Wow, it's been quite a while since I updated this fic... not only have you guys been slacking on telling me whether or not to include LeonxCloud, but I've also been working on a fic I've posted, and working on another fic I haven't posted, and planning another two! (For details on all of these, check my profile.)

FullofYami: Well, since you're the only one who reviewed (grumble), then LeonxCloud it is :)

hurkydoesntknow: I just checked my story Stats... it amazes me that you do not have "Crazies" on your alert list, yet you consistently are the first reviewer for each chapter :P

On another note, according to the Stats, Crazies has: 12980 words (which will increase after I add this chapter in... and, by the way, is about 1300 words per chapter, a lot more than I thought I usually do), 10 chapters (including this one and not including the Notice I put up that I deleted upon posting this chapter), 20 reviews (which is only about 2 reviews per chapter... :sob:), 598 hits (plus more, every time anyone reads this :P), it's on 6 people's Favorites list and on 4 people's Alert list. The most wordy chapter is Part II, with 2527 words; and the least wordy (apart from the notice last time, which I have deleted... BTW, it was 148 words, for the curious) is Part I (Prologue), with 566 words, followed by Part 9 (too lazy to put the Roman numerals :P), with 851, and Part 7, with 998. Everything else is over a thousand words per Part, and only parts II-IV (2-4) have over two thousand words. Neither of my stories is listed in a C2, which doesn't upset me since I don't know what the bleep a C2 actually is.

Myself, as an author... I am on 3 Favorites lists and 3 Alerts lists. I've submitted 21 reviews (not much, considering all the fics I've read... or perhaps not not much, considering how many of those were M-rated Romance fics that include... :cough cough: ...that I would prefer not to review). 16,026 words archived (in all my stories); average of 8,013 words per chapter (in all my stories); and 63 hits to my profile, yay! BTW, this is all not counting this Part, since I collected the data before putting up this Part :P)

Why am I telling you this, you might ask? Well, for one, to get the word count for this chapter up, heh heh. And for another, so that you guys can see how much I'm declining and how I want to, to quote the band Heart, kick it out. Does that make sense:P

As for goals... I want to finish this fic with somewhere between fifteen and twenty chapters (plus any epilogues and interludes, if necessary) with 22,500 to 30,000 words (or more!) in the total fic. That's about 1,500 words per Part average. (BTW, this Part has around 1,875 words total.)And I'd like to reach a goal of... let's say, about 50 or more reviews and 750 hits. That's another 30 reviews and 152 hits to go. But please, don't just repeatedly go to the fic over... and over... and over... and over... and over... just to give me a bunch of hits. That would be dishonest. :snicker:

Blabbity, blabbity, blabbity me. I really need to learn how to shut up once in a while and get on with the fic.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, Leon, Cloud, Yaoi, or fluff. No lawsuits. I said NO LAWSUITS!

WARNING: Not only will this be a Yaoi chapter, this will also be a Yaoi songfic chapter. So if you don't like it, don't read it, simple as that.

The Crazies and the Loonies and the... Other Crazies

Part X - Music of the Night (or, We've Finally Reached Part Ten, Hooray, or, Technically This Is An Interlude But Who Cares, or, An Excuse For The Author To Practice Fluff Because The Reviewers Of His Story Saif Al Jabbar Demand Fluff And He Doesn't Want It To Be Absolutely Terrible)

Nighttime sharpens - heightens each sensation

Late at night, Cloud awoke with a start. He looked around in the dim light, his eyes in desperate want of light, to see Leon standing at the other end of the cavern, dimly outlined by a small candle he held in his hand. He was looking away from Cloud, morbidly examining the rocks to try and find a way out.

Darkness stirs and wakes imagination

Cloud gazed at Leon's dark figure, amazed at - yet, at the same time, slightly frightened of - the images his mind's eye was painting of its own accord.

Silently the senses

Abandon their defenses

Slowly, gently, night unfurls its splendor

Grasp it, sense it, tremulous and tender

Cloud rose from his sitting position, stirring Leon from his reverie.

"You're awake already?" Leon said simply.

"I could ask you the same," Cloud replied. "Haven't you slept?"

"No," Leon replied. "Looking for a way out."

"You need to sleep," Cloud pointed out. "It's bad for you not to sleep."

Turn your face away

From the garish light of day

Turn your thoughts away

From cold, unfeeling light

And listen to the music of the night

Leon turned toward Cloud, a look on his face that so obviously said, "Shut up." Cloud, however, had an "I'm not going to relent" look on his face.

