Rated R for mature situations, drug references, mature language, and explicit sex scenes. You've been warned.

Author's Notes: This chapter is really short. I apologize for that. This is all just sort of filler.

G A W D Y F O R T U N E S

Part 1: Unfaithful

By: Xtine

Chapter 4: 6 O' clock

The sunrays of the early morning pierced through the horizontal slits of the window shade that protected the inhabitants of the room from the extremes of light in the early hours. The light danced in the room, particularly upon the covers and in the eyes of a hopeless dreamer that lay out naked upon her bed with only a small cover draped over her sleeping body.

Tifa Lockheart found herself greeting the dawn, her eyes squinting open and her mind trying to completely comprehend her situation. When she finally found herself becoming a bit more conscious, she began to realize the actions that had taken place the night before.

"Shit," she cursed aloud as the memories poured through her mind. It wasn't natural, or Tifa-like for her to use obscenities, but then again it also was not very Tifa-like to have one-night stands with her enemy.

I had to have been drunk, was the only other thing she could possibly assume from the previous night, which was one of the things she had never done on the job before. What possessed her to do such a thing perplexed her the next morning, but what concerned her more was the sweet sentimental feeling that was hidden beneath all of the rage, regret, and weakness.

She honestly knew however, that she had not taken in any alcohol and she was merely wishing that she had for a better explanation of the actions she had taken last night. I remember the taste of it on hips lips though…

His touch too, she remembered that quite clearly. His fingers trailing along her naked form, touching the crevices of her hidden passions and making her body go utterly wild. His lips gently massaging her own, his tongue taking refuge in her mouth.

Stop it! She tried to command herself to stop thinking of things like that. But her mind continued to flounder, the thoughts of him controlling her with only a few touches of his fingertips upon her silky skin, the way he seemed to make her important, even if it was mostly for his own desires.

A pain receded into her heart at the moment, the memories forsaking her. He had taken over her, lying on top of her body as they had become one. The thought almost scared her as a tear gently rolled down the side of her cheek, weaving its way across her skin follicles until plummeting towards her silken sheets.

She tried to press them out of her head, tried to forget the feelings of last night.

Shouldn't be too hard, she tried to reassure herself. I won't be seeing him again.

Those were the thoughts she continuously tried to plague herself with, but the guilt was already starting to consume her. All her morals and beliefs had just been contradicted, she had just done the one thing that she had always promised herself she would never do.

"Loyal to the end", that was the one moral she always believed in, but now—she didn't want to think about it. Everything was falling apart around her from a single night, and she hadn't even been awake for 5 minutes.

Just as she was becoming entwined with her thoughts, she heard a small knock come on her front door. Immediately she shot up straight in bed, realizing that she was still lying naked and she had company now.

"Tifa!" a voice called from the downstairs, obviously her visitor thought it was okay to let himself in. The voice called again, and immediately she felt her heart beat calm down as she quickly recognized the voice of her beloved. A deep sigh left her throat as a calming wave took over her anxiety.

"I'm up here Cloud," she called down to him. Quickly she wrapped herself up in her sheets, knowing that it would only be a few moments before he would be up the stairs and greeting her. Tightly hugging her knees to her chest, she waited patiently for his arrival.

His boots pounded on the wooden stairs as he literally ran up them. The door to her room was wide open and as he reached the top he could clearly see into her room and see the pale yellow sheets coiled upon her body. He smiled at the beauty in the satin sheets and he proceeded towards her closely, taking in her beauty.

"I see you're home early," she spoke in a soft and soothing voice. He nodded to her and decided to take a place at the foot of the bed. Cautiously he sat his behind on the end, listening to the rusty springs squeak against his weight. His face contorted into a disgusted look as he listened to the scraping sounds of the bed.

"I thought I was buying you a new bed," he recalled and leaned toward Tifa, placing his lips upon hers as he heard a small giggle escape from her.

