Tifa usually doesn't let others take the lead. Especially when it's a guy who thinks he knows what he's doing. But in this case, Cloud was Second Class SOLDIER. So by all accounts he was the better one at the job they took.
And maybe the bonus was that she got to have a nice view. She understood he was taken. Tifa wasn't the type to get in between a relationship like that. But what's the harm in looking? She hasn't seen him in years.
Cloud had a nice ass. Strong back and decent arm muscles. She can only guess on the muscles on his legs underneath the baggy pants uniform. But all in all, Cloud was easy to look at. Tifa understood why someone claimed him so quickly when he joined the program.
"So how long have you've been in a relationship for?" Tifa couldn't help but ask.
"Since...A month after that night. So maybe...Ten months? Closing in on eleven months?" Cloud had to make sure he did the math right. And he was in shock. They had been together for almost a full year.
"Wow. That long, huh? And still going strong it seems." Tifa had a strange tone in her voice.
"You jealous?" Cloud glanced over his shoulder.
"Only that you found your special someone." She replied with a sigh.
"How do you know its going strong?" He wondered.
"Anyone who can keep your attention for that long means they're important. Don't you remember? When we were little, I had to try so hard just to grab your attention." Tifa recalled some of those memories.
Cloud did in the same instance. No matter how much he tried to avoid her, she always sought him out. Soon as she saw him Tifa would call his name. But there was a reason why he tried to avoid her.
"You know what the boys were doing, right? They made threats. If I ever came around to you then they would feed me to the Nibel wolves." Cloud admitted to her.
"And? I would have kicked their asses." Tifa confidently giggled. "I figured something was up. But if I sought you out, they can't say anything."
"So tell me about this wolf. Do you know the area it hunts?" Cloud had enough talk of memory lane. They were aimlessly walking.
"The poster said it can be found anywhere in the mountains. However, it's recently been seen in the area just before the bridge. The one that likes to break every now and then." Tifa explained.
"Just my luck." Cloud muttered.
"What was that?" She couldn't quite hear everything.
"Nothing. Let's get to the area and see if we can find any fresh tracks."
"Following your lead, coach." Tifa smiled.
Meanwhile Cloud wondered about this wolf. It was awfully close to the village. Usually they were found deeper into the mountains. So this must be a rogue. And if it was mutated by mako, it made the beast even more dangerous.
They arrived in the area in question just before noon. The sun was bright and for once Cloud felt some warmth from it. Usually up here it's a bit chilly. He paused to take a look around.
Up ahead is the most used path that lead to the bridge. To the right there was a less used path, but it was used enough in recent time to have a path formed. So Cloud decided to start on that one first. As they continued down it he found signs.
Fur caught in a brush. Faint paw prints. But they were old and people walked over them so they were distorted. Even so the paw prints looked alarmingly big, if he could judge from the pieces he could find correctly.
Then he came across one that was fairly recent and did a double take. It was bigger than his face. Cloud felt his heart sink. Tifa peered around him and gasped.
"I thought they were joking. That's huge!" She was in awe and terror at the same time.
"Keep quiet. It's nearby." Cloud gripped the handle of his sword.
Together they made their way into a clearing, treading carefully. Somewhere to the right they could hear snarling. And crunching noises. It was feasting. Slowly and carefully they made their way around a bend of rocks to see a ghastly sight.
The wolf easily stood a good three feet taller than Sephiroth. There were spikes all over the back. A type of armor of some sort. The legs were easily Cloud's height. And it was feasting on a hunter. Blood and entrails spilled everywhere.
Tifa almost screamed when Cloud quickly shoved his hand over her mouth and moved them to hide behind the rocks. The feasting stopped for a few seconds. Luckily the wind was blowing from the wolf to them so it didn't catch their scent and continued eating.
"Do you have materia?" Sephiroth whispered in his ear.
