A/N: Thanks for the ideas Vandenbez! First ever! NarutoxJuvia! After seeing her in the manga and the anime, I thought to myself: she really didn't deserve any of the horrible abuse she had to suffer through when she was growing up now, did she? The answer, you ask? NO SHE DID NOT! Then again, half of the characters in Fairy Tail have sad pasts, but I can't just go around fixing that...or can I? Anyway, and alas, this will also have to be a two-shotter. I just can't seem to squeeze everything into one chapter nowadays despite my appalling lack of a job D= But enough of that! Ya'll know the drill with these one/two shotst! Relax, Read, Review, and, of course...

...ENJOY!

Juvia just wanted to be understood...

~Juvia

Drip-Drop-Drip

Juvia hated the rain.

Because the rain was gloomy. Because it always rained wherever she went. Because she'd been born this way, with a body of water, destined to never see the sunlight. It always rained when she was around, night or day. Day or night, it always rained when Juvia was around. The sun never came out' it never burst through the clouds to brighten her day, no matter her mood. Instead, it always rained. Always. Juvia hated it. She hated their harsh words; the cruel, demeaning jeers of her classmates and the incessant ridicule that she suffered in her day-to-day life. She hated it, and she hated herself for being powerless to make it otherwise.

No one understood her.

She was just a gloomy, rainy woman.

Doomed to be alone forever under a rainy sky.

But today, the rain had stopped.

Today, she lay strewn across the rooftop of her Phantom Lord, defeated. Today, the sun had finally-finally!-broken through the great and terrible cloud that had overshadowed Juvia Lockster her entire life. Today, she had not only met her prince, but a friend from her past. A special, cherished friend that she hadn't seen for quite some time, one that she thought had abandoned her. The very first person to pierce the veil of gloominess that had surrounded her since childhood.

He lay beside her now, battered and burnt from the accidental shock that had consumed them both during the climax of their battle. To think, only moments before she'd been trying to kill him! Just the thought of harming him now made Juvia blush. She risked a glance at him, at his slumbering form, driven to unconciousness, after exhausting every ounce of his magical power in his battle against her, and her gaze lingered on his hand, still laid over hers before sheer exhaustion had finally driven him under.

Lying here under the light, watching as the sun wrenched the heavens apart and opened the sky above, brought back fond-and painful-memories of her childhood. Back then, she'd just wanted everything to stop. The rain, the bullying, the teasing, all of it. Back then, she hadn't dared to think that she'd ever have a friend, let alone one such as him; an indispensable ally who always spoke up on her behalf, always defended her, always deflected the violence that would have otherwise harmed her back then.

They hadn't exactly met on the best of terms back then either...

(Flashback)

It had been a day like any other. A day filled with rain.

That day, her class had gone on one of its many field trips only to be rained out. Again. Honestly, she was amazed that her hometown hadn't simply floated away by now. And it very well might have, were it not for the levies that had been erected years before. Regardless of the fact, her classmates hadn't taken very kindly to having their school trip ruined by the "rainy girl" who was perpetually a part of their class. They'd never been kind to her to begin with; but that day they'd been particularly vicsious.

They'd ripped her umbrella from her hands and broken it. They torn her freshly sown doll-a doll that had been meant to stop the rain-from her arms and stomped upon it until it was little more than pile of torn stitching and stuffing. They'd pushed her down and pulled her hair and called her names as they soiled her raincoat with mud and pelted her with an assortment of stones and whatever was handy at the time. Her teacher hadn't been around to stop them; perhaps they simply hadn't cared. Not even the owners of the orphanage did or said anything when their daughter came home looking as she did now, whimpering in the street; curled into a ball to minimize the impact of the blows upon her body.

"Juvia should just stay home during field trips!" Snapped one of her classmates as they stood over her.

"Yeah, its always gloomy and rainy whenever she's around!" Grumbled another, nudging her cheek a sodden shoe. She flinched aside and one of them laughed; the act of which broke her heart into a thousand pieces. How could they be so cruel? Their blows didn't have any lasting effect thanks to her special body, but their words cut deeper than anything she'd ever known.

"Oi!"

And then, as abruptly as the beating had begun, it was over. She looked up from where she lay in the street, alarmed as someone stormed into the street, eyes blazing like an great and unholy tempest. Belatedly, Juva recognized them. Lightning split the sky into a thousand pieces. Thunder boomed. And Juvia never once took her eyes away from them as they brandished their umbrellas like a blade.

It was another one of her classmates. A boy. Whisker marks tripled each cheek, framed by unruly blond locks that were as shaggy as they were spiky. As if his blond hair and blue eyes were not distinctive enough, he wore a hideous outfit consisting of blue jeans and an orange-orange!-shirt that looked like it belonged in the trash rather than on an actual human being.

