Battle of the Mages
Troubles in Paradise

"This is unacceptable!"

Kylie looked around the office they were in. The lecture they'd been enduring for the last seventeen-and-a-half minutes was very boring. Phil walked in on them in the kitchen, where they were kissing. He'd then hauled them off to his office where he then proceeded to deliver a long, boring lecture about why two of his fighters could not become romantically involved. Kylie's eyes roamed around the office again, and she shifted her weight, shoving her hands deep into her pockets. Cloud, ever the stoic warrior, stood ramrod straight, hands clasped behind his back, feet spread slightly apart, looking straight at the half man, half goat. His eyes slid to the side, and he saw the fire mage fidget again. She was obviously not listening.

"Also - Kylie, are you listening!"

Kylie jumped slightly, and looked at him. "No."

Cloud ducked his head as he smothered a laugh. He envied her bluntness.

"Well, you should be!"

Kylie yawned and stretched. "No, I really shouldn't be, and I'll tell you why. First of all: Cloud. All three of us here know that Cloud is the main attraction at this place. Without him, this place will die. Slowly, but surely." Phil nodded, grudgingly. He knew that she was right.

"But I can still get rid of you."

Kylie smiled and shook her head. "Au contraire. You cannot. Because, since when I came here, Cloud found me, that makes me his guest. And, permanent resident fighters are allowed guests."

"I can change that!"

"No you can't. Because if you do, Cloud will leave, and then this place will die, which brings us back to square one."

Phil gritted his teeth.

"Fine. But please keep it private. It could start a scandal, or make many of our audience go away if they knew that Cloud was taken."

Both Kylie and Cloud blushed.

"We're not even dating!" exclaimed Kylie. Phil smirked.

"It's only a matter of time."

Kylie, blush deepening, turned and left the office, slamming the door shut behind her. Cloud stayed where he was, looking at Phil.

"Hold onto her Cloud. She's good for you." Cloud's blush deepened. "Actually, she's the best thing that's ever happened to you." Cloud was now the reddest that Phil bet anybody had ever seen him.

"May I go now?" Smirking, Phil nodded. He knew that he was right. Cloud turned and walked out of the office, closing the door a little harder than he'd meant to. Kylie was waiting outside. Cloud, smiling slightly, walked with Kylie down the hall, neither talking. About halfway down the hall, Cloud paused. Kylie stopped too.

"Kylie..."

"Yes?" Kylie cocked her head to one side, in a motion that Cloud thought was unbearably cute.

"May I...may I hold your hand?" Kylie was startled for a moment, before she blushed, and, almost hesitantly, nodded. Cloud reached out his hand, and Kylie took it, her small hand enveloped in his large one. His hands were rough, as they were the hands of a warrior. Her smaller hands were soft, event though she was a warrior, because she, unlike Cloud, put lotion on daily. Cloud hadn't put lotion on since he was a kid, and his mom had made him.

"Cloud, your hands are really rough," remarked Kylie airily as they continued to walk back to the kitchen.

"So?"

"So, you should put lotion on them."

Cloud raised an eyebrow at her. He suddenly felt so carefree, as if all his worries about the awkwardness between them coming back had never happened. "I am not going to put lotion on my hands."

Kylie raised an eyebrow too. "And why not?"

Cloud didn't answer.

"All right, since you've suddenly become a mute, I'll answer for you. I'll bet that this is what you're thinking: 'Putting lotion on your hands is something that chicks would do. I can't do that. That would make me unmanly.' End Cloud's thought process."

Cloud raised his other eyebrow too. "I don't think you have quite the grasp on the male psyche that you think you do."

Kylie grinned and shrugged. "Yeah, well, I have enough of a grasp of the male psyche to understand what you were thinking."

Cloud chuckled and shook his head. "You were wrong. That was very far from what I was thinking."

Kylie raised her eyebrows. "Yeah? Then what were you thinking, oh great swordsman?" Cloud smiled.

"I was thinking how darn cute you are." Kylie looked startled for a moment, then she blushed.

"You enjoy teasing me, don't you?" Cloud nodded.

"Yes I do. But it's true, whether I'm teasing you or not." Kylie's blush deepened as they entered the kitchen. Sarah was there, with several other people. Sarah was removing the last cookie sheet from the oven.

"Oh, thanks Sarah! I totally forgot those!" Sarah looked up, after closing and turning off the oven.

"Oh, what is this?" she raised an eyebrow amusedly. Cloud and Kylie blushed, immediately letting go of each other's hands.

"Um, oh, well -"

"Good for you. I'm taking some of these cookies, by the way."

Kylie nodded, unable to finish her sentence. Grinning, Sarah left, juggling five hot cookies between her hands. Kylie walked forward, and began to put the cookies on a cooling rack. Cloud walked forward, too, to help. However, Kylie didn't see him, turned, and knocked him over. Cloud, falling over, put his hand out, and it landed on the hot cookie sheet. He yelped and jumped away from the cookie sheet. Kylie, dropping her spatula, grabbed his wrist and thrust it under the sink, turning the water on full blast, turning the knob to make it cold.

