Chapter 16: 3 days: Day 2

Day 2: Last moments of happiness

Zell didn't even open his eyes but as soon as he woke up he immediately noticed something was off. He didn't feel the familiar furry ball in his arms. "Carbuncle?" He called out in a half sleep voice, stretching his now free arms above his arms and opening his eyes. His vision came into focus with a few blinks, he looked around and at first glance he found no trace of Carbuncle except for that the bed room door was left open.

"Where did he go?"

Zell contemplated taking a shower and changing close before he went to look for him. At first his worry prompted him to try and find Carbuncle first, but on second thought Carbuncle was probably fine, he could take care of himself. 'Maybe he wants to be alone?' Yeah, maybe that's why he didn't say anything before he left. ' If he doesn't come back by the time I finish... I'll go look for him.' Zell nodded to himself and headed for the bathroom.

'I wonder how Bahamut's doing.'

! - ! - !

Cho yawned and opened his eyes when he finally returned to consciousness, '...?' He found himself in the same place he'd fallen asleep in the night before. He was still on Nida's couch only something was very different. He sat up abruptly, feeling a chill at his back, in fact all over his body.

This was odd. "What happened to my clothes?" Cho shouted sleepily, rubbing his eyes and yawning. He thought he was still asleep at first. 'No, I'm awake... Where are my clothes?'

He also found that he was, or had been sweating because most of his body was still damp. With on the facts that he was sweating and missing clothing, Cho put together the only logical explanations he could think of. 'I probably got hot and took them off in my sleep…' Yeah, that sounded right. 'Where are they?'

Cho reluctantly got up off the couch and surveyed the area, he couldn't find them anywhere around. It would be hard to miss them in this clean dorm, making it obvious that they weren't there.

"What the hell? Were are my clothes!" Cho shouted, only after words did he remember Nida was in the next room and he quieted nervously, hoping that he didn't wake him up.

After his outburst he heard a stirring sound that he initially thought was Nida, but he noticed that it was coming from the Kitchen area and not from the bed room. 'Huh?' Looking in that direction he almost didn't see Shadow laying on top of the refrigerator under a cabinet.

The cabinet cast a shadow over the area so the wolf barely could be seen expect when he opened his glowing red eyes. "You like sleeping in places no one can see you?" Cho asked, watching Shadow jump off the refrigerator and open his mouth wide in a yawn. He then shook his head, shaking off any remaining sleep he still had.

"This must be the doing of you humans." Shadow snorted. "I never slept before."

"Huh? Really?"

"It doesn't make since for any logical thing to leave it self off guard for hours."

"Your too paranoid. Don't worry, nothing's gonna to jump out and try to kill you around here." Cho lifted a hand to the back of his head and smiled. "So, are you hungry? I don't think I ate anything in like 2 days." Cho rubbed his rather noisily growling stomach, when he looked down he remembered he was completely naked. "Hey, have you seen my clothes?"

Shadow couldn't exactly remember where he left Cho's clothes last night, he was in such a rush to get them off because he was unbelievably hot. "No." He said.

Cho shrugged, it wasn't like anyone was around to see him. He could probably make it back to his room before any who was here could.

! - ! - !

Zell emerged from the shower half wet, using a towel to dry his hair as he crossed the living room and headed for his room.

'Hmm...' Carbuncle still hadn't returned. Now he was starting to get worried…

! - ! - !

Cho looked around his own dorm, and despite everything that had happened it really was just as messy as he left it, nothing else had been knocked over or anything like that from when the Garden was possessed. Ignoring the clutter for the moment he walked into his bedroom and began searching through his drawers for something to wear.

It looked like the only thing that was clean was his SeeD uniform, and his usual attire of jeans and a hooded green sweatshirt. "Why not, I haven't worn it once." Cho said, taking out the uniform..."Nah, I should save it." He returned the uniform carefully to the hanger it had been placed neatly on and placed in his closet. It was the only thing neat there, all of his other clothing were either messily thrown in the drawers of on the floor of the closet. Not the uniform though, it was neat and clean, and hung with a sense of pride.

He instead took out what he usually wore, just as he was going to put the on he took another look down at himself, he realized he better take a shower first, considering that he was still sweaty from last night…with no apparent reason why, it hadn't been hot in Nida's room.

! - ! - !

He hung his clothes on a towel rack upon entry before he walked over tot he tub and he turned on the shower. He spent a few second adjusting the two nozzles, finding the right mix of hot and cold water before stepping in and closing the door behind him.

