CHAPTER 7:

[A/N: LOOK HERE LOOK HERE! BIG ANNOUNCEMENT; I've got chapter 8 done and dusted, but I'm not gonna upload it just yet, first I wanna see how badly you guys want it, thus I'm issuing a challenge to my readers. IF YOU CAN PUSH MY REVIEWS TO 70 OR MORE, I WILL UPLOAD IT RIGH AWAY. This is a one-time thing so don't worry too much about this happening again. Anyway please enjoy the wonderful surprises I have installed for you. AND THANKS FOR READING! XD]

"Remind me, why did I let you drag me into this?"

In a black Beatle driving down the road, in the driver's seat we see a woman with long purple/black hair around her 20's, and in the passenger seat is a man around the same age but slightly younger with blue hair and a strange symbol on his face.

"Aw, now don't be like that freshman, you did need a lift right? And its just a little bit out of the way so no harm done ne?"

"First of all, my name is not freshman its Jellal, secondly, when I agreed to take a lift from you, you failed to mention that you wanted to take a side trip, your basically holding me hostage right now" said Jellal irritably.

"Well in response to your complaints; one, its not a good idea to give your senpai attitude, two, you're the one who got in the car of your own free will so I cant be holding you hostage, three, I just wanna check up on my little brother at his school" said the woman, she suddenly started snickering evilly.

"Besides, I heard that he's being forced to be the student president's slave for a whole month and I'm looking forward to the black-mail I can create from the suffering she puts him through"

"Ultear-senpai, I feel incredibly sorry for your brother right now" said Jellal with a sympathetic look on his face as he shook his head.

Ultear started laughing lightly "That's exactly what everyone else says when they meet me for the first time, you guys all make me feel like a child abuser you know?" she said with a small smile.

"You say child abuser but how much of an age difference is there between you two anyway?" asked Jellal curiously as he leaned against his palm.

"He's in his senior year of High school now, so there's not much of a gap" she said matter-of-factly.

Jellal nodded his head in understanding and just went back to looking out the window.

"So are you new to this town?" asked Ultear as she tried to keep a conversation going, her eyes still on the road ahead, occasionally glancing at the man next to her.

Jellal glanced at Ultear for a while, then went back to looking out the window "Actually I lived in this town when I was a child, in my first year of middle-school me and my family moved. It's a rather nostalgic feeling being back here" he said with a light smile.

Ultear gave a light smile "So you come back to your home town to attend University, most people do the opposite" she said jokingly.

Jellal gave a light-hearted laugh "Well in all honesty attending University here was just an excuse I could tell my parents, I have another reason for coming back" he said with a look of longing as he faced forward.

Ultear got a quick look at his eyes in that moment; he looked like he was deep in the recesses of his past.

"Ooh, sounds serious" she said in a joking tone, she didn't want to pry in Jellal's past, and she didn't think it was any of her business so she left it alone, but she didn't want to drive with this depressing feeling in her car, that just wasn't her style.

"Ah well, I wish you luck in your endeavors, oh look we're here!" she shouted as she came up to the schools front entrance.

"Fairy Tail Academy?" asked Jellal as he tried to remember the name.

"Yup, now come on I hope she's making him do something really embarrassing right now, I brought my camera just for the occasion" she said with the look of an excited school girl as she parked her car.

Jellal just sighed and surrendered to his senpai's will, it was just too tiresome to fight against her, almost as if time stood still unless she got what she wanted. [A/N: Forgive me, but I just couldn't resist this joke]

"You're a rather cruel person aren't you senpai?" he asked as he followed her inside, placing his hands inside his jacket pockets.

"Ha, if you think I'm cruel wait until you meet my brothers' new slave-driver, I look like an angel in comparison" she said with a laugh.

Jellal was having a hard time believing her, but being the objective person he was he decided to keep his opinions to himself until he saw for himself.

"Whatever you say senpai" he said with a sigh.

"Oh come on now, don't be so rigid, and just call me Ultear, or Ul for short" she said with a small smile.

