Strangers
Final Fantasy VII

By: Bahamuts AngelVII

A/N: Another one-shot… I guess I'm into these right now. A Tifa and Cloud fanfiction… If you're a Cloud and Aeris fan, go read my other story, Sky Light. Anyway, read and review!

This place feels like home. I've only been here a short while, but already it's like I've been here all my life. People who I'm not too familiar with are walking around, drinking, eating, and talking. It's not the people who make this feel like my home… Well, not totally. It's more of the atmosphere. The smoky, peaceful setting of her bar brings back the serene memories of my real home. I knew her back then, too, but now it's as if we are total strangers. Although, sometimes when we talk I can feel old feelings re-emerge. But we stay on the surface. I think we are afraid. Or maybe it's just me. It's too hard to talk about old things. It's not like it will all go back to being the same. But oh, how I wish it would…

As she makes me a drink, her hands working deftly and precisely, she is smiling and laughing with her customers. She makes small talk and is actually interested in their lives that they have to tell. Everyone is calling her name, wanting her attention. All these men, even the women find her like a role model. She is quick to get to them. She makes everybody feel so special, so at home. I think we used to be like that. But now I can't remember. But as I watch her and everyone else, I feel a pang of jealousy. I wish she were mine.

Slowly, the people fade away. They go back home, where they belong. I can tell that when they're here, in her bar, they feel as if they were in a totally different world. I know. I feel that way too. A man I don't really know comes up to me. He is tall, has broad shoulders, and a mean looking face. But he isn't half bad. I fought with him at the Reactor. He slaps me on the back, his gun arm dangling down. We talk for awhile before he leaves to go downstairs with the others. Only Tifa stays upstairs, cleaning the tables and the floor.

Why is she the only one who takes responsibility? She seems to get what I'm thinking because she comes up to me and smiles. She tells me that she has fun doing all of this. I shake my head, indifferent. I know I'm being a little hardhearted. But doesn't she see? I'm in love with her. She doesn't even realize… I'm allowed to be a little bitter… Right?

No, I'm not. I look at her and she is slightly hurt. But her expression changes in an instant and she forces up a smile. She's always been that way. She asks me what kind of drink I would like. I tell her I want something hard. I hand her back the empty glass. She takes it and fills it with something new. I take it and sip it. It's bitter, but delicious. It warms me up. I tell her I like it and she smiles.

We continue to talk. She asks me if I remember our promise. Our promise… How could I ever forget? It was the most important night of my life. We continue to talk, our eyes never straying from each other's faces. Her ruby red eyes glimmer in the dim lighting of the bar. She smiles politely and laughs and giggles and flips her hair. But she's not flirting with me. She doesn't love me. I know I'm never going to be worthy of this brunette goddess, but how can I not fall in love when I look into those eyes?

We continue to talk, late into the night. She never seems to get tired.

Even though we seem to talk like strangers, being polite, distanced, and never too revealing, I can tell already we're getting back to how it was.

I guess with Tifa Lockheart, you're never a stranger.

A/N: Review!!! Seriously…