Fic: Family Ties Part 2

[frozengothic]

Title: Family Ties
Fandom: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Slash, romance, drama
Pairings: Cloud/Sephiroth, Riku/Sora
Words: 12,560
Warnings: Slash


frozengothic.livejournal.com/2564.html



Riku smiled at Sora and touched his cheek.

"I had fun with you tonight Sora, would you like to have lunch with me tomorrow sometime?" Riku stood in the foyer waiting for Sora's reply when Roxas strolled in.

"Of course he will! He's had a crush on you for years now. He always stared at you during gym, and I had to notice, didn't I?" Roxas smiled sweetly through his sarcasm at his blushing twin and waved at Riku mockingly.

"Bye Riku. I guess we'll see you tomorrow." He grabbed Sora and pulled him out of the room, towards the staircase. Riku blinked at the twins retreating back and slowly a smile grew on his face. A crush, huh. So little Sora had liked him for a while now, Riku mused to himself as he left the Strife household to wait in the car for his parents.

Sora stood in front of the mirror in his bedroom, trying get his spiky hair to tame. He sighed quietly and gave up. Grabbing his bag he started to walk downstairs. He moved into the kitchen to a peculiar sight. Cloud was sitting on the island, chatting into his phone in French while writing notes into a book. Mariko was flipping through books on food and telling Cloud what looked good for weddings. Hikari was sitting amongst a pile of address and phone books, taking down names and talking to Roxas. Roxas was eating a bowl of cereal while leaning against the counter. He saw his twin and he moved over to him, eyeing his hair.

"Nice look, Sora. You do know that Riku has seen your hair before, right? It looked awful then, and it looks awful now. He's not going to car, really!" Roxas smiled benevolently at his love-struck brother. It was so much fun to tease him so.

"Shut up," he growled "What's going on?" Sora moved to the fridge and pulled out the milk. He grabbed a bowl and some cereal, making himself breakfast. Then he moved back to his and leaned against the wall, mimicking his twin unconsciously.

"Cloud is helping Raine organize the wedding! I think he's on the phone to the caterers. Either that or it's about the portable toilets, I tend not to know. I failed French, so I really couldn't tell you. Dad," he waved a hand in his direction," is making a list of all of dad and Raine's friends and relatives. Cloud can ring them once the list is done." As Roxas spoke Cloud hung up the phone and pressed his face into his hands, sighing from exhaustion. Sora frowned as he saw the tired look in his brother's face and the concerned looks that Mariko was sending him.

"Cloud, do you want something?" Mariko rubbed Cloud's shoulder gently, worried about the boy's health.

"Un thé, s'il vous plait." Everyone looked at Cloud as he spoke in fluent French, worry flitting across the family's faces. Cloud only slipped into French around them accidentally when he was either extremely angry or completely exhausted. The last time Cloud had been so tired was three years prior and he had collapsed at one of Sora's sword competitions. He had been forced to go to hospital. They had prescribed many medications to ensure he had a normal sleeping pattern.

"Cloud, sweetie? I don't speak French remember." Cloud's eyes moved to Mariko's as her words entered his mind.

"French? I'm sorry; I just haven't been sleeping to well recently." Sora and Roxas glanced at each other then left the kitchen quietly, leaving Mariko to console Cloud.

"Rox, I'm worried about Cloud. He hasn't been the same since he got back from that tournament in England. I don't think he's been sleeping properly since then." Sora opened his bag, checked that everything was in it. Sighing, he closed it and swung it onto his back.

"Sora, that was three weeks ago! Relax, he'll be fine after Raine's engagement party and wedding," said Roxas. He moved towards the double doors and opened one for his brother.

"Yeah, but the engagement isn't for two weeks and he's already talking in French!" Sora moved outside and waited for Roxas to follow.

"I don't know, Sora. Guess we'll just have to wait and see." The door snapped shut behind them.

