Author's Note: I do not own Final Fantasy nor any of its characters (still).

Author's Notes: Well, I knew what I wanted to do with this chapter, I just wasn't exactly sure how to do it. But I think I came up with something that will work. Sorry, I know that was a bit vague. I'm in a strange mood today

Anyways, read on!

Amaranthine

Chapter Two: Expectations

Tifa woke up early the next morning, right as the sun rose above the horizon. Years ago, she had to use an alarm clock to be able to wake up this early. However, now she had woken up at this hour so many times that even when she was exhausted Tifa wasn't able to sleep late.

It also helped that when the sun rose, a ray of light came directly through the window and fell right on Tifa's eyes, making it impossible to sleep any later unless she covered the window up.

But she still prided herself on being able to wake up early, regardless.

Sighing and rubbing her eyes, the barmaid slowly sat up. She had slept fairly well last night, but exhaustion still hung at the corners of her vision. At least Cloud was home now. Thinking of him caused Tifa to look across the room, where he was sleeping on the other bed. His back was turned to her, and as she watched he stirred slightly. Cloud always slept with his back to the window, so his sleep wouldn't be disturbed by the sunlight. But Cloud didn't need to wake up as early as Tifa did.

She didn't actually open the bar at this time. Seventh Heaven didn't serve breakfast or lunch, not opening until five, and they closed at two in the morning, or one if they were slow.

Tifa usually ran errands, or went outside and walked through Edge, just to give herself some alone time to think before a hectic evening. Today, though, Tifa didn't really feel like walking. She shot another glance over at Cloud, gaze softening as it always did when she saw the blonde. Sighing again, she swung her legs over the edge of the bed and stood up, stretching.

Walking over to the window, Tifa's breath caught in her throat. It was times like this that one could forget how terrible the ruins of Midgar really were. The sunlight lit everything up, giving an ethereal glow to the things outside. A few people wandered in the streets. It almost looked…peaceful. A couple of years ago, Tifa would have laughed if someone told her that this place could be peaceful. But now, she would almost be able to understand what they were talking about.

"Tifa." Came a voice from behind her.

Tifa spun around, blinking in surprise as her gaze fell on Cloud. Why was he up so early? Occasionally, he got up as early as she did, but usually that was only when he left to make deliveries. He should have been exhausted enough to sleep through half of the day.

"You're up early," she said, giving a small smile.

"I guess I got enough sleep in Kalm," He said.

"It's almost…pretty," Tifa murmured, turning to look out the window again. After a moment, she backed away from the window and sat on the bed to give Cloud room. "Come look."

Cloud walked around the bed and stood in front of the window, his gaze taking in everything that Tifa had seen earlier. As he did so, Tifa couldn't help but look at him. He was so…handsome. He had those pretty blue eyes and spiky blonde hair that made him recognizable from a distance. His skin was flawless, and when he gave one of his rare smiles Tifa thought her heart would melt.

It reminded Tifa of Aeris, kneeling on the altar, her perfect face lit up as she prayed to save humanity, green eyes staring into Cloud with an emotion Tifa didn't want to recognize. Just like that, Tifa had ruined the moment.

She stood up abruptly. "I'm going to get breakfast," she muttered and quickly walked around Cloud and out of the room. Cloud turned around, puzzled. What was with Tifa, lately? One moment she would be smiling and the next, she looked like she was on the verge of crying. Shaking his head, he followed her out of the room.

Tifa was angry with herself as she walked down the stairs. She was drowning in self-pity, something she had always been told not to do. She had been doing this a lot lately, and it was making her seem weaker than she really was. Yes, she loved Cloud. Yes, she was jealous of Aeris. But these emotions shouldn't have gotten in her way, or they were going to start affecting others as well.

Taking a deep breath, Tifa paused by the door. "I'm going to go down the street to the bakery. Do you want to come?" She was slightly surprised when Cloud nodded. They rarely went anywhere together. Usually Cloud just had her bring him something to eat.

The two exited the bar, blinking in the bright sunlight. A couple of children were playing across the street. The older one, a boy with blonde hair, turned and stared at them.

"Look, Abby, it's Cloud! He has the same hair color as me!" The boy puffed up his chest and looked proud of himself.

"You're so lucky!" The little brunette, Abby, turned and stared with him. "But look! /She/ has the same hair color as /me/!"

"Cloud is cooler." The boy replied.

"No he's not!"

"Yes he is!"

"No he isn't!"

The two began to get in a very heated argument. Chuckling, Tifa shook her head. Even this long after Meteor and the Geostigma outbreak, AVALANCHE was still famous, especially Cloud. He was a hero. A spiky, blonde-haired, huge-sword-carrying hero.

They walked along the sidewalk in silence, Tifa just enjoying the morning. After a couple of minutes, they arrived at the bakery. This was Tifa's favorite place to get breakfast. They had muffins, cinnamon rolls, and the best banana bread Tifa had ever tasted.