Cloud bit his lip. Zack had plans for when he got back to teach him. Tifa poked his shoulder. He looked over and in her hand was a Fire materia. He shook his head, pointing at her that she should have it. Tifa pointed at her glove, showing she had a Fire and a Heal.
Reluctantly Cloud accepted the Fire materia and placed it in his glove slot. He could sense the magic as he did. The mako in his veins heard the soft calling of the materia. He leaned over to whisper softly as he could into her ear.
"I'm going to draw its attention and attack head on. You come around and attack from the sides or the back. Don't let it bite you."
Tifa nods in understanding. Gathering up his courage Cloud peeks over the rocks. The beast was almost finished with its latest meal. Cloud silently moved closer. He forced himself not to lose his breakfast as the beast swallowed a leg. When he was close enough Cloud lunged and swung with all his power at a thick leg.
The large wolf howled in pain. A second later it whirled around with a snap of its jaws. Cloud rolled close to the ground, unleashing more swipes at the legs, chest and face when he stood. He felt the hum of the materia and he let it build up before releasing it with a cry.
The fire hit its target and the wolf yelped in pain as it burned for a few seconds. Tifa took her chance and ran to attack at the beasts ribs and back leg. Cloud managed a few swings at the shoulder. The fire stopped and the beast focused on him once again.
Cloud timed his rolls perfectly to evade the snap of those huge jaws and rows of teeth. He heard a distinct crack of the ribs as Tifa did a somersault kick. To keep the attention on him Cloud unleashed fire again at the face. The beast cried out as it shook itself violently to try and take out the flames.
When the flames died out the wolf did something unexpected. The beast leaped, a claw pushed Cloud down to the ground. For a second he thought it would keep him there. Instead the weight of the creature lifted as it ran away. Tifa ran to his side and helped him up.
"You're bleeding!" She yelled as she casted Heal.
Cloud looked at the broken shoulder guard on his right. He undid the straps and yanked it off. The Heal stopped the bleeding, but he wasn't sure if it would scar or not. Luckily it will be hidden underneath the uniform and a new guard.
"You ready?" He asked her. She nods.
"Ready when you are, coach!" Tifa smiles, adrenaline still pumping through.
Together they ran full speed following the fresh tracks. It lead them to another clearing. This time it was the beasts real lair. Bones and bones scattered everywhere. Some were from the local monsters. A few human skulls were seen. Even bones of smaller Nibel wolves.
The beast turned in attention of its home being invaded. The wolf snarled, baring its large teeth. Cloud saw the eyes then. They were glowing bright green. It was as Sephiroth guessed, it was a mutant from the mako pools in the area.
The wolf charged. Cloud let out a yell as he met the wolf halfway. Tifa ran to keep her distance as the wolf focused on him. Cloud ducked while he sliced at the mutated wolf's throat. The wolf let out a guttural throat sound as blood spilled everywhere. Cloud rolled out of the way of a bite.
Tifa unleashed her attacks on a leg and managed to make it snap with a resounding crack. The wolf howled in pain as it tried to stay balanced on three legs. Cloud saw the rocks making perfect steps for him. He quickly ran up, leaping from one to the next until he was high enough to jump off.
Tifa stopped to watch in awe. Cloud was in mid air, sword raised. His eyes glowing brightly in the sun. And just like that he sliced through the neck and cut the wolf's head off. Blood splattered everywhere. Cloud landed, wiping away the blood from his face.
"That was...That was so cool!" Tifa ran to his side and almost hugged him. But the sight and smell of the blood threw her off.
"All in a days work. Think we can drag that head into town?" He glanced at it.
"On second thought, let's grab a tooth. One for each of us." Tifa didn't want to help drag that thing. Plus its breath stank pretty bad.
"I like that idea better. Choose one and I'll get it out for you." Cloud offered.
She chose a tooth to her liking. With some difficulty Cloud managed to pry it out and handed to her. He found on one he liked but had to partly use his sword to get it out. In the end they each had a tooth to remember by and made the casual walk back into town.
