Don't Ever Leave Me
Yay! Here's another chapter for y'all. I know that's it's been a while and I'm sorry, but this is the first time I've been near a computer with internet, so like I promised I'm updating.
This chapter isn't very long but it's something and I hope you guys like it. So I'm going to stop my blabbering so that y'all can read what I've got for you. Hope y'all like it. : )
Chapter Fourteen
Cloud awoke the next morning to smoke wafting into his face, awaking him from a dead sleep.
He sat up slowly and waved his hand in front of his face to clear the smoke, so he wouldn't keep choking on it.
'What's going on is there a fire?' Cloud thought as he looked around.
When he spotted the fire from last night, or what was left of it, he saw Reno dumping dirt over it.
"What are you doing?" Cloud asked.
Reno looked up surprised. As if he hadn't expected that to wake up the blond. How could it have not of?
"Putting out the fire; I was just about to wake you." The red-head said as he dumped another load of dirt over the pit to make sure that it was out.
"You should have woken me up sooner." Cloud complained as he stretched his tired muscles to wakefulness.
"Well I just got up not long ago either, so it's fine. Just get ready so that we can move out." Reno said as he stomped the pile of dirt.
Cloud didn't argue with him anymore, he just sighed and looked around instead.
The sun still hadn't risen past the horizon, so it was still pretty dark, but Cloud could see from the faint glow. He saw that all of Reno's things were packed up already, that Reno had changed back into his now dry uniform, and that the red-head was lying to him.
But why was he lying to him, that's the only thing that he couldn't see. There was no reason for him to lie about whether he just got p or not. It wasn't important.
Cloud took a deep breath and pushed the thought of asking Reno about it away. It would just cause another problem between them. It still bothered Cloud that he lied though. They were supposed to friends.
"Fine…" Cloud said in a detached voice as he stood up and stretched again. It always felt good to stretch in the morning.
The blond went to his bag and grabbed a rag and his toothbrush. Next he walked the short distance over to the river and knelt down beside it.
He sat his toothbrush beside him on the grass and kept the rag. He hated this part; the water was always so cold. He dunked the rag into the water and felt a chill run up his arm and to the rest of his body. Pulling the rag out once it was wet enough, he rung the access water free and dreaded the next part. If having just his hands in it was that cold, did he really want to put it on the rest of his body?
Cloud sighed and decided to just get it over with. He didn't want to stink like a mountain man, and he would if he didn't clean himself. Already shivering from what he knew he had to do, Cloud began to run the cloth over his already grimy skin. He felt a shiver run up his spine and began to rush to get it over with.
The reason why it wasn't good to smell out here was because it would begin to attract the wrong kinds of company, ant that wasn't a good thing.
When he was done torturing himself he set the rag down and grabbed his toothbrush. Cloud hated the feeling of an un-brushed mouth, especially with morning mouth, and if he could help he wouldn't have one.
Finishing Cloud dumped the old water from his canteen and refilled it with fresh clean water, before heading back to the camp site.
When he got back he saw that Reno was nowhere in sight, but Cloud didn't pay it much attention, he was probably going to the bathroom or something.
Cloud packed up all of his stuff and just as he was tying the tarp to the pack, Reno came through the brush looking out red in the face and out of breath.
"What happened?" Cloud asked worriedly, hoping that something hadn't gone wrong.
Reno shook his head, the blush on his cheeks spreading.
"I was just getting in some… exercise while you were cleaning up. It's fine." Reno said shrugging off the concern.
"Oh, okay then. Well," Cloud looked around making sure that had everything, "I'm ready. So let's get out of here before the sun gets too high up." He said as he put on his pack, waiting for Reno.
"Alright then let's get going." Reno said as he also slipped on his pack.
Cloud looked at the compass that was on his watch and pointed.
"We need to go this way." He said.
Reno didn't say anything; he just started walking in the direction that Cloud had pointed in.
Eight awkward hours later and they were close to their destination. They only had about a mile left and that was a cake walk compared to the rest that they had done.
They were so excited that they made it there in about fifteen minutes.
"Let's split up to see if we can find a good spot to set up camp. Reno said as he started walking away, without hearing Cloud's answer first. "Sound out off if you find anything and then meet back here. Pay attention to your surroundings and be careful. It's still daylight but some beasts are out during the day." He finished.
