You Don't Understand

Gabreilla Moushigo

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Warnings for: Violence/Cursing/Sexual Nature – it's rated M for a reason.

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Last Chapter:

Vincent was about to get up and put and end to all of this dilly dallying when he suddenly heard music. Tifa had apparently heard it to because she perked up right away. It was her phone ringing in the other room. "Oh! Let me get that." She left her bread and chocolate on the counter before leaving Vincent to finish his breakfast. He grumbled and sat down.

Tifa picked up the cell before pressing the button to talk. "Hello?"

"Hey Teef." Came a familiar voice, Cloud.

"Hey Cloud!" She said cheerfully, loud enough for Vincent to hear since he seemed curious. "It's good to hear your voice again! How are you doing?"

"I dunno…" His voice was light today. That made her very happy. "Want to come outside and find out?"

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"You're outside!" She almost shouted, "Come in!"

"No," He said, his voice a little calmer this time. "You have to come out and get me."

She wasn't going to argue with him and burst out of the house. There he was, on his bike - Chocobo hair and all. "Cloud!" She rushed up to hug him, as she did all her friends.

"Hey Teef." He patted her back fondly and she released the vice like grip she had on his neck. "Where is Vincent?"

"He's in the house eating breakfast." She tugged him, indicating she wanted him to come in already. "Come on in! I'll get you something to eat. It's not much but it's something."

Cloud obediently got off his bike and made sure to put the stand down before he forgot and let his motorcycle fall over. Tifa grabbed him by the arm and pulled him into her new home, he removed his goggles as he entered. The kitchen was through the living room. Vincent was sitting at a table that was too small for him, and he laughed. Vincent raised a brow at him and Cloud shook his head a little. Tifa offered Cloud her seat and he sat down, he was the perfect height for the table.

Vincent drew his legs up painfully, not happy about this unannounced intrusion. He would have given Cloud a glare, but decided against it.

"Hey Vince," Cloud offered.

"Cloud." Vincent decided to busy himself by taking out his cell. He was fiddling with it, getting most of his old numbers from Tifa's phone list. She was missing Reeve and Shelke's… but he had called them enough to remember them.

"New phone?" Cloud asked stupidly.

"Obviously." Vincent was still mashing buttons.

"Here you go Cloud." Tifa placed a bowl and plate in front of him. "I baked it this morning… hope its good." She went back to washing her dishes.

"Wow," Cloud looked at the meager faire. "I didn't know you baked." Instead of pulling off a piece of the bread he just dunked the whole thing into the bowl, making a mess.

"Of course you wouldn't." Vincent said with his even voice.

"What's that - ?" Cloud began.

"Oh!" Tifa exclaimed, making the two look at her. "I have to go get some greens today for Pumpkin!"

"Pumpkin?" Cloud laughed.

"Pumpkin is the Chocobo Vincent got me!" Tifa exclaimed, her fingers twining together happily. "She is so cute! You should see her before you leave Cloud."

"I will." He nodded.

"Great!" She smiled and looked at Vincent. "I'll just leave the two of you alone then, you probably have some catching up to do or something." She really didn't want to leave the two of them together, as Vincent was pretty suspicious of Cloud's intentions. But because of that same reason she wasn't about to ask Vincent to leave the two of them alone together.

Vincent beat her to it. "I'll go."

"What?" Tifa's head almost snapped around.

"I'll go. You and Cloud would probably like to talk… besides it's my turn to feed that stupid Bird."

He says that, but I caught him just yesterday petting her and telling her how good she was being for not ripping out his hair. Tifa shook her head, the things that man did when he didn't think anyone was looking. "Ok Vincent." It really meant a lot to her that he trusted her as he did.

He gave her a small smile before getting up from the table and right in front of Cloud, gave her a sound kiss on the lips. "Be good." He rubbed his forehead against hers.

"I will." She blushed.

Cloud cleared his throat before stuffing the rest of the bread into his mouth. "This is really good, thanks Tifa."

Vincent walked out of the dinning room, through the living room and gave her one last glace before walking out the door. She could hear the door lock behind him.

Cloud got up. "Hey Teef," His smile was a genuine one. "Want to show me around?"

"Sure!" She started walking to the room under the stairs.

"Oh wow," Cloud was surprised to find such a big room. "Kinda hidden isn't it – you can't even tell it's there from the outside of the house."

"Isn't it nice?" Tifa smiled. "Vincent's room is upstairs – it's pretty big. It has a really high ceiling but I think its because they just took out the attic. We have a basement too, but since we don't have much right now – it's not like we need anywhere to store anything."