Sephiroth exhaled loudly and buttoned up his shirt, his mind on his lover. Cloud had seemed ill the night before. At first he had just assumed that it was because of his hand but once he got home he realized that Cloud had sick for a few weeks. Ever since that time three weeks ago when Sephiroth had cancelled a dinner date with Cloud to go home earlier. All because Yuki wished to attend a ball that required both of them to attend.

Sephiroth sighed again and snatched up his leather gloves. His eyes flickered towards the closed doors of his dark room as someone knocked softly. Tugging on his gloves, he made his way over to open the door, praying it wasn't his wife.

The doors opened to reveal his son, already dressed for school and tapping his foot impatiently, his eyes glaring at the ceiling.

"Finally! We need to talk, dad, and I don't want mother around. So, I figured that we could talk in your room. The bitch isn't allowed in here, right?" Sephiroth stared at his son, who had jumped straight to the point, in shock. Since when did Riku ramble?

"Riku, shut up." Sephiroth snapped, "What did you come here to talk to me about?" Sephiroth arched a silver brow as his son flushed. Well, that was interesting. Riku never blushed. Riku moved inside the room, shut the door and took a deep breath. He refused to look his father in the eye.

"How long have you been sleeping with Cloud D'Arquet?" The silence in the room was absolute, magnified by the darkness. Riku couldn't even hear his father breathing.

"What do you mean? I'm not sleeping with Cloud," denied Sephiroth, fidgeting with his gloved hands.

"Fine then. How long have you been having sex with Cloud?" Riku smirked as his father drew in a deep breath and turned back to his son.

"What do you know?" Sephiroth glared at his only son, feeling as if the carpet had been wrenched out from under his feet. He didn't enjoy the sensation.

"I know you hate mother, I know you love Cloud-Strife-D'Arquet whichever name it is," Riku scowled at his father. "I know that you've been having an affair with him! What I want to know is how long has it been going on? Are you going to leave mother for him, or is he just a toy to you?" Riku was inwardly satisfied that his father flinched at the truthful words issuing from his lips. He wanted to shock his father into answering him.

"Almost 10 months." Sephiroth informed the ceiling light. "I've been sleeping with Cloud for almost ten months, and I love him, so don't you dareimply that I'm using him." Sephiroth spat the last words, moving to glare at his son.

"Are you leaving mother?" repeated Riku, his eyes now fixed on the light.

"Yes, eventually. I want the time to be right."

"'The time to be right'? You mean, you've not worked up the courage to actually file for divorce? For someone who supposedly loves his little catamite you seem to want to stay with mother." Riku taunted his father, watching as Sephiroth turned red, followed by white, with anger. Sephiroth's leather-encased hands clenched and unclenched in an effort to control his building anger at Riku.

"Don't dare call Cloud that! He is a beautiful, kind and loving person. He is worth so much more that that pathetic excuse of a woman that you call mother. He's pure and innocent, and I love him more than anything! I love him!" Sephiroth's voice faded to a whisper as he reached the last part of his declaration. Riku's eyes widened as a single tear slid down his father's pale cheek.

"I love him, and I think I'm losing him because I can't grasp the courage to divorce Yuki." Sephiroth slid down onto the bed, his expression broken. Riku silently went over and hugged his father, feeling angry at his father's lack of actions in divorcing his mother. Riku knew Cloud must be hurt by this, anyone would have been.

Sora walked into school and his eyes instantly sought out his beautiful silverette. Riku was standing in his large group of friends, chatting solely to Alex. Sora froze and looked at Roxas, his eyes wide and pleading.

"Roxas, I can't go over there. Those people hate me, they're the popular crowd and I'm the happy sword fighting freak who constantly takes days off to wield metal." Roxas rolled his blue eyes and grabbed his brother's arm, pulling him towards the group.

"Come on Romeo, Riku likes you; he wouldn't let anyone hurt you." As he spoke, Roxas pulled Sora up with him to the group, aware that the group had gone virtually silent at the twins approach.

"Morning pyro, morning Riku," said Roxas loudly as he nodded at Axel. He tugged his brother's arm sharply.

