Battle of the Mages
Cookies and Kisses

"So, what shall we do today?" asked Kylie.

Cloud shrugged. "I don't know."

Before Kylie could answer, Hades, the God of Death and Ruler of the Underworld, swept into the room.

"Somebody write this down!" he practically yelled. "Tomorrow night, there's going to be a dance here!" He twirled around, as if dancing, then swept out. Whispers spread around the now crowded kitchen.

"A dance!"

"Exciting!"

"Oh, I have nothing to wear!"

Kylie raised an eyebrow slightly at the men and women excitedly chattering around them. Cloud snuck a glance her way. She looked totally disinterested. He had almost been hoping that she'd want to go, and that he could offer to take her. He wanted to see her in a dress, but he knew that he probably wouldn't ever. Kylie wasn't a skirt person, and she couldn't fight well in a skirt, which was one of the reasons why she didn't wear them.

"So, anyway, continuing on, what do you want to do?"

Cloud's almost formed hopes plummeted. She didn't want to go. "Once again, I don't know," Kylie leaned back even farther, tilting her chair back on two legs. She closed her eyes, and thought about what to do.

"I feel like..." Cloud leaned forward slightly, hoping this statement would have a profound effect on how exciting their day was going to be. "I feel like cooking."

Cloud returned to his original position.

"Cooking?"

"Yes cooking. It's when you put ingredients together and usually stick it in the oven, and the completed product is something edible and delicious."

Cloud rolled his eyes. "I know what it means to cook. You just never struck me as the cooking type."

Kylie cocked her head to one side. "Why?"

Cloud blushed slightly. "I don't know. You just never seemed like the type to enjoy cooking." Kylie grinned.

"Well, I do. And today, I think that I will cook something." Her chair hit all four of its legs with a thump. "And you, my friend, are going to help me." Kylie stood, chair sliding back.

Cloud was thinking as he stood too. She'd called him her friend. The ultimate rejection. Although, it could have just been a phrase she'd been using. Also, the things she'd told him last night...you didn't tell those things to 'just a friend'. Your best friend, maybe. Cloud could live with that status...for now.

Then he realized something. She had told him about her best friend, Tai, several times. Kylie talked about her a lot. He remembered thinking that he did once know a girl named Tai, but they never really talked about it. Then Cloud thought of something. Girls often had several best friends, one of which was usually a guy. So, Kylie could consider Cloud her best friend.

That revelation, which took only a few seconds, left Cloud feeling tired. He groaned and sunk back down, dropping his head into his hands.

Kylie was by him in an instant.

"Are you okay?"

Cloud nodded. "I'm fine. Just...just tired, all of a sudden."

"Stay sitting." She moved away, and when she came back, she brought him a cup of water. While they had been talking, the room had emptied out, until only the two remained.

"Drink this." He did so, and he immediately felt better, although he still had a slight headache.

"You know," said Kylie, standing back, hands on her hips, "The reason you're feeling sick is probably because you don't ever eat anything."

Cloud looked up at Kylie, surprised. "I do too eat."

Kylie rolled her eyes exaggeratedly. "Not enough. A full grown man like you, to keep your muscles, and to keep your weight normal, needs to eat more than you're eating."

"What are you talking about?" asked Cloud. He had been lost in her confusing sentence about why he needed to eat more.

"I'm talking about the type of food that you eat. For breakfast this morning, you had rice. That's it. Nothing else. Half the time you skip lunch, and you hardly eat anything for dinner. I'm surprised that you're not dead yet!"

Cloud raised an eyebrow, then sighed in defeat. "Fine, you win. I'll start eating more."

"Good. You start now." Kylie walked over to a drawer, and took an apron out of it. Tying it on, Cloud had a sudden vision of her cooking in a kitchen, as his wife. He shook his head. Like that would ever happen.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm making you breakfast."

"I already ate."

"Cloud." Kylie turned to him, holding a spatula. She'd just washed her hands. "Did you already forget about our little conversation? I said that you start now."

Cloud threw up his hands. "Fine. Do whatever you want." Kylie smirked.

"Good. I will." Cloud couldn't help but smile. Whenever he was with her, he just wanted to smile. But, of course, he couldn't tell her that. That would mean that things would be awkward between them again. And to Cloud, keeping her friendship was more important than letting his true feelings be now. At least for the time being.

Kylie smiled brightly. She got out a skillet, turned on the stove, and began to cook. Cloud just watched her. She was making a Japanese omelet, with rice, egg, and bits of bacon. When she was done, she put it on a plate, grabbed a fork, and set it in front of him.