A shower had never felt so good, it was relieving to wash off an extremely hard few days, he was tempted to say until the hot water ran out. But he thought better of it, a loud growling of his stomach reminded him he was much too hungry to do anything like that.

So he and climbed out, pulling the towel off of the door where it was hanging and began drying off. After he deemed it good enough he wrapped the towel around tread across the white tiled floors to the door, notably leaving the water running.

He almost thought he was in a different dorm when he steeped out of the bathroom. "You cleaned up, thanks." Cho said. He was pleasantly surprised find that Shadow had cleaned. The layer of undisorganized mess that had been left on the floor was all picked up and either put away or thrown out. Cho rested both hands on his waist and lead forward toward the wolf with a smile "Let me guess, you couldn't stand how dirty this place was?"

Shadow snorted, mainly at the fact Cho was right… and though they hadn't been together long that the boy could already read him. He didn't like the prospect of anyone reading anything off of him. But it did make him wonder, Was he really that predictable or was this human more perceptive then he gave him credit for. Was he--

"You must be really dirty from all that fighting." Cho said suddenly. "You must need a bath." Seeing that Shadow still wasn't catching on, Cho moved behind the GF and tried to give him a nudge toward the bath room. "Come on."

"What are you doing?" Shadow's voice was filled with annoyment.

"Exactly what I said, giving you a bath." Cho said. And before Shadow realized it Cho had managed to get him into the bathroom and he was right in front of the bathtub with Cho pushing him in.

"Why are you--"

"Just get in." Cho gave one, last forceful push that made Shadow lose balance and gave him no choice but to step forward in to the tub to catch himself unless he wanted to fall in.

He was met by a rush of warm water from the shower head. He barked in unsuspecting surprise, his ears perking from suddenly being suppressed by the spray. Taking the opportunity, Cho grabbed a bottle of shampoo sitting on a rack beside the sink and knelt down beside the tub.

The next thing he felt was Cho pouring a cold liquid out of the bottle over his back that made him squirm and shift. "I can't do it if you don't be still!" Cho shouted, some pouring the white shampoo on Shadow's head between his ears and then trailing it across his back excessively.

"I didn't ask for you to do this at all!" Shadow barked. "Leave me the hell alone."

Shadow tried to climb out of the tub but Cho held him down before he could lift a paw. "You needed it." Cho wrapped one arm around Shadow's head, holding him with all his strength while he just barely managed to reach out to and turn the nozzles mounted on the wall in the opposite direction.

The water raining down harshly on Shadow abruptly ceased. "What did you put on me?" The wolf growled suspiciously. He want people putting strange things on him, it could have been poison for all he new.

"Shampoo." Cho began to massage the shampoo in to his fur with his fingers, spreading it over every part of his body he could reach. A thick, foamy lather formed in the black fur, one that grew thicker as Cho massaged his fingers through the wetter area.

Shadow grew was quiet and seemed to calm down, he had to admit that it felt good, the way Cho's fingers pressed into his tense muscles, easing them with massaging circles. He didn't mind it so much. The thing he took the most notice of was the scent of the shampoo, he could smell it even stronger then Cho could, and it was... nice…he didn't know what that scent was and he already liked it.

"What's this scent?" He asked.

A small smile appeared on Cho's face. "It's Vanilla, smells good huh."

"Yes…"He admitted. Shadow looked back to find the source of that other present feeling,and he found that half his body was covered in white foam. '?'

"Giving the dog a bath huh?"

"I'm not a dog." Shadow immediately growled.

'Huh?' Cho looked over his shoulder when he heard the familiar voice. It Carbuncle standing directly behind him, how he'd managed to get their unnoticed was beyond Cho.

His voice may have sound completely normal, but Cho could easily tell by the look on his face that he wasn't alright. His expression seemed almost void, hollow, as if he was looking at him but wasn't focusing or looking completely past. "What are you doing here?"

"Taking a walk, I saw the door open." Carbuncle laid down behind Cho with his head resting comfortably on his paws and watched Shadow, who looked back at him.

"Oh yeah, Carbuncle this is Shadow, Shadow this is Carbuncle." Cho introduced the two, getting a disregarding look from Shadow.

Carbuncle didn't even seem to pay attention to the response. "Nice to meet you." He greeted, burring his head in to his arms and closing his eyes.

That wasn't the response Shadow was expecting, he thought it would be more like 'Aren't you one of those things that attacked the Garden?' or something along those lines. 'Why didn't he...hn.' If Carbuncle didn't immediately associate him with that event, Shadow figured he could probably tolerate him.