"Er, hi Riku," Sora winced at his lame greeting, feeling his face heat in embarrassment as the girls surrounded Riku giggling and whispering between themselves. Riku frowned at the immature girls and turned to smile at the boy.

"Good morning, Sora. Did you have a good night once we left?" Riku noticed that Roxas had pulled his phone out appeared to be reading a message. The blonde twin frowned and touched his brother's arm, handing him the phone. Sora's eyes flickered to the screen, a frown marring his beautiful face. His amazing blue eyes shadowed.

"Sora, is something wrong? Is it Cloud? I noticed that his hand was really troubling him as dinner progressed." Riku mentally catalogued the looks of fear, concern and anger that crossed Sora's face at the mention of Cloud.

"No, it's not about Cloud, just something to do with the wedding that we're going to." Sora smiled, handing the phone back to his brother.

"Do you want to go to class now? The bell is about to go." Sora looked at Riku with his startlingly blue eyes, unknowingly wrapping Riku around his little finger.

"Why would he want to go with a scrawny kid like you? Does he even know you?"

One of the laughing girls from before sneered at the small male in front of her. She inwardly cheered as Sora's face fell and his blue eyes began to drown in a liquid sheen.

"Tiffany, leave him alone! Sora can ask me anything and for your information, Sora is more than my friend. He's my boyfriend." The whole group went silent at Riku's declaration. Sora's eyes flung up to Riku's face. He felt tension drain out of him as Riku smiled and winked at him, his warm hand reaching for Sora's.

"Come on, lets get to class," Riku started to pull Sora towards the school building before looking back at the group. "Do any of you have a problem with that?" The group was silent, unwilling to fight with Riku about his personal life.

"What do you mean boyfriend? We're meant to be together, your mother promised me! Argh." Kairi screeched, causing several of the group to cringe and step away from her.

"If you like Riku's mum so much why not hook up with her? Gaia knows that woman needs to get laid and Sephiroth's not going to touch her." Everyone froze and looked at the source of the voice, coming face to face with Cloud Strife. His eyes flashed in fury at Kairi for a moment before looking at his brothers. He looked very intimidating, dressed in black leather pants and a black woolen zip-up vest. His hands were incased in black leather gloves. He moved toward the twins, purposely excluding Kairi.

"Sora, Roxas I need you to come with me to the auction. Dad wants to buy something for mum and I can't bid for two separate people." Cloud's eyes hadn't left Sora and Riku's joined hands, causing Sora to shift uncomfortably. Sora reluctantly let go of his boyfriend's grasp. As he started to walk towards Cloud, Riku leaned over and seized Sora's arm, turned around and in front of the whole school, pressed his lips to Sora's. The kiss seemed to last forever, Sora melted into Riku's arms, warmed by the tight hold on his body. Riku slowly let Sora go, his lips slightly parted from their intimate contact. "I'll call you after school, alright?" Sora nodded and smiled at Riku before he was dragged off towards Cloud's car by Roxas.

Silence stretched in the car as Cloud drove the twins to the auction house. Sora was smiling goofily and sighing softly at random intervals, Roxas was texting Namine again and Cloud was agonizing over the fact that Sora could kiss his boyfriend in public and he, Cloud, couldn't. He wasn't even sure he had a boyfriend anymore. Cloud's head drooped and he mentally slapped himself for being jealous of his brother. Besides, Cloud had decided that before he left for France he was going to make a decision on whether or not he was staying with Sephiroth. If his lover hadn't filed for in divorce in two weeks, he was moving permanently to France. To hell with his promises, it was time for Sephiroth to take action if he wanted to keep Cloud. To decide between love and obligation.

"Dad I'm home!" Riku knocked on his father's study door before pushing it open. His father was seated at his desk with his face in his hands. His mother was sitting opposite Sephiroth, smirking openly. Leaning over she pulled a pen from the mahogany desk and wrote a number on a piece of paper in front of her. Her smirk widening to a nasty grin, she handed Sephiroth the paper.

