Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail, that belongs to Hiro Mashima.
AN: Well, I hope this is adequate. I'm working on another project at the moment, so this isn't my top priority. I was appalled when I came onto the website and found only eight fanfictions for what I consider to be the best ship ever! I will aim to have all of my chapters within the range of 2,000 to 3,000, and I have no idea what the final word count will be yet, but I can pretty much guarantee it will be over 50,000 at least. Any reviews, follows and favourites are much appreciated.
Practice made perfect. That's what everyone had said, and the basic principle Juvia had lived her life by. Since she was only young, she would practice her water magic everyday, honing her skills. That's how she got to where she was today, the strongest water mage in all of Fiore. At least, she had yet to meet a water mage who surpassed her.
It was the basic rule of repetition that would increase the skills – and it was completely transferable, too. If Juvia were to make Gray love her, she would need to remain persistent in her attempts.
"Gray-sama." Juvia said, preparing to ask him yet again to the Lovers' Competition, a contest taking place in only a week that tested the combined strength and love of a couple. He glanced up, clearly annoyed.
"Gray-sama." Juvia repeated.
"If you're going to ask me to that damn competition, think again."
"Gray-sama…"
"What?" He asked furiously, slamming the sheet of paper he was reading down onto the table.
"Juvia would like to compete in the -"
"Juvia." Gray replied. "I said no."
He sounded fed up. Perhaps Juvia was best leaving him alone for now. After all, too much practice could take its toll. Juvia had been pestering him about it for the past week, ever since she first found out about the Lovers' Competition. It was only natural for her to get this excited, because it would be the perfect opportunity to get close with Gray - Except he didn't seem too interested. He never did, but Juvia knew it was all just an act – Gray was playing hard to get.
"What are you looking at, Gray-sama?" She asked, her eyes falling onto the piece of paper he was reading.
"It's a job offer." He said blandly.
"Is Gray-sama going to invite Juvia?" She questioned.
"No!" He stood up, pushing himself back from the table. "Juvia, I'm not interested in you that way. I don't want to give you the cold shoulder, but you don't give me much choice with how much you smother me."
Of course. Gray was very shy, Juvia had to accept that. She and Gray would have to take things slowly, so perhaps Juvia should lay off just a little bit. She would ask him again later.
"Juvia understands." She said. "But know that Juvia will be available if you wish to invite her."
"Yeah." He said. "Okay, we'll go on a mission together later. But I need to think for now, okay?"
"Okay." Juvia nodded. She turned around, and as hard as it was, she walked away from her love. She would bring the idea up again, during the mission with Gray, when he had loosened up a bit. Juvia just had to compete in the Lovers' Competition with Gray, it was her destiny to become one with him. It was nearly time for that destiny to be fulfilled. In addition, if they won, they would get a whole week paid for vacation on a tropical island. Alone!
Juvia pressed her hands to her cheeks, imagining the scenes that would unfold. Gray and Juvia all alone for a week, she could almost see him stripping his top off – not that that would even be unusual, but climbing afterwards into the hot spring with Juvia. She couldn't wait for the romantic ventures that would ensue.
Suddenly the front guild doors flung open. No one turned to see what the ruckus was, seeing as everybody in the guild was usually noisy, and this was seemingly insignificant, but Juvia was already facing the door. She was the first to see her. The first to see the latest threat. The first to see the new blunette.
She stood in the doorway, her beautiful blue hair cut short, but still wavering slightly as the wind blew through. This was not good. There were already enough blue haired women at Fairy Tail; Juvia had enough troubles with Levy and Wendy as it was. Any more blues and Juvia would be less unique and just a bore to Gray.
"Can Juvia help you?" She asked, approaching the stranger. This woman's hair was a different shade though; it was light in comparison to Juvia's deep blue, more like Levy's.
"Yeah, this is Fairy Tail, right? I'd like to meet your dragon slayers." She said, loudly, boldly and confidently. At least she had no business with Gray.
"Which one?" Juvia asked.
She laughed then, a loud laugh that suddenly cut off after a couple of seconds. "That's the thing about Fairy Tail, they have lots! Well, four, and one of 'ems a fake. Which ones are in?"
"All of them." Juvia replied. She turned and pointed to the pink-haired boy standing by the jobs board. "The idiot's there." She said. "The kid, the fake and Gajeel will be here somewhere, too."
"Great!" The woman exclaimed. She turned to Juvia and extended her hand. "I'm Cinda." She had a huge grin plastered on her face, which Juvia found unnerving. Regardless, she took her hand and shook it.
"Juvia." She replied.
"Great to meet you, Juvy. I'm gonna go talk to the…" She trailed off as her head turned, and her eyes seemed to rest on a single point behind Juvia. "Who is that hottie?" Juvia spun her head quickly to see where the woman was looking. Please not Gray, please not Gray, she begged. She really did not need another love rival. Her eyes found the point. It was, much to her dismay, Gray.
