Chapter 3 – Pirate Cloud

It was 7:30 that morning in Radiant Garden and Yuffie was plotting. Aerith was downstairs cooking breakfast, Cid was typing away at his computer checking the various heartless levels and infestations, and Cloud, poor unsuspecting Cloud, was still sound asleep in her doll house in the pyjamas that she had made for him. He looked so adorable in the overly large shirt with the huge buttons! It was quite cute really.

Holding up the outfit she'd chosen for Cloud to wear for the day, she grinned her evil grin and waited for the blond the wake up by himself. Or maybe she'd just wake him up because she could. Either way, today was going to be fun.

Leon walked into the house at about four o'clock that afternoon. He was tired from the three days travel and having to fight the odd heartless that showed up. Dropping his gunblade by the front door, the brunette walked into the kitchen to find Aerith making kebabs for dinner. The only problem with the kebabs she was currently skewering was that they were toothpicks. "… Hi."

Aerith's head shot up in surprise. "Oh! You're back! You look exhausted. Sit down and I'll make you something. Coffee?"

"Please," he confirmed with a nod and moved forward to investigate the tiny kebabs amongst the normal sized ones. Holding one of the tiny kebabs at eye level, Leon twirled the toothpick slowly, confusion flowing through him. "Why?" he asked eventually and held the kebab out to Aerith so she would know what he was talking about.

"They're for Cloud," the older woman answered seriously, like nothing was amiss.

Leon looked at her curiously. What had he missed while he'd been gone for three days? "Cloud?" What had the bizarre blond done this time? He hoped it wasn't some random diet thing that he had heard about and wanted to try.

"Well, you know, he can't eat normal sized kebabs and I don't want him to feel left out," Aerith answered as she gave Leon his coffee and sat down to continue skewering meat onto the toothpicks.

Leon blinked and frowned, eyeing off the miniature kebabs again as he put the one he was holding down and took his coffee in two hands. Maybe Cloud had decided to do something weird… like try a new diet that had been thrown at him from the side of the road. "Maybe you'd better tell me what's been going on."

Aerith looked up at the man in front of her in confusion before understanding swept across her face. "Oh… oh, I'm so sorry! I forgot you didn't know." She put the now finished tooth pick kebab on the tray with the rest of the kebabs and faced Leon seriously. "Cloud has-"

"Leon!" Yuffie squealed as she burst through the kitchen door. "You're back!" Launching herself at the older man, the boat she was holding and the doll in the boat went flying out of her hands and arched up into the air.

"Catch him!" Aerith screamed and on instinct Leon lunged for the doll before it could hit the floor.

Yuffie caught herself before she could crash into Leon and both she and Aerith ran around the bench. "I'm so sorry! Are you okay Cloud?" the younger girl wailed as she clutched at Leon's arm and stared in distress at the doll in Leon's hand.

Leon blinked and looked at the doll for the first time in detail. His eyes went wide as he took in the slowly moving blond haired fighter that was looking rather green. Aerith leaned closer and watched him with a concerned look. "Are you alright Cloud?"

"Gonna… be sick…" he managed to choke out and suddenly Cloud was gone from Leon's hands, into Aerith's and was carted across the kitchen to the sink where the shrunk blond promptly vomited into said sink.

The blond fighter leant back once he was done and lay down on the cold stainless steel metal beneath him. There was the sound of running water through his somewhat fogged brain as the last of the nausea dissipated. "Um…Cloud?" a deep voice spoke up and said blond opened his eyes to look up at the approaching brunette male.

"Hey Leon," he greeted with a quiet moan. "Welcome back."

"Um… can I…?" he asked hesitantly as he reached for the pale blond.

Cloud grunted his consent. "But no rocking otherwise I'm going to be sick again."

Leon nodded and carefully scooped the limp fighter up. The brunette raised an eyebrow at the puffy pirates' uniform the blond was dressed in. It was a little big but fitted him nicely otherwise. The coat was a dark blue with a gold collar and buttons on it. There was a frilly ruffle down his chest and what looked like a white silk shirt underneath. The pants were fairly plain blue, the same deep colour as the coat, and looked like they were cotton. Turning to look at Aerith, Leon had curiosity written across every inch of his face. "Maybe you'd better explain what's happened," he suggested.

Aerith nodded. "Good idea. Cloud, do you want a drink of something?"

"Water," he moaned and covered his eyes with his arm. She quickly complied. "Thanks," he croaked when she handed him a plastic container full of water. It was a cylinder shape and from Cloud's sitting position on Leon's hands, it sat between his legs and reached just above chin height. Half of the container was gone within a few seconds.

Leon walked back over to the bench and sat down, placing Cloud and his cup carefully onto the bench. "I'm so sorry Cloud, are you okay?" Yuffie whimpered and reached for the blond. He hissed at her and she backed off.

"It's alright Yuffie. Just give him some time to calm down," Aerith soothed and rubbed her on the back. "Why don't you go and put your boat away?"

Yuffie sniffed and nodded, wiping her eyes. "Okay." She picked her boat up and left the room.

All three watched her go, a pair of blue eyes more warily than the others. You know she didn't mean it Cloud," Aerith soothed.

Said blond sighed heavily. "I know, but she could have killed me Aerith."

"I know…"

"As much as I'd like to join in on this conversation, can I get some answers please?" Leon asked impatiently as he crossed his arms.

