This Crime

The Hollow Bastion restoration team had been making very little progress lately. It always seemed that there were way too many Heartless sticking around and causing trouble for them ever to finish in the allotted time. As a result, Leon had been growing annoyed. The only thing that calmed him was knowing that he could expect the same routine every morning.

Leon was usually the first one to rise in the morning. There was something about the quiet before dawn that he liked. He would silently fix himself a cup of coffee and begin his morning ritual. Sometimes Cloud, who had a habit of disappearing for weeks on end without word, would be sitting on the stoop when Leon would go out to watch the sunrise. The two of them would sit in mutual silence as Leon sipped his coffee and the entire world around them woke.

Aerith usually rose about this time. Depending on if Cloud was there, Leon would cook breakfast with Aerith's help. When Cloud was there, it was a known fact that Leon would sit outside long after his coffee had gone and Aerith would be forced to cook breakfast without him. When the first comment had been made about this behavior, Leon had reacted rather stiffly and he had been irritable for the rest of the day. Since then comments were restrained.

As was the usual event of the day, the smell of breakfast would wake the other sleepyheads. Since oftentimes their wizard friend, whose house they happened to be occupying, was not home because of traveling reasons, it was just the restoration team. Everyone would assemble in the kitchen and grab his or her food with sleepy faces.

After their quick meal, Leon would briefly described what was the goal for today. He never made his speeches long because he usually liked to stave off from speaking overly much. Of course this was typically followed by an agglomeration of groans, complaints, and arguments. Leon would calmly take control until everyone was satisfied. That was when the work would begin.

Yet, this particular morning was quite as customary.

Leon woke exceptionally ill-tempered. He had had some rather bizarre dreams that he didn't quite feel like admitting to having, even to himself. This had put him slightly on edge and he tried to brush away the memory but to no avail. He frowned as he sat up in bed. He shouldn't be having dreams about that person. It didn't make sense. Nevertheless, Leon was determined to remain as stoic as possible, regardless of the irregularity of his slumber.

Leon was glad to find that when he took his first sip of coffee he felt the tension slowly ease from his body. The morning was just beginning outside and he could hear the sounds of the town slowly awaking around him. So far that part of his morning seemed normal until he went to make his way outside. When he tried to open it, it protested as though something on the outside was blocking it.

"Wha?" Leon asked, confused. He pushed against the pressure until he was able to slip through the crack in the door.

The last thing he expected to see was Cloud lying in a pool of sticky blood, and it took Leon a second to really register the groaning body staring up at him with dim blue eyes. A number of curses left Leon's mouth as he bent down and brushed his hands across the blond looking for wounds that he could injure if he moved the smaller man.

"What happened?" Leon asked gruffly as he found nothing beyond deep gashes and lifted the trembling man into his arms.

Cloud winced and tried to pull away from Leon's strong grip. "I can…walk, you know." He managed to gasp in protest, his eyes closing as he waited for his body to readjust to the pain.

"Sure you can. That's exactly why you're lying out here instead of coming inside," Leon replied dryly, not at all amused by Cloud's obstinacy.

Cloud did not respond, but a faint blush covered his pale cheeks as Leon carried him inside. Thankfully Aerith was just rising at that time and saw Leon hauling in the bloody mess that was Cloud. She gasped and instantly crossed over to them.

"Set him down on the couch." She quickly instructed as she cleared some stray books from its surface. By the time Leon had placed Cloud on the couch he had already silently passed out.

"Help me get his clothes off." Aerith murmured quietly. "I need to be able to see his wounds to heal them correctly."

Leon was rather grateful that the man had passed out because he knew that Cloud wouldn't have allowed himself to be stripped of his grubby clothes so easily and probably would've proceeded to make his injuries much worse by struggling.

"What happened to him?" Aerith exclaimed in horror upon the revelation of multiple gashes across Cloud's chest and numerous ones trailing down his legs.

Leon did not answer. He was too busy measuring up the damage with a stern look on his face.

"I can heal the majority of the wounds, but I can't do much about the blood lost so far. I'm afraid he's going to have a rough time." She whispered fearfully before she concentrated on casting a healing spell.

