Warrior, I Am
Chapter 6: Put Me Down!
Disclaimer: I own this disclaimer only. That is my disclaimer.
A/N: Gah! I'm sorry this took so long. I had serious problems with uploading. Geez, I was ready to tear my computer up by the bolts!
The questions are answered at the end individually. I would suggest-for some of you-to read it before you read this chapter. It might help to clear things up.
This chapter happens right after Squall called Yuffie a brother. She's walking back to her tent.
"I like you like a brother."
A brother!
"Damn him," she gritted out, clenching her teeth together so hard that it hurt. A brother? That's not exactly what she had wanted to hear. Maybe, "you're cute," or even "yeah, you're tolerable." But to be told she was some sort of sibling to him? Not very romantic…
Yuffie stopped walking. She sighed.
"What am I talking about," Yuffie muttered, tugging absentmindedly at the tank top that bound her breasts. "I should be glad he said that, and nothing more…"
She knew that her cover would be blown if she became too involved with anyone in any sort of way. She was completely aware that every second that she was in the camp her life was on the line.
Or…
She used to be really conscious of it. As of late that very essential fact had been slipping away from her. She'd begun to feel comfortable being in the camp with the men. So comfortable that she could tickle feet and ask someone if they liked her…
Yuffie had to watch herself. If she wasn't careful, everyone would soon know she didn't have the 'ol nuts and berries, and then where would her life be?
"That's it," she murmured, clenching her fists. "From now on, I am a man. A complete prude. I will spit and fart and not be feminine at all."
"Good luck with that," Cloud said from behind her. Yuffie whirled around with a squeak. "And don't fart; you stink enough already."
Yuffie's cheeks burned, but she didn't have an intelligent comeback to that one. Instead she asked, "How did you wake yourself up?"
A good question too. Yuffie thought (a bit egotistically) that she was the only one in camp to have the ability to wake up the blonde.
"I didn't really wake myself up…"
Cloud glanced meaningfully at her and tugged on his hair. Water was dripping from the plastered locks.
It was then that Yuffie realized that Cloud was soaking wet. And upon closer inspection, she also noticed that even more water was seeping out of his tent.
"Did a tidal wave hit you?" Yuffie wasn't sure if she was being humorous or serious with that statement. A tidal wave didn't look like it was so farfetched.
Cloud glanced off to the side as if he was upset about something. Water dripped off his face and his hair looked like a sodden carpet.
"Yeah, sure," he muttered. He said something after that, but Yuffie didn't quite catch it.
"Erm, what? Did you say Francine?"
Cloud speckled her with water from his fingertips. "Vincent," he said slowly. "Vincent woke me up."
"Oh."
The blonde sighed at her. "You're such an idiot sometimes…"
Yuffie's mouth dropped open. Ugh. How dare he. She was still raw from the morning and she was in no mood to deal with Cloud's crap, too.
She stomped forward and gave Cloud a firm push. The hard, warm flesh of his chest didn't seem to yield for a second, and then he stumbled back slightly. He looked so indifferent that it made her even angrier.
"Jerk," Yuffie snapped.
"Whatever you say," was his ever-elusive answer.
"Jerk!" Yuffie repeated, not fully understanding why Cloud's coldness was upsetting her. He was like this every day. Sometimes he would insult her; other times he'd appear to give in, like now. But even when he "gave in", she never felt victorious-only stupid somehow.
"It seems like you want to fight," Cloud said in all of his insightful wisdom.
He was smarter than Yuffie gave him credit for.
Not that she'd admit that to him though.
"I do not." Oh, but she did. She wanted him to insult and scream at her so she'd have a reason to unsheathe her claws at him. She wanted somebody who would be her mindless punching bag. But most of all…she wanted somebody to grab her and shake her and tell her that there was somebody else better than Leonhart in the world.
Lot's of fish in the sea, sweetie.
"Are you sure of that?" Sincere enough words, but Cloud wasn't even looking at her like he cared for an answer. Yuffie's anger was still molten lava, so she didn't trust herself to answer that directly just yet.
"Why aren't you drying yourself up? You'll catch pneumonia." Count on her to show worry when she really wanted to murder a man.