A tinkling bell accompanied their arrival, and the man behind the counter looked up. "Welcome to Sunrise Bakery. May I help you?" His eyes widened as he recognized Tifa and Cloud, and his gaze lingered on Tifa a moment longer than was absolutely necessary.

Cloud appeared not to notice this, and Tifa ignored it as well, making her way over to the counter. "Yes, please. I'd like a blueberry muffin. Cloud?"

"The same."

"Okay!" The man, who was probably in his late twenties, rang up their order, and Cloud paid for their breakfast. Tifa noticed that he had a rather sizeable bag of gil. Apparently, the delivery service was really paying off.

"Do you want them for here or to go?" The worker asked, still looking at Tifa.

"Umm.." She glanced at Cloud, who shrugged, glancing around the interior of the bakery. "For here."

"Here you go. Have a wonderful afternoon." The man flashed Tifa a grin. Cloud started to walk off, but Tifa reached out for a couple napkins, giving the man an opportunity to speak to her. "So, you're Tifa Lockhart, right?"

"Yes," Tifa replied politely.

"I'm Robert." He grinned again cheekily.

"Nice to meet you, Robert." Tifa was faintly uncomfortable. It wasn't that this had never happened before, but usually men didn't talk to her while Cloud was around. Cloud was staring at her over his shoulder, finally picking up on what was going on.

"Wow." Robert said, staring at her face, "The rumors about you are true!" Tifa was blushing. What was up with this guy? He was more daring than most men.

"Come on, Tifa, let's get a table," Cloud broke in, sounding slightly irritated.

"Hey, if the lady wants to talk to me, then let her." Robert turned to Cloud coolly, though he seemed a bit put-off by Cloud's presence.

"She came here to eat, not to chat with the workers." Cloud replied, matching his tone.

"What's wrong with chatting a pretty girl up every now and again?"

"You're getting paid to serve customers," Cloud said, his tone still cold, indicating with his head the line of impatient customers that was forming.

"I was serving her, and I couldn't help but notice that she's beautiful," Robert glanced at Tifa, then back at Cloud." I don't see /you/ making a move."

Tifa's face turned bright red at that comment, and she hastily spoke up before Cloud could. "Well, it was nice talking to you Robert, but this muffin is just begging to be eaten." She managed to keep her voice polite, and she turned and walked off before Robert could argue. Cloud shot the man a look before turning and following her.

Tifa sat down at a table a little ways away, feeling flustered. Cloud sat down opposite her and began eating quietly. Without looking at him, Tifa started on her muffin, hoping he wouldn't press the subject. Luckily for her, something caught Cloud's attention just over her left shoulder.

"Will you hand me that newspaper?" He asked.

Tifa turned around, grabbing it off of the counter and handing it to him. As she did, she caught a glimpse of the headline, "New Company Buys Yet Another Weapons Store."

Tifa's stomach fluttered uncomfortably. New company? Instantly, images of Mako reactors and Shinra soldiers popped into her head. Feeling sick, she pushed her muffin away, hoping she was overreacting. Cloud appeared to be thinking the same thing. His blue eyes were narrowed, and he began to read the article aloud, quickly, Tifa leaning forward to listen.

"We are now witnessing the uprising of a new and prosperous company, named Lito. Lito has been buying other companies for months now. The company appears to be interested in all sorts of industries. They have bought out weapon stores, a large portion of the Gold Saucer, dozens of Materia sellers worldwide, and many other small businesses, including those in the food and energy industries. We spoke with the owner of the company, Andryl Lito, just the other day, asking him what exactly he plans on doing with the company.

"As I'm sure you all know, my father owned Lito before me," Lito says. "Back then, we had little influence. My father saved all of his money, never spending any of it to help improve the company. Well, now I am changing the course of things. I hope to make Lito a name that everyone can remember."

When asked what he would do afterwards, Andryl replied, "We would make the Planet a more convenient and easy place to live. Not like Shinra, no. Lito will lower the prices of almost everything, and our stores will never run out of whatever supplies they carry. We're hoping to provide a new and more convenient energy source for the world to run on. Shinra controlled the world with fear. They were a dangerous company. We're going to earn the respect of the people, not demand it."

Well, it appears that Lito is doing just that. Many people have already gone to work for the company, and stores are being established in almost every town under Lito's name. Will the company ever become as powerful as Shinra? If they do, we can only hope they will run things differently."

Cloud finished, then looked up at Tifa, a stony expression on his face. "There's more, but that's the gist of it. What do you make of that?" He asked.

"He acts like it's not going to be anything like Shinra, but that sounds like how Shinra was when they started out. And what's this about a 'new energy source'?"

Cloud shook his head. "I want to investigate this. How do they have enough money to buy out all the stores?" He mused, almost to himself. "If this Andryl Lito's company is nothing like Shinra, it will be fine. But if it's going to turn into another Planet-wide corporation, we're going to have to make sure they don't establish control over everything."

"Surely everyone would have learned by now," Tifa said, but she wasn't putting all of her faith behind that statement.