"Sorry Leon. I suppose we should start from the beginning shouldn't we," Aerith murmured and Leon nodded.

By the time Aerith had finished explaining, Leon was looking at a flushed Cloud with both eyebrows raised. "So we don't know if or when this spell will wear off?"

"No."

"Damn… is your sword still out in the Bailey Cloud?" The blond nodded. "Come on then. Do you know where Cid is?" he asked Aerith.

"Upstairs taking a nap I think."

"Come on Cloud. Let's go get Yuffie and Cid so we can get your sword inside." Leon picked the blond up, placed him on his shoulder, drained his coffee cup and handed it to Aerith with a "thanks," and then walked out of the room, Cloud holding onto strands of Leon's hair to keep himself from tumbling off the brunette's shoulder. Banging on Cid's door loudly, Leon opened it and almost walked into a staggering upright Cid. "Come on, let's go get Cloud's sword before it rusts."

"Jeeze… no hello or anything. Welcome back ice prince," Cid grumbled as Leon and Cloud left the room.

The pair walked down to Yuffie's room and Leon knocked on the door. "Yuffie, grab your weapons and meet us downstairs."

There was a sniffled "okay," and Leon walked away in satisfaction.

"Two minutes Yuffie!" he called over his shoulder as Cid emerged from his room, still half asleep and armed. Walking downstairs, Leon grabbed his gunblade, made sure it was loaded and that Cloud was out of the way before swinging it onto his back.

Yuffie walked down the stairs just as Leon was adjusting the leather gloves on his hands. "Ready?" Cid asked and she nodded.

"Bye Aerith!" Yuffie called and the group walked out the front door.

As the crisp wind hit Cloud and cut straight through the clothes he was wearing, the blond was suddenly very glad for the fur lining he was sitting on and snuggled in closer to Leon's neck, slipping down the crevice between the neck lining of the jacket and Leon's neck.

"You right there?" Leon asked in mild amusement as he felt Cloud making himself comfortable.

"Cold," the blond announced and half crawled under Leon's jacket.

Leon shook his head. "Alright, fine. Just no burrowing under my shirt."

The blond glared up at the brunette's ear. "I'm not a rat Leon."

"You sure? You look like one." Cloud planted a solid kick to Leon's neck. "Ow!"

"Payback."

"You're forgetting who's carting you around here," Leon growled. "I could just as easily dump you with Yuffie."

The blond bristled. "You wouldn't."

"Watch me," came the smug reply.

Cloud, despite having many creative things to say, sat back and shut up as Cid and Yuffie led the way to Cloud's sword.

Sighing once they reached the giant Buster sword, Yuffie taking out the odd heartless that popped up, Leon contemplated how to move the gigantic sword back to their house. "How do you want to do this?" the brunette asked, turning to face the older man.

"You take the sharp end and I'll take the handle. You've got gloves and I haven't."

"Okay." They both moved to their respective ends and bent to pick up the massive sword. "Ready? One… two… three!" they both heaved upwards at the same time and Cloud squeaked as he got squished.

Crawling out of his warm hidey hole, Cloud staggered and fell as the two men began moving. "Whoa… shit!"

There was a loud clanging as Leon dropped his end of the sword to catch the miniature blond as he plummeted to the cold stone below. "Cloud…"

"Sorry!" he squeaked at his growled name. "It wasn't intentional! You were squishing me!"

Staring unreadably down at the small blond in his hands, his eyes narrowed in on the wide blue ones and made a decision. "Yuffie?"

"Ya?" she popped up beside the brunette with a grin.

Cloud's eyes narrowed dangerously. "You wouldn't," he hissed.

Leon, not listening at all, dropped Cloud into her belt pocket. "Hold him for me will you? And don't drop him."

"Leon!"

"Yes sir!" she answered with an even wider grin and moved away from the duo.

Turning back to the large sword with a smirk, he bent down and picked it up again. Cid just raised an eyebrow as they started moving. "You're plotting something, aren't you," he muttered.

Leon just shrugged. "He needs to get over his fear of being killed my Yuffie in that form."

Cid smirked as Cloud squawked indignantly as Yuffie tried to shove him into the breast pocket on her jacket. Leon just shook his head as a rather heated argument start up. This was going to be one very long and interesting walk home.

Squally came home today! I haven't gotten a picture of him and Cloudy together yet, but it's coming! *Evil grin*Doesn't Cloudy look so good in his pirate outfit? I swear, he looks good in almost anything! Anyway, I'm going to bed. It's been a long day. Stay tuned and I bet you can't wait for what I've planned for tomorrow. I certainly can't!

Later!

Greatestninjaever~!


Well, here's another chapter. :) For those of you that are confused, the doll house Cloud is living in isn't a toy doll house - it's a competition doll house that stands at about a meter and and half to two meters. Look them up! There are some amazing houses. :) People put a lot of effort into them, and yes, you can get electric lights and things in a doll house. There are examples of it on the web. :) Yuffie just has a slightly more advanced version of the doll houses people can create today. They take a long time to make, and you don't throw them out easily, or sell them.

Anyway, I'll stop munching at your brains with new information, and I shall hopefully get the next chapter up tomorrow. It's not quite done, so please don't hassle me if it's not up on time. I shall be working on it tonight though. Have a good night everyone!