"How have you been, Yuffie?" Tifa asked. Her eyes were kind, and I smiled.
"Alright. I'm levelling up the materia Cloud gave me." At Cloud's name, her eyes darkened, but I just continued on, ignoring it. "Dad wanted me to steal your guys' materia but...ya know, it didn't work out so well the first time..." I let out a short laugh.
Tifa snorted. "At least you'll have something to show for your troubles." She smiled again. "I heard about the new casino that opened in Wutai..."
I frowned. "I just found out about that tonight. It stinks! Wutai's just a cheesy resort town now. Nothing like what it used to be..." I trailed off.
Tifa's gaze was disconcerting, so I let my eyes drift over to the bar. Reeve, Reno, Vincent, and Rude were sitting there. Reno seemed pretty well on his way to getting drunk, which seemed a little immature to me. Rude and Vincent were equally silent, sipping on whatever it was they were drinking slowly. Reeve was talking to the guy behind the bar and Vincent, drinking steadily but not drunkenly. There was no sign of Cid.
"How's Cloud doing?" I blurted out. I felt bad for it immediately; Tifa obviously wasn't expecting that question and for an instant, her true feelings showed on her face. Then she composed herself and answered with only a hint of a waver in her voice.
"He seems to be doing alright." She said, picking her words carefully. "He gets sick sometimes, but everyone in Kalm does..." She was quiet for a moment. "I think he misses Aeris."
"Who doesn't?" I asked. "Even Vincent the Cold and Cid the Gruff do. She was good people."
"Yeah...but..." Tifa frowned. "I don't think he's accepted that she's dead, or...hasn't gotten over it, or something. He's quiet a lot. And he won't tell me what's wrong."
I looked away. "I was like that a lot...when my mom died. I mean, I was only like ten, but I didn't believe she was dead and used to try to talk to her. When she didn't talk back I just...stopped talking." I shrugged and grinned. "I grew out of it eventually."
Tifa smiled, but the sadness still lurked behind her eyes.
"Ladies." Cid said. "Mind if I join you? Reno's getting a little irritating." He was standing next to our table, three beers in his hands.
I nodded and scooted over. Cid sat next to me and placed a beer in front of each of us.
"Anything on the search for Shera, Cid?" Tifa asked, kindly. I got the idea that she knew more about this whole thing than I did.
Cid shrugged. "Stopped lookin' about six months ago. If she doesn't wanna be found, she ain't gonna be found. I think she took off well before Meteor was gone. When I got back there was a layer of dust an inch thick on everything."
I frowned. Cid wasn't like Tifa; he didn't let his emotions show like that, unless he was really pissed at you for losing his wrench or something. So I couldn't tell if he was upset at her taking off or not. But from his performance this afternoon, I got the idea that her disappearance disturbed him, if not upset him.
It was ennerving. I could usually tell when a person was upset or something. It was part of my training as a ninja; "know your enemy" is a token phrase. It kind of put me at an advantage: I could tell if who I was fighting was composed and observant, or angry and prone to mistakes. And it put me at an advantage in social situations, too. But not in this case.
I sipped at my beer to cover up my unease.
Tifa was talking to Cid. "...So now we've got fourteen orphans. I'm thinking of getting the place next to the bar and converting it into...well, I guess it'd be an orphanage. Cloud told me he'd help me build some bunk beds and stuff. The bar could fund it, I know it could, it's been really popular lately."
"Sounds like a good idea." Cid said, nodding. "Ya'll need help, lemme know. I've got some power tools lying around somewhere, I'm pretty sure I could whip up a bunk bed or two."
Tifa smiled, which lit up her face and turned her from just pretty to beautiful. "Thanks, Cid!" She said. "You know, since...I can't have kids of my own, it's nice to make sure everyone else's kids turn out alright."
Cid nodded. "Find anything out about that?"
"Doctor said the mako radiation down in Mideel totally killed...everything down there." Tifa said, sadly. "But it's alright, I've got fourteen kids, even if they aren't really mine."
"Fifteen if you count Reno." I said, looking towards him and rolling my eyes. Tifa laughed.
"He kinda is one of the kids. He acts like a big brother to most of them. They really do like him. I think it's because he's at their mental level." She frowned. "He's only seventeen, he's not much older than some of them."
I laughed.
"Rude doesn't deal with the kids much." Tifa went on. "But a few of them got into a fight and he was there instantly, scaring off the other kids. I think he likes them and just won't show it." She smiled.
"Never woulda thought it." Cid said amusedly, sipping his beer.
"I would have thought you'd be over there with Reno, getting wasted." I blurted out. Cid gave me a look of disdain and I blushed.
