A/N: Okay, so you guys survived the Yuffentine and are back for more of this story? Lucky you. This chapter is more of a Yazoo and Marlene one. Please take your time to read and review.

Disclaimer: Characters are all copyright to Square-Enix.

Kuro to Gin

Black and Silver

Chapter 4: Kindness

The next afternoon was dull, even for a person who'd spent his days deliberately being dull after the loss of his brothers. Days of searching for his mother were gone, replaced by hours of doing nothing, feeling helpless and lost. Yazoo on the one hand, wished that he had never heard of his mother, so that perhaps, his brothers might still be with him. On the other hand, he partly wished their mission hadn't failed yet so that he had something to do at least. There was only so many times you could twirl a coaster round before it got boring. And Yazoo wasn't usually someone to get bored.

He felt immensely alone to be tagging after Cloud's bunch of followers half-heartedly, seeing in front of him young children rushing down the stairs for breakfast, asking him to join them. The comforts of seeing Kadaj in front of him and Loz beside him were long gone. Yazoo missed those little sniffs at his side and the obvious strut Kadaj had when he walked.

It was perhaps the longest time Yazoo felt he had ever been from the two of them, finding it impossible to count days, and instead, falling into the endless cycle of waking up, sleeping and then waking up again. It had been a long time, and, Yazoo reminded himself with hands fidgeting in the long sleeves of his jumper, it was going to carry on being the longest time.

Children were talking away behind him, eating their lunch whilst Yuffie sat at a nearby table, helping herself to some cookies (which were initially for the children) and offering them absently to Vincent. He, quite predictably, refused.

Tifa was behind the bar as usual, whilst Yazoo sat at it, staring at the coaster. He could remember all of the patterns on it now, as well as the words of the advertisement. Yazoo gained a small wash of comfort as he remembered a comic moment when he had entered a bar for information, and Kadaj, who was still rather young at the time, had insisted on coming with him. To see a boy of ten years of age wander into a bar, let alone one with malicious green eyes and otherworldly hair, surprised the bartender and his customers to say the least. However, Kadaj's grand entrance was somewhat tarnished when he found that he couldn't get on top of the barstool with any grace at all, and in his attempt, his foot promptly slipped and he fell to the floor.

Yazoo hadn't laughed quite heartily for a while, and as it turned out, it was one of those rare occasions where Kadaj found his misfortune funny rather than mortifying (whereby he'd have one of his tantrums that'd everyone in his vicinity would be able to hear word for word). The bartender, like so many other people, found Kadaj's antics to be that of a sweet, naïve little boy, and quite readily gave Yazoo the information he needed. Kadaj even got some juice for free.

His little brother. Yazoo's adorable little brother Kadaj.

His hands had started shaking again, and furious that he was showing such weakness, Yazoo dropped the coaster, hid his hands further up his sleeves and stuck them under the counter. Tifa was unwrapping something, and had noticed Yazoo's sudden movement. Yazoo assumed she was waited for him to look at her, since she had stopped moving too. He met her gaze.

"How are you feeling?"

What a difficult question. Yazoo didn't really know the answer himself as he contemplated his awkward situation. He stayed silent for a few moments, before murmuring, "...A little bit better."

"That's good," Tifa smiled, "Though you look tired still."

"I hate it when people say that," Yazoo said without thinking. "It's just a polite way of saying you look like shit."

Tifa laughed quietly, her head nodding to show agreement. Yazoo was enraged with himself for actually being humorous when it wasn't called for, and was glad when Tifa changed the topic.

"Marlene never stops talking about you. She loves meeting new people."

Yazoo was about to reply with the snide remark, "Even people who've killed others so easily it was almost a hobby?" but found that he couldn't do so partly because he thought it wouldn't go down well, and also due to his throat being uncomfortably dry. He reached out for his glass of water.

"Marlene tends to get on with the older guys," Tifa continued, ducking under the counter to get something and then straightening up again. "I mean, she sticks with Cloud a lot, but he's out most of the time."

Yazoo set his glass down, staring back at her. It might just have been his mind playing games with him, but he swore that for the smallest of moments, Tifa sounded quite hurt. Perhaps the content smile that was always on her face was merely a disguise that she put on around the children. Yazoo ought to know what facial disguises looked like from his own experience. He had hidden himself behind a cool exterior, and Kadaj, Yazoo could tell, was a nervous wreck beneath the smug, contemptuous expression he had grown to master.

"If you want, you can help me unwrap these glasses." Tifa gestured to a box of new drinking glasses in front of her. "I've had to restock because quite a few broke in the brawl last night."

Yazoo looked up in time to see Tifa's casual look, as though brawls were an everyday thing. Ultimately though, he failed to cover up his stunned expression, and Tifa handed him a glass that was in bubblewrap.

"Don't worry, it's nothing I can't handle." Her eyes displayed nonchalance. "If it gets too much, Cloud usually sorts them out."

