Disclaimer: Don't own FF7 or any of the characters!
'Shit, I couldn't ask for a more uncomfortable situation,' Yuffie thought to herself as they all made their way into the Ghost Hotel. She was walking about a foot behind Cloud. Shera and Cid were leading while Tifa and Marlene trailed behind. The Shinobi didn't want to get to close to Tifa, she didn't know if it was safe or not.
"Are you and your friends checking in?" The employee at the front desk said in a creepy like voice that made Marlene's eyes grow wide as she gripped on tightly to Tifa.
"Yeah" the pilot began as he took out his wallet.
"Excuse me sir, but is there a room without all the sound effects, or is there a way to turn them off?" Shera asked politely. The employee stared blankly at her before he gave an eerie grin.
"Why miss you are at the Ghost Hotel, there is no shutting off the sounds of the undead," he said in his creepy voice.
'Uh okay someone's taking their job a little too seriously,' the ninja thought as she gave the employee a somewhat annoyed look.
Shera looked at the man as he passed the room key to her husband. " Enjoy your stay," he said with a grin.
"Yeah sure," Cid said absentmindedly as he ushered Shera forward towards the room. "Goodnight you guys, see you in the morning," was the last thing the four heard before the couple disappeared up the stairs and down the hall.
Tifa approached the counter and took her and Marlene's room key. She stepped out of the way so Cloud and Yuffie could get their keys.
"Here you go sir, room number 13," the employee said as he handed the key to Cloud. The blonde snickered, "Well that's just great. Yuffie are you staying with me?" he asked switching his gaze from the key to her.
Yuffie's eyes widened. 'He's offering me to stay with him in his room?' She thought. Of course she wanted too but she didn't know if she should after that scenario by the Gondola. She wasn't sure if it would look to good with her staying in Cloud's room.
"I uh" Yuffie began turning a slight shade of red. Cloud looked at her patiently waiting for her to finish. "Yeah alright," she said quickly as she walked up the stairs trying to avoid Tifa's eyes the whole time. She heard footsteps behind her as they followed behind. She waited by the door for Cloud since he had the key. She heard him and Tifa exchange Goodnights before he kissed Marlene on the head and told her everything would be fine.
"Goodnight Yuffie," Tifa said looking at her suspiciously. Yuffie turned to her direction and gave a weak nervous smile. "Goodnight" she replied and quickly slipped into the room once Cloud had opened the door.
' What a night,' Yuffie thought to herself. What started out as fun and exciting had turned into creepy and uncomfortable. She took off her boots as she sat down on one of the beds. 'What's going to happen now?' She thought as she took off her earrings and placed them on the small table. 'Does Tifa know? Wait know what? Nothing's going on between Cloud and me so why do I even care? Why do I feel so guilty? Wait... was something starting to happen before we were about to leave the park? Why was he holding my hand? Was it just a friend type of thing? Am I crazy or is he dropping me messages here?' Her mind was riddled with questions for which she didn't have the answers too. She looked across the room to her blonde friend who was just beginning to settle into the other bed.
"Now you're going to be okay right?" He asked teasingly, "Remember it's not real, it's all just pretend."
Yuffie narrowed her eyes at him. He was really becoming a smart ass. He never would've acted this way two years ago. He used to be so serious, cool and quiet. And now he was just as much of a smart mouth as she was...well maybe not, but still.
"Bite me Blondie!" She retorted while chucking a pillow in his direction.
He laughed slightly, "Alright alright," he said in defeat before reaching over to the lamp and turning it off. "Goodnight," he said as he slipped down under the covers.
Yuffie quickly lay down and pulled the blankets up to her chin. "Goodnight," she replied nervously as she scanned the room. 'Stupid ghost hotel, why couldn't they just have some regular happy hotel like other amusement parks' she thought to herself. But she didn't really have time to think about the fake ghost, she was mostly thinking about her situation here. 'Maybe I'm making too much out of this,' she thought. 'I mean I'm sure Tifa isn't even looking at it like that. And how do I know she "for sure" saw anything?' She rolled over on her side and closed her eyes. 'Whatever I'll just worry about this later,' was her last thought before she quickly fell asleep.
