Disclaimers: No. Fairy Tail obviously does not belong to me. It is completely and fully Hiro Mashima's!

Chapter -1- Overcast Heart

She hadn't talked to him in years. Sure, she spared him a thought now and then, but never for more than a minute. And when she saw old photos of him, she nearly choked, but always managed to keep going without seemingly to care. And she always surprised herself. People complained she was too quiet now, too sad.

She sat by herself at the bus stop, hands wringing together, rain drenching her, spilling from the roof of the shabby shelter. It was rainy and dreary, and the skies were cold and grey and she could smell the wet pavement, running with water. Strands of grass bent under the force of the raindrops and the dirt soaked up the water like a thirsty mouth. Leaves on the trees bent as raindrops pelted them. Pattering noises were scattered all around, comfortably dripping. The rain pooled all over the ground in puddles that to her looked like tiny lakes. Leaves drifted across them like miniature sailboats.

Splash!

The little child leapt into the puddle, his yellow rain boots, scuffed black around the edges, sinking into the bottom in the mud. He brought his feet back out and jumped in again, giggling, his feet smashing against the water with the crashing sound of when you slam into a pool in a belly flop. More kids were joining him.

She looked away from them biting her lip, but still heard the shrill sounds as the children jumped in and out. How she hated it.

There was a reason Juvia loved the rain...

In the rain, no one can see you cry.

iiXXii

He slipped out of the stuffy business conference without anyone noticing. All those boring old men, who were all fifty years older than him, were too busy arguing anyway. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he tapped his foot, just itching to dart out of the elevator and out of the building. When the doors spread open, he sprung out of them like an animal from a trap.

FREEDOM!

He didn't even care about the downpour outside, he just raced to the doors, carelessly knocking down a large stack of neatly organized papers and hearing an enraged:

"JESUS CHRIST!" from a woman, but he didn't turn back. Out of the stingy office building, the rain was refreshing, even if it was pouring like hell. He grinned up at the gray (puns puns puns) sky before running through the storm in glee. He couldn't see much through the pouring rain, but he knew he was headed toward his apartment complex.

Finally he was free. Honestly, he couldn't be happier.

Well... maybe he had been happier with...her. No. She was boring, characterless, and clingy and most of all, plain annoying. He was much happier. Happy... well that wasn't the word. It felt more like a weight had been lifted off him, but at the same time it felt as if that weight had been a chunk of his chest and it had been ripped out, or maybe it was breaking apart like glass. Sometimes, when he took a deep breath, it felt like he couldn't breathe at all. Like the air was just passing through him, and he was being deprived of oxygen and had to take a minute to recover.

Nonetheless, Gray didn't know what it was.

And he couldn't explain why it felt like the rain was falling straight through the cracks in his empty soul.

iiXXii

Gray wrung out his wet hair after his shower and flopped himself lazily on his couch, thinking once again, about her. It was a phenomenon how she ALWAYS invaded his mind. He couldn't keep her away no matter how strong his defenses were.

Her long, wavy blue hair, soft along his fingers, with a faint scent of the sea. Eyes like gleaming sapphires, twinkling with happiness. A smile that made him always want to hold her. Her frame was so small against his.

GAH! SHUT UP BRAIN!

Gray shook his head. He needed to get out and get her out of his mind. He had plenty of other people, girls in particular, to mend his heart. He picked up a navy blue umbrella and raised it above his head as he left the apartment complex.

iiXXii

Juvia sat on the bus quietly, not making eye contact. She wasn't the only one dripping wet. She tapped her feet quietly until she reached her stop. The bus driver offered her his umbrella, but she declined, and stepped out into the down pour. The rain felt so familiar. Even though it made her clothes stick to her and it was hard to see and not slip, she loved it.

She hiked up the pavement up to the top of the hill in the park, feeling the uncomfortable squishy feeling of water in her shoes. There was a lone bench standing at the top. She smiled wistfully, sitting down to accompany it. Juvia looked down the hill at the view of the city, buzzing quietly in the rain. She had been up here before...

With him.

iiXXii

Gray got out of his car and strolled up the path that had rain running down it, trying not to get his leather shoes too wet and damaged, his umbrella spread out over him, shielding him from the fierce rain. He succeeded at reaching the top and saw that the quiet bench he'd been planning on visiting wasn't empty, even in this insane weather. He saw a familiar one-of-a-kind shade of blue hair, damp and dripping with water.

Once again, Gray couldn't breathe. His throat closed up and his muscles tensed. He couldn't think. What was she doing here? There was no way!

"J-Ju... Juvia," he stammered in a whisper.

iiXXii

Juvia sat peacefully in the rain. The view was pleasant, and no one was there to bother her. She smiled a quiet smile. The rain was obscuring her vision and she thought of going back home, but before she got up, the rain above her halted tersely and the sound of water pelting plastic greeted her ears.

Juvia glanced upward and saw his face, the lines of his jaw and nose, his dark hair and eyes. The scar on the left of his forehead. She'd been sure she'd never have to see that face again.

"G-Gu-Gray-sama!" she choked out.

Have some of what goes on in my brain:

I've always wondered why Gray's Fairy Tail insignia is on the right side of his chest. I've always thought it would make more sense to put it on the left, where not only your heart is, but something you really love will be. But then it struck me like brick in the face, that he was saving his heart for something (*cough* someone *cough*) and I think that person is most definitely Juvia. I really just want Mashima to give us Gruvia... please.