Title: Love is a Virtue; Jealousy, a Vice.

Pairings: Squall/Cloud unrequited (now angry) Zax/Cloud and Reno/Cloud

Summary: Cloud has always had an antisocial streak, preferring to stick to groups of people he knows he can trust. However, when he goes away to an elite prep school for the summer he finds it difficult to maintain that streak, especially when he finds himself in the company of his rival school.

Warnings: Pg-13, Slight cursing and naughty thoughts about an oblivious blond. This is shonen-ai, but may be bumped up in later chapters.

Side note: The original of this chapter was scrapped, so this is chapter eleven, version two. I hope everyone enjoys. Thanks Na-Chan, that top picture with Kadaj in panties really helped out in this chapter. Whenever I felt really slow, I'd look at it and giggle insanely and that look on Sephiroth's face is priceless. This capter was edited again, by the way, on 8.5.06 so this is now version three. Everything fits better nowwith the next chapter.

Disclaimer: I wish I owned all the final fantasies but I don't. I'm not making any profit, and am purely letting out my inner joy at exams being over with by writing a Squall/Cloud fan fiction because it seems like there isn't enough here…either that, or I'm completely missing them.

Chapter eleven: Untrustworthiness is a Vice

Rikku Highwind was pretty and smart; two traits that resulted in instant popularity at school. So when she heard the chime of a cell phone, she immediately thought it was for her and took the call out of habit. No thoughts on how it was Yuffie's cell phone crossed her mind as she said into the receiver, "Hello?"

"Yuffie, I've got a big-"

Rikku chuckled, "Oh hey, Lovely. Whatcha' up to?"

"Rikku?"

"That's my name." The blonde stretched in her chair, arms raised to the hotel's ceiling with the cell phone balanced just right between shoulder and ear.

"Rikku, listen. I need to speak with Yuffie."

"Aw, what's a matter? You don't want to talk to me?" The girl pouted, her cherry lip gloss making her lips glisten.

"Just put Yuffie on; it's an emergency."

Rikku rolled her eyes. Cloud was so melodramatic sometimes. Because really, who would want to talk to her cousin Yuffie in an emergency? "Alright, alright; I'll go find her. Give me a minute, m'kay?"

Getting up from the breakfast table, Rikku excused herself to her father, Cid Highwind, and went in search of her cousin. Yuffie Kisaragi wasn't her cousin by blood, but by the ties their ancestors forged. To sum it up, the Kisaragi family and Highwind family are very close that the line between friends and relatives is very thin.(1)

"Yuffie," Rikku knocked on the door, "it's breakfast time and Cloud's on the phone." The blonde knocked again when she wasn't answered.

Angry muttering and a few choice curses could be heard coming from the other side of the thick, wooden door.

Insistent knocking this time, before, "I have your phone, Yuffie, and I think Cloud sounds like he's going to have a conniption, or something." Bringing the phone to her ear, "Hey, Cloud, is this really important?"

"Just get her on the phone."

"Alright, alright, fine."

Rolling her eyes, Rikku resorted to desperate measures, "Yuffie Kisaragi, if you don't come out here right now and talk to your boyfriend, than I'm not taking you to see my Yunie or her boyfriend."

The door opened and the cell was immediately taken.

"I don't know what I did, Yuf'." Cloud said for the hundredth time.

Yuffie sat at the table in the dinning hall, her cousin was to the left finishing off breakfast. Their fathers had left them sometime ago. "Now, Cloudy, explain to me again what's been going on?"

A sigh and then, "Since Saturday morning, Reno and Zax have stopped talking to me. And that thing with Squall…why is my life so messed up?" Groaning from the other end, now, "I hate this summer."

Yuffie made noises of sympathy.

Rikku looked curiously at her brunette cousin, stabbing a piece of toast and eating it off the fork. "What's going on?" She mouthed, crumbs falling onto the white tablecloth.

