Here is the promised chapter. And, it is the birthday of our favorite avenger!

As always thanks to GB108, Jutten, LyHy, Devil's Darklight, Lightningblade49, The King in White, black goku, HopefulFan, 1010, hateme101, Mobydicks and cristiphilip372 for your reviews.

FT manga is over and ships are hinted in the end. I thought they would pull out a FT: next generations chapter. Guess, I have been wrong. It was a pretty decent ride for me. It had its ups and downs, but there is no denying that it was an awesome manga. Erza for me was the one that stood out the most in FT. Then, Gray, Laxus and Gajeel. Natsu felt to me like a mix of Naruto and Luffy. Others felt more unique compared to him, but that's a given in a shonen manga.

Best char for me: Erza. Then Mystogan, Gray, Laxus, Gajeel... in that order.

Best arc for me: GMG. Then Tower of Heaven, Tartaros Arc, Phantom Lord... in that order.

Best villain for me: Zeref. Not sure if he could also be considered an anti-hero. Then, Mard Geer Tartaros, evil Jellal.

Continuing on; Consider this chapter as an aftermath of the previous one.

...

Chapter 22: Wasted

He never imagined that Erza could get so mad over a small issue. Sure, she did for the smallest of reasons most of the times, but he never thought he would be on the receiving end. And, technically it wasn't a small issue, but at least no one was hurt. That was what mattered, right? Even if things would have gone sour under there, he could have still gotten them out with his Rinnegan.

That was right. They were just figuring out what was going on and went with the flow to see where it would lead them to. And, it wasn't a failure like he initially thought it would be. They had managed to capture two of their men and learnt of their secret plan or mission which they dubbed as Eclipse Project. They had the main perpetrator with them, and though Natsu was drained of his magic reserves, nothing could keep the fire dragon slayer down for a long time.

He wouldn't be surprised if Natsu decides to wake up tomorrow all of a sudden and decides to participate in the games.

Shaking his head as he stared the ground underneath him, he directed a glare at the blonde groveled in dirt few feet away from him. Why did Naruto have to be so idiotic at times? He lined up his hand against his knee and pushed himself up dusting his pants. Obsidian eyes then gazed at the blonde as he stood after him in a few moments.

"You really couldn't have picked a better excuse, huh dobe?"

Blue eyes glared right back, "Hey, I didn't see you help me back there." He, then walked to his side and lent a hand to the Iron Dragon Slayer, "And, thanks for the assist Gajeel."

"No problem, man." Gajeel grinned before he was smacked on the head by Naruto. "Hey! What the heck was that for?"

"You couldn't have looked at the poster before handing it to me?!"

"Man, Natsu's lucky cause he was knocked out, or he would have been in the same boat as us."

They turned to see the Ice wizard get up from his position and walk up to them. Gray then stuffed his hands in his pockets and spoke, "Trust me guys. I know Erza well. She will cool down eventually and forget that this ever happened by tomorrow."

Naruto crossed his arms, still glaring at the slightly irritated Uchiha, "I am just saying all this could have been avoided if Sasuke could have talked her out of it." Weren't they supposed to be together by now, seeing as it had been many months since Sasuke left Konoha... temporarily, that is.

When Sasuke left through the portal, Naruto was sure that the last Uchiha went through the portal mainly for her but under the pretext of a mission. He did not believe all that crap about alliance and all, and maybe Sasuke wasn't lying about it at the time, but he sure as hell wasn't stating the complete truth either. That did seem like the case when he closely observed Sasuke and his actions during his brief stay.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted, not choosing to argue with the blonde as he was partially correct. He didn't invite her because he thought it didn't have anything to with her and blurted the same thing to her when asked. He should have probably rephrased his wording a bit better. That wasn't how you talk to a woman you planned to court.

That only got her more upset. Perhaps, avoiding the bar for now would be better.

"Now what?" Gajeel looked around at the odd group that was formed before settling his gaze on the only blonde in that group, as if demanding him to take responsibility. "For the time being, I think we have to spend our time away from the sun bar. Anyone have any spectacular ideas?"

"There is another famous bar some blocks away from here," Naruto cupped his chin and thought as Sasuke silently gazed at the wooden door of the bar again. "Cana showed it to me and it's awesome. What do you guys say? We could get wasted all night and forget that horrendous act ever happened."

Sasuke was beginning to walk away, "I'll pass."

"Me too," Gray started walking in the opposite direction.

