Warnings: Slash!

Disclaimer: Not mine!

ENJOY!


Healing

Chapter Six

"Friends"

-

Leon did not come home for dinner that day.

Nor did he return after nightfall. He was out all night and not even Cid had the slightest idea of where he could be. He didn't say where he was going when he left, or what he was thinking when he did so. He hadn't even used the door.

He'd fled. Like a scared and wounded animal.

Jumped out of the window, not even considering the fact that it was a rather large height.

None of the members of the Restoration committee had made any attempts on going after him.

If the lion needed to be alone, then he should be allowed to have his privacy.

Despite her anger, Aerith hoped he was okay, and while taking care of Cloud and forcing him to stay in bed, she sent thoughts of strength his way, and wished for him to come home soon. Even if there was no reason to be worried, there was a storm going on, and although Leon was not unfamiliar with rough weather, she hoped that he was safe and sound and that he kept his clothes as dry as possible.

Cloud had yet to tell her what had happened, but his chilly and calm behavior told her that something was most definitely wrong. She had tried to talk to him, but he had stubbornly refused to talk about it, telling her only that there had been some quarreling between them.

She did not believe him and Leon's reaction only supported her suspicions.

The brunet was not the type to run away from arguments. Nor was he the type to leave an injured comrade in the middle of a storm.

No, Aerith wasn't stupid enough to believe that nothing had happened. For her heart, which she always listened too, told the flower girl that this thing that was happening between her comrades;

Was something big.

Something big and meaningful. And even though they both might get hurt in the process of figuring it out, the healer was almost certain that ignoring it would only make whatever it was worse.

She hoped with everything withing her that the two of them would find a way to swallow their pride and seal their wounds safely enough to start the journey they could only travel together.

Things were about to happen, and she could only beg for them to realize their purposes before it became to late.

The healer was not ignorant, and she most certainly wasn't dumb. Aerith had seen her share of life, and death for that matter, and her experience told her that this was a chapter filled with loads of pain. However, the sensed that it also held incredible amounts of happiness. Happiness that would never appear unless her boys could find a way to handle the pain.

She was enormously worried about them both, and even though she had been raging against the fact that Leon left Cloud, she knew in her heart that the brunet was good for Cloud. Leon was... something he needed. What exactly, she wasn't sure, but the flower girl had seen the chemistry between them and how they unconsciously depended on each other.

Leon was an important person in the blond's life, and even if Cloud might not want to admit it, he would have to search long and hard to find a friend of that caliber.

She sighed, and a small frown formed on her features.

It was midnight, and the Cetra was alone in the living room, cleaning up before she was about to go to bed.

Yuffie and Cid had already climbed upstairs and Tifa was sleeping in the bar. Cloud had stayed in his room all day and only once left the bed for a rather demanding errand at the bathroom.

She kept telling herself that she was just wandering about because she had to clean up the mess from the day's events, but in reality, she was waiting, unable to go to sleep without knowing that Leon was indeed all right.

So, when the door in Merlin's house creaked open and Leon's dark and stoic silhouette finally appeared in the hallway, Aerith felt like throwing herself around his neck. Apparently, she had been slightly more worried than she's thought.

She didn't go that far however, but at the familiar sight of his face, she let the duster drop, and her shoulders relaxed evidently.

Without a word, she walked over to him, placed a hand on his shoulder and pressed her forehead against his chest.

As tears started to form in her eyes, she took in the musky scent of sweat, rain and leather. The scent that was so utterly Leon. All her anger left her that very moment and the only feeling remaining was one of utter and complete composure. Her warrior was safe, he was unhurt and he was there.

It took the brunet a while to respond, but when he finally got his body to listen, he raised his arms and placed them around her slim back.

Pulling her into a tight hug, he used one of his hands to stroke her hair softly as he rested his chin atop of her head.

"I..." He whispered hoarsely, but before he managed to finish, Aerith pulled away from the embrace and placed a finger on his lips.

"It's okay Leon," she murmured, a small smile grazing her features, "I know. I know and I'm just glad you're all right." She stroked his arm lovingly, "now go upstairs and rest."

