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

Pairings: Squall/Cloud unrequited 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.

Side note: Okay, the end is well over 10,000 words so I've broken it up into three chapters. It took me forever mostly because I kept rewriting it, but everything manages to fall into place. Oh, and if you notice, discretion is a virtue, even if it isn't used properly at times.

Warnings: Pg-13, cursing and naughty thoughts about an oblivious blond. This is shonen-ai.

Chapter Fourteen: Discretion is a Virtue

Cloud stared in shock at the girl he was hugging. Yuffie's legs could only support her for so long though, and he felt himself sink to the earth with her.

"What in the world happened to you, Yuffie?" he asked, looking the girl over and noticing the muddied black clothing as well as the small scratches all over her arms.

Tugging on the ripped stretchy, black shirt fabric, Yuffie examined the large splotch of silver paint. Trying to put at least some humor in her voice, she avoided Cloud's question, saying, "This better come out, Lovely; it's new."

The blond frowned. Standing, he reached down and pulled Yuffie up. "Seriously, Yuffie," Cloud tried again, making his voice as gentle as possible, "what happened? You shouldn't even be here."

Whatever humor she had managed to bring up before was gone when she gave Cloud the most troubled look he had ever seen. "I'm in a lot of trouble," she admitted, fiddling with her bangle.

Looking down at his own bare wrist, Cloud felt his chest constrict with guilt at the thought of ignoring his friend. "What happened?"

Yuffie refused to meet his eyes any longer. Looking down at the ground, she said quietly, "Remember that rumor about my family coming from a long line of ninja thieves?" She didn't wait for him to answer, "It's true."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"I'm a thief, Lovely."

"Your ancestors were thieves; not you." Cloud affirmed.

The brunet girl blinked at her long time best friend. Did the boy have to completely oblivious to what was going on here? "Cloud," she said, refraining from using any nicknames, "I am a thief, as in, presently I just ran up to a very expensive shop and swiped something because that's how my family works! Do you still not get it, or do I need to get you picture cards?"

Cringing at Yuffie's harsh tone, Cloud shook his head quickly. "No, I-" he paused; his eyes going wide as he sharply turned his head to the left. "We'll finish this later."

His hand quickly latched onto Yuffie's bare forearm and he began to pull her a bit forcibly towards his previous hiding spot. She glared and tried to pull out of his grasp. Cloud only held on to her wrist more tightly; Yuffie's sniffled protest was cut short when a sudden snap was heard in the distance. They both turned their heads to the noise.

"What the hell is everyone doing out here, anyway?" she whispered, seeming to grasp the seriousness of the situation while allowing Cloud to pull her along now. She made a sound of disagreement though when Cloud began to get on his knees to crawl into the brush around them.

When they were fully hidden, Cloud tried to focus on the direction the sound had come from. It was too dark to see anything past the shadows of the trees, what little grass that was visible was illuminated by a half moon; it'd be pure luck again if he managed to hit anything by aiming at the sound. Waiting a while, he nudged Yuffie who leaned so she could better hear him, "It's for testing between the schools."

"Don't you boys have lives?" she asked.

Cloud ignored that the question was meant to be purely rhetoric, "You should talk."

"I'm trying to uphold my family's traditions," her voice rose in volume as she gave him a harsh poke to his side, "it's not my fault that-" another crack came from their left and Yuffie paled. "It feels like we're in a freaking horror movie," she murmured.

They needed to get out of here, and Cloud knew that even if it was a game, it was suspicious that there would be a girl with him when both schools were all male. Questions on who she was would be dangerous if Yuffie really had stolen something. He needed to get her out of here first. "You see where those trees are?" he pointed towards them.

Yuffie nodded and Cloud went on, making sure he kept his voice low. "On the count of three, run to them, keep running, and follow me. We should actually be near my residential building. " Ignoring Yuffie's questioning look he dug around in his pocket. Fishing out a key, he handed it to her, "my room number is on the key. I'll get you out of this forest."

"What about you?"

"I have to be out here and I need to find Zax and Reno. Ready?"

"Okay-" this time the snapping of foliage from underneath a boot wasn't the reason why Cloud and Yuffie looked surprised. Just feet away, someone in the dark was cursing, but Cloud wasn't going to take the chance of assuming it was someone from his side. Within seconds, he had risen from his crouched position, pulling Yuffie up with him; there was no count to three and, unfortunately, the noise that they made from tearing out of the brush caused the person to become more alert and begin shooting randomly in the dark.

Yuffie was stumbling with the force that Cloud was pulling her with to run faster, but they were nearly past those trees. She could feel the sharp pain from another paint caplet hitting her in the side. "Damn it," she cursed, her pace quickening a notch which caused Cloud to release her arm, "how come I'm always the one hit here?"

