Hey Guys:D Before we start, I just want to say Thank You for all your awesome reviews! You're all so sweet and it really
motivates me to keep writing! I truly appreciate every little comment, so thanks:D
Anywho.. on with the story!
The next morning...
"Juvia wonders how things went with Natsu and Lucy following Cana last night." The bluenette said pensively.
Gray rubbed his eyes sleepily as he walked beside Juvia and replied. "Well I really hope they got something we can use. Then things can go back to normal and I can finally relax." He added with a weary sigh.
Juvia looked sympathetically at the ice mage next to her and tried offering him a comforting smile. "We'll find something Gray-sama. Don't worry."
Gray turned his head toward Juvia and seeing her encouraging smile, automatically made him grin in return. "Yeah. Thanks Juvia."
A gentle blush tinted her cheeks as she beamed warmly at him and clasped her hands behind her back.
As they approached the guild, Gray let out a heavy exhale then said. "Alright, here we go."
Juvia quickly whipped her head around, then grabbed Gray's arm. "Wait Gray-sama!"
He glanced back at her. "What it is?" She said nothing and simply pulled him aside and 'round the corner of a nearby shop.
Gray looked quizzically at her, when she suddenly wrapped her arms around his neck and firmly planted her lips on his. He smiled to himself, then laid his hand on her lower back and kissed her softly. Juvia sighed happily and tilted her head to deepen the embrace.
After a few moments, they pulled away and Gray lightly chuckled before he said in a husky tone. "Was that all you wanted?"
The bluenette smiled as she unlaced her fingers from behind his neck and slowly ran her palms down his shoulders and chest, feeling the muscles underneath his shirt. "Juvia needed to get it out of her system. It's getting harder for her to resist kissing Gray-sama whenever she wants to."
Gray grinned in response. Truth be told, it was also becoming difficult for him to resist his impulses when they're at the guild. Several times he's had to stop himself from holding her by the waist or kissing her neck or caressing her leg. Little things like that were proving troublesome for him.
He grasped her chin and placed a quick kiss on her lips, then curled a corner of his mouth upward as he spoke. "I know what you mean. So..now are you ready?"
She gave a small nod of her head and answered brightly. "Yes Gray-sama."
He smiled back at her, then gestured with a tilt of his head. "Then let's go."
"This stinks! Last night was a complete bust!" Lucy exclaimed with her chin resting in her hand as she sat at a table in the guild.
"Really? Seemed to me like you were totally digging that new position." Natsu replied with a cocky smirk on his face.
The blonde narrowed her eyes as she focused on the dragon slayer across from her. "I was talking about the situation with Cana, Natsu."
Salamander took a second to process, before he nodded his head in realization. "Oh yeah!"
Lucy slightly rolled her eyes, then resumed her original train of thought. "We need to be more proactive in our approach to getting dirt on Cana. Gotta think outside the box. Hmm..." The celestial mage trailed off as she fell into deep thought.
Meanwhile, Happy sat on top of a nearby barrel while he nibbled on the fish in his paws. He paused half-way through his meal and sighed despondently. 'I sure do miss being large and in charge! It felt good to have a slave.' The feline thought to himself.
Just then, Carla glided past him and he lifted his paw as he called out. "Yo sweet cheeks! Get me a drink would ya?"
The fellow exceed stopped and whipped her head toward Happy, her eyes blazing as a nerve on her head twitched spastic-ally. "What, did you just call me?!"
Happy's eyes widened with terror as he gasped and raised his front paws defensively.
Back at the table, Natsu nosily ate a turkey leg, while Lucy continued to brainstorm. A loud smack was heard, followed by a drawn out squeal that ended as Happy suddenly landed face first on the table with a groan.
Natsu looked over at the feline curiously. "What's going on, lil' buddy?"
With a strained whimper, the blue cat lifted his head and said meekly. "She has one heck of a left hook!" Exhaling loudly, he dropped his head back down with a thud.
Lucy raised her brow at Happy, then heard a furious voice bellow. "Well look who it is!"
The two mages instantly flinched at the voice, then looked up to see Cana stomping toward them with a livid expression on her face. Lucy inwardly started to panic as the brunette approached the table.
"The two of you must have some kind of death wish, after what you did!" Cana spat angrily when she stopped in front of them.