'Why am I getting all worked up over nothing?' The brunette thought as she walked away from Marlene's bed after she had fallen asleep. ' I mean this is Yuffie and Cloud. Yuffie is my best friend she wouldn't do that too me. And besides she never showed any interest in Cloud before. And Cloud? Even if she liked him, does he like her? I mean what happened to us? Did he just forget all about our last visit?' she thought as she slowly sunk down into her bed. She rolled onto her back and closed her eyes.
'But they were holding hands,' she continued thinking. 'Isn't that a little weird?' Tifa shook her head. There was no way she was going to lose Cloud now. No, definitely not, not after two years of waiting and wondering. Not after getting closer to him in their last visit. She was for sure that something was happening there, and she wasn't going to let anyone ruin that. Even if that anyone was her best friend. She let out a deep sigh. She wasn't trying to be "one of those girls" who went completely crazy over a guy. But this was Cloud...her Cloud. The Cloud that she had been in love with ever since she could remember. They had been through everything together, didn't she deserve to be with him?
She sat up and rubbed her head. This was really giving her a headache. She got up out of bed and crossed the room to the door. She walked out and shut the door quietly behind her so she wouldn't wake Marlene. It took forever to get the young girl calmed down enough to fall asleep, she didn't want to repeat the whole episode again.
She looked to Cloud and Yuffie's room. A part of her wanted to go there and knock on the door. But who would she talk too? Yuffie or Cloud? If she talked to Yuffie maybe she could get an honest answer out of her. Or if she talked with Cloud maybe she could find out if he was really interested in her friend or not. Or she could find out that nothing was happening and feel completely stupid for waking them up. Or she could find out something was going on and....No, she didn't even want to think like that. But she had to find out what was going on behind that door, it was killing her not knowing.
She bit her lip and walked over to the door. She raised a shaky hand, contemplating whether she should knock or not. 'Hold on, am I being completely paranoid here?' she thought while lowering her hand. 'I'm just acting jealous and for what? Am I really going to intrude this late and make a complete idiot of myself?' She let out a sigh and lightly rested her head against the door.
"Don't do this," she whispered to herself as she turned around and headed back to her room. "It's nothing."
The shinobi opened her eyes slowly as she turned over on her side. Unfortunately she turned a little too hard and rolled out of bed hitting the floor with a loud thud.
"That was graceful," a voice said with a laugh. She looked up to meet sapphire eyes. "Are you alright?"
Yuffie turned a slight shade of red, she was such a klutz sometimes. "I'm fine," she said quickly while standing up. She squinted her eyes some, the morning light was seeping through the curtains and casting a somewhat dreamy like look on her blonde friend, illuminating his hair and making his eyes shine even more.
"Well since your up," he began "the others are downstairs having breakfast, their waiting for us."
Yuffie blinked, "Oh well okay," she started "just let me clean up a little," she said as she combed her hair with her hands.
"Okay, I'll see you downstairs," Cloud replied while exiting the room.
Yuffie let out a sigh, 'I hope everything is okay.'
"Marlene don't play with your food honey," Shera said as she saw the little girl making a whirlpool with her applesauce.
The girl looked up from her plate and smiled "Uncle Cloud!" she exclaimed. Tifa looked over to see Cloud approaching.
He smiled at Marlene and ruffled her hair as he walked by and took a seat next to Tifa.
"Where's Ms. Kisiragi?" the pilot asked sarcastically.
"She's right here," the Shinobi said as she walked up to the others at the table. "Are you talking about me already this early in the morning Cid?" She asked with a raised eyebrow as she took a seat next to Shera.
"'Course not kid," he said with a smile.
"So you two where are you going after this?" Shera asked while trying to feed Imara some applesauce.
"Back to Wutai," Cloud said as he looked over the menu before him.
"Yeah," Yuffie began "My fun always has a time limit on it."
Shera frowned, "Well that must be awful."
The teenager shook her head, "No it's not that bad, I'm just exaggerating it a little bit."
Tifa cleared her throat "So Cloud, how long are you in Wutai for?" Cloud shrugged as he placed his menu down. "There's no specific date, I'm kind of just there for however long I'm needed."