They brushed past the trees and Cloud took a sharp left. Yuffie followed at his heels. Cloud probably had seen a map to this forest, while she hadn't, so she didn't question his judgment when he took another sharp turn to the right. Of course, it was dark out...

The brambles that Cloud was leading them through scratched against her bare legs. Oh, why had she followed Rikku's advice and worn the stupid black tank and shorts? They weren't even protecting her from the cool night air.

After pushing through one particularly dense group of bushes, Yuffie immediately saw the building as she exited the forest. Cloud began to move away from her, entering the forest again. She stumbled for the first few steps of her run, getting used to the flat terrain she was on, but still managed to make it to the door of the building. Leaning against the brick exterior, Yuffie closed her eyes and tried to make her heartbeat and breathing calm down.

Her breath hitched, though, when she opened her eyes. Standing before her, in his white doctor coat with Paine by his side, Nooj gave Yuffie a polite smile. Yuffie groaned and slunk down to the ground. This could be worse. "Hey, Paine," she waved from her huddled position on the cold concrete, "Rikku says 'hi'."

Cloud kept running after leaving Yuffie. He could still hear the crashing sounds from afar of someone other than him running through the brush. He had to find Zax or Reno soon, assuming that they were still in the forest.

The dark made it difficult to see, and his running around blindly was making Cloud lose whatever bearings he had. He had known where his building was only because Reno had shown him the wooded path before they had chosen that particular hiding spot.

Debating internally within himself, Cloud wondered if it would be best to head back to his original spot and wait for Reno and Zax to come back. No, there's no telling who'll be there now. Firmly resolved that he shouldn't go back, the blond turned to what he though to be the center of the forest and headed towards it.

Meanwhile, Reno was having some difficulties of his own. He hated trees, especially sticky and sappy ones. Zax was studying the ground below them, the tree bough was high enough from the ground and gave the man a better perspective of the area they were in. Zax's idea to climb the tree and wait, although clever, made Reno want to push the man from his vantage point. The only good part about the stupid tree was that it kept them well hidden with its leaves.

Resisting temptation, the redhead waited for Zax's silent cue to shoot at the next person to pass below them. They had eliminated quite a few Garden students this way, but the method was becoming far too tedious to Reno; he didn't want to sit still any longer than he needed to. Frowning, he took his hand off the tree trunk and wiped some of the sap off his hand and onto his pant leg. "We should really get Cloud," Reno muttered.

Shooting Reno a dirty look, Zax was quick to point out the obvious reason why they hadn't gone to get Cloud: "We'll, we could if Garden wasn't overpowering us at the moment."

"It's not my fault that there are more Garden students in the forest than Shinra students."

"Which is why we need to wait a little longer-"

Reno interrupted Zax, hissing fiercely, "The kid's been there for hours!"

"And you don't think that I feel guilty-" Zax stopped, becoming unusually tense. He brushed back a piece of his hair and motioned to the west. Reno had to squint to see the flashes of light coming from about half a mile away.

"Are those flashlights?"

"It looks like they're coming from the very edge of the forest, away from Traverse Town."

"Those better not be in any Shinra student's hands," Zax whispered, somewhat upset that someone had actually broken the relatively simple rule of no cell phones and no flashlights.

"They'll be taken out soon anyway with all the attention they're bringing," Reno commented, watching one beam of light that was waving around sporadically.

Irvine held out a hand casually to the Shinra student he had just taken down. "Better luck next time, right?" he grinned, as his defeated, paint-splattered opponent sneered and started to walk back towards the Shinra starting point. "Ah, how come they can't be as friendly as Cloud, eh, Squall?" Shrugging his shoulders in indifference when he didn't get a response, Irvine didn't push any more conversation about Cloud with Squall. When Squall wanted to talk, he'd talk.

Squall didn't say anything. Now that Irvine had taken care of the student that had been following them, they should keep moving onward. Taking out the Shinra students quickly meant the faster he could crawl into bed and get some sleep. Not that he was complaining about lack of sleep. Hell no. Sleep just meant that he would be that much closer to the end of the summer term at Garden.

Cloud was definitely lost now. The moon was illuminating the area he was in, but it wasn't much of a help since he couldn't place where he was at all.

He shouldered his weapon and turned around for what felt like the tenth time, trying to find anything that was recognizable and would help him decide where to go. It wasn't helping. There wasn't anything unusual in the landscape except for a mossy stone path, but that wasn't much use since only one part of the walkway showed; the rest of the path was destroyed with time, or was never finished. Cloud was betting on the former.

Huffing a little at his inability to figure out where he was, Cloud decided to keep walking forward. It did not really matter now if Garden took him out. Yuffie wasn't with him now, and it'd only mean that he'd be able to help her sooner. Why that bit of logic escaped him earlier, he didn't know, but for now, he was in a forest playing a pretend game of battle royal.

