Chapter 5

Naked rivals

By Neko Erza

"It's wonderful, isn't it?" Lucy smiled beside him as she intertwined her fingers with Natsu's.

I know this dream. The dragon slayer's conscious pushed through the images. Although he didn't like to admit it, he had these kinds of dreams pretty often and it usually didn't just stay with holding hands. I must have snuck into her bed again. That's when most dreams occurred since he could feel her smooth skin against his and her scent was right there for him to pick up.

Lucy's smile became a bit naughtier as she leaned in closer and flirtatiously bit her lip. "I know how we can make it even better."

The dream version of Lucy climbed on his lap, straddling his hips. She pressed her body slowly against his and slowly rubbed against him. The pinkette closed his eyes in pleasure as the blonde started placing small kisses on his shoulder, neck and cheek.

Her hair tickled his skin and gave of its lovely scent, which tingled his nose with a smell of freshly fallen snow and pine trees. But that didn't quite seem to fit in the image.

Natsu questioningly opened his eyes and to his surprise saw not Lucy, but female Gray sitting on his lap.

Natsu jolted awake with a little cry. He looked around a bit disoriented and remembered he was still in the hotel. He let out a deep sigh and tried to calm down. That dream had startled him pretty bad.

He looked aside and let out another cry; right next to him was the ice mage still sound asleep. Natsu realized he had somehow ended up beside his futon and rolled over to the ice mage, which could explain why his nose was filled with the raven's fresh scent. But that wasn't what had overwhelmed him. Somewhere along to night Gray had gotten rid of his clothes again, currently displaying everything from head to waist.

The dragon slayer could feel a blush creeping towards his cheeks, making them scorching hot. Yet he couldn't take his eyes off of the raven, or more precisely the raven's chest.

Natsu had climbed into Lucy's bed dozens of times, but she always was dressed in PJ's especially since she knew the pinkette would eventually sneak into her bed anyway.

The dragon slayer's gaze was finally torn away from the big, soft mounds when Gray inhaled deeper in his sleep, pulling Natsu's attention towards his face. This sight made him remember just who it was he was staring at and he felt even more embarrassed. This was Gray. His teammate and yearlong rival, not some pretty girl.

The pinkette quickly grabbed the raven's blanket and pulled it up, covering up as much skin as possible. Then he crawled back onto his own futon and pulled his blanket up to his ears. He turned his back towards his teammate, so he couldn't look at him anymore and tried to forget what he had just seen.

He closed his eyes and tried to go back to sleep, but without any success. He tried to ignore the whole situation, which was pretty tough with the obvious stiffness in his pants.

Gray squinted his eyes against the sunlight that slipped in through the curtains. He had a pretty bad headache and his arm felt ready to fall right off, but nonetheless he sat up. He looked around the room disoriented but then remembered just where he was. He noticed Natsu sitting on the bed next to his, his face turned away.

"Morning, flame brain." The ice mage muttered as he tried to stretch, but that only pained his body.

"You might want to put something on first, stupid stripper." Natsu mumbled annoyed. Only now Gray noticed the pink shade on the dragon slayer's cheeks.

"S-sorry." He apologized as he quickly grabbed his discarded shirt from the floor. "Must have thrown it off somewhere along the night."

"No kidding." Natsu huffed.

An uncomfortable silence fell between them and the seconds ticked away as they just sat there. Gray mentally cursed at the situation.

Maybe sleeping in the same room as Natsu wasn't all that smart after all. He thought. The dragon slayer might be naïve and dense, but even he wasn't completely oblivious.

"Are you feeling better?" The pinkette finally broke the silence and Gray's thoughts. He still didn't look at the ice mage.

"Yeah, but my bandage needs changing." Gray said as he took a look at his arm.

"And your hip?"

The ice mage tested it by standing up and walking through the room. Halfway through his leg gave in and he almost fell to the ground. "Dammit. That might be worse than I first thought…"

"Let Wendy take a look at it as soon as possible, otherwise you'll be limping like that for a long time."

