Chapter 6:

Tifa felt rather awkward after breakfast.  She left the bar (and no customers were there, thankfully) and made her way towards Sector 7.  The bleak sky above and the shadow of the gigantic Shinra tower made Midgar look as if it were in the evening part of the world.

She started passing through Sector 6, and already she could hear the noisiness of the Wall Market.  She wondered if anyone in Wall Market ever really slept.

And as she passed through the playground…

"Hey, babe.  We didn't finish, last night."

Horrified, Tifa whirled around to a large pile of debris.  There was a handsome man and two others, but the man didn't seem at all friendly.  She instinctively jumped into her martial arts' ready position.

"Who are you?" she asked cautiously.

The man and his fellows leaped down, landing just a few yards away from her.  "Aw, I'm hurt.  You don't remember our little time together, last night?"

"No," came the stubborn reply, "and frankly, I don't want to."

"Well, then, I hate to do this to you but…"

He snapped his fingers.  Immediately, his two fellow thugs closed in on her.  As they got to close, Tifa reacted, flipping one of them over her shoulder and immediately kicking the other in the gut.  She fought them for several seconds, but her practice was faulty, and she soon found herself flailing desperately to get free from their grasps.

The main man walked up to her and ran a finger down the middle of her breast, smirking.  "You won't be able to resist me, Miss Strife.  No one can resist Mendoza."

As he started to unbutton her shorts and pull them down seductively, the shine of a blade blinded them all.  Before anyone regained their senses, one of the henchmen was on the ground twitching.  And before Mendoza could recover, Tifa punched his other man unconscious.

However, when he recovered, he knew exactly how to react.  He drew his sword and held Tifa's neck at the blade.  Then, he felt the cold blade of another against his cheek.

"What did I tell you last night, Mendoza?" Strife demanded.

"I don't heed anyone's threats, Strife," Mendoza countered coldly.

In the blink of an eye, Mendoza released Tifa and whirled around, slashing Strife across the chest.  In reaction, Strife gave a countering blow.  Mendoza blocked, and swung his sword once and again, slitting Strife's chest and left arm.  Tifa, acting quickly, jumped onto him, bringing him down.  With his remaining strength, Strife brought the buster sword down, Tifa rolling aside to safety.

Mendoza was finished.