A/N: This was the last in my batch of attempted stories for Anime Detour 2013 Bloomington, MN. I originally wrote this one first but the story I actually submitted just felt more...right. Please R&R.

Standard disclaimers apply-I do not own anything or any rights to FFVII.

Musical inspiration: Between the Raindrops-Lifehouse feat. Natasha Beddingfield

"Under the Highwind"

By MakoRain

The sun was starting to flirt with the horizon, make the sky fill with colors and blend together in that tell tale signaling of the change from day to night. It all felt so surreal. It was too soon to say goodbye to everything she knew so she would just pretend it wasn't happening. She had to or she'd fall apart right here and now.

His hand rested on her shoulder in that newly calm, reassuring way of his. Tifa spun around to face her childhood friend and newly found leader with a forced smile.

"When did you get so good at public speaking?" She poked him in the arm in a distracting and playful way. "That was a really good speech, Cloud. It got us all moving."

"Yeah, I guess." He paused, scratched his head in the way that made her smile. He looked exactly like a curious chocobo when he did that. She wanted to laugh or cry, she wasn't sure which.

No, not now, not yet. You can't lose it yet.

"Teef, why are you still here?" Cloud wasn't usually this open with her. Not since their time in the Lifestream together. She could still hear his voice calling out her name over and over again.

"Tifa?"

Or maybe that was just right now. Time to focus, Lockheart.

"I'm here because I have nowhere else to go, remember? Cloud, I don't have anyone or anything to go back to." She wrapped her arms around herself as if to fend off the chill of being all alone in this world. "No family, no home, nothing."

She sighed a heavy sigh that she felt deep in her bones. She was so tired of being alone. But technically, she wasn't alone. Here and now she wasn't alone.

"You're all I have left, Cloud."

Tifa looked at him as if he was her lifeline, her last connection to anything and everything she knew which was technically true. Cloud was the last person she had from her childhood, from her hometown.

"Even though we weren't that close growing up, things have changed since then, right?"

She finally dared to look up at him and saw his eyes fixated on her, drinking her in. She was all he had left as well and it was as if he was finally realizing that. It was amazing how she could see all of that in his eyes. She had to look away or she'd be lost in them forever, and they didn't have forever. Only here and now.

"Before we fell into the Lifestream, we were friends and colleagues. We were working for Avalanche and fighting to save the Planet. But now, Cloud…"

"Tifa." His hand was on her shoulder again, then thought better and was suddenly wrapping around her own.

"There were so many things I wanted to tell you. How you helped me…it's so hard to put into words."

She squeezed his hand still in hers. "There's another way to let me know what you want to say, Cloud. Words aren't always needed."

He looked at her in a way that said he knew what she was saying but couldn't believe it. Now wasn't the time to second-guess their actions. Now was the time to live. There wouldn't be another chance. There was nothing left to lose.

"Tifa, I-"

She didn't think. She didn't let him think. She kissed him hot and quick, a press of lips that was there in an instant and gone in the next breath. Before she could fully pull away and scold herself at what a fool she was, he kissed her back. And there was nothing fast about it. Cloud's lips took their time exploring her, tracing her lips then slipping in to slide along her tongue. She gasped and he pulled back.

"I'm sorry, I-"

Oh no, he thought she didn't want this. "Cloud. Don't be sorry. I was just surprised."

"Surprised? About what?"

Tifa could feel her cheeks ablaze and looked down at her hands. "That you feel the same."

Cloud laughed and it almost startled her. He didn't laugh very often. She missed his laugh. "Don't you remember? The Lifestream. I thought I showed you how I felt about you."

"That was when we were kids, Cloud. That could have been just a crush."

"A boy does not promise to be there whenever a girl is in a bind to just a crush."

"And now?" Tifa's eyes were shining with all of the hope and need and want she felt for him but she didn't care. She had to know.

"That never changed."

And then he was kissing her again and she was so happy she couldn't breathe. Cloud kissed her, touched her, caressed every inch of her and loved her until night and day bled together into a blissful dawn.

At some point she must have fallen asleep because it was much too bright when she opened her eyes. Tifa lay in his arms and instead of letting go, she snuggled closer, nuzzling into his side.

Cloud turned to look into her flushed face and kissed her softly. "I love you."

That was better than any good morning waking up to Cloud could have been. As she laid there in silent glee, he leaned up on his elbows to get a better look at her. "You knew that, right Teef?"

"I was hoping last night wasn't a dream."

He smiled and brushed a few strands of her dark hair out of her eyes.

"That was the perfect way to say how you feel, Cloud." She pulled him down for another kiss. "And I love you, too."

They lay there in the cool grass for a long time, lost in the sky and the earth and each other until it came time to break the silence.

"Tifa."

She sighed, knowing what he was about to say.

"I don't want this to end. This moment, it's all we have."

The real world was crashing back in. He was standing up and pulling her with him. Tifa looked out at the horizon, Cloud's arms wrapped around her waist and he nuzzled into her hair.

"There's nothing that I would change."

A/N: I've recently watched my bf play the entire FFVII game for me for inspiration and I just love this scene. I can't get enough of it so I couldn't help tweaking it just a touch. Reviews always welcomed :)