"Stay away from Gray-sama!" Juvia exclaimed. "Gray-sama loves only Juvia, you cannot move his heart!"
"Well if I can't move his heart, what are you so worried about?" She said, standing her ground. She was indeed a threat.
"Leave Gray-sama alone." Juvia replied coldly. "Or you will regret it." Of course, Juvia was only half serious. She would definitely not be happy if Gray ran off with this new girl, but she wouldn't exactly hurt her. Not physically, anyway.
"Fine, fine." Cinda replied, taking a step back and then turning to look at the pink haired boy. "I'm not here to stay anyway."
"Juvia is pleased." Juvia couldn't help it – it had just slipped out. The girl frowned, then walked off towards Natsu at the job board.
Juvia would need to stay around Gray and deflect any moves this new girl made on him. She would protect him with all of her heart, but Juvia wished that she would just leave her future boyfriend alone.
"Juvia! Are you busy?" Asked a familiar friendly voice. Juvia turned her head to see Lucy standing by the door. She came in slowly, her head turning to the new figure walking towards Natsu.
"Who's that?" she asked.
"Her name is Cinda." Juvia replied. "She wanted to speak to Natsu and the other Dragon slayers."
"What for?"
"Juvia does not know." Lucy walked off towards the light blue-haired girl. Deciding she had nothing else to do, Juvia followed her.
"So you've got a Fire, Air, Electric and Metal dragon slayer here already. That's pretty cool." She said. She placed a hand on her chest. "I'm a water dragon slayer myself."
"What happened to your dragon?" Natsu asked almost immediately.
She sighed, and Juvia thought that for a moment she almost seemed sad. "She disappeared."
"The same thing happened to Igneel and the other dragons!" He exclaimed. "Hey, you should join Fairy Tail! We can all look for them together."
No, this was not what Juvia wanted. She was a water mage, she had blue hair – She was trying to replace Juvia! What if Gray forgot which was which? What if - Juvia noticed said ice mage approaching.
"A new member?" he asked "That's something we haven't got in a while."
"Well, I don't know." She said, scratching the back of her head. "I was just stopping by, I've never met any other Dragon Slayers before."
"Stay!" Natsu insisted. "Become one of the family!"
"I-"
"At least come on a mission with us." Gray said. It was beginning! Juvia would not lose to this new Cinda girl.
"Well, I guess I could, if that's okay with y'all." She said hesitantly.
"Erza's away on an S Class mission though, so we'll have to do without her." Lucy said. "So the five of us can go. Gray, you've got a mission, right?"
"Hey!" Natsu exclaimed. "What about Happy?"
"The six of us can go on this mission." Gray said, showing them the flyer he had picked up earlier. "We need to teach some bandits a lesson."
Before Juvia even knew what was happening, she had boarded a carriage with Gray, Natsu, Lucy, Happy and Cinda. Natsu and Cinda both sat, their heads down between their knees as they both looked like they were about to throw up. Juvia couldn't help but feel a small smile spread upon her face at the water dragon slayer's misfortune.
What she could not smile at was at how Gray sat besides the new dragon slayer, his hand rubbing her back as if to make her feel better. Juvia almost envied Cinda for a moment. Lucy tried engaging in conversation with her, but Juvia was too busy watching Gray massage Cinda's back, wishing that it were her own back instead.
They arrived at the town, Yarinole, just as the sun was setting. They paid their fare, then made their way to the town hall where they met the chief of the town.
"Need us to protect your village?" Natsu asked enthusiastically.
"Yes, I do." He replied sternly. He turned to the others; probably noting that Natsu wasn't the one to talk to. "They've been attacking our village every night for the past week. They want us to give them our money, but obviously that's not happening. I want you to teach them that Yarinole isn't the village to mess with."
"Can do!" Natsu looked around then back at the chief. "Where are these guys you need us to beat up?"
The chief sighed. "They'll be back here this night, in a few hours. Until then I'll need you to stand guard at three different locations."
"Three different locations?" Lucy asked.
"Yes, they always attack one of them first." He said. "So you'll need to split up into three."
"Juvia will go with Gray-sama." Juvia found herself saying instinctively.
"No." Gray-sama said. "I'd like to team up with our new member. I want to see what she's made of." He smirked at her. Juvia felt her heart sink. Rejection… And that silly smirk was directed at Cinda… Not her! Stay calm Juvia, she told herself. Gray… he wouldn't be lured over so easily.
"It's okay Juvia, you can come with me." Lucy said, smiling. "It's been a while since just the two of us have teamed up, huh?"
