Hey guys! :D
I hope you'll like this 3th chapter, intriguing.
Enjoy :) Lily xx
All night long, Juvia only had eyes for Gray. He was so... perfect! After a long week walking in the forest, Juvia had to admit she was discouraged. She had lost everything. All she knew since then, what she considered her home, her lifestyle, her safety... Of course, Gajeel's presence was reassuring. Without him by her side, she wouldn't even have the courage to walk past all those miles to Magnolia.
When she had finally seen the village across the trees, she was exhausted and barely standing. Then came the task of finding some place to stay for a couple of nights. As if they hadn't walked enough yet, they had to walk through the town. And there's when she was dazzled by the most beautiful sculptures she had ever seen. The simple action of seeing such wonder made her smile, her first since many days.
As if it wasn't enough, the artist working on one of the statues came into her field of view. Her heart instantly started to pound harder against her chest as soon as she laid eyes on him. She simply couldn't imagine a more appealing man. As if she needed more proof of his gorgeousness, without any reason, he took of his shirt, accelerating her heart beat even more. However, Juvia had known he haven't seen her, too concentrated on his work.
Then he had explained his passion to her, that the simple fact of looking at life in a different point of view was enough to discover a whole new world. At that exact moment, it was as the sun just started to shine, chasing off the rain that was following her heart in the past few days. She couldn't handle it anymore, her heart racing and, under the weight of all those emotions, combined with tiredness and hunger, her legs lost all vigor as she lost consciousness.
Juvia walked to the little house that was lent to Gajeel and her, daydreaming, thinking about the joy she had by meeting Gray. She had passed the evening in his company, even though he simply had sipped his beer quietly all night long, fighting from time to time with a pink haired guy he was calling flame brain. When she had noticed how late it was, Juvia had looked around, noticing that Gajeel wasn't in the tavern anymore. She found him without surprise on one of the beds, sleeping for a moment already. She did the same, quickly falling asleep, a smile on her lips.
***
Gajeel woke up and looked around. Even thought the unmade bed was a proof of Juvia sleeping here, she wasn't there anymore. The young man sighed annoyed. He had to speak to his friend. Where the hell was she? Believing it was the most probable place for her to be, and his stomach complaining for food as soon as he woke up, he went to the tavern.
Once there, Gajeel passed the doorstep, scanning quickly the room. Blue locks got his attention but he noticed soon enough it wasn't Juvia. It was the girl he ran into the day before, the later frowning when she saw him. The young man glared at her before seeing a second bluenette. This time, it was Juvia. She was standing behind a pillar, staring something with insistence.
"You'll scare off that pervert of yours", he let out behind her.
The young woman jumped by surprise.
"Gray isn't a pervert!" She complained offended without even denying she was staring at Gray.
"Who else than a pervert walks half naked all the time?"
"He's not", started Juvia but had to stop realising that, at some point, Gray had indeed taken off his clothes.
"Leave Juvia alone", she pouted out of arguments.
"We need to talk", said Gajeel. "Now!" He settled to her hesitation.
Juvia sighed, giving Gray a last look before following Gajeel in an isolated place out of the building.
"Have you noticed the blue haired girl?" He asked, straight to the point. "The tiny one".
Juvia shook her head in negation.
"Have you looked something else than your pervert?" Tempered Gajeel.
"Don't yell at Juvia! It's just that he's so..."
"Look through that window, he cut her off before she started babbling about Gray again.
She did as asked. Gajeel saw her eyes scanning the room. Then she stopped. At some point, Gajeel was afraid she would be once again distracted by Gray, but when all the colors left her face, he knew she saw right.
"The criminal" she whispered.
"I don't know what she did to be targeted that way by Phantom, but she's obviously hiding something. We have to get the hell out of here before they decide to finish off the job and finds us doing this"
"But Gray and the others!" Protested Juvia. "If she really is dangerous..."
"Gihi! Do you really believe a shrimp like her can be dangerous?"
"So why sentencing her to death if she's not?" Asked Juvia, her voice filled with sadness.
The young man hadn't the answer to that. What could have done that frail girl, smiling even in her sleep, to be on Phantom's death list?
"We cannot leave like that" insisted Juvia.
Gajeel expressed his bad mood by a growl. Staying was a stupid idea! The simple fact of deserting in the first place was stupid! But just like when Juvia had convinced him to spare the pretty criminal, something in his gut made him surrender to his best friend's demands. "Why am I friends with this lunatic?" he mentally grumbled before however agreeing to stay a little more.
"Only a couple of days... not longer!" he barked.
She radiantly smiled at him before kissing his cheek to thank him.
"I hate it when you do that!" He complained, pushing her off.
Juvia however kept her smile and walked to the town. As for Gajeel, he decided to finally have breakfast, sitting at an empty table with his plate. While eating, he couldn't help himself from looking constantly at the shrimp. He was almost finished eating when she got up, clearly mad, and walked to his table.
