Hey, Dark Gothic Lolita here!

AGAIN LOLITA? ANOTHER DAMN CHAPTER?!

Why yes of course my lil monsters, I come bearing gifts of another chapter! Don't worry, it's not just this story that is getting the update attention, it will be a few more stories too, just hold on for me, okay? GREAT!

Disclaimers are boring!

ENJOY!

I love you in 26 different ways

X is for xenophile

Natsu had a love for the strange, the weird, the foreign, you name it. He wasn't a big fan of the mundane because it all just bored the hell out of him. Natsu was a soul that needed constant excitement and adrenaline to rush through his body at all times. That's why he always went on jobs with Lucy. He didn't know why, but whenever they went on jobs together, something crazy was bound to happen and it had been that way ever since he had met her.

Natsu always wasn't a stranger to love. Well, he was, but he knew about it. He knew that when he fell in love, it was going to be something that would hit him hard. He wasn't stupid or dense, he knew about it. He knew that if he had a girlfriend, he would literally dedicate his life to making sure she's safe.

That's why he has a type. Contrary to extremely popular belief, Natsu knew what type of girl would be the girl for him. Not because he was shallow, but the qualities that he was after are the only ones compatible with his fiery nature. There was no way he could date someone who was quiet and shy and just didn't like thinking out of the box. That would piss him off. Sure, the whole 'opposites attract' thing worked for some, but it was only in certain things that it would work out, not fucking everything!

Sometimes, Natsu felt like giving up. There was no way he was going to find the perfect girl! Come on, all the girls in the guild weren't really compatible with him. Let's start with Lucy. Sure, she was pretty, but it wasn't stand out pretty. Well not to him because he knew guys that would beg to fucking differ. Blonde hair was normal and her brown doey eyes were too common. Her being a celestial mage bumped her up on the 'rare' magic list for sure, but she wasn't someone who could give him a run for his money whenever they sparred. She didn't like the pranks he played and was always kicking him out of her house. It's a no for Lucy.

Erza was someone he had definitely never ever thought of in that way, and he never will. She was strong and that's probably all he liked about her. She hated all forms of playing and sometimes, he wondered if she had a stick up her arse, because she sure acted like she did. She would be more like a mother than a lover.

Lisanna was probably the only one who stood a chance for him to love, but because he had taken 2 years to get over her, there was no way that he was going to fall for her now. He had moved on and so had she, finding love in Bickslow (he never saw that coming) and they looked pretty damn good together, so what the hey?

"Juvia and Gajeel-kun are baaaack!"

Everyone waved at the duo as Juvia smiled and grabbed Gajeel by his arm to pull him over to the bar. The dragon slayer grumbled, saying she didn't need to pull him, but he still followed her anyway. Natsu let his eyes roam over the female and he found himself unable to look away, just like every time Juvia was around him.

Yes, Juvia had definitely caught his attention. First of all, he was sure that Juvia was crazy. Constantly talking to herself, pulling pranks (well he knew they weren't pranks, more like love declarations gone wrong that ended up looking like a prank) and all that. She was never still. Sometimes she acted shy which was cute, but then she would just burst out with something stupidly funny and it always made Natsu laugh heavily. He loved a girl with humour.

Secondly, do you know how much of an amazingly good cook she is?! When she joined and they were fixing up the guild, she had made Gray (Natsu was going to have to ask for one too) a bento, which Natsu ended up scoffing down himself. It tasted like heaven. He was honestly in love. Like Mira was good, but Juvia cooked in Kami's kitchen!

Thirdly, she was insanely strong. Like, she gave his rival a run for his money before he defeated her, only because she thought he was hot (Natsu was going to have to change her mind on that). She was a water mage and Natsu had never met a water mage. Having pure control over a vast amount of water was impressive and he was yet to fight her on it. It would be a tough fight. Water extinguishes fire, but fire could outburn water, it would be such an amazing spar! THAT'S the kind of opposite he was into.

Also, she was into Gray and not him. He had to see what that was all about really, because he didn't appreciate her liking Gray. What was so great about that frozen dickhead anyway? He was raised by a dragon, not a lady who strips and he had an insane magic bank within him, being a dragon slayer and all. She was too lively for Gray, she needed someone who would openly love her, openly hold her hand instead of getting embarrassed, maybe even give her the movie star kiss of her dreams. He liked the thrill of the chase.

"She needs someone like me."

Juvia was beautiful. He'd never really met anyone as pale as her. Porcelain skin is what he had learnt for her shade of skin to be. She practically glowed at night under the moonlight. Sure he had met others with blue hair, but hers was so nice and thick looking, as if he could just run his hand through her hair, stroke it the same way he used to stroke Happy back when he was young. Her pupiless eyes that showed every expression that flittered over her face, from happiness to annoyance, anger to sadness, though he never wanted to see her sad ever again.

