This chapter was supposed to be longer, but to be honest I was a bit too lazy to proof read the second part... So I'll upload that one in a few days!

I hope you enjoy it!

Chapter 11

Naked Help

By Neko Erza

Both mages were relieved when they stepped out of the train, into Magnolia Station. Finally home! Once they had left the building, Gray started walking up the road that led to the guild. He needed a strong drink and he wanted to talk to Lucy, she could probably help him out again.
When he noticed Natsu wasn't following along, Gray turned around and looked at the other mage questioningly. He still looked sick and a little greenish from the train ride. "You're not coming?"

Natsu shook his pink head vigorously. "I'm going home! Maybe ji-san will forget about the punishment then!"

Crap. Gray had almost forgotten about that. But still, he really wanted that drink and talk. Maybe the master would show a bit of mercy on him if he explained what he was going through. It was a cheap trick, but if it worked he would play it without a moments hesitation! Natsu didn't have that good an excuse sadly enough, and Gray was sure Makarov knew it was the dragon slayer who stole the request. "Might be best. I'm still going, though. I need to find Lucy."

Natsu didn't have to ask why the ice mage needed Lucy, so he just waved goodbye. "See you later then."

"Wait! What about your scarf?" Gray asked pointing to the white piece of fabric around him.

"You can't go to the guild naked." Natsu chuckled, turning back to the raven. "Keeping it a little longer won't hurt anyone. Like I said; just don't lose it. I'll get it back next time I see you."

The pinkette waved goodbye as he made his way to the edge of town. Gray continued his way towards the guild, glad it was only a walk of a few minutes. A wave of nausea hit his stomach as the cramps started again, so when he pushed open the heavy doors of the guild he let out a relieved sigh. He was greeted by the warm hubbub of the bar, soft music and chattering. It had gotten cloudy outside, so the place wasn't as packed as it normally was, so he soon spotted the blonde sitting at the bar, her nose stuck in some book.

Mirajane looked up and gave a friendly nod at the woman standing at the front door, before a second later realizing it was their own ice mage. After more than a month, she still had to look twice before recognizing Gray from this far.

"Gray! You're back!" Mirajane said slightly surprised, Lucy looked up from her book. Surely, everyone in the guild knew the mission request went missing by now. The fact that Gray and Natsu disappeared with it, didn't make it hard to puzzle it all together. "Master wasn't happy at all, you know."

"I feared that would be the case. Is he here?" The raven asked nervously.

"No, you and Natsu are lucky. He had to leave for a conference and probably won't be back for a few days. " Mirajane explained. "But I take the mission went well if you're back after only a few days?"

The raven felt relieved to hear that and he nodded proudly. "It went great! I really don't know why master would still doubt me after all the training I've been doing. I learned how to handle this body in battle and there never was anything wrong with my magic to begin with."

"Is that... Natsu's scarf?" Lucy asked surprised as she saw the white cloth wrapped around the raven's chest.

"Ah yes, I lost my shirt again, along with my bra." Gray grumbled. He was still pissed he lost the piece of underwear; it was expensive and it fit best of the ones he'd bought. "I didn't have another shirt with me and Natsu only had his usual open vests with him, which wouldn't cover everything. It also was a split second solution, since I threw off my clothes during the fight with the dark guild."

"Oh, Gray." Lucy sighed, shaking her head.

"You should try it some time, Lucy. The opponents were definitely distracted for a few moments." The raven grinned.

The blonde protectively wrapped her arms before her chest. "I wouldn't think of it!"

Mira smiled least both Gray and Natsu had come back unharmed. "I'm really glad everything went well."

Gray's grin slipped from his face. "Well, at least the job itself did..." The raven whispered under his breath. Everything from last night on couldn't possible be labelled 'well'.

The raven sighed silently and sat down next to the celestial mage. God, he really hated having to ask about this, but he guessed it wouldn't be as bad as everything that happened with Natsu. He definitely felt more comfortable talking to Lucy about this, although the whole thing went surprisingly well with Natsu. He definitely hadn't expected this much support.

"Hey, Luce." Gray kept his voice low. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure." Lucy couldn't ignore the serious undertone of the question, so she scooted a little closer to her friend. "What is it?"

Gray frowned in embarrassment, his cheeks already glowing in discomfort. "On the mission... There was a... occurrence. A female matter." God, he wished she'd get it. He knew it was stupid, but it was worse having to call a spade a spade, saying it as it is.