Jellal stopped for a second then continued walking; a small look of surprise on his face, but it vanished as soon as it appeared.

"Uh, Lu-chan we'll meet up with you later, Juvia wants to go the bathroom!" yelled Levy as she grabbed hold of Juvia and started backing away slowly.

"Eh? But Juvia doesn't-"

Juvia stopped mid-sentence when she saw the look of seriousness in Levy's eyes.

"Don't be so shy Juvia, I don't mind taking you there~" said Levy through clenched teeth.

Juvia instantly understood that she should just listen to Levy, unless she wanted a beating.

"Ah yes, a-arigato Levy-san, excuse us Lucy" she said as they started walking back into the main building.

"Etto, o-ok, just… don't get lost ok?" said Lucy with a hint of concern, her friends were acting really weird today.

"Don't worry Lu, I have a perfect memory remember?" said Levy with a cheeky grin as they started running off to who-knows-where.

"R-right" said Lucy with a sweat drop as she waved at their shrinking figures.

"Lucy-san, please stay with the group" said Kagura who stopped to wait for Lucy.

"Eh? R-right, sumimasen" said Lucy as she speed-walked back to join the group.

She was really concerned about her friends; they were hiding something from her, but what?

"Yosh, part one of the plan is complete; infiltrate the school and separate from Lu-chan!' said Levy as she made a pose with her hands on her hips and puffed out her chest, a large satisfied grin on her face.

Juvia looked at Levy concerned "A-ano, Levy-san, what plan are you referring to?" asked Juvia confused.

"Well… while we were on the way here I came up with a full-proof plan on how to keep that delinquent Salamander away from our dear Lucy!" she said while waving her finger in front of Juvia's face, the grin still present on her face.

"Eh, really? Amazing Levy-san, Juvia expected no less from you" said Juvia with a look of admiration.

Levy crossed her arms over her chest and held her head up high; man was she in a good mood.

"So what's the plan Levy-san?" asked Juvia curiously, with a hint of excitement.

"Well, we already did the first part; infiltrate the building, the next part is very important…" Levy decided to pause for emphasis at seeing the look of expectation on Juvia's face.

"…We check every room in this building until we find him!"

"Wah!" yelled Juvia, she was in shock; here she was expecting some brilliant plan, but this was the best that Levy could come up with!?

"Come on lets go!" yelled Levy as she started inspecting every classroom she passed, Juvia was staring in shock, Levy was serious, this was her so-called 'full-proof plan'? If this was the best she could come up with Lucy might be in trouble.

She sighed in surrender and followed Levy; maybe they would catch a break and actually find him in one of the classrooms? Juvia decided to try and stay positive, just like Levy and Lucy had taught her to do.

Being positive is useless…

At least that's what Juvia keeps thinking in her mind.

They had gone through only half the rooms in the school, and NOTHING, nadda, zip, ziltch, zero! And it was getting on Juvia's nerves.

"Hmmm, I know he's gotta be around here somewhere…" said Levy as she continued forward.

Ok Juvia couldn't take it anymore, time for her negative side to take over.

"Ano, Levy-san, Juvia doesn't think this plan will work" she said tiredly.

"Eh, why so?" asked Levy genuinely confused, tilting her head at Juvia's sudden complaint.

"Well think about it; it's after school right, so wouldn't he have gone home by now? And since he's a delinquent wouldn't he probably not show up to school either?" she said.

Levy blinked once… twice… then it hit her like a rocket.

She was so shocked by Juvia's point that she visibly paled, she fell down on her hands and knees, and suddenly a dark aura was floating over her head.

Juvia was surprised by this reaction and started to panic.

"Y-your right Juvia, h-h-how could I be so stupid, what was I thinking… so stupid…" Levy continued to repeat the word 'stupid' over and over causing Juvia to freak out thinking that she broke Levy.

"M-mah, mah, Levy-san, there's no need to get so upset" said Juvia trying to bring the girls spirit up.

"What a total waste of time, walking around this place like a bunch of idiots…" muttered Levy.

"D-don't say that Levy, it wasn't a total waste" said Juvia with a small smile.

