"Phew, how invigorating!" Tifa exclaimed as she brushed herself off. Her and Cloud had been battling a nasty group of spider monsters just minutes before.
"You said it! ....But aahh! My legs! They ache!" Cloud rubbed the backs of his calves.
"How about getting some rest at the next inn?" Tifa managed to growl from between her teeth. "He can be so stuck up sometimes...Quit trying to show off, bastard."
"Tifa, babe, you know inns here in the slums are really...umm....gross. I mean, 10 gil isn't something you should spend on a room. 100 gil, I could see, but 10 gil.....we're too good for that."
Tifa rolled her eyes and turned away from Cloud. She started up towards the small inn not far from where their battle had just taken place. "Cloud, you need to wake up." She galnced over her shoulder to see Cloud actually look after her......"Hey, you never know...he might even ...."
Tifa turned around quickly with excitement in her eyes. "We could always share a room. If it gets too cold, maybe we could..."
Cloud cut her off. "It's not that. I don't give a damn about how cold it is or how gross it is. I'm just worried about Aeris. I just hope she's okay." He shot Tifa a sharp painful glare that stabbed her heart like ice.
"....Cloud...........I'll see you in the morning." It was all Tifa could do to keep her hands from strangling him. She gritted her teeth and stomped off.
Cloud shrugged his shoulders as his glance fell to the ground. "I never meant to hurt Tifa's feelings...I just want to find Aeris.........why is that so bad? Tifa gets so edgy when I talk about Aeris." Cloud nudged at a pebble. He wandered aimlessly around the square, contemplating what to do.
~*~
Tifa glanced out of the third story window of her tiny room. Three quarters of the window was dusty with a sort of hasn't-been-touched-in-years look; a spider gladly took shelter in the bottom corner of it. By the time she found the perfect angle to see Cloud, he had already wandered to a different spot, out of view.
"What is he up to?" Tifa whispered to herself. She truly cared for Cloud, though she never showed it. She often tried to be mean to him, just so he wouldn't think she liked him. He had been a childhood companion, and the love for him had started then, in their preteen years. He had never shown any affection to her, although Tifa hinted throughout their last adolescent years together that she had a thing for him. He always seemed to have a wierd remark, an indifferent emotion, or an unemotional expression on his face in response to her flirts. She suddenly got angry thinking of this, and accidentally said aloud in a hoarse voice, "What the hell does he know about love?" ...But an extra tone in her voice told her he did know about love--but not towards her. Aeris was in trouble and Cloud was unhesitantly going after her---the classic hero-saves-the-princess scenario. The most popular ending to that scenario that Tifa knew of was a lovely happily ever after, with the hero cradling the princes while they ride off into the sunset.
Tifa was determined not to let this happen.