A/N: Hi minna! Sorry for the late update! I am very, very busy, that's why. By the way, thank you for all your reviews and above all, patience. I really appreciate it! But please, do support my other fanfics too, including the new GrayLu one entitled "Hello Baby". Okay, enough of the endorsing and stuff! Here's the long-awaited chapter 7! Enjoy~(^o^)

Disclaimer: Hiro Mashima owns Fairy Tail. I own a Lucy keychain.

Chapter 7

"… Why were you following me Gray?"

"I'm sorry." He looked somewhere else, "It's Erza."

"What about her?"

"She got back right after you left. When she heard that you went to do a job alone, she asked me to follow you."

"What? Why? I mean, doesn't she trust me?" she frowned a little.

"No, it's just that, Ms. Mira told Erza that you were sick during the last mission so she was worried that your flu might come back…"

"Oh…" Why did Ms. Mira say that? I mean, I thought I told her that it's better to keep Juvia and Gray at the guild for now… "So… She asked you to follow me? Not Natsu?"

He lowered his head a bit, "Were you expecting Natsu?"

"No, no. It's just that, normally, Natsu would be the one volunteering for… for these kinds of stuff."

He tried to slowly sit upright, "Yeah, well um," he still avoided her gaze, "Natsu wasn't there when Erza came back… so yeah."

She didn't assume, but somehow, she felt like he was hiding something. She didn't know what that was though. Or maybe, she was just being a paranoid.

They walked and walked and walked and walked. There was no awkwardness, but rather, they were thinking about some things not meant to be discussed with each other.

How could I possibly do my plans if Gray's here? Really. Out of all people, Gray's the one who's with me.

Her thought was cut when once again she heard noise from the bushes, "Oh what now? Another comrade?"

"I don't think so, Lucy. I believe I am the only one who followed you here."

"Then…" she held onto her keys as she prepared herself as he did too. "Gray." She spoke as she looked at the shrubs, "Don't help me with this, please."

"Wha—are you worrying about my injury? Don't. I'm fine and ready to—"

"Not that. I don't want you to interfere because this is my job. I took this, alone. Feel free to help me if ever my fever comes back, but for now, just watch me and rest."

As he saw her courageousness and sincerity, he smiled, sat down, and laid back on a tree. He watched her and realized how much she has improved since their last missions. She was, well, much more matured not only physically (and by that the author means physical strength), but also emotionally. And as he expected, she defeated them easily. But the problem was that they didn't spill out any information about their hideout. And instead of capturing or torturing them until they speak, the blonde decided to let them go and just continue on her journey.

"Hey Lucy, why did you let those thieves go? I thought your job is to catch them?"

"Actually, my real job is to retrieve the goods stolen by those robbers. And since they were not holding anything during the time I caught them, I let them go."

"What? What kind of logic is that?"

"Well, I don't see the point in catching them. I'm pretty sure they've learned their lesson. Honestly, I don't see the point in torturing or doing things like those. Humans are still humans. They fight. They fear. They learn."

"Wow." He chuckled as he observed the sparkle in her brown orbs, "You really are kind, eh? Maybe you should tell that to Erza sometimes."

And as the darkness approached, the two wizards arrived at the best place to cool down and watch the beautiful sunset.

They were enjoying the view. The beautiful colors of the skies even made them more relaxed. Everything seemed so peaceful and quiet until

*GURGLE*

"What was that?"

"Err…" he giggled, "That was me. Sorry."

"What, you're hungry? You should've said so." She pulled out bread out of her bag, "Here, eat this."

"What? No! That's yours. I'm okay."

"Okay? You're tummy clearly disagrees to that. Come on, just eat this."

"Nope, I said no. You bought it, so it's yours."

"Okay fine. If I say we're going to share, are you going to eat then?"

"No. No. No. No. Well, if you have another one, then I'll take it."

"I didn't buy another one because I thought I'm going to be alone…" She pouted, "Why are you being so stubborn?"

He blushed as he saw her pretty, irresistible face, "Oh, Okay, okay, fine." He sighed. "But…"

They both looked at his paralyzed arm.

"You still can't move it?"

"I don't think so… well, that only means that the bread is all yours!" he snickered.

"Nope. That's not a good reason." she shook her head.

"Then what're you going to do? Force me to share that bread with you by using my feet?"

"No, I'm going to feed you."

And with that, a minute of silence filled the entire domain.

What did I just say? I'm going to feed him? As in feed? Him?

As he noticed the gawkiness in the atmosphere, he broke it as he laughed and immediately took the bread from her, "What are you saying?" he chomped a large bite on the dough, "I can eat it myself, I still have one good left arm."

"…Yeah." She looked away, slowly tilting her head down, "You're right."

He didn't mean to say that. He didn't mean to turn her "offer" down. He just felt like everything would be better if he said that. He was thinking, if ever he let her feed him, who knows what would happen next? It's not as if he doesn't like "what's going to happen next". Let's just say that he was trying to be careful.

Soon the weather became cold. Maybe the cooling atmosphere of the plants made the place even stonier. Since he was used to that kind of climate, he was clearly unaffected, he didn't even had a top. But it was clear to him that she was not feeling good. Especially with her clothes, which would be the usual – a tank top and a skirt. He stood up, "I'm going to look for woods so we can create fire. It's starting to get cold."

"I don't think you feel cold. You don't even have a top." She stood up, "Then, I'm going to look for food."

"You sure? It's getting darker, there might be bugs crawling—"

"Stop scaring me!" she yelped.

He burst out laughing, "I was just teasing. By the way, let's meet here after thirty minutes okay?"

"Okay. What would you like me to get?"

"Anything's fine. Just please try not to take mushrooms, remember what happened to us before? When we grew mushrooms on our heads?"

She laughed, "Yeah, I'll keep that in mind." She said as she turned her back and walk away.

"Oh, and one more thing." She looked at him as he called out to her, "Please, please be careful, Lucy."

She smiled, "Don't worry about me." She stuck her tongue out, "Worry about your gurgling tummy!"

"Hey, it's not gurgling anymore!" he protested as he watched her walk away from him.

He smiled as he looked at her image slowly disappearing from his sight, "How the heck do you manage to make me smile even if you're insulting me? You're so adorable dammit."

As they separated paths, both of them thought of different things. To be specific, the blonde was thinking about the opportunity to leave him behind. She was thinking about her plan, and the chance is now or never. But the thing was, she was thinking about the consequences. If she leaves, he might worry and would probably look for her. But if she doesn't, she might not have any opportunity to do it again.

I wanna leave. I have to leave. But I can't. Darn, what's up with you Lucy?! This is your possible one and only chance. But he might look for me. He might get worried. Wait, what if I go back to our meeting place and leave a note there saying that I had to go? Is that a good idea? No, no, I don't think so. Since Erza asked him to watch me, he might look for me eventually.

Darn it! What's going on with me? Why am I making a lot of excuses? Is it because of the consequences? Am I afraid? I don't think so… Maybe, maybe deep inside me, I care for him. After all, I am the one responsible for his injury…

I've got an idea! After his arm heals, I shall leave him alone. Yeah, that seems like a good back-up plan. Oh, I just wish I could do it… I wish I could have the guts to leave him alone. She sighed.

To be continued…

A/N: So how was it? I hope it was okay! I'm sorry too if you see mistakes! A night with only the two of them, could this develop them to each other? But wait, what about Juvia? A lot of things are blocking the way to their love story, how will everything turn out to be? Tehee~ feel free to review, suggest, etc.!\(◦'')/