The Struggle to Let Oneself Love Another

Final Chapter (16)

Authors note: Hey guys and girls! Let me just start off by saying that I am so sorry that it took me so long to write the final chapter. To make up for it I made the final part the longest one yet! Enjoy!

As soon as their lips separated they rested there foreheads on each other and they imagined themselves sitting in front of their lovers. They both had peaceful smiles on their faces from their fantasies. The silence was broken when they both said at the same time...
"I love you Natsu."
"I love you Lucy."
After realizing what they had both said out loud both of their eyes shot open. Their faces became a dark shade of red as they both quickly sat in opposite directions. Both of them apologized in sync.
"Uh... Um Juvia I... Sorry it's just I... Me and Lucy haven't... In such a long time... I got caught up in the moment... Please don't tell Lucy!" From the look of his face anyone could tell that he was extremely flustered.
"Gray! Juvia didn't mean to... Uh um... Juvia is so sorry... She doesn't want to come between you and Lucy. It's just Juvia believed... she would never have Natsu's love ever again. Please don't speak a word of this to him." She on the other hand was sweating bullets from the embarrassment.
After giving each other a few moments to get themselves together, Gray broke the akward silence by saying, "Hey Juvia, like I was saying earlier please don't leave the guild I'm sure Natsu still loves you. He probably doesn't even care that you gave him that wound. So at the very least you should talk to him and then see if you still believe leaving the guild would be the best course of action."
She thought about his words for a few seconds and gave a small sigh, "Very well Juvia will take your advice and face Natsu."
"I'm glad to hear it. And I'll take your advice and try to clear things up with Lucy."
"But how should Juvia go about doing this in Juvia's note she made it quite clear that she would never return."
"Hmmm well there's no doubt he's probably trying to track you down so you should go somewhere that's special to the both of you and wait for him there. Do you know of anywhere like that?"
She thought for a second and realized the perfect place to go to. She then quickly stood up and began running. While running, she looked behind her and waved goodbye to Gray. Who also waved back.
...
Natsu had been running without slowing down all the way to the guild hall so he was breathing heavily. He noticed that her scent was getting stronger the closer he got to the entrance. "Wait a second... *sniff* *sniff* I can definitely smell Juvia, but I can also smell Gray. He probably knows where she is. Hey Gray where are you man!?" He ran into the guild hall and started looking around for Gray. He eventually spotted him standing in one of the back corners but he only saw his back. Either way he ran up to him but immediately blushed when he saw who was in front of Gray. It was Lucy and she had tears streaming down her face, but at the same time she and Gray were sharing a kiss. She parted from him and with a happy and choked up tone said, "Gray I've missed you so much. I'm sorry I didn't realize your true intentions when you said you wanted to teach me ice make magic. I love you. Eh? Natsu what are you doing here?
Her question made Gray turn around in surprise. "Natsu? What are you doing here your supposed to be with Juvia right now flame brain!
"Hey watch it ice pervert that's why I'm here! I need to know where she went."
"She said she was going to a place that's special to the both of you, so I can't really tell you where she went. Only you could possibly know where she is."
Natsu stood there with his arms crossed and his eyes closed. He was in deep thought trying to remember any place in Magnolia that had any significant meaning to Juvia and himself. Then out of nowhere his eyes shot open and he made a mad dash towards the entrance.
...
Juvia was sitting with her back resting against the base of the statue of Mavis while looking out towards the view. "Did Juvia make the right decision by coming here? She worries that there was no point in coming here. Maybe she should just leave." She stood up and patted the dirt off of her butt, and put on her backpack. She was about to turn around and descend the mountain until she heard some heavy breathing. "*Hough* *puff* *hough* *puff*, H...hey are you leaving already... Come on that's not fair I just got here." He was standing with his hands resting on his knees, while trying to catch his breath. "Natsu how did you know Juvia would be here?"
He walked up to her with a warm smile and held her right hand. "Well it was pretty obvious once I put a little thought into it. I knew you would be up here because this is the spot where we shared our first kiss after admitting our love for each other." He then leaned in to kiss her, but she quickly moved her head to avoid the contact. This surprised him but he knew it wouldn't be that easy. "Natsu, I hurt you... I don't deserve to be in love with you... you would be much more happier with someone else."
"Hmmm... what if I prove to you that no matter what happens to me I will always love you."
"H...how would you even go about doing that?" His smile grew larger and he picked her up bridal style and started running down the mountain. By this point in their relationship Juvia was used to being carried this way, so she didn't protest to this. She was to curious about what he planned to do to prove his unconditional love for her. A couple minutes later they had arrived at the guild hall. He continued inside and placed Juvia on top of the nearest empty table and stood next to her. Then he looked at her with one of his trademark smiles. "Juvia do you remember that promise I made back when you, Erza, and I were on that mission to find and kill the demon that was terrorizing the nearby villages?"
"Huh? A promise um give Juvia a second to try to recall... Oh wait. Yes Juvia does remember. It was when she gained her consciousness back for the first time during the mission. Before... Before I stabbed you..."
"Don't worry about that part just know that I will finally keep my promise to you starting now." He stood up on the table and took a deep breath and announced to the whole guild, "Hey everyone shut up for a second!!!" Every body in the guild hall went quite and gave Natsu their full attention. Cana stopped drinking, Levy looked up from her book, Gajeel stopped eating the iron that Levy had script magic for him, Elfman and his sisters were also paying attention. Gray and Lucy were smiling because they both had an idea of what would happen next. Natsu continued...
