Disclaimer: I do not own FF7

"No…MeiLin, wake up."

The blonde shifted to his side as he slowly opened his eyes.

"Wake up…"

He quickly sat up and turned his focus to the young woman beside him who was talking in her sleep.

"No," she mumbled as she began to stir under the covers.

"Yuffie," Cloud whispered as he shook her gently, "Yuffie wake up."

"No!" She said a little louder as she sat up quickly. She looked around the room before her gaze finally fell on Cloud. She was shaking and her face had drained to a sick pale. She immediately fell against him as he put his arms around her. This had been the routine for the past week ever since the incident at the Pagoda.

MeiLin was discovered that night by some townspeople who had heard the breaking of the window and went to investigate it. She was rushed over to the hospital and had been in a coma ever since. The doctors said they couldn't be too sure of her condition. She had suffered a strong blow to the head from the impact of hitting the ground, not to mention cuts and bruises from the glass as well as a broken arm.

Yuffie couldn't help but feel guilty about it. She kept thinking if she had went home that night instead of staying out with Reno that MeiLin would be okay. If she had went back the two of them could have stayed up all night gossiping like they always did. Instead Mei was in a hospital bed miles away from her, hooked up to all kinds of beeping machines and monitors.

The ninja tightened her grip on Cloud as she closed her eyes tight. She wanted nothing more than to push all of the thoughts out of her head, but it was useless…. and she knew it.

"Coffee?" The brunette asked as her friend walked into the kitchen.

Cloud nodded as he sat down at the table. "Where's Reeve?"

Tifa looked at her friend, "Do you really have to ask?"

The blonde sighed. Ever since they had gotten the call about MeiLin and rushed over to Wutai Reeve had been at the hospital every single day. Practically from morning till night…. or until the doctors told him he needed to leave and get some rest. He was more than concerned, there really wasn't a word to define what he was. But it was serious, after all they had braved the huge blizzard to get there.

"I don't want to be the bearer of bad news," Tifa began with a nervous look on her face as she walked over to the table with two cups of coffee. "But the Wutai Officials are fed up with us being here. Haven't you seen the looks they've been giving us? They think were like…well bad."

"They can give us all the bad looks they want," Cloud began, " but were definitely not leaving now. The answer is here right in Wutai."

Tifa cleared her throat and nodded, "Yeah, Reno thinks the same thing."

The ex-soldier tensed when he heard that name. For the past week he had been around…. too much. There wasn't much he could say though considering the circumstances. He didn't want to come off as ignorant for worrying about Reno when there were bigger problems at hand. But he didn't like the way him and Yuffie were together. She had explained to him that they became friends when she moved back to Wutai. But there was something else there, something that he was picking up. He didn't like the way he would talk to her in that soft almost "seductive" type of voice. And he didn't like the way she smiled at him or how she would look in his eyes so intently when he would speak.

"About that," Cloud began as he turned his head to make sure Yuffie wasn't around. She didn't fall asleep until early in the morning so he was sure she would be sleeping still. "Is there more to Reno and Yuffie that I don't know?"

Tifa looked down at the table before she spoke up, "What do you mean?"

Cloud sighed, "I mean is there anything I should know. Come on Tifa I know you know, Yuffie is your best friend, I know you guys tell each other everything."

The brunette smiled inwardly at his last comment. 'Not really,' she thought, 'she didn't tell me when she was trying to steal you away from me.'

She shook her head and let out a nervous laugh as she got up from the table, "I don't want to get in the middle of this. I don't want to cause any problems," she explained.

The blonde nodded, "Okay…fine," he said after a moments hesitation.

"But," she continued after she placed the empty glass in the sink, "I don't want to see you get hurt either."

Cloud raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean?"

Tifa took a deep breath before she approached the table again. "Okay look," she began, "Yuffie and Reno dated about a year ago. They sort of had a messy break up though, but she…. she was crazy about him." She ran a hand through her hair as she looked Cloud in the eye. "It took her awhile to get over him, she never really did actually. She told me so many times how she still cared about him. And then a few days before we came here…. MeiLin called and said that she wanted to know who Reno was because they had met up with him. And I guess they started talking again."