Natsu furrowed his brows as he stared at Cana. "Uhh.."
Out of the corner, Gray and Juvia started making their way over to the table to see what the fuss was about.
The card mage fixed her death glare on Salamander as she hissed. "YOU!"
Natsu gulped nervously as she reached into her bag to fetch something, then grabbed the item and promptly shoved it right in front his face. The porcelain doll she held, had it's dark hair laying in messy glued chunks about it's head with a bright red bow dangling from a strand of frayed hair.
Spotting the doll, Gray immediately grabbed Juvia, spun her around and walked away.
"What do you have to say for yourself?!" Cana demanded.
Natsu cringed as he looked at the homely figurine. "Umm I.."
Cana growled ferociously and shoved the dolls head into Natsu's wide open mouth as she yelled. "Shut uup!"
Lucy's eyes widened drastically, then Cana set her gaze on the blonde making her squeak nervously. "You Lucy, are supposed to keep an eye on that mongrel! What happened?!"
Lucy shifted uneasily, then she got an idea. "Wow Cana, your hair looks Amazing today! How can I get my hair to look that lustrous and silky?" The celestial mage said while admiring the brunette's locks.
Cana temporarily abandoned her ranting and ran her hand through her shiny tresses. "Oh, you noticed? Yes I agree, it does look especially fabulous this morning. But what I use is a secret, sorry." She commented proudly.
In the background, Natsu spat out the doll and coughed repeatedly, making Happy finally come to and sit up on the table.
The card mage brought her attention back to the dragon slayer and scowled intensely at him. "You're coming with me, fire breath!"
She then grabbed him by his ear and started to drag him away, despite his hollering and meager threats. Happy and Lucy stared blankly as they watched Cana haul him off.
"Where is she taking Natsu?" Happy asked worriedly.
"I have no idea. But it can't be good." Lucy replied while gently furrowing her brows.
A few hours later...
"Man this sucks! Cana is seriously twisted!" Natsu growled angrily, his fire power proved ineffective to break him out of his current entrapment and he was running out of ideas.
Elfman casually strolled inside the room and walked up to the wall, while unfastening his pants. After a moment, he looked up and yelped in shock. "Natsu?! What in the name of all that is manly, are you doing here?!"
Salamander hung his head miserably as he remained trapped inside a playing card that had been taped to the wall above the urinals in the mens' bathroom. Below the card, written in black marker said; 'My name is Natsu and I'm a destructive loser! Go ahead and laugh or insult me as much as you want to!'
"It's a long story." The dragon slayer replied wearily, as a dark mist radiated from him.
Elfman arched an eyebrow and started fixing his pants. "Tough break kid. Well, I should probably go now. Good luck with that." He said before heading out of the bathroom.
Natsu perked up and called out to Elfman. "Hey, you didn't wash your hands!"
Elfman answered back as he walked out the door. "A Real man doesn't need to wash his hands!"
With that he gave an enthusiastic high-five to Freed in passing and sauntered off. Freed then looked down at his hand with slight disgust.
"So, all of that was for some shampoo?" Juvia asked as she conversed with Lucy.
"I'm afraid so. Apparently it's so rare that she had to go through some shady dealer to get it. So unfortunately, we're no closer to getting something on Cana that's actually useful."
The blonde said woefully.
Juvia slumped her shoulders. "Oh, that's too bad."
In the midst of the girls' wallowing, Gray came up to the table with a sigh. "Well, I couldn't find Cana anywhere. But I'm sure the ol' flame-brain will show up sooner or later." He took a seat next to Juvia, who immediately looked at him.
"Gray-sama, your clothes?" The bluenette inquired gently.
When he noticed his shirt was missing, the ice mage groaned lowly. "Damn it!"
...
"Damn it!" Natsu yelled with growing agitation, he couldn't take much more of this torture.
Just then, Gajeel walked into the bathroom and approached the urinals. As he undid his pants, he heard a tiny growl, causing him to lift his gaze to the wall.
"Salamander?! What the fu-"
"It's a long story, don't ask!" Natsu replied flatly, he was starting to sound like a broken record.
Gajeel grumbled something under his breath, before he started to covered himself back up.
Glancing down, Natsu said suddenly. "Huh, so that's pierced too."
