Day 4: Protection/Scar

"I'm so booooored!" said Natsu, his head faced down on the table.

"Why don't you go on a mission then?" said Lucy.

"We just got back from one." said Happy, whose head is faced down on the table also.

"Then go on another one!" said Lucy, her eyebrows furrowed in annoyance.

Natsu and Happy just groaned.

"You two are impossible." said Lucy as she sighs heavily.

"Where is Gray and Erza anyway?" grumbled Natsu.

"Those two? They went off to have a sparring match or something." said Lucy who is now busy fiddling with her keys.

Just by hearing the words "sparring match" Natsu and Happy are suddenly sparked with interest.

"A sparring match you say? Do you know where they went?" said Natsu, grinning in excitement.

"Gray said something about a river but I'm not sure. Why?" said Lucy, looking at the two in confusion.

"Great! Let's go Happy!" said Natsu as he stood up, running off towards the Guild's exit with Happy trailing him.

"Where are you two going?!" shouted Lucy but it's too late, the two are already gone.

"Come on! Is that the best you can do?!" shouted the Titania as she ran towards the Ice Mage with a sword in her hand.

"Tch. Ice Make, Sword!" said Gray as he deflected Erza's sword with an ice replica of his own.

The huge impact cause Gray's sword to shatter and Erza's to scatter across the field.

Both of them are panting heavily, kneeling on the ground from fatigue.

"We should probably take a break." said Erza, breathing heavily.

"Finally." said Gray as he lied down on the grass in exhaustion.

Erza smiled as she crawls towards Gray then lied down beside him. Both of them are now staring up at the sky, the blue hue is starting to turn orange.

"How long have we been fighting?" said Gray.

"I can't remember. Probably for six hours." said Erza.

"No wonder I'm so tired." said Gray, wiping some sweat off of his forehead.

Erza just nodded then closed her eyes as she savored the refreshing breeze of air that swept over them.

They remained in total silence for the next minutes, the sound of the water flowing down the river comforting them.

"I really love this place." said Erza, who is now sitting up as she watches the sunset.

Gray looked at her then smiled, sitting up as well.

"Yeah. Me too." he said.

Erza turned her head to look at her dear friend, watching him as he watches the sunset. Then, she noticed a huge scar running from his right shoulder down to his back.

"Gray! Where did you get that?!" she said as she suddenly grabbed him by his right shoulder, looking at the scar closely. Her eyes were wide open in shock.

"Huh? Oh that." he said as he looked at where Erza's hands are.

"How come I did not notice that before?" she said, her face full of worry.

"Because I was hiding it from you." he said.

Erza suddenly stood up, her face full of confusion.

"But why?" she said, crossing her arms under her chest.

"Because I didn't want you to blame yourself." said Gray as he stood up also.

"Can you at least tell me how and where did you get it?" she said.

Gray just sighed then placed his hands inside his pants' pockets.

"I got it from my fight with Fukuro back when we were at the Tower of Heaven." he said, smiling from the memory. "I did not even notice I got hit until we got back to the Guild."

When he turned his head to look at her, to his surprise, she has started to cry.

"Oh Erza! Please don't cry!" he said as he grabbed her by the shoulders.

"I'm sorry!" she said as clutched on to his bare chest.

"See this is why I never told you!" he said as he laughs.

"This isn't funny Gray! You got hurt because of me!" she said, pounding her fists on his chest.

"But I didn't even get angry when it happened so stop crying already!" he said, laughing more.

Erza has finally started to stop, her tears slowly reducing to sniffles. She wiped some of the tears off from her eyes then looked up at him, her eyebrows now furrowed.

"Hey, it's okay? Don't worry about it anymore. It's not your fault anyway." said Gray as he smiled down at her.

Erza smiled back at him as she hugs him. Gray blushed from her sudden action.

"You know, you're always protecting me. Thank you." she said.

Gray just smiled then hugged her back.

Neither does the two know that Natsu and Happy saw the tender moment between them the whole time. Both the Mage and the Exceed are now trying their best to keep quiet as they hid above a tree.

"I think we should get out of here before those two sees us." whispered Happy.

"Yeah. Let's go." whispered Natsu as they quietly climbed down the tree then bolted off back to the Guild.

When Gray and Erza got back to the Guild, they found Natsu, Lucy, and Happy looking at them suspiciously.

They both looked at each other confused then shrugged, joining them at the table.

"So, how's your sparring match?" asked Lucy, putting emphasis on her question.

"It went fine. Got tired though." said Erza.

"Really?" said Lucy, eyeing the Titania suspiciously.

"Yeah. Why? What did you expect?" said Erza, retaining a poker face expression.

Lucy the looked at Gray, who was yawning loudly as he rubbed his eyes.

"Oh nothing really." said Lucy, smiling. She glanced towards Natsu and Happy, who were pre-occupied with something else.

Gray and Erza just looked at each other then smiled.