She couldn't read his eyes. "Doubtful."
Completely deadpan, and somehow he managed to sound smug.
She was this muchhh closer to strangling him.
"You're not invincible," Yuffie said, feeling like an old biddy as she said it. If he wasn't so introverted he'd probably say, "Well, duh."
Of course Cloud didn't say that though. Instead he gave her a smile-or at least she thought it was. His lips were stretched into a straight line, and she had to squint to see them turned up at the edges. He looked like he was trying to smile while he had an arrow in his bum.
"Of course not."
Something sad and lonely about those words.
How many secrets did this man have?
"We have a job to do," Cloud whispered finally. "Let's go."
Yuffie crossed her arms over her chest. She was still upset about that morning, and even more irritated that he didn't take her advice and go dry his ass. She was still shaking with rejection and fury and maybe Cloud knew that too. "You can't tell me what to do. You're not Leonhart."
Oh. Ouch.
Yuffie didn't realize the line she had crossed until Cloud was standing over her, his eyes as cool as unyielding as a pure diamond. The scene wasn't unlike her first day at camp, when she had accidentally asked him for directions to High Noon.
"You're right," Cloud said. His eyes nearly blazed to green, and he looked terribly ominous at that moment. Her heart started to thud faster, and it wasn't because of their close proximity. "I'm not Leonhart." His eyes narrowed then, and he stepped closer. Yuffie stepped back. Cloud followed. It was like a dance that Yuffie didn't want to be a part of. "Where were you this morning?"
Uh oh. Suddenly the tables had turned. Now Cloud was in one in control, and Yuffie was helplessly stuck in an interrogation.
Somehow Yuffie never saw this coming.
"I—I—" She stuttered, eyes on Cloud's nose and mouth. She was too afraid to look into his eyes. "I was taking a walk…"
Cloud's face leered. How quickly he went from subdued to fuming! "All by yourself?"
Yuffie nodded. Cloud's eyes widened with perceptible fury. She quickly shook her head.
"Were you with Leonhart?"
Yuffie didn't answer.
Cloud grabbed her wrist.
"Cloud…" Yuffie whispered, looking into his eyes despairingly. Her brain was on panic mode. What was wrong with him? What happened to the composed man before? Where had he gone?
Who was this Cloud?
"WERE YOU?"
Were you?
A brother.
A flash of what had happened with Leonhart, and suddenly all of her senses were overloaded. Her eyes felt wet.
"STOP IT!" Yuffie finally screamed back. Her lungs were sore but she'd barely said a thing. Her whole body trembled from fear-fear of this foreign man that certainly didn't seem to be Cloud.
Her wrist was dropped as if she were poisonous. She quickly moved away so there was at least two feet between them. "You're scaring me…"
Cloud's eyes didn't soften like they usually did. "You'll live," he said coolly, turning around. He walked away without a word.
Yuffie's eyes stung. Her heart was like lead. She didn't talk on the way to the stables.
Stables were very difficult to clean when one is trying to hold back tears, Yuffie discovered. The walk to the stables had been a brisk one and the conversation very stilted indeed. By the time they had the shovels in their hands, Yuffie still hadn't managed to get over the shock.
Rejected by two men in a matter of minutes. Was that even possible? For a prostitute, yes. But Yuffie was no prostitute. And she never asked to be in the position she was now.
Her former conversation came back to her. How she should be glad and thankful that the men around her were too cruel to her to notice that she was a woman. Cloud and Squall, bless their souls, were such assholes that it kept her alive. Thank heavens for them.
Her shovel went too deep into a mound of poop and she almost lost her balance. "If I get a face-full of shit…" Yuffie trailed off, sniffling. Deceiving eyeballs she did have. Was Big Mama the Geyser living behind her eyes? She had enough water in them to quench a third world country.
Why did Cloud and Squall think they had the nerve to mess with people's feelings like that? Especially Squall. Hitting on her and then turning her away! Yuffie didn't know what to think about him. For goodness sakes, if he was gay, he could at least act it out right.