Gajeel replied nonchalantly. "Yep. The ladies dig it. Wait a minute..."
There was a pause as Gajeel leaned in close to the card and all Natsu could see was his big bulgy, questioning eye. His piercing red iris unwavering as he focused on Natsu with an unblinking stare, that truly unnerved the imprisoned dragon slayer. Gajeel asked in a harsh whisper. "You wouldn't happen to know... why my bar stool was sticky?"
Natsu sweat dropped as he scrambled to think of a believable answer. "Uh well, I think I saw Wendy accidentally spill some honey on it the other day." He stated quickly, while trying not to sweat profusely.
The metal eating mage eyed him for a moment, then let it go. "Hmph. Well the twerp can be a bit clumsy at times. Alright fire-breath, this is getting too weird for me. Catch you later." And with that, he exited the bathroom.
Natsu let out a huge sigh of relief, then pleaded. "Rrr, someone get me out of here!"
After a couple minutes, Gray came strolling inside and went up to the wall. He barely unzipped his pants when he heard, "Psst!"
He stilled, then quickly looked around him. "What the?!"
Knitting his brows together, he lifted his head and his eyes widened immediately.
"Natsu?! Ah man, that's sick!"
Salamander balled his fists while gritting his teeth. "Don't you think I know that! Listen, you gotta get me down from here!"
Gray raised an eyebrow and swiftly zipped his pants back up. "Let me guess, Cana did this?"
"Of course Cana did this! And it's all because you trashed that stupid doll of hers! Now bust me out of here, Frosty!" The dragon slayer hollered.
Gray glared threateningly at the card as he replied in dark tone. "You're not really in the position to be barking orders, flame-brain. I could just leave you up there the rest of the day if I wanted."
Natsu shook furiously, then craned his head back and spewed out fire as he roared. After he got that out, he turned to the ice mage a bit more calmly and said. "Alright! Would you just help me out, Gray?"
Gray exhaled quietly, knowing that was probably the best he was gonna get from the hot-head.
"Fine." He growled, then reached up and yanked the card off the wall, before heading out of the restroom.
...
"And Gray-sama can do this amazing thing with his tongue that just, eee!" Juvia gushed happily as she held her face with her hands and giggled with excitement.
"Um, should I really be hearing this?" Lucy responded with wide eyes as a giant sweat drop formed on the back of her head.
"I found Natsu." Came Gray's deep voice, making both the mages turn toward him.
Lucy perked up. "Really? Where is he?" She asked eagerly.
Stopping in front of them, Gray slapped his hand down on the table. "Right here."
Curious, the girls leaned in to take a look. "Lucy, there you are! You gotta help me!"
The blonde gasped as she saw a tiny Natsu looking back at her. "Natsu! How in the-"
"Cana did this! I'll explain everything later, just Please get me out of here Luce!" Salamander pleaded with the blonde.
"Okay okay, just give me a second to think of something." The celestial mage said at the impatient dragon slayer. She put her finger up to her chin as she searched for a solution.
"Ah ha! That's it!" She exclaimed triumphantly. "I'm sure Levy can figure this out!"
Natsu chimed in, "Well what are we waiting for? Let's find her!"
Lucy nodded her head. "Right." Then she grabbed the card and went to track down Levy.
...
"Ah man, it feels great to be out of that stupid card!" Natsu said relieved as he leaned back in his chair with his hands laced behind his head.
"Wow Natsu, I can't believe that someone as strong as you, could get trapped in a lil' ol' playing card." Happy commented as he sat on the table next to the dragon slayer.
Salamander's brow twitched irritated, as he glanced at the blue feline. "Cut me some slack Happy, I had to let her do that so she wouldn't go telling everyone our secret."
"I'm just glad that Levy knew how to get you out of that thing. That girl's a genius." Lucy replied with a smile, very proud of her intelligent guild mate.
"Okay so now that that's over, we can focus solely on black mailing Cana." Came Gray's stern voice, trying to keep the group mindful of their goal.
Out of the corner of her eye, Juvia spotted Cana walk into the guild.
"Hey everyone, there's Cana." The water mage informed them and they all quickly took notice.
The brunette didn't acknowledge the group and was casually talking to Mira at the bar.
