Title: A Box of Chocolates

Author: Digimon Empress Yaten (de yaten)

Notes: Much more lighthearted than my other FF7: AC fic. Takes place sometime before AC. No heavy pairings. Implied Tifa/Cloud, and just some general brotherly love. Written for Valentine's Day.

"Kadaj?"

"Hmm?"

Kadaj looked up from the mess of his current project - which, Yazoo suspected, he would have to clean up - at his brothers, who were looking at him with confusion and, on Yazoo's part, limited patience. Not that it was unwarranted. They had come home from killing dinner to find their brother sprawled out on the floor, holding a box of pre-bought chocolates in one hand, and a pot of glue in the other. There were remnents of obscenely pink and red ribbons stuck to the box and everything was covered in a small film of pink glitter. Including Kadaj.

"I'm making Nii-san a Valentine's Day present," the youngest said simply, before returning to his work.

Yazoo sighed and started to pick up some of the larger pieces of paper, and Loz plopped himself down directly across from Kadaj on the floor.

"Kadaj?"

"What?" he snapped, annoyed at being disturbed for the second time.

Loz frowned and brought his knees to his chest, a pout slowly forming on his lips.

Kadaj rolled his eyes and flung some glue at him, grinning when it stuck to the middle of Loz's cheek. Loz simply buried his head further into his knees, but Yazoo tsked, grabbed a washcloth, and began wiping at Loz's face gently.

"He just wants to know what Valentine's Day is, Kadaj."

The youngest remnant sighed and set down his increasingly sticky box, waiting until Loz looked up at him to speak.

"It's a human day, Loz, when you give someone you love gifts so they know you love them."

"Oh." A pause. "Should we get a Valentine's Day present for Mother?"

"We have to find her first."

"Oh," he said again, using the washcloth Yazoo set down to wipe at his face. (Even though he wasn't crying.)

It was Yazoo who spoke next, with a touch of agitation in his voice. "Why are you giving Nii-san a present, Kadaj? He won't even help us find Mother."

"Yeah! He's just a ... a big meanie!"

Kadaj rolled his eyes, but his features softened when he saw the looks in his brothers eyes. (They loved Mother, as he did, but they could be so single-minded sometimes.)

"Fine. If it's that big a deal to you two, then I'll make sure Nii-san doesn't enjoy his gift. Okay?" He waited for the two reluctant nods, and disappeared into his room with the glittering, gluey gift.

000000

Cloud lifted a slip of paper that had been laid next to the heart shaped box that looked like it had seen better days (I thought Tifa was good with her hands…) and read it aloud.

"To: Cloud. From: your woman."

His eyebrow quirked.

… your woman?

He knew Tifa liked him, she always had, but he didn't think she wanted to be that obvious about it. Oh well. He lifted the top and was greeted to the sight of a dozen perfectly made chocolates - they had to have been expensive, Cloud thought, because the price of any food luxuries had skyrocketed in the past two years. He bit into one of them and made a face. Coconut. He hated coconut. Still... he caught sight of Tifa smuggling (secretly, she thought) a little black dress into her room. Their eyes met until hers traveled down to the box in his lap. She smiled and continued to her room.

Cloud took another look at the half-eaten coconut piece. It had been expensive, and Tifa wasn't normally one to splurge on such things. He might as well stomach all of them down - there were probably only one or two coconut chocolates in the whole bunch, anyway. Grimacing, he gulped the rest of his first piece down and hoped the next would be dark chocolate.

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Several hours later, Tifa knocked on his door and entered to find Cloud in a fetal position on his bed.

"... Cloud?" She asked, sounding a bit worried. "Are you all right?"

He turned to face her, and she saw for the first time that his face looked three shades whiter, and a film of sweat clung to his cheeks.

"T-Tifa," he said, hands clutching at his stomach. "I think I... I... have to cancel our plans tonight."

"Why?"

She heard a visible noise coming from his stomach, and quickly side-stepped as he jumped to his feet and flung himself into the bathroom. He didn't have time to shut the door before the noises began.

Tifa visibly blanched and walked down the hall, shutting the bathroom door as a courtesy, and decided she had better find some perfumed room spray if anyone was going to be able to handle that hallway anytime soon.

000000

"Kadaj?"

Yazoo and Loz watched as their brother pounded the floor, laughing hysterically.

"Kadaj? Are you okay?" Loz bit his lip in frustration when Kadaj, still laughing, didn't answer. "What's so funny?"

When his laughter calmed into giggles, Kadaj reached into his left pocket and tossed an empty flattened box at Loz.

Loz held the box close to his face and squinted as he read the words. "Kadaj?" He said, still squinting. "What's a lax...a...tive?"

Kadaj merely shrieked with more laughter, and Yazoo rolled his eyes.