Marked

Marked

3. I'm Not Your Property.

A/N: Thanks again you everyone who has been reviewing. I truly didn't expect to get this many reviews and I'm glad you love the story. :

Warnings – Violence and Abuse of Characters. You have been warned.

Wine colored eyes blinked while they stared out the window at the rising sun. A sigh could be heard. It was quiet, but to Tifa, it sounded like it echoed all around the bar and her room. She moved away from the window and walked over to her dresser, shutting open drawers and looking at herself in the mirror.

Her normally milky white skin, had shadows showing underneath her eyes, her eyes looked dull, her hair didn't shine as much, and her normally joyful mood had turned into a quiet, withdrawn, dull mood. It wasn't like Tifa to be like this, but the past two days, she had planned and thought, never getting any sleep. Today was the day she was leaving. She had already sent Yuffie out with the children to take them somewhere fun, so she could get away without much of a fuss.

Tifa spotted a necklace on her desk, that she had forgotten about a long time ago. It had been a birthday gift from one of the gang. She picked it up and stroked it gently and smiled slightly. The necklace was a silver pentagram and it glistened in the sun and the moonlight. She remembered who had given it to her. Vincent Valentine. He had given this to her. He was like Cloud, withdrawn in many ways, but always helping friends when needed. Turning it over, she saw a tiny inscription. It read, 'Blessed Be.' She put the necklace on and left her room, shutting the door and letting out a sigh. It would be best if she left her stuff here, that way she could avoid serious questions about where she was going.

Tifa walked down the stairs and eyed the messy bar. She might as well clean it up, just in case Cloud came home and saw the place was dirty. He would definitely be suspicious. Tifa washed the dishes, dried them with a rag and put them away, and cleaned up the floors. She cleaned up the tables and wiped down the bar counter. All in all, the place looked better and she thought nothing could ruin her mood. However, she was proven wrong, yet again.

"Well the place certainly looks better than it did last night Tifa. You do a good job cleaning." Tifa jumped and turned around to eye Cloud who was smiling at her. "Damn Cloud, you nearly made me piss myself." He smirked and said, "Poor you." She narrowed her eyes and went to stalk past him and leave the bar. He quickly grabbed her arm and yanked her towards him. She shot him a glare that would have scared off most men, but Cloud was used to all of her glares.

Cloud eyed her calmly. "If your thinking of leaving to go and see the pitiful Sephiroth Clone, I would think again. You wouldn't want to get hurt would you now, Tifa?" Tifa sent him a glare and bitterly said, "Where I go is none of your business, and I believe that you would be hurting me more, not him. Let go of me." He shook his head.

"I can't believe you would pick a clone over me. You belong to me and I'm not going to allow it. As a matter of fact, I'll give you two options. Stay here with me, or try to go see him, and fight me." Tifa bit her lip. Cloud was a strong fighter, and she knew that with him being a vampire, he would be a lot stronger than normal. She yanked her arm out of his grasp and before she realized what was happening, he threw her out the door into a nearby, burned down building.

Tifa let out a cough as she landed on some rubble. Her arm had been cut open and bruised heavily. She groaned and gingerly pushed herself up. If Cloud was going to fight her, then he would have to really, truly, fight her. Tifa slipped her fighting gloves on and watched Cloud slowly walk over to her, eyeing her angrily.

Cloud called out lightly, "Why do you fight me Tifa? You know you would be off better with me. We've known each other for such a long time. I'm sure we can put this behind us. You trust me don't you?" Tifa let out a small cough and spat, "I fight you because, I'm not your property. I don't think I would be better off as your slave. I'm not sure if I should trust the man, I mean vampire, that just threw, me out of my bar."

Tifa clenched her fists together and waited for Cloud to get within her striking range. As soon as he did, she crouched and did a low-sweep with her leg to try and knock Cloud off balance. It almost worked, until he grabbed her by the foot and flung her into part of the crumbling wall. Coughing slightly she darted forward and slammed her fist upwards, striking him in the face and she heard a crack. Tifa let out a smirk and jumped backwards.

Cloud let out a strangled growl and his eyes turned blood red. The bitch had broken his jaw. 'She's stronger than I thought she was before.. I won't make that mistake again.' Cloud darted forward, grabbed her by her throat and threw her onto a pole that impaled her in the shoulder. She let out a pained cry, and watched him walk away. He called over his shoulder, "You've got two days to run Tifa, assuming you live. After two days, I'll come after you."

Tifa let out strangled breaths. The pain in her shoulder was terrible. She couldn't even describe how much it hurt. She had never felt this kind of pain. Her good arm attempted to push her off of the pole, but she was too weak to do anything. She closed her eyes and grit her teeth, trying to block out the pain. Her body was shaking at the sudden blood loss, and her arm felt cold.

Tifa suddenly felt warm hands push her off of the pole, and then arms found their way around her waist. The hands hauled her up into her arms and a low voice spoke out to her. She could barely focus on the voice and decided to ignore it, instead snuggling into the warmth that was being produced off of the person's body. The arms tightened around her and a voice floated into her mind.

'Focus on my voice Tifa. It'll distract you from your pain.'

'I c-c-can't f-f-focusss… Hurts too m-much… K-k-kadajj..'

'Fine. If you can't focus on me, then focus on my body heat. Seems like all you can do.'

Tifa let out a painful breath and focused on Kadaj's body heat. He was quite warm, and she told him so. He let out a small chuckle and said, "No, your just very cold kitten." She blinked and finally passed out as the pain became too much for her to handle.

Kadaj walked to Aerith's church and brought Tifa into Aerith's old room and gently set her on the bed. He looked around for cloth to bandage her wounds and finally decided he would have to sacrifice the sheets. Tearing the sheet's into strips of bandages, he used a strip to wipe up the flowing blood coming from her shoulder. Grabbing three or four more strips, he quickly wrapped them around her shoulder and tied them tightly, praying the blood would slow down and stop.

Kadaj was confused. 'I thought Cloud loved her. Guess not if her hurt her like this, and speaking of hurt, she shouldn't have been able to survive these wounds.' He focused on her again and quickly wiped up the rest of blood from other minor wounds. Kadaj moved her, and set her in a chair while he changed the bloody sheets into clean ones. He may be evil, but he liked things to be clean. After having the sheets changed, he returned Tifa to the bed and made sure she was towards the middle, so she wouldn't roll off in the middle of the night.

Kadaj lay down next to her and heard her heartbeat slowly return to normal. That was a very good sign. He pulled her towards him in a protective embrace, and pulled the covers over them. It was two days until the full moon, so Cloud had picked the deadliest time to come after Tifa. But, Kadaj wasn't going to let anything happen to Tifa. He didn't know why, but he had a strange obsession with her. She had neither chosen him nor Cloud as her mate, so they both were going to go after her. He didn't understand why Cloud wanted her. His eyes flashed blood red and he let out a small snarl. 'No. I will not give into my bloodlust like Cloud does.' His eyes returned to his normal color.

Kadaj pressed his face close to Tifa's neck and inhaled her scent. She smelled sweet. Maybe that was why Cloud lusted after her. 'Whatever. All that matters is that she recovers.' He kissed her neck, where her pulse beat strongly. 'And so now, I'll have to plan how to keep her away from him. He'll probably want her back more, now that I have her.'

A/N: Woo! Third Chapter has finally been edited: And I got a sweet moment with Kadaj and Tifa.. Somehow I didn't manage that before. Yea well you know what to do… So review!