Author's note: IT'S A BOUT DAMN TIME! It's good to be back! Wazzzup! Sorry for the delay everyone. I hate school. But I really can't blame this delay on the school only. It was also my fault and my addiction to gaming. I'm sorry. But this is a chapter to show that I'm not dead, that I plan onto continue itand this is not a One-Shot not by far. I'm still new to this site and kind'a new to writing. But I'm sure you don't want to hear...I mean read about me, but about this fic! And please review It doesn't matter if it's a bad review or a good one, it just make me happy to know that people are reading and commenting on my horrible writing ;)

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy or any of the characters, it's all Square-Enix. And I don't want to lately. Take that Square! Fools...It's all about Bioware now. Jade Empire! SW KotoR!(but I wish I can own Kingdom Hearts! And FF7 and Xenogears! I don't like Xenosaga...)

Chapter 2: The Puppy Present

Cloud smiled at the change of the Midgar city. Everything looked the same and perhaps even worse since meteor almost hit the big city, but the atmosphere was different. It changed dramatically. There was no Shinra, no more refractors to explode, and no more people to die in their sleep by the cause of an exploding refractor, and no more troubles to worry about. This was peace.

Being in the city really brought back memories. Both bad and good. It was in this city where he started his journey, where he met new friends and was reunited with his childhood friend. Everything started from this city and ended in the city. Looking at it from a view, you can call it home.

The people of Midgar had been repairing the city for the last two months. They were also trying to make the city anew start. Reeve also been helping the city out. He gave money of their journey together gave it to the people of Midgar to repair it. Cloud figure it would take year or two for Midgar to be repair completely. But Cloud had to give Reeve and the people their props of their determination.

To Cloud's much surprise, it was snowing. Snowing in Midgar. It usually didn't snow around Midgar. It wasn't snowing a lot though, but it was a sight to see.

Cloud walked down the snowy streets of Midgar getting ready to leave the big city after he made two more stops. There things that he need to do before he prepare for his leave. First Cloud needs to get parts for his bike and weapon parts for his sword. Then he needs to visit a place he been meaning to go for since he came to the city.

Cloud arrived at a shop that sells parts for his bike. It was a little place, but there were metal parts everywhere in the shop. The shop also smelled strange. It was one of those smells that smell different, good yet bad and you can't stop smelling it.

Behind the counter was a large man. He had chubby round checks like a large red apple that just fell from a tree. He had no hair at the top of his head but hair to the sides, Cloud thought his head was shape like a bad dressed up egg. His eyes were brown as dark wood, and his mouth were pretty big like it had been busted open.

"OHS!" He said. "A customer! Greetsings and welshcomes! Dis is my shop! And I ihs always welshsomes a customer! Whats kan I do for you my friend?"

Ok, Cloud thought. "Erm…I wanted some-"

"Perhaps you havesn't notices," the man cut him off. "But y'know we don't sell any disouts to custoshmers, right?"

"Erm….discounts you mean. Yeah, but I don't care about discounts I just-"

"Hey!" He cut him off again. "I think I've seen you somewhere befores!"

"……Right. Look, can I just-"

"Yeahsh, I sheen you somewhere before! I KNOW!"

Cloud sighed out of impatient. All he wanted was to get some parts and leave, but this guy would not even let him talk.

"Yeahsh!" The man yelled out. "Yous was 'ere 'ast week! Shkulking around. You was trying to shteal something, weren't you! As a matters of bact, YOU STOLED MY MOTORCYCLE PARTS AND MY SAKE!"

"………Wha-"

"Yeash! You thiesfh! Don't try to fool me!"

What is he talking about, Cloud thought. He wasn't here last week. He just met him today. "…Listen, I think you're mistaken."

"Don't trys to fool me! I recognizesh you! Same weird blond haircut! I know! I kan reme'ber."

"Listen," Cloud was beginning to lose his patients. "I-"

Cloud was again cut off from a young man who just entered the room. He first studied their situation before he act. After several seconds it seemed that he realized what was going on. "Oh dad," he said rushing towards the man behind the counter. "I told you that I was going to work today for you."

The man in behind the counter looked rebelled. "I don't needsh you to-"

"Come on dad," the young man said. He grabbed the man and turned to Cloud. "Be with you in a minute."

He took his dad to the next room, and it took couple minutes before he came back out. "Sorry about that. My dad is kind of drunk."

"….How drunk was he?" Cloud asked.

"I don't know," the young man said. "He was drinking earlier on today I just don't know how much. I'm sorry for that. He was celebrating the days until Christmas really. Around this time, he drinks a lot and hangs out with his friends. Haha, it's really quite funny to watch sometimes."

