The Knight and The Strawberry

chapter 13

The world of consciousness slowly began to return to Ichigo as the young man lazily opened his eyes. He instantly regretted the decision for two reasons, the first being the instant and splitting headache brought on by the admittedly dim lighting. The second was the slight queasiness in his stomach. Groaning, he closed his eyes again and tried to recall just what the hell had happened last night.

'Let's see. I came back to Fairy Tail. Erza and I talked on the roof for a bit and then we came back downstairs. After that... there was a party.' He sighed internally as flashes of the previous night's events came back to him. 'Well I suppose I should be glad the building is still standing. Guess they never learned to stop partying.'

He tested his vision again, this time barely squinting his eyes open one at a time until he got used to the light. He tried to sit up, but his entire body felt heavy like it was filled with lead. Especially his right side. Mostly on his arm. 'Wait what's on me?' He thought tilting his head to the side.

He spotted a bright red lump resting on top of his shoulder poking out from underneath the cloak he had been wearing the previous night which was covering a much larger lump. As the fog in his mind cleared he realized that he was staring at the top of Erza's head as she slept on his arm

'She must have fallen asleep on me. But why the hell are we on top of a table?' He pondered as he took in his surroundings. He found that many members of the guild were passed out in various, and admittedly hilarious, positions around the guild. The only two that seemed to be awake were Cana and the master sitting at the bar.

'Well time to get up.' He propped himself on his left elbow and started trying to extricate his other arm from Erza's grasp without waking the girl. His stirring must have woken her though as she groaned and let go of his arm to pull his cloak up to completely cover her head. "Heh sorry." He mumbled getting to his feet.

He slowly walked his way to the bar, careful not to step on any of the other passed out members. As he approached Cana chuckled at his clear hangover.

"Wow. Didn't think you'd be on your feet this early." She said smirking at him.

"I agree. You were pretty pickled last night my boy." The master chuckled, taking a sip from his mug.

Ichigo groaned and rubbed his head. He was fairly aware of just how drunk he'd been judging from the size of this hangover. "Yeah yeah shut up. Is that coffee?"

Makarov nodded and pointed over to a steaming pot sitting on the counter behind the bar. Ichigo walked behind the counter and dug around in the cabinets for two mugs and poured a cup for himself and Erza figuring he'd try to wake her up and head out before the rest of the guild could bombard him again. Before he could get too far, Cana stopped him.

"One of those for Erza?" the girl asked

"Hmm. Oh uh yeah, I figured she could use some just as badly as I could at the moment."

Cana chuckled and took a drink from her own mug. "Yeah Erza usually never drinks like that with us. She must have been really happy to see you. It was like the two of you were attached at the hip last night."

Ichigo blushed a little and shrugged his shoulders. "Well I mean it has just been a really long time since we've seen each other." He reasoned.

"Hmph it's been just as long since the rest of us have seen you and you and I weren't hanging all over each other." Cana teased back with a wink.

Ichigo couldn't form a response, but luckily the master stepped in to save him. "Alright Cana that's enough, at least let the man come down off his hangover before you give him a nosebleed. So Ichigo once you wake up our dear Titania, what are your plans."