Cloud was gritting his teeth. His hand was burned badly.

"I'm so sorry!" Kylie was saying, hands going numb under the cold stream of H2O. "You won't be able to fight now! I'm so sorry! It was all my fault! I didn't see you standing there!" Everybody in the kitchen was staring at them. Kylie and Cloud were wrapped around each other, because Kylie had been in such a hurry to get Cloud's hand under the water.

"It's...it's fine," he said through gritted teeth. It was at least a second-degree burn, because the oven had been very, very hot.

"No, it is not fine!" exclaimed Kylie, taking his hand out from the water. "You won't be able to fight, and you have a fight later today!" Cloud shrugged.

"I'll cancel it."

"No! Then they would say that you were afraid, and you'd be made a laughingstock!" Kylie paused, thinking for a few moments as she dried Cloud's hand and wrapped the towel around it. "I'll have to fight for you."

Cloud shook his head violently. "No. Absolutely not. Completely out of the question." Kylie looked into his eyes, and narrowed her own green orbs.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard what I said."

Kylie and Cloud were trying to stare each other down. One of the people in the kitchen, a newcomer, shivered. There was no way he would ever be able to do that, and he had no idea how she could either.

Kylie, glaring, said, "And since when, Mr. Cloud Strife, have you ever been able to tell me what to do?"

Cloud glared right back. "Since now. You are not fighting my opponent."

"Why not? I am fighting my own opponent."

"Because mine is too powerful and dangerous."

Kylie let go of his hand and stepped back, putting her still wet hands on her hips. "Wait, you don't want me to fight because...you think your opponent is too strong?" Cloud nodded, knowing it sounded stupid. Kylie let out a hollow laugh.

"I didn't know that you thought I was so weak, Cloud."

"I don't -"

"So tell me, magic-less swordsman, have you forgotten what I am?" Kylie was angry. She was very, very angry. Cloud didn't think he'd ever seen her this angry. Cloud didn't answer. "Have you forgotten what I am?" she yelled, sparks jumping across her skin.

"How can I when you're this angry?" he said coolly. The iciness in his voice was enough to put out the fire that was threatening to break out. The sparks faded, and Kylie calmed down.

"Then why do you doubt me?" she asked quietly. His heart hurt, as he realized just how much he had hurt her, when he'd doubted her strength. But in reality, all he had wanted to do was protect her. His hand throbbed, and he winced. Kylie's eyes were immediately filled with concern.

"We need to get something on that hand," she said, grabbing his other wrist and pulling him out of the kitchen, and into her room. Cloud sat on her bed as she closed the door, hand throbbing painfully.

"I'll be right back." Cloud nodded, and Kylie left the room. When she left, Cloud let his eyes roam. It had been a while since he'd been in her room. When they hung out, it was usually in his room, since his room, and bed (which they sat on) were bigger.

When Kylie came back, she was holding a potted plant. It sort of looked like a cactus.

"What is that?" asked Cloud, wondering why she had left to get a plant.

"It's an aloe vera plant."

Cloud raised an eyebrow.

"Did you never put aloe on your burns before?"

Cloud remembered one time, when he had been ten, he had gotten a very bad sunburn. His mother had put a green goop on it, and it had felt better.

"That's aloe vera?" Kylie nodded. Cloud gingerly unwrapped his hand. The palm was red and blistered, and hurt horribly. Kylie summoned one of her short swords, and cut off the end of one of the little branches of the arms. Green goop oozed out. Kylie, using her fingers, scooped up the goop, and applied it to Cloud's hands. His jaw was clenched tight the whole time, and sweat had broken out on his face and his back.

When the goop was all over his palm, Kylie wrapped a bandage around his hand. Cloud looked at it. There was no way he could fight with his hand like that.

"I don't."

"What?" Kylie was confused. It seemed like Cloud had just answered one of the voices in his head.

"I don't doubt you."

"Oh." Kylie immediately felt guilty for the earlier conversation. She had overreacted and she knew it.

"Then why did you not me want to fight instead of you?" asked Kylie, anger rising again.

Cloud looked down. He couldn't look her in the eye when he told her this. "I...I wanted to protect you."

"Protect me from what?" she asked exasperatedly. "I don't need to be protected! I'm strong!"

"I know." Cloud couldn't look up. "But the knowledge that you don't need to protect the person you care about doesn't make the fear of losing that person lessen, does it?"

Kylie didn't answer, and Cloud looked up. Her eyes were troubled.

"Cloud...I don't think...I don't think I can do this ye -" Cloud felt his heart and stomach plummet.

He nodded. "Oh...okay."

"Cloud -"

"No, really, I understand. It's fine." He stood. "Thank you for bandaging my hand. I'll just cancel the fight, so you don't need to involve yourself anymore." As he had continued to talk, his voice had grown unintentionally bitter.

Kylie began to stand too. "Cloud -"

"Don't Kylie. And don't you dare give me that, 'We can still be friends' line. Because we can't. You know that as well as I do. So just stop." Cloud walked out of her room, closing the door behind him.

Kylie sat heavily on her bed, and put her head in her hands.