"I didn't think it was this bad."

"That's because you forced yourself to walk all the way back yesterday."

Now it was Gray's turn to blush as he remembered how Natsu had to carry him back to their hotel. "Yeah… thank you for bringing me back again, flame brain."

"No worries, ice princess. Now I have something to tease you with." The pinkette grinned, finally getting over the feeling his dream had given him. He had just been tired and it was quite a special situation after all. It was normal to have the female Gray turn up in his dream, he thought.

"Yeah, like there isn't enough." Gray rolled his eyes as he gestured to his body.

"Any… change?"

The ice mage sighed and shook his head; still as female as he had been yesterday.

By nighttime the team was back in Magnolia. Although Natsu had acted strange in the morning, he was completely back to normal by now. He insulted and teased Gray all the way back home, annoying the hell out of him. But somehow the raven was glad about it. He didn't want to be treated differently, since he was still the same ice mage. That's why he didn't really look forward to going to the guild; they'd just ask annoying questions and stare at him like he was some kind of strange creature.

"I'm… I'm going to go straight home, you guys." He said once they got off the train. Natsu quickly ran passed him and vomited onto the platform, scaring away the other travellers.

"Are you sure? I'm certain there's a party going on at the guild." Lucy smiled.

"That's exactly why I'm going home." The ice mage muttered inaudible.

"Go to Wendy first. She needs to take a look at your wounds as soon as possible." Erza said sternly. "She's probably in her room at Fairy Hills."

"Oh great…" Gray grumbled as he thought about the steep hill that led up to the dormitory. It was already bad enough to walk it with a healthy leg.

"I'll walk with you. Maybe she can do something about my stomach." Natsu said, still looking kind of green from the train ride.

"Tell Wendy hi for me!" Lucy smiled as she waved of the duo.

The ice mage and dragon slayer walked up the hill (or in Gray's case hobbled) in silence. Being alone together made both remember the embarrassing morning they had together. Although Gray still felt like himself, he had become more uncomfortable around the dragon slayer since the mission.

One a particular steep part the raven obviously needed a lot of effort to keep to his feet, his hip giving in every few steps, his face contorted in a pained expression.

A teasing smirk appeared on Natsu's face, which was slightly less green due to the fresh air. "Feeling delicate, Gray-chan?"

A clenched fist shot out and hit the pinkette painfully in the stomach, followed by a venomous glare of the raven. "Don't call me that."

"B-bastard." Natsu muttered as he grabbed his painful stomach.

"Did you really only come along to insult me? Wendy won't cast troia unless it's necessary anyway." The raven grumbled annoyed, clenching his teeth in pain when his hip gave in again.

"I can't fight you like this, but I can still annoy you."

"You don't even have to open your mouth to annoy me, you stupid flamebrain."

The dragon slayer angrily pushed the raven against his shoulder. The push wasn't that hard but due to the bad leg and the fact he didn't weigh as half of what he had as a man the ice mage smacked against the ground.

"Aah! Goddammit!" Gray shrieked. The pinkette immediately wanted to pull him back up after hearing the high voice, being reminded of his protective nature over the girls again, but the raven slapped the hand away. "Don't touch me!"

He scrambled back to his feet and walked as fast as he could further to Fairy Hills, leaving the dragon slayer behind.

The pinkette stood in startled silence after the sudden outburst. It took him a few seconds before he ran after the ice mage, "I'm sorry, man- I mean woman- I mean man!"

Natsu could hit himself; that last part wasn't intended at all, it just slipped. But of course it only infuriated the raven even more.

"You really are the worst!" Gray raged as he turned around angrily. "I know you hate me, but god! There are some fucking limits to my patience! Do you think this is fun? Do you think I like it?"

Remembering fully who this was exactly, Natsu was starting to get worked up too, forgetting his soft side towards girls for the moment. He clenched his fists and approached the raven. "Well it isn't easy for me and the rest of the guild either!"

