Promise

After celebrating for hours, everyone decided to go home; all of them content that Natsu & the others were safe. Erza headed upstairs towards Natsu's room, but Gray called to her, catching her attention. She turned around and saw Gray and Juvia were at the bottom of the stairs.
"You going to check on Natsu again?" He asked her with a smirk, this would have been the 4th time Erza checked on the still healing Dragon Slayer.
She looked at them and blushed slightly, "Yes. I think I'm going to stay with him until he wakes up."
"Aww." Juvia chimed in, "Love is a beautiful thing right Gray?" she looked at him expectantly, her eyes wide.
Gray blushed a bit and scratched the back of his head, "Yea…I guess. Could you give me some space." he said trying to push her off.
"Good luck Erza." Juvia said smiling wide, she then pulled Gray's arm as she began to walk out of the door, "Come on Gray let's go."
"Alright alright quit pulling. See you tomorrow Erza." Gray said still struggling to release Juvia's grip on his arm.
Erza waved at her friends as she watched them walk out of the door. When they were no longer in sight, she continued upstairs. She reached Natsu's door and knocked.
"Natsu, are you awake?" she heard no answer. She noticed the door was unlocked and slowly opened it, slowly inching her head inside the space between the doorway and the door. "Natsu?"
She looked inside to see him sleeping peacefully in his bed, nearly covered from head to toe in bandages. She smiled softly at the scene before her and quietly walked inside so as to not wake him.
She pulled a chair to his bedside and watched him sleep. Seeing him lying there so calm and quiet, it made her smile even more. As she continued to watch him however, she started to grow sad and a bit angry. She clenched her fists as they lie on her thighs in her chair.
2 days…you were gone for 2 days Natsu. It's my fault…I shouldn't have let you guys alone. If had been there that day, you wouldn't be like this…You idiot, why didn't you wait for me?
She began cursing herself for allowing Natsu to get hurt. As she continued to beat herself up, Natsu began stirring in his bed. Hearing the disgruntled noises he turned his head and looked at Erza.
"Erza? What's wrong?" he asked weakly.
She noticed Natsu and hurriedly tried to wipe the pain from her face.
"Oh…Natsu, it's…it's nothing." She said hesitantly, still wiping her face.
"Well if it's nothing, why are you angry?" He said as he sat himself up smiling, his trademark smile.
Seeing this caused Erza to stop torturing herself and she smiled back at him. 
"You're right." She said agreeing with him. "How are you feeling?"
"Me? I feel better already." He tried to swing his arm around, but the pain caused him to yell. Erza simply sat and laughed at him, she was glad that Natsu was back to his usual self. "Sorry I got all beat up and made you guys save me." he said with an apologetic look.
Normally Erza would have scolded his recklessness, but after what he went through she thought better of it. "It's ok. I'm just glad you're safe."
"Yeah, as soon as I'm better I'll be able to take those guys on again." Natsu said slowly clenching his fist.
Erza suddenly gave Natsu with a disapproving look.
"What?"
"Yeah, after I get out of here I'll track them down and show them what happens when you mess with me."
Erza sat and stared at Natsu as he continued to go on talking about fighting more and more.
Idiot. I know Natsu is usually so energetic but he almost died. How can he talk about it facing them again so casually?
"I'll go on my own next time. See just how much I can manage on my own."
Erza stood up in anger, she had heard enough. With a quick but powerful motion she slapped Natsu across the face.
The cringe worthy sound echoing through the empty guild hall.
"OWWW!" Natsu grabbed his face in pain and a few tears streamed down his face. He then looked up at Erza whose face was filled with annoyance and anger.
"What did you do that for Erza?!"
"You IDIOT!" she yelled at him, Natsu instantly ceasing any further comments. He shirked back and cowered with his hands over his face as he listened to Erza's words.
"You were gone for 2 whole days. No one had any idea where you were. We were all worried about you. I…" she stopped that sentence cold and started another one "How can you sit there and be so calm about this Natsu? I know that you're usually reckless and energetic but this borders on suicide."
Natsu looked back at Erza. Deep down he knew she was right, he barely survived the last battle against Nightshade but he was weak from the mission and they got lucky. He was stubborn and didn't want to admit Erza was most likely correct, she usually was when it came to these things. He slowly removed his hands from his face, a hardened look now in his eyes. "Erza I'm sorry, but what I do…is none of your business."