Taking a napkin, she wrote boy troubles on it with a hotel pen and passed it to her blonde cousin. Using the time Cloud took to explain the situation again, Yuffie snatched a slice of toast from Rikku's plate and earned a sour look.

"…and then he kissed me! So I punched him, and he just had the nerve to walk away. No apologies or even a, 'hell, I'm gay, are you gay? Let's be gay together!'"

Shaking her head, "You hit him?"

"Only in the face and then-"

"Wait just one moment here, Lovely. Didn't I tell you to play nice with the other kiddies?"

Somewhere, between the beginning and end of Yuffie's sentence, Rikku had positioned herself closer to the cell phone in Yuffie's hand so she could hear the conversation.

"But you also told me to hit back if I was harassed!"

"How does being kissed by some hot guy equal harassment?" Yuffie shouted into the phone's receiver.

The blond that lived in the room next to Yuffie's walked by, pilfering a slice of toast from Rikku's dish and sitting down in a vacant chair.

Turning her head to look at him, she glared. "Why do people like eating my toast? And-" Rikku pushed his feet off the table, "get your feet off the table Gippal!"(2)

"But Cid's girl, come on!" Gippal ruffled Rikku's hair playfully, small pieces of hair coming undone from the carefully braided hairstyle.

She batted him away, "I have a name you know."

"Will you two just shut up?"

The two blonds blinked at Yuffie, then at each other. Okay, whatever.

Yuffie felt like smacking them. Gippal and Rikku were the perfect couple; both stubborn and equally childish. All Gippal had going for him was his dashing good looks, and to think, Yuffie had stalk-err, studied him in hopes that he was single only to find out that he was taken…by her cousin, no less. "Okay, Lovely," she went back into her conversation with her best friend, "tell me again, why did he kiss you?"

"If I knew that, do you think I'd be calling you?"

"Ouch, that hurt, Lovely." That was her Cloudy, skittish and defensive and sarcastic whenever the concept of love was brought up…

"It was meant to."

"You're so mean to your Yuf'," she faked a sob. Gippal and Rikku stared at her in puzzlement so she mouthed, "Cloudy's freaking out; don't worry, as soon as he gets some sort of action, or something, he should be just fine."

"Oh," the two mouthed back, nodding in agreement.

"Well, Lovely, I really have to go."

"What! You can't go, not yet. Not until you fix this!"

Yuffie blinked, a bit confused. "Why do I have to fix this?"

"Because you're the one that planted the seeds!"

"Seeds? But I don't even like gardening…"

Banging sounds were heard over the line. Several thunks and thwaps later, "Let me reword that. You planted the seeds, as in, you're the one that first made me question my sexuality!"

Oh, so that's what he meant. "Lovely, I'm one-hundred percent supportive of your choices, but let's not make me look like the bad guy, err, girl here."

"I hate you…"

He… he hated her? "B-but, Lovely! How can you be so cruel," At that, Yuffie started to sob for real, her hazel glistening as tears collected.

Rikku grabbed the phone, "I don't know what you just said to my cousin, Cloud Strife, but you better say you're sorry right now or I'll hunt you down and do…and do…um, mean things to you!"

"Not until after she apologizes," was the childish comeback, "she started it."

"Arugh, I hate men!" Rikku slammed the cell phone down on the table, right next to some unused silverware, causing the new black plastic cover to whiten in one spot from the force.

Yuffie was still crying. Her Lovely had said he hated her with such vehemence and it hurt. I blame it on hormones, she thought, laughing bitterly. My life is so fucked up right now, that I wish I could just complain to Cloudy, much like he does to me, so he knows how it feels. The light made the pretty jewel in her friendship bangle sparkle as she rubbed her eyes, her body shaking slightly.

Cloud glared childishly at his wall as if it was to blame. The conversation between Yuffie and himself had been cut off by shock the brunette's cell phone had received.

This was all so messed up! The blond sat up on the bed and threw his pillow angrily at his roommate's bed. Reno hadn't been back to the room in days, five to be precise, and neither had Zax. Cloud had seen them in the educational building's hallways, had even called out to them, but they ignored him, finding some excuse to not meet his eyes, or to walk away.