Lucy blinked confused a couple times, before saying, "Oh, do your breast hurt because you lost your bra? As you experienced in the beginning, it can become really uncomfortable walking around without one for some time and feel a little irritated. Just start wearing one again, it will be over in a day or so."

Gray sighed frustrated. "No, not that." He would just have to say it and get it over with. "The other female matter. I got my period."

Lucy's mouth dropped open and she was stunned with silence for a few seconds. Behind the bar, Mira had about the same expression on her face, of course she had been eavesdropping.

"Oh my god!" Lucy finally exclaimed. "Your period?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure?" The blonde asked, still not able to believe what she was hearing.

"Blood coming out of my vagina? Yes, I'm pretty sure!" Gray growled frustrated. "I might be a guy, I know what the typical characteristic of a period is."

Suddenly Mira clapped excitedly. "This is great!"

"How can this be great?" The raven exclaimed angry.

"You're not a girl anymore. You're a woman now, Gray!". The white haired mage tittered excitedly.

"Don't say that! Especially not that loud!" He glanced around the guild alarmed , but nobody seemed to pay attention to them.

"Mira, calm down. This isn't the time." Lucy hushed the bar woman. This was probably already hell for Gray, he didn't need this on top of it. She turned back to the raven. "I actually didn't expect you to get your period. Haven't you been a woman for more than a month already?"

"Yes, it kind of got me by surprise too." Gray said embarrassed.

"The transformation probably took a while before it was fully settled." The white haired woman seemed to have calmed down and was ready to help her friend now. "It just took some time before it fully kicked in."

"It kicked in alright." Gray pouted. He just wanted to be himself again.

"I'm so sorry that this happened to you during a mission!" Lucy said in sympathy. She remembered her first period and how bad she'd felt. And she knew she could expect it coming.

"With Natsu on top of that." Mira added.

"Actually... Natsu was surprisingly supportive about it." Gray had to admit.

"He's helped me out a couple of times while we were on missions." Lucy smiled. "He can be mature about some things."

"Yeah, it really surprised me." Gray had to admit. Apart from the first moment when he'd burst into laughter, he'd been a great help.
The raven told in short what had happened since yesterday.

"Natsu's magic really works better against the pain, doesn't it? His hot compresses are the best." Lucy said, she remembered the times the pinkette had helped her out on their missions.

"Yeah, still. I'd rather not have had to know. Getting my period really is the worst." Gray sighed. He had feared it would happen of course, but once a month had passed he had felt relieved and forgotten about the whole possibility.

"You do have to be careful now, Gray." Mira suddenly said sternly.

"Careful?" The ice mage asked worried. What should he be careful for?

"You can get pregnant now." Mira tittered.

Gray's mouth dropped. He gaped at the white haired mage in disbelief. "And who the hell would make me pregnant?"

"Don't be angry with me." Mira raised her hands disarmingly. "From the things I hear in the bar, there are enough men in the guild who'd like to try to."

"That only proves this guild is full of perverts." The raven said pissed as he hopped off his chair. He wasn't going to listen to this. He was about to walk out of the guild, as he remembered just why he came here. He turned back around to go to Lucy again, as she was already standing behind him.

"I think you came here for help, not merely for just telling us what happened, right? Follow me to the bathroom." The blonde smiled sympathetically.

She grabbed Gray's hand and pulled him towards the back of the bar, where the bathrooms were. The door on the left lead to the men's, but of course Lucy turned right.

"I guess it's really time for you to start using the women's restroom now, isn't it?"

Gray grumbled in agreement. He had been putting that off for quite a while now. Just some more of his stubbornness that still lingered.

"I presume you know at least a bit about 'female equipment'?" She laughed. No need to be too serious here, it was just nature after all, even though it wasn't a completely natural situation.

"Well... you have like... pads and tampons, right?" Of course he'd picked up about these kind of things along the years.

"Indeed." Lucy pushed open the door to the girl's restroom. "There are dispensers in here for both. Do you know the difference between them all?"

Gray looked at all the choices on the dispenser. He'd expected there to be only two: either pad or tampon. Apparently, he was wrong.
He was happy he had Lucy to help him out with this, also that she was this cool about it. "I... I didn't think there would be this many options."

