Let's check the reviews, (Whistles a small tone as he goes and checks the reviews) Click! (Dies of shock) X.x Whoa... How the... Wow! I never thought I'd have so many wonderful reviews from y'all. Heh heh... Hmm... Maybe I'll do something extra special for y'all! Heeheehee! Hmm hmm hmm... I'm thinking of something rather... interesting. My, my, my, The Great Glaciers can certainly be a fun place to have some good Ol' Fun.

Disclaimer- I don't own Final Fantasy 7

Cook Or Freeze

Cloud fought desperately with himself to get motivated enough to get up. But he couldn't seem to get the blanket of fog that has clouded his mind, telling him to stay in his tent. If he had a choice, Cloud would of stayed in his tent, where he's curled up in a ball in his sleeping bag, remaining nice and warm. The thought of getting up and leaving the tent where he'd instantly feel like a human icicle makes him want to cry in protest.

Oh, how he wished the group had made it to the Northern Crater before nightfall, instead of being forced to set up camp on the Great Glacier, where there's a roar of wind that never seems to seize and so much snow that building a camp fire is virtually impossible. Whoever has watch duty gets the pleasure of nearly freezing to death. Cloud can just picture himself turning into a snowman out there, than the next morning the group would have to thaw out their frosty leader before proceeding.

Cloud won't voice his complaints out loud however, oh no sir, he'll keep them to himself like he always does. He'll continue to curse fate for making the Promised Land in such a body numbing place. Oh how Cloud would wish the sun would just beat him to getting up. Than again, at the rate he's going, it may. He was suppose to take watch twenty minutes ago. But he hasn't been able to bring himself to leave the, no-so-comfortable but WARM sleeping bag.

But now leaving the warmth of the sleeping bag isn't the only reason why he doesn't want to get up. The other reason is that he doesn't want to have to listen to the complaints from a certain female ninja for taking twenty minutes to get up. Cloud's surprised that she hasn't ripped open his tent and dragged him out by his blonde spikes so she can snuggle into her own sleeping bag and perhaps regain some feeling in her limbs.

Speaking of Yuffie, she's been acting strange since the night before, the night she kissed him while he was asleep. Well, half asleep. At one point he was totally asleep, but when she wiggled her way out of his hold, the sudden lack of extra body heat made him wake up some. He only became fully awake when he realized Yuffie had kissed him. She never mentioned the incident, nor did he, she just acted indifferent towards him.

Than again, he wasn't much help in the situation, he'll be the first to admit that he had been acting like a 'Royal pain in the ass' as Yuffie pointed out to him when kept telling her to get a fire going, after she pointed out the fact that after a dozen attempts the fire obviously isn't going to start. Yet he insisted that she wasn't trying hard enough, and that's when she told him that he's a royal pain in her ass. Can you blame him though? He was cold, it's fricking ONE degree out! Not twenty, or thirty, ONE, a single digit number, the number isn't even plural, it's just singular, une, uno, ONE! And now he wouldn't be surprised if it's in the negatives.

A half a dozen times Cloud debated if he could just wake up Vincent and send him out on watch duty instead. He knew the Ex-TURK wouldn't mind; he blindly follows any order given to him and would do anything that would help anyone in the group. It's his way for repenting, for what you ask? Cloud isn't sure he even understands what the mysterious man is exactly repenting about. God only knows there's a large list of sins that he feels he needs to atone for.

After giving a short cry of protest, Cloud tore himself out of his sleeping bag and picked up his sword. He didn't even bother changing since he kept his clothes on, knowing it would keep him warmer. The only problem with that however is that he wasn't able to get much sleep, he's too accustomed to sleeping... well no use crying over it. Not like he'd get much sleep when he knows that Sephiroth is near.

Even before Cloud unzipped his tent, he was already freezing, making him look longingly back to his sleeping bag. Oh how he misses it after a whole thirty seconds. Maybe if he's lucky he'll freeze to death the moment he steps out, instead of having to fight with the chilling cold for the remainder of the early morning. After deciding that he can't possibly get any colder than he is now, since he's already shivering violently; not to mention the small little icicles that are forming on his eye lashes, Cloud unzips the tent and steps out.

