"I still think we should eat first."
"Gray-sama! You know that if we do not go and buy Lucy's birthday present right now, we'll never end up doing it!"
"So? We can buy her food from the restaurant as a gift!"
Juvia glared at her apparently very hungry comrade, stopping in her tracks.
"Look, Lucy's birthday is tomorrow. If we and go eat right now, we'll end up blowing all our jewel on the food," the water mage exclaimed, before letting out a large gasp, a look of realization hitting her.
"And then, if we don't buy her a gift, she will be very upset and disappointed with us! And then, Natsu-san and Erza-san will be offended on Lucy's behalf, and try to kill Juvia because they know it's her fault that we did not get her a present!"
Another airy gasp escaped Juvia's lips, her eyes growing wider and wider with each word. Gray, who was now standing still beside his crazed friend, sheepishly gave the strangers passing them apologetic looks, as they were in the way of many different people walking on the sidewalk. He then looked further beyond the path, getting distracted by his own thoughts.
The two Fairy Tail mages were actually on the streets of Hargeon itself, both recently finishing off a job they took together. It had been a month since the whole necklace incident, but for them, it only took a mere day for things to go back to normal. Though, not that he'd ever admit it, the ice mage found himself enjoying her company more and more with each passing day and, he swears its just a coincidence, but whenever she'd ask him to take a job with her now, he'd be more than happy to accept her offer.
It's just because she's a kickass fighter, and a really good partner, he'd convince himself whenever those haunting thoughts came to him.
"... -but Juvia never meant to harm the celestial spirits!" the female's voice shaking Gray back to reality, not realizing that she was still going off on her tangent. How did she even get to the subject of Lucy's spirits?
"Of course Juvia cares for all of them very much, but she'd just be so sorry and-"
"Juvia."
The call of her name seemed to knock her back to her senses, as she turned to the man of her dreams that called her in the first place.
"... sorry."
Gray turned away and exhaled, his back now towards the ever strange girl before him. Though secretly, he let out a tiny, miniscule, barely there smile at her silly antics.
"It's fine, we don't have to eat."
The water mage instantly felt guilty at the tone of her lover's voice, so her eyes rapidly searched for a store they could buy the present. Turning directly to the right of her, she quickly discovered the perfect shop.
"Aha!" the blunette announced, pointing right past Gray's head towards the boutique beyond it.
"We can buy her new jewellery!"
The maker magic user looked apprehensively at the store, scratching his head.
Catching Gray's discern towards the girly shop, Juvia grabbed his wrist, quickly dragging him in.
"Do not worry Gray-sama, Juvia promises that we will find something fast, and then we will go out for dinner!"
"Sounds good to me," he replied cooly, before walking away from her, beginning their search for the perfect accessory.
Once he was completely out of sight, Juvia let out an internal squeal, wrapping her arms around herself, the dreamiest smile of all adorned on her face.
'Go out for dinner', she repeated whimsically in her mind, hearts almost literally floating around her. Its as if Juvia and Gray-sama were going out on an actual date! She had to bite her lip to contain herself, before a man's voice cut her out of her trance.
"What're ya looking for, son?"
"A birthday gift." she could hear Gray's smooth voice as she peered from behind a shelf.
"Ooo, I see," the shopkeeper said almost suggestively, wiggling his eyebrows.
"Is it for a girlfriend?"
"NO!"
The shopkeeper and Gray both jumped, sending alarmed looks to the source of the surprising voice. Somehow, almost magically, the rain woman appeared beside her lover, standing quite close to him, almost protectively. "Actually, we were looking for a gift for a... a friend."
She struggled to get the word out of her mouth, and Gray was almost convinced he heard her mutter 'love rival' under her breath.
"Ah, I see, my apologies..." the man behind the desk doubtfully apologized, taking a questionable step back from the tenacious girl. "Well, if ya need any help finding anything, feel free to ask me!"
"Thanks." Gray's eyes scanned the glass box in front of him absently, lazily trying to find the right gift. After skimming all of bracelets and necklaces before him leisurely, he was quick to quit.
