Something was wrong with the Shinra people. Or maybe, not wrong. More unexpected. The Mako smell in the air improved by the hour; Shinra and SOLDIER had done exactly what Tifa's father had hired them for. But everyone – Tifa included – expected the two SOLDIERS and three troops to get back in their transport and head back down the mountain. Instead, Sephiroth spent the day after the hike to the reactor looking pensive. There was a brief panic the next day when he vanished from the inn, but it had not taken the rest of his group long to find him in the always creepy Shinra mansion. Quite why he was in there or what he was doing was something none of the group would tell her.

Despite the fact the current situation was a complete change from what appeared to be Shinra's original plan, no one minded too much. The innkeeper gained compensation and the troops and Zack carried periodic patrols around the outskirts of Nibelheim. Fewer monster attacks than ever before. And, Tifa was loathe to admit this to anyone else out loud, anything keeping Zack here was welcome. A real life SOLDIER. Easy-going, great to chat to. He smiled a lot (at least when not staring at the Shinra mansion and looking uncomfortable). Had been so many places and seen so many things. Enough to make her question her decision to stay behind when all her friends headed East to Shinra.

But if she had gone, she would not have run into Zack. Deep breath. This was step was unfamiliar. Oh, she had talked to him on the way up the mountain. Those intervals when he wasn't bringing his gigantic sword down onto a monster – the few capable of slipping past the lightning fast strikes of Sephiroth's curved blade. She met boys and girls at the town well when they asked her. Always willing to say goodbye, but never willing to kiss – or anything else – as some angled for. Her refusal always annoyed them, but outside of a handful, she had barely talked to any of them, let alone considered them friends.

This would be different. Confidence Tifa. You talked to him fine yesterday. You guided him and the others up and down Mount Nibel with only one fatality. Urgh. Not the best pep-talk. Alarming coldness from the Shinra group after the bridge collapsed. Hopefully the man had not suffered much. Getting distracted-

Ahead and beyond where Zack regarded the Shinra mansion, Johnny's mother was re-applying her make-up. Now or never. "Zack?" Tifa called out.

He jumped and blinked at her. And smiled. "Oh, hi Tifa." He glanced back to the mansion. "You okay?"

"I am." Johnny's mother was watching her from across the square. Nope. Not conceding to her. "Wondered what you were planning today?"

Zack let out a sigh. "Well. Kinda waiting on the other guy. Until he's ready to go, I'm at a loose end. I was going to do another patrol, but-" He raised one eyebrow. "Did you have another idea for something to do." Breathe Tifa! Breathe. Oh, the things she could do with him, distract him, keep him from worrying about Sephiroth. Never tried it before, but the temptation he put into her head was intoxicating. The broad, physical strokes of what would happen were clear enough, but the actual effect; those lips on hers, those arms around her, his fingers gliding- "Tifa?"

Distracted. She coughed, her cheeks burning. "You could hang out with me for a while?" Zack blinked at her. "I wanted to know more about some of the places you visited. Like-" So many places, hard to know where to start. "Like Costa del Sol."

"What do you wanna know?" He cocked his head to one side.

"Everything. Not sure I could ever get there, but I'd like to know what it's like." A glance around and a conspiratorial whisper. "Is it true that people just wear their swimsuits while they're there."

Zack chuckled. "Not everyone, but yeah, people are pretty relaxed about clothing. It's so hot, you don't want to wear much."

He couldn't have. Maybe not as daring as a nude beach, but certainly he would have been shirtless there. Did he notice her gaze flick down? If so he said nothing. Tifa nodded. She was as wordly as she couldbe. She'd walked all the way and back to Rocket Town. "And the sea?"

"The sea's great there." He smiled. "Really clear water. Pretty warm too."

The sea was one of those things. Depicted on TV. In books. In magazines. There were statistics on its size, what it was like to be in it, to see it, to sail on it. But still hard to grasp the enormity; when sitting in the bath. The water there trivial in comparison. "I would like to see it."

"You like the sun?" Tifa nodded. "You'll love the place."

"Shame I'll never go."

Zack patted her back, the unexpected contact making her tense. "Don't give up hope. If you want to go, I'm sure you'll get there one day." He leaned closer; Tifa's heart skipped a beat. "Now, I just need to go on patrol until Mrs-" He nodded at Johnny's mother.

"Almasy," Tifa said.

"Almasy." He grinned. "Until she's distracted." He straightened up and saluted her. "Until later, Tifa."

She returned the salute. "Until then, Zack."

He grinned and jogged away, shouting for the troops; together the group headed out of town for monster patrol.