Chapter 18 : Aerith's Schemes

"So, what is this thing?" Yuffie studied the new attachment.

"Don't touch it!" Cid pulled the girl away. "It's not a toy. It's got a mapped out area of the surrounding planets."

"You mean it can show us other planets in this area?" Aerith walked up to the device looking at the various destinations.

"Yep, once I'm finished we go head off to anyone of these."

"Aww I liked it here." Yuffie complained.

"It's too dangerous here." Cloud sat down in one of the chairs and crossed his legs. "It's too close to our own planet."

"So then we should head to the one furthest away." Aerith guessed.

Cloud just nodded and went back to his own little world.

"So take your pick." Cid told them. "Doesn't make any difference to me which one we go to."

Aerith sat down in Cid's chair and looked at the display, Yuffie and Squall then stood beside her and watched the screen. She tapped the zoom out button and the image shrunk showing a few more destinations.

"That looks like the furthest one away." Zack said as he looked over Yuffie's shoulder.

Aerith nodded and looked behind her to see what Cloud was doing. She smiled seeing him just staring out the window daydreaming once again. Looking back at the screen she put her finger on the planet furthest away from Hollow Bastion, a small description then came up describing the planet.

"Wow." Zack said.

"Yeah." Yuffie added.

Aerith agreed silently and read the description. "There's only one city on the planet, the rest of the world is covered by mountains and a bunch dead volcanoes."

"Wutai." Yuffie read. "You know this place Cloud?"

They waited for a response from Cloud but realized he was still miles away in thought.

"Never mind."

"So is that where we're goin?" Cid leaned against the side.

"I guess we could, it is the furthest away from home." Aerith looked around. "What do you think?"

"Sounds good." Zack shrugged.

"Let's go!" Yuffie jumped at the idea.

Squall just nodded agreeing while Cloud still stayed silent, not really listening.

"I guess that's it." She looked at Cid. "Let's go."

"Now?" The pilot looked at the coordinates.

"I don't think we have any reason to stay here."

"Well, good enough for me." Cid sat down in his chair as Aerith stood up. He switched on the controls and the ship came to life.

Aerith sat down in one of the other chairs figuring that it would be a long flight. The one from home to here was a few hours and that was that was the closest planet. She looked over to where Cloud was sat, thinking that if she could get him to stop daydreaming they would be able to do something together, only to find that he wasn't there.

"Did you see where Cloud went?" She turned to Zack.

"Huh? No I thought he was here." Zack looked around, he hadn't realized Cloud was gone up until now.

'I wonder what he's up to.'

A few hours later Aerith was fairly bored and was just wandering around the ship.

She had visited Cid in the cockpit but he was busy flying the ship, he said it would be another two or so hours until they reached Wutai. Yuffie had been hanging around Squall again as usual, except for Squall been unusually quiet.

Zack was in the kitchen trying to find something to eat, last she looked he was on his 3rd course. And finally Cloud she hadn't seen since the morning, she had checked the med bay and a few other rooms he might be in but nothing.

Turning the corner she began to think of all the places he could be. 'Not in his room, not with anyone else... Where would he be?'

The ship wasn't too big, but when only six people occupied it, it felt much more spacious. There were five levels, two were taken up by the engines and cargo, one for the sleeping area, one for the med bay and kitchen and the top smallest one was the cockpit.

Aerith reached the stairs and decided to try the cargo bay, it was a long shot but it was one of the few places she hadn't been. On her way down she could hear some light footsteps and soft 'swish' sounds.

The cargo bay was quite empty apart from the few crates they had carried on board before leaving home. On the last step she could see Cloud in the middle of the room. He had his sword drawn and was practicing against the air.

Aerith sat down on the last step and put her hands under her chin while watching him. Cloud continued to practice, performing a number of complex moves with his weapon. She was still curious as to how he could wield such a weapon this way, it was as if it was made of paper.

Cloud jumped into the air and then descended bringing the blade down on to an empty metal creates. The metal was cut though instantly, the create was split in two, the edges glowed a slight red from the heats before cooling.

The blade made a sharp sound as Cloud pulled it back along the floor and up into the air. He rested it against his shoulder taking a few breaths to rest.

Aerith wondered if he knew she was here, there had been many times when she had tried to sneak up on him only to find he'd know she was coming long before.

