-Under The Skin-

-A 'Final Fantasy VII' fanfiction-

=^w^=

It was hard to discern Cloud's moods on the best of days, but those who knew him liked to have a good go at it.

Vincent was usually a pretty good guesser, silently drawing his conclusions based on the body language the blond radiated. He was right most of the time, but on the times that he was wrong Cloud never chastised him for it; instead he gave Vincent a look that said 'try again'. There was a form of mutual respect between the ex-SOLDIER infantryman and the ex-Turk that ran thicker than the blood in their veins, and it had absolutely nothing to do with Chaos sometimes making his appearance and tongue-lashing the blond.

Cid, on the other hand, was no good at all. Almost always his answer to any problem was alcohol, something that many disagreed with because they were left to drag his unconscious body to a bed then left to deal with the hangover the next day. Cloud rarely indulged in alcohol to forget his problems, but when he did everyone had the decency to make sure his sword was practically invisible before he became too wild and started hallucinating; more often than not he saw Sephiroth and would promptly throw the closest thing at the hallucination (more than once was it Cid).

Yuffie didn't quite understand some of the things that went through the blond's head, but whenever she saw him looking rather down she'd put her hand on his shoulder and listen to him. For someone who bounced everywhere like a rabbit, the ninja was surprisingly a good listener and secret-keeper; many claimed it was because of her upbringing in Wutai. When she'd finished listening she'd smile at Cloud then ask him if he wanted to talk to someone else, to which he'd normally respond by nodding and Yuffie would find someone else, relaying what she'd just heard to them.

Tifa was Cloud's childhood friend, so she knew a lot of stuff about the blond that many didn't, such as his fears and many embarrassing stories from growing up in Nibelheim. But the minute she saw that he wasn't feeling as happy as he got she'd take him up to their room, pull out a stuffed Chocobo toy she'd rescued from his house before the blaze and hand it to him, letting him hold it and stroke its felt feathers while he talked. Building a security for Cloud was important, especially to Tifa because she knew he wouldn't talk unless he was safe.

Reno swore to every summonable divinity he was the blond's personal punching bag, because whenever he got a call from Tifa to say that Cloud wanted to meet him somewhere for a spar then he knew he'd get his butt royally handed to him. Most of the time he could tell that the blond was frustrated or downright angry whenever they sparred, so he figured that as long as he took it out in a controlled environment and not on some poor helpless unfortunate then it was okay. That fact didn't stop Tseng, Elena or Rude from laughing when he got back to the building, though.

Tora had seen as much, if not less, than Cloud had, so it made it especially easy for her to pick out what it was that was the root of his current issue. Mostly he talked to her about the nightmares that plagued him, especially the ones about Zack, Aerith and Sephiroth, but there were other things they talked about that he could only talk to her about. The orphanage owner often let him stroke her hair while he talked, not only calming him down but her as well; emotional connections to some of Cloud's issues made it hard for her not to be biased toward certain sides.

As long as he had friends who were willing to listen to him and help him out, Cloud knew that he wasn't going to be the person he was during the Jenova incident. He was going to be alright, because everyone knew him...under the skin.

=^w^=

DISCLAIMER: The disclaimer applies to the characters of the 'Final Fantasy VII' series – SquareEnix – and Tora – me.