Levy suddenly looked up, her eyes filled with a glimmer of hope "I-It wasn't?" she asked as she grabbed Juvia's hand.

"Uhuh, coz Juvia actually does need the bathroom now" said Juvia with a genuine smile, she wasn't joking at all.

Levy's face fell, here she thought Juvia would say something inspiring to her, but no, she just needed the bathroom.

Reluctantly Levy walked with Juvia to the nearest bathroom.

"Ah, look Levy, the archery building is right there" said Juvia as she looked out the window that was just before the entrance to the bathroom.

"Oh I see, looks like the girls haven't arrived yet" said Levy with a depressed look on her face.

"Wait outside for me, I wont be too long" said Juvia as she entered the bathroom.

Levy sighed tiredly; she couldn't believe how stupid she was with that ridiculous plan of hers.

"Oh well, I guess there's nothing to worry about if he's not even here right?" she asked no-one in particular while she was leaning against the wall.

"Damn that crazy devil-woman, making me do all this stupid shit, I got better things to be doing"

Suddenly on the other side of the girls bathroom, a boy had emerged from the boys bathroom, Levy would have just glanced and then go back to her thoughts but this particular boy had a distinct feature that she just couldn't overlook…

…pink hair.

"S-S-S-S-S-SALAMANDER!"

.

.

.

"Huh?" he said

Levy was in a state of shock, to suddenly have the exact person you have been looking for and couldn't find, to suddenly pop up in front of you when you just about gave up looking for them; this was either Murphy's law at its finest or someone up there had a cruel sense of irony [ *Whistles innocently]

Although, he looked a bit different than what she was expecting, ok a lot different, I mean…

He was at least three times her size, he had bulky muscles everywhere, his pink hair was incredibly long, but the thing she most definitely was not expecting…

…were the many piercings' he was wearing.

Gajeel was confused, why was this little girl who looked like a middle-schooler staring at him like he had a second head, and more importantly; why the hell did she call him that idiot's stupid nickname?!

Then he remembered that his hair was still pink, he inwardly groaned, he knew the hair would end up causing problems for him, but he wasn't expecting this. And why the hell was this little kid here in the first place?

"Uh, you lost or something kid?" he asked as he stepped closer to the girl.

Levy instantly snapped out of her daze, now was not the time to think of the universes many ways of providing you with what you're looking for; she was there for a reason; to keep this creep away from Lucy.

Looking at him now she wanted this guy to stay away from her even more, he was freaking huge! How did Lucy manage to drag him all the way into her extra building is beyond her!

"Y-y-y-you're the creep who's trying to mess with our Lucy!" yelled Levy as she pointed at Gajeel indignantly, a look of rage and fear on her face.

"E-excuse me?" asked Gajeel confused.

As far as he knew he had never met any 'Lucy' chick, but that's not what pissed him off the most; he was more focused on the fact that a little middle-schooler was pointing and yelling at him like she was some kind of big-shot.

"D-d-don't try to deny it, you have pink hair and everything!" she yelled trying to strengthen her nerve.

"Look here kid, I don't know what your problem with Salamander is, but I'm not him, now be a good little girl and go back to whatever middle-school you came from ok?" he said as he waved her off and started making his way back to the archery building,; if he was gone any longer he was sure Titania would kill him.

Levy had a few tick marks appearing on her forehead, the second he called her a middle-schooler her first reaction was to freeze from shock, which then turned into an unholy rage that built up inside her getting ready to burst.

Suddenly Gajeel felt a chill crawl up his spine, he turned his head slowly and the last thing he saw was an enormous book being slammed in his face.

"Gaaaah!"

"How dare you, you asshole! I'm in my second year of high school!" she yelled as she got ready to hit him again with her thesaurus that she literally pulled out of nowhere.

Gajeel recovered quickly form the first hit and managed to dodge her continuous strikes, he was completely caught off-guard by her behavior, and was shocked that a person so small could swing something so heavy.

"Gihi, seriously!? You're in high school!? You got a growth defect or something!?" he asked genuinely curious, while also laughing his ass off; just to purposefully tick her off.

