A/N:Sorry that it's so late in the day. I actually just got back from school.
Thanks to Heloeyes, Skyhanhunter, Kisdota-The Freak Gamer, Dagreatonian, and Milvus for their fabulous reviews on ch 6!!! ...I'll just cut to the chase. First part is in Tifa''s POV and second is in Vincent's.
enjoy!
Sorry, but I forgot that I have never put a disclaimer on this thing so...
Disclaimer: I don't own FF7 or the characters or the places represented in this chapter (and all previous chapters). The plot though, is undoubtedly mine.
Can Yuffie even cook? The thought wasn't helpful. Tifa knew all to well what happened when the teenager attempted to cook anything. Complete disaster. Her brown eyes attempted to scan her notepad for anything useful. Unless she wants to take him out for dinner and discuss classical music, I find this stuff incredibly worthless. She felt bad for Yuffie, but Vincent was a wall. Not only did he never talk, but he almost made you feel bad for wanting to talk to him. Let's just hope she had more luck with Cloud.
As if on cue, a key was jostled in the lock of the door directly ahead of her. Spiky blonde hair greeted her, causing her knees to buckle. They always did whenever she caught him coming through the front entrance. It was just constant reassurance that he wasn't going away again. "Hey," she couldn't help how soft her tone was. "How was it?"
His eyes said it all. It couldn't have been that bad… "How was…inventory?"
She glowed at his attempt to make conversation. It was this Cloud she missed. "Fine! Vincent was really helpful." At least in that respect. "He left a few minutes ago, helping Reeve with some project of some sort."
Cloud almost looked relieved, but Tifa just figured she was imaging things. Vincent and Cloud were friends…there was nothing for him to worry about. "TEEF!" Yuffie scrambled through the door, ignoring her previous tour guide and looking absolutely frantic, "That was a prison sentence. But look! New materia!"
She feigned interest, "Nice, Yuffs. You seem…eager." Tifa raised an eyebrow, amused at Yuffie's exuberant disposition.
Cloud talked before the ninja, looking a tad confused. "Where are the kids?"
"Oh, Barret took them to Gold Saucer. They should be back in 3 days."
The blonde shrugged and retreated to his room, anxious to rest from the ninja's antics. "3 days?" Yuffie echoed. "Maybe we should speed things up then." She sat across from Tifa on the other side of the bar.
Tifa felt nervous. She barely had any information to give Yuffie now, and she doubted she could find much more about Vincent in three days. I doubt I can even have him come back in three days. The caped man looked all too desperate to leave. "…why?"
"Because…" Yuffie looked at her softly, "You'll have chocobo head all by yourself for 3 days. No one to interrupt you or anything…"
She reddened at the suggestion, "Yuffie…"
"What?" She said innocently, "Besides I'm too anxious to know what you've learned about Vincent to wait! Give me the low down."
Tifa went in front of the bar, taking the seat next to her friend. Please don't be too disappointed. "…Um here." She handed the pad to Yuffie, who took it hungrily.
"Oh…you have a whole lot of tomatoes, Teef."
"The other page!"
The ninja practically ripped the sheet, "…Bisque? What the heck is that?"
Tifa smiled, "It's a really thick soup."
"Oh." Yuffie threw the pad aimlessly back on the counter. "What else ya got?"
Sigh. "Sorry Yuffs…he wasn't too open." Tifa tried her best to put on a smile, feeling a little bad for the hopeful ninja. She drew her fingers gently through her straight brown hair. Hopefully she'll still want to tell me about Cloud. Her eyes flickered. Cloud… A part of her hated the fact that Yuffie was spying on him for her. It wasn't the way she imagined it would happen. But without this maybe it'd never happen.
"That's okay, Teef. I wasn't too successful either."
Her smile faded. Or maybe it'll just never happen at all. "So what did you find?"
"Only that he's totally boring." Yuffie squealed, seeing that Tifa was restraining a punch. "…Oh, and that he's over Aerith." The ninja said it offhandedly, not knowing the affects it would have on the fighter next to her.
