RAINTAIL

Chapter 1: Curiosity

Juvia and Gray lived together in a Village called Rainfell, it used to rain a lot there and apparently long ago an unknown water mage whose husband had died lived there until she died. In those 7 months spent living together they have gotten to know each other better and learned more about each other but Gray was more curious about Juvia's past, it was starting to bug him how she never shared anything about her private life and how she knew about his past. It also bugged him about her weird habits, like when she would cook, she would go through all the trouble of getting him to taste her cooking, maybe it was some coupley weird thing but he didn't understand why she did it all the time, why can't she just taste it herself? He's seen her room like every day, walking by it as he went to the bathroom or something, he's snuck in there a few times too...but what's up with that light blue baby sock she keeps on the window sill in her room? Right beside a pot full of blue mountain flowers she would pick out on her walks on the weekends.

Why would she ask him to smell flowers when she wanted to buy some at the village market? Why was she so... odd? One day he just had to ask why she did all these things.

The sun was setting and they were walking the dirt path, nearing Rainfell village side by side in a comfortable silence. He looked at her; she was enjoying the orange light that the setting sun provided and the cool breeze of mid March, he looked at the sunset that was beginning to hide behind the mountains in the horizon. All he could think about was peace and relaxing when he got home...home... then it came to him... she'll cook his favourite meal and get him to do some taste testing for new meals she had learned to prepare...her habits...

He looked at her from the corner of his eye and caught her gazing at him, he looked straight ahead blushing and fixed his eyes to the sunset, and she smiled and giggled at his uneasiness. He cleared his throat; still keeping his eyes fixed ahead of him "So...um...Juvia, why do you always get me to... you know... taste the food you cook? I mean... why does it always have to be me? You can't you..." "Juvia can't..." she blurred out looking at the ground as they walked, they village coming into view, he looked at her in confusion "What...why?" she started walking slightly faster but still beside him "Juvia, can't taste... or smell..." she said sadly as she walked ahead of him, he felt drizzle fall from the sky and could see clouds forming. 'Damn, I didn't mean to upset her' he said looking at her walk into the village 'It's best if I leave the topic alone for awhile...'

Later Juvia called from the kitchen, she had just prepare supper and set it on the table, he walked out of his room tiredly and sat at the table 'Well this is different' he thought as he eyed the stew 'Looks nice', he took a spoonful and stiffened. It was incredibly salty, he looked at her across the table about to take a spoonful 'No this isn't good she can't eat this', he reached across the table and stopped her hand from putting the spoon in her mouth, she looked at him shockingly. "Gray-sama... is it really that bad?" she asked setting her spoon in her bowl.

He stood up taking his bowl then her bowl "It's just too salty, that's all" he said putting it all in the bin; she looked down sadly at the table. "It's alright, I'll cook something" he said opening the cupboards, he turned his head to her "It's okay Juvia... and if you need help taste testing then... I'm always here" he said smiling at her then returning to search for the ingredients. She smiled happily "If Gray-sama needs help with cooking then Juvia can help" she said taking out a large mixing bowl, he took the mixing bowl off her "No, it's okay, you're always cooking so I'll cook this time" he looked at her "You can just wait until its ready, ok?"

She smiled at him and walked towards the door, grabbing her coat, she looked at him smiling "Juvia's going out; She'll be back in an hour or two" she said cheerfully and stepped out. 'She's going to the mountains again to pick flowers again... but at this hour?! Come on!' he thought, he looked at the ladle in his hand and remembered he has to cook 'I guess I can't stop her' he sighed and continued to cook.

After the cooking was done he set out two empty plates in the small dining room, he knew that Juvia would be upset about him eating without her, he looked at the time "Almost midnight... where is she?" he paced around then headed to the bathroom but then stopped in front of Juvia's bedroom door, it was wide open. He felt so nosy and that open door made it even more tempting, like it was just begging him to come in. He looked at the front door to see if she was there then stepped inside her room and turned on the light, he looked around, everything was so... neat, so tidy; he began to look around. He looked at the baby sock carefully; he noticed the word Sky was stitched on the side in a darker blue 'Must be the brand' he thought.