Leon watched as the wounds slowly sewed themselves back together under the glow of Aerith's magic. Cloud's body was shivering feverishly now and when Aerith finished her spell the pallor of his skin had still not left.

"We should probably move him somewhere where he can rest more comfortably before the others awake," she announced tiredly as she pulled a blanket tight around Cloud's body.

"He can rest in my room," Leon stated. It was the logical choice after all since he was the only one that wasn't sharing a room at the moment. Aerith nodded and Leon rose from where he had been kneeling next to Cloud's body.

"Oh and Leon," Aerith whispered as he lifted Cloud's limp body once again into his arms. Leon looked up at her blushing face in question. "Would you lend him some of your clothes until I have his washed and fixed?"

Leon nodded quickly as he remembered that the blanket-covered Cloud was almost completely naked underneath. He tried not to let a small blush cover his own cheeks as well as he made his way upstairs.

With a sigh Leon pushed open his bedroom door with his shoulder and laid his burden down onto his bed. He should probably get the shivering man into some clothes first. He quickly grabbed a pair of boxers and one of his spare t-shirts from his drawers and eased them onto Cloud's lean body. The blond certainly didn't have much on him, was Leon's thought. It looked as if Cloud hadn't been eating properly in years. Even still he still managed to hold onto a certain beauty that Leon couldn't help to admire.

'He has so many scars littering his body though,' Leon noticed as he gently traced one of the more brilliant scars along his torso. Shaking his head lightly, Leon finished pulling the t-shirt on the blond and pulled the covers up around Cloud's body. He could hear the sounds of Yuffie reluctantly being woken up next door and movement from in the hallway, but he ignored it. All he could really focused on was Cloud's pained slumbering face.

"What kind of mess did you get yourself into this time?" Leon murmured softly, letting his fingertips to wander to the soft skin of Cloud's face.

"You should let him rest," came a timid voice from the doorway. Leon looked up, startled from his reverie. Aerith was standing in the doorway watching him with an odd look on her face, her hands grasped tightly together. He hastily jerked his hand away from Cloud's faced and tried to regain his stoic posture.

Leon stood, casting one last long look at Cloud's face before striding from the room, trying to look as composed as ever. He couldn't help but note the sigh that escaped Aerith's mouth as he left, and he watched from the corner of his eye as she quickly approached Cloud, her hands trembling.

That's right. He had forgotten that Aerith just happened to be in love with that man. Even though Leon's steadily growing friendship with the blond meant a lot to him (whether he'd admit it or not), he knew that Aerith and Cloud had some sort of history with other and he should respect that. Cloud's health was rather iffy at this point in time and he should respect Aerith's feelings and let her be with him. Still Leon couldn't help but feel an odd ache in his heart that told him he didn't want to leave.

:-:-:

Cloud woke feeling weak, but at least the majority of his pain had ceased. It took him a moment for his eyes to adjust to the light pouring from the bedroom window. Where exactly was he?

He sat up in the middle of an unfamiliar bed and looked cautiously around. This room smelled somewhat familiar, but he couldn't quite place it. He took a moment to inspect the room for signs of others. A chair was sitting next to the bed and Cloud surmised that someone had probably been sitting there watching him. His eyes trailed across the room to find it was sparsely furnished and very little personal possessions seemed to be lying out. Whoever stayed in this room was meticulously tidy. His blue eyes fixated on the one item that seemed to be out of place, a leather jacket thrown somewhat hastily onto a dresser.

"Squall…"he whispered, it all connecting. The smell, the organized bedroom, the jacket, they were all Squall's, or Leon's rather.

Cloud flipped the blankets off his body only to realize that he didn't even have his own clothing. Those belonged to Squall as well. He frowned. Did this mean that Squall had seen him naked? A light blush covered his cheeks and he was less than amused. It wasn't as if he were overly conscious about his body, but it bothered him somehow, as though Squall especially should not be seeing him exposed.

Cloud swung his feet to edge of the bed, intent on getting out of this room, but his vision was blurry and disoriented. He inferred that he had probably lost quite a lot of blood for his body to be this feeble. But, just how had he gotten this way in the first place? Why had he waken up in Squall's bed and clothes?

