/Author's Note/

Sorry for the super long update! I was on vacation to my grandparents' house. And I also updated "Kill You, Kill Me" and another chapter for "Online". Enjoy!^^

Sorry for every mistakes in grammars and spellings..^^;

/Special Thanks to/

darkhuntressxir , Friendless and Psycho Helena , ocdanime , Indh13 , hannawb , .KYUUN

for the reviews!^^

/Disclaimer/

Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima. Not mine.

Chapter 10 / Rare Dark Interest

After finished with the 'Clear Berry', Gray and Natsu continue their search for the 'Rare Dark Interest'. Gray was busy reading the book, while Natsu just remained silent following the ice mage not far behind.

The pink haired mage unconsciously touched his lips. I could still feel it.. It's so nice and warm.. Hehe.. He grinned at himself.

"Why are you grinning?" Suddenly, Gray stopped his steps and faced Natsu.

"Eh? Am I?" I didn't even realize I was grinning.

Gray lifted one of his eyebrows. "Still imagining the 'kiss', huh?" He smirked. "It was all written on your face, flame-head. Hahaha."

"W-what?" Natsu blushed. A-am I that obvious?

"Don't worry. We could 'continue' it later, 'kay?" Gray stroked Natsu's neko ears.

Silence.

Strange. He didn't seem to be mad at me like usual. Maybe he's starting to fall for me! Gray thought in excitement.

"S-so… How's the next item?" Natsu suddenly changed the subject.

"Right. 'Rare Dark Interest'." Gray pulled his hand and opened the book. I should focus on helping him first. Haha.. "It's a little bit tricky. We have to wait until the sun sets because it will only bloom in the night time since we need the petals and the roots. Strange, huh?"

"Well, it's almost dark anyway. Just a few more hours, I think. Don't wanna wasting more time if we had to go back and wait for tomorrow." Natsu said.

"Okay, we'll wait then." Gray nodded. "It looks just like a rose, only with black color. It grows inside the darkness of the cave. Then let's go and find a cave."

Both boys walked together until they finally found a small cave alonside the river. The sun almost set when they arrived there.

"Let's take a rest here while we're waiting for the sun set. I'm tired." Natsu quickly sat down and leaned on the rock in the cave's mouth.

"Of course you're tired after facing all those things back then. Haha." Gray followed Natsu and sat down beside him.

They're watching the sun slowly faded away behind the mountain. And that's until Gray felt something soft on his shoulder. "Natsu?" Natsu's head was resting on his shoulder and he seemed to already fall asleep. The ice mage smiled softly. Well, I'll just let him rest for a while now. I'm kinda tired myself too. Gray stroked Natsu's hair softly before he too, placed his head beside Natsu's head and fell into a deep slumber.

=====meow=====meow=====

Natsu slowly regained his consciousness because of the moonlight shone his face. "What time is it?" He yawned and tried to move his body. Being half awake, he saw Gray's sleeping face was very close in front of his face. "Oh, it's just Gray. Now wonder it feels so warm." He snuggled more into Gray's chest.

…

Wait.

Natsu opened his eyes once again in shock and he was now fully awake. He stared at Gray's face for a while. "…Tch.. How could you be so…so..innocent, huh? And…h-handsome? And warm..although you're an ice mage. And this comfort…" Natsu's hand started moving to touch Gray's cheek veeeerry slowly.

Suddenly, Gray's eyes were opened and he smirked as he grabbed Natsu's hand which almost touched his cheek. "Thank you for the compliment, flame-head. And you're cute when you're saying those confessions. Hehe."

Natsu's cheeks were burned with embarassment. He immediately pushed Gray away and stood up. "J-just put some clothes on, you exhibitionist! Let's find the flower and go back to William's house. Everybody's waiting for us." Natsu turned his face away from Gray but the blush was still planted on his cheeks.

=====meow=====meow=====

"Is it still far?" Natsu asked. They're walking deeper inside the cave with the help of Natsu's torch.

"I don't know. It's only written 'inside the cave' and nothing more." Gray walked carefully.

"After walked for almost an hour, Natsu stopped his steps and his neko ears twitched. "Sshh… I could feel…some presences.."

Gray nodded and trusted Natsu because he knew the fire-mage's instinct was so strong and reliable. They both looked around, ready to launch some attacks. Then, Natsu lifted the torch above his head to look up.

SCREEEEEEEEECCCH!

"Bats!" Natsu shouted.

There were hundreds of bats flew among them and blocked their visions. Suddenly, the ground under Gray was shaking and cracking, making Gray fell into the hole. "Aaaahh!"

"Graaayy!" Natsu screamed, yet he still couldn't see clearly what happened to Gray. "Damn bats!"

Finally, the bats were all out of the cave. Natsu looked around an found a hole on where Gray was standing before. He knelt beside the hole and screamed. "Graayy! Are you down there! You okay? Answer mee!"

Gray shook his head and heard Natsu was screaming his name. "Yeah, I'm fine!" He replied as he tried to look around. "I think there's another way in here, but it's so dark and I can barely see anything!"

"Okay! Wait there! I'll find a way down! And don't you dare move even just a single step!" Natsu shouted.

"How could I move when I couldn't see anything.." Gray muttered to himself.

BAAMM!

Once again, Gray kissed the hard ground and he could feel something heavy on his back. "What the heck, flame-head? Why did you fall on my back?"

