I
Cloud Strife stood outside, looking through the garden fence. He was looking for his friend Tifa Lockheart, his best friend, and cohort in crime. When he saw her, her small form playing in the sprinkler, laughing as she frolicked through the misty spray, he longed to be over there so he could play too. His vibrant blue eyes watched her every move, as she rough and tumbled with another friend of hers. He sighed a small sigh, and turned to go back inside.
He found his mother, sitting in the living room, knitting something out of fine thread. She looked up at Cloud with a small smile as he walked into the room.
"You never cease to amaze me at how tall you've grown young man. Your only 11, and you're taller than I am! I need to stop feeding you or else I will have a giant on my hands!" She grabbed Cloud up in a hug, and smothered his face with gentle kisses.
"Mom! Don't embarrass me! Can I go outside and play with Tifa Momma?" His blue eyes inquired with hope of freedom.
"Yes my little one. Go play with your friends… Today's a beautiful day." She waved him out the door, but he stopped at the threshold, and turned back.
"I'm not little anymore!" and wondered outside.
He started to run, and when he came to Tifa's yard, he stopped.
There was an older boy who had grabbed hold of Tifa, and was telling her to do something that she was refusing to do. Cloud felt anger flush his face red, as he watched the boy try to kiss Tifa. He grabbed up a stout stick, and held it before him like a long sword. He then rushed at the older boy, landing a smarting blow across the back of his head. He yelled "LEAVE HER ALONE!" as he swung the stick a second time, catching the boy in the nose with his stick. The boy stumbled back, and looked at Cloud.
"You little pipsqueak! I'll get you for that. I'll get you…" but he didn't finish, because Tifa had kicked him in the back of the leg, causing him to fall.
The boy landed on his back with a thud, and Tifa was on top of him.
She put one fist into his eye, and the other hit him in the stomach. He felt pain run through his body, and he screamed, "UNCLE! MERCY! I GIVE!" and wildly tried to free himself. Tifa looked down into the boy's face, her reddish-brown eyes looking at him in disgust.
"Do you mean it?" she said in an angry tone of voice.
"YES! JUST GET OFF OF ME!" shouted the boy, who continued to struggle.
"Say please." She said with great authority.
"PLEASE!"
She got up off the boy, and reached out her hand to help him up. The boy looked at her hand, and shied away from it. He jumped up, and ran as fast as he could from the two children, not looking back.
Cloud swung his stick in a circle, and smiled at Tifa who was stretching her shoulders.
"That was jolly fun!" exclaimed Cloud, with mischief in his eyes.
Tifa simply gave him a look, and said,
"I could've handled that myself Cloud! Why'd you have to butt in?"
"Cause I thought you was needing my help." Said Cloud, a pained expression on his cute little face.
"I wasn't! You keep your nose out of other people's business!"
She saw how sad he was after she said that, and she thanked him for the help, and that seemed to brighten him up.
Cloud saw a group of boys who had the older boy among them, and they walked up to Cloud and Tifa and started to sing a song.
"Cloud and Tifa sittin' in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G. First comes love, second comes marriage, third comes Cloud sittin' in a baby carriage!" They all fell into gales of laughter, pointing at the two blushing kids.
Cloud brandished his stick at the boys, and made a face.
"I'll show you!" said Cloud in a mocking tone of voice.
The boy looked angrily at Cloud, but hesitated to just openly attack him, when he was carrying that stick.
"You a scardy cat? Come and get me!" Cloud ran, throwing jests and taunts back behind him, laughing that the boy fallowed. Cloud ran a little farther, then stopped and turned around, lashing out with his stick. He got the boy the full on in the face, and the boy yelped, and began to cry. Cloud looked at the boy with anger burning in his cool eyes.
"Don't you ever touch Tifa again! And don't ever talk like we're married!" Cloud said, his voice still too high to make it sound threatening, but the other boy got the point.
"I WON'T! I'M TELLING MY MOMMY THAT YOU HURT ME!" and he left, his friends laughing at him, and saying snide remarks about how he was beaten up by a little kid.