Naruto groaned in irritation. He forgot how annoying Sasuke could be, remembering the time when they were genin. He would never agree to any of his plans and he always had to go the roundabout methods to convince him. "I'll go and get Sasuke, Gajeel. You drag Gray to the bar."

"Sure."

..

"Sasuke, wait up!"

Sasuke stopped walking and turned towards the blonde with mild irritation, "What, dobe?"

"Let's go the bar," Naruto caught his right arm before Sasuke could react and tried to drag him, "I know you are bitchy about this and want to be left alone. But, trust me. Some shots will help you feel better, teme. Don't worry. Everyone makes mistakes."

The Raven haired teen raised an eyebrow, and planted his feet to prevent Naruto from dragging him, "What mistakes? The only mistake I remember was you making a fool out of us."

"Aw~ don't feel so bad for yourself, Sasuke." Naruto continued pulling him with some more effort, a grin still plastered on his face. "There is nothing wrong with your inability to talk to girls. But, at least you are making an effort. That's worth celebrating."

Sasuke continued resisting, "No, thank you. I have been talking to Erza fine until now."

The last time he went drinking with the blonde, it had turned into a fricking contest which he probably should have backed out from. And in the end, he didn't remember what he did that night, but haphazardly found himself alone, naked in a random hotel's room in the morning. He didn't even know whether he did the deed.

"That and this are different." Naruto grit his teeth, bringing his other hand to catch his rival's right hand. Sasuke was being really stubborn. "Up until now, you had no problem talking to her because she was just your comrade. Now, it's different. You have tread these things carefully. I have been there."

Sasuke blinked and stared incredulously at his rival, his eyes shining slightly with ridicule, "You are going to give me advice on these things?"

"Hey, I don't see a ring on your finger!"

That instantly shot Sasuke and his future arguments down, giving the vocal victory to Naruto. "I'll teach you something today, Sasuke." His eyes glinted dangerously much to Sasuke's dismay as he allowed himself to be dragged. "While you have been travelling the lands and practicing to be a Buddha, I was back in Konoha and -"

"Training, I hope."

Naruto ignored that mock remark and continued gibbering something incoherent according to Sasuke. Once they reached their destination, he struck a striking pose which would have made Guy proud, "I am no longer that oblivious idiot who didn't understand girls and their feelings at all. I have evolved into something greater and something far more than anything you can comprehend."

Sasuke deadpanned and nodded, "I can see."

"Today, my friend," Naruto flung his arm around Sasuke who stayed still, and looked into the distance spreading his other arm as if he was inviting the mad scientist to come and devour the raven beside him. "I'll teach you the art of landing girls. Consider it a good practice for future."

Sasuke nodded absentmindedly, entirely thinking on something else. I see… The toad sage and one of the legendary sannin, Jiraya… still lives on.

It was at that moment Sasuke realized that what Naruto spoke had nothing to do with what happened in the guild earlier. He merely just wanted to find an excuse to drink and hangout. That was all. That Cana was the one probably responsible marring the once non-alcoholic dobe into a pure alcoholic moron.

He released a sigh of defeat, and steeled himself for the inevitable that was probably going to happen.

Gray and Gajeel were already present in the bar, seated near a table. Naruto sent Sasuke to occupy a seat, while he went to bring the drinks.

"So you were also dragged, huh, Gray?" Sasuke asked in a resigned manner, eyeing the already half naked Gray across the table. He turned towards Gajeel and nodded as he captured the seat beside him.

Gray turned away scowling as Gajeel laughed and offered an answer in return, "I just informed him of the imminent danger he would be in if he strode off alone."

"I just came here cause I had nothing better to do," Gray muttered under his breath as Gajeel laughed even more.

Probably, he was dragged in a similar fashion, Sasuke wondered. "I guess that this imminent danger has something to do with water?"

"Damn, you are right!" Gajeel grinned more at the expense of the scowling maker wizard as Sasuke simply shook his head at them. Naruto chose that moment to join in as he set many shots on the table,

"What are you guys talking about?"

"Nothing." Sasuke addressed his friend who sat in front of him, his lone orb studying the several shots set on the table. Probably something crazy Naruto had planned. He could only hope it wasn't going to be another drinking game.

"Well, we were just talking about how Gray pissed his pants and cowered back to escape from Juvia." Gajeel answered despite the Uchiha's unwillingness to answer.

Naruto grinned and offered a nod of approval to the Ice wizard, "Gray, you are a lucky bastard! I envy you, man. You are a lot lucky than you can imagine. Let's see, hmm... Yeah, for example you don't even have to worry about getting her wet. You could start right at the start."

