Every Time We Touch

Disclaimer – I do not own Fairy Tail

Author's Note: I know some of you may not be too fond of how I've portrayed Gray and Natsu. I understand! Believe me! I just wanted to play around with an idea and I wanted to experiment a little with character growth. Although, I must admit I went to the far ends of the character spectrum, but I want to see how I can play this out and make Gray and Natsu change.

Now for some drama!

Chapter 5

10:45 AM – Nature Hike

Why did what the flamebrain said make him so uneasy? He wasn't trying to get his attention…was he? But then, he did single him out a lot just to pick a fight with him. He just liked getting a rise out of Natsu; that was all. However, the dragon slayer wasn't fighting back like he normally would have. He seemed almost…docile.

Gray came to an abrupt halt on the trail when Natsu suddenly stopped and clutched his chest. What the hell was he—

The ice mage panicked when Natsu suddenly fell to his knees, his complexion becoming pale while his breathing became labored.

"Master!" Gray yelled, drawing the attention of Makarov as he knelt beside the dragon slayer. "Natsu, what's wrong?"

The dragon slayer just pushed him away and tried to stand up. "Nothing."

"Hey, easy there," said Makarov, coming to Natsu's side. "What's going on? Talk to me."

"I just felt a little short of breath. That's all. I'm fine now," Natsu insisted.

"Natsu." Makarov's tone sounded like a scolding.

The dragon slayer just shook his head and stared at the ground. He was fine now, so why couldn't he just be left alone?

"We're going to cut this trip short. Let's head back to camp," said Makarov as he helped Natsu up. He stayed with him the whole way back with Gray trailing behind them.

The ice mage stared at their retreating forms, thoughts racing through his mind. What was wrong with Natsu? He wasn't sick, was he? His mind racing, he started putting the pieces together.

It had all started with Natsu getting kicked off his last mission. And when they'd gotten here, Gray had been unnaturally cruel to him, especially when he'd punched the dragon slayer in the stomach. Natsu hadn't eaten dinner, and by the time he and Happy returned to the cabin, the dragon slayer had already gone to sleep. In addition to all that, Natsu had been out of it all day.

This was all that he knew. But still, no conclusion came to him. What was wrong with him? A nagging voice in the back of his mind told him that it was his fault. Perhaps that was guilt? True guilt? Maybe…he should ease up a bit and give Natsu time to get over whatever this was.

11:45 AM – Arts and Crafts

Even though most of the guild members were present, Natsu found that he really didn't want to be with anyone. So he'd opted for sitting in a corner with a table filled with drawing materials. Grabbing some paper, he started sketching with art charcoal. When someone pulled out a chair and sat next to him, he paused.

The dragon slayer looked up, his eyes meeting blue ones. "How…are you doing now?" Gray asked.

"Why? You want to make it worse?" Natsu retorted.

Getting pissed, Gray rose from his seat, the chair toppling over and slamming to the ground as the ice mage stormed off. The clattering sound stunned Natsu for a moment before he relaxed. For a minute there, he thought Gray was going to hit him; he didn't have the strength to handle that right now.

Turning his attention back to his sketch, he continued to draw, his mind swimming with anticipation. He didn't want to anger Gray anymore. What could he do to make him leave him alone? Natsu hated the fact that Gray kept disrupting the moments that should be letting him relax. It was almost as if the ice mage's presence was a bad omen. And he really believed that. Because bad things kept happening to him whenever Gray was around.

Or so it seemed.

Natsu gasped, freezing instantly when he felt a hand on his back.

"What are you so jumpy for?" asked Makarov, picking up the chair that had been knocked over and sitting in it.

"You just…scared me." The dragon slayer decided to at least be honest this time.

"Hm. Are you feeling all right?" The man reached out and placed a hand on Natsu's forehead, feeling his temperature. It felt unnaturally cool. "I'm concerned. It's not like you to lose your appetite, and on top of that, get fatigued. Are you having any other symptoms?"

Natsu wasn't used to anyone being this concerned about his health. He didn't know what to do. "It's fine. I've had worse stuff happen than this. I'm okay."

Makarov sighed. "Natsu," he said, "if you need to talk to me about anything, I'm here for you, okay? Just because I'm the master of the guild doesn't mean I don't care for my members. You are all my children. So if something's wrong, tell me. Let me help you."

"I…" Natsu wanted to blurt his guts out about everything, but decided against it. What could Makarov do to help his situation, really? He didn't even know what was going on with himself.