"Yeah you never really fully explained why you were there in the first place. After you two left all you said was it was something work related." Cid explained.
Cloud smiled, "Yeah that's all I really can say."
Shera nodded, "I see, can't talk about it?"
"Exactly," the blonde replied.
Tifa took a sip of her orange juice before she began speaking again. " So then it must be something serious," she said.
Cloud nodded, "Yeah"
Yuffie looked around the table, she felt the sudden need to change the subject. She didn't want them all to know that Cloud was watching out for her. That would make her seem weak. And besides nobody was really suppose to know, even if it was her friends.
"So the Gondola's fixed?" she blurted out. She didn't know what to say but she had to turn the conversation in a different direction.
Shera nodded, "Yeah it's been working since early this morning."
"Great!" Yuffie replied as she took a sip of her drink. The waiter came by and they all ordered, after that a somewhat awkward silence fell over the table. All that was heard was Imara's gurgles and Marlene's clatter of the silverware. Yuffie focused on her drink as she traced the top of the glass with her finger. She had an uneasy feeling sitting there. She was trying to avoid Tifa's gaze, she could feel her eyes on her. The eyes that were burning a hole right through her.
"So Cloud do you like it in Wutai?" Shera asked innocently. Yuffie inwardly screamed. 'Talk about anything else! Get the subject off of Wutai, it'll only lead to me!" She cried to herself.
The blonde nodded, "Yeah it's nice. I mean of course I've been there before but it seems different now. Maybe because I haven't been there in so long, or maybe it's just a nice change from places like Midgar."
Shera smiled, "Yeah and plus now your friend is Leader there! That must come with all the quirks!"
Cloud smiled "Well everywhere we go the people are practically falling at her feet. Believe me the spotlight is on her," he said teasingly.
Yuffie rolled her eyes "Oh please it's not like that," she explained while taking another sip of her drink.
Shera laughed, "Oh come on Yuffie don't be so modest! That's a good thing! After all that you do there, it's nice to have people recognize and respect you!"
The shinobi broke into a grin "Well yeah it is nice to be noticed but...it's no different from any other member of Avalanche! We're all celebrities if you put it that way!"
Cid laughed, "Yeah sure but that was a few years ago, people have calmed down a lot more since then."
Yuffie nodded, it was kind of true. After the defeat of Sephrioth and Meteor everyone was around the group giving them praises and asking questions, some even wanting autographs. But after time went on so did all the hype. But no doubt they were still the most respected.
"Maybe but Yuffie is still in the limelight," Shera continued, "I bet every guy in Wutai just wishes they could be with you!"
Yuffie's eyes widened, "Shera that's-"she began but was cut off.
"The truth!" Shera said with a laugh "Yuffie you're so funny, you probably are just oblivious to it all. Your young, your pretty, your responsible! Believe me I know what I'm talking about."
Yuffie finished her drink and laughed a little uneasily, "I guess I'm just too wrapped up in my work to notice if they do or not. Besides even if I did, I don't have time to worry about anyone else. I'd be way to busy and wouldn't have any time to try to have a relationship." She quickly stopped talking after that. 'That came out kind of bad' she thought. It sounded like she was shallow how she worded it. 'I don't have time to worry about anyone else.' She inwardly slapped herself for saying that but it was too late, it had already escaped from her lips. She looked across the table at Cloud. He was staring at her but averted his gaze when she looked at him. 'What the?' She thought.
"Well" Shera spoke up again, "Hopefully you won't make your job your number one priority. You don't want to pass up someone great that could be right in front of you."
Yuffie nodded, "Yeah," she began as she kept her focus on Cloud who seemed to be deep in thought. "Maybe your right." Tifa noticed her staring at Cloud and she began to grow angry. She tapped her fork on the table and narrowed her eyes at the Shinobi.
'So I'm not being paranoid after all,' the brunette thought never taking her eyes off of Yuffie. 'Not at all.'
Authors Notes: Sorry if this chap was a little slow, I had to define the relationship between Cloud X Tifa X Yuffie and their POV's, so you can kind of understand how each one is feeling...but yea! Review!
