Category: Mild Romantic Fluff

Characters: Juvia Lockser, Natsu Dragneel

Requested By: AwarenessBringer (FanFiction)

Clack. Clack. Clack. Juvia's boots clunked over the wet brick as she slowly descended the steps of the Hargeon Town train station. The drumming of the rain was steady against her umbrella that she held primly over her head. She did not look up as two girls holding their small bags over their heads hurried past, complaining loudly about the fact that the rain had seemingly followed them the entire train ride; Juvia's indigo eyes remained fixed on the countless puddles before her, transfixed and disgusted with the way the ripples bloomed across their sheer surfaces. The raindrops flew down endlessly in a constant stream that would be calming to individuals lounging inside their homes waiting for the rain to pass. Juvia almost pitied them, because they would be stuck inside a very long time at that rate. Until she left this town, the rain would not cease; that was the curse that she, the rain woman, wrought upon the world.

For once, however, Juvia could admit that her rain served purpose. The damp, wet atmosphere would surely suit perfectly to douse the fire of one Fairy Tail mage named "the Salamander."

Juvia knew not how Bora came to calling himself that name. The last she had heard, he had been excommunicated from his former guild for the use of illegal magic and thievery. She also knew not why Fairy Tail, a supposedly upstanding guild, would hire him, unless he had somehow managed to hide his shady pastimes. Juvia was also not sure what had compelled her to come to Hargeon Town. Was she seeking revenge for the way he had so unceremoniously and callously dumped her? Was she here to reveal his nefarious nature for Fairy Tail to see, or, alternatively, reveal Fairy Tail's shady underbelly to the world? Or even, was she here to see if all of this was just some vain attempt of his to upset her, by flaunting how successful he was while she was still alone and depressed? Perhaps none of them, or perhaps a combination of all of them. Juvia supposed that she would discover her reasoning once she was actually face-to-face with the man.

The streets were largely clear as Juvia strolled through them, thanks to the perpetual rain pouring from the heavens above. Her expression soured a little as she considered the possibility that the weather would drive Bora inside as well, which would make confronting him all the more difficult. As she paused in the middle of the street to articulate her next move, the drumming of the rain was suddenly overtaken by very furious slapping footsteps. The sound was coming from behind her; as she turned, leaning the umbrella back to get a good look at the perpetrator, someone zoomed past her at such speed that a wall of water was what was greeted her instead. She squeaked loudly as she was splashed with rainwater from head-to-toe; Juvia could absorb it and was more surprised than affronted. As she used her magic to do just that, there was a loud screeching noise, and she looked up to see a pink-haired individual rapidly back-tracking to stand in front of her.

"Whoa! Sorry about that. Didn't mean to drench ya!"

Juvia had to admit, a faint blush rose to her cheeks from how absolutely stunning his smile was. It was so bright that she thought for a moment that the sun had actually come out and she instinctively looked up; however, the sky was still choked with ashen gray clouds, not a ray of sunlight slipping through the thick barrier. She glanced back down to see that he was now a mere few inches from her face, green eyes boring into hers. "Wait a second, where'd the water go? What kinda magic is that?!" he demanded with steam blowing out of his nostrils.

"Juvia is a water mage," she answered simply. His pink eyebrows quirked before he nodded emphatically in admiration.

"Neat, neat! I guess it's a good thing I splashed you instead of anyone else!" he laughed lightheartedly. It was then that she noticed that the man did not have an umbrella on his person and was just running about getting drenched in the rain. His salmon hair was plastered to his forehead, and water was running down his face in rivulets to drip down from his chin. His clothes were sodden and probably a few shades darker than they normally were.

"You'll catch cold running around in the rain like this."

"Nah, don't worry about me," he said while waving a hand dismissively. Juvia flushed darkly, for some reason very stimulated by the fact he brushed off the rain when everyone else she had ever known had griped about it being such an inconvenience. He doesn't mind it… He then planted it above his eyebrows and because looking about wildly, squatting low to the ground as he inspected every nook and cranny in sight. "I'm on a mission, ya see, to track down this fella callin' himself the Salamander!" From the way he was huffing and puffing, it was not because he was a fan.

"Juvia is also looking for this fire mage." The boy straightened up like a rod to look at her with wide eyes. Another grin then split his face like a sunbeam.

