Chapter Six – Encounter

Bright light flooding out of the bar window shone out onto the grass. The blinds were closed, but small proportions of light pierced through them. In the distance, a large vehicle stopped by the curb of the road and parked. It was late, but the man knew he couldn't sleep until he knew that Tifa was safe. The sky was black, as stars glowed from afar. The moon was round and whole as the dark figure treaded up the driveway. He mentally noted to himself it was late, but his senses were tingling, and something didn't feel right.

Stepping up the few steps and onto the front porch, the dark figure knocked softly on the door and waited. He stood there and listened for her familiar footsteps only to discover there were none. Minutes passed as the man continued to stand there quietly, able to hear a conversation taking place and then the warm sound of Tifa's laugh which disappeared upstairs. Who was she talking to? Nick thought as he reached for the door handle to discover door unlocked.

The door slowly swung open as Nick placed a foot into the house, his senses were alert as silence echoed in his ears. He pushed the door open a few more inches so that it was enough space for him to enter. Nicholas had merely made it inside before a sharp, heavy blade rested on his shoulder. It gleamed threateningly at him as his mind registered danger.

Gazing at the blade, instincts and adrenaline took over as he hastily ducked and stepped out from the tip of the sword. It barely missed his neck. His elbow shot out and made contact in the offender's gut before he could see his target properly. The force of his elbow was enough to knock the large sword out of his attacker's grip before Nick started charging after the blonde man again, his fists ready.

Cloud Strife observed as his sword fell away from his grasp. As he'd expected, danger had arrived. Now as he studied his attacker he knew he had underestimated him. The stranger was muscular as he charged at Cloud with his fists.

Strong swift arms blocked off some punches the dark brown haired figure threw at him. The attacker was strong; there was no doubt about it, but the blonde seemed to have a little more strength, knowing he had something to protect. The offender threw another punch at him as it made contact with the blued eyed man's jaw.

Startled that he had been hit, Cloud stepped back a couple of paces before he commenced fighting again. It was hard without his sword since he was a swordfighter. Using his arms and legs to defend himself, Cloud waited as the man threw yet another punch at him. This time he managed to block it with his right arm as he swung his leg out, tripping the opposition. The two masculine figures were now both wrestling one another. The two of them rolled around the wooden floorboards mirroring a look of determination on both faces.

First Cloud was being pinned to the ground, before his knee shot up and hit the man in the most sensitive part on the body. Almost immediately, the dark haired form slumped forward and fell, his face reddening. Kneeling over the agonized man, Cloud pinned his arms and body down so that he couldn't attack.

After hearing the loud thunderous racket downstairs, Tifa's soft footsteps were heard coming down as she saw the two. The image before her was one that took a while to comprehend.

Cloud was restraining Nicholas down onto the ground as Nick merely stayed immobile, breathing. The two expressions were contrasting from one another. Cloud had a bleeding, half swollen lip as he remained kneeling over Nicholas, a look of determination etched on his face. Nicholas on the other hand, appeared to be panting for breath as he struggled to break free; his arms held tightly in place with hands, his legs frozen in place by knees. The two appeared to be quite the opposite from one another. The dark hair contrasted the blonde, the brown eyes different to the blue, but there was one thing in common in the two… They were both out for breath.

"Nicholas," Tifa breathed, "Cloud…" She trailed off as Cloud spotted her expression of recognition.

Nicholas studied the look on Tifa's face, and then heard what she said. "Well I'll be damned…" Nick breathed relaxing as Cloud loosened his grip.

A/N: Yay, I am so glad that I finally got this chapter up! I thought I would have to wait until the holidays before I could update again due to the large amounts of school work... So here you have it... Chapter Six! It was supposed to be longer... But then I could only manage to find a small proportion of time to type it up due to school! So please do not lose faith in me dearest readers if I do not update soon, but to make it up to you guys, I decided to add a little action in this chapter for the short read! I'm so sorry if you're disappointed, very sorry indeed... :(

So now that you have read it, please review! Many many thanks! I'll try and update when I can, meanwhile you keep safe!