'Yup... it's definitely below zero.' Cloud thinks to himself. He goes to sheath his sword that he still has in his hands, only finding out that he's having trouble getting his hand off of it. 'Great... my hand is frozen to it.' His brows furrow as he literally pries his fingers off the hilt of the sword with his free hand. Cloud rubs his bare arms, needless to say, he feels like a complete dumb-ass. He knew he should of bought some sort of jacket at Icicle Inn, instead of depending on his sleeveless mercenary shirt. Well, at least his pants have pockets that he can put his hands in. His face and bare arms are the only thing freezing really, the other parts of him are just cold, not warm, cold. Cloud could already tell this is going to be a fun night.

Glancing around, Cloud notices that there's no one around. 'Yuffie must of skipped her shift once she got too cold.' He thinks to himself. He makes a mental note to assign Yuffie double time next time. After all, what would of happened if they were attacked by some monster? Everyone could be killed. Scratch that, everyone would be killed because no one would be willing enough to get out of the warmth of their sleeping bags to fight some creature. Cloud knows he wouldn't. But here he is, standing in the freezing bone chilling cold, feeling more or less like an idiot, playing the good leader that everyone knows and loves him for.

Cloud snorts at the thought. 'If being a good leader includes me freezing to death then they can all kiss my-' Cloud's train of thought stops when he notices footprints in the snow, heading away from the camp. He also sees paw prints heading in the same direction. Cloud immediately recognizes the set of footprints as Yuffie's. Cloud decides the paw prints are most likely from one of the local wolves running around.

Thinking that Yuffie could very well being hunt by a pack of wolves, Cloud quickly follows the tracks, thanking the mighty gods that it wasn't snowing so it wouldn't cover up the tracks. About a fifty yards away from the camp, Cloud stops as his eyes catch sight of a small fire. What seems to strange about the small fire is that it was moving around and appeared to be floating in the air. Cloud thinks of the possibility of it being a torch of sorts. As he gets closer, the mystery of the hovering fire is solved in the form a fiery beast by the name of Red XIII.

"Cloud..." Red XIII nods his head in greeting.

Cloud scratches the back of his head, confused, the freezing temperature momentarily forgotten, "Red? What are you doing here?"

Red XIII's tail swats from side to side as Red XIII sits there on his hunches; staring up at Cloud, "I woke up awhile ago and Yuffie asked me to accompany her."

"Yuffie? Where's Yuffie?" Cloud asks looking around, finding no sign of the mentioned ninja.

"She found a hot spring near by. She's there." Red XIII lifts his paw up to point at the small snow mound, "It's on the other side of that. Unfortunately, I can't convince her to come back to the camp." Cloud gives him a questioning look, clearly not understanding why. Red XIII looks off to the side, glancing up at Cloud out of the corner of his eye, "The temperature of the air is a bit too... cold for you humans to handle, I assume."

Cloud slaps himself in the forehead and shakes his head in disbelief. Cloud watches as Red XIII lets out a beastly yawn, showing off his K9s to the world, "Head back and get some sleep, I'll get Yuffie."

"If you wish." Red XIII replies.

Cloud doesn't know why Red XIII seems so amused by the idea, he doesn't have much time to question it either before the beast is off and running back to camp. Cloud wraps his arms around himself, the coldness making itself known once again. Cloud really wishes he had a jacket. Deciding best to get the ninja before something else around here does, Cloud heads over the snow mound. His eyes fall on Yuffie's form, the back of her head the only visible thing to him as the rest of her body is under the steaming hot springs. Around the hot springs all the snow is melted, leaving only hard rock in it's place.

The sound of Cloud's boots kicking the gravel on the rocky ground informs the ninja that someone is there. Causing her to immediately turn around, her misty gray eyes widening a bit in surprise when she sees who it is, "Cloud!? What are ya doing here!? Where's Red?" She immediately questions.

"I sent him back to camp to get some sleep after he told me where you were. As for what I'm doing here, I'm taking up watch, something that you are suppose to be doing." Cloud says, keeping a few feet away from the hot springs. He has to admit, even a few feet away from the hot springs, it feels much warmer than the rest of the area.

Cloud's eyes catch sight of the bundle of clothing at the edge of the hot springs, he quickly realizes that Yuffie is, in fact, not wearing anything in the hot springs. He's not surprised though, any wet clothing that comes out of the hot springs would immediately turn hard as ice the second they walk away from it. He glances back at Yuffie and raises an eyebrow at her when he notices that her shoulders and her face are quite red, giving her the distinct impression of a lobster. "What are you doing in there anyway?"

