A/n: Fun, fun shiiiit...You know how many crappy stories I have to revise. Let's see...I have to write one...I have 3-4 one shots up for revisions. This 37+ chapter story that I haven't even finished and my very first craptastical 16 chapter Yuffietine story...That was my first fan fiction.
Part one:
Chapter two
Questions are annoying
Tifa sat rolling her fingers on her knees and leaning back in a dining room chair. She had been doing that same thing for an hour while listening to her father's rhythmic pounding.
"So when is he supposed to be here?" Tifa asked impatiently. Her father stopped his poundind and set down the hammer.
"God you must be bored! I thought you didn't want me to get an apprentice." He father said wiping the sweat from his forehead as he peeked into the dining area. As always he was covered with a visible layer of black soot from the burning charcoal. She remember once when her mother was tiding up the smith how she had complained about what the charcoal did to the walls. Charcoal was the only material that burned hot enough and long enough to heat metal.
"I never said that." Tifa said blandly. She caught herself on the table as she nearly fell back to the floor.
"You didn't?" her father said rubbing his brow in confusion. Tifa just shook her head no. Her father sort of looked paler today, perhaps he was getting a cold.
"Oh well anyway he should be here pretty soon. So are you going to help me train him?" her father asked sitting down and leaning back in a chair also. That was a habit that her mother hated. Half of these chairs her father and herself had ended up fixing because they fell backwards and broke them.
"Tch. If all you do is tell stories like usual I'll end up training him myself." Tifa said smirking at him.
Her father started laughing and fell backwards onto the floor causing Tifa to break out in laughter.
"Uhh hello?" cloud said poking his head through the door. He was sort of scared by the laughter that echoed through out the kitchen. He would've felt awkward if he interrupted those family moments that he never had, since he only had a mother.
"Come on in…Cloud!" Mr. Lockhart said taking the moment he used to get off the floor to remember his name.
"Well then let's get to work shall we?" Mr. Lockhart said wasting no time as he headed into the kitchen.
"In the event that he goes off into the story I'll be your teacher." She whispered to him. Cloud just smiled and followed Tifa and her father into the kitchen.
"Well mainly we get work from people that come into town and need their weapons fixed. Though on occasion the people at the ShinRa Mansion will order some swords to be made or some gun barrels for the gun smith. Come on I'll show you around." Mr. Lockhart said as he showed Cloud all the equipment. Tifa pulled up and chair and watched for hours as her father showed Cloud the correct way to pound steel and iron, how to heat it, how to sharpen it, how to repair blades. Eventually Tifa's mother came in a watched a little bit whilst she prepared dinner.
"Alright let's take a break. Make yourself at home while I go some of my old tools." Mr. Lockhart said as he trudged down the stairs into the basement. Cloud sat in a chair by the smith and crossed his arms. Tifa dragged her chair over next to him. They both sat quietly for a moment. Cloud seemed to be looking everywhere except at the people in the room.
"I'm so proud of him." She said crossing her arms almost imitating Cloud's scowl as well.
"Hmm?" he answered looking at her with a bemused look. He turned his head, but his eyes didn't fully look at her.
"My father… not once did he go off into a story." She smiled receiving a quiet yeah' from Cloud.
"I hear you went out to kill monsters?" Tifa asked again. "Is that true?"
"Sometimes, if it's necessary. I just go out there to be alone." Cloud shut his eyes and leaned his head on the back of the chair. Tifa stared at him for a while, studying him as if her were an interesting specimen. Then her father came back downstairs.
"Ok I'll find them tonight. Work's over today." Mr. Lockhart announced since he obviously didn't find his tools.
"Cloud would you like to stay for dinner?" Mrs. Lockhart asked while washing some dishes.
"No my mother is expecting me, but thank you." Cloud said standing up giving her a little bow.
"Hey be back here at the same time tomorrow." Mr. Lockhart yelled after him. A couple of minutes later Mrs. Lockhart announced that dinner was ready.
"That kid should do pretty good. Nice smooth hand. He's also built up some good sturdy calluses already too." Mr. Lockhart said through a mouthful of food. Tifa's mother smacked the back of his head and yelled for him to swallow first.