"Juvia, I give up. Do you think you could-" he stopped himself when he noticed that the blue haired girl staring intently in the glass box beside the one he was looking at, her eyes wider than he's ever seen them before.
"Juvia?" the now half naked man questioned, slightly concerned. The water mage, her mouth slightly agape, slowly raised her hand towards the box, and held it there. Gray approached her curiously, and then turned to the glass cube, a wave of shock hitting him like lightning.
"No. Way." the mage barely let out, his hand reaching towards the clear box until he hit it. "There's no mistaking it."
"Juvia cannot believe it," she put her hand over her mouth out of astonishment.
There was no mistaking it, being displayed to the world in a small silver box, was Gray's old necklace. The shop keeper raised his eyebrow, before making his way towards the two young adults. Once he made it to them, he followed their eyes towards whichever necklace they were looking at, before a mischievous lopsided smirk.
"Ah, you kids interested in that one?" he asked, both nodding their heads, not moving their eyes from it. "That one seems to be quite popular. So many people have been raving about it ever since they saw it, but when they learn about the price, they turn away."
"That's my necklace." Gray forcefully said, lifting up his head to the shopkeeper, his eyes giving off a stone hard look. Juvia turned to him, giving a concerned look.
"Hmm?" the vender questioned.
"My necklace, I lost it last month in the ocean. It belongs to me."
"Oh, is that so? Are you sure its this specific one?" he asked, taking the necklace out of the glass box, hanging it to the awestruck young man.
The ice mage took the necklace, almost too quickly, and analyzed it carefully. There was no mistaking it though, every dent in the chain, and scratch on the pendant itself. That was 100% his necklace.
"Where did you find this?" the water mage asked dealer, also quite taken aback.
"A man can never give away his sources," was his simple reply.
Juvia was prepared to press him on about it, but was immediately stopped when she realized that Gray had turned his attention towards her.
"I can't believe we actually found it!" Gray exclaimed, which made a large smile adorn instantly on Juvia's face.
"Juvia is very happy for you!"
"Well, I'm happy for ya both and everything, but you're still gonna have to buy it."
Both their smiles vanished off their faces, and before the female of their duo could complain, Gray put his arm in front of her.
"I understand. How much is it?"
The ice mage was feeling very lucky now that him and Juvia had just completed their job and received their reward money no less than an hour prior to where they are now. With his half of their pay, which was 25 000 jewel, he was prepared to spend a bit of it right now.
"60 000 jewel."
And just like that, Gray's 'luck' had disappeared faster than fish does when it is given to Happy.
"C-Come again?"
"60 000 jewel," he repeated, "but, since you kids are so happy about finding this, I'll cut a deal for ya. How about 50 000?"
"Why... why the hell is it so expensive!?" Gray demanded, slightly scaring Juvia in the process at his sudden outburst.
"You haven't heard? This necklace is supposed to have special properties of some sort, with this holy powers and-"
"Thats a load of crap! I bought this stupid necklace for 5000 jewel from a silver merchant ages ago! It has no 'special properties' and you know it!"
The shopkeeper let out a sneaky grin. "Well, people believe it, which means its worth a hell lotta more!"
"Screw this," Gray spat, grabbing Juvia's wrist before beginning to walk away, "who needs it now anyways."
His dramatic exit was cut short though when he realized the the water mage hadn't made an effort in moving.
"Gray-sama, Juvia thinks you should buy the necklace."
"What?!" Gray jumped back, flabbergasted at her suggestion. "At that ridiculous price?! No way! We don't need to waste any more of our time, lets go."
"But you said it yourself back then, you wouldn't feel right without it!"
"That was before you gave me this new one!" He replied rapidly, clutching his newer necklace and was around his neck. "I'm really fine without it!"
"B-But... Juvia thinks you will regret it if you don't buy it now! Who knows when you'll get this chance again!"
"Thats true..." The vendor added, before shutting up when he received a deathly glare from the currently disagreeing pair.