This was terrible. He missed the white noise that accompanied sleeping in the same room with another person, and he hated that his cell phone wasn't an adequate alarm clock. But what Cloud missed the most overall, was Zax and Reno.

What did he do to cause Zax and Reno to ignore him like the plague? Was it that he pretended to be sick? That he was semi gay? Even if he didn't want to admit it, that kiss was a hell of a lot different from the one he shared with Yuffie at Rikku's Halloween party. Or maybe, just maybe, they found out about how he went behind their backs and enjoyed being in the company of a rival school?

Cloud shook his head at the last theory, blond spikes getting in his face; it couldn't be that, Axel was the only one that knew about it and it wasn't like he would tell…or would he? Damn, this was all too confusing! So many possibilities, but yet none of them actually seemed to fit! That is it. Cloud was going to apologize, for what he didn't know, but he was and it would be a damn good one.

It was after lunch now. He'd do it in Psychology class, which would take place in half an hour. At least Zax and Reno couldn't avoid him then since they took the class together. Deciding that he was brave enough to do it, he picked up his cell phone. He really should apologize to Yuffie; it really wasn't her fault…okay, well some of was her fault, but it wasn't enough of her fault to get angry like that.

Pressing the number five, speed dial was so nifty, he hit send. The phone rang several times and Cloud held his breath, going over a few lines that worked well in situations like these. Most of the lines were from old romance movies, what the hero says to the girl which makes her swoon in his arms, or from the cheesy horror flicks he watched with Vincent. The latter would only be used as a back up, just in case Yuffie found out how to shock him through the phone line, and for comedic relief. Because really, nothing makes a girl laugh like Dracula's line, 'I never drink wine', done in that old, equally cheesy accent.

"Cloud Strife, I don't think my cousin wants to talk to you right now."

The blond shifted uncomfortably. Rikku wasn't his most favorite person in the world. "Listen; tell Yuffie that I'm sorry, okay?" He asked in a mollifying voice.

He heard comforting murmurs over the phone, most likely from Rikku, and seconds later, Yuffie was placed on the line. "What do you want," she asked, voice cracking slightly.

He hadn't meant to make her feel that badly, "I'm sorry, Yuf," he said, the start of many apologies he'd be making today, "I didn't mean it." Cloud groaned inwardly. Great, he sounded like such a sap.

The sound of small sniffles now. "Go on," she said quietly.

Go on? Oh, time to use one of those one-liners… "I nerva drink blaud…" Okay, well the accent could have been better. And what made him do Dracula anyway? It must have been nostalgia; thinking of Vincent always made him think stupid things. The thinking, this time, just got vocalized.

The girl on the other end was silent.

"You know…Dracula? Okay, how about I try again…Dirty Dancing, 'nobody puts Baby in the corner'?" he hoped that would at least get him a laugh.

It failed.

Banging his head against the wall, he made the dents from before bigger. If he kept this up for a while, maybe he'd pass out in a coma and he wouldn't have to face Zax and Reno, and Yuffie would feel, uh, guilty? Great plan, just keep hitting; Cloud banged his head against the wall again.

Small noises from his phone made him stop. Holding the cell up to his ear, he felt dizzy. Okay, bad idea to hit head repeatedly against wall.

"Lovely, alright, I forgive you…don't know why, but I don't want to be the cause of you going all emo on me and jumping off the building, or doing other self harming things."

Blue lit up with hope. "You forgive me?"

"Yeah, don't know why, but if you ever make me feel that bad again I'll dig into my secret stash of blackmail pictures and get them on the school newspaper…front page."

"Alright, that sounds fair." Cloud winced though at the thought of the school seeing that picture with him wearing the bunny suit.

"I'll tell you what I'm gonna' do, though. Give me that, uh, Irvine? Yes, Irvine. Give me his number, 'kay?"

Cloud said, a bit suspicious, "What do you need that for?"