"I'm sure he'll do fine" Tifa said quietly.
"Yeah you were sure asking him a lot of questions when your father left." Mrs. Lockhart said smiling softly.
"What! He doesn't talk about himself that much I was seizing the opportunity." Tifa said defending herself.
"Yeah. Yeah ok." Her mother said. After dinner was done Tifa went up to her room and played her piano. The sun had already set when she stopped. Her fingers were numbs so she went over to her window again. It was a beautiful night outside the bright starry sky caressed by the Nibel Mountains. The sky reminded her of her friends and of Cloud too. She didn't really understand why she thought about them.
"Urg why am I thinking about this?" Tifa said as she irritably got up and went to bed. Tifa was woke up by the bright sun the next day. She pulled the covers over her head to block out the light, but decided to get out of bed anyway. She showered and headed downstairs. Tifa rubbed the towel over the top of her head as she headed downstairs and continued to dry the rest of it as she sat on the base of the stairs not bothering to look at her family.
"Ahem… Tifa you know Cloud came over for breakfast this morning." Her father said clearing his throat.
"Huh?" Tifa said raising her wet head. Seeing Cloud sitting at the breakfast table. His eyes were open wide and he was glaring down at the rich brown colored wooden floor.
"Oh hello Cloud" she said cheerfully going back to drying her hair. Then she remembered she was only in her robe. That would explain the look in his eyes.
"Ahh right I'll just be…Yeah going up stairs now." She said blushing as she inched her way nervously up stairs. A few minutes later she came down fully clothed in a pair of baggy jeans and a black t-shirt. Everyone at there breakfast talking of the activities that they were going to do today.
"Ok I found those tools and today you'll be making a sword blade out of this." Mr. Lockhart said handing Cloud a 14" steel bar. Cloud nodded his head.
"Tifa, you supervise him I have to be a the ShinRa mansion they requested I be there to pick up the order." Her father left and went outside with a small piece of paper gripped tightly in his hand. She knew how nervous her father got going over there. He knew that he did something even slightly wrong they could and would end his life.
"Ok sure I'll make sure he does it right." Tifa said grabbing a chair and taking it over to the smith area. Cloud stuck the bar into the fire and put on his leather glove. He leaned against the wall waiting for the steel to heat up. Tifa stared at him, and he half heartedly glared back. His eyes sometimes wondered off as if they were nervous to look at her, but he tried to keep them there.
"So now that all your favorite punching bags are gone what do you do for fun?" Tifa asked watching him.
"Your going to ask me questions all the time now aren't you?" He asked glancing at the fire.
"Yep! If you talked about yourself more I wouldn't have to." Tifa said slouching down in her chair.
"Well I guess I go up to mount. Nibel and slice some monsters. Or I could just find new punching bags." Cloud sighed, Tifa realized that Cloud had just attempted a joke.
"Really! Are really that violent of a person?" Tifa asked Cloud shook his head.
"No I do it because I want to be stronger." Cloud said picking up the sufficiently heated metal from the stove and putting it on the anvil. He brought the heavy hammer down steadily on it and it flattened slightly.
"Why" Cloud didn't answer. Tifa didn't find out why until much later.
"Okay don't answer that. Let's see why did you want to apprentice my father?" Tifa asked as Cloud did several hard pounds and stuck the metal back into the flame.
"It's good to experience many things." He said simply as he took the bar out of the fire and began to pound again. This went on for the rest of the day. Tifa would ask a question Cloud would answer and occasionally ask her one out of his own curiosity. The day ended and another one came. Cloud and her father worked on jobs as she asked Cloud more questions. Days became weeks and Cloud started to loosen up. One morning before work started Mr. Lockhart made an announcement to Tifa and Cloud who were sitting in the kitchen. Tifa was sharpening her nails and occasionally poking Cloud with the file to keep him from falling asleep on the table.
"Cloud…and Tifa you guys have the day off, but I suggest you pack some clothes tonight. Because tomorrow you're both going with me to Cosmo Canyon to get some special metals." Mr. Lockhart said putting out the fire in the smith.
"Special metal?" Cloud asked before Tifa could.