And Cloud! Why did he go bipolar on her? He was so indifferent and serene one moment, and then he was suddenly spiraling toward her like an angry tornado. And all she did was mention Leonhart…
Yuffie didn't want to admit it yet, but if she didn't know any better, Cloud was jealous of Squall.
Jealous of what though?
'Maybe Cloud wants Leonhart,' Yuffie thought miserably. "Why oh why do all the nice, attractive men have to be homosexual…"
A hand clapped onto her back, nearly sending her into a stable filled with hay and horse doo-doo. She gasped in shock and anger and righted her self quickly.
"I say that all the time." A sweet, dainty voice said from behind her. She removed the hand from her shoulder ungratefully, remembering how close her body was to falling into the stables. She glared at the stranger, her puffy eyes a signal that she was not in the mood for talk.
"You mistake me," Yuffie said evenly.
The boy that had spoken just gave a lucratively perverse smile. Apparently he took that statement as an invitation. He leaned in closer and whispered, "Oh, do I?"
She almost expected Cloud to come up to them then and tell the boy to buzz off. But then she remembered that they were still fighting, and that he wouldn't go out on a limb for her anymore.
Yuffie shivered, feeling very violated and unprotected. What the boy said…and the way he said it…made her feel like he knew a big secret that she didn't want to get out.
Like her feelings.
Or that she was a girl.
Yuffie needed to get away from this strange boy.
"I have to work," she said quickly, moving away from his body. She picked up her shovel, having half the mind to bonk him on the head with it. Instead she just held it up, a little too high, to warn him away.
"Calm down hon, I won't tell," the boy said with a wink. Yuffie's insides squirmed. Tell what? Tell who? What did he know?
Yuffie moved in on him this time, the dirty shovel dangerously close to both of their faces. "If you tell anyone…" About what? She didn't even know what this boy was talking about. "If you tell anyone about that, I'll murder you."
And she almost nearly meant it too, if he told…whatever he knew.
The boy started to laugh. He pulled her closer and Yuffie almost made him eat her shovel. "So you are hiding something."
"Wuh-" Yuffie yelped, realizing she had fallen into his trap. "I am not!"
The boy laughed. "Well, whatever it is…I won't tell." And the boy gave her one more wink. "Oh…and my name is Ebon."
"I don't want your name," Yuffie snapped viciously. Ebon just laughed again.
"Sure." Ebon looked down at his gloved hands, sighing dramatically. "I hate cleaning this stables. It's so disgusting…" And with that he walked away.
As soon as he was gone Yuffie quickly made a profile of him in her mind. He was only slightly taller than her, and he had short black hair (almost like hers) and startling green eyes. Yuffie almost decided to add that he was probably and most likely gay, which would not bode well for her.
"I just hope he's not interested in me," Yuffie muttered as she went away shoveling more crap.
"Dear god…"
The brown-haired, blue-eyed commander twisted the cap off the bottle labeled 'Aspirin' and popped one into his mouth. He swallowed it dry with a wince. He was about to recap the bottle, then thought better of it. He quickly grabbed another 500 mg pill and swallowed that, too. Maybe 1000 mg was a bit of overkill, but with his father coming, he'd need every single milligram.
Hey, as long as it didn't kill him, all was swell.
Of course he might be a little woozy later on…
Squall turned over the bottle and read the drug facts on the back. Uses-temporarily relives minor aches and pains associated with: headaches-like the ones his father gave him, migraines-again, his father, and menstrual cramps-nope.
The bottle didn't list any potential side effects. 'Like dizziness, fatigue, vomiting…any excuse to save me from my father.'
His father had sent him a scroll. "Objective scrolls" is what ninjas would probably call them. They contained directions pertaining to a particular mission, and would be either long or concise, depending on what the objective was. They were rarely used in the military now, but Laguna still fancied them because of the simple fact that-and Squall could quote his father exactly-, "Writing on rolled up paper is just jolly fun."
The scroll said in big scrawling letters, "YOU WILL MARRY A WOMAN!" Followed by-count them-fifteen exclamation points, all dotted with hearts.
Squall felt faintly nauseous, and it wasn't an understatement on his part.
