Here's a chapter to all of my fans, who've been waiting for this for a long time...
I live in a land of no technology, so I haven't been able to post chapters for a while.
That and I've had a serious bout of writer's block, and a very hard time with my college schedule. But that is not important...
I would like to dedicate this chapter to a reader of mine, that was concerned with my long delay with this story... I dedicate this chapter to Le Pecore Nere.
Here's the next chapter! Hope you enjoy it!
III
The next day, Cloud woke feeling revived, and ready for the battle of his lifetime.
His bright blue eyes snapped open, and he grinned up at the ceiling, and then jumped out of bed, his Superman pajamas flung off in a hurry, and his day wear quickly donned. He ran down stairs, and threw himself onto his chair at the table, and smiled at his mother.
""Mornin' Mom! Whas for breakfast?" He asked, his tone giving away his excitement.
"Scrambled eggs and toast, dear. What's gotten into you? You're very happy today." His mother asked, as she took the toast out of the toaster, and spread butter on it.
"Nothin' Mama. I'm excited about today... Tifa and I are going to play with our new friends today." He said, trying to hide his elation better.
"Well, that's nice. Who're your 'new friends'?"
"His name is Biggs. He's a kid I met yesterday when I was playing with Tifa. He's really cool. And there's Ajax, a BIG kid, even though he said he was young, he looks like a giant. And Zia, she's part of their group too. She trains at the dojo that Tifa goes to. And then there's Roland... He's as tall as a tree! I want to be that tall when I grow up! That would be so cool!" Cloud said, his eyes sparkling at the idea of being really tall.
"Oh... They sound nice." His mother replied, placing a plate of steaming eggs and perfectly browned toast in front of him.
"Yeah... Thanks Mom." Cloud said, as he started to eat.
"It looks like it will be another beautiful day out, so you should go and enjoy it."
Cloud smiled, and kept eating.
"Just be careful. There are things out in the woods, and you have to watch out."
"I know Mama. I'm strong, just like Dad, so I can protect myself!"
His mother's eyes grew dim with the mention of her husband, who had died a while ago, in a freak accident that also took the life of 122 other people.
"Mama... Whas wrong?" He asked, when he saw tears in his mother's eyes.
"Nothing darling... nothing." She said, wiping the tears away quickly, and smiling to hide her sadness from her son.
"Okay Mom..." He said, and continued to eat.
When he had finished, he ran outside, and looked for Tifa.
He found her standing by the big pine tree that grew in her front yard.
"Hey! We should go find Biggs and them!" Cloud said animatedly, as he bounced towards her.
"Hey Cloud! Let's go find them! That would be fun." Tifa said, jogging up to meet him in the street.
They ran off together, and went to the secret hiding place that they had went to yesterday, and knocked on the large plywood board that hid the entrance.
"Who is it, and what's the password?" Came a deep voice from behind the door.
"It's Cloud and Tifa, Ajax! You never told us that there was a password!" Cloud said through the plywood.
"Oh... Hey Cloud..." Ajax replied, shoving aside the plywood, and looking to see if it was really them.
He let them in, and shoved the heavy plywood piece back in place.
"How's it going?" Ajax asked, nodding to them in greeting.
"I'm well." Tifa said.
"GREAT!" Cloud said with exuberance, because he couldn't contain his excitement any longer.
"Well that's good. Let's go do some more training... I want to beat those dumb kids from that gang, and show'em who's boss."
They went into the large warehouse, and the group put down the mats for training.
After a few hours, they all lay on the mats, completely exhausted from their hard work.
"... That... was... great." Panted Cloud, his eyes half closed, as he lay spread-eagle on the mat next to Roland and Tifa.
"Yeah... We'll beat those jerks for sure." Roland said, sitting up, which took great effort.
"Piece of cake!" Ajax said, who seemed to be the only one who had enough energy to stand up all the way.
After they had rested for a while, they picked up the mats, and went home for lunch.
Cloud got home, and had a sandwich and a cookie, and then went back out to play.
He went over to Tifa's house, and knocked on the door.
A tall woman with long dark hair answered.
"Oh, hello Cloud. Are you looking for Tifa?" She asked, smiling down at him.
"Yes ma'am... Can she come out to play again?"
"Yes she can... As soon as she finishes lunch, I'll send her out, okay?" Tifa's mom patted him on his head, and turned, closing the door.
Cloud waited outside Tifa's house for what felt like an eternity to him, even though it had been less then five minutes.
When Tifa finally came out, Cloud was starting to get impatient.
"What took you forever?" He asked.
"I was eating! And it wasn't forever!" Tifa replied, a little startled by the tone Cloud had used.
"Let's go! They wanted us back like a million years ago!" Cloud complained, as he started to run to the secret spot.
Tifa ran to keep up with him, unsure of what was so important that they needed to run.