That night, Tifa was rinsing off the dirty glasses, lost in thought. It was about one, and the last customer had wandered out of the doorway just moments before. Surprisingly enough, Seventh Heaven hadn't been very busy, but Tifa was grateful for the respite. She just wanted to catch up on her sleep and take advantage of Cloud still being there.

He seemed very disturbed about the newspaper article they had read that morning. Tifa couldn't blame him for being cautious, but he had been running around all day, collecting newspapers from the past week to see if there was anything suspicious. He had called Vincent, Cid, and Barret, trying to find out if they knew anything about Lito. Cloud was verging on the brink of paranoia about this whole thing.

But didn't they /need/ someone who was going to be paranoid? Everybody else would probably just allow the company to take over without complaint. But still, Tifa admitted that Cloud needed to give it a rest for a while. The company wasn't that powerful, yet.

The sound of footsteps down the stairs announced Cloud's presence. Tifa turned to greet him, her smile turning to a frown as she saw that he was giving her the /look/. The one he always gave her right before he left. But he couldn't be leaving now, could he? He had just gotten back last night! And he had almost been killed last time! He had promised her he was going to lie low for a while, and here he was, looking defiant, determined, and a little bit guilty as he always did before he left.

"Tifa…" Cloud began, noticing her expression.

"Yes, Cloud?" Tifa said, trying her best to sound happy until she knew for sure that he was leaving.

"I'm going to Kalm in the morning. They have a library there, and I want to look up on everything that has to do with Lito. And then I got a call to make another delivery, this time to Junon. I might be gone a while," Cloud muttered, avoiding her gaze.

Tifa felt anger immediately begin to boil up inside of her. So he was leaving again.

Cloud, noticing how thick the silence had become, looked up at her. "Sorry. I just want to find out more about Lito, and the delivery I'm making will pay well. I want to stop by the church before I leave, which is why I'm getting up so early."

Tifa looked away, her frustration bringing a red tinge to her cheeks. So he was going to Aeris' church, too. She should've known that Aeris would be the first one he'd turn to when he was worried about something.

"Tifa…?"

Tifa was barely controlling herself. "It's fine, Cloud. Even if it wasn't fine you'd still go, wouldn't you?"

"Well, I…"

"You're always leaving. Would it kill you just to stay here for a couple of days? Sure, I know you're making good money, but what happened to your childhood friend? I guess it's not important to you."

"What? It's important to me!"

Tifa's temper threatened to snap. All of this…it just had to end. She had followed after Cloud for so long, her heart was broken because of him. He always left her, he didn't care for her, and yet she stayed, always waiting for him to come back. She would always love Cloud, but right now her anger overcame all of her other emotions. And in her anger, she didn't even think twice about her next words.

"Don't lie, Cloud! You never really saw what it did to Marlene and Denzel, what it did to me, did you?"

Cloud looked confused, which only served to increase Tifa's irritation. "I don't-"

"Know what I'm talking about, of course you don't, even though you say we're your family."

"I don't know what's gotten into you," He said quietly, a defensive edge to his voice.

"You're always gone, chasing after Aeris. I know how you must feel about her, but she's gone, Cloud!"

"What? What…you…Aeris has nothing to do with this!" Cloud said, his voice rising ever so slightly, but Tifa was already beginning a rampage, the strain from the last week catching up to her.

"I guess I was never good enough for you. I couldn't come out and say how I felt about you, because Aeris always got there first."

Cloud was staring at her now in complete disbelief, blue eyes wide, but before he could reply, Tifa continued.

"Well, Cloud, you were always oblivious to my feelings for you. I used to have all of these expectations…things that would happen once we got older. Remember the promise?"

She ignored his wide eyes, his speechless expression. "I expected you to realize who you truly were. I expected you to feel the same way as I do. I guess I was stupid, but it doesn't matter anymore. Just go after her. Make your deliveries. Leave me. I don't care." The last sentence was a complete lie, because Tifa did care, very much. But now she was blind to everything, blind to the fact that she had basically confessed to Cloud she cared him as more than a friend, after all of these years.

Without another word, the brunette brushed past Cloud and strode towards the entrance to the bar. Cloud appeared to just now have recovered from her words, because he was opening his mouth to speak, but Tifa cut him off.

"I'll be back tomorrow morning. But you won't know, because you'll be gone. Don't follow me, Cloud."

She yanked open the door and stepped out into the dark street.

"Tifa! Wait!" Cloud was calling after her, walking towards her, but Tifa slammed the door in his face, then broke into a run. She had lost control, something Zangan had always told her not to do, but she didn't care. Everyone snapped sometime. She had expected too much out of Cloud. She needed to cool off, to think over the repercussions of her actions. Tifa knew that she would soon feel guilty and foolish, but for now she just needed to let her anger simmer.

Picking up her pace, the barmaid vanished into the darkness, leaving Cloud standing in the doorway, alone.

Author's Notes: UPDATED 8/2011

Well, this took way longer than it should have. I hoped you liked that chapter, though. We begin to see the barest hint of a plot. And Tifa finally snaps, and tells Cloud how she feels! Review please, tell me what you think.