'Shit, I couldn't ask for a more uncomfortable situation,' Yuffie thought to herself as they all made their way into the Ghost Hotel. She was walking about a foot behind Cloud. Shera and Cid were leading while Tifa and Marlene trailed behind. The Shinobi didn't want to get to close to Tifa, she didn't know if it was safe or not.
"Are you and your friends checking in?" The employee at the front desk said in a creepy like voice that made Marlene's eyes grow wide as she gripped on tightly to Tifa.
"Yeah" the pilot began as he took out his wallet.
"Excuse me sir, but is there a room without all the sound effects, or is there a way to turn them off?" Shera asked politely. The employee stared blankly at her before he gave an eerie grin.
"Why miss you are at the Ghost Hotel, there is no shutting off the sounds of the undead," he said in his creepy voice.
'Uh okay someone's taking their job a little too seriously,' the ninja thought as she gave the employee a somewhat annoyed look.
Shera looked at the man as he passed the room key to her husband. " Enjoy your stay," he said with a grin.
"Yeah sure," Cid said absentmindedly as he ushered Shera forward towards the room. "Goodnight you guys, see you in the morning," was the last thing the four heard before the couple disappeared up the stairs and down the hall.
Tifa approached the counter and took her and Marlene's room key. She stepped out of the way so Cloud and Yuffie could get their keys.
"Here you go sir, room number 13," the employee said as he handed the key to Cloud. The blonde snickered, "Well that's just great. Yuffie are you staying with me?" he asked switching his gaze from the key to her.
Yuffie's eyes widened. 'He's offering me to stay with him in his room?' She thought. Of course she wanted too but she didn't know if she should after that scenario by the Gondola. She wasn't sure if it would look to good with her staying in Cloud's room.
"I uh" Yuffie began turning a slight shade of red. Cloud looked at her patiently waiting for her to finish. "Yeah alright," she said quickly as she walked up the stairs trying to avoid Tifa's eyes the whole time. She heard footsteps behind her as they followed behind. She waited by the door for Cloud since he had the key. She heard him and Tifa exchange Goodnights before he kissed Marlene on the head and told her everything would be fine.
"Goodnight Yuffie," Tifa said looking at her suspiciously. Yuffie turned to her direction and gave a weak nervous smile. "Goodnight" she replied and quickly slipped into the room once Cloud had opened the door.
' What a night,' Yuffie thought to herself. What started out as fun and exciting had turned into creepy and uncomfortable. She took off her boots as she sat down on one of the beds. 'What's going to happen now?' She thought as she took off her earrings and placed them on the small table. 'Does Tifa know? Wait know what? Nothing's going on between Cloud and me so why do I even care? Why do I feel so guilty? Wait... was something starting to happen before we were about to leave the park? Why was he holding my hand? Was it just a friend type of thing? Am I crazy or is he dropping me messages here?' Her mind was riddled with questions for which she didn't have the answers too. She looked across the room to her blonde friend who was just beginning to settle into the other bed.
"Now you're going to be okay right?" He asked teasingly, "Remember it's not real, it's all just pretend."
Yuffie narrowed her eyes at him. He was really becoming a smart ass. He never would've acted this way two years ago. He used to be so serious, cool and quiet. And now he was just as much of a smart mouth as she was...well maybe not, but still.
"Bite me Blondie!" She retorted while chucking a pillow in his direction.
He laughed slightly, "Alright alright," he said in defeat before reaching over to the lamp and turning it off. "Goodnight," he said as he slipped down under the covers.
Yuffie quickly lay down and pulled the blankets up to her chin. "Goodnight," she replied nervously as she scanned the room. 'Stupid ghost hotel, why couldn't they just have some regular happy hotel like other amusement parks' she thought to herself. But she didn't really have time to think about the fake ghost, she was mostly thinking about her situation here. 'Maybe I'm making too much out of this,' she thought. 'I mean I'm sure Tifa isn't even looking at it like that. And how do I know she "for sure" saw anything?' She rolled over on her side and closed her eyes. 'Whatever I'll just worry about this later,' was her last thought before she quickly fell asleep.
