As we made our way outside of Cid's home, a question came to mind as I noticed that our other visitor was missing. I turned to Cloud, who had disbelief written all over his face. After the event inside the home, it must have been hard for him to believe his best friend did not know him. Not that I cared if he was sad. Call me cold-hearted, bastardly, but the man got this one coming for him.
"Where is Cait Sith?" I asked; he answered back without looking at me,
"He's at the city gate. Didn't want to be there when I broke in," he replied softly as we began to walk towards the Rocket Town entrance.
Cait stood a good distance away ahead of us, and as we neared him, he held up his hands on top of his head in a cowardly pose, "Ah! I'm sorry Vincent! Please don't hurt me!"
I ignored the ignorant puppet and turned back to Cloud as I spoke, "How much do you know of this situation?"
"Whatever Cid told Cait is what Cait told me," he still hadn't turned to me, instead transfixed on the quiet fields outskirts of town, "She got into an accident and she's lost her memories."
Barret across me gave a gruff scoff, "Got in an accident when she was followin' ya!" he exclaimed; I was took his claim unappreciatively even though it was true.
Cloud turned to him, fury evident in his eyes of blue-green, "Are you saying I did this?!"
"Why'dja leave her, stupid?!"
"Enough," I had to stop their senseless fight, "Both of you need to stop it. And Barret, refrain from talking and let me handle it," Barret looked at me disdainfully but nevertheless abided my will for his mouth shut. I gave a quiet sigh, before speaking to Cloud once more.
"Suppose I should fill you in then. After all, you still deserve to know," I saw him turn to me with a gaze mixed with guilt and resent, hinting maybe that he had caught my blame towards him, though he still gave me a nod to proceed, "She was found below a cliff in the Nibelheim Mountains, evidently bruised, unconscious; the doctor said she may have fallen, though reasons why was inconceivable. We guessed she may have been attacked by a large monster, and mistook her step. I was called by the clinic in Nibelheim where she was placed, and Tifa was unconscious for one whole day before she awoke with no memory in mind. She woke up about 4 days ago."
It was first quiet, no sooner was it broken by the cat-like puppet, "So you don't know why she fell?" I simply nodded to him as he stared at me in wonder. It was quiet again for some time before he spoke up once more, "Vince, can I go see her?"
"She's in Cid's with Yuffie and Shera," I pointed him towards Cid's house and he gave a farewell before hopping off.
Once more, silence dominated our group of men.
"She was... following me?" I was surprised as Cloud began the spark of the conversation, "Why was she following me? Didn't I tell her not to follow me?"
I could see Cid and Barret, and even Nanaki, groan at Cloud's words. I knew the man who attracted the attention of Tifa and the Cetra was a little slow in the head as far as hints constantly hitting him on the side of his spike-haired skull. Literally. It was almost annoying for me to watch the man not react to both or any of the women's readable hints. Childish and stupid, was what Cloud was. Great leader, but lacked so much in communication with others and reading his own friends.
"You think she'd listen to anything you say against her will to want to follow you?" Cid began to retort and shook his head, "You knew the gal for a longer time and you couldn't even pick up on this!"
"Moron," Barret commented, breaking my request to close his mouth.
Cloud had now lost his will to even say anything back and I could see him wanting to shrivel into a small ball before forcing himself in a dark hole. By now I had in fact grown sympathy for the man, and it bothered me. Though I blamed him for Tifa's despair, he was not deserving ridicule for he was an element that I knew was important in order for Tifa to fully recover. I didn't believe in feeling jealousy for it was one of the sins which caused me my lifetime supply of nightmares, yet I felt it as I scanned over the relationship of who Cloud is to Tifa. I knew Tifa had loved him, and he was blinded by the Cetra's death to even notice her devotion to his time spent with her. But I believed that if Tifa spent more of her time with this man, that her recovery of her lost memories would be more faster than it could ever be with the others... or me.
"Listen, Cloud," I made him focus his attention to me, "Since you are here, your role will be her best friend, as you were before this incident,"
'Best friend before this incident...' I thought suddenly of the irony behind it all. Was he such a good friend to leave her, only to have her follow him in frustration for the role she was in this life, and have her suffer when eyes opened the next day and nothing made sense?
