Cloud x Tifa The Stars in Her Skin (FFVII)

Stars in Her Skin

The Stars in Her Skin

I wasn't admiring the freckles on your skin,

I was stargazing.

& when I said I wanted to make love to you,

I meant all of you.

& when you felt my fingers tracing poetry over parts of you

that were supposedly broken,

Know that all I saw were prisms, refracted light,

& everything I wanted to make mine.

-Amanda Torroni

When morning came, it brought with it the deep, dewy chills that the rainfalls of the night before had left behind, and Cloud felt it deep in his bones, threaded into his blood when he opened his eyes to the morning sun that streamed in through the wispy leaves of the weeping willow trees that surrounded them. He had slept lightly, awakened often throughout the night by the sounds of owls hooting in the nearby trees and the distant howls of the Midgar wolves who prowled on the outskirts of the forest in search of the moon's unforgiving glow. Even though his sleep had been light and brief, the mako that coursed through his veins and ignited his neurons ensured that he felt reasonably well-rested when he finally fully opened his eyes that dawn.

Immediately, he looked down at the warmth that centered his lap. Tifa was still there, cradled in his embrace, her face tipped forward into his chest and shielded by the long cascade of her thick, dark hair. Her knees were bent over his leg, pulled in close to his body to trap what little heat that they could to her, her arms folded under her breasts, one hand clutching slightly at his sweater. He could still feel the dampness from last night's rain in the fabric of his fatigues, and glancing down at Tifa, he could see the shimmer of water along the leather of her skirt and the translucent wetness of her white tank top.

He admired her for a long moment, watching her chest expand and deflate with every gentle breath that she took in. Despite the wet chills that ran through them both, prickled incessantly by the wind that blew by, Cloud felt the warmth of her body seeping into his, calming the raging storms that lived inside of him. Even now, with his first awareness of daybreak, he could feel the dark confusion that crept around the black recesses of his mind, threatening him with thoughts of violence and vengeance as he thought of their battles that lie ahead, of the evil that they had to pursue, and the vile, terrifying purple threads that seemed to tether him to their enemy. But with Tifa in his arms, so, so close to him, it was as if she was a barrier that had been erected to shield the most vulnerable parts of his brain from those bleak, puzzling intrusions, a gentle calm against the tempest that lived within.

His arms still wrapped around her, sheltering her from the dangers of the forest night they had survived through, he shifted slightly and lifted one gloved hand to brush the hair away from her face, turning her cheek gently away from the protection of his chest.

"Tifa," he called to her softly. "Teef, wake up."

He felt her give a slight start, and he cocked his head to the side, waiting and watching as she tentatively stirred and ultimately pulled away from him. He watched her blink, a flicker of bewilderment passing over her features as she adjusted to the sunlight and looked around, deciphering her surroundings. Cloud caught the glimmer of garnet in her eyes when she finally looked up at him, their pools widening as she drank him in and realized her closeness to him, her cheeks quickly matching the hue of her irises.