"Really?! Well, why don't we look for him together, then? Three pairs o' eyes is better than two, yeah?" Juvia narrowed her eyebrows quizzically, but before she could call his intelligence into question, a pair of blue cat ears poked up over his broad shoulder. This was followed by the head of a cat and its paw, waving in greeting.

"Aye, aye! Let's get looking, because the sooner we find him, the sooner we can eat!" He purred contentedly.

"It talks."

"Yep! This is my buddy Happy, and I'm Natsu. You're Juvia, right?" She nodded. "Great! Nice ta meetcha!" he chirped and grabbed her hand to shake it vigorously. His hand was warm. Incredibly so. Juvia felt the blooming sensation travel up her arm, like she was dipping it into a lovely bath. Natsu… Normally Juvia did not concern herself with others, especially when she had a specific mission in mind, but there was just something so… gripping about this young man. She gripped the fabric of her overcoat above her heart, feeling it flutter within. Juvia has not felt this way since Bora…

She was not sure if it was a portent of doom or an omen foretelling better days. Only time would tell.

"Let's get going, shall we?" Natsu whirled on his heel to begin splashing along down the road, humming cheerfully. Juvia hurried to catch up to him and then extended the umbrella so that it would shield him as well. He was a bit taller than her, so she had to stretch her arms up to do so, and she was almost embarrassed at how quickly her biceps began to burn at the awkward angle. Regardless of what he says, Juvia does not want him to become ill because of her rain, she thought miserably. He looked down at her with upturned eyebrows. "You don't have to. I'm okay."

"Please. Juvia wants to share."

"That's really nice of you!" he smiled brightly. "That looks uncomfortable, though; lemme help." She gasped lightly as he plucked the umbrella right out of her hands to hold it up himself. Juvia wasn't used to not holding it, so her hand automatically slipped to clutch his forearm where it was bent at a ninety-degree angle; once she realized what she was doing, her face flushed tomato-red, but honestly his muscles felt so nice and defined under her petite hand that she shamelessly kept doing so. Natsu didn't seemed to mind; in fact, he seemed pretty much oblivious to it. "That's better, huh?" he grinned down at her.

"Aye, aye! Thanks for the umbrella, Juvia!" Happy sighed as he crawled up onto Natsu's shoulder. He then proceeded to squat down and shake himself from the top of his head to the tip of his tail, splattering Natsu with raindrops. The boy jumped as they painted the side of his head and face.

"Hey, hey, hey, watch it, will ya?" he whined loudly as he tilted his head to try and shake the drops out of his ears. Juvia could not help but giggle at their amusing antics. They get along so well… "Yeesh… I'm starving," Natsu whined all of a sudden and clutched his growling belly with his free hand. "I can't wait to find this Salamander guy and then get some grub."

"Do you know who he is?"

"Nope. All I know is he's calling himself the Salamander. I'm hoping he's my master, Igneel!" At the mention of his name, Natsu's green eyes began to sparkle. He looked so overjoyed at the prospect that Juvia wrestled with crushing his hopes, but she did not wish to see him incredibly upset when he discovered the true identity of the fire mage.

"Actually… He is a mage named Bora."

"What?!" Natsu stopped in his tracks to look poutily at her. "You mean we came all this way for nothing? Aw, man… And I was so hopin' I would get to see Igneel again," he griped aloud. Juvia looked down at her feet miserably. Should she have not told him?

"Juvia is sorry to have to be the one to tell you…"

"Nah, it's okay," he sighed deeply. She peered out of the corners of her eyes to see him rubbing his neck and smiling gratefully down at her. "I 'preciate it. It woulda been a bummer to come all this way and it be just some random dude. I guess me 'n Happy should grab some grub and then head back to Fairy Tail."

"You are from Fairy Tail?"

"That's right!" he snickered and turned to show off his bright pink guild mark on his upper arm.

"Then that must mean Bora is not a member of Fairy Tail." As she had suspected, he was abusing the guild's name to build clout. What could he possibly be up to? Juvia was busy considering the possibilities and did not notice that he had closed the distance between them again; after a second, her eyes registered his brilliant green ones centimeters away, and her face turned redder than ever.

"What? What're you talkin' about?"

"Rumor has it that Salamander is a Fairy Tail mage. Bora has been calling himself by this name. Juvia knows Bora well; he is not a very good man. He has gotten in trouble for many bad things…" Natsu's eyes narrowed into sharp peaks as he stiffly straightened back up. His grip tightened so hard around the umbrella's handle that his knuckles glared white and she feared the plastic may splinter.