"Huh, true." Cloud nodded. "You did leave everything at the house."

Tifa wanted to apologize. "I'm really sorry about that." She fussed. "I didn't want to put you out but you hadn't been home in so long… and I tried to call you."

"Yeah," Cloud half smiled. "My voice mail box has been full for a while." He put his gloved hands in his pockets, removing them as he pulled his hands out. "It's not because I don't like you guys, you know that right?"

"I know." Tifa nodded, "You've just never liked talking on the phone."

"Right." He rubbed the back of his head in that familiar way.

"Would you like to see Vincent's room?" She asked.

"Actually," He smiled. "Can I see your room?"

"Sure," Tifa cursed herself, wondering if her room would look convincing at all. She didn't really sleep in there and it almost turned into more of her closet than anything. Oh well, maybe the slight mess would make it believable. "Home sweet home!" She ushered him in.

"It looks so different from our room at home."

"Yeah, I guess I thought I would go with the green base with white and pink flower look." Tifa's mind really wasn't into the conversation. "That and the cluttered look was what I was going for."

"So," He grinned at her in an evil-playful sort of way, giving her a nudge with his elbow. "What's you and Vincent's relationship like?"

She wasn't quite sure what he was asking, or how he wanted her to answer. He was hovering between big brother mode and friend mode… she wasn't sure which road to take with him. "It's been nice."

"How nice?" He prodded.

She blushed a bit. "It's been actually really great. We've been learning a lot about each other… I'm really happy here."

"Do you know what I think?" He said softly.

"What?"

"I think you look the best you have in years." He frowned. "Do you know what else I think?"

"What?" She felt that he was alright with everything to this point.

He leaned down to whisper in her ear. "I think he was fucking you when you talked to me on the phone." With his mouth so close to her ear his laughter boomed. "Tifa… exercise?"

"Well," She was so red right now she thought her cheeks would pop. "We haven't really done it yet… but…"

"You want to?" Cloud grinned.

She nodded.

"You're engaged to me you know." Cloud's voice turned soft, his hand was suddenly on her cheek. She jumped at that.

"What?" She practically squeaked, pulling away from him.

"Tifa," Cloud advanced on her, he grabbed her by the arm.

"Cloud, please!" She tried to pull her arm back.

His fingers bit down into her arm with a bruising force. He hadn't meant to hurt her, but just wanted to keep her from leaving.

She flinched, if she thought Vincent was strong then Cloud was in an entirely different league of his own.

"Tifa," Cloud repeated. "Please just listen to me!"

"What?" She stopped struggling and the pressure from his fingers abated a bit, but not much.

"Tifa, you never told me you didn't want to stay engaged." He pulled her closer, "What brought all this on?

She wanted to roll her eyes at him but thought better of it. "Cloud, I never even agreed! You asked me to think about it."

"But you wore my ring." Cloud brought up. "That had to mean something." He bent down to kiss her and she moved away, he took her head in his hands and pointed her face to his before he pressed a kiss to her lips.

She twisted her head. "You never gave me a chance to say no."

"You never gave me a chance." He turned her own words back to her.

Her eyes bugged out of her head when he flipped her onto her bed. "W-what the hell are you doing?"

"What do you think?"

Tifa wondered what the heck just happened. They were talking so nicely a minute ago and now he was trying to accost her in her own room.

"I love you Tifa." Despite his smaller frame, he was very strong and found no trouble keeping her hands pinned to the side.

"Stop it!" Tifa managed to pull one of her arms away from him. She couldn't believe her friend would do something like this to her. He was supposed to love her. "I know you love me Cloud, but I don't love you like that anymore… so please! Please get off of me before Vincent comes back and shoots you."

"He'll be gone for a little while… he thinks we're talking." Cloud said confidently, he hadn't meant to scare her with these words but they had that effect. "How long Tifa?" Cloud asked. "How long did you want to be with him?"

She didn't want to answer. "A year… afterwards."

"Why Tifa?" Cloud pushed on her hard, hoping she would answer him a little quicker and more honestly if he did.

"Because he was so nice to me." She turned away, not wanting to look at him anymore. She was shaking as she said. "I didn't think he would ever want me though."

Cloud wanted to grit his teeth. "Why Tifa?" Why didn't you wait for me?"

"I waited for you for years!" She wailed at him, turning to face him. "I waited for you when we were kids… when you returned and even a year after Aerith. I loved you Cloud, and I still do." She added, hoping that it would calm him to know that – especially now after all he did. After what he was doing.

"So that's it?" Cloud asked. "Are you just going to give up on me?"