"But you should see her fight!" Marlene had somehow got herself to stand by Yazoo's elbow without him actually noticing her. He took a few seconds to regain his composure, and watched as she jabbed the air with balled fists. "Tifa does martial arts. She's really tough."

Yazoo fingered the bubblewrap of the glass, choosing not to help with the unwrapping. He already knew this. Loz had told him after his encounter with her in the church how she had put up a good fight, how unexpected it was for him to actually face her.

Something suddenly clicked.

He knew he had seen Marlene somewhere! He stared at her as though he'd only just noticed she was there. Tifa stopped with her unwrapping, looking between the two.

"You…you were with Loz, weren't you?" Yazoo said hoarsely. He remembered how she had clung to the oldest brother whilst Kadaj carried out his speech. Yazoo, who at the time hadn't felt much whilst in the company of his brothers, was now overwhelmed by their absence. He had at last remembered who Marlene was. He was gazing at the deep brown eyes that reflected nothing but innocence. But it didn't make him feel any closer to Loz.

"Your brother?" Marlene questioned. "Yes, I was."

Yazoo turned away, finding nothing else to say. The coaster caught his attention once more, and propping his head up with a hand, he allowed for his hair to conceal his disappointed face. Behind him, he could just about make out Vincent's deep voice struggling to be heard over Yuffie's ecstatic nattering, as well as several children calling to each other.

Marlene hadn't moved from next to him, choosing to remain there and eat her lunch standing up. It was almost as though she was waiting for another conversation to start up, and Yazoo thought that she ought to know by now that the clone tended to refrain from starting conversations. Yazoo lifted his head slightly so that he could see her. She stood amiably, her upper back leaning against the counter as she ate a snack Yazoo didn't recognise.

"They're yoghurt covered raisins." Tifa noticed where Yazoo was looking, and Marlene jiggled the packet slightly towards him. She was offering him a weird snack. Yazoo was feeling more awkward by the minute, and this feeling intensified by ten times as Marlene took his hand and tipped a generous amount of raisins into it. She then took the unwrapped glass Tifa had given to him and unpacked it herself, handing it back to the older woman.

Yazoo shifted his gaze away from Marlene and instead, looked at the raisins in his hand. They were already getting sticky in his palm. He made sure both Tifa and Marlene weren't looking before taking one in his fingers and putting it gingerly into his mouth. He chewed, wrinkled his nose and swallowed.

"Whaddaya think?"

Yazoo jumped, and in the process, nearly dropped the rest of the raisins. Yuffie grinned over at him, dragging Vincent by the arm. Yazoo noted that Vincent seemed determined in meeting no one's gaze.

"They're not bad, are they?" Yuffie winked at him. "Having them coated with sugary yoghurty stuff defeats the prospect of them being healthy – they're raisins after all – but they're great, right?"

Yazoo was struggling to keep up with what she was saying, and unsurprisingly, found himself without words. Before, he rarely spoke because he didn't need to. And now, he was going to have to learn how to be social fast.

"You can have some more if you want," Marlene said. She reached for Yazoo's open palm, but before she could tip more into his hand, Vincent came to Yazoo's rescue and placed his good hand on Marlene's shoulder.

"Let him finish the others first. Save the rest for someone else."

"Ooh, I think Vinnie's trying to hint that he wants some." Yuffie crossed her arms smugly. Yazoo watched as Tifa laughed in Vincent's direction, as the red caped man muttered something inaudible. Marlene was clinging to him, waving the snack whilst Yuffie perched on a barstool with a triumphant air (which, Yazoo noted, she seemed to have all the time), one leg crossed over the other.

He felt the familiar feeling of being an intruder on this happy household, and it deepened as the door to 7th Heaven swung open to bring in a chilly wind and, in Yazoo's unwavering opinion, impending doom.

Azure eyes studied the bar, taking no notice of the clone sat at the counter with Tifa leaning on it opposite him. Then, Cloud Strife took several steps into the room, meeting Tifa's gaze.

"Any luck?" she said, much like how she had done before. The children sat at the other table were blissfully absorbed in their own conversation, but save for that, everyone else had fallen silent, including Yuffie.

It was either Yazoo's own interpretation, or Cloud really did look uncomfortable for a moment, as though torn between two things and having a bit of a problem in making a decision, for his brow crinkled, and his weight shifted from foot to foot.

Finally, he looked up at Yazoo. A mixture of anger, apology and discomfort was displayed in those blue eyes of his. Yazoo found himself staring back with the same emotions. He was seeing kindness that Cloud had had all along - had he been imagining their hate for each other? Was it just him who had been hating his brother, Cloud, and led to believe there was a non existant friction between them?

An odd connection erupted between them, and a small smile lit up Cloud's face as he said, "Found him."

A/N: There you go, take your guess in who Cloud found. I'm sorry for the late update by the way – I have really stressy teachers at the moment because we have exams coming up, and obviously, results affect how much their bonus is :)

Anyways, here comes the usual reminder for you to review – seriously, it doesn't hurt :)