"So that's it, huh? Well, I can't stand by while somebody is tarnishin' our good name. I think this calls for an ass-kickin', don'tcha agree, Happy?!" The cat trilled in agreement over his shoulder. "I'm all fired up now!" His grin was absolutely feral, but something about it filled Juvia with excitement. She barely knew him, but somehow she felt as if she could follow him to the ends of the Earth. Her heart began to pound wildly in her chest again, and despite her many wills, it refused to still.

Natsu…

"It is very good fortune that Juvia met you today," she remarked with a tiny smile.

"Nah," Natsu said nonchalantly. For a second her heart threatened to break at his dismissiveness, but when she looked up at him, he was smiling broadly. "I don't believe in luck! Let's call it destiny! When we're done here, you should totally come back to Fairy Tail with me, Juvia!" he offered. Juvia's eyes widened as she stared at him in shock. Juvia… Join Fairy Tail? Her fingers were twisting so hard into her overcoat that she felt she could tear the thick, cottony fabric. She was so… happy. Juvia could not the last time she felt that emotion so purely and strongly.

"Yes… Juvia will gladly come to Fairy Tail!" she cried and nodded emphatically.

"Great! Ass-kickin' first, though."

"Yes!"

They tracked Bora to a cruise liner docked at the port. It took a lot of convincing to prevent Natsu from charging in fires-a-burnin', but she managed to convince him to do so. Apparently, Bora had been seen courting a large group of ladies and they had all migrated onto the ship. Juvia had several ideas about why Bora would be so interested in women, and none of them sat well with her. One peek through the windows validated her concerns; throughout the dining hall there were woman slumped over tables or collapsed on the floor with half-finished drinks still in their hands. They were casually discarded as men in suits hauled them off into another room.

"Human trafficking…" Juvia murmured under her breath.

"What a buncha bastards," Natsu growled in agreement. "I can't stand by and watch this anymore!" Before Juvia could rebuke him, he punched through the window to charge into the room, bright fire alighting all over his arms. She cried aloud and looked around wildly, unsure of what to do, before she decided to hop into the interior of the ship after him. Natsu had already slammed the two lackeys into the wall to knock them unconscious and was now plowing through the wooden door breathing fire. "Come out, you asshole! I know you're in here!"

"I would appreciate it if you stopped making a mess of my ship," sighed a voice from behind Juvia. The two mages whirled on their feet to see Bora holding a squirming blonde by her wrists. As Natsu went to wind up for a punch, Bora clicked his tongue and jerked on the girl's arm, making her wail in pain. "Ah, ah, ah. Wouldn't want to have to break the pretty lady's arm here. Why don't you fizzle out for a second, yeah?" Bora sneered at Natsu before his eyes drifted to Juvia. They instantly narrowed in confusion. "What?! What are you doing here?"

"Juvia has come to put a stop to your villainy!" He stared at her, then snorted and looked back to Natsu.

"So, this your new boyfriend? He sick of the rain yet?" Juvia flushed bright pink and slapped her hands to her cheeks, bleating about how Natsu wasn't her boyfriend at all, but froze in horror when he mentioned her rain. She looked at the fire mage in terror to see him staring quizzically at Bora. "Ah, haven't figured it out yet, eh? This woman's a curse. Makes it rain wherever she goes. It gets old real quick; that's why I dumped her." Juvia hung her head as she hugged herself. She couldn't speak of for herself, but her mind was just melancholy echoes of No… Juvia is not a curse…

"You're a real piece o' work, you know that, asshole?" Natsu snarled. She peered back at him to see him slamming a fist into his palm, fire blooming at the area of contact. "What's wrong with rain, huh?"

"Yeah! It makes all the flowers grow and it smells really nice and fresh~" Happy trilled with a wiggling tail.

"You said it, Happy! I'm sure there are plenty o' people out there who would see Juvia as a blessing. So, kindly let me punch the snot outta ya for disrespectin' her like that, okay?" Natsu hunched down, fist drawn back with fire swirling within, but Bora once again made use of his hostage. He did not expect the girl to have plenty of fight left in her, however, because once he was distracted by Natsu, she slammed the heel of her boot as hard as she could into his toes. Bora yowled in agony and let her go to begin bouncing around on one foot, while the girl snatched a ring of jangling silver and gold keys to hurriedly dash over and hide behind Juvia.