"Yeah ShinRa soldiers wants obsidian and the only place around her that we can get it is in Cosmo Canyon." Mr. Lockhart said as he packed his tools up in a smooth leather case. Cloud walked out the door and grabbed his thin sword from his front porch. Tifa slipped out the door while her parents were talking. She followed Cloud up to Mount Nibel as silently as she could. When he got to the base of the mountain he turned around.
"Tifa you really should stop following me." Cloud said as Tifa sighed and came out from the bush. She sighed that she was caught. Tifa thought she had been doing really well.
"Why are you following me anyway?" Cloud said as she walked up to him.
"I got bored." Tifa shrugged and picked up his sword and swung it around for a bit.
"Oh…. your not going to ask me more questions are you?" He asked as he snatched his sword back and continued his hike up the mountain.
"No I think I know about everything there is to know about you." Tifa said following him.
"If I told you to leave, would you?" Cloud asked stepping up a particularly rocky path. Tifa slipped slightly and Cloud caught her by the wrist an steadied her.
"Nope…is that what your telling me to do?" she asked still following him. She remembered the last time she had been up here. She ended up in a coma for seven days. She didn't really remember what happened or what people had told her what happened for that matter.
"No…I was just asking" Cloud said as he continued to walk. Cloud, too, had an odd look on his face. He seemed sort of worried about her following him.
"So where we going?" Tifa asked running up next to him. Cloud looked at her from a bit with his eyebrows raised. Tifa stared into his pretty bright blue eyes. She never rally got a good look into them, but she always treasured the moment when she did.
"Oops…That was a question. I'm sorry." Tifa smiled innocently.
"I was going to kill some things, but I think I changed my mind." Cloud pointing to a small vine covered cave. Tifa gave him a doubtful look.
"Isn't that the road to the cemetery?" Tifa said raising one eyebrow. She wondered why he would take her there. Is Cloud really a psychopath and he was going to try to murder her there? Tifa's face grew pale and scared.
"There's a spot past the cemetery that's really nice." Cloud said slicing the vines on the cave entrance with his thin sword. The cave was very dark and damp during funerals people lit torches to make it brighter. Tifa grabbed the back of Cloud's shirt to make sure she didn't lose him.
"Scared?" he said kindly.
"A little, I've never been here except for funerals." She said squeezing the cloth of his shirt as the ground dipped a little. She was as equally scared of the cave as she was of him right now. Tifa started to laugh at herself in her head. Why should she be afraid of Cloud. If he tried anything she could kick his short little butt.
"It's okay were almost…. AHHHH!" Cloud screamed in fright as he pretended to fall.
"AHHHHHHH! WHAT?" Tifa screamed back. She jumped down wrapped her arms around his torso. Cloud started to laugh a little so Tifa hit him, and awkwardly got back up.
"That's not funny." She said sternly.
"Maybe not to you." She said with the humor still in his voice as he chopped the vines covering the exit. They entered the grassy field that was on a large sloped hill. The grass was long and dotted with tombstones. The high sloped hill overlooked a small lake that turned into a stream that Tifa often swam in. Cloud gave her wrist a tug and walked toward a small path imbedded in the long grass. Cloud stopped at a small bridge that dangled above the stream and put his hand out to stop Tifa.
"What?" She asked when he stopped her. Cloud used his feet to stomp on the bridge. He shrugged slightly and stepped onto it.
"It's always best to do that. This bridge breaks a lot." He nodded and walked on. Tifa hesitantly followed.
"I think it would've been better if you hadn't told me that." She said as she walked across the bridge. After several more minutes of walking they came to another small cave.
"Don't worry this ones really short." Cloud said as he stepped into it. Tifa still reached out and latched onto his shirt. A couple seconds later he led her out of the cave. When she stepped out onto the small cliff that overlooked some plains and wetlands. In the far distance was the small village of Rocket Town with it's large broken Rocket and small houses starting to surround it.
"This is…so beautiful." Tifa said looking to one side of cliff to the other.
"So are you…" Cloud said quietly.
"What?" Tifa said as she stopped looking over the scenery.
"Oh I said that it's much better at night." Cloud said realizing what he had just said and glaring over to an empty side of the cliff with his eyes wide with shock and embarrassment.
