Hey all!

This is my first Fairy Tail fan fiction, so please be kind. This story is the first in a series I plan on calling "The Artifact Series". I have all of them outlined already and so far I have four with a fifth brewing in the works.

Anyway, he we go with the warnings...

-This is a yaoi fan fiction featuring the pairing of Natsu/Gray. Please don't ask who is seme/uke, since I tend to write in the fashion where the partners play both roles.

-Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any of its characters. However all other characters and objects (etc) do belong to me!

So enjoy!

Sacrifice: The Orb of Hastaka

Chapter One: The Job

They were in front of the job board, making a ruckus as usual. She would point at one flier waving a finger frantically at the black letters. Her brown eyes were open wide as her blonde side pony tail waggled back and forth. She puffed up her cheeks in frustration.

"This one is good enough!" She hollered. "I only need to pay rent. Besides it sounds easy for high pay. 300,000 jewel!"

The boy crossed his arms over his chest. A huff left him, blowing pink tufts of hair over his forehead. The bored look that crossed his features was almost comical. Though judging by the blonde's face she found it more infuriating.

"Nah." The pink haired boy yawned, scratching at the back of his neck. "That sounds boring. Let's do something with more action. I'm in the mood for a fight!"

"Aye!" Chirped a blue cat floating behind them on white, feathery wings.

"Oh shut up, Happy!" The blonde shouted, returning her jabbing finger to the other. "You aren't allowed to pick our next mission, Natsu. Every time you pick we end up getting into some huge, destructive mess!"

"Aww!" Natsu whined. "You're no fun, Lucy!"

Sitting at the bar Gray glanced at them over his shoulder. His icy blue eyes were hidden as he kept his chin tilted down, his blue-black spiked hair causing a shadow to fall over his features. For once he had no urge to disrobe. Instead he buried deeper into the fur lined collar of his coat. A chill suddenly crept through his chest, colder than any ice he could summon. The duo may have been arguing, but he could see the truth. The ice mage had spent enough time around them to know that they shared an unbreakable bond.

He was a part of the team, shared a link with that bond, yet somehow it was not the same. Those two had fought along side each other before he was brought into their group. In a short time, Lucy and Natsu had become inseparable. What he would not give to have even an ounce of that link with the dragon slayer.

Gray had grown up along side Natsu in a flurry of fists and strange hatred. He had never been able to figure out why from the moment he first saw that pink haired creature distaste filled him. They had only seemed to interact with punches and sharp retorts, successfully rubbing each other so raw that whenever they were near each other they broke out in a brawl. It had become so routine that Gray had to admit it lost a lot of the spark for him and was now nothing more then rolling through the motions.

Then along came Lucy with all her innocent wonder and fiery personality. It had almost been hard to believe that she was not a fire mage too. She seemed like the perfect match for Natsu. Someone who dealt with his antics yet strove to keep him under control. And even stranger, she had managed to bring the quarrelsome trio of Erza, Natsu, and himself together into the 'strongest' team in Fairy Tail, a feat even the Master did not think possible.

Gray knew he should have been happy. He should have been content that all was right in his life, yet he was not. His heart hung heavy with depression as he peered over at the duo. Only his blue orbs saw no one other then the one with pink hair.

The dragon slayer had always been the bane of his existence, except now it was for different reasons. In his youth it had been a frictional hatred. Lucy had pin-pointed it as the opposition between fire and ice, and the idea had held strong for a while. He was not sure when it had started to change, but change it did. Suddenly he was viewing Natsu as a friend, a person he was willing to risk his life for gladly.

Then came that fateful nigh on Galuna Island. That fire breathing idiot had thrown himself in front of him when he had been about to use Iced Shield, not once, but twice. Gray had felt something shift inside him. A strange warmth had filtered out through his cold body and for once he knew the heat of true contentment. At first he had mistaken it for respect, though he soon found out what it really was he was feeling.

Love.

The ice mage had fallen for the fire dragon. It seemed oddly fitting if not tragically set up. Fire and ice sat on opposite ends of the elemental spectrum, yet fire had the ability to melt ice. He should have been more careful about the cold bricks he had surrounded his heart with. Love had been something he never wanted. That emotion was uncontrollable and in the past had brought him nothing but heartache. He never wanted to be in a position where he felt that kind of pain ever again.

His pale blue eyes turned away from the others now, resting instead on the drink in front of him. Ice cubes jangled about and he reached in to poke at one absently. How his ice had failed him this time. He could not stop the unsettled grunt that left him. Raising the mug, he took a long gulp.