However, I didn't speak the irony, instead I continued, "As Cait had warned you before, acting rash in prohibited. You can't force her, understand? Or I'll have you taken out."
He nodded at me solemnly; he looked as if he was ready to help her. I, in turn, did not feel very pleased with my commands. Sudden rejection entered my mind and I began to worry about Cloud taking all of Tifa's comfort and safety, as she depended on me before.
I chose to ignore it, however, repeating to myself that jealousy will not show face in any of my actions.
"It's a little late, I'm sure you both can get a decent introduction in the morning. I hope you don't mind," Cloud gave a brief nod, a little disappointed, otherwise his expression was unreadable. We walked back towards Cid's house; all of us silent as we trudged through the quiet town. When we reached the house, Cait had already chosen to sleep on one of the long couches in the living room, and Shera had just come out the hall where the rooms where located. She looked relieved to see us, and especially relieved to see me as she was given a message from Tifa.
"She wants you to stay with her tonight. She says she doesn't want anyone else," Shera looked quite tired; they must have had a long talk to try to convince Tifa to accept the room with Yuffie, "Sorry, we couldn't seem to change her mind."
"I understand," I replied and made my way to the room as Shera moved out of the way and pointed out where she was.
I entered the fourth door on the right and found Tifa sitting with her knees to her chest, looking very pouty, and Yuffie, who turned to me with a shrug. As I came near, Yuffie had stood up, looking hopeless and moved aside.
"Tifa, why not share a room with Yuffie?" I asked as I looked down at her unexpressively. She moved her knees closer to her and furrowed both her eyebrows; it looked as if I was lecturing on a child, "What's wrong with Yuffie? She is your friend."
"Nothing is wrong with Yuffie. She is my friend. I just don't want to stay with her tonight," she replied softly, shy to reply the answer in front of Yuffie.
I sighed and closed my eyes as the new dilemma flooded my mind before Yuffie spoke, "Just stay with her, Vincent, it's her first night here you know. Of course you can't just ask her to spend a night in the same room with a person she only met that night. Like you always said, give her time."
I was quite surprised; that was maybe the first and foremost intelligent thing that had ever escaped her lips. I agreed with her with a small nod, and she moved towards the doors smiling, mischievously no doubt. I turned back to Tifa, who was now looking at me innocently, as if she had just gotten in deep trouble, "Go on and get prepared."
"Come on, Tifa, I'll show you where the bathroom is," Yuffie called out from the doorway. I waited until Tifa took all her needed things in her arms, and followed them out in the hall. I didn't expect to run into Cloud, who was being shown his way to his room. The collision of the two presence in the hall created a pact between gazes. The blond soldier kept quiet, unmoving, staring at his forgotten friend, whilst Tifa gazed at him oddly, a tinge of fear still in the wine-colored eyes, though the fear was small and weak.
"They tell me your name is Cloud," she spoke gently and stuck out a hand to the shocked spike-haired man, "I hope to know about you more, Mr. Cloud. Yuffie says you were my best friend."
Her words had no doubt sparked joy into Cloud as he took her hand with a smile and replied back, "I'm looking forward to it, Tifa."
Yuffie smiled about the moment before pulling Tifa ahead to the bathroom.
"Goodnight, Mr. Cloud," Tifa bided before disappearing into the other hall with Yuffie.
"Have a good sleep, Tifa," Cloud waved off and continued to follow Cid to his room; a bright smile in his face.
I was still standing between the doorway of our room, taking notes of the event that had just occurred. Looked as if the calm has been brought about the storm, and things, I knew, would now be less rocky than I thought.
But for some odd reason, the sudden change in the air the minute Cloud's hand shared the truce with hers, something began to pound on the back of my head. Almost as if someone irritatingly evil was behind me, flicking the back of my head for attention.
Four words could describe how I felt about Tifa and Cloud's short introduction tonight....
I didn't like it.
A/N: Thanks to the reviewers! Appreciated your time to read and review my fic, of course, and so I continue to write for all of you ^_^.
Also to Tengokunou Arashi-- "You ARE WORTHY!!!" xD
Disclaimer: *shakes her head and sobs*