"Wow, look at her hair! This morning it was beautiful and silky, but now.. it's kind of clumping together and looks a little greasy." Lucy stated almost disbelievingly.
"I guess that shampoo wasn't so great after all!" Happy sneered tauntingly.
"That is not a good look. She should get her money back." Juvia spoke with a hint of concern in her voice.
"You're being too nice, Juvia. If you ask me, I say it's well deserved Karma." Gray commented while crossing his arms over his chest and smirking to himself.
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but ol' Frosty's got a point! I'm glad she looks like she stuck her head in a trash can!" Natsu commented maliciously.
"More like she slathered her hair with left-over cooking grease!" Gray added evilly.
The two of them looked at each other with a mischievous glint in their eyes as they grinned darkly.
"Now all Cana needs to do, is put on some ragged clothes and stand on the corner begging for tips." Gray suggested with a smile.
Natsu instantly laughed as he pictured it. "Spare some change mister? I need to get my drink on!"
Gray started laughing and the girls couldn't help but snicker at the image.
Happy covered his mouth with his paws as he giggled quietly.
"She'll hold a sign that reads; Will work for Beer!" Lucy said in between laughs.
"Ha ha, good one Luce! Heh, and when people see her on the streets, they'll all say; There goes little miss Nappy-locks!" Natsu said finally, that made the entire table erupt with laughter.
In the middle of their raucous laughing, a dark voice rose above them. "A bunch of regular comedians we got here!"
A jolt of panic spread amongst the mages, as everyone of them simultaneously fell silent.
Cana stood towering behind them, arms crossed over her chest as her eyes glowed red.
"I hate to interrupt this happy and carefree moment you're all having, but I need all of you to get your sorry hides off that table and come with me, now!"
The Fairy Tail wizards immediately started sweating, as feelings of impending doom clouded their minds.
A short while later at Cana's place...
"Today Lucy, I'll go with red." Cana instructed the blonde who was giving her a complete manicure as she sat leisurely on a chair in her living room.
"And Juvia, my little water slave, wash my hair. Be very thorough, I want every trace of that shampoo gone, understand?"
The bluenette said quietly. "Yes Can-"
"Call me Master." The card mage demanded smugly.
Juvia looked down, slightly embarrassed, before complying. "Yes, Master."
Gray spiked one of his dark eyebrows as an image flashed in his mind of; Juvia on all fours in nothing but a soaked white t-shirt while looking up and saying in a seductive voice, 'Your wish is my command, Master.'
The ice mage shivered involuntarily at the highly arousing image.
"Natsu massage my foot!" She commanded and the dragon slayer growled angrily, before crouching in front of her and reluctantly began massaging her.
"And you Gray.." He was quickly brought back to reality as Cana snapped her fingers at him.
"Massage the other foot! Chop chop!" Gray glared coldly in return as she propped her foot up on an ottoman and wiggled her toes.
Cana then turned toward Happy, who sat on a chair next to her and she commented casually. "It's so hard to find good help these days."
The cat nodded his head and replied. "Ya, I know what you mean."
Gray rolled his eyes skyward, then went over to the ottoman and sighed heavily.
Happy slightly cocked his head to the side and said. "I wish I could get a massage."
Cana glanced at the cat and twisted her mouth contemplatively.
"Gray, massage Happy." The brunette ordered.
The exceed got a big smile on his face as Gray whipped his head up, his eyes wide with disbelief. "You gotta be kidding me?!"
"You heard her, massage me!" Happy said as he had already turned himself around, exposing his back to the ice mage.
Gray gritted his teeth as a nerve on his forehead pulsed rapidly. 'This is going too far!' He thought furiously.
After a moment of hesitation, he went over to the feline, grumbling angrily under his breath. He exhaled loudly, then started roughly massaging Happy's back.
Almost immediately, the cat widened his eyes and yelped painfully. "Ow, that's too hard! And your hands are freezing! I changed my mind! Now for the love of Tuna, stop!"
Gray sighed exasperated and discontinued the massage. Cana rolled her eyes. "Alright Gray, forget Happy and get back to my foot." She ordered.
Gray simply groaned in response then went back to the ottoman and started massaging Cana's foot.
Happy frowned at Gray while he rubbed his sore shoulder, trying to undo what the ice mage inflicted on him.
