Chapter Five - Remembering

Cloud stared at Hikaru in awe, and didn�t know what to say. He was completely speechless. Hikaru felt her face, her arms, and her waist. She was back. The spell had finally broken. However, the only way for it to actually be broken meant that�

Hikaru gasped. If he loved her, why didn�t he believe her at the tavern? She shook the thought away and ran to Cloud, wrapping her arms around him tight, for the first time in five years.

Cloud didn�t hesitate for one second. He hugged her back. �I�m sorry��

Hikaru just closed her eyes and sighed.

She finally released him and looked to the ground nervously. �Kotake turned me into that. That�s why I ran away.�

Cloud�s expression turned to confusion. �What?!� He stared at her. �Why didn�t you tell me that on the phone? I could have gone with you!� He rubbed his forehand with his right hand. �Instead of what had happened to me these past five years��

�What?" asked a concerned Hikaru. �What happened?�

Cloud waved his hand. ��Ask me another time.�

Hikaru frowned, but obeyed and changed the subject. �So, why are you here? How long have you been in Zokujin?�

Cloud shrugged. �I�ve been here for a few months I guess, I�ve lost count.� Suddenly, his head moved to the side and he looked away from his best friend. He watched the trees of the woods sway in the breeze, trying to listen to something in the distance. It was as if someone was there, hiding in the numerous trees that hovered above them in the night. He took a sigh of relief and then looked back to Hikaru. �Here, follow me.�

Hikaru followed Cloud to his ship. It had no name, but it was breathtakingly huge. Looking at it, Hikaru felt a sense of pride to know someone that built a spectacular structure such as that. �Well, I see you�ve been busy.�

Cloud followed her gaze as they walked out of the woods. �What, me making this?� he laughed. �Yeah, right.� He opened the door, and closed it once Hikaru came in. �So�� he scratched his head. �Want the tour?�

Hikaru smiled. �Sure.�

�Okay, well, this is my room,� he said as he opened a door and they both stepped in. It was quite empty, with supplies and weapons scattered throughout.

Looking at his sword collection in his closet brought a spontaneous thought to her mind. �What ever happened to my sword when I changed back?�

�This is the guest room,� Cloud said as they walked out of his room and opened the door next-door to it. �If you�re staying, you can sleep in here if you want.� Hikaru nodded in thanks. �And back here,� he noted, as they walked further into the ship, into a large living room-type space, �is where I relax when I�m not kicking ass or taking names.� There were a few comfy couches, a small table and a couple chairs around it, and a television set on the wall between the two bedrooms. To the right of the guest room was a corridor that led to the cockpit.

Hikaru suddenly looked down and squinted at the floor in confusion. �Wait, I can see the grass from outside through there. Is�is the floor a window?� she looked around the room and stared at the walls. Since they were in the living room, and the cockpit was in front, the living room was the back of the ship. And the entire wall of the whole room was a window. She looked out the wall into the night sky. There were stars scattered everywhere. It was just another one of those Second Earth nights, but this night was especially significant to Hikaru.

Cloud looked at her. �So, what do you think?�

Hikaru smiled and nodded at him. She looked around the room once again, fascinated that Cloud had such a large ship to call all his own. Her eyes were led to a staircase to the right that twisted around to another floor. �What�s up there?�

Cloud gave her a sideways look. �Nothing. Here let�s get this thing started.� Cloud and Hikaru walked into the cockpit. He pushed some buttons and turned on a switch for autopilot and the ship started to move. Soon they were in the air like the airplane Hikaru was on as she traveled to Zokujin.

They sat in silence in the cockpit for a long time, not knowing what to say. To Hikaru, just being there with him, just his presence, would be enough for the rest of her life. She didn�t want to lose him ever again.

�It�s your birthday tomorrow, isn�t it?� Cloud said haphazardly, interrupting Hikaru�s thoughts.

Hikaru looked up at him. Was it? She wasn�t even sure.

Cloud nodded in understanding. �Ten days after mine. Mine is August 11th, and yours is August 21st. You�re going to be eighteen.�

Hikaru ran a hair through her long brown hair and slowly shook her head, not disagreeing with him, but in disbelief that she�d forgotten.

Cloud comprehended. �You forgot it, didn�t you?� He looked at her in sympathy as she frowned, looking at the floor, gazing at the land miles beneath them, watching it move repeatedly as they traveled farther away.

Hikaru didn�t mean to ignore Cloud, but she slowly got up from her chair, walked to the guest room, and closed the door.

� � �

It was extremely late and Hikaru could not fall asleep at all. She steadily removed her covers and landed on the floor. Carefully, she opened the door and flinched when it squeaked. She wanted to leave it open, but with the movement of the ship, it kept making noise swaying back and forth. As carefully as she had opened it, she closed it back up.

On her tiptoes, Hikaru crept over to the other side of Cloud�s room door and made it to the twisty staircase. She gazed up at the mysterious second level, and then started to climb the stairs.

Hikaru stopped at the top of the stairs, and looked at the window-wall. The sky was still as astounding as before, and she looked out to it in wonder. Soon, her daydream subsided, and she turned her head to the right. The window-wall stopped. It was just a regular wall on this floor.

Hikaru faced the entryway to the floor. However, she couldn�t even call it a floor, because there was one single room straight ahead. She walked slowly, as if she was in a church or a temple. Beyond that door was something Cloud didn�t want her to see.

She finally reached the door and placed her hand on the doorknob delicately. She turned it, and walked inside. It was completely dark. She tried to feel for a switch near the door, and when she found it, she clicked it on.

It was a library. Or it was an office. Or maybe it was something completely different. It was untouched and aged, and cobwebs hung at every possible corner. There was one lone lamp on a desk in the center of the room. Hikaru walked towards the desk, and let her hand feel the paperwork scattered all across it. Every sheet was about the work on Cloud�s ship. There were blueprints, expense sheets, and filing papers. And every sheet was signed with the name �Cid Highwind.�

Hikaru backed away from the desk and decided to look at one of the bookcases, the one behind the desk. Sitting right beside a red colored book were two dolls. One was of Cloud, and the other was of Hikaru.

She smiled, remembering the two of them making these dolls. The one of Hikaru was made for Cloud from her, and the one of Cloud was made for Hikaru from him.

�I found those after you ran away,� Cloud�s voice made Hikaru jump, and she turned around to see him in the doorway. He crossed his arms and leaned on the doorframe. �After Kotake disappeared from Nibelheim, and before they sold the house, I snatched a few of your things.�

Hikaru took the Cloud doll in her hands and stroke its hair. She would have said something back, but she didn�t know what. She hadn�t spoken aloud since she asked him what was in the very room she was inside right now.

�You can have them if you want,� Cloud said before the silence trailed on. �Think of it as�an early birthday present or something.� He smiled all of the sudden. �I have the better one waiting for you tomorrow,� he winked. �Now get the hell out.�

Hikaru laughed for the first time in what had seemed like ages. She looked at the doll in her hands, and nodded at it, accepting Cloud�s offer from the other end of the room. �But you have to keep the one I made for you,� she said as she picked up the doll of herself. She walked over to the doorway and handed her doll to Cloud.

Cloud took it from Hikaru. �Seems fair,� he looked back at her. Their eyes met, and they stood their ground for a few moments.

�Well,� said Hikaru finally. �Good night, Cloud.�

Cloud stared at her, and nodded slightly. �Good night, Hikaru,� he said in almost a whisper.

Hikaru was the first to break her gaze and started to walk away from him, and then down the stairs.

He didn�t look behind his shoulder; he just looked back down and stared at the doll in his hands.