A/N: 'Kay, so dantesdarkqueen requested this particular situation. However, Apocalyptical requested the following: "I want a Nanaki-based chapter! He doesn't seem to appear very much, but I'm sure a fire-lion-dog-cat-thingie can get into some sort of predicament worthy of Part of Life." And since I aim to please, here ya go.

Disclaimer: My plot, Squeenix characters. So there. (sticks out tongue)

Tifa wiped down the counter of her bar, humming along to the music playing on the radio. The door opened and she looked over to see the customer entering, but saw no one. The door closed and she heard the patting of feet on her floor. Leaning over the bar, she smiled as the guardian of Cosmo Canyon lept onto a bar stool, giving a feline grin at her.

"Hey Nanaki!"

"Hello Tifa," Nanaki replied kindly. "How are you?"

"Great, thank you," she said, reaching over to scratch him behind the ears. "What are you doing all the way over here in Edge? Not that I mind. I have missed you."

"Precisely why I'm here," he said, licking her hand in affection. "I missed everyone as well and wished to see them."

"Oh, that's sweet, Nanaki," she said. "You want something to drink?"

"Just some water would be nice and may I trouble you for some food?" he asked fidgeting a little on the stool. "I am quite famished from traveling here."

"No trouble at all," she said, giving him a bowl of water. She washed her hands and headed into the kitchen. "I'll be back in a few, okay?"

"Thank you, my friend," Nanaki called. As soon as she disappeared, Nanaki lept down from the bar stool and turned his head, trying to reach an irritating itch on his hind quarters, whimpering slightly. "No good," he grumbled to himself, sitting down on the floor and dragging his bottom along the hardwood floor. "Oh! That's it!"

The itch relieved for the time being, Nanaki returned to the bar stool and lapped up his water. Tifa returned and sat a bowl of left over beef stew from the night before. "I hope this is okay," she said, sitting across from him with her own bowl. "Just leftovers. I really need to go to the grocery store this afternoon."

Nanaki's stomach growled and his mouth watered at seeing the food. He tasted it. "It's delicious!" he exclaimed, eating the stew greedily. "You are an excellent cook, Tifa."

Tifa blushed. "Thanks," she said, taking her spoon and eating the stew. "So, do you want to go with me to the grocery store when we are done?"

"Sure," he said, licking his lips. "Are they quadraped friendly?"

Tifa laughed. "For you, they will be," she answered watching as he fidgeted some more on his perch. "You okay?"

Nanaki whimpered again as the itch came back. Unable to stand it, he jumped from the stool and dragged his bottom on the floor again. Tifa giggled at the sight. "It's not funny, Tifa," he whined. "This itch won't go away."

"You just remind me of a puppy I had when I was a little girl," she said between laughs. "I always thought it was so cute when he did that! But when his little butt itched, it meant he had worms."

Nanaki yelped as a splinter from the hardwood stuck into his hind quarters. "Worms?" he asked, trying to get the splinter out.

Tifa got up and came around the bar. "Come on," she said. "I know a really nice vet. Let's go pay her a visit."

Nanaki lay on the ground in Seventh Heaven's kitchen. The vet had been very kind. She had removed the splinter and prescribed some medication for his problem. And the blasted itching had finally gone away.

"Hey Tifa?" he said, looking over at the martial artist as she cooked dinner for Cloud and the kids, and for him too, he assumed.

"Yeah?" she asked, glancing over at him.

"Thank you."

Tifa turned and smiled, going over to her four-legged friend. "No problem," she said, patting his head.

A/N: Nanaki was dragging his butt! That just strikes me as funny. He's so proper and then all of a sudden, butt dragging! Tifa's sweet, isn't she? I love her. Okay, so three more reviews until the lemon, you guys! Hurry it up! Review!