'Why am I getting all worked up over nothing?' The brunette thought as she walked away from Marlene's bed after she had fallen asleep. ' I mean this is Yuffie and Cloud. Yuffie is my best friend she wouldn't do that too me. And besides she never showed any interest in Cloud before. And Cloud? Even if she liked him, does he like her? I mean what happened to us? Did he just forget all about our last visit?' she thought as she slowly sunk down into her bed. She rolled onto her back and closed her eyes.
'But they were holding hands,' she continued thinking. 'Isn't that a little weird?' Tifa shook her head. There was no way she was going to lose Cloud now. No, definitely not, not after two years of waiting and wondering. Not after getting closer to him in their last visit. She was for sure that something was happening there, and she wasn't going to let anyone ruin that. Even if that anyone was her best friend. She let out a deep sigh. She wasn't trying to be "one of those girls" who went completely crazy over a guy. But this was Cloud...her Cloud. The Cloud that she had been in love with ever since she could remember. They had been through everything together, didn't she deserve to be with him?
She sat up and rubbed her head. This was really giving her a headache. She got up out of bed and crossed the room to the door. She walked out and shut the door quietly behind her so she wouldn't wake Marlene. It took forever to get the young girl calmed down enough to fall asleep, she didn't want to repeat the whole episode again.
She looked to Cloud and Yuffie's room. A part of her wanted to go there and knock on the door. But who would she talk too? Yuffie or Cloud? If she talked to Yuffie maybe she could get an honest answer out of her. Or if she talked with Cloud maybe she could find out if he was really interested in her friend or not. Or she could find out that nothing was happening and feel completely stupid for waking them up. Or she could find out something was going on and....No, she didn't even want to think like that. But she had to find out what was going on behind that door, it was killing her not knowing.
She bit her lip and walked over to the door. She raised a shaky hand, contemplating whether she should knock or not. 'Hold on, am I being completely paranoid here?' she thought while lowering her hand. 'I'm just acting jealous and for what? Am I really going to intrude this late and make a complete idiot of myself?' She let out a sigh and lightly rested her head against the door.
"Don't do this," she whispered to herself as she turned around and headed back to her room. "It's nothing."
The shinobi opened her eyes slowly as she turned over on her side. Unfortunately she turned a little too hard and rolled out of bed hitting the floor with a loud thud.
"That was graceful," a voice said with a laugh. She looked up to meet sapphire eyes. "Are you alright?"
Yuffie turned a slight shade of red, she was such a klutz sometimes. "I'm fine," she said quickly while standing up. She squinted her eyes some, the morning light was seeping through the curtains and casting a somewhat dreamy like look on her blonde friend, illuminating his hair and making his eyes shine even more.
"Well since your up," he began "the others are downstairs having breakfast, their waiting for us."
Yuffie blinked, "Oh well okay," she started "just let me clean up a little," she said as she combed her hair with her hands.
"Okay, I'll see you downstairs," Cloud replied while exiting the room.
Yuffie let out a sigh, 'I hope everything is okay.'
"Marlene don't play with your food honey," Shera said as she saw the little girl making a whirlpool with her applesauce.
The girl looked up from her plate and smiled "Uncle Cloud!" she exclaimed. Tifa looked over to see Cloud approaching.
He smiled at Marlene and ruffled her hair as he walked by and took a seat next to Tifa.
"Where's Ms. Kisiragi?" the pilot asked sarcastically.
"She's right here," the Shinobi said as she walked up to the others at the table. "Are you talking about me already this early in the morning Cid?" She asked with a raised eyebrow as she took a seat next to Shera.
"'Course not kid," he said with a smile.
"So you two where are you going after this?" Shera asked while trying to feed Imara some applesauce.
"Back to Wutai," Cloud said as he looked over the menu before him.
"Yeah," Yuffie began "My fun always has a time limit on it."
Shera frowned, "Well that must be awful."
The teenager shook her head, "No it's not that bad, I'm just exaggerating it a little bit."
Tifa cleared her throat "So Cloud, how long are you in Wutai for?" Cloud shrugged as he placed his menu down. "There's no specific date, I'm kind of just there for however long I'm needed."
