Life After Near Death

Aren't You Ashamed?

"I'd rather be hit with fists than harsh words. They do less damage."

― Anonymous

Natsu was distracted all through his mission with Happy. He had an uncanny feeling that he should not have left. Every time he looked off and saw snowy mountains, he got a shiver, like something bad was happening while he was not around.

However, stalking Gray for two weeks had a bad side effect: they were out of money and out of food. He and Happy needed to do this mission purely for the money. He had estimated it would take only two days, time to go down there, do the mission, and then walk back home. When the mission took longer, he began fretting. He even opted to take the train back despite his motion sickness, just so he could get home sooner.

His gut told him something was seriously wrong, and he anxiously wanted to get back home to find out.

When he burst into the guild, he immediately looked around and saw a shirtless, muscular back. At least Gray was here and not out on a date.

Still nervous, Natsu went to Lucy first. "How's it going?"

She jolted from a journal she was writing. "Natsu! Welcome back."

"Did I miss anything?"

"No. You were only gone for a few days."

He glanced over to Gray again. "So, nothing happened? No new developments? No changes?"

"Um, no?" she said questioningly. Then she saw where he was focusing. "No rumors about anything at all, not even people hooking up with a date," she said, hoping that helped.

"Good, good."

"Did something happen? Some development?" she asked softly.

Pouting, Natsu muttered, "I'm not sure about that yet."

He stood and began walking up to that bare back sitting at the bar. His heart raced wildly. How could he approach this issue? He almost wanted to run off to Rei-chan and ask her for advice again, but he knew that this time he was on his own.

"Gray?"

He jolted and looked back. The stormy blue eyes widened in shock, pink tinted his cheeks, but then Gray quickly looked away. "Hey," he grumbled.

"Look, um ... about before. I ... I didn't—"

"Shut up," Gray whispered. His fist slowly clenched.

Natsu jolted. He wanted to tell Gray he did not mean to leave like that, but there was no helping it. He had forgotten that Happy mentioned about taking a mission, and it was just bad timing. Then he wondered if maybe Gray felt embarrassed, having a conversation like this in front of everyone.

Yes, that must be it! It was something they should discuss in private.

How could they escape together and not have everyone questioning it?

"Hey, how about we finish that fight?" Natsu said cheerfully. "We were interrupted and—"

"I said ... shut ... up," Gray snarled.

Natsu felt a chill, and he noticed a drink on the bar starting to frost over. "Gray?" No reply. "Gray, are you okay?" He put his hand on the bare arm, but Gray yanked it away.

"Stay the hell away from me," he screamed, slashing his arm out and sending a frosty wave in front of him that froze Natsu's hand and blasted away some mugs sitting on tables.

Natsu shivered, not from cold, but from fear. What had happened? He thought he made his feelings clear during that kiss. Even if Gray rejected them, a person would not normally react this angrily. What happened while he was gone?