"Just trust me."

"I don't know."

"Just give me his damn number."

"Okay, okay." Cloud's fingers pressed several buttons on his phone in precise order, the key pad lighting up at each time. Pulling up his address book, he read the number to his brunette friend.

Yuffie wrote down the number, twirling the pen when she finished, "Okay, I'll call you back later. Bye, Lovely." Her cell phone clicked as she closed it.

"Feeling better?" Gippal asked, his feet subtly coming to rest back up on the breakfast table. It was a good thing that the hotel's dinning area was nearly empty; it would have disgusted the other guests, and most hotel workers, to see the virgin white table cloth become dirtied by Gippal's boots.

Yuffie nodded, giving them an a-okay sign. "I'm gonna' go up to my room for a little while, okay?"

"Fine, just don't forget about practice this afternoon."

"Okay, practice. I won't forget it." She turned around on her heels, and walked out of the spacious room.

Behind her, Rikku shouted, "Get your feet off the table!"

Selphie squealed in delight, picking up her boyfriend's cell and answering it. "Hello?" She said cheerfully, kicking her feet back and forth as she lay on Irvine's bed.

"Um, hello," the voice responded, equally filled with cheer, "is Irvine there?"

The hyper active brunette jaw dropped. Some girl was calling her Irvine? "Who are you?" She asked, voice now cold, all cheer replaced by jealousy.

"Uh, my name's Yuffie…you wouldn't know me, but I'm a friend of Cloud."

Oh, Cloud! Well, that made everything better! "Oh, how's he doing?" Her voice retuned to its normally cheerful tone. Nothing could be better in life, she thought, smiling as she imagined the surprised look on her Irvine's handsome face. Sure, it took her forever to sweet talk the residential manager into letting her into the building; if the Garden wasn't an all male school, she would have signed up immediately. Hell, it wasn't her fault that she was able to bear children!

"Not to good actually, and who are you?"

"Selphie," the girl responded automatically, " Irvine's lovely, and charming, girlfriend."

"Nice to meet you, do you think I could speak with him for a moment?"

Selphie pouted, "Tell me what's the matter with Cloud first."

"Uh, well…I think it's personal."

"Aw, please?" She used that whine that made Irvine go head over heels to please her. It worked other people too, all a part of her charm.

"Okay, I guess it wouldn't hurt. Some guy kissed him and now he's having kittens."

He's having kitties? Kitties were so fluffy and cute and when they purred they rattled! Wait, did she say kiss? "Some guy kissed him?"

"Uh, yeah, Squall, I think."

"Ah ha!" Waving her arms in excitement, she let out a squeal, "I knew it! Rinoa turned him gay! That's why he wouldn't stop staring at Cloud!" Selphie bounced on Irvine's bed in excitement. The covers were becoming mussed and the neighbors banged on the wall, telling her to keep quiet with her boyfriend.

"Yup, but I think he just scared Lov- err, Cloud."

"I can see how that would happen," she brought her hand to her chin in a thoughtful pose, "he's very excitable, isn't he."

The two sounded like they were discussing some sort of animal, and not some poor blond. So when Irvine walked through the door, his look was more quizzical than surprised. "Selphie, Darling, who're you talking to?" The school bag he was carrying was thrown to the corner and Irvine joined his girlfriend on the bed.

Temporarily forgetting Yuffie, she latched onto his arm, " Irvine, honey," she rubbed her face against his arm. Hers and no one else's!

Irvine received the attention with enthusiasm, meanwhile stealing his cell phone back. "Hello?"

"You must be Irvine! I'm Yuffie, Cloud's friend!"

Cloud's friend? Oh right, okay, whatever. "Okay, he gave you my number then?"

"Yup, and I wanna' know what happened between him and Squall Friday night."

As Selphie kept rubbing up against him, Irvine asked, "What do you mean, 'what happened'? Nothing happened."

The brunette in his arms giggled, "Squally got some action!"