Gajeel laughed along with Naruto as Sasuke, whose face went blue with disgust covered his mouth with his hand. He felt like puking just listening to Naruto talk in this fashion. Maybe, the dobe's brain really went down the gutters when Erza bashed him. Clearing his mind after a moment, he motioned towards the shots laid in front of him, "What's with these shots? Surely you aren't expecting us to drink this much."

"It's only half past nine, Sasuke." Naruto stared at him in disapproval. He once again looked at the two empty seats in their table, "It would have been a perfect game if only Natsu and Lucy could have joined." He sighed, his shoulders slumped in disappointment. "You know, as a success for today's adventure," He explained.

"Well, she is taking care of the flame brain at the moment," Gray stated, folding his arms on the table and set his chin against the palm of his right hand. "And, what game are you talking about, Naruto?"

"Something that Cana introduced me to," Naruto answered, busy looking around before he spotted a girl sitting all by herself near the bartender. "Come on, Sasuke. Time to keep my promise to you and show you how it's done." He grinned getting up before any of them could comprehend what he said.

Sasuke frowned as he grabbed Naruto's hand and stopped him. "What are you planning?"

"Meh, just bringing some color to our drinking game," He shrugged casually and pointed the girl to Sasuke.

He recognized her immediately. If he remembered correctly, that girl belonged to the Blue Pegasus guild and her name was… Jenny? She was the girlfriend of this weird model who participated in a round with him. What was his name again? Was Naruto really trying to land her?

Well, the idea did seem interesting and he got curious as to how much Naruto changed these past two years. It was probably worth a shot. So, he let go of his hand and laid back to observe the show.

She seemed to have noticed Naruto when he had approached her. He leaned onto the stand and occupied the seat beside her and started saying something nice seeing as she blushed immediately.

Sasuke was honestly surprised at how well Naruto was holding a conversation with her. He received a nudge to his elbow and turned towards his teammate who was as equally surprised and confused as him.

"What is whiskers trying to do?"

"Trying to convince that girl to join our drinking game." Sasuke said with a passive face while Gajeel and Gray immediately whipped their heads towards the blonde's direction, their eyes peeled out.

It was strange seeing the blonde flirt. Very strange. They always thought Naruto was same as Natsu, so seeing him trying to flirt with a girl was like a mock simulation where Natsu flirted with a girl.

The conversation seemed to go a lot well as they continued to take shots before the girl's cheeks suddenly reddened a lot – which they understood later was due to both anger and embarrassment – and stormed away. A few moments later, a dejected Naruto sat back in his previous spot.

"I wonder what went wrong." Naruto mumbled sadly.

Sasuke and the rest leaned in, curiosity getting the better of them. They couldn't hear what was said between them due to the distance and how noisy the bar was, but Naruto must have said something weird if she got up and left abruptly.

"What happened, Naruto?" Gray asked.

The blonde blinked at Gray as Gajeel too leaned in and asked, "Yeah, what went wrong? She was blushing a lot and I thought you had her."

Naruto blinked at Gajeel as Sasuke merely grunted, but still paid close attention to what Naruto had to say. "I dunno… I started the conversation normally. I introduced myself and asked her about herself."

"What did she say?" Gray asked, paying real close attention. He was still imagining how Natsu would flirt with a girl.

"Her name was Jaune and she liked this guy…"

You couldn't even get her name correct… Sasuke sighed into his palm. And, why did he still try to hit on a girl even after knowing she already had someone she liked?

"She liked someone?" Gajeel asked with a surprised expression, before nodding to himself after a moment as if something made sense. "Ah... that must be the reason probably why she left immediately."

"Nah, man. I still had it." Naruto placed his hands on the table and sat up. "See, I offered myself to listen to her concerns and worries, cause you know, the first step is to make them feel comfortable towards you. Though she was reluctant at first, I urged her and she began to feel freer and more open towards me. That was a conversation starter."

"About the person she liked. Nice going, Naruto." Sasuke muttered sarcastically.

"Shut up, will ya!" Naruto shot a dark glare at the Uchiha before continuing. "She talked about how reserved he has been to her lately and all. She then started accusing herself saying that there was some fault with her. A disease because he started ignoring her and started paying attention to other girls."

"…!"

Sasuke shook his head indignantly. Why did they have to be so weird? Whatever the case maybe, but jealous girls were the scariest as far as he knew. At least, he was sure he would face no such problems with Erza. But, then again a certain incident happened a couple of days ago.