"Not much of a drinker." Cid said. He took a cigarette out and lit it.
"Nicotine's more my drug." He said, grinning at Tifa. Tifa chuckled.
I looked at the interaction between them. Did Cid like Tifa? She was certainly attractive; I had more than once been jealous of her amazing pneumatic chest, and the rest of her was nice on the eyes, too. Even though she wore attire that clothed her body more nowadays, what she chose still showed her assets off for the better.
I thought it was kind of cute, actually, even if Tifa was a little on the youngish side for Cid.
Cid, Reno, Rude, and I were the only ones left of our group. Reno was totally plastered and hitting on one of the waitresses. Rude was sitting next to him, and occasionally he would whisper something to Reno in his ear. It might have been advice, or it might have been "you're being an ass."
Cid and I were sitting in the booth that Tifa had also recently shared with us. He was what he called "buzzed." I was a little more than that, but I was definitely better off than Reno.
"Look at that retard." Cid said, rolling his eyes and finishing off his beer. "He's gonna get himself slapped with a sexual harassment lawsuit."
"And I'm gonna laugh about it." I said. A song came on that I absolutely love; a techno remix of a really cool song. "I'm gonna go dance." I said, pointing to the small dance floor. There was a crowd, mostly consisting of the just-over-21 crowd that loved to stay up late and drink now that they could.
"You gonna be alright?" Cid asked me, eyeing the guys in the crowd.
"I'll be fine." I said. I climbed out of the booth and ran over to the dance floor.
Like I said, I wasn't drunk, but my inhibitions were pretty much shot. I was gyrating much more freely than I normally would have, although I did keep myself as far away from the guys in the crowd, sticking mostly to the females that tended to group together.
I looked over and saw Reno, Rude, and Cid standing at the edge of the floor. Reno was staring at me in awe, as if he'd just realized I was female. Rude and Cid had their arms crossed and were glaring menacingly at something behind me.
I turned and saw a group of guys staring at me. I rolled my eyes and walked off the dance floor and over to Cid, Rude, and Reno.
"Assholes." I said. I laughed. "Lucky for me I have my own personal bodyguards, right?"
Reno laughed outrageously as if that was the most clever thing ever said. Rude didn't do anything. Cid nodded slightly.
I got one more drink and headed back out. Cid maintained his place off to the side of the dance floor, but Reno and Rude had either left or gone to part of the bar I couldn't see.
A guy sidled up to me. "Wanna dance?" He asked. I narrowed my eyes.
"C'mon, baby, just a dance, no strings." He said, grinning. I shrugged.
"Sure." I said. He led me deeper into the small crowd and we started dancing.
The dancing got a little more risque than either I or Cid liked, because I felt a tap on my shoulder. "I'm cutting in." Cid said, curtly. I felt a brief flare of resentment; Cid was acting like an overprotective older brother. But it went away when I realized how much I was disgusted by the way this guy was trying to feel me up."
"Hey..." The guy trailed off when he saw Cid cross his arms and give him the most evil Look I've ever seen cross the pilot's face. He backed off.
To my surprise, Cid didn't lead me off the floor, but instead danced with me. And even more to my surprise, he could dance. He didn't get all close like the asshole did, but it was fun! By the time we left the floor, we were both panting, Cid a little more than I, probably due to his expensive cigarette habit.
"I didn't know you could dance, old man!" I exclaimed. I think the alcohol was, at this point, getting to my head.
"Surprised you, did I, kid?" He said, laughing. He tousled my hair, like you would with a six-year-old. I glared at him and headed back towards the bar.
"I think you've had enough, kiddo." He said.
"One more, that's all." I said, smiling. "Then I'm going back to the inn."
I woke up the next morning with a hangover from hell, and not in my room at the inn.
"Ugh." I said, struggling to sit up. I was in Cid's living room, carefully tucked in under what was obviously a rarely-used spare blanket, on his sofa.
"You really, really can't handle your liquor." Cid's voice said, softly. I wondered if he was speaking softly in consideration for my hangover, or because he had one too.
I looked over towards the kitchen and saw him. He didn't look any different from his normal, unperturbed self, and he was drinking a mug of tea.
"Where..." I said, confused. I think I might have still been a little drunk.
"I didn't know which room you were in so I settled you in on the couch." He said. He smirked. "You were about as drunk as Reno by the time you finally agreed to leave, kid."
I frowned and groaned, my hand going to my head.
Cid busied himself in the kitchen for a few moments, then he set a cup of water and some aspirin in front of me. "I'll be workin' on the Tiny Bronco in the back." He said, then he left.
I downed the aspirin and chased it with water, and swore then and there that I was never, ever drinking alcohol again.