Disclaimer: FF7 & its' characters belong to Square. This story belongs to me.

five questions

Distressed. That's how Tifa physically looked these days. Overworked. The weight of the world was on her shoulders. A laundry list of everything she carried included caring for Denzel and Marlene, managing the bar, helping Cloud with the delivery business, and keeping Cloud in check for that matter. Tifa did all of this while keeping a smile on her face, but that smile was becoming less and less bright. Tired. She felt the heaviness behind her eyes that one can only feel when they are utterly exhausted.

'That concealer Yuffie bought me isn't working on these under eye circles anymore' Tifa thought as she glanced at her reflection while drying some silverware with a towel.

It was a quiet evening at Seventh Heaven, only one or two regulars were at the bar. They knew her story. In fact, all the locals knew her history and what she carried with her. Her regular customers stopped asking her questions because they knew the answers. They just ordered their drink and gave her the decency of silence.

She didn't care.

Occasionally, there would be one of the Turks or a Shinra executive that needed a drink to take the edge off before heading home. Tifa had recited answers for them, mainly because they knew her.

Seldom, there would be a traveler from out of town stopping in for a drink. She would have fun with her responses when they spoke to her. Sometimes she would make stories up about herself to escape her mundane reality. It was those little fabricated distortions that made Tifa feel creative for a minute and forget about her everyday life. She fictitiously said she had a twin brother living in Corel and a sister in Wutai. One time, Tifa had concocted a chronicle that she was from Costa del Sol originally and had a thriving business there, but she couldn't stand the heat.

That was a lie, she would give all her gil right now to be on the beach.

"Good Evening Miss Lockhart, how are you tonight?"

Rarely, did Rufus Shinra show up alone. But he did tonight as she was examining her dirty finger nails.

Confident. That's how Rufus Shinra looked with his piercing indigo eyes. He, too, was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. If you asked her a few years ago she would have told you she hated Rufus Shinra with every bone in her body, but Tifa still would admit he had the most hypnotic eyes she had ever seen, next to Cloud's. Tifa grinned and answered Rufus with her normal "great, thanks!" response, followed by asking him what he wanted to drink.

"Whiskey on the rocks, thanks," Rufus answered.

Question one down, she knew the Cloud questions would be next.

"Is Strife around?" Rufus asked sipping his whiskey.

"Not tonight," she replied knowing exactly what question three would be.

"When will he return?"

There it was, and her answer would be the same; she didn't know.

"How is business?"

Tifa studied Rufus as he stirred his whiskey listening to her talk about how overloaded she was, and how Denzel and Marlene were. Question four was almost immediately asked when the patron she was speaking to realized the truth about her and Cloud. Everyone that knew them could sense that Tifa and Cloud's relationship was facade. It was a convenient arrangement. Cloud loved a dead girl; Tifa, for her reasons, still was attached to Cloud.

Rufus sat across from Tifa in silence. The only audible sound was ice clanking in glass mixed with the faint music playing through the speakers in the background. Around this time, the silence would become uncomfortable. That was usually when her customer would finish their drink, thank her and leave. She waited for Rufus to do the same; he probably would leave her with a message for Cloud or send one of the Turks back since he wasted his time.

"Miss Lockhart," Rufus said her name smoothly as he slid his glass over to her. "Why do you continue playing house with Strife?"

Tifa refilled Rufus' drink handing it back to him. He kept his gaze on her expecting a response.

That was a question Tifa did not have an answer for; the truth was she didn't know.

-xx-

A/N: Some RxT drabble I thought of on the bus.