"Then, being the good person I am, I comforted her saying that there was no fault with her. Not a disease or anything. And, I said that I would offer to solve this problem of hers as I smiled at her."

"That must have been the reason she blushed," Gajeel mused as Naruto nodded with a smile and continued after a moment.

"I said that I felt a twinge aching in my heart after hearing her plight, but I also said that her worries would definitely be noticed by him." Naruto said, as others still tried to figure out where he went wrong. Which Sasuke found to be absurd. Didn't they get that this girl was already into another guy.

"You didn't say anything weird till now. I wonder what must have gone wrong." Gray questioned, thinking a bit too seriously about this issue according to Sasuke. Naruto agreed with Gray before Gajeel again asked him to continue.

"Yeah, right. I said to her that one day he would definitely take notice of her actions and open up to her like before. And then concluded with my killer line asking her when will she open her legs to me?"

"Like that's a killer line!" Sasuke slammed his hand against the table and finally lost his cool in this Naruto's ridiculously absurd tale. "Alright spit out, dobe. How much were you drinking before we arrived here?!"

Others observed Naruto's face closely upon Sasuke's statement and noticed that his cheeks were indeed flushed. Gray immediately jabbed a finger at him, "Why did you have to end it so bad?! Cave men are more eloquent than you!"

"In a battle of love, everyone reverts back to cavemen." Naruto replied in a simple way.

"Then go back to your cave and never come back!"

"Geez, you guys," Naruto placed the shots in a line and looked at his rival. "Let's not forgot about the drinking game. Who needs girls when bros are trying to hang out, right?"

"You were the one who tried to flirt with a girl." They chorused.

Naruto ignored that joint remark and turned towards Sasuke with a challenging look in his eyes, "Since our last battle was a draw, want to settle the score?"

Sasuke met his gaze and smirked, "Hn, thought you would never ask."

"The game is called I have never," Naruto turned to the wizards in the group. "You guys in, right?"

"Uh, sure."

"Yeah."

"Then let's start!" Naruto raised his shot which was joined by Gajeel. Sasuke and Gray decided to be less vocal about this, but still looked forward to the drinking fest.

..

Erza was slightly frustrated as she stood in the lobby of her inn. She tapped her finger impatiently against her crossed arms. All she could do for now was to wait patiently for her teammates, who disappeared right after the little incident that went down in the bar.

It was all Sasuke and other's fault for venturing away on their own earlier this day. They had not only decided to do something dangerous that could have potentially caused not only Lucy's arrest but also risked their guild's expulsion by going against the kingdom. And, even after she hung her head in front of the princess and the request she put forward for Sasuke's sake…

She even ran it by him when they went to the bakery for kami's sake. She was going to and initially planned to punish the lot more for the reckless adventure they had when they returned.

But, as time went passed by and when she still found no clue to where they disappeared, she grew worried. She was not too harsh on them, was she?

Hearing the clock struck twice, she glanced at it to see that both the minutes and hour hands had passed the twelve. No matter how much they decided to sulk about it, they still had games tomorrow which was their duty.

"They're late." She muttered with a deadpan look.

..

"How many shots did we have?" The last Uchiha asked, the entire world spinning around in his head. He tossed his hand over his friend's shoulder for support as they continued walking the deserted streets of Crockus.

Gray slightly stumbled, crashing into a trash bin located just near the inn of team A. "I don't know… I was Ko'ed at twenty." He hiccupped, his cheeks completely flushed.

"And, me at thirty." Gajeel said, catching his head in pain and took support from the wall beside him.

"What time is it?" Naruto asked quietly. He wanted to avoid loud noise at all costs due to the massive headache he was having now. And, to think he had the fastest metabolism and he still got drunk enough this bad. Damn, Sasuke can really be competitive when he wanted to be.

"Doesn't matter. All I want is to rest and call it a day," Sasuke groaned weakly from beside. It was true since they have been drinking and drinking… a lot. Nothing good ever came from Naruto and his drinking games. He didn't even remember how many drinks he had. He only remembered the sight of a baffled bartender as he attended to them.

But at least he didn't do anything stupid that he would regret later on… like that time. He mused to himself as Naruto finally stopped dragging him. He blinked, trying to get his vision clear under the lights as he stared at the building in front of him.

"This isn't our inn, Naruto." He slurred, before he hic'ed catching his mouth to prevent himself from hurling his insides. He swallowed the bitter taste of his insides again, slightly disgusted but the wooziness was dominating for now.

"But, it is ours." Gray said, taking a weak step forward and tried to push the door but ended up falling flat on his face.