"I'll explain quickly." The blonde smiled. It was quite overwhelming if you got thrown into it like this. "Like you said, you have either pads or tampons. Now with the pads you have the thicker sanitary towels and the thinner ones. The thinner once you can use near the end of your period, when it's not as heavy anymore. For the tampons you have different ones as well, like the regular, plus or super plus. Unlike many men think, it's not a difference in size, although the super plus are bigger than the regular of course, but it's about how heavy your flow is. Any Idea?"

The raven opened and closed his mouth dumbfounded without bringing out a word. How was he supposed to know whether or not he had a 'heavy flow'?

"Ah, yes, you'll have to wait and see for that. You can't really know the first time, sorry." Lucy smiled apologetic. "I'd just start with the regular then, you'll know soon enough whether it's right for you or not. That is if you're planning on using tampons of course. Menstruation is something very specific, in all of its aspects, for each woman after all."

"Yeah, I heard." The ice mage looked at all the different options. "Which do you prefer? What's the best way to go?"

"Like I said; it's personal preference, really. I feel more comfortable with a tampon than a pad, but I guess you'll have to make that out on your own." Lucy smiled. She had had the same conversation not too long ago with Wendy. It was weird to think this was Gray she was telling this all to now, but at the same time it didn't. Even after only more than a month, she got used to it really. Like it was a new person, yet one you had know for ages. It didn't make any sense, but that just showed how bizarre the whole situation was.

"I'll just follow you and take the tampons then. I don't now why, but I have the feeling like it's more hygienic." Gray decided.

"I have the same idea. I would suggest you buy a pack in the store, because it's more expensive if you have to buy them one by one at a dispenser like this. The dispenser is quite handy though if you've forgotten to bring any."

"I'll just buy a few here then and go to the store tomorrow."

Lucy pointed to the machine. "You just put in some jewels here and push the right button."

"Yeah, I know how they work. The guy's restroom has a condom dispenser that works the same." Gray explained. "Not that I need them anymore at the moment."

The blonde had compassion for the ice mage. Really, his whole life was turned upside-down. "Have you talked to your girlfriend yet?

"No, and even if I had, still no difference for the condoms." The raven grumbled.

"Haha, I know that of course, but shouldn't you talk to her? How long has it been now since you've changed, five weeks?"

"Six."

"I think it's about time you explain the situation to her. You never know how she'll react, maybe she'll even be a big help. Don't you want to see her?"

"Of course I want to see her and hang out with her again, but... " Gray hesitated. "I... I can't really say I have missed her these past few weeks, to be honest. Really, she's one of the last things on my mind most of the time."

Lucy was slightly surprised by that. "I thought you'd been together for some time?"

"Not that long, and we weren't really official or anything, just dating and hanging out."

"And having sex?"

"Well... that too, of course. It's actually one of the only things we did." Gray admitted sheepishly. It's not really something he liked to brag about. He had kind of a reputation already, although not as bad as Loke.

"Is that why we didn't get to see her? Because your relationship is nothing more than that?"

"I guess so. It's definitely not the type of relationship that will last. I barely know her on personal level, hell, I don't even know what kind of magic she uses."

"Then why in heaven's name are you dating her? Is that really the kind of relationship you want?" Lucy personally didn't get why you'd want to be in a relationship like that. It was so... empty.

"Just to get away from all other things, I guess. And no, I don't want it to be like that. I want to find someone that truly knows me and who will be by my side no matter what, who I can laugh with and with whom I can sit in silence for hours without it getting tense of boring, but I can't seem to find anyone remotely like that."

Lucy had to smile, she didn't know Gray had a romantic side! "Have you given her, Lysabelle is it? A chance to be that person?

Gray shook his head. He hadn't, he'd expected it to be an empty relationship so he never invested anything more in it.

"You should talk to her, she's probably wondering what's wrong and why you aren't seeing her anymore." The poor girl was probably waiting for Gray to come back.

"Maybe I should just break up with her. It's clearly not working out like this." The raven shrugged.

"You're gonna give up on it just like that? You should at least try to find out whether she can be that person for you! But for that to happen, you'll have to tell her what's happening to you."

"I don't know. I don't really feel like talking about it right now. I'll call her in a few days." Gray dismissed the subject. He was definitely feeling uncomfortable laying his feelings out in the open like this. But Lucy was probably right, this thing could actually work out if he'd give her a chance.

"Ok."Lucy didn't want to meddle in other people's affairs, but the girl at least deserved an explanation. "Are you going home now?"

"I first need a strong drink to digest everything that's happened." The ice mage said as he first went into one of the bathroom stalls.

End of chapter 11