DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN FINAL FANTASY OR ITS CHARACTERS AND THE SONG VERSE AT THE BEGINNING BELONGS TO HINDER

---------------------------------------------

Without you, I live it up a little more everyday
Without you, I'm seein myself so differently
I didn't wanna believe it then
But it all worked out in the end
When I watched you walk away
Well I never thought I'd say
I'm fine
Without you

---------------------------------------------

Chapter 1: Without You

Just about three years had passed since Cloud had left that night. No one had heard from or seen him in all that time. Eventually everyone had just stopped looking. If Cloud didn't want to be found he wasn't going to be found.

Tifa, after several months of fretting, and worrying, and believing, was convinced that it might be better if she gave up. The bar was doing well, the kids were growing up fine, and all major catastrophes threatening Edge had been thwarted, all without the help of Cloud. She was beginning to see that he wasn't the only hero in town, and this new hero was her current boyfriend.

Yes, Tifa had even managed to put her feelings for Cloud on the back burner and get a steady boyfriend. It wasn't like she didn't have the pick of the young bachelors of the town, but this was the guy who had convinced her to stop looking for Cloud and get on with the steady life she had. He was good-looking enough too: bright green eyes (that weren't as a result of exposure to Mako), brown hair (that wasn't at all spiky), with a friendly-open personality that Cloud could never dream of having, and when all was said and done, a more than decent body. All in all, Tifa liked him because he wasn't Cloud, and yet still managed to make her heart flutter with the little things that he did… He was also madly in love with her, regardless of the fact that she had told him that her heart was already elsewhere, but he had begged her to at least try going out with him, so she agreed, and hadn't found a reason to stop agreeing for a little over two years now.

Tifa woke up, as usual in her room in the apartment above the bar. Although having a warm body next to her that smelled vaguely of cologne and masculinity was not as per usual. The night before flooded into her mind answering the question of just how her boyfriend ended up in the same bed with her this morning. Nothing had happened; he was simply tired after being out all night with her, and didn't feel like driving home, so Tifa had offered him a share of her bed.

Tifa rolled over and smiled when she saw Arc lying there with the pillow covering his head.

"Morning." She said sweetly.

There came a muffled groan from the pillow. He really wasn't a morning person.

"Come on, it's time to get up." She said sitting up and stretching, savoring the feeling of all her muscles being pushed back into place.

"Can't we stay just a little longer?" Arc groaned still within the pillow. To Tifa it sounded like a monkey trying to chatter under water.

"What was that?" she said lifting the pillow from his face. Arc squealed and trashed until he fell from the bed.

Tifa rolled her eyes. Definitely not a morning person…

"Come on, it's Denzel's birthday today." She cooed leaning over so she was eye to eye with him. "We've got a lot of preparing to do…" Then she gave him a peck on the tip of the nose and went to take a shower.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Later that day Arc had taken Marlene and Denzel and a few of Denzel's friends to the movies and out to the park afterwards, giving Tifa the run of the apartment to set up.

She was currently running errands like picking up that extra roll of streamers she needed, and picking up the cake from the bakery across town. Half-way through, her phone rang, it was Yuffie, she was lost somewhere on the highway outside of Edge. Tifa had just finished talking her back on course when Yuffie decided that now would be a good time to catch up.

"So, how've you been?" the young ninja girl asked.

"Good, I guess. The kids are doing well, and Arc and I are stable…" Tifa replied.

"Well the 'I guess' doesn't make you sound too sure about things… what's up?" If anything, Yuffie was perceptive… if not just a little bit nosy.

Tifa sighed and stopped walking trying to decide whether or not the younger girl could be trusted.

"Come on, you can tell me!" Yuffie pleaded. Tifa jumped, could she read minds too?

"Well…"

"Tiiiffaaaaa!" Yuffie whined.

"Alright, alright I'll tell you. But you have to promise to keep it to yourself okay?"

"You forget to whom you are speaking. I am the greatest ninja in Wutai! My life IS a secret!" Yuffie boasted.

Tifa laughed before saying, "Okay, fine. To tell you the truth… I don't really think I'm over Cloud…"

"But why not!?" Yuffie exploded. "He left you unconscious on the road, and he hasn't been back in three years, leaving you to be a single-mom of sorts! If I were in your shoes I would'a ditched the crush a while ago…"

"It really isn't that simple, Yuffie… I mean, I didn't tell anyone but… before he left, I kinda told him about my feelings for him, and… he kissed me…"

"WHAT?!!"

"I didn't think it was a big deal… not everyone needed to know…"

"But you kept it from ME!"

"Sorry."

"Well, apology accepted… so tell me what's the problem… well, besides having feelings for someone other than your mega-hot boyfriend…"

"The problem is that I found a ring in a drawer in Arc's apartment the last time I was there…"

"HE'S MARRIED!?!"

"No! A diamond ring!"

"HE'S CHEATING ON YOU, WITH A MARRIED WOMAN?!?!"

"No! Argh! Yuffie! An engagement ring, for me!"

"…oh…but that's… that's great news! So what's the problem then?"

"The problem is I'm not sure I'm even in love with the guy who's going to propose to me!"

"…is it because of your old feelings for Cloud?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure… I'm angry with him for leaving, but that kiss confuses me… as well as everything he said… I think I may have been too hasty with my conclusions… I get the feeling that I didn't let him give a reason for leaving… oh I feel so stupid when I think about it!"

"…yeah… that's a problem alright…" Before Yuffie could continue Tifa heard her shriek over the phone.

"Ah! Watch out!" the young girl cried before there was the sound of a crash.

"Yuffie!?" Tifa shouted into her phone. "Yuffie, are you alright?!"

Yuffie groaned, looking at the wreckage of her former vehicle. "Yeah, I'm okay… good news is I met up with Vincent… he may not be in one piece when he gets there though… I'm gonna have to call you back…"

"Oh dear." Tifa sighed hanging up. This certainly was turning out to be an interesting day…

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When Tifa finally made it to the bakery it was five minutes before closing.

"Sorry I'm so late." She panted running in the door. "I just had to make sure one of my party guests didn't die…"

Tifa purchased the cake and started on her walk home. She had closed the bar for the night, so hopefully there wouldn't be any customers. And hopefully everyone had gotten to the apartment alright, aside from Vincent who had been hit by whatever Yuffie had been driving, and spent the last few hours in the emergency room. Though apparently she either wasn't going very fast, or had just missed him because he wasn't hurt in the least.

Tifa stepped outside the bakery and got the uncomfortable feeling that she was being watched. This caused her to look around but finding nothing lurking in the shadows she continued walking. She never noticed the big black bike in the middle of the stopped traffic she was crossing in front of, with a driver dressed all in black, who had the faintest hint of blonde hair sticking out of the cowl of the driver's hood.

A/N: ZOMG it's CLOUD!!!! I surprise even myself… jk jk. (watch it totally won't be him(or will it?(is going to stop now)))

Well… it would have been Aerith that got the heart-to-heart chat with Tifa but… she's dead… so she can't… so I used Yuffie instead, and tried to keep her as in character as I could possibly manage… And I know it's unlikely that Tifa would confide in Yuffie but… who else does she have to turn to? …The only other person I can think of is Red XIII/Nanaki… but he can't use a phone, he doesn't have opposable thumbs…

And yes, I stole Arc's name from FFIII, now how many of you knew that?

Reviews, as always, are appreciated.

Next chapter will focus on Cloud and what he's been doing for the last three years, and introduce the bad guy, and the plot, whoohoo!