A/N: So so sorry about the seemingly out of character dynamic of Elena and Tifa! There's a point to it...but that's not how they are all the time. Something is amiss, and I can't tell you yet. Thank you for the reviews!

9/19/04: More fixups. Hopefully for the better.

Chapter 5 – East of Eden

He shouldn't have done that. Not in public.

Tifa's boots stomped angrily through the streets; she had gotten quite far from Barrett's house since her mad dash from the reunion. She clenched her fists and but her expression was nearly blank, and quite out of place with the rest of her body.

Damn him sometimes he's so careless. I don't like to be put in that sort of position.

She realized that she had seen the same red mailbox twice, and stopped. She had gone in a giant circle of sorts, she was nearer to Barrett's, but not close enough for anyone to see her.

"Are you going to pout all evening too?" a familiar voice asked behind her.

"Vincent, can't you just let me be angry?" she replied, she was quite used to his sudden appearances. She slowly turned around.

"I may love him, but that doesn't mean he can pull a stunt like that," she knitted her eyebrows together as she said this, which gave her a nearly comical expression.

"At least he's willing to...you have to give him that credit," he said with a hint of a smile tugging at the right side of his mouth.

"I don't want to marry him anymore..." she trailed off. Vincent was giving her a look she knew meant "and what else is new?".

Quit being so damn perceptive. Gives me the willies sometimes.

"And I think you're being foolish," he said, his tone a little more serious, "at least he...loves you in return."

"Oh, it's not the same as it was with...her," she said quietly, her eyes full of concern. She knew what that tone meant.

He shook his head. "Perhaps."

"I just don't love him...like that," she said with a little tinge of a tremor in her voice, "He needs a different sort of love, I'm too much like his family now."

Now that he's over her death, he should find someone real. I'm just around more, it's natural for him to latch onto me.

"We haven't even been dating!" Tifa said, throwing her arms into the arm with dramatic flare, "Then he just asks me to marry him?"

"I did not know that detail..." Vincent said, a little confused, "That does change things."

You haven't visited New Midgar for a year now...things can change. Then, I suppose time is different for you.

Then he started laughing. "I understand him now," he said cryptically.

I guess its some sort of guy thing I'll never understand...

"I'd like to go back now," she said, "I think I'm ready for a little fun now..." She winked at him, and he pretended to be shocked.

"This is why I'm always armed..." he said jokingly, "I'm such a ladies magnet..."

"Not like THAT!" she shrieked, giving him a light punch on the arm. He threw his arms up in defeat.

Later...

"You ok?" Barret asked her for the fifth time since she walked back in the door. And for the third time now, she rolled her eyes.

"I'm not in love with him anymore. Of course I'm fine," she replied, leaning back in her chair. She had been playing cards with Cid, Yuffie, and him earlier, but after losing Spades for the fourth time, Cid left. Card playing wasn't as fun after that...

"Drinking contest?" Yuffie said to Barrett, with a mischievous look in her eye.

"NO!!!" Barrett and Tifa said in unison. Yuffie scowled.

"We HAVE to do something," she whined, "I'm BORED."

"How about playing 'see how long Yuffie can go without talking'?" Nanaki said with a flick of his tail. Yuffie appeared to ponder that for a moment, then pounced on him.

"Ouch!" he said, feigning injury, "You're a little bigger than you used to be..."

"How about a version of an 'Exquisite Corpse'?" Vincent piped up, from somewhere on the other side of the room. Everybody stared. Even if he was fairly amiable now, he still didn't talk much in large groups.

"That's not some kind of strange vampire thing, is it?" Yuffie asked, making a disgusted face. Vincent laughed at her choice of phrase.

"No, it's a poem created by a group of people," he said, gesturing as he spoke, "Each person writes a line on a piece of paper without any knowledge of the previous line."

Yuffie nodded thoughtfully...as thoughtfully as she could manage.

"The version I like best actually creates a story and you can look at what is before it for more continuity..." he said, tracing an arc in the air with his hand, "and is quite entertaining."

The room was silent for awhile, when Cid suddenly jumped up. "Sounds damn fancy pansty," he said, "but I think it could work! I know what I'd like to write already..." Shera gave him a skeptical look at this statement.

"So who wants to begin?" Cloud spoke up with mock cheerfulness.

"I will!" Yuffie volunteered, jumping up and down.

Later still...

"Alright, it's all composed now," Vincent said, grinning madly while holding the sheet of paper in his hand.

