Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail or any other elements in this story.

CH. 2

*In a clearing just outside of Magnolia*

"OK Natsu, Lets start your training in Re-quip Magic" Erza said in her usual stoic manner.

Natsu stood across from her with his arms crossed and simple nodded and said "OK."

Erza hesitated at this. She was half expecting him to go on his usual rants about being all fired up, or let's do this, Etc. She never in a million years expected to see him just stand there with a dead serious face and a calm attitude. To say it unnerved her would be a gross understatement.

"Are we going to start or not?" Natsu said breaking Erza out of her shock.

"What? Oh, yes, lets begin."

*Three weeks Later*

Mater Makarov was sitting on the bar sipping at the mug of fresh coffee Mirajane had made for him. He was waiting for a particular individual this morning with the hope of talking to him. For some reason Natsu had not shown up to the guild even once in the last month and now that his training with Erza had come to an end, he figured that with that out of the way, Natsu would start coming to the guild again.

"Erza, have you seen Natsu this morning?" Erza had just got to the guild and was making her way to the bar when the master hailed her. Erza frowned at the question wondering what the master wanted with Natsu. In the last month Erza had grown rather close to (the now always serious) Natsu, even if his silence was extremely unnerving the old energetic Natsu would always surface put was soon pushed down. She actually was impressed be how focused he was during training and PT. Her face gained a heavy blush as she remembered a certain rainy day.

Natsu would always remove his vest for PT so his chest and ab were exposed. Normally this wouldn't bother Erza but today was different. After doing a set of sit-ups and finishing his reps before her. He quickly got up and tuned to watch her finish. Erza was almost done when she heard Natsu get up and when she got to the top of her sit-up she looked up, and froze. Natsu was standing in front of her with his body slightly turned toward her but it was as if she was seeing him for the first time. With the dark greens from the forest and greys from the overcast sky as a back drop, Natsu seemed to radiate light as waves of steam caused by the rain were coming off him. She looked on entranced as a bead of sweat made its way down the deep center of his toned abs. Which, of course, caught her gaze as she stared at his abs, watching as they glistined with sweat, entranced by the way they moved. She didn't notice when Natsu moved up to her and waved his hand in front of her face startling her.

"Yo Er..."

"KYAAAA!" *SLAP*

Erza blushed again at the memory because she had slapped Natsu so hard he couldn't talk for a week. But try as she might she just couldn't get the image of Natsu's Rock hard, glistening abs out of her mind and how they... She mentally slapped herself for thinking of such things at the guild and getting side tracked as a result.

"No master. I haven't seen him since yesterday." Erza replied truthfully while fighting down her blush.

"Hmm, That boy has me worried, has he told you any kind of plan or mission, anything of the sort?

"No he hasn't. In fact he has said little of anything and its very unnerving to be perfectly honest. All he ever did was train and go home, and I must say with him as focused as he was, the training took only half the time I thought it would. And he turns out to be quite proficient at Re-quip Magic, but whenever I ask him why he wanted to know the magic, he would always say "I have my reasons" and say nothing else on the subject." Erza frowned thinking back at all the times she tried to get an answer out of the pink haired mage, even going as far as trying to beat the answer out of him but still he would not say anything else (which is hard to do while unconscious).

"Here's your cheesecake Erza." Mira sang with a smile "It is rather strange for Natsu to not come to the guild, even while training. In the past when ever he trained he would always come to the guild to pick a fight with Gray."After pausing and getting into a thinking pose with one finger set daintily on the side of her chin, she said, "The guild has been rather quiet lately."

Just then Happy Burst through the guilds doors carrying a big stack of books yelling "Mira~ Do you have any fish-?!"

"Sure thing Happy, and- here you go."

Setting the books down, Happy snatched the fish from Mira with a huge grin on his face.

"Thanks Mira Do you know if Carla is here?"

"She is! In fact she is sitting over with Wendy, Lucy, and Gray."

"Thanks!" was all he said before speeding off in the right direction. Mira's curiosity getting the better of her, begain to goo through the stack of books Happy had just left at the bar.

"*Gasp* Erza! Come look at this!"

Erza broke out of her own musings about strawberry cheesecake, got up and made her way over to were Mira was looking at the books

"Whats wrong Mira?"

"Happy brought these in. Take a look!"

"Battle strategies for Close Combat, Geology of the World, Must Travel too Places of the World...Math!? ...HAPPY! Erza roared silencing the entire guild with her fury.

All the people in the guildhall parted to make an aisle that led straight to the table that sat a wide eyed Happy who was quaking in fear. Fearing the worst as Erza walked forward to promptly grab Happy, walk back to the bar and pointed to the books and asked Happy "How long has Natsu been studying math and battle tactics!?"

To say that the guild was stunned was a fair assessment to say the least. They never thought that Natsu of all people would study math let alone by himself.

"Only for the last Month or so. After training he would study until he fell asleep."

"Wow, I never thought that Flame-Brain would ever touch a textbook again in his life so why would he do so now?" Gray remarked while taking off his shirt.

"Oh! By the way, i'm supposed to give this to the guild." Happy chimed while handing a letter to Master Makarov and flew off.

Makarov opened the letter and paled and his eyes widened as his eyes traveled down the letter.

After a sort time Mira piped up and asked, "What's it say Master?"

All Master Makarov did was shake his head sadly and handed her the letter

Mira Cleared her throat and began to Read the letter.

"Dear Fairy Tail

I think of you all as family and I would not be able to bear it if one of you got hurt. It has been repeatedly beat into me that i am not strong enough to protect those I love. Therefore, I will be taking a leave of absence from the guild to train so I can be strong enough in the future. I will be back someday.

Goodbye, Natsu"

The guild was stunned. Not only was Natsu never going to come in that day, but he was leaving as well, with no immediate return in the foreseeable future. The guild sat in stunned silence for what seemed an eternity untill Gray asked a obvious question...at least it was for him.

"Since when dous Ash-For-Brains know proper grammar!?"

This was answered with a steel enclosed fist to the head.