In Our Midst

There was something wrong with this Natsu character Gramps had brought into the guild. It was so obvious, why couldn't anyone else see it. True, he couldn't quite point out what it was yet, but he was going to find out, and when he did, he would expose the little creep for the creep he is.

That was Gray's goal for the moment, though how he would go about it he had no idea. He'd just have to keep a close eye on his supposed 'guild mate' until he did something incriminating. He realized that this made him look like a stalker, and the ethics of such actions were questionable, but it was for the good of the guild.

He left his home bright and early and journeyed out to where Natsu's residence lay, only to realize that the fire mage did not get up bright and early. With a groan, he settled down to watch the other sleep through his bedroom window until such a time as wakefulness came upon him.

"Look at you." he muttered as he listened to that insufferably loud snoring, "all happy and peaceful, I bet you don't even realized what a horrible waste of air you are."

Ten minutes passed, then thirty, then forty, finally at ninety minutes Natsu finally opened his eyes. Two hours! He had to wait two whole hours for the moron to wake up! He just hoped this would all be worth it.

"Why do I smell something rotten?" Natsu called out, taking in a whiff of air as he stepped outside

He then walked right over to where Gray was hiding, sniffing the air as he went,

Gray contemplated running then and there, but quickly squished the thought as he was not going to run from 'him'. Instead, the did the first thing that came to mind. Leaping into the air, he aimed a kick straight at that pointy eyed face.

Natsu instinctively reacted, Letting loose a roar he spread his mouth wide and spewed forth as much fire as his little stomach could conjure up. Gray hissed as the flames hit him, but didn't back down. His foot connected to the others jaw, sending him crashing to the ground. Natsu spat out the dust that went into his mouth, then was back up on his feet in a flash, fists at the ready.

"Did you just come out here to ambush me?" he growled, "You really have that much time on your hands? Man, you're pathetic."

"You're the one's that pathetic, sleeping in till noon." Gray retorted.

They then proceeded to go at each other with a vengeance, trying to bruise, bit, pull, and otherwise hurt the other as much as possible. Not following any fighting etiquette or rules, they took advantage of any opening they could see.

And Gray saw one. For a brief moment he had the upper hand and the other was pinned on his stomach beneath him. He saw the others scaly scarf wrapped around his neck and he grabbed hold of it without a second thought. He didn't know why the other always carried this accessory around, but he was going to quickly realize how foolish the act was.

He twisted the two ends around each other then pulled tight, grinning with satisfaction as Natsu started to choke.

"Let go!" Natsu gasped out.

"Surrender and I might consider it." he sneered.

Natsu's body suddenly doubled in temperature and he lifted himself to his feet, crying out in a blind rage, and shoving Gray off of him. The ice mage hit the ground hard, hand still clutching the piece of cloth. Natsu whirred around to face him, eyes blazing and jaw clenched. A vain bulged on his neck, conveying just how furious he was.

"You dare." he hissed, "you dare use Igneel's scarf against me?"

Gray didn't move, he barely heard what the other had spoken; his whole body felt like it was going numb as he tried to comprehend what he was sensing.

Natsu's fist burst into flames, as he sent it straight into the ice mage's stomach. Gray didn't even blink when it hit, he only let out a short cry before falling limp. This seemed to minigate the others rage a bit. He stepped over him and snatched his scarf from the others loose grip.

"Don't mess with my things ever again." he warned before storming off.

Gray lay there for about twenty minutes, his mind barely even registering the pain in his stomach as his thoughts ran rampant inside his head.

In that moment. That one moment, he felt something. Something powerful, and dark. Something terrifying and familiar.

"That brat is a demon." he finally whispered.

He might be wrong. He had only felt it for that one moment and the strange magic coming from Natsu did disappear once he had taken back possession of his scarf, but he could not make himself forget it. There was no mistaking that it had happened.

He stood to his feet, knowing what he needed to do next. If what he felt was real then the entire guild was in danger. Standing to his feet, he dashed off, running at top speed until the guild hall came into view.

He burst through the doors, eyes darting around until they fell upon the guild master.

"Gramps!" he called out, running up to the old man.

"What is it, Gray?" the old man asked, concerned at seeing the boy's slight panic.

"There's something wrong with Natsu!"

"What? What's wrong? Is he hurt?"
Gray shook his head, "That's not it. He's not what you think he is. He's a demon. I felt it myself."

As he said this the old man's entirety suddenly vanished and was replaced with disappointment.

"Enough, Gray." he said sternly, "I know you don't get along very well with our newest member but that doesn't warrant you calling him a demon. I'm disappointed in you."

Gray mouth fell open in utter horror. "You don't believe me?"

"No, because it's ridiculous. Natsu is just an ordinary mage like yourself. All be it with a rather unconventional upbringing. I know change is hard, but if you just accept him, then I'm sure you two can become the best of friends."