Gajeel laughed clutching his stomach, "Haha, look at you!" he said, moving next to Gray and tried to do the same and ended up falling on his face just like Gray.

Naruto shook his head, being the slightly better one in this situation. "I suppose Gajeel could take Natsu's bed since he isn't here." He said, pushing the door open. "And I suppose Sasuke could share my bed with me for tonight."

The rest shot him incredulous looks as Sasuke felt like really puking now. He almost did as he shook his head fiercely in refusal. "There's no way in hell I am sharing a bed with you!"

"Would you rather go to your inn in this condition?" Naruto asked sleazily, losing his balance and almost dropped Sasuke. "I am sure your fan club is still lurking around the corners, waiting for an opportunity for you to collapse dead on the road."

Sasuke shuddered at the thought, but still refused Naruto's offer, "Damn it, dobe. We are not small kids to share a single bed."

"~Why not?" He sang. "I shared a bed once with Hinata and she didn't seem to mind. And, so did Sakura-chan. And, Kiba too. Maybe, Ino and Shikamaru were also there..."

"Just how many of them slept in one cot, dobe?" Sasuke asked, as Naruto began looking hazily at his free hand and started counting.

Sasuke groaned and decided with what conscious mind he was left with after the drunken festival they had, that it was pointless to argue with Naruto. If he pressed further, Naruto might leave his bed alone to him and definitely go sleep on Wendy's bed. That damn wanna be pedo. He was so sure of it and couldn't allow it on his conscience or whatever was left of it now.

As the rest followed in, they noticed that the lights in the upstairs, where the beds were situated were already switched off. Probably everyone had already gone to bed considering that it was already so late in the night.

Or, so they thought…

"Where were you guys until now?"

They were busy examining the upstairs that it never really struck them that the lights in the lobby were switched on and that a certain someone had been waiting patiently for them for the past hour. They immediately exchanged glances and nodded to themselves turning around.

"Wait!"

They froze in place and slowly turned to face the scowling red head, who was in her purple pajamas. She crossed her arms and muttered with a dangerous tone, "It's 1:25 am. Nobody would even take you in at this late hour…" She said, before covering her nose. "And, I certainly don't think you guys can run anywhere in your condition. You guys stink."

"We are drunk," Sasuke slurred after a moment, bowing before her. "Please allow me to rest here for the night, miss." He finished with a hiccup and got back up.

"I can see that." Erza deadpanned before turning towards the blonde. "Tell me, Naruto. Were you the one who suggested this?"

Despite feeling lightheaded and drowsiness threatening to take him in at any moment, he still flinched at her question. "Well, we -" He was interrupted by many coughs, so he had to rephrase. "I was the one who suggested to drink to lighten ourselves. I am sorry, Erza."

"We all are for causing you to worry," Sasuke said from beside. Gray exchanged a glance with Gajeel before he too got up and apologized.

Erza sighed. She knew she couldn't fully blame them. She was partly responsible after all. "Well, I suppose I owe you guys an apology myself." She admitted, but blinked when she realized that she had their complete unwavering attention despite their flushed state.

She frowned and turned her head away. She wasn't used to apologizing this way, so she was feeling a bit embarrassed. "I guess I was over reacting a bit because I thought Sasuke didn't trust me enough to take me along with him. I just didn't want my comrades getting hurt when I know that I could have done something to prevent it."

Her brown eyes shifted to the carpet underneath her feet as she fidgeted around a little. "I acted violently and I feel bad about it. I should have just talked it with you guys and instead, I…" She bowed her head. "I am sorry as well."

She lifted her head after a moment, feeling awkward about herself as the hall had gone utterly quiet. They were sending calculative looks at her as she had no freaking clue as to what they were thinking.

After a moment, Sasuke – who looked like he had sobered up – raised his hand and opened his mouth to say something, but only to be interrupted by Naruto hurling his contents onto Sasuke's vest. He didn't even have time to react or dodge seeing that he was standing right beside him.

"Sorry about that, Sasuke." Naruto wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and looked at the wall beside him with sudden interest, away from the murderous gaze of Sasuke. The rest just stared at the sight vacuously.

Well, at least they replied to her apology… in some way. Though it should have been the other way around.

Erza punched her reflection in the mirror, causing it to break, "I was stupid to worry about those guys!" They went drinking while she worried for nothing. Well, she was not exactly worrying about them at the start, but still she did eventually.

The thought was what counted. "They went on their own again." First, they took all of team Natsu except her to the cave. Not that she felt left out and would have wanted to go, but all her team had gone.