"Well… I looked around and it seemed to be a dead end up there. So I just jumped into the hole and I knew you would catch me since I told you not to move. Hahaha." Natsu laughed proudly.

"Yes, yes, you're smart. But it's NOT a catch! Geez…" Gray stood up and cleaned his body from the dusts. "It it's a dead end up there, and you couldn't see or smell any sign of the flower, then it's probably down here somewhere."

Both boys continued their search, until Natsu could sniff something. "I could smell something. Maybe it's the flower. And it's not too far."

The boys accelerated their paces, until Natsu stopped abruptly. "Oh no, not again!"

On the cave ceiling, the bats screeched and flew toward them. This time, Gray and Natsu squatted face to face and hugged each other. Don't let us get separated again!

Felling save, they stood up and sighed. "I'm soooo gonna hate bats after this." Natsu growled. Then he smelled the fragrance stronger than before. "It's here! The flower!"

"Yeah, I could smell it too." Gray said. "There it is! Rare dark interest!" The flower was hanging upside down on the top of the cave. "Those bats were hiding it. It's good they're gone now."

Then Natsu gave the torch to Gray. He hopped and started pulling the flower. "Hngh! It's so hard!"

"Be careful, Natsu. We need the petals and the root." Gray warned.

"Uuuurgh!" Natsu pulled it as hard as he could and then…

PLOP!

"Whoaaah!" The fire mage fell as he managed to pull out the flower.

This time, Gray really did catch him. "Well, this is what I called 'a big catch'." He grinned at the pink haired boy on his arms.

Natsu blushed. "P-put me down, ice-block!" He stood up after being released. "T-thanks.."

"You're welcome." Suddenly Gray kissed Natsu's cheek.

"W-w-what-what! What are you doing?" Natsu quickly stepped back and touched his kissed cheek.

"After catching you, I deserve a 'present', right?" The ice mage smirked.

"Y-you… You jerk!" Natsu tried to punch Gray but he dodged it easily and Natsu ended up punching the cave wall. And that's when another earthquake happened.

"Nice punch, flame-head. I think we need to get out of here quickly." Gray suggested.

"Grr!" Natsu turned his head to face Gray but what he saw behind Gray, the cave started to crumble and the rocks were falling from the direction where they came. "We need to get out of here NOW!" He pulled Gray's hand and started running. "Run for your life! The cave is collapsing!"

They ran as fast as they could until the cave was divided into two different ways. "Which way…" Natsu panted. If we took the wrong way, we're dead! "Gray, I'm sorry for punching the cave and made this thing worse. I li-"

A bat suddenly flew passed them and took the left direction. "Follow the bat!" Gray pulled Natsu's hand and took the same direction as the bat.

Light! It must be the way out! They speed up to reach the light and finally…

SPLASH!

Both Gray and Natsu fell into the water. "Phuuaahh!"

"So the cave is behind the waterfall where we got the 'Clear Berry', isn't it?" Natsu said as they got out of the water.

"And thanks to the bat, we could get out safely." Gray said.

"Yep. Thanks to the bat. I just couldn't hate bats after this. Haha." Natsu laughed.

"So, Natsu.." Gray asked. "What were you going to say…inside the cave back then?"

Ah.. Natsu's eyes widened. "Ah.. That.. I thought...we're gonna die. So.. I felt like I need to thank you and…" He gulped. "And…I..I l-like you. I'm gonna regret it forever if I didn't say it and we're dead. Haha.. B-but just a little! For now…"

Silence..

Gray suddenly stood up and offered Natsu his hand. "'A little' is just the beginning from 'a bigger'. I'm sure you're gonna like me even more after this." He smirked.

Natsu smiled and reached Gray's hand. "We'll just see about that." He smirked as they walked back to William's house while holding hand.

=====meow=====meow=====

Thay got back to William's house by midnight and were welcomed by Michael. He said that everybody had already slept in their own room. Since they didn't want to trouble Michael even more, they decided to sleep together like the night before.

"You sleep on the bed. I'll take the couch." Gray said. Although Natsu had said he liked him, he didn't want to rush it. After all, he felt very tired himself.

"Wait, Gray." Natsu grabbed Gray's elbow. "It's okay, you could sleep on the bed."

"Sorry, Natsu, I'm not letting you taking the couch to sleep." Gray sighed.

"No… I mean… We could just…sleep together.." Natsu said groggily. "The bed is…too big for just one person. A-and I don't mind sharing the bed with…y-you.."

Gray's eyes widened. "…Are you sure?"

"Of course! Well, as long as you didn't plan on doing anything 'suspicious'. Haha.." Natsu laughed.

Gray smiled. "Okay, deal." He then sat on the bed beside Natsu.

"Right. So… Good night, Gray." Natsu quickly grabbed the blanket and covered his body except his pink hair to hide his blushing cheeks.

Suddenly, he could feel something warm holding his waist. "W-what are you doing, idiot?"

"Hugging isn't included in anything 'suspicious', right? It's just a hug anyway. To make us feel warmer." Gray mumbled behind Natsu's head. "G'nite, Natsu."

Natsu just stayed silent in that position and closed his eyes with a small smile on his lips. Well… It's indeed much more comfortable actually.. Hehe…

A/N: Sorry for the lame fluffyness and OOCness. The next chapter or next two chapters is gonna be the ending. Hehe.. If you have any questions, just ask me. I'll be glad to answer. Thanks for reading!^^