Shadow closed his eyes as he felt foam rolling down his face, Cho was cleaning his head, focusing on the spot between his ears.

"Heh heh." The boy couldn't help but laugh a little when he saw Shadow completely covered in soap, the usually pitch black fur was white with tinny bubbles, the sight was well worth a picture. "You should see yourself." Shadow would probably be mad at him if he took a picture, so he decided against it. But on the other hand he was aways mad so why not.

Shadow let out a small offending growl of surprise when he felt the water being turned on again. He was so busy paying attention to Cho's treatment that he wasn't even paying attention. The foamy soap was rinsed from his fur, but he was pleased when that Vanilla scent was left behind, he was really beginning to like it. '?' He opened his eyes and looked up when he heard Cho laughing, again, Carbuncle also looked slightly amused. This sight was much more worthy of a picture then the last.

His fur whom no one knew how heavy it truly was, was now hanging down in a mop like covering over him, dripping wet, some even fell over his eyes. Shadow shot him a glaring look before he shook the water off himself, sending a rain of it all over Cho and Carbuncle.

"Hey!"

That seemed to send the message better then a glare with fur over his eyes.

Cho only laughed again, thankful that he was still in only a towel instead of clothes since it had been a surprisingly large amount.

"Damn, that's a lot of water." Drying himself off as best he could with a few shakes, Carbuncle picked himself off the ground and headed out of the bathroom, heading for the couch in the living room while Cho took the towel off his waist and dried himself off. Then used it to finish drying Shadow's fur and finally releasing him from the bathroom so that he could put on his clothes.

Shadow was the first to emerge, his furry was considerably more messy after having just gotten wet. The sound of his stomach growling alerted his presence more then his footsteps, especially since people rarely heard his foot steps.

"Sorry Shadow, I don't have any dog food." Cho followed, now fully clothed.

Shadow shot him a look, not appreciating being indirectly called a dog. "Do I look like a pet to you."

"You haven't even tried it yet, you might like it… I don't have any so don't worry about it."

"You don't, but I know someone who dose." Carbuncle said.

"Who?"

Carbuncle jumped off of the couch and walked towards the door. "I'll show you."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Zell wondered through the halls of the dormitory, it took him a few moments to figure out where to look but as soon as he did he headed for the first place he though to check. Which was Cho's room. But when he got there he found the place completely empty.

"Maybe he's in Nida's room."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Cho staggered into to his room a few minutes, a large bag of dog food held tightly with both arms, it was so large...or Cho was so short, that it obstructed his vision completely. He managed though.

It came from Riona's room, it was the largest bag available since Angelo could eat like a Marlboro.

Carbuncle and Shadow followed behind him, as soon as they entered the room he two returned to the positions they held before they left. Carbuncle perched on the couch, watching curiously, and Shadow sat down on the ground some place nearby.

"Man, this thing is heavy!" Cho dropped the bag down on the counter in his kitchen with a sigh of relief. 'What can I put it in...A bowl, duh.' Cho headed over to the cabinets mounted on the wall, he had to climb on the counter to reach it, a true testament to his height and how short he was. He found the largest one he could and jumped down.

Cho scooped a sizable amount out of the bag with the bowl and sat it down next to Shadow.

He looked up at Cho, then down at the bowl before sniffing the contents suspiciously, "I don't want it." He said immediately and pushed the bowl back rejectingly.

Carbuncle laughed, he couldn't help it when he saw how abruptly Shadow pushed it back.

"You haven't even tasted it." Cho grabbed on to Shadow's head with both hands and pushed it down into the bowl.

This line of action ensued for a full minute.

"Fine I'll try it dammit, now let me go before I kill you." With no other choice if he wanted to breathe, Shadow opened his mouth to taste the substance, immediately he spit it back out.

"It taste horrible." Shadow pushed the bowl away with his paw this time, getting another laugh from Carbuncle.

This was harder then Cho expected, how could someone who hasn't eaten in two days be so picky? "It's good for you." Cho argued, trying to get him to at lest tolerate the taste.

"When then why don't you eat it." Shadow growled.

"Me huh?" With that thought in mind Cho lifted the bag off of the counter and read the back of it. "Because I don't needed my fur to be thick and lustrous, I don't need to have more energy, nor do I need a healthier immune system or the other really good things this food dose for you." He dropped the bag discardingly. "I don't even have fur, I already have more energy then I know what to do with, and they have vitamin C pills if want a healthier immune system."