…Wait, what? A sudden surge of glee frizzled through Tifa's limbs. He's over Aerith? Her once melancholic frown was cracking with a chuckle, "He is?" She was giggling, overwhelmed with the sudden news Yuffie just presented her. "He's over her??" Tifa grabbed Yuffie's hands and dragged her up, "HE IS!" FINALLY! She moved Yuffie in a circle, practically skipping. "Tell me what happened! What did he say? Why? When did he figure it out?"
"Whoa, whoa…you okay there?" Yuffie released herself from Tifa's vice grip.
Are you kidding???? "I'm fantastic!" Tifa breathed out and plopped on the floor, her face in a never ending smile. "Why wouldn't I be?" Cloud doesn't love her. He can move on…finally he can move on.
Yuffie knelt down to her level, "…Just making sure. It's that big of a deal?"
YES!!! Tifa coughed and pushed her bangs back, noticing her behavior. "…It's just good news." But she couldn't repress it. "It's great news. Please, tell me how it happened." How did she ever get him to talk about that?
She shrugged, like it was the easiest task ever, like Tifa wasn't trying to get him to talk for her whole life. "I brought him to the church and just used some old Yuffie charm! Piece of cake."
"But what did he say?"
"He said something about how he was really confused because of that Zack kid and stuff."
Zack? "Oh, but he doesn't seem …sad?"
"Definitely not like before." Relief. Yuffie became a tad timid, "What about Vinnie?"
Tifa blinked, not knowing what to say. Vincent never actually seemed depressed, more stoic and apathetic. "Um, he didn't mention Lucrecia at all." He never does.
But Yuffie seemed to take this positively, "Fantastic!" Her thoughts seemed to be running, "So maybe I can buy some classical CD's or something…anything, it's a start at least. And you…why are you wearing that?" She gestured to Tifa's baggy pants.
"As apposed to what?" Not that skirt again.
"An actual attractive outfit? Come on Teef! We only have three days!!"
Tifa hated that Yuffie was putting a deadline to this. She also didn't really want to make herself look that available again, "I don't want him staring at my legs the whole time…I actually want to talk to him."
Yuffie made a grunt, "Ha, alright…" She tapped her fingers on the bar counter, "We're practically in the same spot from when we started, aren't we?"
"…Looks like it," Tifa grinned. "But at least I know he doesn't like Aerith." That makes it seem less hopeless.
"And Vinnie likes soup…what the heck do we do with that information?"
The older woman had no answer. She slumped, not knowing what to do next.
----
He wasn't clueless, it just didn't make sense. If anyone liked me I thought it would be Yuffie. Though this afternoon made Vincent think someone else might be pining for his comfort. But she likes Cloud. It was obvious two years ago…it was obvious during the Geostigma epidemic.
But then why was Tifa so shy? Why did she keep asking about his favorite things? Did she get tired of waiting for Cloud? He couldn't piece it together. Being sick does not call for this behavior…and if she was just asking as a friend she wouldn't have seemed so awkward.
The realization made him feel ill. Vincent didn't feel like dealing with any sort of one sided relationship. To break someone's heart was a horrible task. But this just doesn't affect Tifa.
Poor Cloud, who finally seemed to be over his depression and guilt, would have to find out that Tifa may not like him anymore. It was awful, and unexplainable. Vincent had never hinted at liking Tifa, mostly because he didn't. Maybe she has a weak point for broken men.
He took the foreign device out of his pants pocket, knowing that the brief unease was necessary. He has to know…I just hope he won't break again. Vincent swiftly dialed the number, "Cloud?"
The caped man heard the confusion on the other side. Vincent never called anyone, ever.
"I have something important to tell you. Meet me in the square in a half an hour."
A/N: Part 8 is done, and I think 9 is too, but I don't really remember :/ stupid school taking up my time. I'll post 8 Friday (hopefully around 4:30, but if not then it'll probably be late...like Saturday morning).
Remember the magic of comments!!! (oh and as a side note...I realized that Luck plus materia would be purple, not red. I'll edit that eventually.)
I'm also thinking of writing a one shot. There adding 20 minutes on to AC, so I was thinking of making my own ending...haha just want to knwo if that seems stupid or not :) bye now!
~Mira