"Friends?" Gray couldn't control the anger he was feeling anymore and loosed it upon the old man, "You want me to be friends with a monster? Just because he looks like one of us doesn't mean he is. For all we know he could just be wearing a disguise. I bet his idiocy is just a cover up. If you just trust him blindly, then he could kill us all when our guards are down."

Gray was yelling at this point, causing everyone in the hall to turn their heads and stare at the two.

"Gray." Makarov spoke soothingly to try and calm the boy down, "You're taking this too far. Perhaps we should talk about this."

"What's there to talk about when you don't trust me enough to believe me when I'm telling the truth?" he growled. He had enough of this and was far too angry at the old man right then to even think of carrying on this conversation further. Without so much as a second glance he turned on his heels and ran out the door.

Makarov stared at where he had gone with wide eyes. Gray never blew up like that. Never. And he wasn't sure why. Was he feeling threatened by this new boy? Did he think he was getting replaced? Sure Natsu was growing increasingly popular among the rest of the guild members, but Gray wasn't one to get caught up on petty things like that. Was he?"

He sighed heavily. His job as getting harder by the day with the growing population of youngsters his guild was acquiring. He'd count himself lucky if he could keep them all from killing each other.

000

"Stupid, stupid, stupid." Gray hissed over and over again as he stormed down the street.

Why didn't Gramps believe him? He had never lied before, not to him or anyone else, so what made him think that he would do so now? He needed to talk to Erza. He knew he could count on her to at least listen to what he had to say.

He took the familiar path toward Fairy Hills. Erza had gotten back from a week long mission so he knew that she would be at home resting. He knocked on the door and told the caretaker who he wanted to see. She huffed at him, then turned away to go fetch the girl. He waited for about four minutes before she appeared.

"Erza, I need to tell you something important." he said, grabbing her hand and pulling her away before she even had the change to speak.

Normally he wouldn't use force on the girl for fear of risking her wrath, but he was far too agitated at this point to care.

Once they were far enough away that he felt configurable he let go of her and turned to her, eyebrows etched together and eyes narrowed.

"What is it?" she whined, "You just pulled me away from a good nap."

Clearly she was not picking up on the seriousness of all this.

"It's about Natsu, he's not what he says he is."

Erza merely raised an eyebrow at this, "And what is he exactly?"

"He's a demon. I was fighting with him earlier and I felt demon magic coming from him for a moment. We need to convince Gramps so we can stop him before he does anything bad."

She laughed. Erza laughed at him! Right in his face. And not just a small chuckle; she laughed for a good thirty seconds.

"That's ridiculous," she gasped between giggles, "Natsu's the furthest thing from a demon."

"It's the truth!" he insisted.

She finally finished her laughing fit and looked at him seriously for a second.

"Gray, you're being paranoid. I've fought with Natsu too, and I've never felt any sort of evil energy from him."

"I think that's because he keeps it hidden with that scarf. That's why he never takes it off." he explained.

Erza let out an exasperated huff, "You know you've been bad mouthing him since he got here. You need to let this go, Gray. I don't know what it is about Natsu that you don't like, but he's really not a bad person. You just need to try and see the good sides of him, then I'm sure you two can become the best of friends."

Gray found himself grinding his teeth together. "Just wait," he spat, "You'll see I'm right eventually."

He then stormed off, feeling Erza's disapproving stare at his back.

Why didn't anyone believe him? He thought being part of a guild was all about trust and giving one another support. Now here they were calling him a liar and treating him like he was the antagonist in all this.

As he walked back home, he felt his eyes start to sting and he brought his hand up to rub them only to feel dampness against his fingers. He let the tears fall, feeling to messed up by his own emotions to care if anyone saw him.

After doing all he could think of the weight of what he discovered came back to him, stronger than before, and his hands shook. Underneath all the rage and betrayal the felt there was something stronger: fear.

He couldn't deny it. He had lost his entire family to a demon. But it just couldn't stop there; once he was just starting to feel like he had a family again with Ur and Lyon he had been overcome with his thirst for revenge and tear apart with his own hands. Now he felt that same evil, demonic, magic for a third time and it came from someone who was already in their midst.

There was a small voice in the back of his mind telling him there was no way Natsu would bring about he guilds destruction, but in that one moment when they fought all his fears came crashing back down on him. He couldn't go through that loss a third time. He couldn't see his family torn away from him agian.

He resolved then to continue to watch Natsu. Every move the other made was carefully calculated in the ice mage's head. Even if the act was to defend the guild, he still scrutinized it like he would an enemy's. No matter what they would go through together, no matter how many times they went to battle side by side. No matter what, he would never give Natsu his complete trust.

A/N: I guess this is what you would call a head-cannon. Although I think it would be more along the lines of wishful thinking. I'd like to believe that Gray has some idea of how Natsu is connected to Zerif. I mean it wouldn't be that hard to figure out. Not for him. And it's not an unreasonable guess that Igneel gave Natsu his scarf to somehow cover up his connection to Zeref, right? Although I doubt if it'll be revealed that Gray knew about it all along, I can still dream can't I?