They got back to the warehouse, and entered, to find that the others had started without them.
When they entered, Biggs looked up from the mat, having just been pinned there by Zia.
"Hey... What took you two so long?" He said, as he straightened his shirt.
"Tifa took to long eating her lunch!" Cloud said.
"Oh... Well you two can pair off if you want." Biggs said with a hint of mischief in his voice that neither Cloud nor Tifa picked up on.
They turned to each other, and then went to an empty mat.
Cloud faced Tifa and said, "You ready?"
"Yup. Ready." She said, trying to settle the butterflies that where suddenly swirling in her stomach.
They began to spar, circling each other and waiting for the attack, but none came.
They continued to circle one another, but neither made an attempt to strike the other.
Soon, all the others where watching them just go in circles, until Tifa finally decided that she wouldn't hurt Cloud.
"I can't do this." She said, and simply walked off the mat and sat against the wall.
"But Tif! You need to practice in order to get better! Come now, we're not trying to kill one another, just don't hurt him and everything will be just fine." Said Biggs from the mat, rubbing his shoulder where he had hit when Zia had tossed him.
"I don't want to spar with Cloud... It would be like... I don't know..." Tifa's sentence drifted off at the end, and the others looked at her with arched brows.
"What's wrong? You think you'll hurt him?" Zia asked.
"No. I just feel... Well, yes I think I might hurt him." She said concealing the real reason she didn't want to spar with him.
"Okay... Tif, do you really think you could hurt him? He's a tough guy, it'd take a lot to hurt him." Biggs continued, smiling at Cloud.
Tifa's face went red, and she turned away.
"I can't tell them that I like Cloud... They'd make fun of me! And Cloud! What would he do?" She thought.
"No... I know I couldn't hurt Cloud, I just... Oh, never mind." She got up, and walked back over to the mat, and grabbed Cloud's arm, dragging him to the mat.
"Might as well get this over with, and deal with the feelings later." She thought.
"We'll spar, happy?" She said, turning to Biggs, and glaring.
"Yup. I'm good. Shoulder kinda hurts, but I feel good."
This time, Cloud and Tifa circled, and there was a very different feel to their movements.
Tifa came in, and threw a punch at Cloud, who blocked with his arm, and stepped back.
Tifa pressed her attack, having learned that from her karate class, and went to trip Cloud and hopefully gently toss him to the mat.
But as she hooked her foot around Cloud's leg, he stumbled into her, and she ended up tripping with him.
They fell to the mat with a thud, in an awkward position, with Cloud landing with one hand across Tifa's chest, while Tifa's hand actually got Cloud right in the crotch.
Cloud gave a spluttering cough, and then Tifa noticed where their hands where.
She pulled away, blushing a lovely bright red color, her breath coming in little gasps.
"S... sorry!" She managed to stutter out, watching as Cloud curled up into a ball.
He gave a muffled cry, as his face was buried in the mat, and wriggled a little.
"Wow... She got him good." Biggs said, wincing at the thought of the accident.
After about two minutes, Cloud finally started to move again, and he uncurled from his fetal position and staggered to his feet.
"I'm... okay..." He said, slumping against the wall for support.
"Gosh! I'm so sorry Cloud!" Tifa cried, running over to him and hugging him tightly, wishing she had never chosen to spar with him.
Cloud looked up at her, with his large blue eyes still misty with the after thought of tears, and smiled slightly.
"You didn't... mean too... right?" He asked.
"No! I'd never, never want to... to do that!" She replied, hoping that he believed her.
"Then... I forgive... you." Cloud nodded to her, and then slid down the wall, and sat on the ground.
"I think that this is the end of this training session, so let's pack up and help Cloud get home." Biggs said, watching as the others started to obey his order.
He walked over to Cloud, and knelt down next to him.
"She got you damn good. That must've hurt."
"Yeah... It did..." Cloud squeaked a little.
Biggs laughed.
"That was a great move though... Tripped her up with you! Keep that up, and no one's going to have to fight you... You'll get hit again, and that'd be it."
Cloud glared up at Biggs, and stood back up.
"Need help?" Zia asked.
"Please." Cloud said.
Zia moved up to Cloud, and gently wrapped an arm under his shoulder, and helped to support him.
Tifa saw this, and she felt a fire of jealousy creep into her brain.
"She's trying to take Cloud! I can't let her do that!"
She ran over to Zia.
"Here, let me help him home, 'cause I live right next door to him..."
Zia gave Tifa a look of disappointment, but complied, and let Tifa take Cloud home.
They got home after 5:00pm, and by the time they had gotten home; Cloud could walk by himself again.
"Thanks Tifa. See you at 11:00!" He said just as excitedly as he had before the unfortunate accident.
"Yeah... See you then." She said, and they both went to their homes, to get supper.