The blonde was a quiet for a moment. 'Reno and Yuffie? No it's not possible,' he thought. 'There's no way…even if they did go out that was a long time ago, there's nothing more there.' "Okay so they're talking again, but as friends, no big deal," Cloud said in a nonchalant type of way.

"Yeah…. no big deal," Tifa said in a non-convincing tone. She raised her eyebrow in curiosity a second later, "Why are you asking me for anyways? Didn't she tell you?"

'No she told me they were friends,' he thought to himself. 'Why did she tell me that they had became friends when she came back to Wutai? Why didn't she tell me the truth?' "I guess there hasn't really been any time to talk about the past with everything that's going on," he replied, trying to convince himself that was the reason why.

Tifa frowned, "I see," she said in a quiet voice before walking out of the kitchen, leaving Cloud behind in complete confusion.

"I'll be back before you know it."

"Gawd," the ninja whined as she buried her face in her pillow, "You can't be serious," she continued after she lifted her head up.

"Reeve needs me to meet him at the hospital, I promise it won't be for long. Besides I think you two can be civil for just a little while," Cloud explained.

'That's what you think,' Yuffie thought to herself. She didn't want to be alone with Tifa for even a minute. Things would be too weird. She hadn't actually "talked" with her since that incident at the restaurant. If you even wanted to call that a conversation. But she guessed she would have to just deal with it. Reeve wanted Cloud to go to the hospital right away so something serious was probably up.

"Fine," she said after a moment. She didn't want to sound like a bitch and complain about having to stay with Tifa when their friend was in the hospital. There were bigger things to worry about at this time.

"Thank you," he replied as he kissed her on the cheek, "I'll be right back."

"Promise?" The ninja asked as they exited the room.

"Promise," Cloud replied. He didn't want to leave the two of them alone at the house for a long time. After what had happened he didn't think they were safe anywhere in Wutai.

They said bye at the door and Yuffie watched as he made his way down the street. 'I guess I'll just lock myself up in my room to avoid any confrontations,' she thought as she turned back around to go to her room. But as luck would have it Tifa had entered and was standing right behind her. 'Shit,' the ninja thought to herself as her stomach dropped.

"Cloud's gone?" The brunette asked her in no particular tone.

"Yeah…. he and Reeve should be back soon," she replied.

Tifa nodded, "So are you going out?"

Yuffie shook her head, "No, why would I be? I don't think it's too safe actually."

"Not by yourself of course," she replied as her ruby eyes twinkled, "with Reno."

'Are you kidding me? Is she trying to throw this in my face already?' The ninja gave a sarcastic smile, " No I'm not," she said casually as she began to walk to her room.

"Oh I forgot you guys already spent the whole day together last week, I'm sure you caught up on a lot."

Yuffie froze in her tracks. She was so crossing the line now. If there was one thing Tifa knew how to do, it was knowing how to push your buttons when she wanted. "Don't start Tifa," she replied in a calm voice.

The brunette laughed, "I have this tugging feeling to say I told you so!"

"What are you talking about?" Yuffie asked in a slightly annoyed tone.

Tifa's face grew serious as she glared at the teenager. "I told you that you were only with Cloud to replace Reno. And now that Reno is back what are you doing?"

The shinobi began to boil over with rage. Never in her life had Tifa pissed her off this bad. She was getting to the point where she wanted to just slap her across the face to make her shut up. "Nothing is going on! You don't know what the hell you're talking about!" She yelled as her anger began to show.

"I know one thing!" Tifa began just as loud as Yuffie had been, "I'm not going to let you hurt Cloud."

Yuffie sighed, as she looked straight at Tifa. 'Keep your cool Yuffie come on. She's just upset. Can you blame her? This isn't easy for her, she's just taking her frustration out on you,' she said over and over in her head.

