The Rogue & The Alpha

Chapter 11 - Hunting with Gray

Lucy's POV

After that weird moment with Natsu, I ran all the way to the North forest and found Gray sitting by a tree, waiting for me. "Sorry I'm late. Were you waiting long?" I asked as I ran and stopped in front of him. "Don't worry I wasn't waiting long" he replied and then his eyes looked up at the pink flower I was wearing. "Who gave you the flower?" he asked. I felt my cheeks heat up as I remembered the moment Natsu gave it to me. "Ah, Natsu did" I replied with a smile.

"So that's where he ran off to" I heard Gray mumble to himself and then he looked at me with a big smile. I tilted my head, "why are you smiling like that?" I asked. "No reason. Come on, we only have three hours to hunt before nightfall" he said and took a few steps away from me. "Follow me, I know the best hunting spot for deer on this side of the forest" he said and then we ran deeper into the forest.

He led me to a forest clearing where a small herd of deer were grazing. We crouched behind some bushes and watched the deer from afar. "So how should we attack?" I asked him in a whisper. "How about you sneak around them and scare them towards me then I'll attack from the front?" he suggested quietly. "Sounds good" I whispered back.

I was about sneak around the herd under the cover of the trees when something went "ah!" a few meters behind us followed by a crash sound. Scared by the sudden sound, the deer ran in the opposite direction. Gray and I whipped our heads towards the noise and saw Natsu. His front paws had tripped over a root and made him fall to the ground with his butt in the air. Gray groaned and shook his head. "Great job Flame Brain. Now look at what you did" he said and Natsu jumped onto his paws. "I didn't mean to! The root appeared out of nowhere!" he shouted. "Oh yeah, the root 'magically' came out of nowhere and decided to trip you. It totally wasn't because you were clumsy" Gray replied sarcastically and Natsu growled.

This conversation was turning into a fight so I decided to step in with a question I was wondering. "Anyway, how did you find us Natsu?" I asked. "You followed us didn't you" Gray added. "I was making sure you did make a move on her Ice Princess!" he shouted at Gray. A smirk grew on Gray's face, "jealous, are we?" he said. Natsu looked away and mumbled "n-no."

"So, what should we do now? The deer were scared off so do you think we should continue the hunt or hunt another day?" I asked Gray. He took a moment to think before answering. "I think we should continue the hunt and the clumsy idiot here should wait like a good wolf back at the dens" he replied. Natsu growled, "I'm not leaving you alone with Lucy, Frost Bite! I'm coming too!" he argued and then continued to growl. "What did you call me Pinky!" Gray growled and smashed his forehead against Natsu. Both of the them glared and growled while pushing against each other's forehead.

I sighed, this conversation had turned into a fight either way. "Guys!" I shouted trying to break them up but they didn't pay attention. "Guys!" I shouted again but got the same result. Their fighting was starting to frustrate me so I barked which finally got their attention. "Both of you will be hunting with me or I will tell Erza you two were fighting. Do you understand me?" I said with authority and their ears and tail drooped in fear. "Yes ma'am" they whined.

"Good" I said and then started walking in the direction where the deer ran off. "Is it me or is she like a second Erza?" I heard Natsu whisper. "It's not just you" Gray whispered back. "I can hear you" I said loudly without turning around. The boys shut up and followed me quietly.

After about thirty minutes of searching, we found our prey grazing in another forest clearing close to Fairy Tail's border. We watched our prey, crouched down, behind a large oak tree. "Same plan?" I asked and Gray nodded. I left the boys and started sneaking around the herd trying not to make a sound. Once I snuck around, I crouched down and looked across the clearing to check if the boys were ready. They gave me a nod to let me know they are and I gave them a nod back. 'Time to start this hunt' I thought.

I raised to my paws and jumped into the clearing with a growl. As planned the deer started to run scared toward the boys who were waiting. When the deer were close enough to where the boys were hiding, they jumped out and targeted one of the stags. They managed to separate it from its herd and chase it towards me. Gray snapped at the stag's heels while Natsu jumped and bit the stag's side. The stag fumbled onto the ground and the boys quickly pinned the stag down. I quickly ran over to join them and gave the finishing blow by biting the stag's throat. The stag went limp and the hunt ended successfully.

With a bit of effort, we dragged the dead stag all the way back to the food den just as the sun was setting. "Thank you for helping me hunt you two" I said as we walked out of the food den. "You're welcome Lucy. Although we could've done it faster without bringing HIM along" Gray said, emphasizing on the word 'him'. Natsu growled, "you barely did anything to help!" he argued. "I did more than you!" Gray argued back. "No you didn't!" Natsu argued before both of them smashed their foreheads together. Soon, their verbal fight turned into a physical fight.

I knew this was going to take a while and I was tired from today's events so I decided to eat some dinner before going back to my den. As the boys were fighting, I took a rabbit from the food den and started heading back towards my den. By the time I reached my den, it was dark and I could still hear the boys fighting in the distance. I sat down with my back facing my den's entrance and put down the rabbit in front of me. "What did I tell you boys about fighting!" I heard Erza's voice shout in the distance. Followed by a pair of "argh!" from the boys. I giggled and then looked up at the stars that my mother used to show me. 'You don't need to worry about me anymore Mama. I've found a great family' I thought as I looked at the brightest star twinkling in the night sky.