"Pleasure doing business, husband of mine. Don't forget to lose your little whore," Yuki sneered and stood up. She swept out of the room, ignoring her son completely. Riku moved over and sank into the chair his tight arse mother had just vacated.

"What's going on?" Riku waited patiently as his father gathered his thoughts.

"Your mother knows about Cloud. If I leave her for him she has threatened to wreck Cloud's reputation, "Sephiroth sighed at his son's questioning look. "She claims to have information about a past relationship of Cloud's, one that has some sort of hushed-up scandal attached to it. I will not hurt Cloud by staying with him if this will damage him." Sephiroth moaned and leaned back in his leather chair.

"Bullshit! If you really love him, you'll stay with him, not bow at mother's selfish whims. God, he really loves you, I saw how he looked at you that night at dinner. And I saw how you looked at him, father. You're ready to throw all that away?" Riku looked carefully at his father, taking in his red rimmed eyes and sunken face. He felt a pang hit his heart; his dad was really agonizing over the situation.

"Apparently, Cloud was involved with the son of some prominent Minister a year and a half ago. The man was set to marry some foreign diplomat. The fiancé walked in on them a week before the wedding. Raine hushed up the incident and bought off the women. If it gets out that Cloud was involved in their split, it would cause many problems. No, it would be better if I leave Cloud, before Yuki comes true on her threat."

Two Weeks Later

Cloud exhaled loudly before he snapped his laptop shut. He glanced at his watch before standing up, grabbing some nice clothes and headed to the shower. He turned on the hot water, letting steam obscure the room. Cloud slipped out of his clothes and slid into the steaming shower. Water pounded down on his shoulders, washing away the tension of the day. He was meant to do to dinner with Sephiroth at his favorite Italian restaurant. The plans had been made two weeks ago. Cloud was going to make Sephiroth decide to either stay with him or stay married to Yuki. The blonde sighed and rested his head on the cool tiles, fighting back a dizzy spell. His health hadn't been fantastic in the last 6 weeks; he'd been plagued with dizzy spells, nausea, exhaustion and random moments when he accidently slipped into French. He knew everyone was worried about him, especially his mother and Sora. And to make matters worse, Sephiroth had been ignoring him, never returning his phone calls or emails. Cloud sighed and turned off the taps, grabbing a towel to wrap around his waist. He stood in front of the mirror and wiped the steam off it with his hand. He stared at his reflection; the tired eyes, hollow cheeks and limp hair. He stared at himself, pain filling his heart as he wondered if Sephiroth was really worth all this pain. Especially if Sephiroth was never going to leave Yuki. Cloud dressed absently, his mind far away. He strapped his watch onto his wrist, taking in the time and hurrying up so as not to be late. This was one dinner he wouldn't be late for.

Sephiroth dressed for dinner with a heavy heart. What he was about to do tonight would shatter his lover's heart. He looked up as someone knocked on his door, opening to reveal Riku, dressed in a elegant navy suit.

"Are you sure about doing this?" Riku looked at his father, eyes searching for a hint in Sephiroth's eyes.

"Positive, Riku. Let's go down to your mother's dinner party." Father and son left the room and moved down to the dining room where the crème of society was gathered. As they moved over to the group, Sephiroth's thoughts turned to his lover, most likely already at the restaurant, waiting for him to arrive. Sephiroth closed his eyes briefly and prayed that Cloud would forgive him.

Sora smiled as Cloud raced towards the door. Cloud had been so down and depressed lately so it was nice to see Cloud moving with positive energy.

"Sora, you thinking about your little lover boy?" Roxas plopped down onto the couch opposite his twin, taking in his flushed face.

"Shut up! I really do like Riku, but I'm not sleeping with him, so stop calling him my lover boy."

"Sorry, but seriously you guys are happy and always snogging at school. You really are happy with him, yeah?" Roxas looked at Sora. He may tease Sora but he truly wanted him to be happy, and if Riku made Sora happy then Roxas was all for their relationship.

"Rox, I think I might love him." Sora lowered his eyes, a goofy smile on his face.