"Eat."

Cloud ate. All of it. Very quickly. It was very good. When he was done, he looked up at Kylie. She had several cookbooks in front of her, and was flipping through the one in her hands. Kylie glanced up before returning her gaze to the book.

"Done?"

"Yes."

"Good. Go get an apron on and wash your hands."

Cloud looked at her in disbelief. "I am not wearing an apron."

Kylie looked up and held his gaze. "Au contraire, my friend. You will wear an apron. Actually," and here Kylie tapped her chin. "Go change first." Cloud raised an eyebrow.

"Why should I change?"

"Because the clothes that you're wearing are not suitable for cooking in the kitchen." Cloud was wearing his long black coat and black pants, and both his sleeves were intact.

Cloud threw up his hands in disgust yet again. "Fine. I'll go change."

"Good. While you're over in that vicinity, grab my CD player and my CDs out of my room, okay?" Cloud nodded, and left. He changed, and grabbed the things she'd ask him to.

When he came back, he was wearing black jeans, faded till they were almost white at the knees and ends, and ripped at the knees and ends. His shirt was a dark blue long-sleeved shirt. When he entered the kitchen, he put the things on the table and spun around.

"There. Happy?"

"Ecstatic.

She had taken off the black hoodie she'd been wearing. She just had on a gray t-shirt, and Cloud could see the silver bracelet, on her left wrist. He was happy that she was wearing it. Kylie tossed him an apron. It was dark blue, a darker blue than his shirt.

"Ready?" Cloud nodded.

"You have to roll up your sleeves."

Cloud looked down at his left arm, and shook his head. Realization came into Kylie's eyes.

"Oh, I forgot. I'm sorry, I'm really oblivious sometimes. Here, sit, and I'll fix it for you." Cloud sat in one of the chairs. Kylie pulled another one up, and pushed his sleeve up, until all of the Geostigma infected skin showed.

"Okay, ready? This will probably hurt a lot." Cloud nodded. He was used to pain, both physical and mental.

"Okay, here I go." Kylie closed her eyes, and, placing her hands on his arm, began to burn the infection out. Cloud clenched his jaw, and shut his eyes tightly. It hurt badly. When she was almost done, he managed to open his eyes. Both of them were glowing with a red light, the light of a fire mage. The rubies on her bracelet were also glowing, with what seemed like an internal fire. And then, she was done, and the glow faded. Kylie opened her eyes.

"There. All done." Cloud looked down at his arm. The Geostigma was gone. He looked up at her, and smiled. It was his true smile. Kylie had only seen it once or twice. She smiled back at him.

"Thank you."

Kylie stood. "Of course." Cloud did too, rolling up his other sleeve.

"Hey, Kylie?"

"Yeah?" She was reading a recipe.

"When you were healing me, the rubies in your bracelet were glowing. Why?"

Kylie hit her forehead with her hand. "I should've explained that to you." Then she looked thoughtful. "Although, considering, it never came up, so I guess I can't really be blamed for not having explained it to you. Each Mage has a special jewel, or gem or whatever that magnifies their powers. Fire is rubies, water is sapphires, air is diamonds, earth is emeralds, and chaos is obsidian. Also, metals from the earth magnify our power, although there is no specific one that does it more than a different one. I just prefer silver."

"Would, say, a sapphire magnify your power?"

"A little bit. Not as much as a ruby, but a little bit." Kylie smiled, holding up her bracelet. "So, you just gave me a little power booster. And let me tell you, this boosts my power a lot." Cloud smiled again.

"Good. I'm glad it could help." Kylie laughed.

"But of course."

The two stood, and Kylie began to get ingredients out, Cloud leaning against the counter. When all the ingredients were out, she and Cloud began to make chocolate chip cookies, the music playing.

Several people looked into the kitchen during the time it took them to make the cookies. They were shocked to see Cloud smiling and laughing, hands covered in flour and dough.

When the cookies were in the oven, Kylie and Cloud looked at the oven. There weren't that many cookies, since the two had eaten a ton of the dough.

"You know, I really don't feel like eating any of those now," said Kylie thoughtfully.

"Me either. I feel sick."

Kylie grinned. "Me too. But you know, the raw dough is way better than the cooked cookie."

Cloud smiled too. "True, true. What about salmonella poisoning?"

Kylie grinned, gathering the dishes and putting them into the sink to wash. "The salmonella is on the eggshells, not the actual raw egg. Neither of us will get sick. And, I've been eating raw cookie dough my whole life, so I'm practically immune to it!" Cloud laughed, putting the ingredients away.