How pleasant of his father to say, "You will marry a woman." Nice to see that Laguna was covering all bases (for once). Laguna's main objective, after all, was to have a pair of grandchildren sitting in his lap. The plan would be blown in the dust if Squall ended up saying "I do" to a Mr. Congeniality.
A long time ago Squall had attempted to be homosexual just to spite his father. What he discovered was that men were no less needy than women were, and that he was incapable of pleasing either sex. The yaoi thing did not work for him, and the one man Squall attempted to "come out" with told him straight to his face that all he had going for him was his looks.
And that was that.
"What are you up to, Laguna…" Squall whispered, staring at the scroll. "Just what the hell are you up to…"
Much to Yuffie's grief, Squall had only cancelled training for that morning. That meant moving from the stables right out to the field, where they were to spar for the remainder of the day. They didn't even have the luxury of changing out of their clothes before men were barking at them to go to the field and start fighting.
This told everybody one simple thing: Squall was in a very bad mood.
Without weapon's training, Yuffie was stuck enduring a big and painful beat-up session by Cloud. And since they never made up…
Cloud's punches would be worse than usual.
He stood in front of her now, not even looking at her. Usually, he had the nerve to stare straight at her, but Yuffie discovered that Cloud always averted his eyes when he was lying. And when he was angry he wouldn't even look at you at all.
Another idiosyncrasy of his.
It was windy, but the sun was out so it was bearable. The air was so fresh and new that if you breathed too deep it stung. Yuffie could hear men grunting and kicking all around them.
Yuffie tucked a loose strand of brown hair behind her ear and cleared her throat uncertainly. Cloud didn't look like he heard that. He was being so cold to her…she could practically feel it in her own body, from the top of her brown head down to her sheepskin boots.
"Hey," Yuffie said finally, working up enough nerve-or cowardice?-to speak. "Do you want to practice kicks or punches-"
Cloud swiftly sent a roundhouse kick to her ribs. The wind was torn from her lungs and she couldn't even make a sound as she fell to the ground.
"Kicks it is," Yuffie said, gritting her teeth. She stood up and threw her own kick at him, one that he captured easily within his right hand. With one easy tug she was on the floor.
She.Would.Not.Get.Angry.
Picking herself up in a way that would make any bullied up kid proud of, the young girl swung at Cloud again. And again. And again. Three times, and he sent her to the floor without as much as a bead of sweat.
It was the fourth time that got to her. Yuffie had faked an uppercut to his chin and attempted a knee to the stomach, but Cloud caught on quickly. He grabbed the bend of her knee and picked her straight off the ground, dangling her around like a dead goose. Then he dropped her rudely onto the ground, right by his feet.
'That does it,' Yuffie thought with annoyance. She got a lobster hold on Cloud's calf and dug her nails in like a hungry panther. For some nails, she could feel the skin giving way. Cloud's face contorted and he looked ready to kick her in the mouth.
"That. Hurts." Cloud growled, grabbing her by the back of her shirt. He tried to tug her off, but Yuffie clung to his leg stubbornly. She wouldn't let him throw her around like a rag doll.
"Suck it up," Yuffie retorted. She moved her hands lower and grasped his shin. When he pulled at her shirt again, she took his ankle with her, and they both tumbled to the ground.
"Damn it."
"You deserved that one," she said in a know-it-all manner. "If you hadn't been so rough…"
Cloud pushed her shoulder, but not as hard as he should have. Despite falling over himself, Cloud somehow found the situation funny. He found that it was really hard to stay angry at Yu (the stupid little brat).
"You need to toughen up," Cloud said, shoving her again. "I was trying to help you."
"Help me?" Yuffie laughed, if not a bit sarcastically. "Whatever, Mr. Dumpy Drop. You're such a jerk."
"You clawed me," Cloud said, as if that defended all that he did. "I swear…you get worse by the day."
Yuffie let out a big huff of air. "Get worse at what? Fighting? Annoying you? Eating? Singing? Dancing? Breathing?"
"I get it, Yu," Cloud said, staring straight at her like he usually did. 'Ah, that's more like it.'
