-Kun

A/N: Yo, it's been awhile! Just two months, I guess.

So when Juvia mentioned that she asked Gajeel-kun to join Fairy Tail, she meant that she asked Master Makarov to ask him to come. Hmm, but I wrote this, where she did ask herself, before Makarov did. Because the Gajeel/Juvia friendship rocks! XD

And btw, I thought of after rereading that chapter where Lucy and Juvia were searching for Natsu, and run into Vidaldus Taka. Lucy was saying that if Natsu was nearby, he would hear them and Juvia stated that he was just like Gajeel-kun, then. And then Lucy was like, "You call him, Gajeel-kun?" And then Juvia changed the subject.

So I was gonna write something about why Juvia refers to Gajeel as Gajeel-kun, but then this was a better idea.

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail.

His ears twitched spontaneously as he heard a noise, the distinguishable sound of . . . of what he knew were boots clacking on a hard surface. The soft reverberations were familiar to him in a way, the particular pattern of which the steps strode.

It put a rather muddled image in his head as he tried to remember what made that clicking because he did recognize it. He did.

Slightly frustrated with how he could just forget the sound, he glanced up, lifting his nose into the air.

In that one inhalation, there was a number of things to be detected . . . the smell of dirt and iron and also himself. And then there were insignificant odors as well: food, trees, the lingering whiffs of his old guildmates . . . squirrels.

Yet, there was one discernible aroma that made him blink in confusion, and then sniff the air again just to be sure.

He smelled the rain. Except he regularly only smelled the rain when it was about to rain, or when . . . when she was around.

When she was nearby, the air around her would be thick with dampness, misty with the scent of . . . of after a downpour. Yes, that was exactly what it was like now, apart from the fact that there was no despondent chill. Depressed was always what the atmosphere was like around her, always what it would feel like, what it would smell like even, the bitterness of the air that once inhaled, remained on his tongue.

He breathed in a third time, but it was a needless act anyway, seeing that at the next second, his body shuddered as he sensed a presence.

Of course it had to have been her presence. He could look up into the sky right then and tell that it probably wouldn't rain for at least the whole week, so the sudden aquatic scent had to be hers.

He was puzzled, though, with why she suddenly here because the last time he'd seen her was since the Phantom Lord's disbandment, where she hadn't even looked as irritated about it had he had felt.

Fairy Tail could just come waltzing in, take down their guild, and then leave it at that and she hadn't even batted an eyelash? Even himself had been more dispirited and lost than angry, but still . . . .

He turned around slowly, reaching for a discarded screw to pop into his mouth and noticing with his own eyes that she was there, that it was her . . . white boots' heels clattering against the ground.

His jaw slackened slightly as he stared at her inquisitively . . . she was different. Her hair was cut shorter, pointier at the ends and her clothes were . . . they were more vibrant, less heavy. There was a lighter tone about her too, blue eyes no longer holding as much gloom.

The hell?

"Gajeel-kun." She stepped closer to him, her hands behind her back. "Juvia knew that she would find you here."

Of course. Because she would always find him, for some odd reason, even when he didn't want to be found.

And he had not left this place once, even as everyone else had fled, even as his guild master was taken away, he had sat there and scoffed that them, those unfaithful cowards.

She had been one of them.

"What do you want?" It was growled as he swiped up another stray piece of steel, turning away from her. She couldn't just come back here so unreservedly, not after just ditching the guild along with all the rest of them. She was no longer a part of Phantom Lord, she had left him (not that he really cared, or anything) and changed, so why was she back here?

"I've joined a guild."

He nearly choked on the iron. The hell?

She'd joined a guild. Was she . . . was she really that fickle? To just change guilds so suddenly, right after Phantom Lord had been destroyed by those infuriating Fairies?

So had that guild been where she'd gone? So as soon as Phantom Lord was defeated, she'd just up and been accepted as a member in some other guild?

Something burned somewhere within his stomach as his eyes narrowed subconsciously. It was nice how she'd come to tell him of all people that, while he was still hanging around (wallowing stanchly) in Phantom Lord's remains.

"Which one?" He asked warily, because maybe she'd had her eye on some specific guild for some time now . . . maybe she been planning to betray Phantom Lord all along . . . .

Those thoughts were quickly overwritten, though, with the fact that she was not like that and had been too broken to be thinking of deceiving the only place that had acknowledged her abilities for something other than menacing uselessness.

And then, to his utter shock, she began hitching up the front of her skirt, revealing a light, cerulean tattoo on her pale, right thigh.

It was a familiar emblem, a symbol that he recalled seeing before a fiery fist went plowing into his nose . . . an insignia he remembered ripping to shreds after one of them had left their fucking flag lying around in the destruction of Phantom Lord before they retreated with triumph.

He swore his heart stopped a moment.

"Fairy Tail." They uttered it at the same time, only his voice was dark with contempt and hers was airy with enchantment.