"Damn, why-" Cloud never got to finish his sentence. Being shoved against a tree made that kind of difficult.

"This is for a few weeks ago; what I should've done to you before Princess came and defended your sorry ass."

"You're going out of the game, ya know?"

Cloud had been struggling against the man who held him to the tree, but those words caused him to relax slightly. Getting out of the forest wouldn't be so bad. He'd continue to be lost for a while, sure, but with luck might be able to make his way out of the forest.

"No, I was thinking a good disciplinary beating would be better, Raijin." Seifer stated. "It'll be just a little something to let Shinra know that we don't appreciate them hanging around."

At those words, Cloud began struggling against the man who held him. Raijin had an unrelenting grip on his arms, and the bark of the tree was rough and scratchy.

"You sure, Seifer?" Raijin asked, "Getting the kid out of the game is okay, but-"

"Just move," Seifer said, sounding annoyed, "I'll do it myself."

"That's not what I meant, ya know?"

Cloud was struggling even more now, and to have Raijin release him gave him more incentive to want to get away from the two men. Seifer, however, was upon him before he could act on any ideas to get away. Pulling him up by the collar, Seifer easily ripped Cloud's only weapon off its owner's shoulder to throw it to the side. "My gunblade is too nice to be dirtied up by you, I hope you don't mind."

Cloud scratched at the arm Seifer pinned him with, as the other man punched him in the stomach. It wasn't until Cloud actually pinched skin that Seifer brought a fist up to try to knock him in the jaw. Cloud's mind raced, and he brought his hand from Seifer's wrist to try to block the hit he knew was coming. Seifer retaliated; dropping Cloud by the collar to use that arm to begin attacking as well. It seemed that nothing Zax had taught Cloud was going to help here. Seifer was not playing fair, and Cloud was getting desperate.

Seifer pulled back on his attack to smirk at his opponent. "Had enough?" he asked.

Cloud could not believe he was about to say this, but he was desperate. "Look," he pointed randomly to his left and said the first thing he thought of, "there's Squall!"

Seifer and Raijin did look, Seifer's hand ready to draw his blade and Raijin moving into a guard stance, and Cloud scrambled to his feet in that second delay.

Turning his head back to face Cloud, Seifer looked smug. "Don't tell me that's the best you could come up with. Princess at least fights back."

"Yeah, but the kid was nice enough to give you a fair warning."

Seifer's body flinched slightly from force of the paint pellet from Cloud's gun to his shoulder. Irvine stood to Cloud's far right, with Cloud's gun still aimed and in hand, looking pleased. Squall was next to him, and Cloud couldn't help but notice the slash on the man's face.

Squall's own blade was drawn, and Seifer had drawn his. Cloud looked between the two men when Seifer commented on Squall's cut and his lack of loyalty to the Garden school. This whole affair was too confusing.

"I'll only fight you, Seifer, after you let Cloud go," Squall stated, keeping his gunblade in a ready position.

Motioning towards Cloud, Seifer shrugged, "who, him?"

"You don't even know his name?" Irvine asked in disbelief, lowering Cloud's gun slightly.

"Does it matter anyway, Kinneas? He pissed me off, regardless. And besides," Seifer directed his attention to Squall, "how do I know that Princess will comply if I let him go?"

"You're out of the game now anyway," Irvine remarked, making a gesture towards the dyed section of Seifer's coat. "It's pointless for you to even be here now, let alone fight Squall."

Raijin crossed his arms, thoughtfully adding, "It'll look suspicious if you both come back with Garden's color, ya know?"

"He's right, Squall," Irvine agreed. "The examiners aren't stupid."

Cloud was inching his way towards Squall and Irvine, as Irvine and Raijin tried to prevent unnecessary fighting between their classmates. His body was killing him. His stomach hurt with every shaky inch he took. Cloud wondered where the hell Raijin had been when he'd been spotted by Seifer a few weeks ago; the man seemed to be at least somewhat sane when compared to his blond companion.

Seifer challenged Irvine and Raijin's argument. "I'm too good to let Lionheart get anything but a lucky hit in."

"Whatever," Squall replied, looking, Cloud thought, more bored than intimidated by Seifer's smart remarks.

Okay, nearly there. Just gotta' get a bit farther…Cloud paused in his mental thoughts, his body now between the two rival Garden groups, and than what? Just going to hide behind Squall and Irvine again? This is pathetic. I'm going to go hid behind the same people who put me through so much grief with Zax and Reno, just because I couldn't defend myself?

"And just where do you think you're going, Spiky?" Seifer said, noticing now that Cloud was moving away.

Cloud froze, and his mouth went dry as he tried to say something. What that something was he didn't know exactly, but it probably was supposed to be an apology. All that came out, though, were some tongue twisted words.