Just when Yuffie was sure they were back to their buddy-buddy attitude, Cloud shifted his body so he was leaning over her. Her cheeks flushed burgundy when his face moved close to her own.
"Cloud…" Yuffie began uncertainly. This was all too much like how Squall had leaned in close to her face. Right before he told her she was like a brother. "What're you-"
"You need a bath."
Blunt and completely to the point.
Yuffie was really starting to believe that all men were heartless after all.
"CLOUD! PUT ME DOWN!"
Those words sealed her fate.
Or so the drama queen in her would like to think.
But she was getting ahead of herself…
After training, Squall was kind enough to allow them to all go to dinner. It was good that he did so because half of his men were nearly dead from exhaustion. Yuffie herself was so tired that she nearly found herself face down in the crap that the chefs liked to call soup. Cloud didn't seem too tired, but he did refuse to eat his dinner. He just sat there with his spoon, pouring the soup back into the bowl from such heights that it made a lovely chicken-noodle waterfall.
Yuffie snacked on some of the canned fruits, but she did that alone. She had given up offering Cloud food because he never accepted any of it.
Actually, Yuffie hadn't ever observed Cloud eating. She just never seemed to have enough energy to watch him open his mouth up and shove some tasty cereal down his throat. Now that she realized she had never seen him eat though, the thought bugged her terribly. And the fact that he wasn't eating tonight wasn't helping any either.
Was Cloud anorexic? Maybe he was more conscious of his looks than he let on…
"Probably not…" Yuffie muttered, giving him a quick up-down when he wasn't looking. He was way too buff and built to be anorexic. If he had an eating disorder she'd probably be seeing his spine popping out of his back.
"What did you say?"
"Huh?" Yuffie looked at him, eyes widening as he lifted his spoon again. She half hoped he would put it in his mouth, but she was sorely disappointed. He just created another one of his waterfalls.
This was driving her nuts now.
She was going to gag him with that spoon if he didn't eat some goddamn soup.
"Yu," Cloud called, clearly taking note of the intense stare she was giving him. Cloud arched a brow at her. "Yu," he repeated. No response. Cloud sighed and stood up from the table. He leaned over and shook Yuffie's shoulder lightly. "Hey, I'm going back to the tents now."
"Huh?" Yuffie snapped out of her reverie. "Oh, ok. I'm coming."
And dinner ended just like that.
But mark her words…
She would see him eat a whole meal if it killed her!
Fast forward to their tents. Cloud had decided that he was going to bathe.
Oh joys.
When Cloud first told her that, Yuffie couldn't have thought less of it. He was bathing? Good for him. Remember to wash underneath your religion because it gets dirty there. And of course she got some nice visions of Cloud's naked hiney, which she then had to wipe quickly from her mind.
The problem came when Cloud told her that she was going to come with him because she smelled like a dead bison. When Yuffie replied, "Over my dead body!" Cloud quickly took that to heart.
So that's how she ended up on Cloud's shoulder's, kicking and howling, with her dirty clothes securely shoved into a bag hanging from his arm. He had dragged her out of her tent, picked her up while she was screaming, and gathered her clothes from inside without her permission. If he had reached any further than he had, he would've found a sport's bra wrapped around his fingers.
"You lech!" Yuffie hollered, knowing that she was gaining more and more attention as they walked by every single tent. "Pervert! Rapist!"
"The hell I am!" Cloud snarled at her. "Just shut up until we get there!"
"Pervert!" Yuffie yelled again, waving her arms wildly. "Sodomite!"
Men had come out of the tents to glare at them. Some cussed at them. Most cat called.
"Going at it again, eh Strife?" A random voice hooted at them.
"Cute ass!" Others yelled.
"Hey, what do they mean again?" Yuffie asked. Cloud just groaned and told her to shut up.
"Don't get too raunchy in the water you two!"
"Yeah! This is an AIDs free zone!"
Cloud's shoulders were tense beneath her stomach. Even Yuffie herself could admit to being more than embarrassed by all the comments they were getting. She knew that they looked a little inappropriate, but did everyone have to be so lewd?