"I'm still not eating it, you can just give me the vitamin C pills and more shampoo, I don't need more energy." Shadow turned his back the food completely and laid down next to an amused Carbuncle on the couch.

He had to give him something to eat... "I guess... I have to make something then." Cho dropped his head sighed. With no other choice he walked over to the refrigerator and looking inside. 'Hmm...' It looked like he didn't have anything plain, and plain I mean something he didn't have to do any work making, so it looked like he'd have to…pause for shutter, cook.

The problem was he couldn't cook of his life depended on it, Nida aways made him something... man he missed Nida right now... it looked like he'd have to just try it and hope it came out edible.

"Alright, I got eggs…cheese…maybe if I mix em' together it will come out even better. I wonder if I could pull off pancakes…Better throw in some meat too. Bacon, Sausage… I think that's enough, Oh yeah toast.'

"You can cook?" Carbuncle asked.

Cho sighed again. "No."

! - !- !

5 minutes later

! - ! - !

Shadow was the first out of the room, his sensitive nose was overwhelmed by the imperious, burning scent of smoke.

"How did you manage to burn…everything?" Carbuncle asked, a small amount of laughter in his voice.

"I warned you I couldn't cook." Cho coughed, sitting against the wall in the hall and watching the smoke pour out of his dorm. Carbuncle just laughed, it was actually funny how this all happened.

Carbuncle tried to save this moment the best he could to his memory, he was actually happy despite how empty he felt... He had to savor this moment, because he knew that this would be the last time he'd feel like this for a while, maybe ever. Whatever was happening to him had grown much worse then he ever though it would.

That's why he left Zell, and why he was about to leave now. He felt like if he didn't he'd snap and lash out for no reason or something like that. With emptiness came this extreme feeling that was similar to anger though he wasn't at all mad, it was almost a new emotion that that didn't have a name. All he knew was it was mental hell, and if it continued like it would eventually make him do things that he didn't want to. Mainly to the people he cared about, that's why he had to get away…

"I should go before I suffocate." Carbuncle said, the laughter draining out of his voice, completely replaced by that emptiness by the time he said the last word.

"Huh?" Cho looked at him as the small GF walked away hastily, he knew something was wrong... 'Carbuncle...what's with you?' Despite his worry he let Carbuncle go, knowing he probably needed to be alone right now. 'Yeah maybe..I'll check on him tomorrow.'

'I hope your alright…' Cho said to himself, watching him walk out of sight. "Yeah, See ya."

! - ! - !

Zell searched the second floor but it all futile. He noticing that hole that had been tore into the class room had already been fixed. But other then that once again he found no sign of Carbuncle…

! - ! - !

"What the hell did you burn?" Seifer waving his hand in front of his nose to clear away the remaining smoke as he came in to range of Cho's room.

"I was trying to cook." Cho said annoyedly.

He cuffed his hand over his noise. "Trying is right." Seifer walked in to Cho's room with his head bowed lightly since all the smoke risen to the ceiling, he found that the air was clearer inside then out.

"Like you could do better." Cho said, seeing it was all right he returned to his room and took a seat on the couch with closed eyes.

"I could." Seifer surveyed the kitchen, noticing what Cho was trying to make and what he did wrong, which was just about everything. "Was he trying to kill you?" Seifer glanced down at the wolf standing at his side as he began scratching behind Shadow's ear. Which Shadow no longer had any objection to since last night….

"Funny." Cho threw a book at his head, Seifer, who was surprised that Cho owned any at all, caught it before it could hit him and threw it back, also missing.

"Yeah whatever." Seifer looked at the bag of dog food sitting on the counter in front of. "Why didn't you just eat this?" He asked.

Shadow growled.

"He doesn't like it." Cho told him.

Seifer dug his arm into the back and picked up some of it, noting the smell, and then tasted it for some reason unknown to even him. "No wonder, it taste like crap. How can you expect him to eat this?"

Shadow noticed once again that they were talking like he wasn't even there, he didn't like that.

"It's good for him…" Cho at first was about to go into great detail on the issue, he was good on details, but he thought better of it and dropped it completely. "Never mind."

There was no way in hell he was going to try and make Shadow eat that, for his own safety. "Let me see if I can give you something you can actually eat." Seifer walked over Cho's refrigerator and began rummaging around.

"Yeah sure." Cho said sarcastically. "It's going to be just as bad as mine."

"Just for that, you don't get any."

"Hey wait!"