So I kind of got sidetracked when it came to this chapter. In all honesty by the time I uploaded chapter 4 I had about 1,000 words done and just didn't continue. Why? I just found other things to do and I just sort of forgot. Anyways another reason is because for a time I lacked ideas. In terms of this story, I don't really plan anything out (the only thing I planned out was just the idea of Erza coming back from a year long trip.), so I often times drive myself into a corner where the ideas just don't come that easily. Anyways enjoy.

Reference:

Talking - "Quotations"

Thinking - 'Contractions'

Flashback - Italics

Spells, Important people or objects - Bold

A Return Worth Waiting For

Chapter 5

The sound of someone being dragged on the ground was the sound that passing civilians heard when they looked at the young mages. The scarlet haired woman was dragging the rose haired man by his white scaled scarf.

"W-w-Why a-ar-e you d-doing this?" Natsu struggled for words, let alone breath; his face turning blue.

"Isn't it obvious? I, despite your strength, believe you should not be alone with your injuries. Therefore I'm taking you to your house." The scarlet beauty replied.

'Taking? She's basically forcing me to go home by dragging me by my scarf! I just wanted to relax with Happy and fish today! Natsu frantically thought. 'Time for more drastic measures I guess.'

In that moment, Natsu quickly reached up and unraveled his scarf that was still in Erza's iron grip, and quickly covered her eyes with it. By the time Erza was able to pull it away from her eyes, Natsu was already using his magic on the dirt ground to create a smoke screen to run away.

Unable to see clearly but a very faint figure run away, Erza yelled out, "Natsu! Where are you going?"

"Anywhere that doesn't involve you forcibly dragging me home!" Natsu cried out in fear and he ran faster to find Happy.

Before Erza could say anything else, Natsu was gone. He left her alone. With only his scaled white scarf in her hands. 'Was I being too forceful to him?' She thought somewhat sadly before wrapping the scarf around her neck and walked off into town.

A couple hours later

The sun was about to make it's way to the tree lines, and soon after that, the horizon, only to trade places with the moon for the time being until the following day. Erza was walking around idly not really thinking about much, until she noticed the time of day. She then decided to take a walk next to the river before heading to Fairy Hills for the night. On her way there she could faintly make out a high pitch voice.

"Woah Natsu! That's a big one!" the blue furred cat exclaimed in awe at the 4 foot long fish Natsu had caught. In Natsu's opinion it wasn't very big, but anything bigger than his feline friend, it would be considered 'big' in Happy's book.

"That makes twenty-three fish!" Natsu happily exclaimed.

Erza saw this and took noticed of how happy he seemed. He seemed to be genuinely enjoying himself with his friend, fishing rather than be around her. Erza soon turned to walk home; that is, until someone called out to her.

"Hey Erza!"

Erza quickly turned her head to the owner of the voice, facing the rose haired mage.

"Where are you going?" Natsu asked, rather curious as to why she was briefly watching them then just head home.

"Uh just heading home." Erza replied emotionlessly, not giving way that she was somewhat saddened.

"Do you want to join us?" Natsu asked joyfully.

"What?" Erza asked perplex that he asked if she would like to fish with him and Happy.

"Aye sir!" Happy announced without any context

"Isn't it getting late?" Erza asked, now trying to come up with excuses.

"Nonsense! It's never too late for fishing!" Natsu yelled happily.

Erza gave in, and decided to join Natsu and his blue furred friend in some fishing. After a while she found it quite enjoyable. Able to join in the free spiritedness of the two. The splashing of the water when a fish comes out, getting sprayed with water from Happy, and the funny whining sound Happy made when both Natsu and herself hung a fish over his head became the moments Erza best enjoyed. Soon she was laughing with the other two, acting unlike how many remember her as the strict emotionless knight, but as a young woman who enjoys being with people she cares for and having free spirited fun.

