Author's Notes: Standard Disclaimer applies for every chapter. I don't own Final Fantasy VII, Square-Enix does. This fic is slightly AU, so some parts of Advent Children might have to be ignored (despite the fact that I love that movie), since Tifa and Reno didn't seem to hate each other there and were on rather good terms, in my opinion.
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Sepia Flames.
Prologue.
There was a slight tinkle from the wind-chime she'd hung on the door, as someone stepped into the bar. She didn't even bother to say, "We're closed." because she wasn't surprised – he'd been coming at this timing for five days already.
She watched him from the corner of her eye while rubbing at a rather persistent stain on the counter, not wanting him to know that she was bothering to look. There was a steady click of heels, as he walked in with that same old swaggering attitude. Before long, he had seated himself in front of her, elbows propped on the table and hands supporting his head as he smiled at her. She wouldn't have admitted it in a million years, but her heart had actually skipped a beat when he'd flashed that familiar lopsided grin at her. Useless charmer, she thought, rolling her eyes and trying to stop the fluttering feeling she was getting in her chest.
"No taking out of gloves and screeching at me to get out today?" he asked, eyes still fixed on her face. She would've laughed if she wasn't the victim of his teasing. Choosing not to answer, she merely shrugged, moving to another stubborn spot on the counter. Annoyingly enough, he'd followed her.
"Forgive me yet, Teef?"
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Five days ago, she would have answered with a fist in his face, but today, she wavered, not so sure of herself anymore. He took this as encouragement and asked her once more.
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"No," she answered finally, looking straight into his greenish eyes. There was a moment of awkward silence (for her) as they stared at each other, not blinking. She'd broken the gaze first, by closing her chocolate eyes and moving away from him. Forgiving him would be equivalent to betraying the other members of AVALANCHE, despite the way he'd shown her how harmless he could be over the past five days in which he'd visited her bar right after closing time and asked her for her forgiveness every single time. Besides, a part of her had died together with Sector Seven, and she wasn't quite ready to forgive and forget… yet.
His flame-red hair rustled a little as he tilted his head towards the direction she had moved to. She sighed a little exasperatedly, drying her wet hands on a towel hanging under the sink.
"The answer will be the same, no matter how many times you come here, Reno," she tried explaining, despite knowing that it probably wouldn't get through his thick skull that his efforts were redundant.
His smirk confirmed her suspicions. She sighed again, switching off the lights and dragging him out of the bar as she shut the door and locked it. Outside, he stood much taller than her with the grin still plastered on his face.
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"Bye Reno. Bye bye," she emphasized on the second farewell, waving at his face.
"I never lose, Tifa," he said softly before turning and sauntering off into the unlit street. Her eyes widened a little at his use of her proper name, causing her chest to experience that annoying fluttering feeling again. Shaking her head, she dismissed it and strode off in the opposite direction, tucking her coat around her more tightly in the cold.
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He could've kicked himself for entering her bar the first time. Though situated in a different place, the name hadn't changed. It was still that clichéd, passé, "Seventh Heaven", shining brightly and pinkly in the dark. He'd purposely waited for every single customer to leave the bar before intruding. So that he could irritate her and watch her eyebrows knit together without anyone else staring? So that he could have her all to himse- now where the hell had that come from? Frowning slightly, he realized that he had absolutely no idea why.
He didn't know what had come over him when he asked that Lockhart girl to forgive him. Why? To repent for his sins? Hell, if he'd wanted to repent he would've shaved his head and become a monk or something. Too many mistakes, too many lives lost – a Turk would never be able to repent. Perhaps it had been pure coincidence. The blinking "Seventh Heaven" sign probably had a hypnotic effect, judging by the number of customers the bar had daily. Or perhaps it was the sad, chocolate eyes. Or the way she didn't realize how attractive she was when she got angry and scowled. Damn it, he had to admit that he just enjoyed pissing the hell out of her, watching her sorrow flicker away for just a moment.
Half smiling and half smirking, he devised the "new plan" which would officially begin tomorrow night, to retrieve the vibrant personality she once had. Or one could say that he just wanted to do it for his own pure enjoyment.
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As soon as she'd reached home, she practically leaped into her own bed and fell into a deep slumber, without bothering to do more than kick off her shoes and throw her coat somewhere. The days were getting more tiring than before, with a certain red-head appearing at her door-step right after she switched the OPEN sign to CLOSED. She was pretty sure that he could read and was well aware of Seventh Heaven's closing hours. Stupid Reno, she found herself thinking a little too affectionately as she drifted into dreamland.
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Her dreams that night were not very pleasant at all. They were filled with Cloud Strife, and his piercing Mako-filled eyes. His rare smiles, his guilt, his love. His love, who happened to be so gentle and graceful; who smelled of flowers; who had a special kind of beauty that held many in awe; who was dead, but lived in his heart, forever young and beautiful. But this love was not, and probably will never be her. The last scene in that nightmare was his retreating shadow, as he left, never to turn back again. She awoke with tears in her eyes, and her hands extended out, as though reaching out for something.
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Dawn had broken across the horizon – another day had begun. And so, the daily routine of breakfast and newspapers, a little training with music plugged into her ears, another shower, and then work. Every single day had been the same. Well, until Reno had somehow crashed into her life one perfectly random night, grinning as he watched her facial expressions change from shock, to irritated, and finally anger as she stood in an attacking stance, complete with gloves.
He'd just remained sitting on the bar stool, looking at her mockingly with those turquoise eyes, amused. After a few uncomfortable moments, she'd straightened up and asked him to "Get out." as curtly as she could. It surprised her that he'd obeyed her and stepped out dutifully, albeit the infuriating smirk was still stuck on his pale face.
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Tifa Lockhart would rather die a few times than divulge that she actually liked his daily visits to her deserted bar in the wee hours of the night, just to add some spice to her usually boring life.
To be continued.
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To readers: This fic was named Sepia Flames because sepia is dark brown, representing Tifa, and flames are red (in literal sense), representing Reno. Apologies if that was incredibly boring, and incredibly like most of the ReTi fanfics out there. Hopefully, the plotbunnies will hop into my head soon and I'll be able to figure out a twist to the whole storyline. For now, I'd appreciate if you clicked the small shiny "Go" button and review. (;