Juvia shook her head at herself, Juvia is being silly, she thought. She aimed the gun once more at the corrupt man. Again, she looked at his face. He was calming down from his fit of laughter, and was now smiling and conversing with the man across the table from him. Juvia was confused; the villains she went after were always furious and miserable looking. They weren't supposed to go out and have fun with their friends, that would make them entirely too human, making it so much harder for Juvia to kill them.

Juvia should kill him now, her mind buzzed. She couldn't make herself pull the trigger. She scooted away from the gun, inching in closer to the core of the tree. Juvia pondered on how she was going to kill this man. She also pondered on his interesting semblance. Juvia wants to get a closer look… He can't really be this ecstatic with his terrible lifestyle, can he? She sighed inwardly to herself.

Mentally screaming at herself, she climbed down the base of the tree. As she hopped down to the ground, she straightened out her dress. She noticed how the sun had finally gone down, and thought about how much time she had wasted sitting and contemplating up in the tree.

She hastily walked towards the road, crossing it as she told herself how unprofessional she was being. Juvia should turn back! Juvia should turn back now! She scrunched her eyes and balled up her fists, but she couldn't stop the overflowing emotion of curiosity. After a few seconds that passed by ever so slowly, she found herself standing in front of the door of the building, staring it down. What if Juvia screws up the entire mission? What if that man knows who Juvia is, and tries to kill Juvia? All of her thoughts warned her not to open the door, but her hands moved on their own.

There was a small ding above the door as she stepped in, a few customers looked her way, and glanced back to what they were doing beforehand. The loud buzzing of several people talking put her more at ease, as it hid her presence a bit. The place looked very warm and cozy, wooden floors and walls all around. Various signs hung up on the walls, along with pictures of customers that had visited throughout the years. Juvia walked toward the bar, and took a seat at the end of the counter. From the corner of her eyes, she scoped out the area for the bandit. She located him sitting at a booth, and had an almost perfect view of him. The pink ball of hair sitting in front of him blocked his face a bit. However, she could clearly see that her target was wearing a white jacket that went down past his waist, his dark hair accentuating the features on his face. Juvia felt her face going hot, a feeling that she rarely experienced. She shook her head at herself, turning back to face the bar. What in the world is Juvia thinking?

Her thoughts were interrupted by a dazzling voice from the other side of the counter, "Welcome to my pub, gorgeous!" He called.

She turned up to see a well dressed man wearing sunglasses, even though it was night and he was indoors. His golden-brown hair was shining under the lights hanging from the ceiling.

"T-thank you," she replied, not sure of what to say.

"I haven't seen you around before! I'm Loke. Let me get you a drink, on the house," he beamed, clapping his hands together and turning around to mix various bottles of alcohol together. Juvia wasn't much of a drinker, she deemed it unprofessional to get drunk and out of control. However, she couldn't just refuse the drink now that he had already started making it. After a few moments, he turned back around with a glass, filled with clear liquid. Juvia didn't know anything about alcohol, so she had no idea what it could be. She stared at it wide-eyed for a few seconds before Loke spoke up again.

"Go ahead, try it!" he dared.

"Okay. Thank you," she repeated, picking up the glass and putting it to her lips. She almost spit up at the taste and smell, and the drink burned down her throat as she forced herself to swallow it.

"No problem!" he laughed, turning to tend to a couple of new customers who had sat down at the bar. Juvia placed the drink back on the counter, and spun around in her seat to stare at the smuggler again, studying his actions and attitude.

Gray took another gulp of his drink, laughing at the conversation him and Natsu were having.

"… And then I was like, 'I'm all fired up!'" Natsu went on with the story he had told over and over again, although the details changed a bit every time.

Gray started zoning out as he noticed bright blue hair across the room, sitting at the bar, from the corner of his eye. He glanced up to look at her, as she took a sip of her drink. He told himself to look away; that he shouldn't stare at women, but he couldn't help it, she was just so damn beautiful.

He noticed her eccentric wavy hair sprawled out down her back, her dark black dress hiding some features he wished he could see. Wait, what? He mentally slapped himself, flustered at the thought. I'm so creepy!

The mysterious woman circled around in her seat, staring straight at Gray. Their eyes met, and both of them embarrassingly looked away.

"… And then he… Are you even listening to me?" Natsu blabbed, waving his hands in front of Gray's face.

"Huh? Oh, sorry," he muttered. Natsu realized he was staring at something until a few moments ago, so he whirled around to look. "Oooh Gray! She's cute!" he blurted, turning back to face a glowing red Gray.

"S-shut up!"

"You should go talk to her!" he urged.

"No way! " Gray pouted, crossing his arms and turning his head to look out the window.

"Oh come on! You never talk to girls," Natsu whined.

"I said shut up!" he growled, his face glowing again.

"You better get up and ask her out, or I'm going to do it for you," he commanded, slamming his hands on the table, and standing up.

