Notes: Yey, even more reviews. D Thank you guys so much. I've been really busy lately but I forced myself to write this today, no matter what. Gotta please the readers, y'know? ;D
KH is not Mink's. If it was, no one would like it.
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Aerith's P.O.V.
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Cloud had been back for a week or so. Even though I was glad to see him, I was as worried as ever. He wasn't acting like himself. Being social isn't Cloud's strong point at all--in fact, I'd say he's horrible at interacting with others--but this was worse than usual. He would lock himself up in his room for hours at a time and wouldn't come out, not even to eat. I tried slipping food under the door, but when I would come back later, the door would be standing open to reveal the room with a distinct lack of Cloud, and the food untouched.
No one knew what the matter was. Cloud refused to talk to anyone. When someone would pass him in the halls and question him, he kept walking like he wasn't even aware of their existance.
Once I had a chance encounter with him. I was on my way to the reconstruction site to see if an extra hand was needed. The last thing I expected, although I knew I dreamed about, was for him to come around the corner in my path. Upon first sight, I threw my arms around his neck and rested my cheek on his chest.
"Cloud..."
He didn't even look at me. He pulled away and trudged on without a word. He left me to wonder what could possibly be amiss. Cloud would talk to no one, not even to me. Me. I was always the first one to hear his troubles, and as he knew, always the first to try comforting him.
Something was horribly wrong. I was extremely worried, and very, very scared.
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"No no no!" Yuffie's voice was audible even over the ruckus of metal beams being dragged along the ground and nails being driven into slabs of wood. To the rest of us, that was no surprise at all. "You're doing it all wrong, Squally-poo!"
A loud thud resonated along the pathway of the reconstruction site. Leon was on a ladder leaned up against one of the buildings-in-the-making and had jerked upon hearing Yuffie's nickname for him, knocking a board off the roof and onto the ground 20 feet below. The fact that he lost what he was working on only seemed to add on to his anger from being called "Squall", much less "Squally-poo".
"Yuffie!" he shouted, voice almost as loud as the thump from the board. "Don't call me that! How many times do I have to tell you?!"
The would-be ninja only gave an innocent laugh. Even I couldn't supress a slight giggle. Even if Leon didn't like it, I thought it was a cute name. He expressed his dislike even more when he climbed down the ladder and sent a glare in Yuffie's direction. He would never admit to it, but I saw a little spark of laughter, or happiness, or something like that in his otherwise dull eyes.
Moments like that left my mind completely empty of Cloud, like his room and the castle often were. Later on, I would hate realizing that I had forgotten him. He was the only man I loved like I did. If I could forget him, even for a moment, did that mean he was forgetting me, too? I didn't want to think about that. I knew that just having all of us together, alive and well, was a blessing, but the first thought of a life without him scared me more than anything else I could imagine.
Leon, upon finishing the spot he had been working on, instantly insisted that he had to leave. His admirer had other ideas. Cid and I actually had to distract her with a false claim that some munny had fallen under one of the raised buildings while Leon made his not-very-graceful but sly escape. He tripped over a cart in his haste and had to literally run all the way back to the castle just to make sure Yuffie wasn't trailing him.
Cid, Yuffie, and I stayed an hour or so longer, until it got dark. When we headed back to the castle for dinner, we were surprised to find it had been made by Leon before he went to bed. Cid complained about how he should never, ever even attempt to cook again and Yuffie argued with the fact that he "made it with love out of the kindness deep, deep, deepdeepdeepdeepdeepdeepdeepdeep in his teeny tiny heart".
I didn't say anything about the food until I had finished and passed by Leon's room. He was already out like a rock. I couldn't blame him at all. Everyone had been working hard lately, but Leon always pushed himself farther than the rest of us, so it was no surprise he was sound asleep by 8:30. I uttered a quiet "Thank you," before continuing to my own room.
To my amazement, confusion, and joy, I found it occupied.
Cloud was sitting on the other side of the bed, staring out the window. He ran a gloveless hand over the sheets, flattening out the few wrinkles that were in them. That was relieving in itself. If he would fuss over such tiny things, surely he still cared.
The only peculiar thing I noticed was that the dark wing he had adorned a year or so ago was back, and it had a friend. There was a complete set of the ominous additions to his back now. I winced at the thought that I hadn't noticed them before. Was I really getting that ignorant of him?
I didn't have time to think up an answer for myself. The man I loved turned slightly to reveal the face that I adored and the look in his eyes that I missed. Until then, I hadn't realized just how much I had missed it. I don't remember shutting the door or walking to the bed; just suddenly being there half lying on the bed, half leaning into him, being cradled in the arms I had longed to feel for what seemed like years. It must have been at the very least an hour, just the two of us being there together, not saying a word, only enjoying each other's presence and feel. He wasn't as warm as I had imagined--he was even colder than usual--but I didn't care. He was home, he was here, and that was all that mattered.
"I'm sorry," came his choked voice as he fondled with a lock of my hair. I told him not to worry about it, and although he didn't smile, I could tell he was relieved in the least. He added hushedly, "I missed you..."
A sigh heaved from his chest when I buried my face in it. "Oh, Cloud, I missed you, too."
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End Notes: This is the part where you say "Awwww!" and then "Why did you cut off the chapter there? More fluff!" ;D
Thanks for readin. x3;