Everyone heard by now what monster Tifa chose. All eyes looked up in a mix of horror and awe at the sight of their return. The amount of blood on Cloud spoke for itself. And suddenly everyone was impressed.
"Did you really do it? Did you kill that beast?" Someone came up and asked.
"Yep! Sure did!" Tifa held up her tooth.
Suddenly everyone gathered around to have a look. She wasn't willing to let it go. But she told them all that there were more teeth where that came from. Not liking crowds, Cloud slipped away and made his way back to his house. Soon as he walked in his mother nearly had a heart attack.
"Are you all right? Are you hurt anywhere?" She rushed to him, checking him over.
"I'm fine, Ma. Thanks to Tifa I don't have any injuries. And no hair on her head was hurt. I got the worst out of it." Cloud assured her.
"If you say so. Go wash up in the bathtub, I'll take the clothes and wash them. If there's any tears I'll fix it." She promised, her kindness earning a smile.
Cloud went upstairs to the bathroom after he took off his boots. He started the water to let it warm up. After a few agonizing minutes it was ready. When he undressed he placed the clothes on the sink so the blood didn't get on the floor. Cloud sank into the tub with the sigh as the water cleaned and soothed his skin.
"I'm proud of you. You used materia for the first time." Sephiroth spoke into his ear.
Mrs. Strife placed his civilian clothes on the floor to trade with the filthy ones in the sink. She quietly closed the door when she left. Cloud didn't pay her any attention. He was too busy feeling relaxed in the tub and feeling Sephiroth's hands gently massage his muscles.
It took forever to wash the blood out of his hair. But when it was finished Cloud climbed out. He put on his clean clothes and came downstairs to his mother sewing the gash on the shirt of his uniform.
"Can I see your shoulder? Just to make sure you're really all right." She needed to see.
Cloud moved the sleeveless top to reveal his shoulder. There was a faint scar, but nothing major. Satisfied that it wasn't life threatening she returned to sewing the rip. There was a soft knock on the door so Cloud answered.
"Tifa?" He was surprised to see her.
"Here's your share of the reward." She held out a small bag.
"Wait, you're sure? You did great deal of damage to it, too." Cloud wasn't sure he should accept.
"Yeah, but in the end you dealt the killing blow. Therefore half of the reward goes to you." Tifa smiled. So he accepted the reward.
"2,500? How long has that thing been a problem?" Cloud asked. That's a huge amount. And this was half? That meant it was 5,000 gil total.
"For a while now. Folks around here were getting scared it might attack the village any day now."
"And no one contacted Shinra?"
"My dad tried. Couldn't get a hold of anyone to be bothered by it. No one wanted to believe how big it was without photographic evidence."
"Next time, call me. I'm going to give you my number. I will pass the request along to the right people." He searched for a pen and a sticky note to write it down. When he finished he handed the note to her.
"Okay." She looked at the note for a long moment. When she looked up she was smiling. "I hope you know we're going on hunts everyday while you're here."
"They better not be as messy as today." Cloud still felt absolutely disgusted.
"Don't worry, they won't be just as bad. Oh, and, Cloud? Thanks. I've been wanting to take on that thing, but everyone told me not to go alone. I'm glad you were with me on that hunt today."
"Anytime, Tifa." Cloud nodded. He was about to close the door when his mother called out.
"Tifa! Would you like to stay for dinner?"
"Actually, my Papa is having a grill tonight! Celebrating the death of that Nibel Wolf. But thank you, Mrs. Strife! Can we shoot for tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow it is then! See you tomorrow night!"
"Thank you!" Tifa winked at Cloud before turning and making her way back to the inn. Cloud closed the door and began prepping for his own dinner.
When dinner was over and everyone was asleep, Cloud changed into his now clean unirorm. He noticed that his mother had found the tooth and found some leather string and turned the tooth into a necklace for him. He put it on with a loving smile.
Silently Cloud made his way to the mansion.