"I never did Cloud, I've always been there for you."

"What about Vincent?"

"What about him?"

"When did he talk to you about going with him? He knew I loved you… he knew I asked you to marry me but took you away anyhow."

"Don't lie to me Cloud!" Tifa became enraged. "I already know what happened! I know what he asked you two years ago… so don't lie!"

Cloud felt like he had been caught. "Do you believe everything he says over me?"

"This is Vincent, Cloud!" Tifa squirmed to no avail. "Do you think he would have told me such a thing unless he was completely serious?" Vincent was many things but definitely not a liar. He definitely wouldn't have said something outlandish like that just so she would fall for him. Cloud was still pressing down on her. She began to cry, her body was stressed and she was afraid.

"Tifa," Cloud's voice not longer carried a hard edge to it. He took his weight from her and moved them onto their sides. He held her while she cried, when she felt he was no longer angry she hugged him too. She held out hope that they could still be friends – even after something like this. What were a few bruises anyway? They used to rough house when they were kids – this shouldn't be any different. "I'm sorry if I scared you."

"It's ok." Tifa's tears abated and she folded her arms in front of her chest, he continued to hold her like that for a few more moments.

"Remember when we were kids?" It sounded as if Cloud wanted to lighten the mood a bit, and she nodded.

"Yes." She didn't know where he was going with this, but she remembered everything about their childhood together.

"I remember that pretty blue dress you wore." He held her tighter.

"Cloud," She warned, blushing.

"That was right before I left." Now he was blushing. "Do you remember?"

"Of course I do." Tifa felt uncomfortable at where this conversation was headed.

"We didn't know how to do it of course…" There mothers were worried about talking about it to them, thinking that if they did their children might get into trouble. "But you let me touch you right here."

She hadn't realized his hand was moving down until it was between her legs. Her body was frozen, but not in that pleased way when Vincent touched her unexpectedly. She was shocked. She couldn't even get the words out to speak.

"You're wet." He stated, obviously he thought that he was the cause for her arousal.

"N-no… you don't understand." When Tifa tried to move her arms she realized she couldn't – they were pinned between the two of them.

"I think I do." His fingers parted the fabric to the side before sliding his fingers into her, he shivered at her warmth. "Tifa," His mouth intruded in on hers, cutting off any protests.

Her body betrayed her. Left sensitive and unsatisfied from Vincent's touching it made it all the easier for Cloud to get a favorable reaction out of her. Guilt swept through her, Vincent! She wished he would come home already. She didn't care anymore if he shot Cloud, or shot her for that matter. It wouldn't matter. Cloud was suffocating her with his mouth, by the time he let her breath she was choking. His saliva ran down the side of her lips.

"I couldn't make you cum before Tifa… when we were kids." Cloud found that place against her that she liked by dumb luck and tenderly caressed it.

"Please, stop!" The words tore through her when she could finally say something. Her body was shuddering helplessly.

"You don't mean that." Cloud said insistently, rubbing that spot ruthlessly until she came around his fingers. He kissed her again after that, letting his grip loosen.

She just wanted to die. How could he do that to her? She wallowed in self pity for a moment before he eyes popped open. Vincent would be home any time now. There was no way he was going to believe her if she told him what Cloud did. Cloud had let her out of his death grip and she took advantage of it… ripping herself away from him before he could detain her and do anything else. "Get away from me!" Tifa shouted, her voice not even her own. "Get out!"

Cloud looked a little confused. "Tifa?" He tried to reach for her again.

"Don't touch me!" She jumped away as if his touch would burn her. "You've ruined everything! Get out!"

Cloud got up and tried to go to her only to be sent sailing back to the bed when Tifa punched him.

"Get out!" She repeated. "I don't want to see you again!"

"Tifa," Cloud rubbed his purple cheek. "You don't mean that."

"Y-yes! Yes I do!" She was tired of having to ask him, so she grabbed him arm and dragged him. She accidentally let him hit the doorframe on his way out before sending him tumbling down the stairs off of her front porch.

Cloud bumped his face against one of the stepping stones that made up their walk way to the main road. There was a metallic taste in his mouth and he spit. Blood. He had been so stunned by her reaction he never even protested once. He honestly had no idea what he did to deserve this.

"What are you standing there for?" Tifa glared, wanting him to get on Fenrir already and go. "Leave or I'll come down there and…"

"Ok." Cloud shook his head, she was just acting hysterical. "You can stop screaming… I'll leave." Cloud walked over to his bike and with one deft movement, was on it. "Just call me if you need anything."