Yuffie rolls her eyes at the seemingly stupid question, "Staying warm, duh." Yuffie ducks a bit further under the water in embarrassment, "But uh.. It's too cold to get out, and yet it's too hot to stay in, not to mention I'm skin is beginning to prune."

Cloud quirks an amused smile as he holds in his laughter, "Well, you can't stay in there forever, we are leaving in a few hours."

"I know that!" Yuffie suddenly snaps, waving her hands above her head frantically. She ducks back further under the water till the only thing visible is her head, "But it's too cold to come out."

Cloud shrugged his shoulders, "You got yourself into this mess, you get yourself out." He says before turning around to walk away to give her some privacy.

"Hey! You can't just leave me here! What if something attacks!" Yuffie quickly calls out.

Cloud sighs as she crosses his arms, not even bothering to turn around, "Look, I need to keep watch." He glances over his shoulder to look over at Yuffie, "You can either stay in there and cook, or you can come out and freeze."

"Gee... Both don't sound too bad. Either cook or freeze, whatever should I do?" Yuffie asks, her voice dripping with sarcasm. Cloud shrugs his shoulders before he begins walking away once more, "Alright, alright! I'll come out just give me a moment." Cloud stops and waits. "Uh..." He hears Yuffie say, "Where are my clothes?" Cloud blinks in confusion before turning back around to glance over to where he last saw her clothes, near the edge of the hot springs. Only, they weren't there. Cloud scratches the back of his head, giving a nervous smile when he realizes what had happened to them, "Cloud you spiky headed idiot! You kicked my clothes into the hot springs!" Yuffie practically shrieks.

"Um..."

"Argh!" Yuffie vanishes in the hot springs as she dives under. A moment or two later, she reappears, tossing her clothes on the edge of the hot springs. "Damn it! Well I might as well get changed in here, it doesn't matter now." Yuffie says, putting in the effort to shoot Cloud a nasty glare. Cloud begins walking away again, "Where are you going now!"

"To gather wood to make a fire. The ground here it dry. Besides, you can't return to camp in wet clothes, you catch hypothermia"

"Oh Cloud! I never knew you cared!" Yuffie exclaims, making sure to make it sound extra sarcastic.

Cloud merely shakes his head as he heads over the snow mound in search for a tree. When Cloud gets back with a bundle of wood in his arms, Yuffie is still in the hot spring, but now she has her clothes back on. Cloud piles the wood near the hot springs and gets a fire burning by casting a simple 'Fire' spell. With the sight of the growing fire, Yuffie slowly crawls out of the hot springs and huddles up as close as she dares to the fire to get her clothes to dry.

On the other side of the fire Cloud stared at her drenched form. Noticing how her bangs stick to her forehead, her skin still a bit flushed from being in the hot springs so long, and how her clothes seem to outline ever curve of her body exactly the way it is. Cloud's gaze lowers into the flames of the fire. He has to admit, the young ninja is no longer the 'living twig' she was when they first met her in the forest, she had... 'grown' quite a bit. He already noticed before that she stands just about three inches shorter than himself, unlike when the top of head barely made it to his chin. And the ninja didn't seem to notice it herself, or if she did she just didn't seem to think much of it, but she had 'developed' in some areas that isn't possible to not notice at the moment.

That thought caused Cloud to think about a few moments ago, when Yuffie was sitting in the hot spring without any clothes on. If he was a perverted sleaze like a lot of men, Cloud could of gotten a good look then if he wanted to. The hot springs are pretty clear, so if he wanted to he could have... Shaking his head, Cloud rids the thought out of his mind. 'It's not like I wanted a look.' He tells himself, whether he believed himself or not is unknown to even him.

Glancing back up, he notices Yuffie staring at him, causing him to raise an eyebrow at her. "Did you know that you space out a lot?" Yuffie asks suddenly.

Cloud crosses his arms and lowers his head until his chin rests on his chin. 'Where had that come room?' He wonders to himself. Really, it just seemed so random. And he doesn't space out a lot. He just has a lot to think about. Sephiroth is near, that alone would give him a lot to think about. After all, the safety of the planet is resting entirely on their shoulders. Cloud notices that Yuffie is grinning at him while giving him a knowing look, "What?" Cloud asks.