"I dunno who you people are, but we have to save all the girls on this ship!"

"We're Fairy Tail mages!" Natsu grinned brightly. Juvia's cheeks darkened as she smiled happily, her heart beginning to flutter again. She hadn't even officially joined yet, but he was already acknowledging her as a comrade? The girl began screaming about how she wanted to join Fairy Tail too and that they were going to talk after Bora was effectively handled. Now that the girl was free, Bora hand no shield, and Natsu was rearing up for a big attack.

"Take this, ya scumbag!" Natsu's chest suddenly swelled up as he breathed in deeply, and the two girls watched in admiration as he released a billowing white-hot flame from the pits of his lungs. "Fire Dragon's Rooooooooar!" Just barely audible over the rushing of the flames was Bora's high-pitched totally unmanly screaming as he was blasted through the hull of the ship and out into open water. Natsu snickered and wiped at his mouth, grinning at the large hole in the side of the cruise liner. "Well, that takes care of that."

"You idiot! Everything's on fire!" the blonde girl screeched and ran over to bonk him over the head.

"Who are you, anyway?!" Natsu whined, crouching down as he rubbed his bruised noggin.

"My name's Lucy!"

"Um! Lucy! Please do not hit Natsu! And don't worry, Juvia can handle the fire," the water mage quipped suddenly before she scampered over to the gaping hole in the hull of the ship. She gathered some of the sea water below and surged it through the opening, splashing it over the flickering flames to quickly douse them before they spread too far. I will show Natsu that I am worthy to join Fairy Tail! She thought with glee as she willed the water about the room. She got a little excited, though, and three very loud complaining yelps indicated that she had accidentally drenched the others. She laughed sheepishly and rubbed the back of her neck as Lucy and Natsu gave her thin-lipped glares. "Juvia is sorry…"

They handed Bora over to the authorities and the drugged women were transported to the nearest hospital for treatment. Now, the three mages and Happy were sitting along the cobblestone wall overlooking the harbor. Lucy had related the tale of her own search for the Salamander and how she had ended up on the cruise liner and foiled Bora's plot.

"This turned out great, huh?" Natsu laughed with a beaming smile. "Now I can take the two of you back to Fairy Tail with me! Gramps'll be pleased." His scarf swished as he hopped down off the wall and stretched his arms above his head. "He ain't gonna be pleased about the property damage to the cruise liner that scumbag was renting…" he mumbled with lidded eyes. He then whirled around to point at the two of them. "Anyway! How's about dinner, yeah? I'm starving after all that butt-whoopin'!"

"It wasn't even a butt-whoopin'; you took him out in five seconds…" Lucy muttered under her breath, then smiled. "But, I've heard of a nice place in town. Follow me!" She hopped off the wall to begin skipping down the street with Happy flying (apparently, he could conjure wings, the strange little cat creature) behind her. Juvia jumped down from the wall and turned to follow when suddenly Natsu's hand was extended out to her.

"You must be really happy, huh?"

"Oh… Yes. How could you tell?" she blinked. Ever since Natsu had offered for her to join Fairy Tail, she had possessed this floaty feeling in her body, and her heart had refused to be still. Juvia had been hesitant to call it love, since it had landed her in plenty of trouble in the past, but she also couldn't deny that it was strongly familiar. Natsu cocked his head to the side as he scrunched up his eyes from a big smile.

"It stopped rainin', you know?"

Juvia gasped and snapped her neck back to look at the sky. Sure enough, it was brilliantly blue and cloudless. Her indigo eyes shook as she beheld the thing that had been veiled to her for as long as she could remember. They filled up with tears that soon spilled over onto her cheeks, and her mouth twisted into a brokenly overjoyed smile.

"It's… So beautiful… It has been so long since Juvia has seen the sky…"

"Juvia." Her head slowly fell back down to meet his brilliant green eyes. In the back of her mind, she thought they complimented her shade nicely. "Let's go. To Fairy Tail." Juvia extended a trembling hand to slide it into his, and his fingers grasped on tightly. His hand was so warm and welcoming and kind. It had been so long since Juvia had felt such caring emotions from someone. She used her other hands to quickly wipe at her cheeks as Natsu lurched her forward, laughing animatedly. Her feet carried her onward, towards her new future.

Juvia thought for a moment that it was good luck she took the train to Hargeon Town, then corrected herself.

No, not luck… Call it destiny.