He can be so silly sometimes...

"I'll read it," Tifa offered, stepping up to Vincent. He handed her the paper and sat back down.

She began:

"'Once upon a time there was a brilliant thief named Siggy. He liked his work more than anything in the world. One day he decided it was time to leave the boring town and make a name for himself in a neighboring kingdom...'"

"Geez, get to the good part already!" Cid interrupted, but quickly quieted with a look from Shera. ," he then said glancing at his wife nervously.

"Ok. 'He looked onto the road before him. It was nightfall, and it was getting cold. Not a soul was in sight. Then, it sprung from the bushes, ready to attack!'"

"Not bad, Barrett," Nanaki said approvingly.

"To continue. 'The white rabbit looked at him innocently. He bent down to pick it up. It was to be his new friend, and traveling companion. But before they could start off...'"

Barrett smiled at his daughter.

"'It lunged at his neck! Its fangs were huge and yellow, and dripped with green poison! "Ack! Damn bunny!" he shouted, trying in vain to fend it off. When it looked like he lost hope...'"

"Meanie!" Marlene scolded Cid. He only laughed in response.

"Right Cid. Anyhow. 'A cunning priestess blasted the horrible beast from him with a carefully chosen summon. She walked up to the now exhausted thief and held out her hand. "Hi, I'm Petunia," she said. They decided to travel together. They soon found...'"

"Petunia??" Cid nearly choked at the name. Cloud shrugged his shoulders, "It was my Aunt's name, it's the first I could think of."

"'An inn to rest for the night. It had rained earlier so they were quite soggy. They let their clothes dry on the hearth, while Petunia slept on the bed, and Siggy on the floor. Much to their chagrin, however they woke to find...'"

Everyone looked up at Tifa expectantly. You're a genius, Vincent. They're hooked.

"'Everything except their underclothes hand been stolen! Petunia screeched at the insolent thief to look away, but he was an adolescent, so he kept sneaking peeks. They set off to find the thieves, even as scantily clad as they were.' You're awful, Nanaki"

He grinned, pleased with himself.

"'Petunia first blindfolded the young man, and then tied him to a chair for good measure. Then she found the thieves' hideaway, and gave them all good bops on the heads. When they were all defeated, they decided to make her their leader, and gave her some nicer clothes than before. Meanwhile...'"

Vincent burst out laughing at this. He knew Tifa would write something like that.

"Don't laugh. He deserved it, little perv. 'Siggy freed himself of his bonds, but realized he still had nothing. After a day of this, he figured out Petunia had left for good. He soon became the local tavern's dishwasher and dreamed of days when he actually was a thief and didn't know any treacherous women. The End.'"

"And the moral is?" Vincent said, eyebrows raised.

"Beware killer rabbits and angry women!" Yuffie shouted, dissolving into a fit of giggles. Tifa and the others soon joined her.

How I missed times like these...everyone is so happy...

Well, not everyone. Cloud was sitting in the corner, his mouth in a stiff horizontal line.

I suppose I should talk with him...

She sauntered over to his side. No one noticed her move, their eyes were still teary.

"You want to talk?" she said, eyes full of worry. He nodded, rising from his seat.

The only one to notice them leave the house was Vincent, and he knew better than to follow.

Even Later...

"Are you in love with him, that John guy, then?" Cloud said, the lighting giving his eyes a peculiar green quality. Tifa sighed. He had been interrogating her like this for nearly half an hour.

"Again, no," she replied, slightly irritated, "Can't you accept that it's not someone else?"

"What about Vincent?" he said, eyeing her cautiously, as if waiting for an unspoken reaction.

I thought we went through this already...

"We've already had that conversation. No." she stated with an emotionless tone. He still gave her the same suspicious look.

"Then why did you come here with him?" he asked.

Because he bothered to offer.

"He showed up at my place, and stayed there," she said, staring straight into Cloud's face, "It makes logical sense since we were coming from the same place."

"How come I feel like you've been hiding something?" he said, the accusation falling out of his voice, "I know it has to do with him. You look at each other like your co-conspirators or something."

It's not what you think...I wish it were that simple.

"I'll tell you when this has blown over," she replied, straining at each word, "When you've gotten over our little fiasco. It's not what you think, believe me."

It's much much worse.

Note: Hahaha! This is so fun! Hope you liked the little game they played, it's pointless really, but it was fun to make.