Levy's eyes suddenly started glowing red, she already had a short enough fuse whenever somebody made fun of her height, but this guy had managed to make her go completely bonkers.

"I'm going to kill you, you pink gorilla!"

Juvia had seen many strange things in her life; a cat being picked up by an owl, and a woman who had regular conversations with a tree outside her house, but when she emerged form the bathroom she was not expecting to see THIS!

She saw her little blue-haired friend sitting on the shoulders of a large pink-haired boy, and she was repeatedly hitting him on the head with a thesaurus, while the guy who was being attacked was desperately trying to shake her off him by trying to grab her hands, many curses were being flung by the both of them and the guy was running around trying to get her to fall.

"You uncouth, intolerable, imbecilic delinquent! I'll teach you to mock me!" yelled Levy.

"Get the fuck of me you shrimp, and I don't even know what any of those words mean!" yelled the pink-haired boy.

"L-Levy-san?" asked Juvia in a surprised voice with a hint of fear, Levy only went all crazy on someone if they made fun of her height, and it wasn't easy to get her to calm down.

"Ah Juvia!" said Levy excitedly, now she could finally have some help beating this punk up.

Juvia's eyes focused on the book she was holding and the lumps that had formed on the boys head, "Levy-san, when you said you wanted to knock some common sense into that delinquent Juvia didn't think you meant it so literally…" said Juvia as she sweat dropped at the scene.

"Never mind that now, this guy's the Salamander we've been looking for, help me beat the crap out of him so he stays away from our Lu-chan!" yelled Levy as she started pulling on his face.

"I keep tellin' ya I aint Salamander!" yelled the pink-haired boy.

"Eh? G-Gajeel-kun, is that you?" asked Juvia surprised, she would recognize that voice anywhere.

"Huh?" they said simultaneously

Gajeel and Levy both stopped what they were doing to look questionably at Juvia, Gajeel with a pierced eyebrow raised and Levy with a look of complete confusion

"Oh Rain-woman, it's been a while, I almost didn't recognize you without your corkscrew hairstyle" said Gajeel as he remembered who Juvia was.

Levy's face showed full-on shock and mortification.

"Eh!?" yelled Levy, she then fell off Gajeel's shoulders in shock and landed on her butt.

J-Juvia, y-y-y-y-you know the Salamander!?" she yelled from her spot on the floor while pointing a finger at Juvia.

"Eh? Levy this is not the Salamander" said Juvia pointing at Gajeel.

"Nani!?" yelled Levy, who was now more lost than Zoro from One Piece.

"That's what I've been trying to tell ya!" yelled Gajeel frustratingly.

"B-b-b-but he has pink hair, you cant expect me to believe that more than one guy would purposefully make his hair pink!?" said Levy as she tried to justify her actions.

"Hhhhmmm, well his hair wasn't always pink, in fact Juvia almost didn't realise it was you Gajeel until she saw the piercings, when did you decide to change it?" asked Juvia curiously.

"I didn't do this to my hair on purpose! That fucking Salamander that your ACTUALLY looking for was the one who did this to me!" he yelled furiously.

"Ah, that makes more sense" said Juvia.

Meanwhile there were little demons fighting each other inside Levy's head, she had lashed out at a guy for making fun of her height, she had falsely accused him of being the delinquent known as Salamander.

She had completely embarrassed herself and she could feel her face burning about a million degrees, she was on her hands and knees and stared at the ground in shock; she was supposed to be really smart wasn't she? Then why did she keep making these mistakes, was it stress?

She was trying to think of a way to hide her mistake, coz there was no way in hell that she was gonna apologize to that guy even if she did confuse him with someone else, he mocked her height too much to deserve any apology.

Suddenly she had a great idea for a scapegoat.

"I see, it all makes sense now… the real Salamander probably knew we were coming and tried to trick us by using this guy here as a decoy… very sneaky, he truly is a force to be reckoned with" said Levy as she held her chin in a thinking face, she was sure they would buy her story now.