"You're supposed to, but you're too busy to come to the store with me."

"Oh, that's right. I have a job now that doesn't involve saving the world," he teased and took her in his arms. She smiled at him, her heart starting to pound again as she felt herself being taken into another pair of arms, but this time it was supposed to be the ones that would comfort her, hold her, embrace her. The arms were embracing her, but the comfort that she thought she should be feeling was not evident, and the emptiness returned to her soul.

xoxox

The day seemingly swept by, the sun raising its rays high in the sky and beginning to recede in the far distance. Tifa solemnly sat at a random bar table, watching the time slowly slip through her fingers as the drops of sun slowly slid out of reach.

Cloud watched her from a distance, his lean body resting itself against a doorframe. He wore an expression of concern as his eyes were set upon her thin frame. All day she had kept to herself, speaking only when spoken to, and simply wanting to be left alone. He worried for his fiancée, knowing that this behavior coming from her was far from normal.

A grandfather clock in the room struck the hour, immediately stirring Tifa from her thoughts. She turned her head towards the clock; instinctively glancing at the hour hand to see which numeral it fell upon.

6 o'clock, she spoke the time only in her mind. She took her gaze off of the grandfather clock and found her eyes wandering towards the doorframe. A shadowy figure lurked there, and she had not expected him to be watching her.

"Cloud?" her voice was soft and unsure. Cloud gave a small chuckle under his breath before revealing himself to his lover.

He spoke bluntly. "Yeah, I'm worried about you."

There was nothing to it. Tifa could feel no real care coming from his tone, and she felt her heart clench itself as she heard the lies slip through his teeth.

"I'm sorry Cloud," she figured she would backfire the attack with her own lie. "I didn't mean to worry you."

Cloud nodded his head showing he accepted her apology.

Tifa gave a little cough, "Um…guess what I found out today." She felt she needed to change the subject. Cloud cocked his eyebrow and his lips formed a small smirk.

"What did you find out today?" he asked while pulling out a chair and taking a seat next to her.

Tifa stayed silent for a moment, remembering the night's events, the flaming red head taking complete control over her, and the feeling of love and lust that was being exerted through her body. Finally, with a soft voice, she spoke his name to her lover. "Reno is in town."

"What?" Cloud was appalled by the thought. "I can't believe that drunken bastard came here."

"I know." Tifa decided to take his side of the argument for she didn't want him to know that she had a personal experience with him already.

"Well, maybe you should close the bar for the next few days," Cloud suggested.

Tifa was shocked. "Why?"

"Well, you're the only bar in town and you know he'll be coming here to get his "fix". Not to mention I'm not going to be coming home for the next week—it's my turn to stay at the construction grounds as security."

Tifa gave a noise of frustration and tightly crossed her arms over her chest. In all reality it wasn't the fact of him having to go away that bothered her, but that fact that there was no way she was going to win about keeping her bar open.

"I don't understand why. I won't have any problems here by myself," Tifa had to keep the argument about her bar going.

"Look Tifa. I don't want Reno strolling in here, getting drunk, and hurting you. He is a Turk, and an intoxicated one most of the time."

"I can take care of myself Cloud."

"I know you can. But please, just for the next week," Cloud pleaded on, and his face for once began to soften letting some emotion shine through his eyes.

"I find it rather absurd to go to such extremes, but if it'll help you sleep at night," a smile crept upon her lips as she let her eyes wander into his gaze.

"It would," Cloud spoke and returned the smile. He found himself getting lost in her wine orbs, but he broke himself from it as he leaned over the table towards her and gently let his lips place themselves upon her own. He let his hand reach up to touch the soft flesh of her cheek, and he soon found himself being lured into her beauty and love.

Author's Note: Like I said before, this is a very short chapter and it's mostly just filler. The next chapter will be more exciting though, so stay tuned.

Disclaimers: I do not own any of the names, characters, or places mentioned in this story.