Puffthefishxx: Well THIS took forever to update -.- Sorry bout that. School and stuff got busy. Anyway, Disclaimer: I own nothing of Final Fantasy.

'Today has been weird.' read the telltale entries to Cloud's personal online journal. 'Tifa's acting oddly. I don't understand it at all! One moment she was fine and then she started snapping at me. Yuffie says she's just PMSing. Vincent says she's just having a hard time this year. Cid says she's just a woman, but I don't think that's it. She looks hurt, and I don't know what's wrong. I wonder if it was something Reno did, but I'm afraid to ask. I'm also angry about it, and really want to know. I don't understand at all why she should be so angry with me or anyone else for that matter.

I caught her crying in her room. She acted like she wasn't, but I knew she was. It scared me. I've never seen Tifa cry before. She looked…fragile. Tifa never looks like that, not the Tifa I know. She's always the one to yell at me…set me straight whenever I'm acting like my old self.

I didn't know what to do to get her to stop crying. I was completely lost. I'm not exactly the best at sympathizing with people. If anyone has any advice, I'd really appreciate…anyone but Yuffie and Cid that is.

Cloud6'

Tifa wasn't sure whether to be angry or sad. She was hurt that she had made Cloud believe that he wasn't much good to her. She was angry that he had the nerve to tell everyone on the internet about it.

Her heart was torn in two and it wasn't helping that the phone was ringing incessantly. Her hand reached out, her eyes never leaving the computer screen, moving around on the desk until she gripped the handle of the smooth telephone receiver. Its last ring resonated in her ears as she jerked it off the phone jack and placed it to her ear.

"Hello?" she asked, as sweetly as she could manage herself.

"Tifa?!"

"Yuffie?" Tifa asks quizzically, surprise and worry in her voice. Yuffie sounded truly upset.

"Tifa! Oh thank goodness! Get out of the house! Now!"

"What? Why—?"

Click.

The phone went dead without any warning, and fear gripped at Tifa's heart. The room was unnaturally quiet as Tifa's heart pounded within her chest. She could hear every beat as though it were a drum sounding just next to her ear. Blindly, she set the receiver back on the phone jack and turned around, dashing out of Cloud's room and down the hall.

Her feet fell like drums as she ran down the hallway, down the stairs, into the kitchen. She felt the blood pumping through her veins as she grabbed the door handle and jerked it. Nothing gave.

"NO! Nonononono—" Tifa called, jerking at the handle over and over again. "It shouldn't be locked, it shouldn't be—" she chanted, jerking harder and harder as each second passed. It was as though she felt that if she jerked it hard enough and enough times, she could get it open. It was vain though, to think that this was happen.

Her entire body froze as she felt the gentle pressure of someone's hand on her shoulder. She felt sweat bead up on her forehead as the pressure of their fingers strengthened sending Tifa's adrenaline rush into hyper drive. She panicked, balling her hand into a fist, turning and planting the fist on their jaw with as much force as she could muster.

"Holy CRAP Tifa!" screamed a very annoyed, rather injured Cloud as he fell back into some pots on the table behind him. Blood gushed from his lip and down his chin and onto his teeth. He coughed and spit into the sink next to him, trying to relieve his mouth of the taste of salt and copper.

Tifa was mortified. Her cheeks blushed crimson as she grabbed a towel from the rack next to her, rushing it over to Cloud who spit into the sink again. He turned on the faucet to let the water take the blood and spit down the drain, while his hand reached out and received the towel gratefully, running it under the water and then wiping off his chin.

"I'm so sorry, Cloud." Tifa whispered to him, extremely upset with herself.

She heard him sigh as he cupped his hands under the faucet and drew in some water, swishing it around in his mouth and spitting it out. The water was red before it drained down into the sink and finally the blood stopped flowing so badly.

"What is wrong with you?" Cloud turned on her angrily, wiping his mouth off with the wet cloth again. His fingers gently touched the cut in his lip where her fist had forced his teeth to ram into the skin, tearing it open and winced at the soreness. He could already feel it swelling twice its normal size.

Tifa shook her head, looking rather ashamed of herself. "Sorry…" she muttered.

"Just get me some ice, please?" Cloud sighed, closing his eyes and ignoring the searing pain of the cut moving against his teeth as he spoke.

Tifa nodded to him and went to the fridge, retrieving a bag of ice she usually kept for Denzel whenever he was hurt. "Here." She handed it to him, and he took it gratefully, pressing it against his mouth. He winced at the sudden chill but was glad to have it when his lip slowed its persistent throbbing.

"Sorry." Tifa tried again, scratching the back of her head and placing her other hand on her hip. She really didn't know what to say. It seemed silly to have believed Yuffie in the first place.

"It's okay," Cloud sighs, opening his eyes and looking over at her. "Why did you hit me anyway?" he asks curiously. "You were terrified of something."

Tifa blushed, and cleared her throat, "Ahem, well, er….ahem…Yuffie called and told me that I needed to get out of the house and that's when the line went dead." She explained, hoping he would believe her.

Cloud looked perplexed by this, "I guess that's a good reason." He mutters, shifting the ice pack so that it wouldn't stick to his skin. "I'm going up to my room." He groans, turning and slowly walking out of the kitchen.

Tifa could hear his footsteps as he walked up the steps and then listened as she heard his door close. She had really made a fool of herself this time.

Feeling lower than she had in a while, she decided to clean up around the kitchen. Some blood had dripped onto the floor and she needed to take care of that and then Cloud had left his mud speckled goggles and gloves on the table. Picking up the rag Cloud had used, she mopped up the blood before stopping up the sink and filling it with soapy water. She let the cool water run over the goggles and the gloves before dropping both of them into the water. She hoped she didn't shrink the leather again; he'd already been through three pairs of gloves in six months.

She grabbed the trash bag then, taking it out of the bin and tying off the top so none of the garbage spilled out and was out the door (after finding the key and unlocking it of course) with it in no time, opening a garbage lid and throwing the bag inside. It didn't occur to her that she wasn't the only one in the back alley.

Another hand came to rest on her shoulder and she rolled her eyes. "Cloud, I'm really sorry about knocking your teeth out, but it's your own fault if I hit you—" she turned at this point and gasped. This wasn't Cloud…

His red eyes glared down at her and his pale face was less than inviting. "Hello." He speaks as lowly as he can. "I think you have something that's mine." He smirks, letting his fingers grip tightly to her shoulder, keeping her from escaping.

Tifa growled, quickly jerking her hand back and thrusting it towards his face. He caught it in the nick of time, holding the fist in his palm and gripping it tightly.

Tifa let out a cry of pain as he squeezed tighter and tighter, crushing her fingers. With water boiling up in her eyes from the pain and anger she thrust her other hand up to his face. With relief he released her first hand, jerking her other fists to a stop and beginning to crush that one too. She cried out in pain as she heard a small snap from one of her knuckles. No doubt, it was fractured…

At this point he stopped squeezing her fist. "Now." He orders, as he released her hand and let her sink to the ground, cradling her broken hand. "You're going to give me that materia I need." He hisses, smirking.

R&R