"What do you want from me?" She said, laying her hands on the table.
"Who says I want something from you, shrimp?" he let out as if she was insignificant.
"Your eyes look like they're trying to kill me every time you look at me" she said.
Gajeel clenched his teeth. If she only knew he really had almost killed her the week before...
"Don't imagine you're this important" he however said.
"In that case, leave me alone!" She tempered.
"Or what? You'll attack me maybe?" He said, staring at her from top to bottom, not in the least impressed by her stature.
She paled to that last retort. Her fists even seemed to tremble a little. Was she scared? Yet, it was her that just threatened a man twice her size. She didn't add a thing, simply turning back to her own table. She really was something else, he thought. One moment she seemed to be ready to guide a mini-army to war and the other, she went back to her place, her head low.
Gajeel couldn't believe she could defeat anybody in a singular combat though. If she would fight against a kid, he would be tempted to bet on the child. However, her crime's origin may not be brute force. He had to keep an eye on her, he thought reluctantly.
With Juvia gone for sure to frolic near Gray's workshop and by agreeing to stay for a couple of days, Gajeel realised he had nothing to do. After all, the one he was supposed to keep an eye on just opened a book, nothing exiting in that, and she seemed to be ready to do so for a long time. So he left the tavern, walking aimlessly at the edge of the forest.
It wasn't usual for him to do nothing.... Correction, it's wasn't usual for him to have nothing to do. He walked a little then decided he could find the town's black-smith to check out what swords he had to offer. Technically, he wouldn't need a sword anymore, except for self defence against his own old organisation. However, he simply couldn't drastically forget his old habits. So he made a couple of steps in the town's direction before a piercing cry got to him.
He let out a curse. Could Phantom have really found them already? What if it was Juvia? He ran to the cry's direction. Another one was heard. After a quick analyse, he was a little relived: it wasn't his friend screaming. He however still ran to the one that was obviously in destress. When he finally reached her, he stopped short. "That has to be a prank" he mentally complained. I front of him was the shrimp, trying as best as she could to defend herself against a pack of wolves only armed with a wooden stick. Fear was in her eyes and deep fang marks were impregnated on her leg. The way she was laying all her weight on the other one, her wound was obviously painful.
He drew his sword. They got themselves into all this pain and trouble to spare her and she managed to get eaten by freaking wolves? No way! Seeing the new menace, some canid backed of, tail between their legs. Others, however, were more reckless and jumped on him. Gajeel knocked out one of them with the pommel of his sword. He backed away another one, but couldn't dodge the one in his back. A deep claw mark was drawn in his arm extracting a pained growl from him. Having lost sight of the battle's course, he was having a hard time to dodge the other wolves that were going after him. One of them almost managed to close it's claws on Gajeel's throat before a violent hit with a stick on the animal's head made him run away.
The shrimp may not be that useless after all! Her intervention was enough for Gajeel to regain his pace and quickly defeat the remaining wolves. Once out of danger, he slid his sword back in his scabbard, out of breath, covering with his left hand the swollen wound from which a considerate amount of blood was flowing. He turned his back to the one he just saved and started to walk away.
"Gajeel..." She started.
"Leave me alone" he grumbled, still walking.
"Wait!" She said however, walking the faster she could, a pained look on her face.
"What?" He turned to her annoyed.
"Why did you save me?" She asked in a small voice.
"If you prefer, I'll let you fend for yourself next time... would be less trouble for me."
"Gaw!" She tempered. "You truly are the most unpleasant man on earth! I'm...I'm just trying to..."
"Don't have all day!" He complained to her hesitation.
"To thank you!" She completed, cheeks on fire.
She pouted, uneasy.
"Anyways, who's stupid enough to lounge in the forest alone" he grumbled to Levy, uneasy himself for no valid reason.
"You, apparently, noted the young woman who wasn't the only one alone in the woods.
He looked at her, dumbfounded, visibly not expecting that retort.
"Gihi! You got some nerves for a shrimp!"
"Levy" she cut him out.
"Hen?"
"Levy, not shrimp!"
He shrugged his shoulders.
"I prefer shrimp."
She sat on the ground, her arms crossed, stretching her wounded leg.
"What are you doing?"
"You're getting on my nerves! And anyways, I can't walk".
Gajeel looked at her leg. It looked as damaged as his arm. He sighed, annoyed, then walked to her, bending so he could offer her his back.
"I hope you can at least climb"
"What?"
"I can't put you on my back myself because of my arm so you'll have to climb on your own."
"Are you really offering me some help?"
"Does it look like I'm doing some yoga?" he barked.
The young man waited a little more before feeling small arms around his neck, the warmness of her contact covering his back.
"Thanks" she said, trying to make her voice sound angry.
A smile was briefly drawn on his face. Definitely, she had nerves for such a small person, he thought, finding her even more intriguing.