Hatred for Love

Chapter 7: Dark Path.

|Hatred for Love|
Galuna Island.

"Well, looks like she's finally able to kill me."

Crouching on the branch of a tall tree, the speaker watched the proceedings below him with something of a detached curiousity. A party held to celebrate the victory won by a group of five mages and one of them had his attention.

It had been an interesting week to say the least. Apparently, a group of mages had been on the island trying to resurrect a demon from a book of Zeref. With plenty of time on his hand and his next mission being weeks away Naruto had been asked by Hades to make it to the island and assist Ultear in ensuring that the demon fell into their hands.

Working as Ultear's underling as she disguised herself as a man, he had learn a bit of Gray's past, not that it mattered to him. It however came to him as a great surprise to learn that the main reason the demon had been sealed was because of Gray's master Ur. Helping Ultear accomplish a mission she was sent on by her 'master' Siegrain ended up being more pain than Naruto preferred.

'But on the other hand...'

He could recall the way the redhead had conducted herself during the mission. The sheer coldness portrayed by Erza had been frightening and for just a moment Naruto had wondered what her reaction would have been had she discovered how close she was to her goal. Towards the end of the mission, Erza had been on the brink of killing members of Lyon's crew even though they clearly had no means of fighting back. Luckily for the ice wizard, Lucy's voice had been enough to snap Erza out of her bloodthirst.

'... for the Tsukuyomi to do that much change in Erza...'

Naruto Uzumaki narrowed his eyes, a small smirk playing on his lips. Who knew that a simple glance would have done that much to move his ambition forward. He could see it in her. She had finally decided that the only way to end her own suffering and internal conflict was Naruto's death by her own hands.

The way she sat, the manner by which she walked and even how her eyes picked apart her environment as if she expected her nemesis to simply materialize through her gaze.

"Thinking of her again?"

Slowly, Naruto turned his gaze to the only other person on the tree he was on. Ultear Miliovich had a knowing smile on her face and Naruto chose to ignore it. His eyes turned to the village. Ultear did not take his attempt to brush her off well.

He could hear the grin on her face. "You are! I bet you were stripping her naked all the while."

The blonde kept his eyes to the village even as he said, "Shouldn't you be nursing that cheek? Natsu packs quite a punch."

"Shut up!"

Clearly, the purple-haired girl had a lot to say. Naruto kept his gaze to Erza as she left the jubilant crowd and headed to the forest. Without a sound, he followed subtly. He could feel Ultear in pursuit.

After a short while of tailing, Naruto stopped on the edge of a clearing. He immediately saw why Erza chose it as her training field - it was far enough from the village this if she would use a destructive spell, no one would know or get in the way. It was also large and the trees surrounding it were comparatively larger and taller.