Tifa wanted to strangle him; he never answered his phone in his life. How dare he even think of calling on her now? Before she could utter another word he shot off on his bike. Now that he was gone, panic set in.

She ran back into the house, quaking worse now that the adrenaline was wearing off. What was she going to do first? Would Vincent be able to tell what had happened?

She shakily went to her room and saw that the bed sheets were mussed. Maybe she should smooth them out? Wait, couldn't he smell really well? He seemed to have great senses... almost like a bloodhound. It would be best to burn them – but that would be too obvious. She could throw them out. That would be perfect. She grabbed them up into a ball quickly before running outside. There was a dumpster a little closer to their house – their neighbors worked in construction… so it would be easy for her bed spread to get lost there.

Tifa then realized that if he could smell what happened to her bedding then he could definitely smell Cloud on her. She ran to the house as quick as her feet could carry her. She snatched the door open and went hastily into the bathroom. She allowed herself a small break down before calming herself.

If she acted too strangely he would know. He would know and it would all be over. She scrubbed at her skin efficiently before turning off the shower. She heard footsteps in the living room and froze. Cloud wouldn't have come back right? She realized that there were no towels and she had forgotten a change of clothes.

"Tifa?" Vincent's gentle voice asked through the door. "Are you taking a shower?" She could hear the incredulousness in his voice.

"Y-yes." She said nervously.

Okay… Vincent paused for a moment. "Aren't you coming out?"

"In a minute… I… don't have any clothes."

He smiled at that. "I don't mind."

"I do!"

"You're always so shy Tifa." He chided, but left her alone. "I'll just be in the kitchen then."

When she was sure Vincent was in the kitchen she bolted to her room and locked the door. She dumped her dirty clothes into the laundry basket… hoping that he wouldn't notice anything. She donned a thick black skirt that flew past her ankles and her favorite blue sweater. It covered her arms up nicely anyway. He would be able to see her shoulders with this on, so hopefully it would distract him from looking at her arms. She walked cautiously into the kitchen, when he looked up she tried to act nonchalant about everything but was failing miserably. She went to the sink to scrub out the chocolate pan, by now what was left dried and hardened on the bottom.

"I see Cloud left in a hurry." Vincent stated behind her. "He left tire marks on our lawn."

"Y-yes he did." Her hands were shaking now.

He leveled a look at her, which was more curious than suspicious, but in her present state she didn't know. "Why did he leave so quickly Tifa?"

"No reason." She said a little too quickly.

"You're lying." She heard him get up behind her and go over to her. Suddenly he seemed much bigger than before as he looked down at her. Maybe his height increase had to do with her almost cowering before him as he scrutinized her. "What did he do Tifa?"

She shook her head, not wanting to answer.

"Why would you need to take a shower? Why are you wearing long sleeves when it's warm in the house?"

"Because I wanted to go out later?" She tried to make it sound like a joke.

"That sounds a lot more like an uncertainty than an answer Tifa." He tugged at the sleeve of her shirt. "What are you hiding?"

"I'm not hiding anything!" Tifa whirled around at him.

"If you don't tell me…" Vincent warned.

Guilt was still eating at her and she felt the need to confess. "We had a fight!" It was the truth, at least half of it. "We were yelling and he grabbed my arms! I punched him in the face and threw him out of the house! I took a shower to get his blood off of me!"

Vincent was only slightly amused at the thought of little Tifa tossing someone like Cloud out of the house. He was completely concerned about her arms though. "Let me see your arms."

"I don't want you to look." She grabbed her shirt, if he saw he might know.

"Let me see." He took her wrist gently, only meaning to connect with her and she winced. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to hurt you." But he wasn't going to back down. "Let me see your arms."

She finally rolled up her sleeves for him to examine her. It looked like she had four hand prints on each of her arms all together. It was odd seeing them. They were like purple hands holding her captive. He shook his head a bit, concerned with what he was about to ask her next, but had to do it anyway. "Was that all he did to you?"

She covered her face, hoping he wouldn't ask her any further questions if he didn't see the lie in her eyes. "Yes!" She started crying now, hating to be deceitful and hating herself for letting this happen. "It's already bad enough as it is!"

"I'm sorry," He apologized again, patting the top of her head gently, pulling her to him. "I had to ask."

"I know." Her arms wrapped cautiously around him, half because they were in pain and half disbelieving that he was still here. He had believed her! Thank goodness! Maybe he would never have to know.

"I should have come back sooner." He rested his head on top of hers. "If I had known this would happen I wouldn't have stopped to get coffee."

He was being thoughtful, trying to stay out of the house while she and Cloud talked. She wished he hadn't been so trusting. But she couldn't fault him for it.

