"What are we suppose to do now? What's happening?" Lucy shivered in her seat, glancing between Natsu's still form and back to the Subaru Impreza and the Road Runner at the top of a mountainous road that was on the outskirts of the city, close to some of the factories in a few mile distance. "Natsu, what's going on?"

"They're drift racing, Luce," Natsu explained softly. "The kind that causes your car to skid across the dirt or pavement when you hit the breaks at a fast speed."

"But what's going on with them?" Lucy pointed out to the top. "What do they want with Juvia?"

"Vidaldus has been trying to buy Juju-chan for years now," Levy's quiet, raspy voice came from the backseat, and Lucy turned her head to see the blue haired mechanic curled with her legs up to her chest. "Trinity Raven are known to buying property, and that includes people, too. Vidaldus has been going to Jose, trying to put a price on Juvia until Gajeel found out."

"How do you know that?" Lucy asked, purely shocked by what she just heard.

Sniffling, Levy rubbed under her eyes. "Gajeel confronted Vidaldus before a race, because he was about to go to Juvia with another offer, and a fight broke out. I was there that night and so was Phantom Lord's boss and Makarov... It took about ten men and a taser to stop Gajeel from trying to kill him, otherwise that would've started a war between the two gangs. God," Levy exhaled and tangled her hands in her short hair. "I thought that taught the asshole a lesson about trying to buy Juju-chan, but now this! How could they be so careless about this? And putting Sue on the spot like that is what got Juju-chan mad!"

"Levy, it's going to be okay," Natsu told her without looking back, his brown eyes still looking to the top of the road. Lucy stole a glance to her driver before looking back to the mechanic. "Vidaldus isn't the only one who knows how to drift, you know."

"But this is Vidaldus's spot, Natsu!" Levy reminded him. "Who knows what's gonna happen!"

"I trust that ice princess knows what he's doing," Natsu shrugged. "I've known him long enough to tell when Gray means business. Besides, this has to do with Juvia-chan." Looking back to smile at both the girls, Natsu had that look in his eyes that made Lucy's chest twist in a sweet way. "Gray's head over heels for Juvia - ain't no way he's going to lose to a fake poser like Vidaldus! He's all fired up!"

Atop the mountainous road, Juvia waited inside Gray's car and watched as her crush spoke to the contestant about the main rules. She knew about drifting, but never raced with anyone outside the Phantom Lord, but has watched many take place. Totomaru and Gajeel would drift with her for fun and practice, and Boze and Sue have a long way before even being considered to start learning about it; and Juvia knew better than to drift against anyone from Trinity Raven.

Looking through the window to the Road Runner, Juvia was somewhat glad that both cars had tinted windows. She didn't want to see Ikaruga's face at the moment, or even make eye contact with the woman who followed her and her gang members that morning while they were running errands for Totomaru. She was mad, yes, but Juvia was also very concerned for the Fairy Tail member who took on the deal with Vidaldus Taka, the man who has been trying to buy her from her gang and brother ever since she was a teenager.

"No tools for this race, man," Vidaldus snapped his fingers. "These roads are tight enough to cause trouble between us, 'kay? No guns, bombs, spikes - the whole shebang."

"No partners," Gray added. "Keep your passengers inside the car the whole time."

"Done deal," Vidaldus smirked darkly, his eyes darting to the windshield Juvia was hiding behind. Juvia sighed under her breath of relief when she reminded herself that Gray's car was also tinted. "On the next whistle from the factory, boytoy. That's when you know to go."

Gray nodded and got off his car, heading to the driver's side and entering his car with ease. Juvia quickly looked down to her hands on her lap, not saying a word to the driver to her left; her heart was hammering in her chest, and she could feel her nerves starting to tingle at the tips of her toes and fingers. If she didn't calm down, she knew a panic attack and possibly something worse will happen.

Once Gray started the car and the engine started to hum under Juvia's body, her nerves relaxed, but her heart still kept pounding. She fiddled with her own hands, trying to distract herself.

Gray's large, rough hand reached over and engulfed both of her hands, making her freeze on the spot. "You okay, Juvia?"

"No," Juvia exhaled. "Juvia is not okay with Gray-sama getting involved in something like this. This is Juvia's problem, not Gray-sama's."

Gray watched as she bit her lip, fighting back her hiccups of frustration and his eyes softened as he let go of her fidgety hands and lift a lock of her wavy blue hair to get a peek of her eyes. Seeing how her hands froze and cheeks redden, Gray smirked and tucked that lock of hair behind her ear.

"It is my problem when they're trying to buy you, Juvia," Gray said softly, his fingers still tangled with the long strands of her bangs. "You're not an item to be bought, you know that. What would your brother do, if he was here right now, instead of me?"

Juvia only responded by shooting him a stare that was unreadable, and Gray nodded. "Exactly. You know what would happen if Gajeel was here, Juvia, and that's just going to cause more trouble," he explained further, pulling back his hand before he touched her red cheek. "Besides, you've helped us a lot in the past and a lot of favors that saved our asses many times."

"There is no favor to return to Juvia, Gray-sama," Juvia puffed, making him raise a brow at her. She crossed her arms over her chest and rubbed her bare arms, looking down to her lap. "Fairy Tail has always been nice to Juvia and Phantom Lord. Gray-sama always visits the bar and gives Juvia medicine, even though Juvia tells him that he doesn't need to. Gray-sama doesn't need to do this to be even with Juvia - Please, Gray-sama, don't get involved in Juvia's problems."

"I'm not doing this to return the favor," Gray smirked, making Juvia's back straighten out and inhale sharply as she realized how he leaned closer to her. Their faces just an inch apart, and Juvia could feel his warm breath tickle her skin into goosebumps. "I'm doing this, because I ain't gonna let anyone take you away like that. I don't like it how that asshole treats you, Juvia. If I didn't know better, I'd probably act like your brother and actually try to kill him."

Unable to respond to his words, Juvia went beat red in the face when Gray pulled back and faced ahead of him. Her words spluttered at her lips, holding her cheeks with both hands when she heard him chuckle under his breath. "Gray-sama is so mean to Juvia..." she grumbled quietly, and she didn't have to look to see his snarky grin growing bigger. "Teasing Juvia like that is mean."