Chapter 9

There were no teasing remarks, no flirty comments, no lame jokes and no sarcastic answers. No sight at all of the flaming red hair and the pair of aqua blue eyes that revealed the inner depths of the owner's soul.

She wouldn't admit it to anyone, but deep down inside, there was a missing void. She lied saying that she didn't care, never did but she's never good at lying to herself, especially herself.

Being the stubborn person, or determined as she would prefer to put it, that she is, there was no way she would take the first move and find him.

'It's not like I have anything to say to him either', she reasoned herself.

'When you find your answer, then find me. Until then, find yourself first.'

The words echoed in her mind ever since it left his lips days ago.

She snorted at the thought and shrugged it off. Grabbing her jacket, she started her walk out into the cloudy morning.

What's there for her to find? She knew by experience that every time she seek to find answers, she never got them. Or every time she seek for something she longed for, she never got them. Reassurance, acceptance, security, comfort…love. She gave them out but never really got them back. Maybe those are all that she's finding for.

The cold wind blew past her and swept her hair forward, covering her view. Gently, she pushed her hair back and took out an elastic band from her pocket before sweeping it up to tie a messy ponytail.

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a figure staring at her. She glanced over to look only to see the lone figure by the alley look away. Unshaved with a rugged look, he wore a long shabby brown jacket with his unruly dark hair getting more messed up due to the wind.

Tifa proceeded on her way without a second thought.

At the back of her mind she tried to squash the thought that kept trying to pop itself out. She shut her eyes tight and willed hard for it to just leave her mind alone. It wouldn't.

'You wish it was his blue eyes that were staring at you back there.'

Defeated, she let out a long sigh as she turned around a corner.

Hearing the sound of footsteps behind her, she threw a brief glance over her shoulder. The man from before seemed to have moved from his spot and was now staring into the window of a shop. That got her a little curious but she thought nothing of it, passed it off as a mere coincidence and continued walking.

It was rather early in the morning, 7am, a time where she would still be in bed after a late night of cleaning up at the bar. But she woke up at 6 that morning, unable to sleep, just like how it had been for the past few days. It had became a new sleeping routine for her whereby she would toss her tired self onto the bed at 1, rolled around until 2, fall asleep and only to wake up at 3.30 or 4 before rolling around helplessly in her bed for another hour, fall asleep and be fully awake at 6.

Her eyes once again caught sight of the man who now seemed to be following her every direction. When she turned left, so did he. When she stopped, so did he. Feeling a little suspicious, Tifa increased her walking pace.

She could hear the footsteps from behind increasing their pace as well.

That was it. The man was obviously following her.

Tifa hurried her way down the street and went over to the fountain, made a big round as she kept her glance sideways to watch if he was still following. He was.

She continued walking, rounded another corner before she hurried into a barely opened shop and hid herself behind the shelf as she watched through the glass doors. The lady of the shop stared at her strange behavior to which she responded with her index finger placed to her lips. The lady shrugged and continued her task of opening for the day.

The man stopped outside the shop, looked around the street before he walked over to the opposite side of the road. Once there, he looked up and down the street again.

"What are you doing following me like that?" Tifa mumbled to herself as she kept her eyes on the man.

She sure as hell didn't recognize him from anywhere and even if he was one of her customers from the bar, he didn't have a reason to follow her around either.

Tifa stayed in the shop a little while more until the man went out of her sight. Feeling safe, she stepped out of the shop and cautiously went on her way. She could have easily took the guy on and gave him a punch that was sure to be a good forewarn for him to not try anything stupid with her, but she didn't. Being the person that she is, she had decided to give the man the benefit of doubt, that it was nothing but coincidence and her lack of sleep was really getting her imaginations to run wild.

However, as soon as she took it was safe, she heard footsteps from behind her again. This time, she didn't look around to see if it was him. From her previous experiences, she can easily remember the sound of an enemy's footsteps. She quickened her pace with the intention of breaking into a run and losing him around the next corner.

When she reached the corner, she had been walking so fast that she didn't see where she was going and slammed right into a person from the opposite direction.

"Ouch!"

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry, I didn't see where…" Her voice trailed off as she lifted her head to see who it was.

The blue eyes stared right back into her own brown ones.

"You alright?" He asked with a suspicious look. Her hands that were on his chest seem to be slightly trembling and she was visibly shaken.