"Oh I'm sorry!" Gray said, sarcasm dripping from his words. "It must be really hard on you indeed. I mean, how do you cope with all the nicknaming, insults and teasing? It must be a tough time coming up with all that."

"What? So everything is my fault?" Natsu yelled as he stepped closer, looking down on the now smaller ice mage. "You're to blame too! You refuse to admit that you changed! Well, look at yourself, Gray," He scoffed as he gestured to the ice mages body. "Does this look the same?"

The raven looked ready to explode, and Natsu was certain if he hadn't been injured he would have engaged into a fight, but instead he now turned around and stubbornly dashed up the hill as fast as his bad leg could.

"I have had it. If you're planning to still go to Wendy, please tell me now because then I'm turning right around." He yelled from over his shoulder.

Natsu had already forgotten about his motion sickness, being too busy with their argument. He only felt a light throbbing in his stomach from where the ice mage had hit him, but other than that he was feeling fine again.

"Tsk…" And with that the pinkette turned around and ran down the hill again.

The ice mage almost ran up the hill, trying to ignore the stinging pain in his hip and shoulder. He needed to cool off before he got to Wendy, since he didn't want to say anything to hurt her which was fairly possible in his current state. When he finally reached the building he took a few last deep breaths, filling his lungs to the brim. The cold air seemed to cool down his temper and mind, making him feel calmer.

A few seconds later the door creaked open and the little blue haired dragon slayer peeked around the corner. "Hello, Gray-san."

"Wendy-chan, how did you…?" The ice mage asked a bit confused. He hadn't even knocked the door yet.

"I heard you and Natsu-san up the hill…" the girl said a bit embarrassed.

"Ah… yeah… dragon slayer hearing. So you heard us?"

"No, no!" The girl quickly said with an apologetic tone. "I mean, yes I did but I didn't hear your conversation, I just heard your voices, but not the words… At first I didn't recognize your voice though."

"Of course." The ice mage sighed.

Then the little bluenette's eyes fell on Gray's bandaged shoulder. The door immediately swung open further. "Gray-san, what happened? Quickly come in."

"I had a little accident during the mission." The raven explained.

"I knew it was a bad idea to go out and do a mission directly after what happened." Charles complained as she flew over.

"Well I didn't know it would be that different. I felt fine." Gray said annoyed.

"Well apparently you weren't." The white cat said sternly.

"I was." The ice mage huffed stubbornly. "I'm just not used to fighting with this body. It's way too small and light. I get pushed around by force way too easily now. But there's nothing wrong with my magic."

"You're just too stubborn." Charles said as she flew away again. At the meantime Wendy had took off the bandage and was examining the wound.

"When did this exactly happen?"

"Last night. We had split up to go after a gang of thieves and one of them got me. My hip is fucked up too."

"The wound on your shoulder is pretty big and deep. You must have lost quite some blood." The little dragon slayer said concerned as she started to heal it.

"Yeah, it made me pass out." Gray sighed.

"Pass out?" Wendy asked a bit shocked. "While you were split up from the rest of the team? It must have taken way too long before they could finally bandage it!"

"Not really." The raven muttered a bit embarrassed. "That flame brain was with me by that time and he carried me back to our hotel."

The little girl sighed relieved and went back to the healing. Gray was feeling a bit uncomfortable because he had been angry with Natsu before; he did kind of save his life last night. However, he pushed that thought away for the moment as he slowly felled the pain ebb away from his shoulder.

"You really are a blessing to have around, Wendy-chan."

The girl smiled shyly with a slight blush tinting her cheeks. "I'm glad I'm useful."

Once his shoulder was healed, it was his hips turn and within five minutes he could walk around normally again.

"Your shoulder might feel a bit sore or stiff for a day or two, but other than that it should be fine. But make sure you don't put too much strain on it." The girl smiled.

"Thanks a lot, Wendy. I'll leave you alone now." The raven smiled as he made his way towards the door.