"I want everyone to know that I love Juvia!!! His words echoed through the silent guild hall. Nobody said anything which made Natsu feel nervous about what he just said. However, there was no way he was going to let the silence get the better of him. A heavy blush was starting to form on his face as he held on to Juvia hand. "And... And we're going to have 23 babies!" He kept his eyes closed to avoid the stares until he heard something. "Yeah!! Now that's a real man!"
"Heh. The rain woman and Dragneel. What a weird combination. What do you think Lily?"
"Honestly I'm happy for them. But there magic are complete opposites. That won't bode well for them in combat."
Juvia was then surrounded by Lucy, Levi, Wendy, and Erza who was holding her camera.
"Congratulations Juvia. I hope you two will forever be happy together."
"Thank you Wendy."
"Hey Juvia, you and Natsu should come with Gray and I on a double date some time."
"Huh? Uh well it's just that Natsu and Juvia haven't even had our first date yet."
They all yelled in sync, "What!!!"
"But Erza told us you were already living with him so we just assumed that you two have even gone as far as to... You know." Levy's comment made Juvia blush heavily and she became extremely flustered. "No it's not like that... I mean yes one time Juvia believed he was going to take advantage of her... B... But all we did was sleep on the same bed that was it!"
They all looked confused from her explanation but they did eventually believe her. However that did not stop Lucy or Levy from further teasing.
"Natsu, come here my boy let's have a chat."
"Sure gramps what's up?"
Natsu, my boy you know it does my heart good to see you and Juvia so happy together."
"Thanks gra..."
"However, You Are Both Too Young To Be Thinking About Having Babies Especially 23 Of Them!!! The thought of 23 miniature versions of you makes me shutter with fear. The guild would go bankrupt from all the damage costs!!! So please Natsu try to take things slow for now at least."
"You got it gramps. If that's all then I'm going to go hang with Juvia."
He turned around and made his way towards the girls who were still talking to and teasing Juvia, leaving behind Makarov and Mira.
"Hey master"
"Hmm? Yes what is it Mira?"
"I heard from Erza that Natsu and "Juvia have slept together a couple of times already."
...
Natsu walked up to the group of girls and made his way through in order to get to Juvia. He assumed that the teasing had gotten pretty pervy since Juvia was blushing a dark red and denying all there allegations. All the girls immediately stopped talking as soon as he was right in front of her. They were all interested in what would happen next. They were slightly surprised when he pulled her into an embrace. He then whispered into her ear, "Please tell me that you decided to stay... I don't think I would be able to handle it if you went away." Her eyes grew wide as soon as he said this and she quickly shoved him away from him. This greatly worried him for a second.
"Honestly Natsu! Do you really believe Juvia could leave the guild now!? Everybody here is expecting her to give birth to 23 babies in the future now!" She then punched him over the head.
"Why did you promise something that we don't even know we can keep!?"
He rubbed the side of his head and got really close to her and with a big grin on his face he said,"Well then I guess we better get started as soon as possible, right Juvia?"
"Eh... wha... wait um... Juvia is not ready for child bearing... I...I." The embarrassment became to much and she fainted. However, Natsu was able to catch her before she hit the ground.
"Juvia! Hey I was just kidding come on wake up."
"Well what did you expect would happen Natsu!? You can't just joke around about that stuff."
"Lucy, please help I just wanted to tease her a little... I didn't think she would pass out."
"Just take her home and wait for her to wake up naturally." 
"Alright good idea."
...
Juvia slowly opened her eyes and gave a slight yawn. She sat up and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. She looked around and immediately realized that she was back in Natsu's house... their house. Since she couldn't see him anywhere she opened the door and went outside to look for him. She walked around the back and saw him sitting on a stool, with his back towards her.
"Hey! Natsu what are you doing out here?"
He jumped a little bit from the suddenness of her voice. He quickly looked behind him, but then immediately turned his head back. For a moment Juvia saw what looked like tears trailing down his cheek. Then Natsu quickly stood up and wiped away any trace of his tears. Turning around he gave Juvia another one of his trademark smiles.
"Hiya Juvia. I didn't know you were awake. How are you feeling?"
"Ju... Juvia is fine. Natsu why were you crying?"
"Huh? What are you talking about I wasn't crying I was just sitting out here waiting for you to wake up"
"Stop it Natsu! Juvia saw the tears on your face. Even if it was just for a brief moment. Plus, you can wipe away the tears but your eyes are red! If something is wrong please just tell Juvia." She walked up to him and wrapped her arms around him, and with a tone of sadness told him, "Please Natsu... we're a team. You can be honest with me." He responded by wrapping his arms around her and returning the embrace. "Ok Juvia. You're right. I was um... weeping."
"But why Natsu? Juvia said she would stay with you."
"That's exactly why. I was so afraid of losing you, that when you said you would stay, I got so happy I guess that happiness turned into tears. I didn't want to wake you up so I came out here and they just flowed out. I'm just so happy you're here with me right now.
Juvia I love you."
"We... well you already know that Juvia loves you too."
"Yeah, Natsu knows that Juvia loves him. Hehe."
"Hey don't make fun of Juvia for the way she speaks."
"Hahaha. I'm sorry Juvia I couldn't help myself."
They both laughed
"Oh yeah by the way Juvia I almost forgot, get ready because we're going out on our first date later."
Her face had a big smile and a light blush was forming. "I'm looking forward to it... my love."

Thank you to all my my loyal readers who have read my story from beginning to end. You people make me want to write more. Speaking of which, I have a new story that is also Fairy tail. Its a story about Natsu and Cana and love.
So if your interested you could go check that out or whatever....please.