By: General Quistis
Disclaimer: I neither own Final Fantasy 7 nor the characters. Duh. I don't own anything…but the story plot…
Author's Note: I'm so sorry if there's this OOC tendency for this fic… I have to transform their personalities… like Cloud turning evil whatsoever… -.-' Please forgive meh… ;_;
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Chapter Sixteen
Tifa stared at Vincent, Cid, Barret, Yuffie and Red XIII who were just staring into empty space. "Am I causing trouble here?" she asked frankly.
All eyes turned to her. "No, you're not, Teef," Barret told her reassuringly.
"Well then, cheer up! It's not like Aerith could take staying there…" Tifa trailed off when Vincent turned to her with a serious look on his face. "She didn't even scream. I have a feeling she agreed for the Turks to take her to ShinRa." He told her.
Tifa remembered that Aerith liked Cloud, but she didn't really have the intention to tell them that. "But… but if I don't tell them, they'll worry too much… and…" she thought silently as she shook her head in disbelief. "I won't tell them…" she told herself silently as she stared at the floor with a deep frown on her face.
"What do they want with her anyway?" Barret asked as he stood up.
"You wanna go there and save her?" Cid asked with a tired look on his face.
"Maybe if Aerith doesn't let Cloud get into her, she could convince him to change his mind about everything… after all, she's a nice girl… I hope she doesn't change sides that easily…" Tifa was still thinking quietly as she continued to stare at the floor for more minutes. She was interrupted when Barret called her attention. "Teef?"
She jerked slightly and looked up at him with wide eyes. "Yeah?" she asked.
They all stared at her curiously. "You okay?" Yuffie asked.
She forced a cheerful smile on her face as she nodded. "Yeah. I'm fine," she said, then upon noticing that they were all standing up by the door, she frowned slightly, "Where are you going?" she asked.
"ShinRa. We'll be making rounds there," Barret told her.
She got up and went to them. "Can't I go with you?" she asked with a pleading tone.
"It'd be dangerous, please understand. They're also after you, remember? Besides, I'm sure Rufus wouldn't want anything bad happening to his fiancée, right?" Vincent asked with a slight smile on his face as he patted her shoulder gently.
She just nodded her head before moving away from them. "Okay, I'll just stay here," she said softly before sitting down on the sofa again.
Red XIII scanned her. "You want me to stay behind?" he asked.
She turned to him, then to Barret.
Barret shrugged. "Do so, Red." He said before finally stepping out of the house.
After they shut the door, Red XIII began to sniff the air.
Tifa stared at him for awhile, trying to see what he was going to do next, but he just continued to sniff the air. "Anything wrong, Red XIII?" she asked.
He stopped and turned to her. "I think you'd better go upstairs for a while and hide in Aerith's room," he told her.
"Why?" she asked.
"I can sense the Turks…" he said before sniffing again, "Reno and Elena," he announced.
Tifa blinked twice, feeling numb all of a sudden. "I don't think Elena should be feared but…" she thought twice and just shrugged before heading upstairs, leaving Red XIII downstairs standing on guard by the front door.
***
"Quite a nice view from here, huh?" Cloud asked, interrupting Aerith's thoughts as he joined her by the window.
She smiled gently as she leaned her head against his shoulder and sighed heavily. "I like it here," she told him honestly.
He smiled at what she said and put his arm around her. "From now on, you'll be staying here," he said with a determined tone.
Her eyes widened in awe and she could feel her heart beating faster, not because of happiness, but because of sudden confusion and guilt.
He noticed her sudden silence and it made him a little nervous, but he gathered up enough guts to ask, "Anything wrong, Aerith?"
She bit her lower lip as she shook her head. "N…nothing, Rufus," she replied softly.
She shivered when she mentioned his name, thinking silently, "That's not even your real name… I want to call you 'Cloud' but I'm scared…" she looked up at the stars outside and eyed them carefully, wondering how she could get out of that mess.
