A/N: Sorry for the long wait.

Gentle and Rough

Sun was just starting its routine passage upwards into the sky. Yuffie yawned as she waited for Tifa to get out of the shower. Today was going to be a little different than yesterday. Yuffie finally had her turn in the shower and Tifa was brushing her hair in the mirror. She resented the fact that she woke up late; Tifa wanted another sunrise with Chase.

Finally, Tifa and Yuffie decided to go down for breakfast. As they exited their room, they noticed that Chase's door was open by a small crack.

"Hey Tif, look," Yuffie said.

"No Yuffie, I know what your thinking and we shouldn't," Tifa said.

"Come on," Yuffie said. She walked over and peeked inside, "He isn't in right now, maybe we can find something else about Chase. You're never going to ask him about his past so we might as well try to dig something up."

"Look, Yuffie, if he does want to talk about it then he'll do. Let's just go get some breakfast," Tifa suggested.

Yuffie shook her head and went inside. Tifa, unable to stop her friend, followed her inside. Chase had kept his room neat, the bed was already made and nothing seemed out of place. The small LED clock looked like it hadn't been disturbed at all and everything looked normal.

Except no lights were on, the entire room was in shadows.

Yuffie glanced at the table to find a close laptop and a cell phone. Quickly, she went over and opened the laptop up.

"Yuffie!" Tifa yelled.

"Let's see, he doesn't have much on this thing. Wait a minute," Yuffie said. She found a file titled 'personal' on it. She moved the pointer to it and double-clicked on it. Inside were a few pictures of another person, a young woman.

She was quite beautiful. In each picture she was smiling at the unseen photographer. Her hair was a dark red that shown beautifully in the pictures along with her bright cerulean eyes.

"Pictures of a girl, who do you think it is?" Yuffie asked.

"I don't know," Tifa responded, leaning closer to see them. Tifa sighed and saw the cell phone. She picked it up and opened it, nothing on the call history except a few unknown numbers and no pictures. "We better go before Chase comes back."

Yuffie and Tifa went down to another restaurant for their breakfast. All during their meal, Tifa wondered who was the girl. Could it be that Chase might have lied to her or was it some other reason why he had those pictures?

Deciding not to think about anymore, Tifa decided that after breakfast she should go out to the deck for a few hours of sunbathing. The duo walked back to their room. Tifa changed into the two-piece bikini she purchased yesterday. It flaunted her two assets and revealed her glorious figure without leaving much to the imagination.

"What are you going to plan on doing Yuffie?" Tifa asked before heading out.

"I dunno, I'll think of something. If I see Chase, I plan on telling him something but you wouldn't object to going out tonight right?"

"No…Why?" Tifa asked.

"No reason," Yuffie said with a smile.

Tifa walked out of her room. She looked at the closed door and wondered if Chase was in. She bit her lip and walked to the door. Tifa knocked on the door and leaned closer to hear if anyone was coming.

The white door opened and Chase was in the skintight body shirt he had on before they came to the cruise only without the white jacket.

"Ms. Lockhart, umm," Chase struggled with his words as he noticed that Tifa was only in a bikini. "Can I help you?"

Tifa leaned closer to Chase, "Could I ask a favor of you?"

"Uh, I guess. What is it Ms. Lockhart?" Chase asked.

Tifa took off his sunglasses and placed them on the top of her head, "Can I borrow these?"

Chase held his eyes closed before rubbing them. He slowly opened them up. Tifa stared into his steel gray eyes. The silver, gorgeous eyes mesmerized her.

"You already took them, I suppose you could," Chase said. He fought hard to keep his eyes on her face and not her chest.

"Um, thank you," Tifa said, trying to look away from his eyes.

"Take care not to stay too long in the sun," Chase said.

"How did you know I was going to sunbathe?" Tifa asked.

"You bought that swimsuit for it correct? That what you were talking about," Chase answered.

"You paid attention to what I was saying?"

"Of course, shouldn't have I?"

"No, no, its ok," Tifa said. She looked around, "I'll see you later."

Tifa started to walk away. It was comforting finally seeing his eyes but they bore into her.

Chase stayed outside for a few more minutes watching the lovely Tifa walk away.

"You like her, dontcha?" Yuffie asked from behind Chase.