Then to the surprise of both Cloud and Tifa, they walked up to them, and started to talk to them.
"You two beat up big Hector! You made him cry! That swing was amazing, where did you learn to do that? Can you show us haw to fight like that?" They aimed a bunch of questions at them, and Cloud was looking shocked, and Tifa was a little frightened.
"I don't talk to strangers." Said Cloud, who began to walk away.
"No! Don't go! I'm Biggs, and these are my cronies Mikado, Ajax, Wallace, Roland and Zia. Now we aren't strangers any more are we?" Biggs indicated each of his friends, who flashed smiles as their names where called.
"Well…" thought Cloud, his finger on his chin. "I'm Cloud, and this is Tifa, you want to be our friends? We can go on jolly adventures! And slay dragons, and save fair maidens from ogres and stuff?" He looked excitedly at the new kids standing in front of him.
"Golly Tifa! We have new friends!" he extended his hand out to each of the kids in turn, and shook other's hands warmly.
They talked for a while, and had a good laugh at Hector, and then got down to business.
"You guys! We are having a problem. There is a group of kids that call themselves 'The Doom', and they think we was trying to spy on one of their secret meetings… We need you guys's help! They want to fight us, and we know they'll beat us up. We are looking for tough kids to help us show'em that we aren't wusses. Want to help?" Biggs looked desperately at his two new friends, hoping that they would help.
Cloud considered it a moment, then said,
"Friends help friends, so I'll help, hows about you Tifa?"
"I'm game." She said, folding her arms over her chest, and glaring at Biggs.
"Good! Then we'll definitely win!" Biggs clasped Cloud's hand, and shook it again. "The fight's tomorrow night, at 11:00. Be at the town hill outside the parameters, and help us!"
"Uhh, we can't go out past 7:00, cause my mommy doesn't want me out when the big kids are out… But I'll be there!" Cloud shouted, excited at the idea of a fight.
"But Cloud! You're grounded remember! You can't go out!" Tifa whispered in his ear, and looked at Cloud with a sad expression.
"Mommy has forgiven me. I might get in trouble for being out late, but friends stick up for each other!"
"But…."
"No buts! I'm going to be there!"
"Why do you always have to play the hero Cloud!" cried Tifa with an even sadder expression.
"I'm no hero! I just want to help my friends!"
"Cloud I don't want you to get into any more trouble!" complained Tifa, giving Cloud a stern look.
"Don't worry about me! My mommy does enough of that for the world!" Cloud said in an exasperated tone. He rolled his eyes, and crossed his arms, nodding at Biggs.
"I'm going and that's final!"
"Fine then, suite yourself." Tifa said, shaking her head vehemently.
Biggs looked at Cloud, a smirked.
"She likes you Cloud!" he whispered in Cloud's ear, grinning with a bemused look on his lean face.
Cloud blushed to the roots of his hair, a brilliant shade of crimson, and looked away from the older boy. Biggs nudged him in the ribs with his elbow, and gave him thumbs up.
"Go for it man! She's looking for you. She really likes you." He nudged Cloud again, and the boy stepped back and shook his head.
"No." Cloud's eyes where turned to the ground, and his face was still red.
"Alright, if that's the way you want it, when she gets older, and finds another guy, you're going to be sad you didn't start now…" Biggs whispered, then he shrugged his shoulders, and looked at Tifa.
"You coming?" he asked, giving the girl a nod.
"I… I'm going if Cloud is…" she said.
"Good, he is, so lets get going! We need to prepare for tomorrow night!" Biggs waved his hand at the group behind him, and turned to Cloud.
"You two want to help us? You could teach us some of those moves you used on Hector. Would you?"
"Sure, that would be jolly fun! You want to help Tifa?"
"Okay, let me ask my parents though." She walked off, not bothering to wait for an answer.
Biggs glanced at Cloud, and made a kissy face at Cloud, and grinned.
Cloud gave him his best death stare, but that made Biggs laugh even harder.
