Nemasu.

Sleepwalking (also called somnambulism) is a parasomnia or sleep disorder, where the sufferer engages in activities that are normally associated with wakefulness, while he or she is asleep or in a sleep-like state.

Sleepwalkers move around with a glazed look in their eyes and there is a myth that one should not wake up a person while they are sleepwalking, as sleep-walking itself is made up of 5% psychological energy, whilst the other 95% is purely spiritual.

The power to become a mage is indeed high spiritual energy with the beyond. Stirring a regular civillian from their slumber may induce anxiety and stress, but shocking a mage from such a deep connection with the arcane can result in loss of magic or in worse cases, can prove to be fatal.

"Tch, bullshit."

Gajeel Redfox idly crossed the corner of the page over itself and slammed the leather-bound book closed. Honestly, what kind person would believe such.. mystical mumbo-jumbo, anways?

He massaged his temples roughly, sitting back against the wooden chair propped infront of his desk, head slung back and eyes closed. The perfume of the incense sticks burning dimly on his bedside was enough to make his nose shrivell up in distaste, it was too overpowering and.. gah, that word again: spiritual for his tastes. He preferred cold, hard scents. Steele and iron were perfect, this.. herbal remedy was really making him need to sneeze.

"So tell me, why are you making me read this crap?"

A pair of crimson eyes flicked over to where she stood, nervously prodding her index fingers together and toes pointing together awkwardly. Her cheeks lit up, burning coral pink as a smirk lifted a corner of his mouth and a studded "eyebrow" lifted in curiousity.

"W-Well..!"

She stopped immediately, her eyes widening and her blush darkening. She paused, as if eating away at the words that were about to spring from her mouth. He revelled in how at loss she was around him. She was petite against the dim light of his room, the deep embers burning darkly against the white snow that fluttered down onto the earth outside his window. Her blue hair was thrown into a messy up-do; she had a slight gray shadowing under her lower-lashes and her skin was so pale against her dark fur coat that it made her appear timid. More so than usual.

His grin deepened. The lamb in the dragons den.

He stood, crossing the room to where she stood, ellicting a gasp from his guest. He was powerful in every sense of the word, and she knew that. It was the main reason as to why she'd come to him with this.. The other reasons didn't matter, - her heart fluttered at the thought - this was purely for help with something she couldn't control. Yes, just that. Nothing else ofcourse! She would just buck up her courage and ask him straight out. It was an odd request, but she felt he was her only hope.

With her new resolve, she glanced up into his eyes.. only for all that willpower to suddenly be knocked back into the depths of her (some would say overly) intelligent mind as he grabbed her chin with his calloused fingers. He was cold, and she could imagine the hot of her skin sizzling against the stark contrast. She glanced up into his eyes from under her lashes, and the shade of blood smouldered naughtily back at her. His multiple piercings glowed eerily in the amber light, and she felt herself lose the will to speak.

"Well?" His voice was deadly quiet, a deep murmer rumbling from his chest, and her eyes wandered down to his throat, and the top of a very muscular chest peeking from the low collar of his shirt. Her mind hovered over the question of how many piercings he really did have, she wondered if they would be littered elsewhere on his perfe- body.

She gulped audibly.

Gajeel prided his women on confidence and sex appeal; a tongue as sharp as a razorblade and big, beautiful curves to fill his hands and rock his world. The young lady stood in front of him had neither of those things; and whilst on one hand he loved a challenge, craved a little variety, got off on stuttering virgins, he most certainly could not break her like he'd broke countless women before her. She was much too innocent.

He released her chin, took a long, deep breath and turned back to his desk and began gathering up the books and parchment she'd given him to inspect without even giving him a request.

"Look, i don't know what you've come here to ask me to do, but you can take your books and," He grimaced and pointed at the herbal stick still burning softly at his bedside, "that.. shit and go home, Levy. It's getting late."

Levy's eyes snapped open from their (secretly) appreciative stare of his rear and winced slightly at his bored tone. She was in way over her head here, why would she ever expect him to help her on a personal level? Sure, he'd throw himself infront of anyone who dared attack her, but that was to prove to The Guild that he was worthy of their trust and friendship, and he felt he owed her that much to make up for what he did to her, once upon a time.
She felt her hand instinctively move up to where he'd branded her, fingers lightly playing over the material of her shirt before settling her palm over where the scarred skin would be lying beneath.

Gajeel turned to her, after neatly collecting her stuff, and immediately caught the glum aura coming from the fragile girl. She had a downcast expression, standing more awkwardly than before, hand resting against her stomach.. Something suddenly stabbed at him from inside his chest, a feeling of dread washing through his blood and sending him colder than any metal ever could. His fingers tightened against her reading materials, the back of his teeth clenched almost painfully together. Curse him and his stupid fucking need to shelter her from anything that may cause her distress, he didn't know what magic this girl was using on him, but it was pissing him off.

He roughly shoved her books in her direction, his hands trembling slightly - bottling his spiking rage up for when such innocent eyes were out of sight.

She hesitated - I need to ask him! I-I.. I can't.. - and felt the telltale feel of his skin brush against hers as she took her stuff from his grasp.

"I.." She started, but was cut off by a half-arsed glare in her direction.

"If you're asking for a fucking, i'm not your guy."

Levy's eyes quickly found the floor, and what a lovely floor it was. She could just stare at it all day, avoiding those rubies he called eyes, always sparkling with something akin to malice and lust. A lust for blood or sex, she was never too sure.

