Story Title: After the Rain
Rating: K
Genre: Romance and Drama
Disclaimer: I don't own any characters appearing in this fanfiction.
A/N: This is my attempt of creating a modern CloTi drama. I wonder how this'll work out? I was inspired to write this after watching so many Korean/Japanese/Chinese dramas since childhood. Ah, the tears I've cried. The titles of each chapter will be derived from the English lyrics of a song called "Hayate gumo" by KOTOKO. I would've given it the title "Whirlwind Clouds" but it didn't match the story so I had to give it a completely different title instead. Being that this is the first chapter, things might start off slowly. Tell me what you think.

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Chapter 1
To be honest I had a longing

As Cloud thought, it was raining. They had just entered the rainy season after all, so it couldn't be helped. Grabbing his umbrella, he took off for school. It would be his last year in high school at last, which meant goodbye to all the lame teachers and classes. Finally he could focus on the future and take courses he really needed in college. With these thoughts in his mind, he walked to school feeling relieved. From around the corner, he met up with his friend Zack. They were both different in many ways. Looks, habits, and especially personality. Cloud's shock of blonde hair stood out in deep contrast with Zack's dark black hair. Zack was even a year older than Cloud, but no matter. They were best friends.

"Hey, Cloud." Zack waved with his free hand as the other held his umbrella.

"Hey." Cloud returned the gesture and they headed to school together, all the while talking about their future courses and goals.

When they reached the school, the campus looked nearly empty but when they stepped inside a flood of students taking shelter from the rain blocked almost every passage in the hallway and filled up classrooms. Both sidestepped their way through the crowd into their class and once they reached their destination, collapsed into their assigned seats.

"Phew! And I thought Christmas shopping was dangerous." Zack fanned himself with his hand, exaggerating his stress. A few girls from their class giggled in his direction, and he winked. Cloud looked around to see who Zack was looking at, when he saw the group of girls, he turned to Zack with a raised eyebrow. "You know…" Cloud started, but Zack cut him off. "I know, I know. It's because I'm like that, that she broke up with me. I can't help it! It's just a habit!"

"A habit she can't stand." Cloud said. They were referring to Zack's ex-girlfriend, Aerith. Zack, being quite a ladies man, couldn't seem to stop his habits and thus resulting in Aerith dumping him. He was a bit devastated after the breakup, but he never gave her up. Before Zack could think up of a witty come back to Cloud's comment, Aerith walked in. Walking beside her was her raven-haired friend—she caught eyes with Cloud for a second.

"Why, hello beautiful." Zack grinned at Aerith.

Aerith folded her arms but played along. "Hello, Zack."

"How was your morning?"

"Great," Aerith smiled for a second, and then frowned but said slyly, "Until now."

Zack gave her a puppy eyed look of innocence and she giggled. She could never get tired of seeing that look. As Zack flirted and Aerith glared, Aerith's raven-haired friend smiled brightly and waved to Cloud. He smiled a little, feeling embarrassed for some reason, and waved back. She sat in the desk in front of him without saying a word. Cloud stared at her in the corner of his eye. She was Tifa. He's known her since they were just kids. They weren't particularly close or anything of the like, but she always stood out from his life.

"What are your plans for college?" Tifa suddenly asked. Cloud found himself staring into her eyes, but he didn't look away.

"Well, I might leave town." Cloud said. "This place doesn't offer what I want."

"Really?" Tifa's eyes fell. She looked sad.

"Maybe." Cloud pointed out.

"But if you do, I'll miss you."

A fluttery feeling rose in Cloud's chest, he smiled awkwardly. On cue, their teacher walked in. Tifa smiled at Cloud one last time before departing for her seat followed by Aerith. Zack sat in his seat behind Cloud and poked his back to get his attention.

"Hey, so you got to talk to your lady." Zack whispered. "Anything interesting?"

"We were just talking." Cloud whispered back.

"C'mon, we all know you were crushing on her back in the day."

"Yeah, well, that was back in the day." And with that Cloud stuffed his face in his textbook to signal that he wasn't saying anymore. Zack chuckled. "We'll talk about this later."

---

And they really did talk about it later. Zack kept bugging Cloud about it and he wouldn't stop. It was his annoying way of showing how he cared. Cloud didn't mind, but he thought it was more of being nosy than caring. The rain still hadn't let up either.

"You still like her." Zack repeated for the hundredth time after class.

Cloud stopped eating and sighed heavily. "All right, I do." Zack announced, "Ha!" but Cloud continued, "It's too late though. We've already got our lives down and I don't think she would want to change what she's got."

Zack suddenly stared at Cloud, looking grave and serious. It was a look only Cloud and Aerith have seen. "Are you saying you don't have room for her in your life?"

"That's not what I meant."

"Then what?"

"It's just…" Cloud stared at his food. "It's been too long. It'd be strange to suddenly announce to her how I feel when I could've done it a long time ago."

"Well, you've still got your whole life ahead of you." Zack said.

"She'll do fine without me." Cloud jammed the rest of his bread into his mouth and stood up to leave for class. Zack sighed and followed quietly. When in class Cloud couldn't help but feel an aura of irritation emanate from Zack behind him. He could feel Zack's eyes on his back, sending him secret messages. Cloud glanced back and shot Zack a quick glare. "Cut it out." His eyes said. Zack motioned his eyes towards Tifa's direction. Cloud shook his head and returned to his work.

After school Cloud and Zack stayed in class to finish up the last of their schoolwork. Cloud was having trouble with a certain problem and Zack's explanations only made it worse. "Zack, not even Einstein will be able to understand you." Cloud rubbed his face, frustrated.

"Hey, I'm trying my best here." Zack shrugged. "Besides, it's Einstein that no one understands."

Cloud shut his notebook. "I'll just do this at home."

"Procrastinating now? Why not just ask Tifa?"

Cloud fidgeted in this seat. "W-What?"

"She's good at this stuff. Just ask her." Zack said, making it sound easy.

"And how would you know that?" Cloud asked suspiciously.

Zack laughed. "That's what I heard from Aerith anyway. Don't worry, I didn't lay a finger on your girl."

"Sh-shut up…" Cloud said weakly.

"Ask her. It's not that hard."

"I can do the work myself."

"Let's see, approximate time of Cloud being able to do schoolwork himself? Hmm… counting… counting…"

"Zack, I'm serious."

"I am too." Zack said, his eyes emotionless.

Cloud looked away, sighing. "I'm not asking her."

"Just keep telling yourself that…"