"You won't be able to drink it away." A cheery voice spoke up in front of him and his gaze raised to the barmaid in front of him.

"What are you talking about?" He asked Mirajane, adverting his eyes from her wide sapphire ones.

His heart was pounding in his chest because of her words though. Gray had never told a soul about his true feelings, doing his best to swallow them down. There was no way she could know, was there? She always seemed so ditzy, as though nothing that went on registered with her. All things around her seemed to filter through her brain in a fractured way.

Eyes back on his drink, they widened with a sudden frightening thought. The rest of his guild had occasionally caught him watching his other team mates and had simply assumed that he was pinning for Lucy. Yet Mirajane never saw things as others did. Maybe her skewed logic had finally allowed her to see something as it truly was. His teeth were suddenly worrying his lower lip gently between them. There was no way she could know. No one was suppose to know. It was his secret.

"I see how you watch them." She murmured as she leaned forward resting her elbows on the bar top. "But more accurately, how you watch him."

Gray's head jerked up, blinking numbly at the lavender haired woman in front of him. His lips moved but at first no sound came out. He had never voiced it out loud, and despite the fact that the other knew he still could not put words to if. One hand scratched at his shaggy locks.

"H-How'd you find out?" He was finally able to stutter.

"Easy!" Mira chuckled. "If it were a crush on Lucy you would have just told her by now. Which means that it must be something far more scandalous and that can only be Natsu. Am I right?"

Gray looked away from her again, a faint pink blush tinting his cheeks. Damn this woman and her altered sense of logic. How the hell was he suppose to answer her without damning himself? He could not just blurt out that he loved the dragon slayer and expect it all to work out. His own emotions towards the fiery boy may have changed, but that did not mean Natsu's had towards himself. The pink haired boy still tried to pick fights with him and treated him as a rival. It was a tiring and heartbreaking thing to face.

"Its not that simple." He admitted. "I can't just walk over and tell Natsu."

"Tell me what?"

Gray nearly choked on his heart as it leaped into his throat. When had Natsu crept up on them? Worse yet, how much had he heard? The ice mage paled to a point where his skin almost became transparent. The scar about his left eye stood out in stark quality. Speech fled him as his throat constricted tightly.

'Make something up!' His mind pleaded with him. 'Lie, blow it off, do anything but sit there like some slack jawed idiot!'

"I..." He fumbled out slowly before deciding he needed a moment to collect himself. Grabbing his mug, Gray downed the rest of the liquid inside before slamming it back on the bar and setting his face into an annoyed mask. "I wanted to tell you to stop screwing around and just pick a job already. I'm getting bored and you're not nearly as entertaining as you think."

Gray had to look away right after his outburst. He could not take seeing the disappointment on Mirajane's face or the anger on Natsu's. It was likely he had just started another fight which would only drive the wedge deeper between them. The pain of it stabbed hard at his heart and he almost flinched in on himself.

"What'd you say to me, freezer burn?" The expected roar sounded out behind him. "I don't see you getting up off your butt and trying to help!"

Because he was not looking, Gray never saw the punch coming until it cracked into the back of his skull. His head snapped forward, forehead cracking off the bar top. He threw his head back with a yelp as both hands gripped at the newly forming bruise. A trickle of blood leaked its way down his nose as he turned furious blue eyes on Natsu.

"What the hell'd you do that for, fire breath?" He snarled back, pushing up from the stool he sat on.

As he turned he swung out with his own fist, connecting solidly with the dragon slayer's cheek. Natsu grunted as his body was slammed to the ground. Gray stood over him for a few moment, panting in frustration. It was then he froze as he realized what he had done. He glanced down at his fist and saw the reddening knuckles. He had just hit the person he was suppose to have loved. His heart clenched in his chest. It was this distraction that caused him to catch a pink covered head right in the stomach.

His body was flung backwards into one of the long oak tables. Mugs and plates of food went flying as the wood beneath his back cracked and shattered, flinging a rain of splinters into the air. He watched the tiny wooden shards with a distant gaze as though he were miles away from what was really happening. There was always such anger in Natsu when he struck him. Gray was always able to feel the heat of that emotion in every fiery punch. And yet he still loved the idiot, still left his heart open to the wounds the dragon slayer's hatred scoured it with. He remembered once saying that it was not the scars you could see that were the worst. He had to wonder how many scars his heart held now. Maybe soon it would simply give out on him.