He then looked at the blue pot close to it, the blue mountain flowers were wilting, he somehow felt sadness when he looked at the wilting flowers and he turned around to leave when something caught his eye. He bent over to look under the bed and reached his hand under and pulled out a book. He looked at it closely and realised it wasn't a book but a photo album. He opened it up to the first page, it was a photo of Juvia with a large group of kids in front of an orphanage, they all looked sad probably because they were standing in the rain, he looked at the bottom of the page were it said: Juvia aged 5.

He looked through the photo album, most were depressing pictures of her in the orphanage all alone, he was about to turn to the next page when he heard the front door open and close, he panicked, closed the photo album and shoved it under the bed and dashed out of her room and into the bathroom next door.

He stood against the door and heard her softly knock on the bathroom door "Gray-sama, are you in there?" she asked, he flushed the toilet to make it seem as if he was using the bathroom, he washed his hands, dried them off and opened the door "Your back late, are you hungry? I finished cooking not too long ago" he said walking passed her to serve late night supper "Oh yes please!" Juvia said setting down her little bouquet of blue mountain flowers on the table, he put a plate of steak and some veggies in front of her and eyed the flowers 'Why are they always the same type of flowers? Does it hold some meaning?' he though, he looked a Juvia who was smiling at her plate of food "Gray-sama, this looks yummy! Thank you!" she smiled at him, making him turns his head away and blushes.

He sat across from her, eating his food and looked at her eating 'I wonder what it's like...not being able to taste or smell...' She looked at him and smiled and he turned his gaze away blushing madly at being caught staring "Is something bothering you, Gray-sama?" He looked at her, she looked worried "It's nothing Juvia, just thinking that's all..." he said reassuringly, he saw her turn her gaze to her empty plate and set aside her fork "Is Gray-sama thinking about why Juvia can't smell or taste?" she asked quietly and looked up to him "Y-yes" he stuttered, afraid of making her upset. He was sure that there was magic or a cure that can solve her problem but it was puzzling to why she hasn't been cured.

She got up out of her chair, took her plate and his and was about to head out to the kitchen and paused in her tracks, not turning around to face him "Juvia committed a taboo, she lost her sense of smell and taste as result..." she whispered as she exit the room to wash the dishes, Gray sat there in shock, he was not expecting that 'Juvia...committed a taboo? But she's so innocent there's no way!' he thought, he looked at the flowers still on the table, he stood up and took them in his hand and made his way to her room, he peeped into the kitchen to see Juvia washing the dishes with tears in her eyes. He went into her room and flicked on the light; he looked around and went to the window sill. He threw the wilted flowers out the window and replace them with fresh flowers "There you go..." he whispered as his looked at the baby sock 'Was it hers as a baby?' he picked it up and looked at the stitching again.

"Gray-sama?" he turned around to find her at the door "Oh hey... I just came in to put the flowers you picked in some water..." he said with the sock still in his hand and rubbing the back of his neck. He could see that she was beginning to cry, he walked over to her and sat her down on the bed "Wanna talk about it?" he said looking at her, she looked down at his hands and took the sock, he was confused why is the sock so important? She looked at the sock in her hands and cluched it to her chest and began to sob, he panicked and hugged her and slowly rubbed her back "You can tell me Juvia, get it off your chest..."

She slowly looked up at him still in his arms, she still had tears in her eyes and it wrenched at his heart "Okay..." she whimpered as she wiped her eyes he waited for her to say something, then she kneeled down on the floor and reached under the bed 'What is she doing?' she pulled out the photo album 'Oh shes gonna show me...I guess she gonna tell me everything' she sat back up on the bed beside him and opened it to the first page which showed the picture of her and other kids in front of an orphanage "Juvia was an orphan and grew up in that orphanage..." she said pointing at the picture" she paused before speaking again "Juvia never knew her parents, but Juvia's Mother, Sylvia Lockser was studying something and passed her notes to Juvia when she died at birth" she turned the page to another picture of her on her 6th birthday "Juvia was very lonely because all other children thought Juvia was cursed and brought rain to everyone close to her so they didn't talk to Juvia..." Gray looked at the picture and could see that she looked extremely sad; she showed him the rest of the pictures, which were mostly her in the orphanage all alone and her birthdays over the past years which were incredibly depressing looking.