The sun was now finishing it's descent over the horizon and Happy was fast asleep on the shoreline of the river. Natsu himself, despite his seemingly endless stamina, was also exhausted. He reached down and picked Happy up and set him down atop his head. Erza herself greatly enjoyed the time spent here and was tired like the other two. Ready to flop in bed and sleep until morning. She and Natsu started walking to Fairy Hills

"Thanks for inviting me to fish with you Natsu. I really enjoyed it." Erza sad with a genuine smile.

"No problem. I noticed you seemed saddened by something. It's what family are for: to comfort those who are hurting. Besides, I wasn't about to leave you out of the fun we were having." Natsu said with a toothy grin.

Soon enough, the pair ended up near the entrance of Fairy Hills.

"Well, I'm turning in for the night. I'll see you later Natsu."

"Alright. I'll see you in the morning then Erza. We should take a mission again." Natsu turned away as he said his goodnight, beginning his walk home.

As Erza saw the retreating figure of Natsu, she swore she forgot something. Something he forgot with their brief scuffle earlier in the day. Something white….something warm. His scarf.

"Oh! Natsu, You left your scarf when you ran away earlier." Erza voiced loudly about to unravel the scarf, already beginning to miss the warm feeling it brought her.

"Huh? Oh, you can hold to it. I trust you with it. Besides, you look nice with it." Natsu complimented without thinking, continuing his walk home.

"Uh t-th-thank you." Erza lightly stuttered, caught off-guard from his compliment with her cheeks turning pink. "See you tomorrow Natsu." She mumbled slightly, rather flustered. She then slowly turned towards the dormitory and started walking inside snuggling her face into the warm scarf. Upon entering her room she flopped on her bed and quickly fell asleep with the scarf pushed against her for all the warmth it brought her.

Afternoon the next day

A series of groans broke through the forest this breezy afternoon. The groans belonged to a man, who appeared to be suffering quite substantially. He was collapsed on a small raft that was surrounded by a small pond no bigger than 30 feet in diameter and 7 feet deep. Natsu was suffering from his signature motion sickness. His face was a retched shade of green and his face was bloated comically as if he was about to let out his - "BLUUUAAH" …. lunch.

A muffled laugh was heard close by from a young woman, who found her best friend suffering comically from something so rare, rather amusing.

"Wha-w-what are you laughing at!?" Natsu groaned, struggling to not lose another helping of food.

"Oh, nothing. Just finding your 'training' rather amusing seeing as how it looks more like torture." Erza replied after settling down her laughter.

"B-b-but it is torture! You d-d-ragged me out here and threw me on this. I wanted to go on a mission today!" Natsu continued to ramble.

Erza simply playfully pouted. "Well you did say you wanted to do something about your motion sickness. I was only lending a helping hand."

Natsu, not noticing her playful mood thought she was genuinely upset about his outburst. "I-I'm sorry Erza. I did not meant to yell." He apologized.

Erza simply just started laughing which caused Natsu to catch on that Erza was playing with him. He simply let out a low growl. While he was annoyed Erza was playing with him, he was happy that Erza was letting herself go and enjoying herself, even if it was at the price of him suffering.

"How about this then Natsu. If you can improve your motion sickness to where you can at least withstand transportation for more than 5 seconds by the end of tomorrow, I will help you and Happy stock up on fish, and personally cook a meal for you myself."

Natsu immediately forgot about his being on a small raft, his face lighting up instantly. "Really!? You promise!?"

Erza just smiled. "Of course."

Something then proceeded to pop into Natsu's head. "Wait, you learned to cook?" Natsu was not sure if he should still be excited or now dreading what might happen should he improve on his motion sickness. Back before she left, Erza was not a very good cook. Finding ways to even burn water. If nothing has changed, Natsu considered not trying to train out of his motion sickness.

"I'm shocked Natsu. You think that in the time I've been gone I didn't pick up a thing or two? Well think again!" Erza replied with enthusiasm.