"See? You're doing it again." She points out. "GAWD! I swear, you have got to be the only person on this planet who gets spaced out as much as you do." Cloud would of taken it as an insult, that is if he cared. But the fact of the matter is that he doesn't, it's not like it's true, after all, Yuffie doesn't know everyone on the planet so how can she make that assumption? But Yuffie doesn't seem to even consider that fact as she continues, "I mean, the way you act, your already to turn into a wrinkly old man like gramps. They do nothing but sit around and think about the good Ol' Days, so you got the whole thing down already."

Cloud rolls his eyes at the ninja, "Is there a point in this discussion, or do you just feel the need to point out the fact that I think a lot?"

Yuffie shrugs her shoulders, flashing him her famous Yuffie Grin, "Well... you obviously weren't making the effort to get a conversation started, with you being all spaced out and everything." Cloud gives a tired sigh as Yuffie continued, "So I figured I'd just let you know that you space out too much."

"You... really can't think of anything better to discuss, can you?" Cloud asks with a raised eyebrow.

Yuffie raises her head up as she taps her chin with a finger in thought, "Mmm... nope! So unless you can think of anything better, I'll just keep pointing out your little annoying habits."

"Oh they annoy you do they?"

"Well duh! It's kind of annoying to try talking to you when you tend to space out in the middle of a conversation." Yuffie explains, giving him an annoyed look.

Cloud scratches the back of his head in thought, "Okay... So what other annoying habits do I have?" Cloud asks, raising a curious eyebrow.

"Well.. for one... You raise your eyebrow a lot when talking, and you scratch you head too much, your bound to give yourself a bold spot eventually."

"I do not."

"You tap your foot too much when your thinking about something."

"I do?"

"You don't talk enough." Yuffie begins counting on her fingers as if it were a list.

"There isn't much to talk about."

"In the rare occasion you actually start a conversation, it's either about Shin-Ra or Sephiroth."

"Again, there isn't much for me to talk about."

"You rarely tell anyone what your thinking."

"Why does anyone need to know what I'm thinking?"

"You hardly ever give a full smile."

"There isn't much for me to smile about right now."

"GAWD! You use that phrase, 'Let's Mosey!' Which annoys the hell out of everyone!"

".........."

"You do that damn stance all the time!"

"The SOLDIER stance?"

"It's irritates the hell out of me!"

"Why?"

"Because it" 'Makes me want to jump you' "... has no point whatsoever."

"It's more of habit than anything else." Cloud shrugs.

"You couldn't care less about anyone else's problems."

"That's not true!" Cloud protests.

"Fine! You couldn't care less about mine!"

Cloud opens his mouth to respond but shuts it when he realizes exactly what she's talking about. He had helped Barret with his problems with Dyne, as well as Red XIII when they went to Cosmos Canyon. Yet in Wutai, Yuffie had told him her home was slowly falling apart, turning into nothing more than a tourist resort. He remembers telling her that he couldn't care less about what happens to Wutai, that all he wanted was his materia back. He didn't think Yuffie was actually effected by his words.

Cloud leans back on his hands and releases a tired breath. He should of just asked Vincent take watch duty. After all, he really isn't up to this tonight. He's too tired and it's too cold out. "OW!" Cloud rubs the spot on his head that Yuffie just hit with a rock.

"Stop ignoring me!" Yuffie demands, clearly becoming ignored.

Cloud thought for a moment about teaching her a thing or two about hurling a rock at him but decided against it. What would he do anyway? Throw it back at her? That would be a bit childish, but than again, who said he couldn't be just as childish as her? "I wasn't ignoring you."

"Yes you were!"

"No I wasn't"

"YES you were."

"Nope."

"Yes!"

"......."

"Ha! You didn't deny it, I win!"

Cloud can't resist the urge to roll his eyes at Yuffie. She seems more or less, like herself now, "Or it's just that I don't care what you think when I know that I wasn't."

"Grr.... You're such a jackass!"

"You're annoying."

"Cold hearted bastard!"

"Brat."

"...Chocobo head!" Yuffie doesn't know what's more irritating, the fact that she's running out of insults or the fact that Cloud hasn't raised his voice at her even the slightest, always keeping his voice cool and collected as always. 'And I know he knows it annoys me!'