He looked at her uncertainly. "You sure?"

A nod. "Yes." She turned and picked up the duster and continued her work. "Oh," she bit her lip, "and I think Cloud is still up. At least he was awake an hour ago."

She looked at him pointedly, in a way that made Leon dropped his mask. "Aerith?" He shook his head faintly and motioned towards the stairs. "Is... uhm.. is he all right?"

The flower girl smiled and through the dim light Leon saw a small flicker of amusement in her eyes. He frowned a little at this, seeing as he could not quite understand what could possibly be amusing about the whole situation.

"He's fine." She traced the table surface with her index finger, searching it for dust, "we found him shortly after you went upstairs."

She regarded him for a couple of seconds before continuing. "Leon?"

"Hm?"

"He looked very confused. Like something was really bothering him and he's refused to talk to me all day." She paused to catch her breath, eyes flickering slightly from his, "did...Did you...?"

"I almost kissed him."

She dropped the duster again, this time not so purposely. "W-what?"

He simply nodded. "I don't know how it happened. We were just standing there, discussing his accident and..." he trailed off, eyes slipping out of focus.

"Oh." Was all she managed to get out. This was quite different from what she's imagined happened between them. Very different indeed. She would have never expected this.

A fight she could have handled, an emergency even, but this? Leon had almost kissed Cloud? Her Cloud? Zack and her's beloved Chocobo-head?

Cloud, the silent, embedded soldier who'd been a part of saving the world not even once, but twice?

She almost felt dizzy at the thought.

Since when did he go around kissing people?

And, in the name of Gaia, since when did he go around kissing Leon?

Aerith was no stranger to love and most definitely not when it consumed Cloud. There even used to be a time where she had been in love with him and him in her, but that was ages since now. Lifetimes even. It had taken her death to realize that that they were not meant to be and that Cloud was not supposed to be with her. That she wasn't supposed to be with Cloud. She had known this ever since she became a part of the Lifestream and by that, when she met Zack Fair again.

Zack, the first class SOLDIER who cheerfully stole her heart away, along with her youth. He, and he alone was the true bearer of her love. It was directed at him, and him alone. No one else could even come close. Not even Cloud.

"I don't know what happened," came Leon's breathless voice and she was startled out of her own musings. He trapped her gaze, an almost lost expression resting in his face.

Well, she thought, if she was surprised by the news he gave her, then he was most likely in shock. She could only imagine what he was going through at the moment.

"I don't know..." he whispered, as if he did not really want to believe his own words, "he was thanking me, and the next thing I know, we were..."

"It's okay Leon," she stopped him with a hand-gesture, "you don't have to tell me." She chuckled a little, "but I think I have a fairly good idea of how you feel."

"Hm?"

"Well for once, the last person you loved was that Sorceress, Rinoa, wasn't it? From what I have heard from Cid, she was not exactly an inept person, was she? He told me about your relationship and from what I understand, she worked hard to gain your affection." She paused to brush a few brown strains out of her face.

"Cloud is not like that. With him, it will probably be the other way around and you're going to have to work to gain his affection. At least if you want to maintain a blossoming relationship with him."

He scowled half heartedly at her. "Who said anything about a relationship?"

She gave a short, musical laugh, a sound that completely broke the tension. "From what I've learned Leon, kissing people usually means you like them and want to expand your relationship with them." Her eyes glimmered at him, "at least that's what I think it means."

"Well," he replied smugly, a smirk slowly spreading in his face, "I think— that all that dust must have gotten to your head."

The Cetra's eyes widened at before Leon could even as much as think of reacting, she bent down, grabbed the duster and smacked him in the chest with it. "You ruthless brute! How dare you?" She smacked him again, a little harder this time. "Now get your leather-clad ass out of my sight before I call Yuffie!"

His jaw dropped open. "Leather-clad ass?" he started, laughter bubbling in his throat. "Aerith?"

"Oh, just go to bed Leon!" She barked, cheeks flushed in deep scarlet, "you're distracting me!"

The strange, but welcomed sound of Leon's laughter rung in her ears even after he'd left the living room, and Aerith knew she would be having problems with sleeping that night.

-- TBC