A/N: Hallooooo~! Enjoy Chapter 6 and don't forget to place a comment, favorite and follow! I love receiving comments~ <3 Hihi :3

Ugh. Geez. What time is it?

I adjusted myself to be more comfortable but felt something on my shoulder. Forcing my eyes open, I slightly turned my head to look. Crap. I gaped my mouth to say something but then closed it again. I wanted to stood up and get the hell out of here but I JUST couldn't. She was snuggling me, holding my right arm while her head was pleasantly nestled on my shoulder. I tried to squirm my way out but each time I did, she just snuggled closer. Blood rushed through my face, I felt hot. Very hot. I tried yet again to struggle free, but she gripped my arm tighter and cornered me to the edge. I breathed slowly trying to calm myself down. In my mind, I debated whether or not to wake her up. A large part of me says "yes", though at the back of my mind... sigh. Giving up at the thought, I sat quietly and placed my free elbow on the window pane. I felt her moved slightly, must be adjusting herself to be in a better position. Her warm breath made me all jumpy inside. I drifted my thoughts to another, trying so hard to brush off the feeling.

"...pink... panda." I heard her mutter under her breath. I looked back, but she was still asleep.

Sigh. She's such a child. An unusual child might I add. I carefully brushed off a few strands of hair out of her face, unconsciously smiling to myself.

"Gray, what are you doing?"

I looked up to see Lyon smirking. I stiffened, randomly looking sideways then back to him in a continuous manner. This is awkward, it's as if I've been found red-handed for a crime I had just committed.

"T-This is not! I mean.. Ah! W-wait!" I started stuttering.

Lyon just stared at me with a you've-just-been-found-out-bro kind of face. What the hell is that suppose to mean?!

"Ahhh! Damn it! Just wake up already!" I shouted struggling free.

"....five more minutes." Elizabeth replied in a sleepy voice snuggling even more.

"E-Elizabeth stop that!" I ordered her.

"...hmm..."

She just went back to sleep! Ahhh! Wake up! Wake up! I tried to get my arm loose from her grip. Lyon had been silently laughing in his seat. Obviously amused by what he's seeing. I could also sense that every passenger in the train had been looking in our direction for quite some time now. Probably because of me shouting frantically like it was my last day on earth.

"Elizabeth! Wake up!"

"To all the passengers, we will be arriving in Gardenia in five minutes." The conductor announced, briefly grabbing my attention.

I turned back to the supposedly sleeping girl awhile ago to find her gone from her position and was now sitting with Lyon. She's just sitting there... with a blank expression on her face, as if nothing happened. What. The. Actual. Hell. I tried myself to be calm, though I find that task rather impossible as of the moment. I gritted my teeth and balled my hands into fist, about to go berserk. I was about to tell her it was rude to sleep on other people's shoulder and wake up without even saying a word, when Erza came in dragging a worn out Natsu by the collar. Wow. He looks so... broken. Must be from all that vomiting he went through. I feel kinda sorry for him.

"Gray, you'll be in charge of Natsu." Erza ordered. "Lyon, Elizabeth and I will take care of our things."

The train came to a full stop; Erza along with the other two went on first, leaving me with Natsu. The dragon slayer laid down on the seat across mine, noisily pouring out his sorrows into the cushion. Sigh. Why am I stuck with this idiot?

"Hey. Get up." I wearily told him.

Natsu turned to his side to face me, grief written all over his face. "B-baka. I would if I could."

I rolled my eyes and slouched down in my seat. I sighed deeply as I looked out the window. Gardenia sure is packed with people this time of the day. The place is so boisterous, lots of people rushing back and fort with baskets and such. Perhaps they're preparing for a festival? Yeah, that might be it. The wonders of the great city somewhat relieved me of my growing concern. I looked back to Natsu and decided to just carry the pathetic idiot out of the train. I stood up and placed him across my shoulder, he's A LOT heavier than he looks. Damn it. If Lucy was here, she'd be the one in charge of Natsu and will most likely call a celestial guardian to aid her. Hmm... Maybe if I could summon an ice wheelbarrow then this won't be so troublesome.

"Gray! What took you so long?" Lyon greeted me with an arrogant smile as I came out of the train.

I just gave a grunt and walked towards him. "Where's Erza?"

"She went ahead with Elizabeth. She just told me to meet them at the town's beach." He replied.

"Hmph. Great." I whispered to myself. I placed Natsu down on a crate and stretched sideways.

"Elizabeth told me to give it to you. She said it's medicine for Natsu." Lyon said as he shuffled through his pockets to pull out a small vial. I took it from him and began examining it. I've never seen any medicine the likes of this one. Did she make this on her own? I unscrewed the cap and gave it Natsu. He took a sip from it and soon the color of his face returned to normal.

"Woah! This is awesome. I feel so much better." Natsu exclaimed, chugging down the remaining contents of the vial.

"Eh? She's really something isn't she?" Lyon remarked.

I gave him a rotten look "Whatever." I huffed. "Let's get going."

Lyon turned to look at me "Heh. You're in a bad mood."

Tch. Damn asshole.

As expected, the beach was deserted and isolated from the rest of the town. Gramps probably notified Gardenia to have this place abandoned for awhile. I quickly spotted a cabin house conveniently located near the coastline. That must be the place where we'll be staying. I called back to the other two lagging behind me and pointed towards the cabin.

"We're here." I announced as I waltz in the small house.

There was a shroud of awkwardness, before I spoke again. "What's up?"

Erza just stood there with her arms crossed. Her face was beyond comprehension, if looks could kill... no. Scratch that. Her eyes alone would send you to hell! I raised an eyebrow and decided to ask the other girl for more information.

