Cloud Strife. What an incredibly fitting name, and while this might not have always been the case, he seemed to have grown into it rather well. Somehow, he had always managed to get wrapped up in one dangerous and mysterious situation after another, but he always came out all right. Physically, at least. He never spoke of what he felt, what he thought, what he believed. He was just like a cloud, beautiful and mystifying on the outside, but on the inside lay the obfuscated truth, the heart of a man who had been through so much. A heart you wished could be yours.
Sure, sometimes his cold aloofness would annoy you and you wished he would snap, just once, and let his feelings out. But then you would see the way he looked at the two happy children who would dance around his feet whenever he got home, and something in you could see the way he really was, could be, and maybe one day would be. Just that glimpse was enough to allow you to hope. No matter what people told you, no matter how mad he made you, you could always cling to the truth of his character.
"Tahri. Tahri! Are you here? Focus!" You looked down to see one of the neighborhood boys waving his red bandana in your face. Right, you'd been exploring with them when you'd taken a break to look up at the sky. It was almost sad how often your mind's wandering would lead you back to the thought of Cloud. Sighing, you stood up and brushed off your knee length, black cargo shorts and the black and white sleeveless jersey you'd carelessly flung on that morning. Clothes were never that important to you, as you'd never had a real reason to dress up. In fact, you thought it was hilarious the way some of the neighborhood's women would strut up and down the streets in one ridiculous costume or another, trying to impress one another, and oftentimes, Cloud. There had even been a brief moment when you considered it too, but he was in a league of his own, and there was no point in courting the impossible.
"Tahri! Look out!" Just then, a red ball came flying out of nowhere to smack you dead in the face. It felt a little like slow motion as you fell backwards, landing on the ground with a thump. The tinkle of children's laughter filled the air around you and you almost didn't feel like getting up. Groaning, you opened your eyes when you realized there was a shadow cast over your face, blocking out the sun. A halo of light surrounded the spiky blonde head of hair that towered over you. The shadow walked around you, then offered a hand for assistance. Though the bright sun obscured your vision, you could feel the smirk that must have graced your helper's face all the while. Instead of taking it, you bucked and jumped up on your own two feet.
"Thanks anyway, Cloud." He nodded, silent but still clearly amused at your little demonstration. Before you embarrassed yourself by blushing, the still snickering pack of neighborhood boys you often played with drew your gaze in a different direction. "I'd love to chat but I have to go teach a lesson to a very unruly group of kids." The side of your lip curled up into an evil grin as you stepped around him, setting your sights on the closest unsuspecting boy. Pulling your arm back like a pitcher, you twisted, then flung the ball at the kid's head, hitting him just right so that after the ball made contact, he stumbled into the two boys next to him. Of course, you didn't throw it that hard, so they weren't hurt, but they had to remember who was boss.
Immediately an impromptu game of dodge ball began and you and the boys ran up and down the main street, occasionally ducking into an alleyway, to avoid the bright red ball, laughing all the while. The game died down after a while and morphed into another one. You played with the boys for several hours before excusing yourself to go inside. After a short walk down the street, the friendly hum of Tifa's bar, Seventh Heaven, and a soothing blast of conditioned air greeted your tired and sweaty body.
"Hey Tifa, I'm here. Let me grab some water and you can put me to work." No one answered, so, after pulling out a bottle of water from under the bar, you went through the door to the back room in search of the owner of the establishment. Instead of the dark haired woman, you found Cloud, slouched in the big, comfy chair with the television humming quietly in the background, sleeping. At least you thought he was sleeping since his sunglasses hid his eyes from view. Sighing quietly, you shook your head at him and walked over to turn off the television. On your way out of the room, you paused to look at the quietly sleeping man in the chair. His mouth was slightly open so that you could hear his quiet breathing, and, entranced, watch his chest rise in fall at the same pace. You took a step forward, hoping you might be able to run your fingers through his hair, if only to feel the warm silk of his golden spikes, just once.
"You know, I was watching that." You nearly jumped out of your skin when he said that, sitting up in the chair to look at you, the glint of humor in his eyes.
"Jeez Cloud, you scared the bejeebles out of me."
He lifted his sunglasses off of his face so that you could see his intelligent and deep, blue eyes, and the way he cocked one eyebrow up to look at you.
"I scared the…bejeebles out of you? Right. That's really lame, and not even a real word."
"Shut up."
"Putting that aside, what were you about to do?"
"Huh?" You prayed he hadn't noticed you moving to touch his hair.
"Just before I scared you, you were reaching for something, what was it?"
You froze, your heart racing, trying to think of something. "Oh, nothing. You had something in your hair." You reached for his head again, this time pulling out an invisible fuzzball and throwing it behind your shoulder.
"Did you get it?"
"Nope, there's a little bit more." You stuck your hand in his hair again, and gave it a light tug.
"Ow!"
"That's what you get for scaring me." You paused to shoot him your mischievous smile before changing the subject. "By the way, have you seen Tifa? I was supposed to help out today, but she wasn't out front."
"She said she had a few errands to run. She asked that you run the bar for a few hours until she gets back." You simply nodded, said your thanks, then turned to leave.
"Hey Tahri?" Cloud said from behind you.
"Yeah?" You turned to look at him again. His face was serious, as though he were struggling to say something, then shook his head and put on his trademark smirk. It was only trademark because he rarely did it so it was the same one every time. "Way to take a ball to the face. I haven't seen such grace in years."
You let out an indignant grunt and whirled on your heel to stomp out of the room. You weren't actually mad, it was just so embarrassing to know he had seen that spectacular blunder. The only way to hide your burning face was to rush out of the room, angry or otherwise. Goodness forbid he witness you blushing too. One humiliating event was enough for the day. In an attempt to cool down and regain some composure, you went about the routine of setting up the bar for opening.