And he looked absolutely furious.

"Just what the hell do you guys think you're doing?" He asked, his words deadly soft, a predator sizing up its prey. He was at least a head taller than most of them by at least five inches, and they'd cowered before him as he stomped forward, swinging his wrapped umbrella like a baseball bat. But they outnumbered him, and, foolishly, they tried to use that factor to their advantage.

"What does it look like we're doing?" One of them, a gangly looking boy in a green-raincoat, asked as the blond drew near. "We're teaching this rain-girl a lesson."

The blond paused at that. But only for a moment.

Then he brought his umbrella down.

Hard.

The offender crumpled into a boneless heap before his fellows, all of whom shrank back at the sudden display of ferocity.

"Well, now I'm teaching all of YOU a lesson!"

"Neh, maybe he has a crush on her?" Another prodded, darting out of the way of his haphazard swings.

"Shut up." the boy growled.

"Ooh, he does, doesn't he?" Chimed yet another, emboldened by his fellows. But not for very long. The battered blond dropped to one knee, resting one palm upon the soaked earth, fingers splayed. The clouds overhead darkened inexplicably, the rain momentarily abating in the wake of what was to come. For a dreadful moment there was silence. A lone raindrop spattered across the cobblestones.

"I said shut up!" he screamed, sparks shooting from his fingertips. Juvia skittered back in fear, her eyes widening as streams of golden light erupted from the boy's body and surged forward toward her classmates,-not tearing them limb from limb as she'd initially feared-but jolting them into unconcsiousness. She'd blinked at the sudden explosion of power and wondered at him; this strange boy who'd dared to stick up for her at the risk of his own safety.

And he'd used magic!

She remembered looking at him and feeling awe and admiration; because this boy had stood up for her. When no one else would, he drove off her tormentors and made them think twice before they trifled with her again. He'd set a precedent back then, one she hadn't expected him to follow. And yet he did.

"W-Why did you protect Juvia?"

The boy turned, scratching at the back of his head. He seemed to be searching for something. The words to say, perhaps? In the end, he said nothing. He simply offered her his umbrella, holding it over her head as he helped Juvia to her feet. It had begun to rain again, she realized dimly. But suddenly, the rain didn't matter. Not at all. All that did matter hinged on his reply.

"Cuz." The boy said simply. "They were hurting you."

She blushed.

"J-Juvia would like to know your name."

"Naruto." The boy introduced himself, a gorgeous white grin streaking across his face. "I'm seven years old."

"J-Juvia is six."

"So...why were they picking on you, exactly?" Naruto asked.

Juvia told him. She told him everything, about the rain, about the beatings, about everything. Naruto, for the most part remained silent. He didn't nod he didn't speak, he just stood there and Juvia could see the anger tightening his features. His fist crumped around the handle of the umbrella, threatening to bend the steel itself. Undoubtedly he was strong. Strong enough to use magic-rudimentary though it wasand strong enough to stand up for her sake.

"I won't let them." Naruto mumbled when she had finished her story.

"Nani?"

"I...won't let them push you around like that!" Naruto insisted, his eyes wide, his tone ferverent. "Nobody should have to go through that, Juvia-chan! Nobody! Especially not you!" he continued to rant and rave, but Juvia never heard the rest of it. He'd lost her the moment he'd attached the affectionate suffix to her name. Ch-Chan! He'd called her Juvia-chan!

'Juvia-chan...

Could he possibly be the one person that she was meant to be with? Her prince? Could he possibly be the one person who cared more about her than anyone else in this world or the next? Was that truly even possible? Would he possibly harbor feelings for her as they grew old together? Was such a thing even allowed to be? She hoped with all of her heart that it was.

"Eh? Is something wrong with your face?" Naruto asked, drawing her out of her reverie. "You're looking really...red." It took everything she had not to skitter backward like a squeamish schoolgirl. Instead she peered up at him with such earnest that she hoped he could see the true intention lingering behind her eyes.

"Y-You'll protect Juvia?" she'd asked him, flushing as she stepped forward. "Really?"

"Of course!" Naruto retorted. "I said I would, didn't I? And I never go back on my word!"

"Pinky swear?" she held out her hand, pinky extended.

Naruto grinned and curled her pinky around his.

"Pinky swear!"

And thus, their friendship began.

A/N: Hope you liked it peoplz and hope you review! I did my best to keep Juvia-chan in character and I think I succeeded! I guess I have to continue this now and explain why she was trying to kill him in the begginning, huh? Anywho, I hope you liked it, mina-san! Thank you so much for reviewing my works! Now, lesse...which girl should be next? I guess you'll jus thave to vote then, won't you? Oh, and as a note, Bisca and Asuka are FIRMLY off limits! They both belong to Alzack! All the other girls are fair game!

Ja ne~

Nz