"I don't care about it anymore. Really!" he said, but Juvia could hear the hint of restraint in his voice. "Besides, I don't even have enough money for it anyways."
"Juvia will pay the other half," she declared, not missing a beat.
"I can't let you do that," he immediately rejected, "that's all your reward money!"
"If Gray-sama is okay with spending all of his money too, Juvia does not care."
"All your hard work though-"
"Gray." she said demandingly, the ice mage immediately shutting up at the authority in her voice. "You want the necklace, so we are buying it right now."
Gray gulped, before slowly nodding his head.
Who knew she was so... demanding?
"I can't believe you did that for me." Gray mentioned immediately after exiting the overpriced jewellery store, his blue haired companion closely behind him. She was about to complain about his denying behaviour, but he beat her to the chase.
"Thank you Juvia," he began, looking her straight in the eyes. The water mage instantly melted into his look, her cheeks staining red. "You're right. I really did want this necklace back."
Why must you be so dreamy, Gray-sama!? she shrieked in her mind.
"I-It was n-no problem for Juvia... she is very happy you were finally able to get your precious treasure back!"
They began walking aimlessly down the Hargeon streets again, the sun beginning to slowly set, the sky painted with many different warm colours.
Its a shame though... Juvia somberly thought, turning away from the man walking beside her, Gray-sama won't need the necklace I bought for him anymore...
"Juvia, here," he began, as if he was reading Juvia's thoughts. He held his hand out to her, clutching presumably her necklace in it, "I want you to have it."
"Juvia understands," she dejectedly said, taking the necklace he handed to her. She opened her hand to look at her crossing swords pendant, but was utterly shocked to see that there was a different pendant in her hand.
"Have it," he repeated firmly, the double sworded necklace worn still around his neck.
"But-"
"I told you, I don't need it anymore," he cut her off quickly, "but... it doesn't mean I never wanna see it again. That way, if you have it, it's kinda like a win win situation."
The water mage stared at him blankly for a solid few minutes, making the almost naked man slightly turn away in embarassment, his cheeks tinting pink.
Did that sound too cheesy? he worriedly thought.
"Look... you don't have to wear it if you don't wan-"
It was Juvia's turn to cut him off as she pounced him, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck as she hugged him.
"Oh Gray-sama! Juvia would be more than happy to have your necklace! Thank you, thank you, thank you!"
He was pretty sure he felt a warm tear land on his bare shoulder, but that didn't compare to the heat he could feel in his cheeks growing more and more red.
"I uh... you're welcome I guess."
Feeling how uncomfortable he was, Juvia quickly released him, and immediately put on her new favourite piece of jewellery she owns yet to date.
After staring at it for a solid minute, Gray cleared his throat, before beginning to start walking away.
"Well, this sucks."
The water woman caught up to him. "What do you mean?"
"Well, we're now both broke, we still haven't gotten Lucy her gift, and I'm still hungry."
She prettily giggled at his dilemma, before grabbing his arm and pulling him close, causing his blush to come creeping back.
"It's quite alright, Gray-sama," she began, as she rested her head on his arm, "we could go back to Juvia's! I could make us a nice meal, and we could make something for Lucy's gift! Juvia is pretty good at homemade gifts, you know."
Gray smiled, not even trying to make an attempt at removing his arm. "Yeah, that's a good idea. But what about us having no money?"
"Well, that just means that Gray-sama has to go on another job with Juvia!"
This made him laugh a bit, causing Juvia to also let out a heartful giggle.
"That sounds like a pretty good idea to me."
WOW I'M SO SORRY THIS TOOK ME SO LONG MY LAPTOP BROKE so I lost the document to the last chapter *tear*. But, luckily for me, I got a new laptop for Christmas! So, wanna know what the first thing I was? That's right, write this chapter!
Thanking all so much for reading, reviewing and waiting for me. It means a lot to me, especially since this IS my first fanfic! You all rock more than cheese cake!
PS- if you caught my very subtle Rave Master references here then you definitely rock.