A gloomy inspiration

The rain. It always follows me, and as a result I'm lonely. So why is it... Why is it that you stay with me, when the rain drives everyone else away? And why is it, I find my heart fluttering for you? Do you like the rain, Gray-sama?

Competitive inspiration

Juvia missed those days, when it was quiet, just her and Gajeel and well- just to sum it up, when it was quiet. She didn't exactly appreciate other people, but who needed to?

They were the ones who couldn't appreciate her in the first place.

But current her situation was a far cry from quiet.

Here she was, practically kidnapped by a male whom she hardly knew. Flung her over his shoulders, arms securely around her waist, holding her hostage was quite a contrast from her usual quietness. There was another male present as well- A certain, grudgingly admitted, handsome Gray Fullbuster, another person whom she hardly knew. He was busy quarrelling with previously mentioned male- the one who held her hostage. She ignored the part of her mind which swooned at his handsome face. Until recently she never knew she had this part to her.

She didn't understood people.

Never had, never will.

The blue haired young lady, watched them confused at their ranting. She squirmed slightly, trying to wriggle out of his grip around her stomach. She blushed, completely uncomfortable with the whole situation.

All her life she was ignored, but now she was engaged by two people, one of them who had confessed his undying love, and the other whom she had yet to find out his intention.

"IT'S NOT LIKE THAT!"

"Then WHAT is it like?!"

"I'm telling you she doesn't like it!"

"How would you know if she doesn't like it or not?!"

Juvia bunched her fists up into tight balls and then attempted to squirm out of his hold even more. She nearly squirmed to freedom, slipping from him when his hold tightened.

"Hey, what are you doing wonderful maiden?! I have yet to speak to you!"

He MUST be from the drama club.

"J-j-juvia d-d-doesn't want to!" Her attempts at yelling at him only came out in broken squeaks.

Juvia blushed and began to stammer out her protest again. Her comfort zone was being stretched out to its limit. She looked back at the black haired male in front of her for help. Clearly he did not understand the pleading looks she was sending him, because he continued to bicker with the silver haired male holding her against her will. Juvia squeezed her eyes shut, repeating Gajeel's name inside her side.

"Juvia?"

Her head perked up instantaneously at his familiar deep monotone voice. She turned around to find her burly friend standing in the hallway with a perplexed look on his face.

Gajeel could sense that she was in distress. He strolled over swiftly and forcefully loosened the silver haired teenager's grip on her waist and then proceeded to lift her off him.

Lyon's eyes widened at the studded faced man who had just stolen his one true love off him. Gray crossed his arms and directed Gajeel a deadpanned look.

The larger male made a move to set Juvia down but she quickly wound an arm around and squeezed his neck, clearly tensed up and looking like she was holding on for her dear life. Gajeel rolled his eyes and then adjusted his arms and made sure she was sitting on his forearms instead of dangling off him like an unwanted accessory.

"Look, if you hassle her again, I'll make sure your faces get pummelled."

Gajeel took off, his free arm patting the blue haired girl's head to keep her calm. Lyon and Gray were left watching them leave.

"Was that her boyfriend?"

Gray was plainly annoyed and also began to walk off.

"May as well be..." He grumbled to himself leaving Lyon in a pit of despair.

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"Oi, gloomia, I think you should at try to get along with people." He emphasized the try in his sentence.

Juvia shook her hand, her arms still around him tightly.

"I understand you're not good with people but I can't always be around to save your sorry ass."

Juvia lifted her head eyes narrowing at him.

"Juvia and Gajeel-kun will be together always!"

"Juvia." He gave her a stern look, she whimpered slightly.

"But Gajeel-kun... People are scary..." She pouted and rested her chin on his shoulders. He rolled his eyes. He couldn't argue with her there. Human beings could be such ugly creatures.

He reasoned with himself once again.

And we're not people ourselves?

He let out a sigh and then pushed the library door open with the sole of his shoe, ignoring the librarian's protest.

Gajeel strolled over to the corner of the library and grabbed Juvia off him and placed her down. She was as limp as a doll as he set her down with an uncanny gentleness. He went to his bag and pulled out a grimy old pen and a torn up book. Juvia followed his lead and pulled out a pen and book of her own.