Cloud sat at his private table in the restaurant, fingers playing with the napkin on his leg. Sephiroth was only 30 minutes late, he might still arrive. Time passed as Cloud sipped his wine, as every minute passed his heart sank lower. He glanced at his watch, finally realizing Sephiroth was almost an hour late. He wasn't coming. Cloud raised his hand reluctantly as a waiter approached.

"Mr D'Arquet? A message has arrived for you." The black-clad waiter handed Cloud a slip of paper and silently slipped away. Cloud drew a deep breath and, with shaking fingers, opened the message. His eyes scanned the words as they blurred before his eyes. Cloud slowly raised a hand and touched his cheek, his fingers coming away wet with tears. The words of the message burned into his mind.

Cloud, I will be unable to appear as

Yuki wishes to have me attend tonight's

dinner party. Apologies, but my wife comes first.

S. Yamaguchi.

Cloud raised his hand for the check, wishing to flee home and curl up and cry. He would go home to France, stay as far away from the Yamaguchi's as possible and try to forget the pain his now former lover had put him through.

Sora knocked on Clouds door as ten o'clock came and went with no sign of the only Strife who liked mornings.

"Cloud? Are you awake?" Sora paused to listen before resting his forehead on the door before him, "you missed breakfast and your mum is on the phone." Sora slowly opened the door, letting light into the dark room. A curled up bundle in the middle of the bed, situated near the window, told Sora where Cloud was. A muffled sob came from the bed before it was stifled.

"Go away, Sora. I'm not in the mood to deal with anything, please." Clouds voice was scratchy and weak. Sora walked over and sat quietly on the edge of the bed. He leaned over and hugged his brother.

"Cloud? What happened last night? When you left to see Sephiroth last night, you were so happy." Sora felt Cloud stiffen as he realized that Sora knew about his affair.

"You knew." Simple words, but the emotion in Cloud's voice broke Sora's heart. He hated to see his brother in pain.

"Riku mentioned it to me last week, but I've suspected something for a few months now. I have never seen you so happy before, so what's changed?" Cloud shifted and looked at his ceiling sadly.

"I went to dinner and I was meant to meet him there, but he never turned up. I received a message from him an hour after he was meant to arrive, saying that Yuki was having a dinner party that was more important than our dinner." Cloud's voice broke and a tear made its way down his pale and sickly cheek, "he said that his wife came first." Sora drew a breath and wrapped his arms around his brother, who had tears falling swiftly. Sora felt the rage rise in him at the tall man that had broken Cloud's heart and crushed the pieces into dust.

"What are you going to do?"

"I-" Cloud took a shuddering breath and sat up properly, "My doctor says I need a holiday away from any stress and… I can't stay where he is…So I'm going to France early. I booked my ticket last night. I leave tonight." Cloud smiled without emotion at Sora before standing shakily and moving towards his bathroom. Sora sat on the bed, his mind spinning. Cloud was leaving?

Riku sat at the dining table, absently playing with his lunch. Peter walked in quietly, moving to the table. Yuki and Sephiroth looked up as Peter cleared his throat to get their attention.

"There is a Mister Sora Strife at the door. He wishes to see Mister Riku and Master Sephiroth." Riku glanced up at his father before standing up.

"Peter, show Sora to the lounge room, please. We'll be there in a minute." said Sephiroth as he glanced at his son as he spoke. He looked away at his son's glare. Riku was still furious at him for his treatment of Cloud. Yuki glared at her husband, but knew better than to press him. Sephiroth, unknown to Yuki, was already having talks with his lawyers about silencing Yuki on the subject of Cloud's former lover. He would ensure that his Cloud was safe from his heifer-bitch wife. Father and son walked towards the room Sora had been escorted to, neither one talking. The door to the room opened to reveal a frantically pacing figure. Sora's head snapped up as he heard them enter, his eyes narrowing as he looked at the elder Yamaguchi.

"You! This is your entire fault, you bastard!" Sora launched himself at Sephiroth, managing to get in two good punches before Riku pulled him away. Sephiroth held a hand to his smarting cheek, shocked.