"Kye, where does this go?" asked Cloud, holding the closed bag of chocolate chips. Kylie froze, turning slowly from the sink.

"...You just called me Kye."

Cloud froze. "I'm sorry. Is...is that bad?"

Kylie's face had a guarded expression, and then it softened. She shook her head. "No, it's fine. It's just...Tai's the only one who calls me that."

Cloud bowed slightly. "My apologies. I won't call you that again."

"Oh, no!" Kylie, hands positioned so that the palms were facing Cloud, and the fingers were pointing upwards. She shook them back and forth. "It's...it's fine. It's fine. Um...go ahead."

Cloud smiled again. "Okay."

"And, um, they go in the cupboard over to the left of the fridge." Cloud nodded, and put them in the cupboard, on the top shelf. When he turned around, Kylie was glaring playfully at him.

"What?"

"You put that on the top shelf just to make fun of my shortness, didn't you?"

Cloud looked confused for a moment, then he grinned. He'd been smiling a lot that day.

"You caught on to my plan quickly. Although truthfully," and here Cloud's grin widened. "You are pretty short." Kylie looked highly offended and turned back to the sink, beginning to scrub the dishes. Cloud moved forward, until he was right behind her, looking over her shoulder. Kylie would call it hovering.

"Are you angry?" he asked quietly. Kylie didn't answer. Cloud hadn't realized how sensitive she was about her height.

"Don't be angry. Short is cute." Kylie blushed and looked up at him, who was leaning over her left shoulder.

"Short is...cute?"

Cloud nodded, and leaned closer. "Short is so very, very cute."

Closer, and closer, both of their eyes closed slowly, and their lips met in their first real kiss. Very light, just brushing. A few seconds later they parted.

"So very cute," Cloud whispered, face just a few inches away from her own.

And, of course, as is typical in stories, somebody walked into the kitchen at that exact moment.

"Am I interrupting?" The two jumped apart. Kylie spun while jumping, lost her balance, and fell back into the sink. Soapy water splashed over the edge of the sink in a wave onto the floor. Her arms were covered up to her forearms in water, and the back of her shirt was soaked. Trying to recover her balance, she slipped on the wet floor, and fell onto the ground. Instinctively, she grabbed Cloud, who was standing quite close, to try and catch herself. Cloud slipped also, as so much water had fallen out of the large sink that it had washed over Cloud's black vans. The two fell into a wet pile onto the ground.

The girl in doorway was Jessica. She was glaring at the two adults. Jessica, blonde, blue eyed, preppy Jessica, had a crush on Cloud. Blonde, blue eyed, non-preppy, emo Cloud, did not like her. He tolerated her. Just barely. Whenever she tried to strike up a conversation, he left. And yet, even though he was a total jerk to her, she still liked him. In fact, Cloud was a total jerk to pretty much everybody except for Kylie.

"No, you're not interrupting anything," said Kylie lightly, coldly. Like the first chilly wind of winter.

"Are you sure? I could have sworn the two of you were locked at the mouth." Kylie's eyes narrowed, and she stood, extending a hand to Cloud. He took it, and she pulled him up.

"Oh, no, we weren't locked at the mouth. We will be though." And with that, Kylie faced Cloud, wrapped her arms around Cloud's neck, pulled him down, and kissed him. His arms circled around her back. This one wasn't like their last one. This kiss was more forceful. Cloud's mind was in shock. What he had wanted to do, and she had initiated it. He was free from guilt.

When they broke their kiss, Kylie, still in Cloud's arms with his wrapped around her, turned her head and looked Jessica square in the eye. Jessica, anger clear on her face, turned on her heel and stormed out of the kitchen. Kylie smirked before looking back at Cloud.

"You won't make any friends that way," he said.

"I don't want to make friends with people like her. Don't like it, you can leave."

"No, I don't think I will." And then, Kylie's mind began to work.

"Cloud, I'm so sorry!" Her arms, which had still been around his neck, unwrapped, and her hands covered her mouth. They lowered, and she moved away slightly. Cloud however, kept his arms wrapped firmly around her back. "I don't know why...to make her mad...but I still really wanted to..." Kylie broke off, and shook her head back and forth. "I'm sorry. I don't have my thoughts in order."

"Good." Before Kylie even had a chance to look surprised, Cloud unwrapped one of his hands from her back, and, leaving the other one there, cupped her head in his hand, and drew her closer, pressing his lips against hers forcefully once more. When they parted, they stayed close.

"Thinking would ruin the moment."

Kylie smiled, and Cloud smiled back, and then they kissed again. They were doing this when another person entered the kitchen.