"You never got to eat this morning did you?" Vincent asked, noticing that she was a bit shaky. He remembered that she surrendered her food to Cloud when he walked into the door. She shook her head. "You can wash dishes later. Let's go get you something before you faint." He touched his forehead to hers before leading her out the door.

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Author's Notes:

Ok – before any flames pop up – I do not hate Cloud. Nor do I think he would do anything like what I just wrote. I know I said I wouldn't villainize him, but I sort of did anyway. I guess at least I didn't villainize him for the sake of Tifa wanting to be with him still. The only reason I used him – was because he was convenient for what I was trying to write.

Just a few notes about why I wrote this – while this story isn't completely accurate – much less violence… I've had something similar happen to me when I was younger. I won't go into it to gross you out – it's just a little therapeutic to write something about it I guess (especially since I never told anyone). It sort of just hit me to write about this kind of thing happening to make more conflict and whatnot – but also to just talk about what it feels like to have someone who is supposed to be one of your friends do something like that to you. (May no one else know what that feels like). Cloud was just used because he seemed to have the strongest connection – being her childhood friend and all. Sorry Cloud!

I knew I was taking a chance writing this chapter – I'm not sure if I'll get reviews, outrage or shocked silence. I almost removed it because of how seriously screwed up the subject matter was – but this sort of thing happens in real life too… so…oh well. Look forward to better things happening in future chapters. I'm going to put the next chapter after I get done proofing it today. I hate to leave a chapter like this dangling without something a least somewhat positive happening afterwards.

In other news - right now I have about thirty-five pages of unused material for new chapters. My chapters can run from three pages to seven or eight pages long. Right now it's just filling in the plot holes, making scenes more readable and proofing the crap out of them. (I read through these things at least three times before they make it here now). And they STILL have lots of errors

On to the Reviews:

Lady Shiva: That's ok. I think I was just being impatient. I was so used to people reviewing right away that I got a little spoiled hehe. I guess you were right to be nervous for our couple – but I'll make sure I write about some happy stuff later to balance all this bad stuff out.

I'm also happy you enjoy the perverted bits – I guess I was just worried that I was going to scare everyone away. (Hopefully I didn't with this chapter as well). For some reason I've been taking lots of chances recently – but hopefully everyone will enjoy them anyway.

Vinny the Vampire: Ha! Yeah, I drew a terrible picture of him… he looks awful! But Since I had a little free time at work yesterday (when it's busy it's busy when it's not it's not) I got a chance to draw a picture of Vincent and Tifa sleeping in bed together that I was really proud of. It's nothing perverted – just sleeping but I really like how it came out. I wish I still had adobe (my other computer with it kicked the bucket)… it would be so cool if I could color it in and put it on my deviant art account.

I'm glad you like the realism that I try to bring in – unfortunately I think all the cuteness might have just left for a little while. It'll pick back up again when all of this is worked out.

The hitting thing would have been bad too – because I'm not sure how I would have had him react. They both have great reflexes and are really strong so I figured that it wouldn't stop with one punch. Like I said – bad taste in my mouth.

I hope you get your lemon written. They do take a while because you have to figure out what to say without making it sound odd or humorous… and sometimes impossible to do - Haha! The best thing to do is to take your time – then of course send me the link - Hehe.

I hope your boyfriend has been taking notes for me – it would be nice to know if I was doing well on the lemons from a male perspective as well. Though, you ladies make me feel great too – especially since it's mostly from his perspective and you guys still enjoy it is really saying something.

Eternal Star: Thanks for your review. It makes me happy to know I have someone who doesn't even like the couple – to like my story. (starts to get a big head again). I'll try to keep plucking away at these chapters and get them up as soon as possible.

SandDragon91: Thank you for all of your compliments! (blushes) Vincent is pretty hard to write – he is so quiet all the time but he has the ability to be sarcastic and friendly too. I've had to go back more than a few times to pull out him from being too stony/mopey – usually that happened by accident. It's a lot easier to show this when I talk about his point of view though. That way he doesn't seem too rough around the edges. I'm glad I did Tifa well too – she is always so selfless that she sometimes got stuffed on the backburner. It's also hard to write about her personality sometimes (although no where near as difficult as Vincent).

Daylo: Haha – Yes, I do put them out pretty quickly – but you guys spoil me too by leaving such good reviews. I guess I wanted chocolate too when I wrote about this story – I'm a bit of a chocoholic myself. Which reminds me – I am hungry.

Ok guys – I'm going to go grab something to eat now – when I get back I'll be sure to post the next chapter.