"Your mistaken," Chase said, turning to Yuffie. "Ms. Lockhart and I have become close friends and that's it."

"I don't believe that," Yuffie said.

"Leave me alone," Chase said.

"Look, I want you both to be together so I arranged a table for dinner at Chez Plateau upstairs. Formal wear so don't wear that jacket."

"I'm not going," Chase answered.

"I know you will. For a date with Tifa, I'm sure you will."

"When did you even have the time to do so, you were with Tifa all day."

"Your good, that's my little secret."

( . ) -----------\

Tifa waited at the table. The soft light from the candles gave the place a romantic atmosphere. She sighed and looked at her watch.

"I cant believe Yuffie made me dress up for this. Why did is it that I think Chase would've come," Tifa said. Yuffie did manage to change her into a stunning beauty. She had on a long, white dress with a split up her left leg.

"Sorry I'm so late," Chase said, coming from behind her and sitting on the chair opposite from her.

Tifa almost fell out of her chair once she saw Chase. It was undeniable that he looked entirely too sexy. He had another white dress shirt on that was unbuttoned at the top revealing his masculine chest. He wore a dark blue, silk suit that looked spectacular. His steel gray eyes twinkled in the candlelight, he was almost too good to be true.

"Um, you sure took a long time. You dilly-dally too much," Tifa said, regaining herself.

Chase chuckled, "I know, I'm sorry. Did you order yet?"

"No, I was waiting for you," Tifa responded.

"How sweet," Chase picked up the menu but looked over it for a minute. "It seems that Ms. Kisaragi has decided to spy on us."

Tifa took out a mirror from her purse and tried to get it to show her Yuffie. Finally noticing her at the table behind them, she placed it back, "What are we going to do?"

"We could always run," Chase suggested.

"Chase! Are you out of your mind?"

"Most likely, are you up to it? Really, do you want to be here?" Chase asked.

Tifa stayed quiet for a minute, "I want to stay with you though."

"We could go somewhere, like up to the deck, watch the stars or something," Chase suggested.

Tifa perked up, "Really?"

"I just don't want to be here. Anywhere else with you is fine. I just feel forced into doing this."

Tifa smiled, "Let's go."

Chase and Tifa got up from their seats and ran toward the exit. Confused waiters busboys quickly got out of the way and Yuffie was beyond angry.

Laughing all the way up, Tifa and Chase reached the highest point on the boat. While everyone was inside having dinner or simply doing something, they were outside in the moonlight.

"I love the stars," Tifa said, gripping the guardrail.

"You know, you still have my sunglasses," Chase said.

Tifa eyed him, "That's all you can say? Jerk."

Chase, recognizing the playfulness in her voice, looked up at the sky, "Well, I happen to like watching at the stars myself sometimes. It's great because there's one right next to me."

Tifa blushed, "Thank you Chase. I think I should tell you cause now you made me feel guilty. Yuffie and I snuck into your room and well…we looked at your laptop."

"And?"

"We kind of looked at some pictures of this girl,"

"That's it? An invasion of privacy but I don't really care. You told me, I really like honesty."

"Who is she?"

Chase looked down, "She's my sister. I miss her."

"Oh…sorry for looking," Tifa apologized.

"It's alright, as I said, I don't really care if you did," Chase said looking into Tifa's eyes.

"Chase?"

"Yes?"

"I…we should go to our rooms. It's getting late."

"Ok, let's go."

Chase and Tifa made their way down to their rooms. Tifa felt cold and Chase gave her his jacket. She smiled thanks at him and they kept walking. Once outside Tifa's room, they turned to look at each other.

"I guess this is goodnight," Tifa said.

"Yeah, goodnight," Chase said. "Tifa?"

"Yes Chase?"

He hesitated, "Sleep well."

Tifa felt a little disappointed inside. Did she really wish for him to say those three words? She was about to but what if he didn't?

"There you guys are!" Yuffie said as she ran up to them. "That is the last time I try to get you together. My gawd, how hard is it to open up to each other? I'm going to bed, I suggest you two do the same."

Yuffie opened the door and stormed inside. Tifa and Chase looked at each other before they were overcame with muffled laughter.

"Goodnight Chase," Tifa said, calming down.

"Goodnight Tifa," Chase said back to her.

A/N: Review dammit!