***
Tifa remained inside Aerith's room, thinking what else could happen. She knew that her life was in danger if Aerith told Cloud about everything about her current condition and where she is at that moment. "I hope she doesn't blab… she doesn't seem like the kind of person to spill all sorts of secrets to a significant other… but then again, I shouldn't be judging people by their appearance…" she thought miserably as she looked outside the window, observing the people passing by. She sighed heavily as she recalled her life in Nibelheim and thought about the time when she and Rufus first met. "If he hadn't come along… I wonder how my life would be right now… but then again, I'm thankful for him… maybe I'd be more miserable if he didn't run away from home and if dad didn't find him… maybe I'd be stuck loving some stupid guy who won't even love me back…" she turned her gaze to a group of people with a black panther-like animal walking by. Her eyes grew wide when she recognized who they were. "What… what the…" she moved away from the window. "Cloud…Reno, Elena and Reeve…" she thought in panic before taking a peek again, frowning as she stared at Cloud. "He seems taller…" she thought silently before feeling some rage deep inside of her. "That asshole… because of him, Rufus is in Junon!" she muttered angrily before moving away from the window and headed downstairs, her hands clenched tightly into fists. "I don't care if he has some back-up with him… I'm going to have to attack him myself…" she thought angrily as she stomped her way to the front door, surprising Red XIII.
"Tifa, where are you going?" Red XIII asked.
"To kill Cloud," she said before opening the door, surprising Reeve and the others.
"M…Miss Lockheart!" Reeve exclaimed.
Tifa didn't say anything more, she just approached the spiky-headed blonde, not waiting for him to say something despite the surprised expression on his face; she just started to make a move to punch his face, but he moved away from her, saying, "No! Tifa, wait!"
"Shut the hell up, you bastard! Because of you, Rufus is in Junon!" Tifa snapped angrily, attacking him, this time, she was able to hit his left shoulder because he tried to move away again.
He gasped in pain, suddenly not knowing what to do. "I can't harm her if she wouldn't believe me?!" he thought in panic.
Reno instantly grabbed Tifa and held her back away from Rufus. "Hey, hey, hey! Stop it! That's not Cloud, that's Rufus!" he told her reassuringly with a nervous smile on his face.
Tifa squirmed against him and did a back kick, hitting his nuts. Reno had to let go of Tifa because of the unbearable pain. He just fell to the ground, crouching there and moaning in agony. "Ow… man, President Rufus! That's one helluva girlfriend you got there! She must be good in bed with you, huh?" he teased with a wink, though he really knew that it was a bad situation to mention such a remark.
Rufus turned red. "Shut up, you…" he said as he clutched his shoulder. "Tifa, it's me! Rufus! Honest!" he said.
Tifa stared at him for a while, looking at him with an unsure expression on her face. "But… but…" she stammered. She wanted to say, "What's with the hair?!" but she was so confused to do so.
"Miss Lockheart, it's President Rufus… we just got him out of Junon but… but we had to style his hair that way so that he wouldn't get caught!" Elena explained in panic as she approached Tifa frantically, trying to keep her from harming Rufus further.
Red XIII approached Rufus and began to sniff him. Rufus looked down at him with a ridiculous look on his face. Red XIII turned to Tifa. "It's Rufus," he declared.
Rufus smiled weakly at Tifa, hoping she'd finally believe them, but before he could say something more, she just ran to him and touched his face gently with a look of awe on her face and in her eyes. "Rufus?" she asked.
He let got of his aching shoulder and just took her in his arms. "It's me, okay?" he asked with a gentle tone.
Tifa's hands traveled up to his hair and touched it as she trembled slightly.
Rufus moved away from her. "I had to let Elena fix it this way so that I could escape from Junon." He explained with a sheepish look on his face. "Don't worry, I'll make sure it washes out with water." He said with a wink.
Tifa sighed in relief and remembered that she had punched him. She felt herself suddenly feeling so embarrassed and all she could do was just chuckle lightly and embrace him again, her hand on his aching shoulder. She leaned her head against his chest and sighed heavily as she shed a few tears because of guilt and shame. "I'm so sorry… I wanted to kill that Cloud so much that I ended up hurting you as well…" she said softly.
Reeve smiled at them before turning to Red XIII. "Is Tifa staying with AVALANCHE?" he asked him upon recognizing who he is.
"Yes. But don't you worry about it. I could say that AVALANCHE is pro-ShinRa and anti-Strife." Red XIII replied before heading back to the house. "Why don't you guys come inside for a while? Vincent and the others will be back in a while." He said with an inviting gesture with his front paw and his tail.