Erza opened her eyes in shock, she couldn't believe what Natsu had just said to her.
Is that really how he feels? After everything we've been through together? After we… she thought of their kiss again, this only enraged her more, she felt so…betrayed.
She stared at Natsu one last time, her eyes staring daggers into him and then walked out the door, slamming it behind her.
Natsu simply crossed his arms and lied back down. His face twisted in annoyance at what Erza said to him.
"Who does she think she is? My mom?"
"No, she just cares about you." A voice called.
Natsu sat up and looked at the door, there Master Makarov stood with his arms behind his back. He entered the room and stood next to Natsu's bedside.
"Master?"
"I heard everything." He then looked sternly at the young wizard's face. "You have to learn how to deal with a woman's heart Natsu."
"A woman's heart?" Natsu looked at his master confused. What did he mean by a woman's heart? "What are you talking about gramps?"
"When Gajeel and the others returned from being ambushed, do you know who was the first person to notice you were gone?"
"No." Natsu replied still looking confused.
"It was Erza."
Natsu looked at his Master surprised, "Really?"
Makarov nodded in agreement, "Yes she wanted to find you then and there, but we convinced her to stay. She destroyed a table and almost punched a hole in the wall"
Natsu sat amazed as he continued to listen to his Master.
"The poor girl has been torturing herself for the past 2 days over you my boy. So much so that after Gajeel explained what happened to you she nearly tore his arm off."
"She what?"
"She didn't mean it of course, she was just emotional over what happened. I've never seen her like that. She really cares for you Natsu."
"I know she…"
Makarov cut him off, "I don't think you do lad. You are one of, if not, the person she holds most dear above anyone else in the guild. She would do anything for you."
"But why? I didn't ask her to do any of that."
"…Perhaps you should ask her yourself."
Master Makarov turned around proceeded to walk out of the door, but not before saying one last thing, "Oh, and Natsu."
"Yeah gramps?"
"She's on the balcony when you're ready to talk."
With those last words Master Makarov walked out of the door and returned to his room. Natsu sat alone in his room for a few minutes as he thought to himself.
Why would Erza go so far for me? I don't really understand it. He scratched his head in frustration. "Raaggh! This is making my brain hurt."
Despite the pain he continued pondering Erza's reasons. He thought of all the times they spent together on missions with Gray, Lucy, and Happy; he thought of when they were younger and she would scold him, he thought of all their fights and how brutally he lost, and he thought of her rescuing him from his own headstrong decisions, but nothing significant sprang to mind.
He placed his hand on his throbbing forehead and slowly moved it down until he reached his lips. Suddenly, he felt he knew the answer he was looking for. He thought of the day he and Erza spent together, their date. He could still taste the delicious food Erza prepared, he remembered the battle they had which he also lost, he could still smell her sweet scent, he remembered how soft her skin was when she rubbed his face, the warmness of her lap when he lied in it, but most of all he remembered…their kiss.
He could still taste her lips on his, he never felt anything like that before. Affection like that was foreign to Natsu, the last time he came close to something like that was with Lisanna but they had since drifted apart. He never paid any attention to relationships as he viewed them as unimportant, but he knew that time spent with Erza felt really good. He started to blush as he thought of it more. But the blush faded when he thought back to what he said to Erza and his face began to grow sad.
Man I'm stupid. Why did I say that? I gotta find her and apologize.
He rose from his bed and walked into the hall, making his way to the balcony. To his pleasant surprise, Erza was still there just like Master Makarov said. He stepped towards the balcony, but hesitated as he stepped outside.
What if she's still mad at me? I hate when Erza gets mad.
He began to think of Erza punching him hard off the balcony and into the sky. His face grew white with terror.
Maybe I should wait until she comes back.
He turned around and tried to head back to his room.
"Natsu." Erza said his name authoritatively.
His spine shook, Erza noticed his presence and there was no going back now. He made his final peace with life and answered back, his voice quaking.
"Y…Yes Erza?"
"Come here."
"Yes ma'am." He carefully walked forward until he had reached the balcony.
He stood off a few feet from Erza however, trying to prolong the beating he thought was coming his way.
