Chapter 10
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"Mmm." Wendy looked down at her food that the waitress had given her. "It smells so good!" Wendy smiled. She then looked up at Gray who was unexpectedly staring right at her.

Gray quickly looked down at his food, cheeks red now. He didn't expect her to find him staring at her. "Yea, it does smell good." He hurriedly said. He didn't want her to bring up why he was staring at her.

"What did you get again?" Wendy cocked her head to the side, ignoring that Gray was staring at her. Of course in the inside though she was cheering and dancing. «×I finally caught him staring! I knew he couldn't hold it back! He must think I'm pretty!» Wendy grinned happily.

"Why are you smiling like that?" Gray asked. She looked lost in her own world and the faces that she made sometimes when that happened was well...very scary sometimes. "Wendy...?" He called again. He face palmed when she wouldn't wake from her day dream- or at least he thought she was.

Wendy shook her head and said sorry. "I didn't mean to doze off like that..." She whimpered.

"Its okay." Sighed Gray. The two sat in silence while they ate their food. The small little restaurant in the town was only a few feet away from the field the festival was being held at. They had asked the waitress before ordering what it was about, the festival that is, and she had replied that the festival was held every year on January 19th for the Spirits of the dead. She had also added that a lot of people died due to the Bandits; and that lots of peoples homes were robbed, too.

When the two mages finally finished eating it was Gray who paid. Even though Wendy didn't want him to. But he didn't mind, since it her he was doing it for. They walked through the festival, admiring the lights and creative mask that some of the younger kids had. They passed all kind of Stands and people.

"Woah!" Wendy looked up into the sky when the fireworks boomed in the air. The colorful sparks in the air blocked some of the less brighter stars. But the different colors made the dark sky look even prettier. "Look, Gray!"

Gray looked up at the sky like Wendy had asked him to happily do so. His mind slowly drifted back to Wendy though. He couldn't help but still wonder what had happened while leaving Fairy Hills.

Ever since after Christmas, he had been wanting to talk to Wendy about the night he had kissed her-which was a few months ago. He didn't want to get the wrong idea. He didn't want to break the young girls heart. His attention wasn't to do that. He wasn't sure why he did it.

He had also noticed his sexual desires for Wendy had slowly gone away, of course they would sometimes come back. And he noticed his emotional feelings for the girl was getting stronger. His jealousy would rise and his protectiveness would increase. In any case, his feelings for Juvia was disappearing. All the things Wendy had did, worked to keep him away from Fairy Tails girls. He only wanted Wendy-all to himself. But, the problem was that he knew he shouldn't have feelings for such a young innocent girl like her.

Gray looked back down at Wendy, admiring her. He couldn't help but let a smile cross his face when she looked like a little child being amazed at the circus for the first time. When Gray looked away to find the Mayor once again, he was faced to face with a complete stranger. Gray held onto Wendy's shoulder, stopping her from walking any further.

"Hello, there, stranger!" The man in front of Gray greeted. He looked awfully friendly. He had messy dark colored hair with bright stunning eyes. "Would you like some Free Dumplings?" The young man asked.

Gray knew better though. The man seemed way to friendly. And nobody just gives away free food when there's bandits on the loose. He shook his head and held Wendy's hand - seeing from the corner of his eye that she was about to grab one.

"No thanks, we just ate." Gray politely denied. But the man wouldn't take no for an answer. "Look, we must be heading out soon, if you could just get out our way..." Gray was getting annoyed very quickly.

"But I think the little lady here looks a bit hungry though..." The man pushed further. He bent down in front of Wendy, eyeing her carefully. Wendy felt her body get hot at the young mans stare; it was rather lustful and yet cruel and jokingly. "Isn't that right, little lady?" Wendy worriedly looked from the young man to Gray. She silently asked for help through her eyes, watching as Gray shake his head. Suddenly, Gray had pulled back Wendy and stood in front of her.

The man stood back up, smiling at them still. Personally, it had annoyed Gray. "I had asked nicely before, but it seems your not that type of person to understand first time warnings." Gray sneered. The man stood quiet and still smiled, still standing in their way. "Get. Out. Of. Our. Way." Gray angerilly and bitterly growled.

"Dearly sorry." The man apologized as if he had never heard him ask before. Gray quickly dragged Wendy away from the weird man. But, Wendy couldn't help but look back at him. She could sense something was wrong-it sure didn't smell right.

"That was annoying." Gray sighed. Wendy looked back up at Gray, nodding.

"And weird..." She decided to added. Gray then nodded. "Do you wonder why he was blocking us?" Wendy asked. She didn't let go of his hand, and rather liked it. She always did of course;but today it felt different. It didn't feel as if he was holding it to show her he loved her, or to show her he was so happy with being with her at that moment...

His grip was strong-and his fingers never tried to entwine with hers. He simply held her hand like it was football. He held it as if it was his property. Wendy seemed to have a light bulb suddenly go on in her head, because her face suddenly brightened to a bright red and she happily grinned.

«Hehe, he got protective! That's so cute!» Wendy thought happily. She loved it whenever she imagined Gray being protective of her. She wasn't sure why, either.

"Hey, Wendy I found him." Gray dragged Wendy towards a tall, skinny man. He wore glasses and had shagy white hair. "Hello, Mayor Ding." Gray politely greeted. The tall mayor nodded back, smiling.

"Hello."

"We're here for the Request you sent." Mayor Ding nodded again and began to walk around with the two mages. "So what exactly do you want us to do when we capture them?" Gray asked.

"I would like you to receive them to our Town Jail. Its only a couple miles away from here." He pointed to a field of grass, but you could see a far distance of light. "When you take them there you can find me in my house or the cafe near by." He scribbled something on a notepad he had taken out from his jack, ripped it and handed it to Gray. "My address."