Irvine caught Cloud's eye, and it felt like almost like the man was urging him to run. Cloud wished he could comply, but now his body wasn't exactly up to par with do anything more than shakily walking.

"Just let Irvine take Cloud, Seifer," Squall tried, "they'll leave and we can finish that session that we started at Garden."

Looking startled, Irvine shook his head, "No, absolutely not. I'm not leaving you at all."

"You're only in my way right now, and besides, the hour we've got left will be over soon," Squall stated, taking a step forward. Seifer looked pleased, and adjusted his grip on his sword.

"Go ahead, take Spiky, Kinneas, and get out of here," turning his head to face Raijin, Seifer continued, "and you too. I don't want you to interfere at all with this-"

Cloud didn't hear the rest. He was trying to focus on Irvine's shaking head as the man walked towards him, voicing his own opinion as he did so. Irvine's motions were giving Cloud a headache.

"I can't believe they're actually doing this," Irvine muttered as he drew near. Grabbing Cloud gently by the wrist, he led him to wear Squall was standing under Seifer's careful scrutiny. Irvine turned to face Seifer, "If you both aren't back within the hour, I'm going after you first," he threatened, still pulling Cloud along, "and then I'm dragging you back, whether you like it or not," he finished, accidentally pulling at Cloud's wrist harder than intended to punctuate the idea. He gave Cloud an apologetic look when the blond growled.

Cloud allowed Irvine to lead him out of the area he had been. His body was hurting, and he could feel his face getting warmer. How embarrassing! Why was he the one always being rescued, especially by them? He tried pulling his hand away from Irvine, "let go of me."

Irvine gave him a strange look, or so Cloud thought. The moon only illuminated so much. "Hey, let's get you back to you're side, okay? You'll feel better when you get out of this forest."

"Let go of me," Cloud tried again, yanking his arm painfully from Irvine's grasp.

"What is your problem?"

Cloud glared, "You. I can't believe you all used me like that; letting your friend come on to me just to make him feel better." In the distance, sounds of banging metal could be heard, and Cloud tried not to flinch. Squall and Seifer were at least a good seventy to eighty feet away, but the sounds were uncomforting, especially in this confrontation with Irvine.

"Oh, that. Nice friend you got there; didn't know if I'd ever get in touch with you until I heard him talking to himself. Likes jump to his own conclusions awfully fast." Irvine looked thoughtful.

"Yeah, he told me about what you said-"

"He didn't apologize for me, did he? 'Cause I'd thought that we had a more intimate friendship; one that required a nice heartfelt apology in person. It'd suck if he did it for me…"

"Coming to find me to tell me how Selphie and you used me doesn't sound like an apology."

"I was going to tell what happened first and then ask for forgiveness. When Squall told us that he kissed you, I was shocked. I never expected him to do that." Irvine sounded remorseful, "I truly am sorry. Just let me get you back, all right? You need to sleep, and, you don't have to say anything now, but I really am sorry. I'm sure if Selphie were here she'd say the same thing." He held out a hand to Cloud, "Just, please, let me get you back."

"Just to get me back" Cloud agreed, looking at Irvine's hand warily, and not taking it. "At the moment, I'm not even going to think of forgiving you when I have more important things to attend to."

"Just let me get you back, that's all I'm asking," Irvine said, smiling, but a little hurt as he withdrew his hand. Cloud followed Irvine closely through the forest once more, following a path that he remembered certainly led to the border of the Shinra School.

Yawning a bit, Cloud winced and put his hand over his stomach. Yeah sleep would be nice, and maybe some aspirin. He wondered what Yuffie was doing right now and nearly smacked his forehead with his hand. Cloud felt like he was helpless to everything concerning her, and groaned, "Damn, Yuffie!" Irvine gave a questioning noise.

"You mean the girl that calls me?"

"She calls you!" Cloud asked, a bit startled at the thought of Yuffie calling Irvine.

"Yeah," Irvine confirmed, looking over his shoulder to make sure that Cloud was still behind him, "nice friend you've got there. Gets along with Selphie a little too well, though," Irvine paused, "Reno's a good guy too."

"Damn it, I've got to find her."

"She's here?"

"Yeah, she's sort of in trouble and I hope she went to my room like I told her too."

"Well, if she didn't, you were able to find Squall before, and it was dark out. I'm sure you'll be able to run into her when you get on your own campus."

Cloud sighed, and decided to neglect saying Squall's name had been completely random.

Side notes:

No notes are good notes, right?

I hope everyone enjoys this chapter. I kept rewriting the final chapters repeatedly, and I'm still not happy with them, but it's finally finished. Yay!

In the next part (2/3) of The End, everyone runs into each other. If I say anymore, I'll give the end away and that'll be sad.