After catching his breath Cloud continued on, slicing through the air with his sword.

Yuffie stared at Squall as he put his chin down on his arms and closed his eyes. For the past hour he'd just been sat in his chair going over a few of the ships details while not saying a single word.

"You ok?"

"..."

She stood up and began to prod him. "Hey! You ok?"

Squall tried to ignore her but found it impossible. "If I say yes will you stop?"

Yuffie walked back and sat on the bed. "What's wrong? Your more quite than usual, your not even telling me to go away anymore."

He sighed. "Fine. Go Away."

"Nope. Not until you tell me what's wrong."

Squall realized that he wasn't going to get any peace until the ninja was satisfied. "You wouldn't understand."

Yuffie sat thinking what was wrong with him, he was obviously hiding something but she was determined to find out what it was. 'Oh well, he'll have to give in some time.'

Cloud thrust the sword into the ground, it went deep enough through the metal to stay up right on its own. He felt he'd done all he could by himself.

He didn't know how long Aerith had been watching him but in the end it didn't really matter much. He was expecting to be disturbed at some point, and if it was going to be anybody he'd rather it be her.

"Anything you need?"

Aerith expected him to know she was there so she wasn't caught off this time. "Not really, I just don't have anything to do."

Cloud walked up to one of the creates which had a few things on top. He took a small towel and wiped off his forehead. "Well I can't say there's anything down here."

"You ok? You look really tired." She stood up and walked over to where he was stood.

"I'm just a bit tired, have been training for the past few hours."

Aerith smiled at him while leaning against the create. "Maybe you should take a break Cloud. Even 1st Class Soldiers need to take the day off." She noticed how red his face was and how out of breath he looked.

Cloud shook his head. "I can't, I need to be training, I need to keep on top."

The flower girl crossed her arms and gave him a serious look. "If you don't learn to rest soon you're going to hurt yourself."

"I'll be fine." He walked back over to the sword and pulled it out of the ground.

Aerith watched him take a few more slashed into the air. She tried to think of a way to help him, her comment about hurting himself was looking to be true. Cloud's attacks seemed to be getting lazier with each swipe, giving her an idea. "How about I make you a deal?"

He stopped for a second to look at her. "A deal?"

"Yep. Training by your self can't do much so how about we have a match?" She grinned. "Along with a little wager."

Cloud stopped all together, he was a little interested in what she had in mind. "Which would be?"

"If I win, when we get to Wutai you have to do exactly what I say for an entire day."

"..?" He hesitated for a moment. "And if I win?"

Aerith rubbed her chin. "Ermm.... the same, except the other way round."

Cloud smiled at her proposition. "Sounds interesting. What do you have in mind?"

"One round, unarmed, first one to hit the floor." She unhooked the small staff off of her belt and placed it on the create.

It was obvious that Aerith was up to something, either that or she had just gone nuts and decided to challenge a 1st Class Soldier without thinking. Cloud decided it was the first option, he took a few steps into the middle of the room and stood in his stance.

Aerith smiled and did the same, whether Cloud was going to admit it or not, he was totally drained. The problem for him been Aerith could see this clearly on his face.

Cloud ran forwards and dropped down to his knee while swinging his leg round, hoping to get an easy win in the first few seconds. Aerith saw it coming and jumped into the air missing his leg.

Annoyed that his initial attack didn't work Cloud decided to try to lunge at her, with any luck he would be able to just knock her over. Unfortunately Aerith was able to dodge each one of his attacks, every time he got close she just jumped out of the way.

This went of for a few more minutes. Aerith smiled as the already woren out Cloud grew even more tired with each attack. Each time he jumped at her she was able to dodge out of the way easily.

Cloud growled as his missed her once again, he realized what she was doing and kicked himself for helping her succeed. 'Ok, enough games.' He backed up and waited for her to stand still.

Aerith was a bit puzzled as to why her opponent had stopped but she quickly found out why. A small glow appeared around his body and he rushed forwards at her.

With in a flash Cloud had reached Aerith's position, even unarmed this move had its advantages. He put his hands on her waist and lifted her up into the air.

"Got you this time." He smiled as the girl tried to free herself.