He searched his hazy memories for the answer. He remembered something about being in a lot of pain. A battle of some sorts, perhaps? It had probably been with Sephiroth. He always received a multitude of horrendous injuries after a clash with that bastard. He remembered searching for Squall because for some reason his body had been telling him to. Apparently that had been the right choice since he was obviously alive, but…where was the man in question?

Cloud was just pondering if he should attempt standing when he heard the door being violently flung open and he was forcefully shoved back onto the bed with a heavy thing weighing down on his chest.

"Cloud!" was the loud cry that followed.

"Yuffie, be careful of his wounds!" he heard Aerith's scolding voice from the doorway.

"Sorry, Cloud!" Yuffie said meekly, quickly climbing off of him. "I was just so worried about you when I heard from Aerith what happened that I couldn't help it!" Yuffie rambled at him.

Cloud gave her an annoyed looked and pushed away the helping hand she tried to give him. He didn't like other people touching him and that was a pretty much accepted fact. It seemed that Yuffie had failed to recognize that every time though.

"Where's Squall?" Cloud heard himself asking though he didn't realize why. It just seemed to be the evident thing to ask. He was after all in Squall's room.

"It's Leon, you know." Came an emotionless reply from the brunette as he sauntered up to the doorway to stand next to Aerith.

"You should really be lying down, Cloud." Aerith said nervously as she crossed over to him and placed her hand lightly on his forehand. Cloud tried not to flinch for her sake, but he could see the hurt in her eyes as he shied away from her touch.

"Your fever seems to be gone, but you should still rest more. My healing spell couldn't quite fix everything…"

Cloud tuned her concerned babble out. He appreciated her caring, really, but he just wanted to be out of here. He didn't like people fawning over him. He stood shakily on his feet and crossed the room. He glared as Squall reached out and tried to assist him.

Squall gave him an odd look, but retracted. Cloud ignored the other's apprehensive glances as he made his way gradually down the hallway. Damn, why was his vision so lousy? His steps slowed to nearly a halt as he felt his legs shake uncontrollably.

"Shit!" He exclaimed as they gave out on him and he found himself once again lying down. His breathing became irregular again as he wheezed for more oxygen. Shit, shit, shit! What had happened to him?

"Need some help?" came a smug voice from above him. He hated the way Squall was looking down at him with such a satisfied look on his face, so much so that he didn't notice the tinge of worry in those eyes.

"Ass…hole…"He spat between gasps. Nevertheless, he allowed Squall's strong grip to pull him back up and carry him back to bedroom.

He felt utterly humiliated to have to be hauled back to bed, in Squall's arms no less. He turned his head so he didn't have to look into the faces of his worried friends.

"Really Cloudy, you don't have to be so stubborn. You're just as mulish as Squall!" Yuffie teased from his bedside.

"It's Leon, and I'm not mulish!" Squall interjected indignantly, but he was promptly ignored.

"Yuffie's right, Cloud." Aerith stated as she pulled the blankets back on Cloud's body. "Pushing yourself at this point is only going to make your healing take longer."

"The kid should probably just get some more sleep." Came a new voice. Cloud looked up again to see that Cid had entered holding a cup of coffee in his hand and grimacing. "Wow, you really do look like shit."

"Thanks." Cloud responded dryly, crossing his arms and trying to look as offended as possible.

Cid chuckled. "At least yer in one piece, eh? I'm sure Leon would have a fit if you up and died on us."

Cloud looked up curiously at Squall at this statement. This was a new bit of new information to him. Squall was currently giving his death glare in Cid's direction while mimicking the posture that Cloud had just been giving him.

"I would not," Squall retorted, his eyes flashing.

An uncomfortable silence settled over the group as Cid positively beamed with amusement.

"Ah well, we'll see about that." Cid murmured before he left the room.

"I have to go…um…feed the chickens." Squall muttered before he stalked angrily after the older man.

Yuffie turned to Aerith. "Hey, do we even have chickens?"

Aerith frowned. "Well, no."

Cloud couldn't help but let a small smile slip onto his lips.

Note: Yes, I chose Aerith over Aeris. Yes, Cloud refers to Leon as Squall so the entire second part calls him Squall.