After a moment, Cana furrowed her brows and commented. "Wow, this feels really weird. One foot is hot and the other one is cold!"
At the same time, Juvia's emotions were starting to get out of control. 'Juvia knows that Gray is only massaging Cana's foot because she ordered him too. But still, it's hard for Juvia to see Gray's amazing hands touching another woman, albeit her foot! It's just..'
Suddenly the water Juvia was using to wash Cana's hair, shot up like a geyser surprising everyone in the room.
"What the hell Juvia!" Cana exclaimed, then she looked at the water mage and saw the jealous expression in her eyes.
Cana let out an exasperated breath then turned to the mages at her feet. "Alright you two that's enough for now. Gray, go to the kitchen and make me a frozen margarita. And Natsu..whip up a big plate of hot wings to go with my drink."
Natsu and Gray narrowed their eyes as they glanced at each other, then got up to attend to the next task.
Once they were out of sight, things calmed down and Juvia resumed her job as her temper eased up.
Lucy finished one hand then moved to the other one as Juvia used Cana's old shampoo to clean her hair.
The card mage opened her eyes and called out to the exceed. "Happy, I don't entirely trust those boys in the kitchen. Would you watch them to make sure they don't poison me or something like that?"
The cat sprouted his wings and replied cheerfully. "Sure thing."
He then flew over to the entrance of the kitchen and stopped to observe them work. Gray was furiously hacking a lime with a knife, then he yelped as a drop of the juice flew directly into his eyeball. Happy shook his head shamefully, then looked at Natsu who was putting the prepared hot wings onto a plate. One of the pieces fell to the floor and the dragon slayer picked it up, then with a wicked chuckle, he put it back with the others.
"Natsu put a hot wing that fell on the floor, back onto the plate!" The feline reported.
Salamander whipped his head toward the flying cat. "Happy?! You're supposed to be on my side, remember?"
Happy replied casually. "Sorry Natsu. It's all part of the job."
Natsu scowled disapprovingly, then went up to the exceed and shoved the hot wing into his mouth. Happy widened his eyes, then he took a moment to chew on the wing and nodded his head while making a yummy sound. Natsu turned back to his plate and drizzled some hot sauce over the food for the final touch, while Gray finished making his margarita.
After they gave Cana her drink and food, she instructed both of them to clean the kitchen next. When the girls completed their task, they were sent to do Cana's laundry.
"I can't take much more of this, man! She's even getting Happy to turn on me!" Natsu growled as he stomped down her trash in order to fit another carton in the receptacle.
Gray shook his head as he spoke. "No, Happy's just stuck in a state of delusion, completely unwilling to get off his high-horse and come back down to reality."
Salamander stopped what he was doing and looked quizzically at the ice mage. "What in earth-land are you talking about?"
Gray sighed as he dried off the plate in his hands. "Forget it, it's not important."
As the two girls busily sorted through Cana's laundry, Juvia grabbed another shirt to fold and suddenly gasped. "Oh my gosh, Lucy!"
The blonde turned toward Juvia. "What is it?"
The water mage showed her a plain white shirt with a big red stain on the front.
Lucy knitted her brows together. "Wow, that's..."
Juvia looked worriedly at the celestial mage as she questioned. "You don't think, it could be..."
"Gray-sama!" Came the bluenette's frantic voice as she and Lucy rushed into the kitchen.
Gray slightly jumped in surprise and turned toward her. "What?"
Juvia immediately showed him the stained shirt and Gray slightly widened his eyes. "Jeez, it's-"
"It's blood!" The dragon slayer exclaimed as he inspected the shirt.
"We don't know that!" Gray countered with a slight roll of his eyes.
"But it is strange! This is a really big, bright red stain." Lucy said.
"And it was stuffed down at the bottom of the hamper, like she was trying to hide it!" Juvia added.
"Whoa you guys, look!" Natsu interjected as he pulled out a big butcher's knife with a thick red substance on the blade.
Lucy and Juvia paled, but Gray looked skeptically at the knife, before he dragged his finger along the flat side of the blade and licked his fingertip.
Natsu instantly cringed at him. "Ah, nasty!"
"It's just ketchup you guys." Gray replied calmly.
Natsu blinked rapidly, then sniffed the knife. "Oh yeah! It is ketchup!" He said with a wide smile.