"How about we write a poem, Gajeel-kun?"

He made a face of disgust. "Are you kidding me? Poems are so sappy."

Juvia rolled her eyes. "Well, what are you going to write?"

Gajeel gave a shrug and stared at his notepad with fierce concentration.

"I think I'm just going to vent. Nothing serious as of yet." He finally answered and then began to scribble on the piece of paper. Juvia nodded. They could only maintain their moods with a pen and paper. It was true. The pen was mightier than the sword.

She placed her pen on paper and began to write.

'Kami-sama, why must you punish us so?' She wrote, to no one in particular.

Gray was left in a sour mood the rest of school and stayed in his mood until the end of class. The girls in the class felt that he was colder than usual and they had no choice but to leave him be. This left them unsatisfied and pouting. Gray couldn't care less.

He needed to set things out straight.

She was interesting, and that was all there was to their relationship. She was a simple curiosity. Gray frowned. But the thought of the blunette clinging onto that delinquent of a friend for her dear life annoyed the hell out of him.

Didn't she like him?

He wasn't scary.

Like for goodness sakes, her friend was covered in piercings and if looks could kill, his glare could stab knives into people.

Gray slammed his head against the desk. He was confused. His head spun.

To make matters worse, that delinquent friend of hers was the reason their club room were in shambles. The friend of his enemy would also be his enemy.

But... to put it simply... he couldn't bring himself to hate her.

She was just that girl who stormed into class literally and made his life that bit more interesting. But as disappointed as the thought made him, Gray knew he had to leave her be.

You do not fraternise with the enemy Gray Fullbuster. He scolded himself.

The bell rang and he shot out of the classroom, ignoring all the stares directed his way.

Juvia Loxar wasn't seen for the rest of the day.

She wasn't in the courtyard, in which he happened to stroll past. She wasn't present in any of her classes, so he was told by the walking woman intel himself Loke, and he could never find her in the hallway.

The last bell rang and the school buildings emptied.

In the end, he didn't find Juvia Loxar.

This left Gray unsatisfied.

Gray spied familiar silver spikes as he was trudging out of school. Lyon had a quick glance his way and then turned around uninterested.

"What was that for?" Gray asked annoyed.

"Just thought the fair maiden was with you, but since she isn't, I don't really need to pay any more attention to you."

Lyon trounced away, leaving Gray even more annoyed. The black haired teenager swung his bag over his shoulders and made his way to work. He hadn't noticed at the sky was slightly Gray and there was a slight sprinkle.

Well, what on earth was he supposed to say if he did run into her?

"Hey you want to hit me again?"

That was stupid. The whole day was stupid. Gray mused in his head.

"Manager, I'm here." He announced out loud as the warm chime of the door echoed throughout the more than likely empty ice-cream shop.

Gray nearly dropped his bag when his eyes caught blue.

He held his breath and his eyes widened.

She blinked when her blue depths met with his dark ebony.

"Hey." He found himself saying and grinning from ear to ear.

She continued to stare up at him from her seat.

"Gray! Just on time." The booming voice of the manager snapped him out of his stupor. Gray hadn't noticed that the manager was seated across from Juvia.

"Oh, hey manager, I'll just put my bag down and get to work."

The manager smirked eying the two teens.

"Take a picture... It'll last longer."

"I-i-i wasn't!" Gray huffed indignantly and quickly scrambled away.

"Oh yeah Gray. Your uniform came in this morning. Put it on will ya."

Gray waved a hand to signal that he heard.

Juvia raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Blue blueberry and banana blast, please." She asked him after having a quick glance at the rainbow display.

"Oh, erm, right away!"

Gray handed her the change and she stared at him for a bit longer, wonder danced in her eyes. Gray tugged at his blue bowtie. His new uniform consisted mainly of blues, like the blue sign outside the shop. It was a long, white collared shirt, decorated with dark blue horizontal stripes, and over it was a grey vest. Juvia was slightly speechless. It should be illegal to look that good.

"Looks nice..." She murmured with a blush before taking the ice-cream from his hand and sitting back down.