She had become an affiliate of Fairy Tail, Phantom Lord's sworn enemies, and therefore his sworn enemies.

Phantom Lord had been somewhere where he could be free, where he could act however he liked. He could knock anybody into a wall whenever he remembered how Metallicana had left him, he could cheat anyone their jewels, he was S-Class, a boss. Phantom Lord was ruled by him, by "that scary-looking, badass Dragon Slayer," an identity that had taken hard labor to create.

And Fairy Tail had taken that away. Fairy Tail had stripped him of his Dragon Slayer reputation, of his superiority. Salamander had thought himself better than he.

He jolted to his feet, snarling, "What the hell are ya joining that guild for?"

She sighed as if she knew that he would react this way, dropping her skirt and moving towards him. "Gajeel-kun, listen . . . ."

But he wouldn't. "Our guild was demolished, and as soon it crumbles to the ground, you go and unite with the bastards who did it? Is that it?"

"Gajeel-kun, Juvia told you to listen and you're not listening . . . ."

But he didn't want to listen. She had been his friend, one of his only because he was convinced that he didn't need many (or just because his pride wouldn't allow him to make any more), yet she had left him and their home.

He had sworn that they were the same: beings who hadn't had much, people who had never exactly received what they truly wanted and that finding Phantom Lord was a chance to . . . to just be whatever.

He couldn't describe it well enough. He just wasn't that sappy.

But he'd thought that they would always be loyal to somewhere who had given them a life and had molded them into somebody to be respected. He'd thought that they would always be the same and that the both of them would suffer together because they were suffering from like matters and that . . . that—

Gah, but how could she just leave like that and find something that made her happy without him? How could she just go and leave him there still dedicated to Phantom Lord when he'd figured that they'd always just be linked to it? How could she just go join Salamander's dumb guild when she knew that Phantom Lord was what he had always fought for?

"You're a damn traitor, Juvia." Something was tugged inside of his chest and it kind of . . . hurt to be telling her that because he had never thought that . . .

. . . that they'd be different.

"Juvia is not a traitor," she protested firmly, dark eyes steely. "Phantom Lord is gone and Gajeel-kun needs to move on."

"Just like you have, huh?" He sneered, his lips pulled back, and canines glittering dangerously. "You want me to forget about Phantom Lord just as quickly as you have and lean toward those bastard Fairies?"

Her gaze didn't waver. "Juvia never said that you had to join the same guild as she. I just . . . Gajeel-kun, I'm not . . . ." Her eyes shifted then, to look up at the sky, as if she'd find the answers there. "Juvia did not just move on, as you claim."

He scoffed coldly, "Isn't that what you call jumping from one guild to the next?"

She played with her fingers, seemingly uncomfortable with the fact that he was mad at her because he'd never actually been angry with her as he were then. But she should have been expecting it because it was a matter to be angry about.

Quite daringly, she actually took a seat beside him on the bar of metal, asking him, "Do you want me to tell you why I decided to join Fairy Tail, Gajeel-kun? Because it wasn't an act of disloyalty."

Hell yeah. Of course he wanted to know why she would actually become a member of that guild, but instead, he bit out a chilly, "No."

She stared at him then, and he could feel the temperature suddenly drop around them, though he sought to remain unfazed. "Gajeel-kun, Phantom Lord had accepted me under its wing and I'm grateful for that, but . . . we've made mistakes and Phantom Lord was one of them. Juvia is surprised that you haven't caught on to that yet."

He said nothing, but continued to glower profoundly at the ground. Maybe Phantom Lord had been a mistake, but he wouldn't have realized it. Because maybe he'd done some terrible things while in Phantom Lord, but he'd done even worse before he'd even joined . . . .

"Why was it that it was only you and sometimes the rain that could temporarily lighten Juvia's mood? Totomaru, Sol, and Aria were only teammates to Juvia," She murmured wistfully, her voice pensive. "Maybe Phantom Lord was where I lived, but it's never felt like a home should to me, Gajeel-kun . . . ."

He could note the melancholy behind her voice. It made him doubt Fairy Tail even more.

"So what—Fairy Tail does?" Because did it really feel like home to her if sometimes, he could still hear the same old Juvia in the wake of her words?

Astonishingly, though, she smiled, actual bliss combusting in her eyes. "I joined this guild because . . . you know that there were times when I was lonely, when I would make it rain day after day for months. Yet," she glanced up at him, "Fairy Tail doesn't make Juvia feel like that, Gajeel-kun. It makes Juvia happy and . . ."

She gripped his arm suddenly, causing him to cringe, and she pointed at the sky. "Did you notice that there is sunshine? I've . . . I've seen it for the first time and Juvia bets that it's the first time that you've seen it too, while around her."

He gasped inwardly, watching her in shock. The sun was shining. And she was there beside him. She'd changed so much and . . . he could tell that she really was contented. Her tone was off, her mood was off . . . everything about her was off, but in a good way.

She'd found her happiness.

