erza slapped Natsu across the face, "Why didn't you tell me!"

His eyes hidden by his hair, Natsu replied, "It wasn't even painful, and we were having so much fun together."

"You should've told me! I could've eaten on my own, and I didn't even need you to feed me in the first place!" Erza raged on, "You were hurt!"

Natsu let out a short stifle, "Never more than now." He whispered, and ran outside the hut once again, and as before, Happy chased.

Gray and Lucy finally overcame their laziness and took out their footwear and entered the hut, gathering around the saddened Erza.

"He'll be fine." Gray consoled, "Don't worry about him."

Erza nodded slightly and said, "I'm fine too, and I said something bad to him again…"

The other two said nothing as they knew it was true, "I didn't really mean it, I was just so angry at that time, I wasn't thinking straight."

"And just yesterday night I decided to thank him properly for everything… And I wanted to go to the beach today to play together, but that won't happen now."

"We can still go to the beach, you know." Lucy smiled, "Cheer up! I promise we'll play together the whole day!"

Shooting an assertive look at Gray, they nodded to each other and ran out of the hut, "Don't worry, Erza, we'll handle it!"

And Erza fell back onto her bed; staring at the spot Natsu was asleep. The bed had little blots of red, "It must've hurt so much…" she murmured.

Never more than now.

She recalled his words, did she really hurt him that much?

And I didn't receive any 'thanks' as well. Maybe she really hates me.

Her heart immediately let her feel the pain of regret, and he even said that as well… and he probably hadn't even eaten since yesterday…

She felt another pang of guilt shoot through her body; I can't believe I noticed it only this morning…

Then it dawned upon her—that was the dirt Natsu was referring to, and did not want to dirty her gown.

You are beautiful, Erza.

She could not forget that line. Surely there were many beautiful girls in their guild; Mirajane, Lucy, Levi were all beautiful, and Erza had also felt that they were far more beautiful than her.

Either way, she must apologize to Natsu.

Meanwhile

Natsu lay down on the beach, staring up at the sky. The sun wasn't too bright yet, and Natsu could stare at it with his bare eyes. The brightness started to make him tear, "Don't cry, Natsu!"

Happy appeared by his side, a worried look on his face, "It's the sun!" Natsu retorted. Happy left it at that and lied down beside him.

They looked like photocopies of each other, but one was a cat and one was human. "Hey, Happy… Am I bad at feeding people?"

"I don't think so." Happy replied.

The waves crashed against some nearby breakwaters and Natsu let out a huge sigh, "I wonder why Erza hates me so much…"

"I don't know either."

I didn't even need you to feed me in the first place!

"Maybe I should just pretend nothing ever happened, Happy."

"Pretend what never happened?"

"Pretend I don't know anyone, and you and I could go out and venture the world!" He grinned happily, while Happy just shook his head slowly.

"I don't think that's good… You wouldn't want to let go of your nakama right?"

"But I did so much for Erza… I didn't go out to play, I chopped off my finger accidentally, I even went to dive for jellyfish!" Natsu exclaimed, "And now everyone probably knows how I feel about her… They'll tease me."

"So it's all about your personal reputation?" Happy sighed.

"No, that's not it. I mean, it hurts enough when she didn't appreciate it, and when everyone, including Erza starts teasing me about what I tried to do…"

"It just hurts…" Happy finished off, receiving a satisfied nod from Natsu.

"My chest hurts so much now, you know?" Natsu breathed a deep breath, "Every time I suck air—"

"Breathe." Happy corrected.

"Every time I breathe, it hurts so much, Happy." Natsu almost let out a tear, "It hurts…"

Happy was at a loss for words, he didn't know how to console Natsu now. Perhaps Gray or Lucy could do it, since cats don't really care much about love matters…

"ARGHHH!!!" Natsu let out a desperate cry as loud as he could, "That felt better…"

"Natsu!" A cry that Natsu detected as Gray's was heard, "We've been looking all over for you!"

Gray and Lucy were perspiring and panting heavily, "Yea, Natsu, what's wrong?" Lucy asked.

"Nothing's wrong, nothings wrong." Natsu said and pushed himself upright, walking away.

"You can't keep hiding from us, Natsu!" Gray called out, "We know all about you and Erza!"

"Shut up!" Natsu yelled, "You know nothing about me, bastard. I helped her so much, but she's still angry at me!"

"She's not angry!"

"Liar! Damn this world!" Natsu shouted, and ran even further away.

The three left were sighing their lungs out, "What about our promise to Erza?" Lucy enquired.

"I have no idea…"

Happy was left thinking about what promise it was.

Meanwhile

I hope Lucy and Gray can bring him back; I need to apologize to him. Erza thought, heading out of the hut in her beach-wear, striding along the coast. She could discern several people quite a distance away. That's Master and Droy.

