Chapter Three

A/N: I reworked some parts of the first three chapters, so if you've already read them then move on ahead. The events are the same, its just some extra mood-building stuff. chapter four will be up soon.

Am updating the rating to be safe. There won't be any lemons in this fic tho, just suggestive situations. Sorry it's been pretty boring so far, hopefully the story will start heating up a bit from chapter 4. The adventure portion is mainly a vehicle to deliver some GrayZa feels and to bring them together.

This chapter, Gray and Erza take a bath together!


The road to Cassiteria was quiet save for the weary footfalls of a bedraggled quintet of mages, their Exceeds lazily circling overhead. The rays of the late afternoon sun slanted over the group, highlighting the bruises on the three oldest members of the silent party. The travellers were unusually subdued. They barely had the energy to walk, much less engage in conversation. Only Happy and Charle had any energy and a well-timed smack to Happy's head from Charle had stemmed his flow of jibber-jabber. Even Wendy, who had regained some energy by swallowing the Guardian Dog's wind attack was exhausted. She had depleted her reserves while healing her comrades' wounds.

Cassiteria was a sleepy town in southern Giltena, only a few dozen miles from the battleground where the team had retrieved their first key. Quaint red-roofed cottages lined the paths that crisscrossed away from its shop-lined main street. Flowers bloomed in wooden crates that were placed at every doorstep, the blossoms thriving in the heat of summer. While the town could never truly be called bustling, it was certainly lively in the late evenings when its many bars and cafes opened up. But until then the windows around them remained shuttered, the inhabitants partaking in an afternoon siesta to stave off the worst effects of the hot climate. The arrival of a tired crew of wizards in the town went unnoticed simply because there was no one around to do so.

The group split up soon after entering the town, Natsu having smelled meat and having taken off to investigate. Lucy, Wendy, Happy and Charle had gone off to look at the shops on the main street and Gray had decided to take a walk. Erza continued on to the inn where they had taken rooms alone, all she could think of at that moment was a hot bath.

'There's a lot to admire about the Giltenese,' Erza thought as she soaped her weary body, taking care to avoid scrubbing the cuts she had obtained in battle, 'First the strawberries and now their bathrooms! Who would have thought every bathroom would come with a decent-sized ofuro?' She hummed a merry tune as she gently worked shampoo into her scalp, the steam from the ofuro tinging her skin pink. After weeks of washing infrequently at public baths, having access to a private bathroom was sheer bliss.

Her excitement, however, was short-lived. Her thoughts wandered onto more serious topics, as they often did when she found herself alone. Lucy's statement about being just in their endeavours had brought back Vega's words. She had told them to examine their reasons for undertaking the quest carefully, something Erza had avoided doing so far. Why had she come along? Was it to protect her nakama from harm, something that had been the driving force for most of her life? Or was it something deeper, something she was not sure she wanted to admit even to herself?

"Jellal…" she murmured, her tone troubled.

Shaking her head to clear it of such thoughts, she tipped a bucket of water over her body, rinsing the last of the suds off. She had just finished wrapping a towel around her hair and was about to step into the ofuro when the bathroom door opened and she was confronted with an equally naked Gray.

"Uh," he blushed, turning away. "I didn't realise you were here. I'll come back later."

"No, stay. Come have a soak with me," Erza replied evenly, stepping into the hot water. She remained as unperturbed by social mores as ever.

"N-no. It's OK." Gray wondered if Erza would ever realise that she couldn't just casually invite young men to take baths with her. This was beyond mortifying.

"Why not? It isn't anything we haven't done before."

"We were kids back then! It's different now."

"Oh? I thought you'd seen Lucy and I naked so many times that the novelty had worn off." She was referring to the time the entire group had bathed together at Warrod's hot spring.

"It's not that. It's…" he trailed off, turning around. Erza cocked her head curiously at him. Steam rose mistily around her, curling into tendrils as it wafted towards the ceiling. Gray looked away from her. "Tch, I don't think Jellal would like it too much if we took a bath together."

When no reply came he risked a peek at her, only to find that she was staring into the water pensively, a downcast expression on her face. He sighed, resigned. He reached for a bucket and took a quick rinse before getting into the ofuro with her. She didn't look up even when he got in next to her. The bath was smaller than it looked and the motion of Gray's body sent little swells of water rippling across the tub. He found the silence unbearably awkward. Had he touched a nerve with what he had said? Though it was only minutes, to him it felt like hours had passed before Erza finally spoke. "Would he?" she asked softly, "Jellal. Not like it. Nearly a year has passed since he was pardoned and I have yet to receive word from him."

Gray did not know what to say, so he chose to say nothing. He hoped his silence would encourage her to talk if she wanted to. Although, when the thought about it, he might almost prefer the awkward silence to a discussion about her feelings. Almost. Gray wasn't very good at the touchy-feely stuff. Bar Lucy, none of them were.

"I waited and waited and… just how long am I meant to wait?" Erza muttered inaudibly.

"Huh?" Gray asked, not sure if he had been meant to hear that.

"It's nothing," Erza replied before turning to him with a fake smile plastered on her face. "Sorry, I'm ruining your bath."

"I'm the one who should apologise, it looks like I ruined yours." Why did he have to go and bring up Jellal?

"Well, it's not over yet. Come on, I'll wash your back for you."

Gray opened his mouth to protest but then thought the better of it. "Eh OK," he replied red-faced. He sat silently and reluctantly submitted to her ministrations, trying very hard to think of anything but Erza's naked body behind him. For all his bravado and nonchalance in Warrod's hot spring, Erza was extremely attractive and he was only human. His traitorous memory flashed back to the rivulets of water running down her smooth skin as she rose from the tub before him. His eyes had followed their path down the ridges of her spine to the curve of her derriere. Blood rushed to his face at the image and he had to shut his eyes in an attempt to rid himself of it. Seconds later, he almost leapt off his stool when the rough texture of the sponge was replaced by Erza's gentle touch. She idly traced the newest scar on his back and Gray tried his hardest not to fidget.