And it was unfair, because they were supposed to be the same. There were supposed to be alike because he knew that a lot of times, they'd felt the same. He knew that most of the time, the thing in his chest that people called a "heart" wrenched just as painfully as hers did at times and—

"And you Gajeel-kun . . . Juvia knows that you've felt exactly the same as she used to at times." He inhaled sharply. "So I want you to join this guild with me."

His eyes met hers sharply, surprised with the absurdity of her request.

"Juvia," he started, grimacing.

She held his gaze boldly, her lasting grip on his arm sturdy. "Gajeel-kun, I want you to be as happy as I am right now, if not happier and Juvia knows . . . Juvia knows that Fairy Tail can make you feel better."

So . . . she did still care . . . . She did still care how he felt . . . .

But even if he did want to change his mind, even if he did want to join Fairy Tail . . .

" . . . they'd never accept me, Juvia."

He was almost ashamed after he'd said it: what did he care if he was never accepted? It wasn't as if he wanted to be accepted.

"That's not true, Gajeel-kun." He could feel the persistence in her words. "Fairy Tail is a wizard guild, but more than anything, they live off of helping people who need it. Master'll let you in, so please join with me." She sighed, glancing around at their surroundings, and then back at him. "Juvia can't stand to see you here like this. You still have a life, regardless if Phantom Lord is disbanded or not, so why just mope around here, Gajeel-kun," her insistent tone turned softer, and he had to look at her, "when you could still stay with me?"

It was hard to swallow all of a sudden.

"You're still Juvia's family, Gajeel-kun, and Juvia is still yours." She smiled fondly at him before her eyes went to rest on her thigh. Even though he couldn't see it through her skirt, he knew she was gazing at her new guild mark. "But I can't be enough for you. If I left you again, you would be just like this, wouldn't you? Stubborn and bitter. We need to make our family larger and our ties stronger. We need to turn over a new leaf, one where we are happier, better people. And Fairy Tail . . . they make Juvia feel so . . . welcomed . . . ."

Welcomed. It was probably the best feeling ever, what with the face she'd made as she spoke it. But then again, he wouldn't know . . . .

Nevertheless, it made her happy. It was obvious. It made her smile like he'd never seen before; it'd made her change for the better.

So could it have been that bad?

He couldn't believe what he was thinking.

But he knew one thing. She called him Gajeel-kun. It meant that she thought them close, and if she thought them that, then it was apparent that she meant him no harm.

At least . . . that was what he thought . . . .

"Gajeel-kun," he muttered, staring at anything but her. "Why do you call me that?"

She was silent for a moment, as if she wondered where a question like that could possibly come from. And then she winked at him and grabbed his hand before he could react or protest. "Because you're Juvia's friend, Gajeel-kun. You're Juvia's friend and . . . she loves you."

Of course she would reply with something that sappy. But since when did something that sappy make him fight against the grin that was wiggling onto his lips, or even make his throat constrict and vision blur?

Was he going to cry? There was no freaking way.

"A-And there's other people that Juvia's come to l-love in Fairy Tail, too." He wondered briefly why she was blushing lightly and why her grin had turned crooked and rather wild as she said the word 'love.' "I hope that maybe you'd find them as your nakama as well. Because Juvia does care about your wellbeing and doesn't want you to feel alone."

He . . . he didn't want himself to feel alone either . . . . He really didn't. But he couldn't join Fairy Tail. He just couldn't. Maybe they would accept Juvia, because in a way, she was just like them— all for bonds.

But they wouldn't take him.

It was something that temporarily caused him to feel despair because maybe, for a second, he had actually wanted to join. He had actually wanted to make his family larger and challenge Salamander again.

His eyes grew mistier, much to his annoyance because he knew that maybe Juvia would see. She would see and magically remove his tears because she knew that he hated to cry. But he also hated when she did that because it meant that she knew he was going to cry and that he hated it.

"I was nervous, too, Gajeel-kun," Juvia offered. "But I still pursued it . . . because it was what I wanted. Juvia wanted more people to love. And she wanted more people to love her, too."

He stared at her, knowing that she'd wanted that all along, even when she pretended that she was cold, that she was heartless, that she was a killer like him. He'd known that it wasn't her. And Fairy Tail had made her see that.

Maybe it would make him see further into what he wanted, too . . . . And it was then that he made his decision: he wanted to talk to the master. He was the boss and he decided who got in the guild, or not. Even if Fairy Tail was the most forgiving guild in the universe, it would mean nothing if the leader wasn't.

"Juvia. Thanks." It was mumbled rather incoherently, but somehow she understood it. And she seemed to know where it was coming from, too . . . exactly what it meant.

"Anytime, Gajeel-kun."

A/N: Endings. It's like my stories' kryptonite. My brother was rushing me though, so we could go roast marshmallows. LOL, he's such a child. Blah, and I hope I stayed in character. I feel that maybe it's too . . . sentimental. Or something. Tell me what you thought, please! In review form, too.