Gajeel and Juvia just sweat dropped, they knew she was trying to cover up her embarrassment, she was just too obvious.

"Your friends with this chick?" asked Gajeel as he looked at Juvia and pointed to Levy who had turned her back to them in order to hide her red face.

Juvia laughed nervously "Well, she's normally a lot more composed, until somebody comments on her height at least" she said as she glanced at him from the corner of her eye.

Gajeel cringed, he knew that look she was giving him; the look of blame, but he just grunted and shrugged his shoulders.

"Anyway, why are you guys looking for Salamander in the first place?" he asked as he shoved his hands in his pants pocket.

"Ah yes well, actually, he sort of came into contact with a good friend of ours and we don't want her to get into any trouble, so we-"

"-we want to beat it into him that if he ever goes anywhere near her again we'll make sure he regrets it" said Levy as she finished Juvia's sentence, placing a hand on her hip.

Gajeel raised a brow at their wild declaration, this girl they were trying to protect must be pretty special to them, and not only that but the short one had a look of complete determination and seriousness, Gajeel couldn't help but think that she was actually a pretty gutsy chick.

He glanced at Juvia and saw her nod in agreement with Levy "You see, although our friend is incredibly smart, she's also incredibly naïve and a bit of a ditz, so she's somewhat easy to manipulate, we have to protect her" said Juvia.

*Somewhere in the school a blonde-haired girl sneezed for the third time that day*

Gajeel nodded his head in understanding, he thought to himself for a bit then grinned to himself; this was the perfect opportunity to get revenge on him and he wasn't gonna let it slip.

"Ok, I think I get it, basically you guys just wanna kick Salamanders ass right, well then, I'd be happy to take you to him" said Gajeel with an evil grin.

Levy and Juvia had a look of shock on their faces; he was going to help them, even after Levy gave him all those lumps on his head?

"S-seriously?" asked Levy with a look of hope in her eyes.

"Yeah, I got a score to settle with that bastard, and watching him get beat up by two chicks will make my day, gihi" he said.

"Thank you Gajeel-kun, it would really save us a lot of time" said Juvia with a smile on her face.

"My pleasure, now come on, this way" said Gajeel as he started walking down the hallway, the girls eventually following behind.

They walked in silence for a few minutes until Levy couldn't hold it in anymore.

"Juvia, I have to ask, how do you know this guy anyway?!" asked Levy with a look of curiosity and annoyance.

Juvia looked at Levy with a neutral expression then smiled gently "Oh, Gajeel-kun and Juvia went to the same middle-school together" she said.

"Eh?!" said Levy in shock.

Juvia nodded her head "At one point we were even part of a small gang too, but we split up once we started high school" said Juvia with a sheepish look on her face.

"…"

The colour had completely drained from Levy's face and her eyes were as wide as saucers, she had no idea that Juvia was once a delinquent, not sweet little third-person Juvia, it was just too unbelievable.

"Now that takes me back, the only other member of the gang that I've seen besides you is Totomaru, and that was ages ago" said Gajeel.

"Is that so, Juvia hopes he's doing well" said Juvia.

Suddenly Juvia stopped walking causing the two to stop and look at her concerned, suddenly she screamed.

"Waaaahhhhh!"

"J-Juvia, what is it, what's wrong!?" asked Levy worriedly, while Gajeel was holding his ears in pain.

"J-Juvia left her cell phone back in the bathroom!" she said as she felt her skirt pockets just to make sure.

"Ok, ok, calm down, there's no need to freak out about it, we'll just go back and get it" said Levy as she tried to calm down the eccentric girl.

"No, if we all go back now the Salamander could be even closer to Lucy, its too risky!" said Juvia in a panic.

"Well then what should we do?" asked Levy who looked at Gajeel for help but he just shrugged it off causing Levy to glare at him.

"J-Juvia will go back and get it, and you two will go get Salamander" said Juvia with a look of determination.

Levy paled, she so did not want to be alone with this guy, she would rather watch a book being shredded; which for Levy was actually pretty serious.

"A-are you sure Juvia, how will you be able to find us?" asked Levy as she tried to convince her otherwise.