"Thank you." They soon left each others side. "Okay, what should we do first?" Gray silently asked himself. Wendy, being quiet the whole time, silently wondered about a totally different subject.

«When would he confess to me? It's been so long...» Wendy whined in her head, mentally crying a river of salty tears. Wendy knew He had to love her like she loved him! He stared at her, he bought her things, and he even kissed her!

Ironically, the young Dragon Slayer, always grew angry when she thought of these things.

It wasnt that she didn't like them, it was the fact she thought he was playing with her feelings. She didn't deserve that! At least she thought she didn't. She was kind and gentle. Sure, she thought she was useless and weak, but her Nakamas believed in her no matter what. She loved her family. And she wanted one thing form them and one thing from a certain being;for her friends to accept the fact she does indeed like an older teen; and that Certain Ice Mage to love her back.

"We should probably find a hotel first, so we can leave our bags so they don't have to hold us back." Wendy suggested. Her back began to hurt a bit; she wanted to hurry and take off her bag.

"Okay, let's start going then." Gray agreed, approaching to Wendy who was walking ahead of him. "Wendy," Gray walked beside her, looking down at her. "The man from earlier is following us." He gently whispered. Wendy looked looked up at Gray and then went to slowly look behind her.

With heed, Gray stopped Wendy from turning. "I reckon you don't do that; it'll make it obvious that we know he's there."

"But don't we want him to known that..?" Wendy questioned. The vexing man actually kind of scared her.

"Of course not. If he tries to attack us by 'surprise', we'll actually surprise him by attacking him right then and there." Gray whispered back. Wendy, now looking ahead, only nodded-now understanding. "For now just act normal." Gray ordered.

"Okay, Gray."

A good 16 minutes, they where finally at the hotel. They paid for one room. Noticing that the mysterious man left them, Wendy was finally able to ask all the questions she wanted with out worrying that she was gonna get shushed by Gray and jumped by the weird Dumpling Man.

"Why was he following us?"

"No idea."

"Does he know us?"

"Doubt that, Wendy."

"Hmm..." Wendy thought. "That's weird." She sat on the bed while Gray began to put on his shirt. Suddenly, Wendy gasped. Gray, worried, looked at her quickly, eyebrows raised. "He's one of the bandits! That must be it!"

Gray, who was bending down to grab his socks he dropped on the floor, stood up. He completly turned around and stared at her. "How did you get that idea?" Gray asked. He wasn't saying she was wrong, but he wasn't saying she was right either.

"I heard a few people while walking that a few of the founded people who died where poisoned. No body gives away free food. Those must've been poisoned." Wendy said in a matter of factly tone. Gray smirked.

"Is that so?" He asked, walking over to
her.

Wendy suddenly felt her face brighten up and get hot. His sudden look of danger embarrassed her as thoughts swam in her head.

"Yup." Wendy nodded, patting down her already fine shorts. She tried to distract herself from looking directly into Grays grey stormy eyes. Because when she did, she didn't want to look away from them. "Should we start hunting for those bandits!" Wendy grinned, giving him a thumbs up.

She was ready and in the mood to have a good fight. She wasn't sure why, either. Maybe it was the excitement, or maybe it was the fact she knew she could possibly beat them within a second.(Of course it depended on how strong they were.)

Gray chuckled. "Yea." He walked over the the door and waited patiently for Wendy to follow suit. She did so, happily humming a song as they left the room. "We should probably find this Dumpling guy before the others." Gray had suggested when they exited the hotel.

"Agreed." Wendy nodded. "He'll most likely be trying to give away free dumplings where he was before." Wendy said, blurting out her own thoughts. When the two discussed where they were before they left the crazy mans side, they had made their way to their destination.

With a only a few distractions in the way, like cute little dogs and fire dancing woman, they had made it to the spot where they wanted to be. But, sadly, Alexander was not there. And they didn't see him on their way there, either.

"That's weird..." Gray mumbled, looking around the Festival. "This Festival isn't even close to ending for the night." Gray grumbled angrily. "Ugh, how are we going to find those bandits now, not even knowing how they look?" Gray sat down on a near by bench.

Wendy, who was thinking at the moment, looked back to look up at Gray to tell him that she saw him, but noticed he was not by her side. All she saw was people she didn't know. The colorful crowd pushed passed her, confusing her.

"Where did he go...?" Wendy whispered with worry. Her Carmel colored eyes wandered left to right, hoping and wishing she saw a perfectly toned teen with dark blue hair. But she didn't see him. "Did I get lost?" She didn't remember walking away from Gray. Or even hearing him leave, if that's what he actually did.

"This is ridiculous!" Gray angrily yelled. When he noticed he accidentally left the small Wendy by herself in the middle of the Festival, he had quickly jumped from the bench and began to look for her. But he had noticed that the empty spot he was once standing, was crowded with people. "When did they even appear?!" Gray, who was searching for Wendy at the moment, began to argue with himself.

He couldn't believe he left her on her own! He had thought she would follow, but obviously she didn't even know he was gone. «Man, Natsu and Gajeel is gonna kill me if they found out I left Wendy alone...» Gray nervously thought. He could take Natsus wrath, but Gajeel wrath was far beyond his reach. «Lets hope she didn't get into any kind of mess.» Gray hopefully praid.

But he spoke too soon and he heard Wendy's voice beyond the crowd. "Gray! I ne-"

Heya guys! I finally updated! Think of it as an early christmas present. Anyways, sorry for the short chapters recently. I write on my phone, then email to myself and then I put it on here. The point is that on my phone it looks longer then it does on computer(for those who read on their computers/laptops.) I guess i'll take my leave, byeez!

P.s-sorry for the boring chapter and any mistakes xD