Her comrades could have been in danger while she was perfectly safe in the bar. Then, they repeated it going off on their own again. It wasn't like she was waiting for them to crawl back into the bar and apologize to her. It wasn't like she had waited in the bar for an extra hour even past the closing time, hoping that she be present there if they were to return to apologize.

And, when she had apologized in return – though it wasn't necessary of her – they could have at least pretended to care. Not puke as if she said something weird or gross.

She retracted her hand and caught a glimpse of Sasuke's vest discarded in a corner. It was still covered in puke and Sasuke had cleaned himself earlier in here. "Honestly, I cannot believe he got this drunk." But, then again, this wasn't his first time going all out in a drinking match.

Each time he went all out, Naruto was somehow involved. "Yeah, I forgot that they were rivals." Honestly, they were rivals in everything. Who knew how many drinks they had?

With a shake of her head, she decided to drop the subject and made her way out of the bathroom. She had already vented her anger in several ways. She could only hope that they wouldn't have a severe hangover on day four.

The lights in the hall room were already switched out, and the others were soundly asleep. It was dark, so she had to feel the bed posts to move carefully until she reached her bed. Naruto and Gray had their own cots, Gajeel had said he would use Salamander's and Sasuke was going to share a bed with Naruto.

It was just like a yaoi manga she once read and she got a nosebleed just thinking about it. Sasuke was sleeping with a bare chest alongside a drunk Naruto. She wiped the blood with her thumb and pulled the covers diving in, definitely not thinking and giggling about it. As soon as she lied down, a lean and muscular hand was draped over her comely figure.

"What's so funny?" A familiar voice whispered in the dark. His breath stirred her hair as she went still for a moment, trying to figure out her molester.

She immediately sat up, pushing the hand off her. She turned her head behind to see the Uchiha lying flat on his stomach, his hair a swirly mess. "W-What are doing?" She hissed under her breath and kept her voice low so that others wouldn't wake up. He probably found her bed empty when she went to the bathroom and occupied it.

"That is not a very romantic thing to say," his hand grabbed her shirt and yanked her back to the bed beside him. She let out a startled gasp but Sasuke paid no mind to it given his drunken state and simply encircled his arms around her slender waist, pulling her closer to him. She put two hands in front of her chest to put some distance, only to realize that he was undeniably without his torso.

Her heartbeat increased dramatically when she felt his firm chest against her palms, a warm liquid running down her nose. She wiped it with one of her hands only to realize that it was… nosebleed. Again!

This was bad. Sasuke was drunk and he didn't know what he was doing. He would probably berate himself for his actions when he would wake up. It was already so late at night that she couldn't cause a fuss either and they needed all the sleep they could get before tomorrow.

"Sasuke?" She whispered, but she knew that he was listening to her even though she wasn't able to see his face. "It won't do any good if others find us in this position. You said so yourself, remember?" She mumbled softly and tried to reason, but she got no response for a while.

After a minute or so, he answered. "Let's just stay this way for some time, Erza." He whispered, burying his nose further into her long red tresses and inhaled the strawberry scent of her, and finally called it a day. He didn't even know what he did in his last moments, cause he was so tired and sleepy and drunk.

Unknown to Sasuke, Erza was blushing madly and tried to restrain herself but failed miserably. Her mind was racing with many thoughts and worries about what she should do, as it wouldn't likely be well received by others when they find them in this particular position the next day.

But, her worries vanished for a moment when she felt his arms around her go lax, and felt his gentle rise and fall of his chest against her hands. Perhaps he slept, she thought and leaned forward after a moment to rest her head against his chest, and felt the monotone beating of his heart against his chest lulling her sleep. Her eyelids began feeling heavy as minutes ticked by.

She still tried to stay awake though, but eventually gave into her exhaustion for staying up so late. Not before moving around a bit to adjust herself. Once she was comfortable in her position, she fell asleep resting her cheek against his chest, with only the breathing of various occupants in the room breaking the silence of the quiet hall.

A/N: We see Sasuke and the rest decide to go overboard with their drinking. And, Erza being the chivalrous one, decides to apologize instead, thinking it was her fault they ran away in the first place. She might try to stay mad at Sasuke, but cannot at the moment. Not even if she conjures a lot of pent up frustration when she is having a blast in her sleep.

I have recently watched Gintama. It was too funny not put a reference of it in this chapter.

(edit: I am thinking of maybe making GMG the final arc. What do you guys say?)

Next chapter focuses on day 4 of the games.

Until then, later!