"You're welcome, Gray-san." The bluenette smiled. "I do hope you and Natsu make up soon."

"How…?" The raven asked surprised. "I thought you didn't hear?"

"I didn't understand what you were saying, but I did hear you guys were yelling at each other."

"Yeah, well… I'm pretty pissed at him and we're fighting all the time anyway."

"But still. Bye Gray-san." The girl smiled before closing the door.

Gray let out a relieved sigh once he closed the door to his home behind him. This was what he needed: some peace and quiet. He hadn't been alone since he was cursed while that was the only thing he truly wanted.

Or so he thought.

Now that he was all alone he was confronted with his new body even more. It was the first time he had seen himself like this thoroughly. He stood before the mirror in his room, staring at the unfamiliar woman in the reflection. But the longer he looked the more familiar she became: he recognized his eyes, the scar on the forehead.

But suddenly a wave of shock went through him as a memory flashed before his eyes, a memory he tried not to think about too much.

The woman staring back at him didn't just resemble his male self. Tears unwillingly sprung to his eyes.

He looked like his mother.

He could see it wasn't her, his mother had been taller and to his own opinion more beautiful. She had always had a gently smile on her face and her eyes had been green.
He tried to shake the image from his mind as soon as possible, not wanting to be reminded of her.

He took his eyes from his face and looked at his new body. He was still wearing his own clothes apart from the new boots. His shirt almost reached his knees and hung around his body like a sack, the only place where it fit was around his upper chest.

He kicked off his boots and took of his pants and shirt. He stared at his lean body and the big mounds. He kind of hated to admit it and he felt way too narcissistic but according to his norms, he had a pretty nice body.

Further than that he didn't dare look. He still had his boxers on but turned away from the mirror before he took them off.

With pretty low spirits, he went to bed and wished this curse would be lifted soon.

"You really should buy some fitting clothes, Gray." Lucy said the next day at the guild.

"These are fine."

"What brought you into such a bad mood?" The blonde asked. "Still pissed about what Natsu said?"

"How do you know?" Gray muttered grumpily.

"He came to the guild last night and told me. He was pretty pissed too."

"That's his problem."

"Gray!" Lucy yelled suddenly harshly, with a stern look on her face. "You're making yourself depressed. I completely understand this must be really hard on you, but you're just making it worse for yourself. You know the guild loves teasing and be honest; if it were someone else you couldn't let an opportunity pass either, could you?"

The raven looked at the celestial mage stunned. He was surprised by the sudden outburst and reprimand.

The blonde continued, calmer this time. "They shouldn't take it too far of course and everybody hopes we find a cure soon, but they just try to lift the tension a bit by joking about it."

"It just annoys me even more when that stupid flame brain does it." The raven muttered. "He takes it too far way too often. I don't want to be seen differently."

"But Gray… you are different. Not mentally of course, you're still our friend and guild mate, but think about it…"

Gray's face seemed to relax a bit and Lucy gave an encouraging smile before continuing, "You have to understand; you might think it isn't different, but to Natsu and all of us it is."

The ice mage let out a deep sigh and remained quiet for a few seconds.

"You'll have to make the best of it for the remaining time." The blonde said. "I'm sure Porlyusica will find a cure, but we don't know how long it will take before she does, so try to get used to it for now; it won't hurt. Train and learn how to fight with this body, because like this you can't feel completely like yourself. You need to go on mission with our team, because without you it won't be the same."

Finally a smile appeared on Gray's face. "You're right, Luce."

He suddenly stood up and stormed towards the other side of the guild where the pink haired dragon slayer said. When he was a few feet away he formed a snowball in his hand and threw it right against the back of the pinkette's head.

"Hey! What the hell!"

Natsu turned around and glared at the smirking raven, who motioned to come. "I challenge you to a fight, flame brain."

The dragon slayer looked stunned for a few seconds, but then a broad grin spread across his face, "Bring it on, ice princess."

End of chapter 5