"Twiggy." Cloud's lips uplifted the slightest in amusement.

"Twiggy?" Yuffie blinks in confusion, that's a new one on her. "Well at least I'm not fat." Yuffie replies.

"Neither am I."

"I wasn't talking about you either. I was referring to Mr. Giggles." Barret's nickname still brings a grin to her face. She's proud of herself for making it. She called him it one day as a sarcastic remark, and it more or less pissed the man off. Barret is not one who giggles, or laughs much for that matter. Yuffie makes sure to call him it any chance she can get. "Nope, you're not fat." Yuffie agrees ready to continue her chain of insults, "You're a short egotistical mako man, who wouldn't be of use to anyone if you couldn't fight."

Cloud just shrugs his shoulders, clearly not bothered by the insult, "And you're a child."

Yuffie can feel her right eye twitching as she glares at the blonde. If there was one thing she can't stand, it's being referred to as a child. So what if she's the youngest in the group. So what if she technically isn't allowed to drive, or smoke, or drink like everyone else in the group. What's so great about killing your lungs like Cid does. What's so great about getting drunk like everyone else does, only to end up making an ass of yourself. Yuffie has even seen Vincent and Tifa get a bit tipsy before, two companions that she would never thought would even touch a drink.

Everyone in the group regards her as a child. Cloud was the only one who treated her more as an equal than anyone else. He's never before called her a child, brat, but not a child. It only seems to make her even more furious when it's Cloud calling her a child than anyone else. So much in fact that she can't help herself from getting up, marching the distance between them and effectively grabbing the front of his shirt to shake him while shouting, "I am not a damn child!"

What Yuffie wasn't expecting, was Cloud to fight back, even though she's practically straggling him. Cloud however, doesn't fight back by shoving her away, or hitting her likely, he found a different way, and in Yuffie's opinion, 'Quite effective way to beat her.'

While Yuffie continued to shake Cloud violently, and ranting off about how she isn't a child. Cloud surprised her by suddenly reaching out to grab hold of her shoulders before pulling her down until his lips are pressed firmly onto her own. At the sudden pull of her shoulders, Yuffie had given a surprised squeak, but when she realized Cloud was kissing her, she froze in her spot. For a moment Yuffie had thought she had fallen asleep in the hot springs and everything is just a dream.

Than Yuffie finally realizes that it isn't a dream, and that Cloud is, in fact, kissing her. When Yuffie is about to return the gesture however, Cloud pulls away, leaving Yuffie hunched over in her position; her mouth slightly opened in surprised while her eyes seem to hold a dreamy look in them. And believe it or not, Yuffie is quiet.

Cloud begins chuckling, quietly at first, he had never seen Yuffie this quiet before. Even when Aerith was killed, Yuffie wasn't quiet, she was more pissed than anything at first until the fight was over. If Cloud knew that he could get the ninja quiet with just a simple kiss he may have done it sooner.

Yuffie finally snaps out of her gaze at the sound of Cloud's chuckling. Hesitantly she touches her lips likely with two fingers, the sensation of Cloud's lips on hers still slightly lingering there. Yuffie feels her face heat up, and she knew in an instant that she's blushing. She finally realizes that Cloud is in fact laughing a bit, "What are you laughing at!?" She demands, a bit too embarrassed to care how harsh she may or may not sound.

Cloud gets a hold of himself to glance up at her, flashing her an amused smile as he pokes her in the cheek slightly, his finger leaving a white print before her blush heats up that small spot again, "You're blushing." He announces thoroughly amused with the prospect.

"Argh!" Yuffie smacks him alongside the head, "You're such a jerk!" She shouts before marching off, thankful that her clothes are dried so she wouldn't end up freezing to death before she made it to the camp. Although, right now, Yuffie didn't seem to mind the idea as she heads in the direction of the tents, still able to hear Cloud's laughter from behind her.

Heh heh... Yeah... Well... I must say, I think I've lost my pure humorous way thingie. It's not as funny as it used to be but I guess this is working. Actually the next chapter should have plenty of laughs Unfortunately however, I believe the next chapter might be the last. So It'll be something really special for everyone out there.

Here's a question for y'all- What would it be like if AVALANCHE and the TURKS camped together for one night? The next chapter should answer this mysterious question. It won't be pretty o.O

Review!!!!