Naruto's tears had long dried into the back of Cloud's black sweater, but the drizzling rain made it damp again. They raced down the road on their way to the Turk's place of work, changing lanes, swerving in between cars while people swore at them. Neither of them cared though, Naruto too saddened at what he had done and Cloud lost in thought. The dreary grey sky thundered ceaselessly, threatening to rain down upon them as it had done just minutes before. They didn't mind that either, it seemed, at that point that they didn't mind anything.
Cloud kept a steady pace of forty miles per hour, to impatient to keep behind any cars. ' Why am I in such a rush I'm getting nowhere ', and it was true they had been going in circles for six miles now. Passing by a bakery that seemed it wasn't getting any business, a strip mall, and a man sitting on a corner in ragged clothes with a small tin plate in front of him. But these things never caught Cloud Strife's eye, he had too much to think about.
Millions of thoughts ran through Cloud's mind, his head ached from all that Naruto had said to him. Not only did it confuse him beyond doubting his own existence, it brought back bad memories he didn't want to remember. Nearly his whole life was situated in Naruto's mind. How, when, and why was it there? Cloud came to a stop at a red light, he shut his eyes hoping the pain in his head would go away. He opened his eyes, green light, he raced off again. They turned off on a side street, then another, and back on a main street. Naruto hadn't said anything to him the whole time they were riding. He didn't know what was going on, this was too much for him. They were almost there, just a couple more blocks and a right turn would get them there. ' I'm sure his friends can wait a little longer '.
Cloud sped up to fifty miles per hour, not even as much as glancing at the road he should have turned on. He merely looked forward, through his sunglasses at the road ahead.
Forty-five minutes Cloud sped down that same road he had never turned off of, ' What am I doing? ', he slowed down as the road became more rough and rugged. He finally turned off onto a dirt road that didn't look so much like a dirt road anymore. Pebbles were scattered all over it, weeds grew over it, with grass patches here and there making it hard to distinguish between the grass and the road. The Mako eyed man came to a stop in front of a murky looking pond. Mist floated above it, nearly transparent, dragonflies lazily flew above it , their rainbow colored wings fluttering up and down.
Releasing his gloved hands from the handles, he breathed in, then lowered his head. Cloud left Naruto and the bike and sat of the ledge above the pond that shimmered and glinted as it rippled. Naruto, unsure, hesitantly got off and sat beside him on the dewy grass. Naruto looked over at Cloud, curiously wondering what was coming next. The drizzling had finally letup and the grey clouds looked as if they would finally stop suffocating the sun, it slightly peeked through letting them know it was still there. Naruto took another glance at Cloud silently wondering what was going through his mind. ' What are you thinking ', Naruto thought, ' Tell me what you thinking ', Naruto looked off towards the pond wondering if he was thinking the same thing.
Cloud looked up at the sky, clenched his eyes shut, and grabbed Naruto's right hand tightly. Naruto glanced down at Cloud's pale gloved hand over his tanned one. His hand seemed unusually warm, " I'm glad ", Naruto looked over at hearing Cloud's voice. " I'm glad you came to see me Naruto ", his warm voice soothed Naruto's eardrums, Cloud released his hand, " When are you leaving? ", Naruto replaced his hand in his lap. " I-I don't know ", Naruto frowned thinking, " Maybe tomorrow ", it was Cloud's turn to frown. " Maybe you could stay longer, you could stay in the extra room I have upstairs ", Cloud stared at his reflection in the green tinted water five feet below. " I'd like to stay, but my friends especially Sasuke wouldn't want to stay any longer ", Naruto swung his legs back and forth over the ledge on which they sat.
Cloud bit his tongue in order to not say anything unnecessary about the red-eyed boy. As if reading his thoughts Naruto went on, " I know you'd like to probably say a million bad things about Sasuke ", ' I don't need a million words, only two ', Cloud thought as he pictured the boy's face in his mind. " But Sasuke's really not all that bad when you get to know him, he's a good teammate, he's my friend ". Cloud nearly scoffed, but decided otherwise, " I know he can be a jerk sometimes, but deep down I know there's more to him than just a tough exterior ", Naruto looked over at Cloud, Cloud looked back and smiled slyly. Naruto giggled trying to hold back a laugh. Cloud grinned, Naruto burst out laughing, " Okay, okay you got me I made all that stuff up, but I'm sure that some of it's true especially the last part ", then Cloud laughed.
Cloud took Naruto's hand again and rested his forehead against it, still laughing. The sun shined full force down on them, as their laughter filled the area. A golden brown squirrel, startled, scampered up a tree and watched the two boys cautiously with beady black eyes, whose laughter chased it up a tree. Naruto blinked away the tears that had gathered in the corners of his eyes. Cloud kissed Naruto's hand and looked into his ocean blue eyes, " Thanks for making me laugh ", he let Naruto's hand fall to the grassed earth below. " It's been awhile, I had thought I forgotten how to laugh ". Naruto giggled, " Dilly- dally Shilly-shally ", Cloud smiled and rested his head in Naruto's lap. " I'm thinking we should go get my friends now, like was originally planned ", Cloud smirked evilly ' They'll have to wait a little longer since I'm out of gas '. Yes Cloud Strife had run out of gas on purpose just to spend time with ' his ' Naruto. An unknowing Naruto lay back on the still dewy grass, the Sun stung his eyes and he closed them. " Maybe just five more minutes ", Naruto said enjoying the warm rays of the Sun and the cool breeze of the translucent wind and Cloud leaning over him smiling, his mako eyes showing nothing but happiness.