"Yeah you never really fully explained why you were there in the first place. After you two left all you said was it was something work related." Cid explained.
Cloud smiled, "Yeah that's all I really can say."
Shera nodded, "I see, can't talk about it?"
"Exactly," the blonde replied.
Tifa took a sip of her orange juice before she began speaking again. " So then it must be something serious," she said.
Cloud nodded, "Yeah"
Yuffie looked around the table, she felt the sudden need to change the subject. She didn't want them all to know that Cloud was watching out for her. That would make her seem weak. And besides nobody was really suppose to know, even if it was her friends.
"So the Gondola's fixed?" she blurted out. She didn't know what to say but she had to turn the conversation in a different direction.
Shera nodded, "Yeah it's been working since early this morning."
"Great!" Yuffie replied as she took a sip of her drink. The waiter came by and they all ordered, after that a somewhat awkward silence fell over the table. All that was heard was Imara's gurgles and Marlene's clatter of the silverware. Yuffie focused on her drink as she traced the top of the glass with her finger. She had an uneasy feeling sitting there. She was trying to avoid Tifa's gaze, she could feel her eyes on her. The eyes that were burning a hole right through her.
"So Cloud do you like it in Wutai?" Shera asked innocently. Yuffie inwardly screamed. 'Talk about anything else! Get the subject off of Wutai, it'll only lead to me!" She cried to herself.
The blonde nodded, "Yeah it's nice. I mean of course I've been there before but it seems different now. Maybe because I haven't been there in so long, or maybe it's just a nice change from places like Midgar."
Shera smiled, "Yeah and plus now your friend is Leader there! That must come with all the quirks!"
Cloud smiled "Well everywhere we go the people are practically falling at her feet. Believe me the spotlight is on her," he said teasingly.
Yuffie rolled her eyes "Oh please it's not like that," she explained while taking another sip of her drink.
Shera laughed, "Oh come on Yuffie don't be so modest! That's a good thing! After all that you do there, it's nice to have people recognize and respect you!"
The shinobi broke into a grin "Well yeah it is nice to be noticed but...it's no different from any other member of Avalanche! We're all celebrities if you put it that way!"
Cid laughed, "Yeah sure but that was a few years ago, people have calmed down a lot more since then."
Yuffie nodded, it was kind of true. After the defeat of Sephrioth and Meteor everyone was around the group giving them praises and asking questions, some even wanting autographs. But after time went on so did all the hype. But no doubt they were still the most respected.
"Maybe but Yuffie is still in the limelight," Shera continued, "I bet every guy in Wutai just wishes they could be with you!"
Yuffie's eyes widened, "Shera that's-"she began but was cut off.
"The truth!" Shera said with a laugh "Yuffie you're so funny, you probably are just oblivious to it all. Your young, your pretty, your responsible! Believe me I know what I'm talking about."
Yuffie finished her drink and laughed a little uneasily, "I guess I'm just too wrapped up in my work to notice if they do or not. Besides even if I did, I don't have time to worry about anyone else. I'd be way to busy and wouldn't have any time to try to have a relationship." She quickly stopped talking after that. 'That came out kind of bad' she thought. It sounded like she was shallow how she worded it. 'I don't have time to worry about anyone else.' She inwardly slapped herself for saying that but it was too late, it had already escaped from her lips. She looked across the table at Cloud. He was staring at her but averted his gaze when she looked at him. 'What the?' She thought.
"Well" Shera spoke up again, "Hopefully you won't make your job your number one priority. You don't want to pass up someone great that could be right in front of you."
Yuffie nodded, "Yeah," she began as she kept her focus on Cloud who seemed to be deep in thought. "Maybe your right." Tifa noticed her staring at Cloud and she began to grow angry. She tapped her fork on the table and narrowed her eyes at the Shinobi.
'So I'm not being paranoid after all,' the brunette thought never taking her eyes off of Yuffie. 'Not at all.'
Authors Notes: Sorry if this chap was a little slow, I had to define the relationship between Cloud X Tifa X Yuffie and their POV's, so you can kind of understand how each one is feeling...but yea! Review!