Gray's black eyes widened and his mouth hung open.

Wait... what was she referring to?

He blushed slightly at the possibility of her referring to him looking nice.

Gray went into the store room and again came out with a bottle of disinfectant and cloth and went to the glass top tables.

He silently wiped them down attacking the tiniest dirt particles and when he looked up, he noticed her staring.

"So, where were you today?" He blurted out and immediately wanted to face palm himself.

"Juvia was in the library..."

Then it suddenly dawned on him. Gajeel wasn't seen for the rest of the day either.

"with... Gajeel?" He asked with clenched teeth.

"Yes."

Juvia watched him cautiously. Mentioning Gajeel around Gray Fullbuster usually put him in a sour mood. She knew what Gajeel did was wrong to them, and of course he'd be angry at him. Her eyes lowered from Gray's hard gaze.

She decided to drop the subject and resume nibbling on the ice-cream cone.

Gray also took it as a sign to stop, he spied more customers heading closer to the ice-cream shop. He decided to quit lingering around her and get back to his job before the manager yelled at him again.

"Ah, yeah one more thing." He asked in almost a husky whisper. He inched closer, his intense gaze set upon her. "Before... What did you mean looks nice?"

Juvia swallowed loudly. She watched him walk away. Something about this man willed her to play along with his strange advances.

"Juvia likes the colour blue." She answered simply, from the corners of her eyes she spied him stop mid step and a cheeky smile graced her lips. The blunette turned her head and out the window to see the rain die down.

Was she talking about him or the ice-cream flavour, he would never know.

It was the end of his shift, and Gray was surprised to see that Juvia Loxar was still at her usual table, scribbling away at her notepad. He was curious and silently crept up to her and peered over her shoulder.

Drip, drip, drop? He raised an eyebrow.

Gray gave a small cough to get her attention and she jolted slightly in surprise.

"Sorry, did I scare you?" He smirked.

Juvia looked up clearly not impressed.

"We're closing in a bit."

"Juvia, needs to speak with Manager-san first."

"I'm done for the day." Gray seemed a bit excited to her. "So let me walk you home."

Juvia blushed and cupped her cheeks with her hands. "..."

Gray had finished changing and when he came out of the staff room he spied Juvia and the manager in a fierce conversation.

Juvia was pushing an envelope into his hands and he was refusing to accept it. The manager finally turned away and stalked off the other way leaving Juvia watching him dejectedly.

Gray wondered what was going on and decided to step in.

"You ready to go?"

Juvia looked at him startled before nodding quickly and joining him out the door.

Juvia was basically leading the way as she balanced precariously on top of the gutter's edge. They were walking for a fair while; decent conversation was made between them. Surprisingly to her, she was beginning to feel more comfortable around this near stranger. Gray was walking beside her in case she fell.

"You shouldn't do that." Gray warned her, holding an umbrella up for the both of them.

"Don't worry, Juvia never-" She let out a cute squeak of surprise as she slipped and lost her footing.

Gray was quick to act and caught her, dropping their umbrella as he did so. His left arm was wound securely around her waist and his other holding her up by her shoulders.

"-falls..."

She stared at him exquisitely, drops of rain caught by her long eyelashes and decorating her hair, appearing almost crystal-like.

"I told you..." He merely whispered, eyes locking onto hers, face only inches away.

She was responded with a shaky nod a blush covering her face.

The sound of crashing brought them out of their revere. It was soon followed by swearing and the sound of glass breaking. Juvia hoisted herself up and out of Gray's hold and whipped her head around towards the direction of the sound.

Her eyes widened and her breath hitched at the sight of a small neglected ute, paint peeling from the bonnet and bits of rust colouring the vehicle, horribly familiar. Gray watched her pale a bit and then suddenly her body sprang into action.

"Gajeel-kun." She gasped out.

She ran with the utmost urgency towards the small rundown house.

Gray could almost feel the terror in her voice, so he ran after her as well, still not knowing what was to come...

EVERYTHING's FINITOOOO FOR THIS YEAR! Time to update my very neglected fanfictions :P
Enjoy my ever patient fans. Thanks for all the support.
Usa-chan.