"Sora! Calm down, calm down," Riku held Sora tightly, rocking him gently as he spoke in his ear. Sora struggled for a moment before slumping into Riku's arms. A dead silence filled the room before Riku pulled him over to a couch and sat down, Sora still wrapped in his arms.

"What's wrong Sora?" Riku soothingly rubbed Sora's back.

"Cloud." Sora shuddered and glared at Sephiroth. Sora paused to watch Sephiroth's reaction. Riku held him tighter, expecting him to start fighting again. "He's been so stressed lately about the wedding and Sephiroth, and after last night, he's decided to move back to France. Permanently. He's leaving tonight. "

Sephiroth sat down heavily and stared at Sora. He knew Cloud would be angry at him, but to move to France?

"He's leaving?" Riku looked at his boyfriend in sympathy. He knew how close Sora was to Cloud, "I thought he was only going for the wedding?"

"Originally, but now he's moving back there permanently. He's already packed most of his stuff." Sora sniffed as tears threatened to spill.

"But…But he can't leave" Sephiroth's mind didn't seem to want to work properly. Cloud couldn't leave then Sephiroth wouldn't even be able to see him, hear him, touch him…

"You should have thought of the consequences before you broke my brother's heart." Sora's eyes filled with cold fury again, "Why did you? Even if you didn't want to be with Cloud anymore, did you really have to be so, so cruel?" He shifted against his boyfriend, trying to get comfortable. Sephiroth's eyes were wide and his skin paled.

"I didn't have a choice! Yuki threatened to leak information about Cloud's ex-boyfriend."

"You mean the thing with Thomas Evira?" Sora snarled in disbelief of Sephiroth's stupidity. When Sephiroth nodded Sora burst into laughter, albeit slightly hysterically, before pulling out a mobile phone from his pocket. He flipped it open and dialed a number, ignoring the Yamaguchi's curious gazes. Sora smiled as Raine D'Arquet answered.

"Raine, its Sora." The brunette felt satisfied as father and son flinched at the name of Cloud's mother.

"Sora, what can I do for you?"

"Sephiroth dumped Cloud because Yuki Yamaguchi threatened to go public with the whole Thomas Evira affair. Can you fix it?"

"Sure honey I'll organize a press release for tomorrow. And tell Sephiroth that the next time I see him, I'm breaking his nose. See you at the wedding"

"Thanks. See you then." Sora closed the phone and looked at Sephiroth while shifting in Riku's arms.

"Listen up, because you clearly don't have all the facts. Yes, Cloud was having an affair with Thomas, but the wedding wasn't called off because of that. The fiancé knew about them and didn't care. Theirs was a marriage of convenience." Sora smiled in glee at Sephiroth's shocked face.

"What ended it?" Sephiroth got a bad feeling that he should have talked to his lover before acting rashly.

"The women fell for the head chef at the Evira Estate. She fell pregnant and wanted to call off the fake wedding. Raine hushed it up because she knew Cloud was involved with Thomas."

"Why did Cloud and Thomas break up then?" Riku tightened his arms around Sora and pressed a kiss to his exposed neck, causing the petite boy to shiver.

"Cloud caught the bastard in bed with some random guy." Sora melted against his boyfriend and sighed happily. Sephiroth stood up and yelled for Yuki, causing both boys to stiffen. The door opened and the bitch walked into the room, frowning when she saw the position Sora and Riku were in.

"What do you want, I have things to do." Yuki sniffed and smoothed out her silk dress.

"Pack your bags and leave; I want you out of my house tonight! And you can expect divorce papers to arrive soon," Sephiroth ignored his son's shocked expression, his mind already working to win Cloud back.

"Don't be stupid, Sephiroth. If you leave me I'll destroy your little whore's life." Yuki smiled coldly only to falter when her husband smiled knowingly back.

"Raine is taking care of the problem and I want you out. Now if you'll excuse me, I have Cloud to grovel to." Sephiroth stalked out the door, pausing only to issue Peter with instructions to ensure Yuki left without damaging or stealing anything.