Where's Natsu? She walked the opposite direction, and spotted a lone figure standing at the very edge of a spit, an obvious red-head and a checkered scarf. Natsu.

When she was closer, Natsu was already exhausted, and was sitting down on the sediments of the spit. His eyes were red and wet, and as if someone was looking, he wiped the tears off hastily, the blob of flame in his mouth was still bright, and Erza felt it was similar to a welcoming sign, and without question, her body moved beside him on it's own.

Natsu turned to look at her so quickly that his head may have dropped off if Natsu didn't turn back almost immediately after that, and Erza barely caught a hazy image of Natsu's shocked face.

As always, the two remained silent for a moment, and Natsu breathed hard through his nose that the mucus was sucked back into the nose passage instead of flowing out of the nostrils, and produced a gurgling sound.

"Erza!" He turned towards her and grinned, "What are you doing here at a time like this?"

She remained silent for a moment and realized that he was trying to avoid arguing anymore. In an instant, she said, "I was just out for a walk."

A simple "oh" of acknowledgement was the reply.

Natsu turned to look at Erza, "I'm sorry." he blurted out quickly, before looking away again, in the opposite direction.

Erza's eyes softened as she replied with a very caring smile, "It's my fault, Natsu… I wanted to thank you for the meal and everything, but…"

Natsu's eyes widened in surprise and the size of his eyes gradually returned to normal when he calmed down. "It's my fault; I knew I shouldn't have dirtied your gown."

Erza suddenly felt guilty for being angry at someone so simple-minded, but couldn't resist letting out a soft giggle.

Natsu smiled after seeing Erza being happy, "We could just pretend nothing happened right? I mean, I was so bad to you while you were sick and that's why you were angry. Forgive me?"

"I was the one who was bad to you," Erza squabbled, "you did so many things but I never said a single word of thanks."

Natsu shook his head in disagreement, but couldn't think of a way to display his argument.

"Let's just pretend nothing happened?" Natsu said again.

Erza closed her eyes for a while, thinking deeply, and Natsu peered at her face for brief moments, as if afraid she may open her eyes anytime. That eventually happened, "I can't forget it Natsu," His eyes cringed in fearful anticipation, "I mean, I really treasure you after this whole thing and I don't want to forget anything because I've really started to…"

The rest of the sentence was left unfinished as both their faces were dyed red and neither dared to admit that they knew what was going to be said.

Natsu however, was too proud to allow the girl to make the first move, and he would actually die from embarrassment if Gray were to somehow find out that Erza was the one who confessed.

"I love you." Natsu said it out sternly, and he heaved a sigh of relief, "I FINALLY SAID IT!"

"I love you." Natsu said again, in a happier tone, and looked surprise himself.

"I love you, Erza Scarlet." He said, grinning like a mad man.

"Natsu…" Erza giggled, and her hand into his hand which warped around her hand tenderly, as if he finally held onto something he always wanted to hold.

Feeling a little more casual and light, he said, "By the way Erza, have I ever told you that you're really sexy?"

Her face burned as she playfully nudged him on the shoulder and slid the strap off her shoulder, "Oh?"

Natsu slid the strap back over her shoulder and murmured, "I wouldn't mind as long as it was me."

And Erza could resist no longer, pressing her lips against his as they shared their first and fullest kiss since… the snoring season. They pulled apart, panting and smiling happily.

After moments of enjoyment in the silence, the couple went back to the real world and played their lives out, they were finally, after a long while, back to normal.

At the end of the trip, a certain stellar spirit mage and ice mage was left to wonder what actually happened when they both gathered around a single table at a corner. "I bet it's all because of the snore."

"It is because you made a big fuss out of the snore!" Gray howled.

"Now it's my fault?" Lucy growled in return.

"Get away from me, I'm tired!" Gray said, with a care-free look on his face, "I'm going to sleep."

And all of a sudden his head fell onto the table and he fell asleep, leaving Lucy fuming with impatience and anger. "Look at those two lovebirds." Lucy mumbled jealously, seeing Natsu and Erza sitting by the bar, chatting happily.

The whole guild fell silent immediately after a familiar sound wrecked the building. A high-pitched growl-like sound that had the same frequency as a drop of... faeces dropping into the toilet bowl. "Did Gray just SNORE?!" Natsu roared.

A/N: So how was it?! Tell me!
And, Fried seems so freaking strong. I wonder who's gonna take him on. And I'm sure mistgun is soooo gonna pwn some ass. : D Hope you all liked the chapter~ I'm currently working on my Inheritance Cycle fanfic (It's around..1/10th done)
Currently 12461 words; and it's around 1/10th done.. But since I'm kind-of lazy, I may always shrink it and everything. ._. And it WAS supposed to be a one=shot.

But no one would read a 125000 word long one-shot. LOL

Happy holidays dear readers, have a Blessed Christmas, and may God bless you all! ^.^