'She's getting more fired up about proving her cooking to me than I am about my 'reward'. Natsu sullenly thought. "Alright, fine. Let's do thi-UUWAAH" Natsu lost his balance on his small raft and fell into the 'pond'.

Erza felt herself dying as she laughed at her teammate's humorous situation, taking a good 5 minutes before she calmed down. 'He doesn't realize it yet, but in that brief moment, he was completely fine. So take away his attention away from transportation and he will be alright?' The thoughts were never continued beyond that when Natsu emerged from the water, briefly gasping for air.

It was only then that Erza noticed the sun was starting to set, turning the deep blue sky into a mixture of red and orange. It would be too late to pick a mission, let alone go to the guild hall as Mira and everyone else has probably went home by now.

"Ok Natsu, let's call it a day. It will be dark soon, and I bet you want to get up early so you can train more to get your 'reward'." Erza said softly to Natsu who just finished regaining oxygen to his lungs.

Offering her hand to Natsu to help him up, Natsu took it and got to his feet. Erza was about to head off to go home before she was stopped.

"Wait."

Erza turned and looked at Natsu, who had a face full of determination and a certain look of seriousness in his eyes that is rarely seen by anyone. No more was the fun spirited dragon slayer of Fairy Tail. Right in front of her was a man who had a goal and was determined to see it through till the end.

"What is it Natsu? It's getting late, we should turn in before it gets too dark." Erza said calmly to Natsu, trying to dissuade him from achieving his 'goal', whatever that is, with the night just around the corner. The two many be some of strongest mages around the area, but that doesn't mean it's safe to wander a forest at the dead of night.

"I want to fight you." Natsu said, his voice full of seriousness.

"No. It's getting late and I would like to be able to get some rest." Erza replied, her voice also showing her determination to not have a match at this time of day. "If you really want to fight, we will fight tomorrow when it's daytime."

"No. I want to fight you right here, right now." Natsu growled, fire starting to dance around him. His magical power starting to flow out.

Erza seeing the sheer will he was putting out, realized nothing short of divine intervention will prevent him from getting what he wants. She of course knows why he is challenging her like this all of a sudden. They may be childhood friends, but she was always the stronger one. He was always challenging her and sorely losing not long after the fight began. This fight will be like no different. The only difference is? Natsu is much stronger now and Erza is actually looking forward to this, deep down.

A smile graced her lips. Nothing wrong with a good fight between friends. Erza's magical power erupted from her body to match Natsu's growing magical power. She was then enveloped in a light which then faded to reveal Erza in her Flame Empress Armor. Her sword then coated itself with violent flames.

"Alright Natsu. You're on, but don't say I didn't warn you." Erza smirked, getting in a battle-ready stance.

It's a good thing the two of them were on the outskirts of town. Not many people will be bothered. Many will only see the lightshow and distant sounds.

Natsu's face broke it's seriousness slightly to let a smile form on his face. "This time, I will be the winner and you will be the one warned when we fight." He retorted with his arms and legs completely engulfed in fire.

"Come! Natsu!" Erza shouted, declaring the beginning of the showdown almost no one will see.

The end of chapter 5. I hoped you guys like it. I personally didn't like the part where Erza is sadden that Natsu probably doesn't like her. I'm not well versed in writing love/hurt stories, which is why I will try to avoid them until I can get better. As some may tell, Im trying to show where Erza is different here, she's letting go and having a good time with Natsu. I'm not sure if I made this aware before but, Erza and Natsu will come to love each other in the story, but as I said at the top, I'm not well versed in writing romance and love. It will happen, just not right now. Probably not soon either but they will become closer and closer.

ALSO, for those who are bothered by some of the grammatical errors in the chapters, it's due to the age of the processor I use as it doesn't pick up some spelling errors or fluency errors. I'm getting my new computer around the 18th of June and it comes with a brand new Word Document so that should improve.

Anyways leave a review and feel free to give suggestions. If you have questions about the story or my progress send me a message. I will try to answer them all.