Silence filled the room. Yuki stormed after Sephiroth. Sora looked at Riku and smiled becomingly at him.

"Want to do up to my room? I want to show you something." Riku suggested while running his hand along Sora's thigh. The petite boy blushed and nodded.

Cloud sighed as he waited in the international area. He couldn't board the plane for another hour, and the inactivity was causing his mind to dwell on painful things. He stared glumly at the airport windows. 'Get over it, Cloud! Sephiroth isn't worth it'. Cloud was aware that people in the airport were giving him a wide berth because he looked ghastly, with white skin, shadowed eyes and sunken cheeks. He sighed and stood up, walking over to the bathrooms. The shining white tiles and new silver fixtures hurt his sensitive eyes. After finishing his business, Cloud filled the sink with cool water and bent over to splash his face. As he rose he caught sight of silver hair and green eyes. Cloud gasped loudly in shock, his face dripping.

"Seph…what?" Cloud didn't turn around, afraid that the silver-haired angel would vanish, which would confirm his insanity over the man.

"Hello, Cloud." Sephiroth's voice was smooth and familiar, snapping Cloud out of his stupor. He turned around and looked over the face of his ex-lover. Under Sephiroth's right eye a bruise was purpling spectacularly.

"What are you doing here, Sephiroth? You made your choice perfectly clear to me. Your wife comes first!" Cloud felt a mixture of agony and love well up inside him as he fought to keep the flood of tears inside.

"Gaia, Cloud," Sephiroth winced and raised his hands, as if in surrender to Cloud's words, before changing his mind and dropping them, " I'm sorry. Will you let me explain my actions before you leave for France?"

"Talk fast! But don't think I'll forgive you, or go back to being your convenient secret, hidden away in the bedroom."

"Yuki threatened me. She claimed that if I left her and continued my affair with you, she would inform the media about a scandal you were involved in with Thomas Evira. I didn't want your reputation to be destroyed because of me." Sephiroth's voice was quiet, but filled with devotion. Cloud felt tears welling before he took a deep breath and got his emotions under control again.

"What tipped you off that the bitch was lying? Why the hell didn't you just ask me, talk to me?" Cloud's voice was full of scorn but he didn't flinch away when Sephiroth took his soft, small hands in his larger ones.

"Your younger brother. He stormed over, demanded to see me then proceeded to force me to understand. And let me just say, your brother has a mean fist."

Sephiroth drew closer and then pulled Cloud flush against his body.

"Sora hit you?" Cloud snorted, "Can't say you didn't deserve it." Cloud sighed softly and unconsciously relaxed against his lover, Sephiroth was nice and warm.

"True, though your mother has promised to take care of everything." Silence followed as the two embraced closer.

"I left Yuki. I told her to pack her bags and be gone by the time I got home. My lawyers are drafting divorce papers as we speak." Sephiroth frowned as he felt Cloud stiffen, "does this make you happy? I know I should have done it many months ago, but I was afraid your feelings would change if I asked you to live with me." Cloud blinked up at his lover in shock, slowly excepting his words.

"You want me to live with you? As in permanently? What about Riku?"

"I always have, Cloud. I know I didn't tell you enough times but I truly love you with all my heart. I want to live with you, and take you as my own. I want to take you to public places as my partner, Cloud. I love you. And Riku already knows about us and accepts it."

"I love you too Seph," Tears filled Cloud's sapphire blue eyes as euphoria filled him, vanishing all his fears and pain. Sephiroth loved him! "Seph, lets go home, I'm tired." Cloud let himself be led off by his love, reveling in the comfort he provided.

"Does this mean I'm forgiven?" Sephiroth leaned down and snagged Cloud's bag before leading him out of the airport and to the waiting black car.

"Nope. I expect back rubs, dinner at all my favorite places, and lots of attention before I'll forgive you." Cloud smirked cheekily.

"It will be my pleasure. Let's get home before Sora and Riku decide to loose their virginity."

Finis