Juvia remembered the last time she had teamed up alone with the celestial spirit mage. It was when the two were at the tower of heaven, fighting that punk together. Lucy and the friendship of Fairy Tail had warmed her heart then, and Juvia couldn't help but smile upon remembering it. That whole situation had nothing to do with Gray, which only proved… Juvia was brought back to reality. No, she did need Gray to be happy.
Juvia would team with Lucy, for now. She longed to be by Gray's side, but he wasn't accepting that at the moment. The new dragon slayer was getting in the way, which was completely unacceptable. Cinda was making herself at home too much.
"Where will we be guarding?" Juvia asked, her eyes locking onto the chief's.
"There's a tower over there." He said, pointing to a tower at the other side of the town. "By the pond just back where you came from, and at the church over there." He finished, gesturing to the final building.
"We'll take the pond." Cinda said before anyone else could have a say. She nudged Gray-sama. "Right Gray?"
"Of course. We're gonna need that water." Gray replied.
Juvia… It didn't matter. Juvia could create her own water; she didn't need that filthy peasant pond water.
"Let's go, Happy!" Natsu exclaimed as the blue exceed lifted him up off the ground and began flying to the tall tower.
"I guess we get the church." Lucy said optimistically, before turning back to the chief. "Don't worry! Fairy Tail will get the job done!" She turned towards the church, grabbing Juvia's hand as she began running at a surprisingly slow speed. Juvia eventually joined her, matching her speed until they reached the church.
"Are you okay, Juvia?" Lucy asked as she sat down on a bench in front of the church.
"Juvia is fine."
"Are you sure? We've got plenty of time to talk before any bandits will show up. We're here early."
Juvia sighed, sitting down on the bench next to her friend. She placed her elbows on her knees, resting her head in her palms.
"Juvia is feeling a bit… Melancholic. Gray-sama chose Cinda over Juvia." She admitted.
"It's okay," Lucy said. "Gray just wants to get to know her a bit. He still likes you, Juvia."
"Juvia still wishes Gray-sama would choose her." She replied, deflated.
"Did you ask him to the Lovers' Competition again?"
Juvia replied slowly. "Yes…"
Lucy sighed, shaking her head. "I told you, you're coming on to strong Juvia. You're acting like Vodka when he prefers beer. Subtlety and hints work wonders on guys…" She paused, before adding as an after thought: "Smart guys."
Juvia didn't miss the last part. "Is Lucy attempting to ask Natsu?"
"What?" Lucy exclaimed. "No, no, you've got it all wrong! Natsu and I aren't like that!"
"You like Gray?" Juvia pressed.
"No! I'm not… I'm not interested in either of them at all, apart from as friends." Lucy sighed.
Juvia just stared at Lucy. The celestial spirit had never said anything to infer she had loved Gray; yet Juvia had always taken things the wrong way… Maybe that was one of the reasons Gray didn't love her back. There were probably many reasons Gray didn't love Juvia. Perhaps he was gay. His name was one letter away from it, so the possibility couldn't be dismissed. She just hoped Gray would be her partner in the Lovers' Competition.
The Lovers' Competition was just one week away, and Juvia couldn't wait. The aim of the competition is to find out which is the strongest couple in Fiore. Of course it wasn't that grand, there were bound to be couples that didn't enter for whatever reason, but the games would still be a nice experience. Juvia knew that if she entered with Gray, the two would be unbeatable.
Juvia remained talking to Lucy and pondering her own thoughts for the next few hours, until finally they got some action.
Suddenly Juvia heard a loud rushing of water, and Juvia looked over to see a large jet of water shooting from the other side of the town. Juvia supposed the bandits were attacking that location, where Gray and Cinda were.
"Let's go join them." Lucy said, but Juvia didn't need to be told. She ran with Lucy until they finally came to rest just meters away from their allies. Cinda stood by Gray's side, as she roared her mighty roar. Jets of water shot from her mouth at such a speed Juvia wasn't sure she could match. It hit the bandits, sweeping them all up off their feet and shoving them to the floor.
"Take that, bandits!" Cinda yelled as she sprinted over to them. "Claw of the water dragon!" She yelled as the water at her feet propelled her high into the air. She flew and paused a second, her silhouette blocking the light of the moon, before she spun in the air, and headed straight down at a speed Juvia again doubted she could match. She struck each of the bandits as she landed, before kicking several of them a large distance away from the village.
Cinda turned to the remaining ones, grinning wildly. "This village is off limits." She said in a somewhat crazy voice. She walked back to Gray after that, and by the time she had turned around to check on them they were all gone. Another mission successfully completed, but much to Juvia's discontentment, Cinda seemed to be on par with her abilities. Juvia glanced over at Gray and noticed – No! What was he doing looking at Cinda like that? He was smiling sweetly, his dark blue eyes resting on Cinda's face. Juvia could not accept this. Gray-sama would not fall for Cinda, not while Juvia was around!