She also knew how to change up her style, almost as if she too were bored of the things that she wore all the time. Natsu wanted to see what it was that she had to hide under all those long dresses. Why was she so scared to wear a simple bikini? Getting Juvia to show herself, you needed to distract her, like make her fight. The naval battle was a good example of that, she completely forgot what she was wearing. With time, she started wearing less and less, and even her hair styles changed, unlike Lucy's childish look.

Natsu's eyes watched her as she was yapping Gajeel's ear off. Even her name was unique and he remembered somewhere in his memory that Juvia's parents were from Bosco, hence her name sounding so foreign and unique. He loved it. He always tried to say her name as much as he could whenever she was around.

Natsu overheard Gajeel telling Juvia that he was going to the toilet and Juvia nodded her head as he left her. Natsu's heart started beating really fast. Juvia was by herself! With no Gray in the guild, no Cana sitting nearby and Mira serving other customers, Juvia was left by herself at the bar! SCORE!

Natsu looked around for Happy to make sure he was preoccupied with Carla before making his move. He slipped next to Juvia who looked at him surprised, before a grin broke out on her face. Natsu grinned back, happy that he was able to get such a reaction out of her.

"Natsu! How are you?"

"I'm great! I just saw you guys get back, wanted to come and say hi." "She is so hot."

"Yeah, Gajeel and I were out on a week long job, wasn't really much though." She shrugged her shoulders, taking a sip of her orange juice as Natsu nodded. He was going to have to ask this question quickly before Gajeel came back.

"Hey, Juve? I was wondering if maybe...you would um...I would like for you to...Aw geeze."

Juvia tilted her head at him as he was stuttering over his questions. He saw her watching him and conjured up a light blush on his face. Back to what was said before, contrary to popular belief, Natsu knew what love was. In fact, he was in it. With Juvia. He was sure he was. He's been crushing on her since around the time she joined the guild and that was years ago! He just didn't show it off like Juvia did with Gray.

He sighed when he thought about Gray and how much Juvia was in love with him. He saw Gajeel emerge from the toilet and shook his head at Juvia with a grin. "Nah, never mind, you must be tired from the job."

Juvia frowned as Natsu turned to start walking away from her when she grabbed his wrist. He jumped and turned around to face her, surprised that she would even bother stopping him. She bit her lip and looked over his shoulder to see that Levy was now distracting the dragon slayer and she smiled softly at Natsu.

"Gajeel-kun looks a bit preoccupied, so whatever Natsu-san wants to say, he can say it now."

Her eyes were bright for him. Those bright, azure, pupiless eyes were shining at him almost as if she knew what he was going to ask and she was going to say yes. He grinned at her and slid his hand into hers, bringing his body close. He could hear the sharp intake of breath that she took and he knew he had taken her breath away.

His chest was against hers, his fingers clasped around hers and they stared into each other's eyes. A wave of confidence had snuck into his body and he knew that he wasn't going to pass up on this opportunity. Nothing else mattered right now, he just had to tell this strange, crazy, weird and foreign girl how he felt about her.

"Do you...wanna fight me some time."

Natsu screamed internally. "THAT IS NOT WHAT YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO SAY YOU BASTARD!"

He saw Juvia blink once. Twice, then a third time before she broke out into a smile. Natsu was taken aback by that weird behaviour that he found himself drowning in.

"If Natsu-san is trying to ask Juvia out, Juvia says yes. Meet Juvia on the bridge near Lucy-san's house for our 'fight'. Juvia will be waiting at 8pm, don't be late, Natsu-sama."

Her smile shifted into a smirk before she pushed herself off of his body and untangled her fingers from his. Natsu stared at her gobsmacked as she walked away before he too smirked. Oh this crazy girl was gonna be the death of him. See? Compatible, she understood his 'language.' She even threw in the -sama for him. He was definitely looking forward to their 'fight.'

So how was that chapter for ya? Good enough? Cute enough? Maybe it was funny? I dunno, get reviewing and maybe I will know!

Why I wrote Xenophile was to make it seem as if Juvia was foreign and Natsu has a thing for non Japanese girls. We should all know by now that Juvia's name is Spanish for 'wet' right? I thought that if I made Bosco 'Spain,' and made Juvia come from there, that would answer the question on why Natsu likes her! I dunno, just going out wild here, using my imagination and what not lol.

Please don't forget to rate or hate, flames or floods! Got 2 more chapters to push out before this story comes to an end!

Lolita-chan