He got what! The brunet gently pushed Selphie from him, "What are you talking about, Darling?"

She rolled her eyes at him. Boys were so clueless sometimes. "Squally," she began, feeling a bit lightheaded from the boy on boy news, "kissed Cloud! Isn't that fantastic?"

Oh… "He kissed him?" Irvine said into the phone, hitting the speaker button so his girlfriend could hear too.

"Yes, and now Cloud is-"

"Having kittens!" Selphie finished.

"Okay… Squall didn't tell me about that."

"What I want to know," the voice was clear over the phone's speaker, "is what happened to cause that and how were going to fix this so that both parties are happy, 'cause Cloud isn't very happy. Most likely Squall isn't either, Lov-err, Cloud did hit him…"

He hit him? Irvine and Selphie looked at each other in surprise. So that's how Squall got that bruise on his face.

And here I thought he would tell me everything, Irvine felt down before remembering why he had come back to his room with out Squall…speaking of injuries, "Shit, sorry, Darling. I gotta' go and check up on Squall." He handed the phone back to her.

"What, but why?" She pouted; this was supposed to be a special visit and her boyfriend walking out on her was not part of it.

"Training accident: Seifer got Squall's face with one of those new swords.(3)" Grabbing a change of clothes from Squall's dresser, good thing they were roommates, he went to the door. Before he left he called out, "Sorry, Darling, but I only was supposed to be getting him some new clothes; the blood got all over the place."

He left after that, Selphie calling after him, "Tell him I hope he feels better!"

"Huh? What happened?" The speaker on the phone was still on.

"It's just the boys messing around with their swords."

"Oh, well, do you know what happened?"

"Seifer, Squall's frequent sparring partner-"

"I meant with Squall and Cloud."

"To put it simply, Irvy and I tried to, uhem, push Cloud and Squall together?"

"And?"

"Oh, it was really fun!" Selphie bounced on the bed again, fixing Irvine's askew coy boy hat mid jump. "See, Squally broke up with Rinoa, nice girl but far too clingy at times. Well, it's better to say that she broke up with him because he wasn't clingy backHe really liked her. And then, well, I only noticed it when I met Cloud, but Irvine told me that when Squall first met Cloud they had this freakish staring thing going on-"

"Hehe, I think I know what you're talking about. Cloud sent me this lovely message questioning his sexuality!"

"He did not!"

"He so did!"

Stars were in Selphie's eyes, "So cute!"

"I know! Do you think this was a building thing or just a spontaneous thing from Squall's end?"

Nodding her head, "It built up, thanks to Irvy and me of course. On Friday, we sort of dropped lots of hints and stuff to Squall that Cloud liked him and vice versa! Squall must've taken the initiative! He's so demanding, hey, do you think they'll let us take pictures?"

"Depends, they're not actually in a relationship and he did push Cloud away…"

Grinning in a somewhat conniving manner, Selphie replied, "We'll just have to do something about that, won't we?"

Side notes:

(1): Ever have one of those really close friends who you share everything with? You're so close to them that their family is practically yours and vice versa? That's the way it is with Rikku and Yuffie; their families are so close that they've grown up with each other, much like sisters, only they don't live together so it's more like cousins.

(2): We find out who the blond is…Gippal! I just love him to death. He's so suave and kinda' reminds me of Irvine sometimes.

(3): Just incase no one realizes this, but none of the boys have their trademark scars…yet. Reno doesn't have his, and nether does Seifer and Squall. And Gippal still has an eye, by the way.

Next chapter, Cloud apologizes, Rufus comes back into the picture to cheer him up, and Yuffie and Selphie play around with our impressionable boys' minds.

I'd also like to take a moment to thank everyone who's reviewed and read the story up to this part. I'm thinking you'll all like the end, and already I can hear the sounds of a much dirtier sequel. To those that wanted to hurt me for the ending of last chapter, there is a very lovely story, check my profile, called A Natural (rated M). It has SquallxCloud and ZaxxCloud. Cough…cough…don't hurt me?