He laid amongst the rubble of the table for a few moments too long and suddenly Natsu was standing over him. The fire dragon grabbed a fist full of his shirt, yanking Gray's upper body off the ground as he pulled back a fist ready to punch again. The ice mage's blue eyes could only stare back at him, unshielded in his strange moment of mental weakness. Natsu paused, fist stopping its descent as he was startled by the face he saw staring back at him. There had only been one other time when the dragon slayer could remember seeing his rival look so sad, and it had been when he had been forced to face the memory of his Master Ur. What could have made the ice mage so despondent here in their guild hall? Surely it was not because of the fight they had started.

"Gray...?" Natsu spoke quietly, drawing that pale blue gaze to his face.

Gray's lips moved, about to speak. Natsu could only hold his breath as he was sure whatever the other was about to say was important. Two hearts pounded hard together in that moment yet still so far apart. The ice mage licked his lips slowly, a hand coming up to wrap around the wrist of the hand the dragon slayer was using to hold him up. Maybe...maybe he could tell him. Maybe he could share his secret with the one he loved and not face shattering pain. If only he could find the inner strength to voice the thoughts.

"Natsu..." He started. "I-"

"That's enough you two!"

The shrieking voice suddenly rattled the two men. Natsu jolted and released his hold on Gray, sending the raven haired man crashing back down on top of the broken table. He landed with a grunt, wincing as a few stray slivers jabbed into his back. A part of him was angry that Lucy had picked that exact moment to rage over. There had never been a time that he had been closer to telling Natsu the truth, that he had felt some strange sort of connection with the other. However he was also thankful for the same reason. Telling Natsu could ruin even the sporadic moments of calm and joy that he shared with his team mate. After all, there was no way fire would ever accept ice.

Lucy leaned over the mess of table to look down at Gray before offering a hand to help him up out of the rubble. He took it somewhat begrudgingly, still able to feel Natsu's burning golden eyes on him as well as Mira's sad gaze from behind the bar.

"Alright, listen up!" The blonde then grinned at both of them. "I picked us a job. Its an easier one since Erza is still away, but the pay is enough that we should each walk away with 100,000 jewel when its over."

Gray had never wanted a job more. Getting out and away from the only person that knew his secret and having something to distract him sounded like a great idea. If he had to fight monsters or beat up on bad guys then he would not be stuck wallowing in his own self pity. Brushing some of the remaining wood shards off his clothes, he raised one brow in question.

"Oh yea?" He asked, trying to lean forward to read the flier that she held. "And just what would we be doing?"

Lucy handed the job listing over to him, and he scanned the black font. As he did so, she continued to explain it anyway for both Natsu and Happy's sake.

"There's a village a ways from here, in the woods north of Onibus." She said. "There's supposedly a group of magic monks there that have spent their life guarding this artifact they call the Orb of Hastaka. Apparently they want someone to come and collect it and bring it to one of the official guild leaders so that it can be archived with the magic counsel."

"Boring!" Natsu sighed, face set in a strange pout. "If the magic counsel is suppose to take it, why don't they just send their little army there to get it instead of wasting our time?"

Gray frowned as he read the words on the flier. He had to admit it did sound rather easy for such high pay. Usually harmless escort jobs did not pay more then 100,000 jewel for even long distance runs. Not to mention that objects that were archived by the magic counsel instead of destroyed were more often then not dangerous. Why was it that this small group of monks were reaching out to just any group of wizards to handle it? And why were they paying so much? There was something off about the job, yet he could not seem to put his finger on it.

"Too bad!" Lucy snapped back at Natsu. "Its my choice this time and I say we're taking this job. The payment will keep me safe for the next month and a half, which is probably how long it will take us to get through your next insane job pick."

Gray folded up the paper and slipped it into his pocket, deciding not to worry about it. Any job was good with him. A distraction was a distraction and he was itching for any kind. His pale blue eyes moved towards the bar, catching a last glimpse of Mirajane's sorrowful gaze. For some reason it sets his teeth on edge and he snapped his head away, jaw clenched. He needed to get out of there. Turning to walk away, he raised a hand over his head and waved it at his two arguing team mates.

"Fine." He muttered towards them. "I'll meet you at the train station tomorrow at noon."

Gray shoved his hand back in his pocket, wanting to find a place where he could sit away from prying eyes. His heart hung heavy and he just wanted to be away from people. Ignoring the stares he could feel burning into his back, the ice make mage simply walked away with hopes to start rebuilding the walls around his heart.

-And there you have it, Chapter One. I know its a bit short, but it was mainly set up for the start of the job. Things will start to get more interesting in the next chapter!

Please review if you enjoyed it! Reviews help me stay motivated and cause faster and more frequent updates!