Cloud pushed the grocery cart into the produce aisle. He had almost everything on Tifa's shopping list. Glancing at the paper again, he grabbed some turnips and was about to head for the dairy section when he saw the pile of cucumbers. Cloud walked over and stared at them for a while before his hand slowly reached out to touch one of them. He ran his fingers up and down its firm length and was about to take it to put in his cart when someone else's hand reached out and grabbed his chosen cucumber instead.
"Hey, that's mine!" Cloud protested, his jaw dropping a little when he looked into the offender's face. "You…you do your own shopping?"
"Only for special occasions." Rufus answered.
"What's the special occasion? And I'd like my cucumber back please." Cloud requested.
"That's none of your business. And I'd like my turnips as well." Rufus replied.
"Your turnips?" Cloud was surprised. "They're not yours, I got them for Tifa."
"Well, then this isn't your cucumber." Rufus coldly told him, and headed back to his own cart.
Cloud fumed, and when he saw Rufus just negligently toss his cucumber into the cart, he shoved his cart into Rufus'. "I said that was my cucumber!"
"And I said those were my turnips!" Rufus snapped back, glaring at him.
"Thanks for doing the shopping today, Cloud." Tifa told him when she woke up on the couch upon his return. "Only two more weeks and I should be fine." She gently patted the cast on her broken leg. "Can I check the bag please?"
"Uh, sure." Cloud reluctantly put the paper bag on the floor next to the couch and went to see if there was any coffee left.
"Cloud?" Tifa called out a few moments later.
"Yes, Tifa?" Cloud sighed, knowing what was coming.
"Why is the bread smashed and there's all these cucumbers, but no turnips?" she asked him.
"Um, there was a fight in the produce aisle while I was there." Cloud reluctantly admitted as he stared down at the floor, but refusing to tell her that it was him and Rufus, and they got kicked out of the grocery store after paying for their purchases, and he didn't know how it happened, but when he secured the bag on Fenrir, he noticed the turnips had disappeared, replaced by a plethora of cucumbers. He really hoped Tifa would let him keep them.
"Thank you, Tseng." Rufus smiled as the Turk leader deposited a bag of turnips on his table. "You may leave now."
"Very well, sir." Tseng had no idea why Rufus wanted so many turnips lately, but it was not his place to question an order, even if it meant stealing from Cloud Strife. He turned smartly on his heels and left.
"Alone at last." Rufus smiled at the turnips and took out a knife.