"Yes, don't worry, Juvia will just call you to find out where you are once she gets her cell back, you just find Salamander!" she yelled as she ran back to the bathroom.

Levy and Gajeel stood there for a while completely dumbfounded, they then looked at each other and started a glaring contest while they continued to walk forward.

This was going to be an uncomfortable walk.

"Make us feel the splash, kasaneta~. Hikari no Contrast wo abite~. Feel so free kyou tobikomu~. Oretachi no BRAND NEW POOL~" sang Juvia.

Juvia was jogging back to the bathroom to pick up her cell and also daydreaming about her favorite anime 'Free!' and the main protagonist that she would always fan girl over Haruka.

"Ahh~ Juvia wishes that her first love would look like Haru-chan, and also love swimming and water just like she does~" she said as she got lost in her dream world.

In the blink of an eye she found herself in front of the bathroom.

"Oh, it was a lot closer than Juvia originally thought" she said as she entered the bathroom and picked up her blue cell; a tiny teru teru bozu doll for a strap attached to it.

"Yokatta, it's a good thing that this school doesn't have thieves, Juvia would have lost it if she found out someone had taken it" she said while clutching her cell to her chest.

She walked out of the bathroom and was dialing Levy's number when someone suddenly ran right into her and knocked her back on her butt rather harshly.

"Ouch!" she yelled as she fell, she looked up angrily to glare at the person who was so rude as to not watch where they were going, but the second she looked into the persons eyes, her glare disappeared, her eyes went slightly wide and her mouth was open slightly in shock.

"Sorry bout that, are you ok?" said the man as he offered her a hand to help her up.

Juvia felt like her whole body had melted, like she had turned into water itself [A/N: I'm sorry, I just cant resist these Fairy Tail puns XD], not only was this guy who ran into her handsome, but he was kind too, she felt her face heat up heavily; just like they would whenever she saw Haru-chan.

Now that she got a better look at him… he sort of looked like Haru-chan, he had the same dark raven hair, and almost the same eyes only a bit darker, and from what she could tell by looking at his arms he was rather muscular too.

"O-oi, are you ok, I didn't hit your head or anything did I?" asked the man as her odd behavior concerned him.

Juvia snapped out of her deluded daze and registered what the man was asking her.

"A-a-ah n-n-no no, J-Juvia is unharmed, although she was taken by surprise" she said embarrassed as she accepted his hand and pulled her up.

The man lifted a brow at her odd way of speaking but then shrugged it off, he had bigger things to worry about.

"Well anyway sorry about knocking you over, oh and I think this cell is yours, I'm kinda in a hurry right now so see ya later" he said after handing Juvia her phone, he then got up and ran off but stopped when Juvia called out to him.

"W-wait!" yelled Juvia.

The man stopped and turned around to see what she wanted.

"Ah, J-J-Juvia j-j-j-just wanted t-t-t-to know… y-y-y-your n-n-name maybe?" she asked timidly as she fidgeted with her hands.

She was practically whispering so he had to strain to understand what she said, but when he did he gave her a smirk that made her heart race.

"Gray Fullbuster" he said, and then he ran off.

Juvia's face was blood red and she felt like she would feint any second; she had never experienced such strong emotions for anyone before, it was surreal, she wondered what her friends Levy and Lucy would say about it. Then she came to the sudden realization:

"I-I-Is this what they call; Love At First Sight?" she said to no-one while she clenched her fist over her chest.

She was so absorbed in her fantasy world that she just started randomly wandering the halls, she was so lost in her own world that she failed to notice a guy with short pink hair running down the adjacent hallway, she was too busy fixating on the image of Gray's smile.

"Gray…sama~"

[A/N: I know ya'll wanna know why Gray didn't strip, I'll tell you… I'm saving that for later, wouldn't want Juvia to experience too much shock at once you know? Anyway ima remind you guys about the review challenge, so if you guys wanna read more I need at least 70, Hope you liked it ;3]

P.S For those of you who want to know, the song Juvia was singing is the ending song for the anime FREE! called splash free XD