Aerith struggled to get free from Cloud's grip, she was annoyed at herself for forgetting about that little trick. But on the upside she had a few tricks of her own. "Don't get so cocky just yet."

Starting from her back a white light began to shine, soon enough it covered her body and the snowy white wings that appeared before returned.

Cloud lost his grip on the young ancient as she used her wings to push away. She flew back into the air well out of his reach.

"Ok, so you can do that." He crossed his arms.

Aerith tried to maneuver in the room, even though the cargo bay was quite a large room it wasn't exactly easy to fly around in. Cloud stood and watched her land a few meters infront of him, he gritted his teeth feeling that Aerith might actually have the upper hand in this match.

Without speaking Aerith shot at Cloud, she used her wings to move around him much faster than before. Within seconds the blond was unable to keep up with her.

Cloud grew desperate as she circled him. He knew that all she had to do was keep this up and attack from any point, there would be a good chance he wouldn't even see it coming. Seeing this he decided to take the only move available and jump into her flight path, inevitably causing her to hit straight into him.

The impact sent them both flying to the other ends of the room, though both managed to keep themselves on their feet. Aerith casually walked back to the center, her wings folded neatly behind her back. Cloud walked more tiredly, the after effects of the spinning and impact made him dizzy.

Aerith wasn't affected as much, her side hurt a little but nothing much. She tapped her hip with her finger, casting a quick cure spell, which made everything better. She was surprised a little at Cloud's performance, even though he was tired she expected a much more difficult fight. 'He must be really out of it.'

Cloud watched as Aerith walked closer, he waited for her to make a move and was hoping that it would be soon. His body was pretty much drained from his training earlier, and now that Aerith had started using her wings he doubted he could keep up.

The flower girl made her move and jumped off the ground at Cloud. She used her wings to keep in the air and she shot at him like a bullet. As Cloud braced himself to catch her, she shifted course and flew straight past him and stopped a few feet behind. Before Cloud could spin round Aerith dropped to her knees and kicked Cloud's feet from underneath him.

Cloud fell back and realized his error, he put his arms out behind him to stop his back from hitting the floor. 'Ok.. close one. Now all I have to do is uhh..'

He stopped thinking as he felt a weight in his chest. He looked up to see Aerith stood on top of him, her wings were spread out keeping most of her weight in the air.

"Give it up Cloud."

The blond gritted his teeth as she pressed down harder on his chest, his arms began to give way under the pressure. "I haven't lost yet."

Aerith smiled at his determination to win but in the end she wasn't planning on letting up. She closed her wings in behind her back so her full weight was pressed on Cloud body.

Cloud felt Aerith push down on him, even though she wasn't exactly a heavy person, in his current state he doubted he could hold up Yuffie like this. In one last attempt he pushed up with one arm and reached round with the other grabbing the back of Aerith's ankel. He pulled on it hard causing the girl to fall back.

The results however weren't as he expected, and instead of Aerith jumping way off his body, she just fell back and landed right on top of him.

Aerith looked up after she hit the ground, Cloud had collapsed on the floor underneath her and was too tired to lift her off.

"I guess it's a draw then." He said out of breath.

The flower girl grinned and leaned over his head, her hair fell to the side of his face. "Not quite, see, I haven't touched the ground yet."

Cloud leaned up and looked down his body seeing that Aerith was sat on top of him and not actually touching the floor. "Figures." He collapsed back down on the floor.

"Looks like I win." She leaned closer to him pressing the tip of her nose against his.

"Luck." He closed his eyes, the exhaustion finally getting the better of him. "Your going to rub this in aren't you?"

"Not really." She smiled and stood up. "I've got all tomorrow to have fun."

"You weren't serious about that deal right?"

"Fraid so." Aerith held out her hand and helped Cloud to his feet. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go think up a few things for tomorrow."

Cloud brushed himself off and watched Aerith head up the stairs, he scratched the back of his head wondering what this was actually about. 'You have to do everything I say for an entire day?' He rubbed his chin. 'What is she up to?'

Note: Ok I know I was going to include Tidus in this but every time I tried to write that bit I just couldn't get it right so... oh well, cause of that I've come up with something new for thwe next chapter so it wasn't a total loss. Also if you like this story then try my other one, which is coming to an end when I finish the final chapter. Thanks once again to my reviewers, and keep them coming.