"You really should just ask her… She's cute, and strong, I'd take her if she wasn't younger…"
"Don't talk about her like that!" Cloud raised his fist, as if to strike Biggs.
Biggs backed up, and put his hands out in front of him.
"Easy there Killer, I wasn't asking you to hurt me, I was just giving you advice!"
Cloud lowered his fists, and laughed at Biggs.
"You afraid of me too? I'm so much smaller'n you, and you're afraid of me!"
Biggs gave Cloud a look of utter disagreement, then said,
"I'd take you on any day, if you weren't my friend!"
Cloud smiled, and nodded at Biggs.
"Okay!"
Just then Tifa came back, and said she would help them too. Biggs' group gave a shout of approval, and took Cloud and Tifa to where they had been working on their fighting skills.
Then they paired off, to start a sparing match. Cloud was paired with Roland, and Tifa with Ajax. They began their training.
Biggs informed the two on the rule of the sparing matches, and then told them to spar with their partners.
Roland was a tall lad, a full two heads taller than Cloud. He was springy, and moved fast. Cloud was small in most proportions, and not as old as Roland, but felt a certainty in him that he could win.
Ajax was the biggest of the boys, and was also the oldest. He bowed to Tifa, who bowed back, and then they began to circle.
Tifa waited for Ajax to make an attack, and dodged the blow, and took a swing at him. Her fist connected squarely with his jaw, and he fell to the mat. The others watched in a circle, as Ajax got up. He grinned at Tifa and said,
"You punch like a boy! That was good!" he nodded at her and circled with her again.
Ajax made the second move, and was laid on the mat again. Tifa shook her head.
"Don't be so easy on me! I'm a girl yes, but a wuss, no!"
She held out her hand, and Ajax took it, and she pulled him onto his feet.
"My sparring master at the dojo says that you should never underestimate women!"
Ajax laughed, and bowed to her again. They circled and Ajax waited this time. Tifa got impatient, and came at him, her fist stopped before it made contact.
Tifa felt herself get picked up off the floor, and rolled off Ajax's knee, to land on the mat.
"Wow! Did you see Ajax? That was so cool!" cried Zia, who was the youngest of the group.
Tifa got up, and jumped at Ajax, and tripped him.
His heavy form fell to the mat with a thud, and Tifa was declared the victor.
She helped Ajax up, and patted him on his back.
"Good match." She said jovially.
"I would never have guessed I would lose to a girl!" Ajax shook hands with Tifa, and then joined the circle to watch Cloud and Roland. Tifa fallowed suit, and cheered Cloud on.
Cloud and Roland went to the center of the circle, and bowed to each other. Then they circled like Ajax and Tifa did. Cloud put out his hand, and ducked, as Roland's hand came toward him. He drove in, and tackled Roland, and rolled off.
Roland looked disappointed, as Biggs held up a finger to indicate a win.
Roland then watched Cloud's moves intently, trying to see if he could imitate his competitor. Roland lashed out with a foot, but Cloud moved out of the way, and laughed. Roland was starting to feel a little anger, but knew that Cloud would not lash out in anger against him, so he calmed himself, and pushed another attack.
This time he succeeded in getting Cloud in the side with a strike, and then he fallowed up with another, and then he swiped Cloud's feet out from under him.
Cloud hit the mat hard, but was up in an instant. He flung himself at the taller boy, and landed one punch, right in his stomach, and Roland fell with a grunt.
"That was uncalled for!" Shouted Biggs, who waved a hand at Roland, as the boy rolled on the floor, holding his belly.
Cloud looked at Roland, and went to help him.
Roland rolled over, jumped up, and put Cloud on his back.
"Two to one! I'm fine! Couldn't you see I was laughing?"
Cloud got up, and shook his head.
"Why where you laughing?"
"Because you fell for my trick!" Roland smiled at the startled Cloud, and cuffed him on the shoulder in a playful fashion.
They continued to play like that, and in the end, they gave Tifa the title of "One Bad Girl" and that made her blush from pride.