Knowing full well that the dragon slayer wouldn't utter a word—at least for now—Makarov stood and patted the teen on the head. "That's a nice drawing, by the way."

Natsu gripped the charcoal in his hand. He desperately wanted to tell someone what was going on. He wanted to blab everything: burning down his home, losing control over his magic, everything. But he thought that if he did so, everything would remain the same. He wanted help; he really did. The dragon slayer was just afraid that he wouldn't get it, so why keep his hopes up?

Looking back down at his sketch, his finger traced the outline of the woods he'd just drawn. The setting seemed to resonate peace…something Natsu really wanted to have. But he highly doubted he would get it anytime soon.

12:45 PM – Lunch

Lunch appeared to be a bit better than breakfast, albeit meatless. Natsu looked at his veggie pizza, milk, apple, vegetable soup, and salad. He had enough servings of vegetables on his plate to last him a week.

Poking the cheese on his makeshift pizza, the cheese popped and seemed to gurgle at him. When a salad looked more appetizing than pizza, something was seriously wrong. Vegetable soup it was. Tucking into his questionable meal, he noticed that Happy had a look of absolute horror on his face.

An Exceed + vegetables – fish = DISASTER

"Natsu? What is this?" Happy asked in disgust, stabbing his food with a fork as if he were trying to kill it.

"I'm…not sure," the dragon slayer replied honestly. To him, it looked like the pizza-thing was alive. "Do they have anything else on the buffet?"

"They only have the salad bar today," whined Happy, but then his eyes lit up. "I'm going to grab a bunch of croutons and some cheese." With that, he flew off.

Gray directed his attention to Natsu when he heard him sigh. He watched as the dragon slayer let go of his spoon and resorted to picking at the pizza crust. If the ice mage didn't know any better, he'd say Natsu had lost his appetite again. Inspecting Natsu's tray, he noticed that all he'd had was the salad and the milk.

Natsu jumped when a plate of salad appeared in front of him. His head shot up, his eyes meeting the indifferent gaze of Gray. "Here," said the ice mage.

"Why—"

"You need to eat something. Are you…not hungry?"

"Guess what I got?" Happy crowed as he sat back down in his seat with a plate full of grilled cheese sandwiches cut in the shape of fish. "They just put them out. I was the first one there, so I grabbed the best looking ones. And they look like fish!" Happy started passing grilled cheese to both Natsu and Gray.

"That's okay," said Natsu, refusing to accept the sandwich. "I'm good."

"Like hell you are," growled Gray, much to Natsu's surprise. "Now take a damn grilled cheese sandwich and eat it or I'll force the damn thing down your throat."

Natsu took the grilled cheese. He forced himself to eat about half of it and ate the salad Gray had given him.

And Gray wasn't very pleased about that.

1:45 PM – Rest Period

"Natsu!" Lucy cried, running up to him. "I feel like I haven't talked to you in ages. How's everything going with you and Gray?"

"You know. Same old, same old," the dragon slayer replied blandly.

"Well, I'll catch you later! Bye, Natsu!"

He stared after Lucy. Why was it that she had been the only one to seek him out after all this time? No one tried to approach him during their meals, and no one else had even offered to speak with him during the announcement. Some friends he had.

2:00 PM – Ping Pong

Natsu just wanted to lie down and sleep. Why did he feel so tired? He didn't even think he had the energy to even lift a ping pong ball.

"Gramps, do you mind if I sit this out?" the dragon slayer asked. "I don't—"

"Go right ahead, Natsu. I know you're not feeling all that great, so just rest up. You can take a seat and watch if you'd like."

"Thanks," he replied, trudging over to an empty seat. He sat down just in time to see two unlikely people enter the room: Gajeel and Loke. Apparently, they didn't know what ping pong was, and neither Lucy nor Levy decided to enlighten them. So here they were.

"I challenge you!" started Gajeel, pointing at him with the paddle.

"Challenge accepted," conceded Loke. "Prepare to lose." Dropping the ping pong ball on the table, he hit it. The ball bounced on Gajeel's side of the table and…popped him in the eye.

"You did that on purpose!"

"Did I?" the celestial spirit taunted. He served the ball a second time and the same thing happened.

Gajeel, growing angry, was determined to hit the ball. So when the ball hit his side of the table again, he was ready. Swinging with all his might—

He lost his grip, the paddle flying from his fingers as it hit Loke where the sun don't shine—unless you're actually outside and naked in the sun, but that's beside the point. Let's just say both of them never wanted to play ping pong ever again. It was far too dangerous.