"There's someone following me." She said in a low whisper as she kept her gaze into his eyes.

He lifted his blue eyes from her briefly and caught sight of a rugged man who was staring into a shop window, less than a few meters away. He watched as the man shifted nervously in his weight as he stared distractedly into the shop. That gesture was more than enough to tell that the man had indeed been following Tifa from before.

"Yeah, you're right about that." He said in a low voice.

Tifa didn't turn around to see if the man was still there. Instead, she fixed her gaze on the one in front of her.

"You want to take him on?" He asked, still in a low voice.

No answer.

"Come on." He said as he protectively placed his left arm around her and pulled her close to him. Her cheeks grazed the collar of his striped dark blue shirt and she felt a slight blush rise in her cheeks. He gently led her away while keeping a side glance at the shop windows to keep an eye on the man.

The man, thinking he had went unnoticed, continued to follow them.

Meanwhile, no words were exchanged between the two as they continued walking.

"You're shaking." His voice was barely above a whisper as he broke the silence between them.

"I'm…not." She answered in an equal tone of voice.

He debated if he should prod further, but decided not to.

"We're going to ambush him alright? Find out what the little bastard wants." He said in a low voice.

She barely nodded in response.

Both quickened their pace and headed into an alley. The man unsuspectingly followed their pace. He stopped short when he reached the alley and saw Tifa standing there alone, staring back at him.

The man was about to take another step forward but he felt a sudden violent push from the side and before he could react, he was menacingly shoved up to the wall and was held back with a hand grabbing him by the collar tightly.

"What the fuck is your problem? Why the hell were you following her?" The red-haired barked.

"I…I…" The man stumbled, clearly not expecting the sudden attack.

"You better give me a hell of a good reason or I'm going to hurt you so bad that you're going to wish you weren't born."

"Reno." Her voice was soft and barely audible, but he somehow caught it anyway.

He threw a glance towards Tifa.

"Don't. Let him go."

Reno shot her a disbelief look before glaring back at the man before him.

"Stay away from her. You better not let me see you following her again or I'll be sure to hunt for your blood. And that's a promise." He threatened.

The man quickly nodded and scrambled clumsily as Reno released him from his grip.

"Thank you." Tifa spoke up again.

"It's nothing. You don't have to thank me." Reno answered with his gaze on the wall.

She took a few steps forward which caused him to shift his glance to her.

Before either one could say anything, a thunder flashed above them followed by the deafening sound and the pouring of rain. It started out lightly but soon became heavier.

Reno shrugged off the shirt he was wearing, revealing the light grey T-shirt he was wearing, before quickly walking towards her and holding the shirt over her head to keep her sheltered.

"Come on! You're going to get sick again!" He shouted over the heavy sounds of the rain.

They both started to run as they struggled to see in the heavy rain. His shirt over her head was starting to get soaked wet, defeating the purpose of sheltering her from the rain.

"Where are we heading to?" She shouted.

"My place! It's closer!" He answered back.

They soon reached a tall silver building and he quickly ushered her in. They both stepped into the elevator and he pressed the button for his floor.

Tifa started to squeeze out the water of her clothes as Reno lightly shook his head to get the water out. Compared to Tifa, Reno was a soaked duck with his clothes sticking to him like tight wrap and his messy red hair all over the place and over his eyes.

She snuck a glance at him and immediately felt bad at the sight of him wet.

A soft 'ding' was heard, signaling they had reached their floor. They stepped out with Reno leading the way to his apartment. He reached into his pocket and struggled to pull out his keys from his wet jeans.

As they got in, Reno immediately disappeared into one out of the two rooms in the apartment. Tifa took in her surroundings and noted that although it was small, but it was cozy and more than enough for one person anyway. The apartment however, was also rather messy with empty pizza boxes, cans, magazines, cushions flung all over the place. It wasn't a surprise to her though, as she remembered the mess he made in her kitchen a few weeks ago. She mentally reminded herself not to step into his kitchen as she could only imagine how much worse it would probably be.

He stepped out of the room with two towels in his hand and tossed one to her. Tifa adeptly caught it and proceeded to dry her hair with the towel.

"You can take a shower or something if you want to. The bathroom's in my room though. I left a shirt and a pair of shorts on the bed…mine, but you can wear them if you want to." He offered without looking at her.

"Thanks."