They sat there on her bed for a long time, her room was lit by candle light and they were wrapped up in her blanket with the photo album between them, he sat there listening to her talk and looking at the photos, she was about to turn the page where he left off. It was a picture of her pregnant and sitting alone on a bench in a white sundress, he didn't know what to say, he was speechless he just stared at the picture of her.

There was a long pause before she spoke "When Juvia was 16 and she was living by herself she found out she was pregnant..." she looked at him, he was staring at the picture with a shocked face, a million thoughts rushed through his head 'WHAT?! HOW, 16?! WHERE'S THE BABY NOW? WHO'S THE FATHER?! DID SHE GIVE IT UP FOR ADOPTION? I AM SO CONFUSED!' he shook his head and looked at her; she was still clutching the sock. She turned the page to a picture of her in a hospital bed holding a baby with blue hair and brown eyes, he looked at the baby and her, out of all her pictures this is the only one she smiled in "So... w-was the baby a girl or b-boy?" he managed to stutter out, she looked at him and smiled sadly at him "It was a boy, his name was Sky"

He looked at the sock 'It explains so much' he thought sadly to himself. He looked at the picture, he saw Juvia, the baby but no father... "Who's the father?" he asked still looking at the picture, she didn't reply, he looked at her. She looked down at her lap "Juvia didn't know..." he widened his eyes "Juvia was...victimized..." she sobbed, he hugged her and let her cry into him, he never knew this about Juvia "Say no more, it's alright" he whispered hugging her tight, what sort of bastard rapes a 16 year old?! He thought as he prevented a growl from being heard. Then he realised something, what does this have anything to do with the taboo? He guessed he had to ask more questions if he was to help her get over her depression.

She sat up and rubbed her eyes, she clutched the sock closer to her chest "At first Juvia never wanted to baby or ever see it, but when Juvia saw Sky for the first time she fell in love with him, Juvia felt happiness every time he smiled, Juvia was happy that he could still shine in all the rain, so Juvia named him Sky and his blue hair reminded Juvia of blue mountain flowers beside Juvia's house up in the mountains" she said, smiling sadly, then her expression changed. She looked horrified "One night a angry mod from the bottom of the mountain came to the house, calling Juvia a witch and that Juvia was killing their crops and starving their people... they set Juvia's house on fire..." she tried holding back her tears "Juvia was too weak to put out the fire, Juvia tired all through the night to save her baby... but when the fire finally went out... everything was burnt to ashes" she sobbed out, holding a hand to her mouth.

Gray could not explain how angry he was, that there was people out there who would do such things, he held back his tears, he never knew Juvia went through all this pain by herself. "All Juvia had from that night was Sky's sock she found in her pocket and..." Juvia reached under her pillow and pulled out a small note book "Juvia's Mother's notes..." he looked at the note book in her hand, it had burnt edges and almost missing all of it leather cover.

She passed the book to him and he flicked through the pages, it was filled notes in come nice fancy hand writing and weird circles drawn into some pages "Juvia has read that book inside and out, Juvia's Mother was researching some sort of new magic that has never been performed before, not even by Juvia's mother who founded it" Gray looked at her with surprised eyes, he was still holding the book "New magic?" he asked, handing the note book back, she nodded and took the note book "Juvia's mother called it Alchemy, Juvia mastered Alchemy after the fire, Juvia used it in the worst way possible".

"Juvia preformed the ultimate taboo" he looked at her in confusion 'Ultimate taboo? Was it really that bad?' he thought, she started to tear up again "Juvia only wanted her baby back..." she sobbed, his eyes widened knowing that wasn't a good idea.

"Juvia performed human transmutation"