"Hey, Eliza-... ?!"

I-I'm dreaming! Yeah, that's just it! I'm dreaming! My eyes began to twitch as my mouth hanged wide open. I quickly smacked myself left then right. Shit. No matter how hard I slapped myself awake... she's still here. Juvia is here sitting next to Elizabeth. The confused lightning mage stared at me with a somewhat freaked out expression. Juvia on the other hand shyly gazed on the floor. I stood there looking like a complete idiot, wide-eyed & stuttering to myself. Erza stormed out of the cabin dragging me in the process. She slammed the door and continued dragging me. Erza made sure we were out of earshot when she finally let me go.

"That girl....." She let out a deep sigh. "She's starting to get on my nerves."

Still in shock, I just stared in space with a blank face. My legs gave away and I landed face down on the beach. "Oi, get up!" Erza ordered me. "Aish.. wasshh.. ughhh.." was my only response. Damn it. Why the hell is Juvia here? This will ruin the whole plan! What if Elizabeth suspects something? Damn it!

"dha..mn... issh..." I cursed under my breath. Did I mention my mouth was full of sand? Yeah? No? Well, then. Consider yourself informed.

Erza impatiently yanked me up. I spat out some sand and weakly positioned myself in a sitting position. I pulled my knees to my chest, wrapped my arms around them then cradled myself like a retard. But then something struck me. Lyon was also here. I quickly stood up and grab Erza's shoulder. "LYON! BWAHAHAHA! THAT BASTARD IS HERE!! HAHAHAHA!!!" I maniacally roared in laughter. Erza smacked me hard, multiple of times if I may add, left then right.. left the right... left then right... I lost count.

"Get a hold of yourself!" Erza yelled.

Trying my best to calm down I coughed out something stuck in my throat and began explaining my plan to her. "Lyon should be enough to distract Juvia." I told her.

Erza held out her head and tapped her chin. "You're right..." she commented then turned to look at me. "But I'm not taking any chances. You stay here with Elizabeth. I'll take Juvia and Lyon in town."

I froze, "W-wait! J-just the t-two of us?"

Erza nodded "Yes. Natsu will be going with us since I assigned him to have the preparations ready for tomorrow's test."

"NO! Let me do the preparations!" I tried to get my way. I am a guy after all. And she's a girl, a girl that I almost tried to kiss! If she hadn't spoken up, who knows what I might've done?! I could feel my body tense.

Erza gave me a look to say that her decision was final. I sighed and gave up, faintly nodding my head to inform her that I understood everything. "Good." She told me and then started to walk away. I weakly followed her back to the cabin. Erza explained everything to everyone while I brood in a corner.

"Alright. Let's go. Natsu, I trust that you will have the supplies ready by tomorrow." Erza said and took her leave.

Soon after, Natsu followed leaving the two of us. I completely ignored her, still sitting in my corner... wallowing in frustration.

"Umm.. Gray?" she tried to tap my shoulder but I quickly evaded.

"H-hey! W-we have a big day ahead of us! S-so l-let's call it a night right? Ha ha ha!" I nervously stuttered, scratching the back of my head.

I laid out the futons very very very far away from each other. "H-here! You take this side and I'll stay on that side!" I told her. She first gave me a confused look, but then stood up, grabbed a pillow and a blanket and went to the other side of the cabin. I did the same and immediately laid down facing away from her.

I woke up in the middle of the night, the loud howling of wind and the hard patter of the rain informed me of the storm commencing. Thunders roared angrily, cold air nipping under my nose. I stood up to grab an extra blanket. As I made my way across the dark room I spotted something rather unusual in a corner, I tried to take a closer look. Lightning struck whilst a loud thump of thunder causing me to scream my pants off from what I just saw.

"G-g-g-ghooooooooosssst!!!" I scrambled down on the floor.

The so-called ghost just sat there motionless despite my manly screaming.

"D-d-don't c-c-c-come near me!!!!" I screamed louder. I continued my childish rampage, kicking and screaming until I realized something. Where is Elizabeth? I faintly heard someone crying regardless of the loud thunder and howling of the wind. Was it the ghost? Gathering all my strength I stood up and approached it.

"Uhhh?"

Another lightning struck the night sky, shedding some light into the room making me realize of my stupid accusation of the said ghoul. I grabbed the blanket covering the ghost and found her silently crying with her hands covering her ears, her knees up to her chest. From the looks of it, the storm will still be going at it throughout the night. I sighed and sat beside her. There was yet another loud bang of thunder, this time; she let out a piercing cry even more so covering her ears.

"You're a lightning mage and you're telling me you're afraid of thunder?" I spoke in a soft voice.

She didn't respond, she kept quivering and crying and it somehow made my heart cringed. I swallowed hard before making a move. I placed my hands around her shoulders and pulled her into my arms, whispering comforting words in her ear. "It's going to be alright." I told her gently, patting her head which was rested on my chest.

"It's going to be alright. I'm here. Don't worry." I told her over and over again.

She weakly turned to me, our faces barely three inches apart. I felt the heat rushing through my cheeks. Self control, Gray. Self control. She stared at me with her onyx eyes, still cloudy from all the crying. ".... Thank you." She told me, slightly giving me a glimpse of her genuine smile.

The storm finally subsided, yet she's still right here beside me peacefully sleeping. I gazed at her, silently admiring her beauty. I couldn't bare myself to let her go. Something inside of me wanted to hold onto her and never let go. I just... couldn't resist. Slowly, I placed my lips on her forehead, giving her a soft kiss. I sighed to myself, now completely aware of my growing infatuation.

So much for self control.