Cloud nodded.
"Alright, you be careful too." He said and took off in the opposite direction.
When they were both out of sight of each other, Cloud relaxed slightly as he searched.
He didn't know why he was so tense around Reno but it felt good not to be.
Cloud found a couple of places that looked alright but he decided to keep looking to see if he could find someplace better.
It was a good thing that he had.
Turns out that they were still by the river; there was the edge of the woods about ten feet off the bank and then about another ten feet into the woods and they had their spot.
There were these two great big trees that had sort of formed together from the bottom to about half way. At the base of the tree they had started to decay a bit, making a cave out of the trunk. It was big enough for the two of them with plenty of space left over, but it wasn't so bad that they had to worry about it falling over on them. It was perfect.
Cloud cupped his hands over his mouth and made a couple of bird calls to let Reno know that he had found one. He waited to hear a call back from the red-head before he started on his way back to where they had split up, making sure to keep track, so that he knew how to get back.
When he got back, Reno was already there and waiting for him.
"You found one?" Reno asked when he spotted Cloud coming out of the trees.
"Yeah, it's a really good spot too. Come on, I'll show you the way." Cloud said as he turned, waving his hand for Reno to follow him.
It took a bit to get there, but when Reno saw it he was in awe.
"Cloud this is really good. I don't want to give it up when we have to leave. We can even put the fire at the mouth so we don't have to worry about anything getting in." Reno said appraisingly.
Cloud blushed slightly and nodded.
"Yeah, I thought this one would be better than the other ones that I had found." He said.
Reno nodded.
"If you want to start getting the fire wood for the fire, I'll set up camp." He said.
"Alright." Cloud said.
As he began to gather wood, Reno went to the tree and began to set up. He laid the tarp on the ground and then put the sleeping bags down on top of that.
Cloud brought the fire wood back to the camp and started to set them up at the mouth of the entrance. He didn't want to light them yet though. They still had a couple of hours before the sun even began to go down and he didn't want to waste the wood.
Cloud looked for Reno and when he saw him still laying some stuff out he spoke up.
"I'm going to go get something for us to eat." Cloud said since he had nothing else to do. He palmed his pocket to make sure that he had the right knife and began to walk off.
Reno jerked his head up to look at the blond with wide eyes.
"No!"
Cloud looked at him confused at the outburst.
Reno sucked in a breath and then more calmly he spoke again.
"I mean, don't. I want to do it." The red-head said as he looked away from Cloud.
Cloud was still confused but oh well.
"Um… okay, that's fine. It just has to be done before it gets dark." Cloud said.
Reno nodded.
"I know. I'll be going now." The other man said as he grabbed his blade. "I'll be back before dark." Reno said and then left.
Cloud stared after the red-head in shock.
'What is going on with him?' Cloud thought.
Shiva this training session was going to be a long one if things kept going at this pace.
He hadn't been able to get Reno to open up much at all and it was so frustrating to the blond.
Cloud sighed going to go sit down on his sleeping bag and dropped his head into his open palms.
All the blond wanted was his friendship back. Besides Zack, Reno was the only one that he really talked to.
To get his mind off of Reno for the time being, Cloud busied himself with the herbs that he had gathered the day before.
They were finally dried out completely so that he could crush them to make the ointment.
Cloud grabbed a bowl from his pack and set the herbs in it. Next he grabbed his canteen and the other things that he was going to need to make this work. It would come in handy if either of them got hurt out here, since there would be no medical help till they got back to the facility.
The blond crossed his legs and then pulled the bowl there. He began to crush the plants into powder using a well-rounded rock that he had found close by.
Fortunately this was going to take some time. He had to make sure that there were no chunks left from the leaves. He had to make sure it was a fine powder before he could add anything else to it.
Unbeknownst to the blond though was that he had an audience.
O-okay, so here's chapter 14, finally, right? Y'all are going to like the next chapter, there is some smut, and though it may be solo it is there. And we finally get to know what's wrong with Reno! So y'all can stop hate'n me for keeping it a secret for so long… maybe.
*Hides in a corner with a shield hoping y'all don't kill me*
Okay so I'm working chapter 15 now and hope to have that up before I leave my Aunt's house.
Please review. I miss it. *heart*