The girls both sighed in relief while Gray simply shook his head.
"Okay, but that still doesn't explain the shirt." Lucy reminded them.
"Juvia thinks we should investigate!" The bluenette said decisively.
The ice mage scratched the back of his head as he looked at her. "Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt to take a look around."
With that, Gray peeked into the living room and saw Cana napping on her chair and Happy dozing on the cushion above her head.
"Good they're asleep, let's go!" Natsu stated while lifting his fist in the air, determinedly.
And so they started searching around her place for clues, but nothing was turning up.
"Okay, the last place we haven't checked is her bedroom." Lucy said as she looked toward the room.
Gray and Juvia simultaneously paled at the mention of Cana's bedroom.
"Uh, why don't the two of you check it out. You don't really need us in there, after all." Gray suggested somewhat nervously.
Natsu and Lucy looked at each other, then back at them curiously. "Um, well what are you guys going to do?" The celestial mage inquired.
Gray and Juvia paused, then they answered at the same time, but each saying something different.
"Clean."
"Eat."
Natsu and Lucy gave them both puzzling expressions, before they decided to move on.
"Alright you weirdos, we'll do it." The dragon slayer said finally, then he motioned to the blonde. "Come on, Luce."
She then followed him into the bedroom, while Gray and Juvia looked at each other and both let out a sigh of relief.
"Ah, there has to be something in here!" Natsu exclaimed agitated, his patience was wearing thin.
"Well if I were trying to hide something, I'd most likely put it under the bed." Lucy offered.
Salamander nodded his head. "Good idea."
They both knelt down to take a look under Cana's bed. Scanning the darkened area, Natsu cocked his head to the side. "Hey Luce, do you see that?"
Lucy squinted her eyes to see a bit better, then softly gasped. Off to the side, was a large suitcase, that had long golden brown hair jutting out of the zipper.
"Natsu, you don't think that's-"
"What are you doing in here?!" Cana's sudden voice made the two mages jump up, causing the pair to hit their heads on the frame of her bed.
They both groaned painfully, while getting back up to their feet.
"Uh Cana, I saw a suitcase under there with some hair sticking out the side. What is that?"
Lucy questioned as she rubbed her head.
The card mage widened her eyes and stuttered nervously. "W-What? None of your business! You shouldn't even be in here! Get out!"
Natsu and Lucy were taken aback by her sudden aggressiveness and they swiftly turned to exit her room. Walking toward the door, Lucy saw a pair of eyeglasses on Cana's dresser.
Picking them up, the blonde faced Cana with her brow raised. "Cana, are these..Evergreen's glasses?"
Cana eye's widened again, before she snatched the glasses from Lucy's hand and hollered. "That doesn't concern you! Now get out, all of you!"
Cana then proceeded to kick all five of the Fairy Tail mages out of her apartment and slammed the door behind them.
"Damn, what was that all about?" Gray asked.
"Oh my god you guys! Me and Natsu found a suitcase under Cana's bed with some long golden brown hair coming out of the side! And then, when we were walking out.. I found some glasses that looked almost identical to the ones Evergreen wears!" Lucy explained in a high excited voice.
"Yeah and when we asked her about them, she got all upset and freaked out, then told us to leave!" Natsu added as he held a sleeping Happy in his arms.
"The other day, when Juvia was waiting at the guild for Gray-sama, she overheard Cana and Evergreen having a heated argument! Cana said something that sounded like a threat to Evergreen!"
"Come to think of it, I haven't seen Evergreen for the last two days." Gray said as he stroked his chin pensively.
There was a moment of silence as the four mages walked away from Cana's place and tried to make sense of the situation.
Out of nowhere, Happy called out in his sleep. "Don't make me slap you again, Snowflake!"
Everyone looked down at the snoozing feline in shock, especially a certain ice mage.
Gray's brow twitched rapidly as he gritted his teeth. "Damn fur ball!"
And there it is... I'm sorry if this chapter wasn't as exciting as the others. Honestly, I'm not as confident in this section than I
have been about the others. And yes I know, no lemons! Not even some citrus! Even I was surprised by that! But maybe we can
look at this like a breather from all that lemony content? Well regardless, I'll do my best to make sure the next chapter has more
action and I'll throw in some citrus for good measure;D Sound good? Take care everyone^_^