"See all the trouble you cause?" Cloud said stiffly. Yuffie couldn't even feel indignant at that. She just tucked her head underneath her arms, which had given up fighting out of humiliation.
"Sorr-" she began, but a loud, obnoxious voice interrupted her.
"And where are you two sneaking off to on this lovely night?"
Baby-face Sora had somehow managed to find them and was now walking leisurely on the left side of Cloud. Riku had somehow slipped quietly on the other side of the blonde. Cloud stiffened and so did Yuffie. She had a feeling that they were about to be sandwiched in a very bad prank.
'Oh please Cloud, please don't tell them where we're going.'
"To the lake," he answered rigidly.
Gah! Yuffie bit her lip. She didn't have the courage to look up. She was using Cloud's broad shoulders as a shield for her face. She was very conscious of Riku walking right next to her, and she was terrified that somehow he'd do something to her without Cloud's knowledge.
Yuffie cautioned a glance at Riku and found his startling sea-green eyes watching her. He gave a cheeky smile.
"That's too bad," he said smoothly. "We're going to the mountains. Shame that you can't come."
"I don't fancy sitting in the snow," Cloud sneered, obviously not enjoying their company.
Sora laughed. "We're not just going there to hang around. We're going to meet some ladies."
Yuffie's startled gasp wasn't easy to miss. Ladies? Who the hell would go tromping out in the mountains to meet these two dopes?
Those poor girls better be getting a lot of money for that.
"You probably wouldn't want to come anyways, seeing as you have each other."
Yuffie wanted to yank Riku's pretty, attractive eyes out when he said that.
And then, as Sora and Riku walked away, the silver boy briskly slapped her ass.
Ok.
Forget his eyes.
She was going to tear out his nuts.
"Asshole," she felt Cloud rumble beneath her. She smiled a little, holding onto his warmth, feeling safe in knowing that he would've protected her if anything happened.
"CLOUD! PUT ME DOWN!"
Well…
Almost anything.
"You're going to take a bath," Cloud firmly snapped, sounding like a mother trying to get their toddler into the bathtub.
"NO!" Yuffie yelled, legs flailing. Once they had gotten to the water and he had put her down, she had fled like a bat out of hell. Of course he had no problem catching her and dragging her back by her arms. He was now standing knee deep in the water, his arms wrapped around her midsection in an attempt to dip her in. She was like a fish out of water though-no kidding-and she just wouldn't stop writhing and flailing.
With her body constantly pushing against him in such a manner…rubbing and writhing…Cloud was being to discover that it was having adverse reactions on particular parts of his body.
He dropped the poor girl into the water without a second thought. His mind was blank. A tingling sensation was settling into his nether regions and he didn't want to acknowledge that.
How could…
Cloud couldn't mask his shock.
Did a guy just elicit that response from him?
Cloud shook his head. What was wrong with him? This young boy made him feel so confused.
Maybe it was better if they didn't bathe. Cloud had always had a considerable amount of self-restraint (yeah right, Yuffie would say), but he wasn't so sure about now. He couldn't trust himself suddenly. He had no idea what he would do if he were stuck in the water with his naked partner.
"I'm not taking off my clothes!" Yuffie yelled in a shrilly manner from behind him. She had seen his shocked face without knowing what the causes. Her only reasoning was…there were leeches in the lake. Or those funny fish that swim up your penis. Whatever it was, there was no way she was going to take off her clothes.
Naked didn't look like it was going to be a problem any time soon.
"You can't wash with your clothes on!" Cloud roared at her, remembering why the hell he was so pissed at her earlier. "Just take them off! I'm not going to look!"
"No!"
Cloud gave her the dirtiest glare he'd ever given. He stomped through the water and right up to Yuffie, who was sitting stubbornly in the water, completely soaked because of how he'd dropped her earlier.
"You.Will.Bathe."
"Make me."
Cloud's eyes widened. Yuffie realized then, as he grabbed her around her middle, that she had definitely said the wrong thing.
"CLOUD! PUT ME DOWN!"
Now he was waist high in the water. Chest high. Yuffie was going to have to climb atop his yellow hair to stay afloat soon.
He dropped her in.
