Chapter 2- That's your excuse?!

Well, here is chapter two, re-edited!!!! =]

I think that you shall all like it. Pleaseee review an d tell me if I did a good job! Please!!!!!

Cloud woke up to the sun shining in his eyes, he turned over to avoid it. 'Today's gonna be the day from hell' he thought. What was he supposed to say? The truth would be the best, but that was just gonna piss them off even more.

The only reason he left was to protect them, in a way. Rufus had some information about someone named "Genesis" and of course of all the people he could of chose to go and investigate he chose Cloud. He said that if Genesis was truly back, it would put the planet in jeopardy again. And everyone's lives. Plus, id he was back, then the first thing he would want to do is eliminate the strongest force here. Which would be AVALANCHE.

He remember the words he told Tifa, 'I need to take care of a few things.' that was his excuse. He saw the look of hurt and confusion on her face. He didn't even wait for a response. He just walked past her.

He forced himself out of his thought and sat up, he rubbed his eyes and glanced over the clock, '8:30' It stated, he yawned again and swung his feet over the bed, then walked over to his closet. He grabbed his usual attire and walked in the hallway.

"Hopefully no one is here..." he mumbled as he opened his door. He needed sometime to get his story straight, so it sounded like the truth, because the truth sounded like a lie, which wasn't gonna help him in this case.

There was a stream of light coming from the crack of Marlene's door, great, that meant Denzel and Tifa were hear as well. He gave a light sigh. And proceed to the staircase. But right before he walked pasted Marlene's door, it opened and the little brunette girl walked in to the hallway. She looked at Cloud and froze. Her eyes grew big, and Cloud saw her tremble. Her face was a mix of Yuffie's from last night and Tifa's. Anger and hurt.

Suddenly, she forgot she was glad to see him, and lashed out on him, "Where have you been?!" She demanded, "We were worried sick! Do you even care that you hurt us! Probably not, considering this isn't the first time you did it!"

"Marlene--"she interrupted him.

"No, I don't want to here your excuses." she whispered, "We called everyday, and..."she started to cry, she began to yell again, "Family's stick together Cloud! I thought we were a family! I thought you loved us!

"Marlene, please--" she interrupted him again.

"I hate you!" Tears were over flowing her eyes, she turned on her heel and ran down the stairs.

He was stunned. 'I hate you!' she said. Those words kept ringing in his ears. There was a tight knott in his stomach. What had he done? He never thought that leaving was going to hurt them this bad. He never knew that. Still 'I hate you' He didn't want that. He was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't notice that little brunette boy standing in front of him.

"Cloud." Denzel looked up at his hero, his eyes looking dull, then spoke again. "Cloud!"

The chocobo head jolted out of his thoughts and then looked down at the boy, his voice cracked when he spoke, "Denzel, I am so sorry..."

Denzel smiled, "Come on, you need to apologize to Tifa...not me." The boy turned around and made his way down the stairs.

Cloud sighed, today wasn't going to be easy, Tifa, she was the only one that was nice last night, but her eyes looked broken. And the only reason she looked broken, was because he broke her. 'I don't deserve them', he thought, and walked down the stairs.

When he was down stairs and in the bar section of the house, he saw that behind the counter that Marlene was balling her eyes out and The raven haired Tifa was comforting her. The little girl was shaking. He looked over at Denzel who was sitting on a bar stool looking down at the counter, lost in thought.

When Marlene herd footsteps she immediately turned around and faced him, her little face was covered in tears, she walked away from Tifa and toward the door, Denzel followed her, they both grabbed their book bags.

Marlene was the only one who spoke, "I'll see you when I get home Tifa." She was just about to walk out, but suddenly a thought came to her, she looked at Cloud, "Will I see you?"

He nodded, "Yeah,"

The corners of her mouth came up at bit, but before Cloud could see her smile she walked out the door, Denzel followed, and said, "See ya."

When the two were our of site Tifa looked at the guilty Cloud, "I..."she began, but he interrupted her.

"Tifa, I'm sorry,"He glanced over at her, and saw the broken look again, he didn't want that for her,"I didn't mean to hurt any of you..."

Suddenly she looked angry,"Well what did you expect Cloud! Did you expect that we wouldn't care that you just left?! We missed you so much! We looked for you!" She was whispering now, he eyes gazing at the floor, "It was like you didn't care about us, like you wanted us out of your life." Tears began to fall from her eyes, before she could whip them away, Cloud took the liberty of cradling the side of her face and whipping away her tears.

He took a step toward her, "Teef, please, let me explain." His hand dropped from her face to her hand. He walked hr over to the bar stools, where they sat down beside one another.

Tifa's expression turned from sad to angry, she yanked away her hand and crossed her arms, "Well, I don't have all day." she hissed.

Her tone surprised him, but he started his story. "Rufus, he told that he had some evidence that someone named Genesis was alive. I didn't see the big deal at first, not until I read about him. Genesis was a 1st class SOLDIER, he wasn't quit as strong as Sephiroth, but, he was still very strong. Rufus told me that i needed to go look. I was the only one he trusted to do the job. I wasn't going to go, but, then he told me...that, if Genesis was alive, that the first people that he would target was us."

She looked confused at first, and after about a minute of thinking she glared,"That's your excuse?! Wow Reeve was right! It WAS creative! How stupid do you think I am?! I'm not an idiot Cloud! Did you really expect me to believe that! HAH!"

Cloud looked at her,he knew this was going to be hard, he covered his face with the emotionless mask he wore at times, then spoke "Tifa. It's the truth. Genesis was defeated by Zack. Genesis wants revenge on the world! And how do you think he would get it? He would have to take down ALL of AVALANCHE! Because we are the strongest people in the planet."

Tifa eyes him for a moment, she was looking in his eyes, as if looking for the answer there. After a minute of looking, she sighed. "What did you find?"

"Absolutely nothing," He began, she was about to protest, but he spoke quickly. "But, that doesn't mean anything. He is probably just covering his tracks."

She looked at him, then over at the clock, "This isn't going to go well with the others, well, at least most of them." She stood up and then stretched, "I have to get the bar ready..I guess you should call the others," She looked back at him, "Make sure you use my phone, they wont answer if you call on your phone."

He nodded and stood up, then walked out of the room. Tifa was shook her head and sighed, a little thought ran threw her head

'Should I Love You?'

AN/ i know it isnt gettn all into Cloud and Tifa's relationship right now, but it will soon! stick with me! And review!! Please with cherries on top and Ice Cream in the middle? Im might start working on A YuffiexVincent story... what do you think? i will post a chapter a day, maybe more. xD

Genesis comes into the story soon. I LOVE GENESIS!!