"Yeah…but all I want is parts for my bike." Cloud said, wanting to get this out the way.

"Yeah, sure." The young man said. "Tell me what you need."

Cloud told the young man what parts he need for his bike and left just as quickly. Cloud was happy he got that out of the way. Now it was time for him to go to place that he's been meaning to go to for a while. Where he first met the atypical kind flower girl, Aeris.

Since he was in Midgar for the time being, it would be nice to visit Aeris's church to pay his respect once again. As he walked towards the church he began to think, what would happen if Aeris was still alive?

Would he live his life differently from now? Where would she live? How close would they have been together? Then it hit him, what would he say about Zack? He would have to tell her about Zack, how they were friends and how he died. How would she react to that? Zack died trying to save him, so exactly how would she react? Would she be angry at him and blame him for what happen? Would she be sad and said it wasn't his fault?

No, Cloud thought. She would probably say it wasn't my fault…It was in her personality to say something like that. But…she still would've been shocked and really upset. Maybe…she would have blamed me...Thinking of that gave Cloud a cold and dark feeling. If Zack wouldn't have protected him, he would've lived.

When Cloud got to the church he put those thoughts out of his head.

The church looked…beautiful. Not only did it look gorgeous but it felt like he came back home after a long awaited journey. Maybe it was the snow that made it looked and felt that way. The church flower bed was still there and still in shape.

Cloud walked up to the flower bed and stared at it for a while.

As he stared, he remembered Aeris. Almost everything that he knew about Aeris came into his mind. Her smile, her eyes, her voice, when she was mad at him, when she was happy, when she cheered him on, when she annoyed him, when she-

"BARK!"

Cloud jumped and went into battle stance only to find out it was a little puppy.

"Oh…" Cloud said, in relief almost. "Just a little dog." He took a step closer to the puppy and kneeled down. "…I thought you were an enemy. You're lucky."

After the event with the puppy, Cloud went on and made his respect to Aeris again for several minutes.

Ok, Cloud thought. It's time to go.

"Thank you." Cloud said. "It's always…you always have a good feeling around you. Even now, that feeling is in here. It gave us strength. Strength to fight…and strength to start anew. Strength to give us another chance. "

Another bark from the puppy that interrupted Cloud. "You know, you're becoming a annoying." Cloud said.

Without further to due, he went ahead out the door. But the puppy followed him.

"Hey…what are you doing?"

"This is cool Tifa!" Marlene said with an excited tone.

Tifa had finally finished her decorations in her bar, 7th heaven. She even had to say that she impressed herself with it. With Marlene help of course. They had clean up the bar spotless before they started to put decorations up. The bar looked so elegant and fresh that even a fashion designer would be unguarded of its looks.

"Wow! You really did a good job," Marlene exclaim.

"WE did a great job," Tifa corrected her. "I couldn't have done it without you. You really have a fashion of style sense you know."

Marlene giggled at the compliment.

Tifa let out a smile. "Next time we decorate something, I'll be counting on you to make pretty. Ok?"

Marlene again giggled and nodded.

Tifa again took a moment to see the bar beauty. Her bar hasn't even opened yet, but it will soon. She just finish completed her bar a week ago, and she was ready to open it then. But she decided to delay it. She did not want to work just yet, she wanted to enjoy this time off as much as possible. She planned on opening bar a few days after the holidays are over though. It was going to be great, she thought.

The door swung open and she heard footsteps came inside. She knew who it was and began to feel a twist to her stomach and her heart also gave a hard and fast pump; it was the kind that was good and bad to feel. It was something that you would never get tired of feeling. She turned around and her stomach gave an even harder twist.

"Cloud!" Marlene beat Tifa to it.

"Hey," Cloud said.

A puppy hopped out of Cloud's arms and shook. Both Tifa and Marlene jumped slightly at the surprise figure that Cloud brought home.

"Oh! A puppy!" Marlene said and rushed towards it like she had found gold.

"A dog? I didn't know you were a pet lover Cloud." Tifa teased.

Cloud simply sweep his hair back and gave a small smile. "I found him just wondering around. Once I found him, he wouldn't leave me alone. He didn't seem to belong to anybody so….I brought him here." He lowered his voice so only Tifa could hear. "An early Christmas gift for Marlene."

Tifa smiled and looked at the puppy again. It seemed happy with Marlene who was absolutely playing with him like a girl doll.

"Can we keep him?" Marlene asked.