"Stop!" Gray stood up as well, "I hate you so much!" he uttered, turning out of the table to walk down towards the bar.

Juvia felt her heart skip a beat, and she turned back towards the bar, hoping he wouldn't notice her. Oh this is bad, this is so bad. Don't look at Juvia, don't look at Juvia, don't look at…

"Hi…," Gray started, hating how awkward he was, "I'm Gray."

Juvia felt the color drain out of her face. Juvia is definitely not supposed to talk to dead men walking!

"What's your name?" he queried, trying to keep up a fake calmness.

"Juvia," she replied, before thinking. What is Juvia doing?! What if he knows who Juvia is?! Juvia is so dumb! So very dumb!

"That's a pretty name," he commented. Juvia felt her face go warm again.

"T-thank you," she shyly acknowledged.

Gray tapped his fingers on his legs, not sure of what to say. Seconds passed, but it felt like years. What the hell do I say now?!

"Do you want to hang out?" he bravely broke in.

Juvia felt conflicting emotions. Of course Juvia can't 'hang out' with him! Juvia needs to kill him! She screamed in her mind …But if Juvia gets him alone, it would be easier to kill him…

"Juvia would love to," she nodded. Gray smiled, finding her way of speaking endearing.

The two had exited the building, and were now walking down the street. The busy city gleamed brightly around them, but both of them stayed quiet.

Juvia was pondering what would be a good time to pull out the knife hidden in the inside of her sleeve. Gray was pondering what he should say. Surprisingly enough, it was Juvia who spoke up first.

"So, what do you do for a living?" She inquired, curious to see if he would lie about his occupation or not.

Gray felt his stomach tighten a bit, "I run my own business," It's not exactly a lie, he thought. "And you?"

"I'm a real estate agent," she confidently lied. She slid the knife down into her hand, flicking out the blade, and hiding it behind her side, which Gray could not see.

A few minutes passed, and she waited for the right time to kill him, but she was curious as to why he was now being so quiet.

"I'm sorry," he spoke, leaning his head down, stopping in his tracks on the side walk. Juvia kept walking a few steps before realizing he stopped, and turned around to look at him.

"What's wrong?"

In the few minutes he was silent, he remembered the reason he never had girlfriends. It was so dangerous! If anyone found out about him being with a girl, she would easily get abducted and most likely raped or killed. The people he associated wouldn't think twice about using a woman to get back at Gray for the various twisted things he did. The only reason he was able to be partners with Natsu was because he knew Natsu could defend himself. If he was seen with Juvia, he didn't even want to think of what may happen to her.

"I have to do something…" he badly lied, "can I call you a taxi?"

Juvia was caught off guard. Did he see Juvia's knife? She wondered as she slid it back up her sleeve.

"No, that's ok. Juvia will be fine," she answered.

Gray felt his heart sink in worry, afraid she would get hurt by someone possibly lurking in the shadows of the alleyways. He was well known in this area, and very hated as well.

"Well, will you let me walk you home?" he pushed again, trying not to show his true emotions.

"Juvia doesn't live around here, Juvia is just traveling… for work," she stammered.

"Where were you planning on sleeping?"

Juvia looked around, not sure of what to say. To be honest, she hadn't thought of sleeping plans at all. She figured she would come to Magnolia, get the job done, and head back to Fairy Tail all in the same day, but it was obviously getting too late for that.

Juvia chuckled a bit, "Juvia hasn't really thought about that yet… a hotel, maybe?"

Gray noticeably changed his expression, showing his concern. "There aren't very many hotels around here, but the ones we have are probably filled, you know? It's holiday season," he stated motioning to the chilly weather.

Juvia placed her hand on her chin, thinking about this. She also thought about the look on his face. Why does he care? Isn't he supposed to be a merciless criminal?

"You… could stay at my place, if you want," he mumbled.

Juvia felt blood light up her face, her thoughts unable to form coherent sentences. Gray noticed her face, and his turned the same color.

"I-I didn't mean anything weird by it! I just wanted to make sure you would be safe!" he stuttered.

If her face could go redder, it would. Why does he care?! He is not supposed to be nice to Juvia! He is supposed to be dying!

"J-Juvia couldn't p-possibly do that!" she spluttered, bringing her clenched fists up to her chest.

Gray stared at her, and grabbed her wrist. "Please let me do this for you," he convinced.

Juvia stared at him, his eyes pleading. He is really so stupid.

Fine then. Juvia will just kill you in your sleep.

AN: First of all, I want to apologize for all the typos in the first chapter! I just recently installed Word, and I was using Note Pad before, which doesn't tell you if you have any misspellings. Hopefully there isn't any in this chapter, and if there is, please let me know so I can fix it! :)

Also, thank you so much for all the reviews! You are all so sweet! They really motivated me to write this next chapter.

Anyway, thanks for reading! I hope you like it! Again, I'll try to update as soon as I can!