The water was cold and it shocked her lungs. She came blubbering to the surface, short brown hair hanging down like a mop in front of her eyes. She didn't have to part her wet bangs to know that Cloud was nearly laughing at her.
"You suck Strife."
"I told you I wouldn't look."
Yuffie pushed her hair back. Cloud thought she looked like a drowned labrador. She pointed to the shore.
"Then don't look!"
Cloud gave one short chuckle and waded back to shore, where he respectfully turned his back toward her.
"Can't believe I'm doing this…"
Leeches, eat me alive.
She pulled off her t-shirt and ducked below the water to pull off her bra. She glanced back to Cloud, but he was behaving himself. He didn't look like he'd glanced back at all. She turned back to her duties and reached up the water to pull off her pants and undies. Her boots were completely soaked through, and so were Cloud's. She was going to kill him for that later.
She was just going to float in the deep end. She would wash in a safe, no-touching zone. If he got too close…well, Yuffie hoped that wouldn't happen. She wasn't the best of swimmers.
Yuffie sighed, knowing she was on thin ice and that with this night that ice could possibly shatter. She needed a bath though, and somehow bathing with Cloud gave her some sort of secret pleasure. It was one more thing to add to her book of Flirting With Danger.
Cloud, meanwhile, and despite himself, had begun to get particularly antsy. He had promised himself that seeing Yu naked would only lead to bad things, but his twenty-one year old mind told him that it would instead lead to yummy, dirty, and very satiating things.
"I'm going to murder myself," Cloud whispered, glancing down. If his damn mind kept going on the track it was going…well, he'd need the cold water very soon.
Just one peek.
"No…"
What's it going to hurt? You're going to see it eventually.
The blonde sighed. He was losing to himself.
Cloud heard her wading to shallower shore. He glanced back….
Just in time to see the beautiful curve of her back.
And a little more.
A/N: Mwaha! I said I was going to have them bathe…but it's a cliffy! Ho ho. Can't wait to know just what Cloud saw, eh?
For any of you that read the old story…Ebon is back! Yay Ebon! He's going to be the "girl" that Yuffie goes to for advice, since there are no actual girls around. He's very feminine and hates doing hard work. Very funny character, and he's all mine!
Ok, now on to the questions…
Hsumi- Yes. Ebon is going to be in this version. I love Ebon! He's too precious to just throw away.
Sakuya- In my story, Yuffie has short brown hair and brown eyes. It's simple, and none of the other guys have brown eyes so it makes her more unique. She's short (around five foot three, I think) and she's skinny.Just google a picture of her.
KairiLuv- I just updated. Haha. And no, Cloud and Squall are not gay. Because Yuffie makes them feel a certain way though, they think they are. Essentially they aren't though. They just think Yuffie is cute. And is Laguna going to meet Yuffie? Well, I can't answer that one…you'll have to see for yourself.
sakuya-kaleido- The one with the long brown hair (the one that Laguna was referring to) was Rinoa. The blonde girl (if you're curious) was Quistis.
Music Lover Always- You didn't even ask a question but I'm talking to you anyways. Haha. I never finished FF8, so I never really figured out that Laguna was his dad. Wow. Now I realllyyy want to finish it.
Daemon Velvet- The story summary says this is a Squall/Yuffie/Cloud. Meaning it's a love triangle. You'll just have to keep reading to find out if Yuffie goes with Squall or Cloud!
An-obscure-flaw- No; you're not weird for being excited. In some weird way I really wanted to give Yuffie a bath too. The evil sadist in me just really wants to put Yuffie in a veryyy uncomfortable position.
Is that it? I have no idea. There were probably more of you, but I began to get confused between the old reviews and the new ones. Whoops. If I forgot you (which I probably did) just review again and ask the question. Again.
When I edit in the preview box, sometimes it squishesthewordstogetherlikethis. I'm sorry and I will try to be aware of that.
Also, I do NOT know how to fix the problem of "if you reviewed the story once (logged in), you can't do it again." I'm sorry. The only option (that I know of) is to delete the story and then repost everything. If anybody knows how to solve this, please tell me.
Review! Or just read. I know you're reading, and that's what really matters to me.