"I don't know," Tifa teased. "Taking care of a puppy is a lot of responsibility."

"I can do it!" Marlene said.

"Really? Well, you did do a good job on the decorations. You can keep him."

Marlene eyes light up with the answer that Tifa gave her. Without warning she ran to gave Tifa a little giant hug. "Thank you!" She said. She then run to Cloud and gave a similar hug that she gave Tifa. Again, she said her thanks and picked up the puppy. "I'm going to go play with him for a while!" Marlene said excitedly. "Thank you so much! I promise I'll take care of him!" She picked up the puppy and ran upstairs.

Seeing Marlene this excited about this gave Tifa's good mood a major boast. "Well, I guess I have to make an extra plate tonight." Tifa said thinking out loud.

Tifa turned to Cloud and found him slightly smiling. Tifa then took a moment to examine Cloud features. He looked…different since their last journey together. His hair had become longer. It was still spiky and still spread out in all directions, but it was longer in the back; Barret said he should cut it before he pokes someone in the eye with his hair. Tifa didn't mind however, it fitted well with his features. His hair reminded Tifa when Cloud was a little kid. When he was a kid, his hair was longer, but he had it in a ponytail. He looked as handsome then as he is now, if not better. Tifa cheeks slightly turned red at the thought.

Cloud also looked more relaxed, as if a heavy burden was lifted off his shoulders. But I guess we're all like that now, Tifa thought. But even with his more relax look, he still had his mysterious characteristic. Lots of people would consider Cloud a lone wolf, and to most aspects he is. A lone wolf is a person who prefers to go without the company or assistance of others. And Tifa admits that even now he is like that. But he is different now. She didn't know how to explain it, but it was like he is more congenial about it now then he was before. For those who knew Cloud well would understand that feeling. They will understand another side of Cloud that is just enjoyable to be around.

Cloud is still as not as sociable as he should be. It was just in his personality to be anti-social, but he was getting to better. Cloud smiled a bit more than he used to. And every time he does smile, Tifa will light up. His smile was so beautiful to Tifa that even in the worst time that smile will cheer her up. His smile was pleasant sight to see. Perhaps the reason why his smile is so effective is because his personality. To see someone who is consider to be anti-social, mysterious, and sometimes cold person not to mention everything he been through, to see someone like that give a pleasant smile will probably make anyone sprits up. It does to Tifa. When he smiles, especially if that smile is for her, she will get butterflies in her stomach. After looking at his smile, she will feel that she could take on anything in the world and not lose. This reminded Tifa how special Cloud is, to those who are around him, to those he care about him, to those who were his comrades, and to her.

Cloud noticed that she had been staring at him for quite a while. He first gave Tifa a confused look and then gave 'Are you OK?' look. Tifa noticed that Cloud was now looking at her. Tifa thoughts were kicked out like unwelcome guest and she gave Cloud a small smile to let him know that everything is ok. But she also felt that she was blushing and turned around of embarrassment. Before Cloud could say something, Tifa pretended to clean something behind the counter, again trying to hide.

"Hey," Cloud said. Tifa continued to 'clean' as she felt him coming closer. She also felt herself getting redder. She tried her best to clam herself down. Within seconds she shook her cherry color off her cheeks to turn around and face him.

"Tifa," Cloud said in a soft yet serious tone.

She started at his mako color eyes as she felt her heart kept skipping a beat. She tried desperately to control herself but failed.

"Listen," Cloud began. "I-"

" BARK!" A familiar sound that Cloud heard before made. Tifa looked to see the puppy barking yet again.

"Ooh, isn't he cute," Marlene said coming down the stairs.

"…………I hate pets…" Cloud mumbled.

Author's note: There you have it! The second chapter! I'm going to get started on chapter 3 real soon! I'm in a writing mood thanks to Samurai Champloo, Jade Empire, and the cuteness of Cloud and Tifa relationship. You have no idea how it makes me happy to write about these two! They're awesome! BTW, on this chapter, I thought about having Cloud and Tifa separate after the first chapter. But I changed my mind after reading other Cloud and Tifa fanfics. Like that one...'Here I Stay' which is a awesome fanfic!

On the sidenote, Just Mystical stoled my fanfic title. That foo'. ) But her fic is awesome! Yup, those fics inspired me to write better and more. One last thing before I go start writing on the 3rd chapter! Thank you guys for writing this horrible fanfic about Cloud and Tifa. I know it's kind'a slow, but I'm trying to work on that style. And believe me, you'll never know what comes in the later chapters. Even I don't know what comes yet. So I better get started. Laterz and thanks.