"The only reason why he is with you is because of this whole situation," Tifa continued, "He somehow started feeling sorry for you. If none of this was going on you two wouldn't be together," she finished in a cold tone.

"Shut up," the ninja said in a quiet voice. She feared if she got any louder she would lose it.

"He told me he loved me! The only reason why he started having doubts was because you came into the picture with all of you drama and sorrows and he started to fall for you! And right before we kissed that time in the park I could tell he was thinking about whether or not he really loved you! You think he does? I'm the one who's in his heart!" The brunette shouted as she began to breathe heavily.

Yuffie's eyes widened, "He kissed you?" She asked. The only time she had been aware of was that time in Kalm. But Tifa was obviously talking about something different, something that must have happened when she was gone.

"I don't get it," Tifa began as her voice began to shake, "You knew how much Cloud meant to me. You know how much I love him. I told you everything, I told you how much I missed him those two years when he was gone, how I use to cry because I didn't know where he was or if he was okay. Why would you take away from me the most important thing in my life? The only person who could make me feel happy. I trusted you Yuffie," she explained as tears streamed down her face.

The Shinobi's heart was breaking. She didn't want to see her friend this way. If only she could just understand. She didn't want to lose Tifa's friendship, they had been so close before all of this. 'Gawd she's…right. What kind of a friend am I,' she thought to herself as tears began to form in her eyes as well. 'Maybe she's right…. maybe everything Cloud and me have is just a sham. Will he feel the same way about me after all of this? Or are we just caught up in some fairytale moment?' Tifa continued to cry silently as she took a seat on the couch obviously deep in thoughts of her own. 'She's like a sister to me. Was I being selfish? And maybe what Cloud feels for her is real. How do I know this isn't just infatuation? He thought about her all that time he was gone I'm sure…it couldn't have been for nothing.' She shook her head, ' No…he loves me. And I love him. Doesn't that count for something? Does it mean I'm a bad friend because I fell in love with the same guy that my friend loved? It wasn't my decision, I can't help who I fall in love with.'

"I'm sorry," Yuffie, mumbled quietly, "I'm so sorry." She didn't wait for a response instead she just headed out the door. She couldn't be in there for another minute, she would rather take her chances with the murderer outside than to sit in the house. Her head was spinning. It was strange how one minute she was ready to pummel Tifa, and the next she was feeling guilty about her and Cloud. Of course she had thought about Tifa's feelings before. She thought about it all the time, even before her and Cloud had gotten together. But maybe she didn't think about it clearly. Maybe she was just fixed on the thought of her and Cloud being together that she didn't really think of how it would affect Tifa.

"Reeve?" Cloud asked quietly upon entering the room. The man glanced over his shoulder from beside MeiLin's bed and waved him over. The blonde walked over slowly as he looked at the doctor. She still looked exactly the same as she had a week before and he was beginning to wonder if she would ever be the same again.

"She's talking," Reeve said aloud as he held the young doctors hand lightly.

Cloud raised an eyebrow as he glanced at the dark haired man. "What?" He asked looking at Reeve as if he had slightly lost it.

Reeve shook his head, "I know it sounds weird, but she is. Well not clearly but she is. I don't know I guess she's just talking in her sleep, but I swear it's like she's trying to tell me something," he explained.

Cloud took a seat next to him as he stared at MeiLin. "Tell you something?"

"Yes," Reeve replied, "It happened twice already, she's mumbling something over and over, but I can't make out what it is."

'Maybe she's reliving what happened again in her mind,' Cloud thought.

"Anyways, I thought maybe you could help me. The next time she talks just listen carefully," Reeve said as he glanced at Cloud.

'Is it possible to talk when you're in a coma?' The blonde thought. "Sure," he replied while dismissing his thoughts. He could only hope it was true.

A/N: Sorry if this chapter seemed rushed, I tried to incorporate alot into one piece so...yeah.