Reno nodded and walked over to the sliding glass door that led to a small balcony. He stared out into the heavy rain.

"It looks like it's more of a storm." Tifa spoke up.

"Yeah."

"Reno?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you."

He sighed and turned around to face her.

"You don't have to thank me so many times you know?" He said with a raised eyebrow.

She crossed the room and made her way towards him.

"I know. But you're always…saving me, someway or another."

He let out a low chuckle.

"Am I?" He cocked his head to think and remembered the time when she bumped into him and nearly fell down…their first encounter after everything that happened, and today... "It was only twice." He stated casually.

"Actually, it was five."

Reno looked at her in surprise.

"There was the time when I was being pathetic over Cloud. You were there to…well, comfort me. I could have just gave in to another crying mess again but you stopped me from going there. And then there was the time when I was sick."

"Oh." Reno was at loss for words to say. He mentally reprimanded himself for being such a tongue-tied loser whenever he was around her.

"When was the fifth time?"

"When I was craving for lime ice cream. You got it for me, and that was twice actually." She answered almost embarrassedly and looked down to the floor.

A small smile crossed his face at the memory.

She looked back up at him and took a step closer.

Aware of her sudden close proximity to him, Reno almost took a step backward in surprise.

She reached up and gently brushed his hair that was matted by the rain, from covering his eyes.

He could only stare at her she slowly smiled at him.

"It's a shame to let your hair cover those blue eyes." She said softly.

It took all the effort and restraint in him to not lean over and kiss her there and then as much as he would like to. After being shot down twice, it was more than enough for him. She had made it clear the other day that she wasn't ready for a relationship or him, for that matter.

Their gaze locked on each other, neither looked away or said anything.

Tifa could feel her insides squirming as she let her hand dropped to her side. She was half-expecting him to kiss her or at least something, but he did nothing.

'Do I look that horrible when I'm all wet?' She wondered.

She bit her lower lip and gathered whatever courage that was left in her. Slowly she pushed herself up by her toes, she leaned over to his right side and gave him a kiss on the cheek before quickly fleeing the scene and into the bathroom.

Reno stood there rigidly in disbelief at what had just happened.

'Did she just…kiss me or am I getting sick from the rain that I'm actually hallucinating?'

Back in the bathroom, Tifa tried to breathe normally again. She stared at herself in the mirror and watched the goofy grin formed on her face.

His reaction was absolutely unexpected but funny.

She reached to the bottom of her sleeveless top in an attempt to take it off and have a nice warm bath, until she realized that she did not grab the clothes he had left for her on her mad dash for the bathroom.

Silently, she clicked the lock open and opened the door, hoping to not bump into Reno just yet. She had no idea what she would say to him if she did.

Thinking the coast was clear, Tifa stepped out of the bathroom, turned towards the bed on the other side of the room to grab the clothes, only to find a shirtless Reno taking his jeans off.

A shriek escaped her lips at the sight of him.

Reno whipped around in surprised and almost fell over with one leg caught in his jeans and the other trying to catch his balance.

"Fuck!"

Tifa quickly grabbed the clothes from the bed and dashed back into the bathroom as she heard a loud thump hit the floor.

Reno groaned out loud.

'Why did she had to have such a bloody bad timing?'

He pulled himself up and kicked his jeans aside before pulling a dry, clean one over. 'She didn't have to shriek, I'm not that bad to look at, and besides…I wasn't even naked. Weird woman.' He mused.

Reno grabbed a plain white t-shirt from his closet before heading out of his room as he chuckled to himself.

A/N: I got this typed up in one sitting cause it was actually based on something that happened to me earlier today, but less freaky and minus the whole Reno part (how I wish). Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed this chapter as it's finally some sort of a nice, happy ending for the chapter…none of the whole arguing drama. To AniGirl7 & RebelliousNekoAngel I hope you both will like/enjoy this chapter, cause I know you've both wanted a nice ending for a long time and I'm sorry that it took so long.
Thank you to everyone who has been loyally reading this fic and to those who reviewed too and also to those who read and don't review (it's okay though, I understand, I get lazy or just am not in the mood to leave a comment or two sometimes, hehe). Sounds like this is the last chapter I'm writing does it? Lol. Well not really, I think there will still be a few more chapters, unless you guys think this is a good enough ending, then I'm happy to oblige. Lol