Story Title: After the Rain
Rating: K
Genre: Romance and Drama
Disclaimer: I don't own any characters appearing in this fanfiction.
A/N: Merry Christmas everyone! Here's your present!

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Chapter 10
Low clouds drift away

A week passed by after their high school graduation ceremony. Like the day they took the exam, they celebrated afterwards at Tifa's house. Only that time around, the men cooked and the females relaxed. Though the food was strangely chopped and looked a bit burnt on the edges, they ate it together happily. There were no worries. And for that moment, it seemed they had forgotten about Cloud's rapidly approaching departure. Yet when it was quiet, Cloud saw the look of sadness hidden behind their smiles. The whole time, no one mentioned anything about his leave. In a way, he felt relieved. He didn't like talking about it, especially in front of Tifa. She was trying hard enough to cope with everything.

That was their joyful celebration at Tifa's house. Everyone left one by one. When Cloud and his mother returned to their house across the street, Tifa bid a lonely, "See you!" and said no more that day. It had been a whole week. Aside from the awkward talks and shy smiles, they didn't talk about how soon he was leaving. And it seemed Tifa was doing all she could to hold in the urge to ask.

Cloud was now sitting on the bed in his empty room. The clothes and belongings he needed were packed into suitcases and placed against the wall near the door. One more day and he would be leaving. Zack was sitting beside him, looking solemn and sad. A silence between friends meant everything. After a moment, Zack asked, "What about Tifa?"

Cloud leaned his head against the wall, answering, "It's hard to say."

"You can't just leave her like this."

"…Telling her now would just make it harder." Cloud shifted his gaze to Zack. "And what about you and Aerith?"

"It'll take some time. But that's not the problem here. She's not leaving anytime soon, and I'm not either so there's really nothing to worry about unless a rival pops in, which isn't very likely."

"You've put a lot of thinking into this, huh?"

"Yup."

"By the way…" Cloud glanced suspiciously at Zack. "Explain your test scores."

"W-what? Oh, that…" Zack scratched his head, embarrassed. "I actually did pretty good… I think it was just a fluke."

"A fluke, huh? If you did that well, what was all the complaining about?"

"Are you calling me a faker? I really was depressed that day!"

"Sure…"

They laughed. It was enough to calm some of Cloud's nerves, but it didn't go away completely. Zack smiled hopelessly at Cloud. "Just don't regret it."

"I won't."

"Doest that mean you'll never come back?"

"If I ever come back, it won't be because I regret, but for the ones I had to leave behind."

"If you stay, it sure would save us a hell of a lot of trouble."

"That's not possible."

"Education, huh?"

"That's right."

Zack sighed. "Whatever floats your boat."

---

When Zack had gone home, Cloud sat at the desk in his room looking out the window. Everything looked damp from the rain. A cold chill was blowing through, so he reached over to close the window, but at that moment he saw Tifa emerge from her house. She walked slowly toward his house, then looked up at his bedroom and saw him. She smiled and waved. Cloud waved back awkwardly. He hadn't expected to see her so suddenly. He gave her the signal to wait where she was and quickly grabbed his jacket. Before leaving his room, he stopped at the door. On the handle was the scarf Tifa had given him. He took it without thinking.

Cloud had barley slipped the scarf around his neck by the time he was outside. Tifa noticed the black cotton scarf he was wearing and smiled. "This is the first time I've seen you wear that scarf."

Cloud chuckled. "Looks good on me, doesn't it?"

Tifa giggled. "Yes, it does. But that sounds like something Zack would say." She looked at him. "I prefer Cloud."

"Zack would cry if he heard you say that."

"Perhaps." She laughed.

"So, was there anything you wanted?" Cloud sounded like an idiot for asking, but he didn't know what else to say.

"No, there wasn't anything I needed… I just wanted to see you."

"Ah… okay." Cloud blushed but tried to hide behind the scarf.

They took a walk around their neighborhood. Soon enough they came upon the little side street where they used to cross when they were kids. As if to recap, Tifa asked, "Cloud, do you remember when we first met?"

"Yeah, I remember."

"Back then, wasn't I taller than you?"

Cloud rubbed his face, embarrassed. "Y-yeah…"

Tifa laughed. "You've grown so much since then."

"You haven't grown at all."

"I assure you, I've grown plenty!"

Their little jokes weren't exactly the funniest, but they were enough to divert Cloud's attention. As they walked side by side along the road, a ball rolled by and bumped into Cloud's leg. He and Tifa stared at it for a second. Cloud bent down to pick it up and looked around for the owner. There were a group of children playing with one another nearby, a little girl separated herself from the group of approached them. Cloud immediately recognized her as the girl with the pink ribbon in her hair from the park. She looked innocently cute.

"Uh, um, that's mine." She said nervously. Cloud smiled gently, and bent down. He held the ball out to her. "This is yours." The little girl took it with a bright smile. "Thank you!" A little boy slightly older than her walked towards them, he looked a bit worried. Tifa caught sight of the boy, smiled at him, and asked the girl, "Is that your friend?"

The little girl turned around. When she saw the boy, her smile widened. "Yes, that's my friend."

"Are you okay?" The boy asked, stepping beside her. A sense of protectiveness emanated from him as he stood close to the little girl.

"Yes, these nice people here were just giving me back my ball."

"Oh." The boy looked up at Cloud and Tifa. Then he finally smiled, as if he approved of them. "Thank you."

"It was no problem." Said Tifa.

The boy and girl bowed politely before returning to their group of friends. Cloud watched them admirably, longing to be as carefree as they were. When they were on their way again, Tifa said, "That boy reminded me of you."

"How so?"

"That look in his eye—it was the same look you had when you we were kids."

"Really?"

"Yes. And…" she giggled. "He also had an adorable smile like yours."

"Y-you're being delusional…"

"Of course not!"

Cloud glanced shyly at Tifa, his face flushing red. "I-I guess it doesn't matter… so long as it's you…"

Tifa abruptly stopped walking. Cloud looked at her. She was staring right back into his blue eyes, so sad and depressing… so vulnerable. Cloud placed a hand on her shoulder to reassure her. She stared at the ground, avoiding his gaze. Her hand was clenched into a fist at her chest, where her heart was.

"Why…" she began in a quiet voice. "Why do you have to go so soon?"

The question pierced Cloud like knives. He felt his hand lose its strength and slip off her shoulder. She asked again but this time catching his gaze, "Why?" She wasn't crying, but she looked terribly hurt. Cloud didn't know how to answer her when she looked at him like that. It made everything so hard.

"…If I stay any longer, it'll be too late." Cloud replied.

"What about your mother? Zack and Aerith?" Tifa cried in a silent whisper. "Me…?"

"We have to live with it… if we want to make it work."

Tifa grasped both of her hands, pulling them to her chest as if praying. "Is it so easy for you to just leave?"

Cloud shook his head. "No… it's harder than you can imagine."

They didn't move. Tifa stood there, motionless, her hands at her chest. Her eyes were closed as if she were in deep thought. No tears. No traces of them anywhere. Cloud didn't know if he admired her for her strength or preferred her to cry her heart out to him. Either way… he wanted to do something to take that pain away. He approached her and placed an arm around her shoulders and pulled her towards him. Her body felt so much smaller than it appeared when she was close to him.

"Go ahead and cry." Cloud soothed. "If it makes you feel better."

"I won't… if I want to make it work." Tifa said quietly.

This was their last day together. Cloud had no idea how long he was holding her like that. No one was around. They were alone. He wanted to hold her for as long as he wanted. His only regret was not taking the many opportunities to be with her more often… but if holding her would make up for it, then he was fine with that.