3:00 PM – Cooking

Makarov led Natsu and Gray into the kitchen inside the Lodge. "Since you two have Cooking right before snack time, you'll be responsible for preparing the snacks for everyone. Today we'll be having fruit. Someone can wash and rinse while the other person peels and cuts, all right?"

The two mages nodded without any argument, and with that, Makarov left.

"You can wash," said Gray as he placed a chair in front of the sink. He beckoned Natsu to come over to it.

The dragon slayer eyed him warily. Was he going to try to pull the chair away when he sat down?

"I'm not going to do anything. Just sit down," the ice mage declared.

Natsu sat. Gray then brought him the giant bowl of fruit he was supposed to wash. After everything was set up, they started working.

"Why…are you suddenly being nice?" asked Natsu, keeping his eyes locked on the fruit.

"What makes you say that?"

"You haven't…been mean since this morning and it's just…I don't know," he sighed.

"Perhaps you're looking too much into things…flamebrain," Gray said, adding the insult as an afterthought.

Natsu frowned but kept quiet all the same. The ice mage didn't like that at all.

3:50 PM – Snack

"So, you boys ready for swimming after this?" questioned Makarov, a big smile on his face.

Natsu froze. Swimming? He paled slightly at the thought. Going swimming meant he'd have to take off his shirt. And there was no way in hell he was going to let everyone see the burns he had on his back caused by his…lack of control.

"I…I don't want to swim," the dragon slayer stated quietly.

"Huh? Why?"

"I just don't…l-like the water." Oh, like that was going to work.

"So you can't swim?" How the hell did Makarov come to that conclusion? Hew knew how to swim. "That's fine. I can teach you."

Natsu shook his head. "No! I don't want to!"

"Okay, okay. You don't have to. But I at least expect you down by the lake."

"Fine."

4:10 PM – General Swim

Natsu sat underneath a large tree near the bank of the lake, shivering slightly. Why did he feel so cold all of a sudden? He was never cold. And it wasn't like it was chilly outside. What he wouldn't give for a jacket right about now.

"Why aren't you swimming with everyone else?"

The dragon slayer mentally groaned at hearing Gray's voice. "I could ask the same about you."

"That you could," the ice mage replied, sitting next to him.

He was tempted to lean into Gray's warmth. Was he really that cold? Natsu crossed his arms and rubbed them with his hands.

"Are you cold?"

"What if I am?" the dragon slayer answered bluntly.

Gray stared at him. He'd never witnessed Natsu claiming he was cold. Never. Things wre getting stranger by the minute. "Then why not sit out in the sun? You'd warm up out ther."

"It won't help."

"Why—"

"Would you just go away?" Natsu asked desperately. He really couldn't handle all these questions.

"Do you want me gone that badly?"

"Yes! I do!"

Taken aback by the dragon slayer's scream, he stood up and left, but not before glancing back at him. Natsu had his head resting against the tree, shivering every so often. Something wasn't right. And he was determined to find out the truth.

5:00 PM – Shower Hour and Free Time

Natsu dropped a pillow on the edge of the couch and laid down, pulling the blanket he'd just pulled out over himself. Getting warm had never been so difficult before. Maybe if he fell asleep, his body would right itself. Closing his eyes, he felt his consciousness slipping.

Gray and Happy arrived in their cabin the same time Natsu decided to fall asleep. And even in his unconscious state, the dragon slayer was still trembling.

"Is Natsu okay?" Happy asked in concern, looking at the dragon slayer worriedly.

"I don't know," the ice mage replied, opening the cabinet to withdraw another blanket.

He walked over to Natsu and draped the extra blanket over him. Gray stood there for a time before pushing the dragon slayer's bangs out of the way in order to feel his forehead. It didn't feel like he had a fever or anything; however, he did feel cold, and then he let his hand graze the rest of his face. When it came in contact with his nose, he found that it felt like it was frozen.

"Is there a fireplace in here or anything?" Gray asked Happy.

"Let me check." Happy searched the place and found nothing. "Do you want another blanket instead?"

"Yes." As Happy passed him one, he laid it over the sleeping dragon slayer. Staring at him for another minute, Gray decided to sit on the floor next to him. If Natsu's condition changed for the worse, he didn't care; he was going to get help.

End Chapter