"Juvia," Erza spoke. Gray stiffened when he heard that name. "This scar, it's from then isn't it?"

Gray did not answer and Erza carried on with her musing, "I suppose Juvia is better at waiting than I am." She sounded almost bitter. The silence stretched once more between them. Gray could hear the bubbles of the foam on the bathroom floor bursting and subsiding. Now she was the one who had touched a nerve.

Unwilling to talk about Juvia and unable to bear the silence any longer. Gray turned and took the sponge from her hand. "Come on, turn around, I'll do yours," he said.

Her alabaster skin was flushed from the heat of the bath and her muscles looked uncomfortably taut. Gray observed the tension in her back. It was almost as if she was carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders. In a way, she did.

"Does he know?" Gray asked quietly, lathering up her soft skin.

"Hmm?"

"Does he know how you feel?"

Erza looked at the ground, suddenly flustered. "We have an understanding. Or I thought we did."

"No, not that." His voice came out sharper than he had intended. He forced himself to continue in a milder tone, "Does he know how you feel about waiting for him?"

Erza did not respond. She was lost in thought again. The silence lay heavy between them once more, its weight amplified by the stultifying humidity of the room. Gray broke the quiet as he always did, saying eventually, "Tsk, your shoulders are in absolute knots. You should try to stress less. The world won't collapse without you, you know?" He was lying. She knew it. She had saved their asses in battle countless times and then they had gone on to save the world. They were a team, a team that would not function without any one of them present. Or rather, it would not want to. They would not want to. That was the real reason she had come on the quest. Even if a voice in the back of her mind said she had come on the quest to show Jellal that she was done waiting for him, she knew better now. She was grateful to Gray for showing her that.

"Make sure you wash thoroughly before getting back in the ofuro," was all she replied. Rinsing off the soap, she slipped back into the bath with a smile on her face. Gray was annoyed by her high-handedness but did as she said. He kept his back to her as he scrubbed, finding himself overcome by an uncharacteristic sense of modesty. He need not have bothered, her eyes were closed anyway.

She was roused from her reflection when she heard Gray let out a little noise of surprise. "Isn't the water too cold for you?" he asked, sinking into the water beside her.

"I hadn't noticed," she replied. She had been too deep in thought. The water had gone cold ages ago. "You're right."

She moved to the side and lifted a wooden hatch by the bath to check something. "The heating lacrima is broken," she reported back with a sigh. She made to stand from the bath when Gray reached out and stayed her with his hand.

"Oi Natsu!" he called. He had heard someone noisily enter their hotel room some minutes ago.

"What are you doing? You hate warm water."

"So? You don't." Erza had looked so melancholy that he could suffer through a boiling bath if it made her happy. Wasn't that why he had gotten into the ofuro in the first place?

Erza was surprised by his answer but accepted it with a smile. The screen door to the bathroom slid open and Natsu stepped in. "What's this? You two are taking a bath without me?"

"Come on in," Erza invited, "there's plenty of room." There really wasn't.

"The heating lacrima's gone out. We need you to get the water nice and hot," Gray said.

Natsu rubbed his hands together eagerly. "Leave it to me! Fire Dragon Water Heater!"

The temperature of the water rose rapidly, hissing and bubbling. Gray glanced to his left to see Erza had gone as red as her hair. "You overdid it again, flame brain!"

"If you can't take the heat, then get out of the bathroom, popsicle!"

"Look at Erza, she looks like a bottle of ketchup!"

"What's wrong with that, she always looks like a bottle of ketchup! Flaming hot, bad-tempered ketchup!"

"No, she looks extra ketchup-ey now! Way more bad-tempered than usual"

Their juvenile bickering was interrupted by a threatening presence looming over them. Erza's face had gone dark, the aura around her crackling with ominous rage. "What was that, boys?" she queried gruffly.

"No-Nothing Erza!" the boys chorused.

A loud 'thwack' echoed across the bathroom and both boys ended up with bumps sprouting from their heads. When Natsu tried to dip his toe in the water, he got an extra whack. "Go wash up before you get in here!" Erza ordered, adding, "Gray, go wash his back."

"But I don't wan-" he had begun protesting but then hastily backtracked after receiving a particularly bone-chilling glare from Erza. "Yes ma'am, right away," he said meekly, exiting the tub.

"I had better not hear any raised voices!" she called after them.


An hour later Lucy and the others returned to find an annoyed Natsu, an embarrassed Gray and a serene Erza crammed into a too-small bath. Lucy, Charle and Wendy turned bright red and Charle tried in vain to cover Wendy's eyes as she pushed her out of the bathroom. "WHAT THE HELL KIND OF RELATIONSHIP DO YOU GUYS HAVE?" Lucy pointed at them, her hand shaking wildly. Happy drifted by with a towel on his head, ready to join in. "Not you too, Happy!"

Erza grabbed both Natsu and Gray around the neck and hugged them to her chest. "You should join us Lucy! There is nothing as relaxing as having a hot soak with your comrades. Isn't that right, boys?"

Both Natsu and Gray were looking in opposite directions, their faces red and annoyed, the bumps on their head sporting additional smaller bumps one on top of each other. Lucy sweatdropped. "Um, I don't think they agree with you, Erza," she mumbled softly, before fleeing from the bathroom, scarred for life.


A/N: Eh, turns out the characters didn't get uploaded when I edited the details of the story. I've edited the summary, and have decided to add in NaLu! There won't be that much NaLu when compared to GrayZa tho. Do leave a review if you feel up to it!