Erza however was calmly looking to the stars above them in the night sky. They had shined so brightly, and as Natsu looked to his right…so did Erza. It was a night just like this one where they had shared their first kiss. He still tried to wrap his head around what it meant, something like that never happened to him before. He didn't really know how to process it, Igneel never taught him what these things meant. He wanted to find out and Erza, of all people, had the answer, but he didn't know how to ask her.
"You can be such an moron sometimes." Erza said continuing to look at the stars. "Always rushing into things headfirst with no thought of strategy. Part of me lo…admires that about you since you it shows how brave you can be, but another part of me hates that quality about you just as much." She then averted her gaze towards the ground below. "You never think of the consequences of your actions, and you can't afford to do that all the time Natsu. We all care about you, I care about you. If I lost you…" she clenched her fist tight "I don't know what I would do. What am I to you?"
Natsu was speechless, he didn't know how to answer. Of course Erza was his friend, she had been for years; but recently things had begun to evolve into something more and to his detriment he didn't know how to handle it. He knew he wasn't the smartest guy in the guild…but this? This made him feel like an utter child. He didn't want to make Erza sad or angry, but he genuinely had no idea how to answer her question, so he went with what he always did.
"I don't know." He said plainly. Although despite the odd answer he had a smile on his face.
"We're friends Erza, we always will be, but lately something weird happens to me when I'm around you."
"Define weird?" She asked with a small smile. She found his trying to understand his feelings cute.
" I don't know. It feels…warm, like when I use my Dragon Slayer magic but i feel it in my chest like on my heart or something. It heats my whole body and my stomach feels like I ate bad fish, but for some reason it doesn't feel bad." He then turned to her and scratched his head in confusion while still smiling his innocent smile "It feels nice. I like it. I want to keep feeling that way."
Erza looked at him in slight astonishment, but oddly enough she wasn't angry or even disappointed by his words. She was…content, and if she was being honest with herself, she didn't expect anything different from him. She smiled softly and looked at him with a look of satisfaction. She once again had received a message that only Natsu could give and she wouldn't want anything else.
As she smiled at him, she suddenly felt arms wrap themselves around her, and looked to see Natsu holding her. She felt a surge of happiness as she began to blush.
"What is this for?" She asked slightly surprised.
"I don't know." Natsu said. "I just...did it." Erza could tell by tone in Natsu's voice that he too was surprised by his actions. She couldn't help but chuckle lightly.
"You made me promise something…at the Tower of Heaven." She said to him softly as she wrapped her own arms around Natsu's waist.
"I did?"
Erza laughed softy, "Yes you did, after you pulled me from the Ether Nano; you made me promise to never do something reckless like that again."
"Oh yea, ha-ha, I did." he replied with a smile.
"Well, I want you to promise me something now."
Natsu looked confused but he relented, "Ok what?"
She hesitated a bit but spoke in spite of herself, "I want you to promise that you will allow me to…" she wanted to say the word she was feeling, but decided to go with something Natsu would understand "to protect you for a while longer; and in turn hopefully one day you can…protect me as well." she nuzzled herself closer to him, making Natsu blush at how much closer she was.
Natsu didn't quite understand what Erza was saying to him. What is she talking about? Of course I'll protect her.
He opened his mouth to agree, but stopped when he thought of something better. He slowly loosened his grip on Erza, allowing her to move backwards some.
She looked surprised, "Natsu?" she then felt a warm sensation on her forehead. She immediately smiled and blushed even more.
Natsu kissed Erza on the forehead, sealing his promise with her. Her eyes grew misty and to her surprise Natsu wiped them from her face. "Why are you crying?" he asked confused.
She smiled at him, "I'm not crying…fool." She laughed softly to him. They stood outside a few more minutes and she found herself in Natsu's arms again.
"Hey Natsu, let's go back to your room. You still need to get some rest."
He looked down at her, "Heh, you're right. It's kind of cold out here."
They both nodded in agreement and turned to go back inside, holding each other's hand. Natsu was blushing embarrassingly as they walked back into Fairy Tail.
They looked at each other once more, smiling all the way as they stepped through the door way.
I…
I love you Natsu. Hopefully one day I can tell you fully, but for now...I can be happy like this. With you.