Leon sighed. "I suppose you're right," he said in a voice dripping with sarcasm. "Getting sleep, even though I've been trained to be able to handle days - even weeks - without sleep, is much more important than finding a way out of here."

Close your eyes and surrender to your darkest dreams

Purge your thoughts of the life you knew before

"Trained?" Cloud asked curiously.

"It was... long ago. I do not wish to speak of it," Leon mumbled.

"C'mon," Cloud teased.

"No," Leon said flatly, a slight growl of anger in his voice.

Close your eyes, let your spirit start to soar...

And you'll live as you've never lived before

Softly, deftly, music shall caress you

Hear it, feel it secretly possess you

Leon stirred from his vigil at the opposite end of the cavern; as he sat down next to Cloud, he saw that Cloud was fidgeting. "What's wrong?" He looked over at Cloud, but Cloud was avoiding eye contact. Leon's more poetic side - at least, a small part of it, or that's what he told himself - regretted not seeing those wonderful pools of sapphire- Where the f--- did that description come from? He slapped himself mentally. You're losing it, Leonhart. You're losing it.

"Eh, nothing's wrong," Cloud replied dully, before quickly changing the subject. "Yuffie called you 'Squall'... why were you so mad at her?"

Now it was Leon's turn to look away. "My name, my birth name, was Squall Leonhart," he began. "But when my world was destroyed by the Heartless - when my best friend was taken from me - and my..." He stopped a moment, and Cloud could see a tear roll down his cheek, followed by another, and another, "...my... someone very, very special to me... the Squall Leonhart of the past ceased to exist. I wished never to remember the evils Fate unleashed upon my life."

Open up your mind

Let your fantasies unwind

In this darkness that you know

You cannot fight

In the darkness of the music of the night

Cloud placed a hand on Leon's shoulder to comfort him. Leon's sobs quickly subsided, but Cloud found he did not want to lift his hand. It took every bit of willpower he had not to leave it on Leon's shoulder. What am I doing... why do I feel this way? he asked himself silently, but could not think of any answer, nor any reason to defy his feelings, either.

Let your mind start a journey to a strange new world

Leave all thoughts of the life you knew before

Leon shivered, his teeth slightly chattering. Silently, Cloud scooted closer to him, prompting a blush from both - but a reason for the blush from neither. Nor did either see the other's blush, they were too busy trying to hide their own.

Let your soul take you where you want to be

Only then can you belong to me

Leon and Cloud, both recovered from their blushing spell, looked toward each other. Neither said anything, both of them silently enjoying the other's company.

Floating, falling, sweet intoxication

Touch me, trust me, savor each sensation

Let the dream begin

Let your darker side give in

An unconscious decision, they both began to lean towards each other - so slowly that neither realized his own or the other's movement.

To the power of the music that I write,

The power of the music of the night

Before they realized their close proximity, they were no more than a couple of inches away from one another. In a sudden, lust-filled movement, both moved towards each other and their lips met.

You alone can make my song take flight...

Help me... make... the music... of the night...

Well, I think I'll stop it there, bwahaha. When writing this it felt really romantic, but... after reading it it feels much more morbid than romantic, at least until the end. I really believe that "Music of the Night" from The Phantom of the Opera is the perfect song for LeonxCloud... the only bad thing about me using it here is the fact that now I can't do a one-shot LeonxCloud fluff using Music of the Night :P

For those uber-fans of The Phantom of the Opera, you might have noticed that I minisculely changed a few lines, such as the original line "The darkness of the music of the night," which I changed to "In the darkness of the music of the night". Those changes were merely because I thought the song sounded better with them in there XD

Now that I come to think of it, this chapter probably would have been very different (as in, less description and more kissing!) if I had chosen a different song, or no song at all. With "Music of the Night", I deliberately tied together the song and the fic, with such weak ties as "Turn your face away/From the garish light of day" with "Leon turned towards Cloud", and such ties that I absolutely love, like "Softly, deftly, music will caress you/Hear it, feel it, secretly possess you" and Leon's definitely-poetic description of Cloud. I hid a whole bunch of those in plain sight... it's one of the only reasons I read (and now, write) songfics, simply because it is so descriptive if you're not looking for it, and so plain if you are. I love it!

On a final note, it took me an hour-and-a-half to write this whole thing (NOT including the Author's Notes at the beginning of the end). Shows how difficult romance is to write, now I respect so much more such Romance greats as Uzumaki-sama, author of Stygian Solace and A Complete 180 (both are M-rated SoraxRiku fics that have been posted on this site).

PLEASE remember to review, I'm going for 30 more reviews in 10-or-so more Parts, remember?