A/N:
Goodness. I actually wanted to publish this thing sooner, but fanfic was being all glitchy. sigh. Anyway, thanks everyone for reading :) and reviewing...
And speaking of reviewing, here are my fabulous reviewers once again:
LadyTeefStrife, vLuna, ajax710vv, Tiffany Lockheart, and MakoRain (two reviews too! thanks!)
5 is kind of the magic number with me...just saying. Oh! and this one may be a little...less humorous...but I promise I'll go back to the humor in the next chapter!
Disclaimer: I still don't own the characters. Maybe the plot...but that's about it.
Her suitcase was larger than he would have liked.
He had seen it that morning, while she had been in the bathroom, standing on the dark wooden floor in utter mockery. It was tall and black, the rolling kind that people brought when there was too much stuff to actually carry. And if there was too much stuff for Tifa to carry, Cloud knew that she had brought a lot. Which meant she was going for a while. She would be gone with Reno for a while. And he would be here by himself.
For a second, he thought maybe Tifa wasn't exactly angry with him. Maybe she had forgotten or realized she had overreacted or something. She had still made breakfast for him, still placed his delivery slips on his desk and did everything else she had done every other day. Except for smile.
Tifa was in a flurry. She rushed from her room back to the front hall, and back to her room again. Cloud eyed her weirdly; she wasn't one to be disorganized. Why does she have so much left to pack? His mind felt buzzed at the thought. Maybe she wasn't going to leave…
That made him stand, forgetting the waffles in front of him. "She asked if it bothered me." He was muttering to himself. His hand felt for the wooden kitchen chair for support, "Would she have…if I said…"
His mouth immediately stopped when he heard Tifa's muffled footsteps approach him. "I'm going soon." Her voice was completely flat, no sign of any kind of emotion, but Cloud knew he wasn't forgiven.
"Okay." Cloud nodded and walked closer to her. If I tell her now…would she even listen? He raised his head, preparing for the words, but his blue eyes caught something. "What?"
Tifa blinked at his confused face and then looked to where his eyes were directed. "What this?" She held up the hanger, which held a black bathing suit.
He felt his eyes narrow slightly. The bottom was embellished with silver rings right where the leg hit the waist, and the top...well, he just didn't understand why she couldn't wear a one piece. Actually, he didn't understand why she needed one at all. "Aren't you supposed to be going on a mission?" Cloud turned around angrily, picking up his plate of waffles and tossing them in the trash. He was feeling nauseous again.
"Yes,'" She said simply and left the room.
He felt the heat rising into his face, shaking his joints and making his breath hot. There was no control left in his body as Cloud followed her to the bar entrance. It felt like he was under someone else's influence, like somehow, his brain had become mixed up with Zack's again. He knew he shouldn't be doing this, but there was nothing in his body that was fighting it. He couldn't stop the heat from overflowing his brain. "You're not going."
The command caught her immediately. She strayed from her packing to look him straight in the eye. "Excuse me?"
"Wherever the hell you're supposed to be going, you're not. I'll talk to Reeve and…"
"No."
The sharpness of her voice brought his brain back. "What?"
"No. I don't want you to."
Cloud moved forward to touch her arm, "But Tifa…"
"No!" She smacked his hand away, hair flying as she shook her head. "You think you have the right to even say that to me? You think you can tell me I'm not allowed to go?" Tifa turned around. It was the first time she had raised her voice at him…she never yelled. He heard her take a sharp intake of breath, "You think…." She shook her head and grabbed the suitcase handle, "…did you think you treated me differently?" It was only a whisper now, but he heard it. He understood it, and it killed.
"Tifa…"
She opened the door, "I don't want to talk to you, Cloud. But I will tell you this…" Her fingers brushed his silver ring, resting on her finger. He hated that it seemed misplaced. "At least I'm not running away."
Maybe he should have gone after her. Maybe it was supposed to be one of those moments when the guy finally gets over his stupidity and shyness and runs to the girl. When he finally realizes there was no point in hiding anything…that she felt the same way too and that they were only three words away from being ridiculously happy.
But he knew he couldn't do that. He couldn't exactly chase the WRO sponsored taxi with his motorcycle, calling through the window. And she didn't even want to talk to him anyway.
"Excuses."
Cloud was getting tired of them. Everything that his mind came up with, preventing him from just telling her, seemed like an excuse. It'd break our family. Excuse. He had already done that. There's never a right time. Excuse. There's never a wrong time. She doesn't feel the same.
He stopped there, knowing that was the one thing holding him back. Certainty. He could never be certain of her feelings. No matter how much he knew that he….he didn't know that she thought of him that way in the slightest.
His hand unknowingly reached for his phone, rubbing the metal outside. Should I call her? It was out of his pocket now, and his fingers were running through his contact list. They moved name after name, but Cloud stopped way before getting to T. "Hello?"
"Yeah? Hey Spiky!" Barret's low voice met him on the other end. "I was just going to go get the kids breakfast and then head over…"
"No, Barret…um…could you keep Denzel for awhile?"
He felt uncomfortable during the short silence between them, "…awhile? How long is that?"
"…I don't know. I …I um have a mission."
Barret let out a long sigh, "Jeez, Reeve sure does work you two hard."
"Yeah…right."
"I'll keep the kid for awhile. Marlene enjoys having someone around her own age anyway. She misses you all."
Cloud nodded, knowing that Barret couldn't see him, "Tell her I miss her too. Thanks a lot, Barret. I should really…"
"Hey, Cloud. Good luck."
He blinked, "…Thanks, but I'm sure I'll…"
"Not for the mission. Just, good luck."
Cloud scratched his head, "Alright then, thanks. Bye." He flipped his phone closed, but didn't put it away. He just had to know. Before he did anything, he just had to check. Scrolling through his contacts, he found her name near the end. He felt a surge of hesitation before pressing the button, but he was soon holding the phone to his ear, expecting her voice any second.
"Hello?"
She sounded cautious, which was expected. He never called. "Hey, can we talk?"
"…what?"
"I need to talk to you."
She was laughing now…not good. "WHAT??"
Cloud shook his head, "Just come here, Yuffie." He replaced the phone to his pocket and retreated back to the bar counter. It was like some strange torture. He could smell her still, see her still walking there, talking, laughing. And even though he wanted those images to go away, in reality, he just wanted her back.
A/N:
Ah! once again guys, thanks so much for reading this story. I absolutely love all the motivation and hits I'm getting :D
I'll get started on chapter 4 (yeah...it's not done...life kind of caught up to me) but extra reviews won't hurt....just saying. I'm a little shameless when it comes to wanting reviews :P
~Honey