"I'm not." She managed, and he looked down on her, she wouldn't meet his eyes, huh? He dipped his head, careful not to touch her. His lips but a whisper away from her ear, breathing hotly into the soft skin. She visably stiffened.

"Then," his pierced tongue snaked out to flick across the tiny lobe, "what do you want?"

She knew he was playing with her, knew he was just feeding off of her submissive nature - he would never possibly do anything quite so.. intimate with her, were it not for the possibility of invoking fear or respect. It almost wounded her that he would think of her but nothing but a liability. Levy wanted his respect, his..

"I want you to sleep with me tonight."

Gajeel's jaw dropped. Sleep with her? What on earth could she possibly gain from anything of that nature? And didn't he just tell her that if she was asking for a tumble between the sheets it was not coming from him?

She avoided his eyes still - and gestured to her books and incense.

"I've been.. sleepwalking, lately. I've found myself waking up in the most b-bizarre of places.." She started, leaving out the part where she'd found herself last time she awoke from her spiritual voyeur. "I need someone who i feel.. s-safe around.. there for me during the night. Just once. Just tonight." She rambled quietly against his shoulder, his breathing had quietened in her ears, the odd crackle of candle-light the only noise assuring her she hadn't lost her hearing. Her forehead fell forward to rest against him, books snug against her, she braved a step forward so their bodies almost came into contact. "Please?" Levy almost-whimpered against the warm cloth of his shirt.

"As if anyone is safe around me, little girl."

She shook her head furiously without a seconds hesitation, and uncharacteristically dropped all of her utensils to the ground beneath them. Gajeel felt tiny arms encircle his waist and his personal space bubble burst from around him.

"I am."

Levy liked the feeling of something so dark, powerful, mysterious to be ensnared in her limbs. It was foreign to hold someone that could destroy her with the flick of his wrist, Gajeel had proven a long time ago that she was absolutely no match for him, weather she put up a fight or not. She fought back a wave of trembles as she felt him stiffen and stand at his full height, her arms almost tightening in their place around him and she buried her face into his chest.

She felt his already large chest expand as he inhaled deeply, and one of his hands slowly ruffling her already messy blue hair.

"Alright, just this once." Her heart fluttered into the back of her throat, or that's what it felt like, - beating so fast she almost choked on it. From the moment she'd set eyes on the dragon slayer she'd been infatuated, she admitted silently to herself. Levy had learnt many languages, both modern and ancient, some even so old that not ever character of the alphabet could be easily deciphered.. But none of those things would ever give her any insight into the dark man wrapped in her one-sided embrace.

One-sided..

His sharp tone stopped her from thinking too deeply into the matter: "Are we going to sleep? Or are we going to just hug all night?" She quickly detached herself from him, a crescent of a smile peeking on her lips. He moved off to the other side of the room whilst she bent at the knee to collect her abused reading utensils. Sorry, my babies!

She arranged them neatly in a pile on his suprisingly not-bare writing desk, and glanced over at a stack of notes which did not belong to her - messy, black characters scrawled across eggwhite parchment. She glanced to her left and right, making sure Gajeel was unaware of her peeking, and slowly reached for the paper. It was cool, smooth: just like his skin.

"Now, now. I welcome you to my home and you invade my privacy? So unlike you, fairy."

She squeaked rather ungracefully as she was hoisted against a hard, bare chest. His grin was wolfish and he admired how perfectly her small frame fit inside his arms. He whisked her off to his bedside, and set her to her feet.

Levy didn't need to speak for Gajeel to realize she wouldn't be comfortable in a fur coat and jeans, and slowly dragged the zip down the front of her body, to push off of her shoulders and fall in a heap at her feet. He groaned inwardly, her blush was spreading up her neck to her cheeks and he couldn't have been more tempted to whisper such erotic fantasies into her ears that she'd be blushing beet-red for months. Then, heck, if he went through the trouble of turning her on, he'd want to do something about that.

He couldn't, he knew he couldn't. He busied himself with finding a shirt she could borrow that didn't have studs lining the collar. He heard a rustling of clothing behind him, and once he'd found what he was searching for - he held it out behind him without turning around. If she was barely clothed..

Tempted to turn around?

"So fucking tempted." He growled to himself, and felt her take the shirt from him.

Why was he even being this considerate? Why the hell should he even care about weather she can sleep at night without ending up somewhere other than her bed? He never gave a flying fuck about any of the other women who'd stepped foot in his home before, weather he was a Phantom or Fairy Tail mage.. What was so different now? This compassion he felt welling up inside of his chest was going straight to his brain, and his temples throbbed. He supposed he'd given her enough time to change, and turned to a panty-clad arse tossed high in the air as she bent to light another one of those dreadful incense sticks.

All sense or morality went flying out the window into the harsh winters beyond in that instant, and Gajeel felt himself rasp out a throaty: "Bed," before stalking up behind that round behind and easing her (roughly, as if he'd be more gentle than he had already been today) onto the bed. All sense of self-control was slowly ebbing away from the Iron Dragon.

"Now i would've never took you for a cock-tease, fairy." He whispered, his voice thick. "Are you trying to turn me on?" It was almost as if all of this was just a ruse to get him into his own bed with her. Wait, that couldn't have been her plan all along.. No, ofcourse not.

"Is it working?"

Apparently, it was.

Gotta say, i love Gajeel! He's one of my favourite characters to write. More pointless one-shots!
Also: Nemasu - To sleep.