Chapter 03:

Tifa waved goodbye to Cloud and hurried away to find Yuffie. "So where are we heading, Yuff?" Tifa questioned curiously when she finally found her young friend. She couldn't think of anything else to say. There was only one thing, one person rather, on her mind at the moment.

The two young ladies walked side by side down the streets of Edge, making their way into the heart of Midgar. The once trampled city was now almost fully refurbished, with lights displaying all around and sounds streaming from every direction. Even though AVALANCHE was established in Midgar for quite some time, the newly renovated city still had a profusion of new places available for exploration. After the defeat of Sephiroth and Meteor, and after the defeat of Kadaj and his brothers, along with Sephiroth again, the once battle-scarred city finally earned its time of peace.

"Umm… I was thinking of sightseeing! You know, I'm not from around here, so I was thinking maybe you can be my tour guide for a bit," Yuffie suggested, "You know, show me all the cool shops! Ooh! And all the sweet restaurants!" Yuffie already skipped ahead and started looking around for any interesting shops.

"That's a great idea! Let's stay out late tonight. It'll make me feel young again," Tifa responded.

"Young again? Tifa, you're barely past twenty-two! It'll be a long time before you get the right to imply that you're old."

"Well… I guess you're right," Tifa laughed, "I don't know what I was trying to say."

The two friends walked for a few more blocks in calm silence, basking in the nightlights before Tifa suggested stopping by a small coffee shop for a break. "They've got coffee that's fresher and stronger than any I can make in the bar," Tifa said to Yuffie.

"Awesome, definitely keeping myself up tonight." Yuffie eagerly entered the coffee shop with Tifa following right behind her.

It was a small, cozy shop, with just around four other customers sitting by the windows sipping their drinks, reading the papers, or working on their laptops. Tifa headed towards a small table near the back of the shop and settled down while Yuffie ordered their drinks. "Espressos or lattés, Tif?" she called.

"Um, a small latté would be fine, Yuffie, thanks!"

Yuffie paid the clerk and made her way to the table. "Soooo," Yuffie started. Tifa saw a curious look on Yuffie's and at once knew what was coming up. "So Tifa," Yuffie continued with a lop-sided smile, "how are things?"

Oh boy, Tifa thought. "Pretty good actually. You didn't miss much," she lied.

"Hmm," Yuffie hummed, "really?"

Here it comes. "Yeah, just about. Hey, I don't come out often. Edge is pretty boring if you ask me."

"Really," Yuffie said again, with a hint of sarcasm in her voice, "Nothing much, huh?"

"Nope," Tifa said with a small smile, "Nothing much here." She quickly added, almost panicky, "So how's everything in Wutai?"

Yuffie put down her latté and crossed her arms. "No, no Tif, what's really goin' on?" She smiled, "Come on, there's gotta be something you wanna say!"

She knows, I bet, Tifa groaned mutely, Oh, goodness. She decided to play along with Yuffie's little game―maybe stall some time and let Yuffie's short-attention span take over. "Like what 'something,' do you suppose is going on?" Tifa was amused herself; she wanted to see where this conversation would actually head.

Yuffie was beaming, "You know…"

"I know…?"

Still beaming, "You-know-what with you-know-who…"

A little lost in where this conversation was leading to, but Tifa continued to play along. "Just tell me what you're trying to ask, Yuff! Haha, this doesn't have to be so enigmatic!"

"Okay, okay," Yuffie leaned close to Tifa's ear. Tifa could hear Yuffie's little, childish giggles. "So what's up between you and lover-boy Cloud back there?" Yuffie asked in an undertone.

Duh, of course. I knew it, Tifa remarked. She sighed and thought, Might as well tell her. Yuffie wouldn't take stuff like this seriously anyway.

"I was always kind of close to Cloud. Everyone knows we were good friends since we were little kids back in Nibelheim. But now, something's changing…"

"Like you two are seeing each other a bit differently now, right? But not in a bad way. And 'kind of close?' No way, Tif! You two are beyond close!" Yuffie made a silly laugh and carried on, "I saw you guys and your little 'moment' just a while ago."

Tifa groaned and flopped down onto the bench. "That's just great," she rolled her eyes before continuing, "It was only that one time though! I don't expect anything much out of that… anyway, it was just a friendly kiss."

"Yeah, right, friendly kiss, my ass! That was no 'friendly kiss,' if you ask me!" Yuffie made exaggerated kissing sounds and giggled hysterically. Tifa sat up and glared at her.

"Yuffie! How close were you when you saw us!"

"I'm a ninja. I can see you, but you can't see me," Yuffie said with a wink.

Tifa groaned and flopped onto the bench again. This'll be a long night.


Back in Seventh Heaven, Cloud looked through old files of his past deliveries. He started to have second thoughts about maintaining the Strife Delivery Service since it took way too much time and was simply not worth it, not even for the relatively high income…

Cloud lifted his head up as he heard voices outside the bar. It was a little late now, almost ten at night. Now who could that be? Cloud thought. He got up from the couch, and walked over to the door. "We're closed!" he called out. The voices sounded youthful, almost childlike. Cloud turned the door handle and pushed out the door.

Immediately two little bodies collided into Cloud, knocking the wind out of him completely. Denzel and Marlene! Cloud somewhat staggered, but he bent forward and patted the two children's heads and peaked out the door. "Barret? What the hell?"

An overly muscular man standing a little over six feet moseyed over to where Cloud was standing and let out a hearty laugh. "Yo buddy, 'what the hell?' Is that the kind of greeting that you offer to friends nowadays?"

"Only for you, Barret," Cloud smirked.

"Wise-ass, eh? I show you," Barret jogged forward and twisted Cloud into a headlock position, scrubbing his hair with his fist, "How do you like that, asshole?"

Cloud could never get tired of Barret's humor. It seemed to always lighten the entire environment around him, even if Barret's jokes may seem a bit rough sometimes.

"Barret, you're choking me. I'm not that durable."

Barret let go and gave another loud chuckle, "I figured the mighty world hero could fight for himself for a change instead of saving others!"

Again with the hero business, "Ah, whatever, you're almost twice my size anyway, man. Hey, by the way, what brings you here anyway?" Cloud asked.

Barret made his way inside the bar and sat on the floor with Marlene and Denzel. "Well, my little girl here wanted to visit her hero! And how can I refuse," he got up, walked back to Cloud, put his hand up and whispered, "Oh yeah, and Denzel felt a little homesick, he wouldn't admit it, but I could tell. Yeah, so I brought the poor kid back here."

"Big guy with a big heart. That's you right?" Cloud said with a sense of mockery in his voice.

"Hey, Spiky," Barret began. Then he started cracking his knuckles, "You sure you wanna go there? I'll wipe your head clean of sarcasm"

Cloud smiled, "There are kids here, you know."

"Damnit! You lucked out this time!" Barret growled. They both laughed.

Barret looked at the kids again, "All right, kids, I'll check up on you guys tomorrow! Don't stay up too late, or else Cloud here will get a major beating from me first thing in the morning!"

"Uh wait, what? You're leaving them here?"

"What's wrong, Cloud? Didn't you miss us while we were gone today?" Marlene said, tugging at Cloud's overcoat.

"Definitely did. Sorry, I was just surprised by the sudden visit. Relax, I'll enjoy the company." Cloud felt rather guilty. Yeah, I really have to stay here more often. Time for me to settle.

"Yay!" cheered both Marlene and Denzel. "Bye, Daddy! See you soon!" Marlene exclaimed, hugging her adoptive father by the waistline.

"Bye now, Marlene. Make sure Cloud and Denzel stay out of trouble, got it?" Barret joked as he made his exit.