-To My Beloved-
A/N: Well, looks like I've gotten the motivation to continue this story. I must give my reviewers the most credit! Seeing you guys enjoy it so much really makes me want to write more to keep you happy! Thank you guys! I don't think I would have gotten the motivation to continue to write this story were it not for your reviews! So, here's chapter 3! I've tried to make it a bit longer than the other chapters too.
-Fitting In-
"So Tifa, how do you like it here?" Mrs. Strife whispered, her delicate rosy lips hovering over the fine china cup that was held gently in her feminine hands.
"I...like it..." Tifa whimpered, staring at the way the elegant woman drank her tea.
She found it strange how her fingers were placed around the cup. Then again, this new family of hers did many strange things she wasn't accustomed to. For instance, Tifa had no clue why the elegant woman owned so many pairs of shoes. She was the only older woman in the house anyways. Why did she need so many?
At Tifa's reply, the woman countered with a bright smile and a light nod of agreement as she lowered her lips towards the cup once more. Tifa felt like she was sinking in the large couch she was sitting in. Never having heard of leather let alone felt it, she had to keep moving to avoid having her fragile body sink into the couch. Mrs. Strife couldn't help but lighten up at this and thought it was rather cute of Tifa.
"Well it's good to hear that. Oh, I can't wait until I go get you some adorable little dresses. I think you'd look magnificent. No more rags and hand-me-downs for you now! You're a very pretty girl and deserve to be dolled up a bit!" Mrs. Strife squealed as images of long, beautiful, designer dresses floated around in her head.
Tifa looked at her curiously and wondered why she would ever need dresses. She was plenty comfortable in her older sister's baggy t-shirts and ripped jeans.
"But I'm comfortable in these..." Tifa tried to explain, averting her eyes to the fine carpet that lay under the soles of her bare and small feet.
"But, honey...those aren't...err...very ladylike. Young ladies don't wear ripped jeans and rags! They wear beautiful long flowing dresses!" Mrs. Strife argued, her fierce blue eyes gazing at her tenderly.
Tifa said nothing, but kept her eyes on the floor, her little fingers fiddling with her long, flowing, silky brown locks.
"Okay..." She whispered, not wanting to disobey her lovely new guardian.
"That's a good girl! I'm sure you'll love your new wardrobe! Now go call Cloud and his friends down for dinner please!" Mrs. Strife chirped as she happily got up and made her way towards the kitchen.
At this, Tifa bolted. He was always a strange one to Tifa. She never quite understood his cocky, arrogant nature. Yet these qualities made her fill up with emotions that were unknown to her. She let out a deep sigh and began to make her weary trip up the marble, spiral staircase. She could hear the sounds of him jeering along with his friends while he played his videogames.
As she quietly stood outside his pearl white door, she paused and took in a deep, long breath. This was going to be hard. She swiftly lifted her small and fragile hand up and clenched it into a tiny fist then began to knock gently on the door. She waited for a few seconds and the next thing she knew, the door swung open and she was revealed to the loud music coming from the TV.
There was Cloud, his ice blue eyes glued onto the TV screen and his fingers moving swiftly over the small controller that was clutched tightly in his hands. Jumping up and down fiercely on his bed were Barret and Zack; each had grabbed a pillowcase and were trying desperately to knock one another off the bed. The one who had opened the door was Johnny; probably the biggest jerk of all of Cloud's friends.
Tifa hated him. He was always trying to push her around and hurt her and he would always be the first to throw her a smart remark about her clothes, family or looks. Yet, he stood in front of her in his usual mocking stance, bright green eyes gazing fiercely into her blood-shot ones and a fierce growling smirk spread across his defined face. Bright red hair fell down from the top of his head while more of it was situated in spikes at the very top. Unfortunately for Tifa, he was also a head or two taller than her, thus making her very uncomfortable.
"Well, well, well! If it isn't the poor maid!" Johnny announced loudly, his green eyes scanning the innocent girl that stood before him.
Tifa said nothing but only threw him a menacing glare, trying her best to squish her way into the room. However, this was a bit impossible since Johnny seemed to take up all the space in the doorway. Tifa huffed venomously and continued to glare.
"Look, we don't play with girls! So get out and play with your rag dolls...if you even have any!" Johnny chuckled to himself, about to close the door on Tifa.
Tifa looked down; her fists clenched tightly, and let out a small and quiet whisper while she tried her best to fight back the urge of punching Johnny's perfect face in.
"I'm not here...to play with you..." She spat, anger compiling on her delicate features.
"So what the heck do you want from us! Can't you see we're a bit busy, ugly!" Johnny exclaimed, a hint of annoyance in his voice.
"Mrs. Strife said to come downstairs for dinner..." Tifa whispered again, her eyes unmoving from the ground.
"Oh...Hey Cloud! Little messenger girl said your mom wants us down for dinner!" Johnny yelled, tilting his head back to look at the dumbfounded blonde.
"Tell her I'll be down in a sec! I just gotta beat the stuffing out of this boss! Curse you, Seymour!" Cloud shouted frantically, his azure eyes ever unmoving from the TV screen.
"You heard the man, now get lost, booger face!" Johnny seethed and slammed the door hard in her face.
Tifa stood there for a minute, slightly stunned and confused. Yet those feelings disappeared as anger and frustration took over her body. Images of pushing Johnny off a cliff tranquilized her and she nimbly began making her way down the marble spiral staircase.
"Well...where are they! Dinner is ready!" Mrs. Strife stood in front of the staircase, her hands on her hips and a worried expression spread across her face.
"Umm...Cloud said he'd come down after he beat his videogame." Tifa stuttered, too afraid to look at the blonde beauty in front of her.
"Oh, that spoiled little brat! If he takes any longer, the food is gonna be cold! Tell him to get his butt down here RIGHT NOW!" With that, Mrs. Strife stormed off back into the kitchen, muttering under her breath.
Tifa let out an exasperated sigh and once again climbed up those long, dreary stairs towards Cloud's room where she would await to be tortured by Johnny. Again, she repeated her previous movements and waited for the door to swing open to reveal Johnny's ugly head. And sure enough, there it was.
"Cloud, tell your dog to go play somewhere else!" Johnny shouted, chuckling loudly while he stared at Tifa with his emerald green eyes.
"Johnny, you know we don't have a dog!" Cloud could be heard behind him as he was putting away his games.
"Haha...yeah you do! Your rag maid!" Johnny chirped, his laughter ringing in Tifa's ears.
Cloud just stared at him blankly, without any expression at all. Tifa was beginning to get rather impatient and angry and she didn't doubt that Mrs. Strife was feeling the same way.
"Whatever. Anyways, we're coming down now so tell my mom to stop worrying." Cloud cooed, trying to get Zack and Jacob to stop jumping on his bed.
Tifa nodded and finally walked away, knowing those green emeralds were still hunting down her every move. Making her way back down for the second time, she saw an impatient and infuriated Mrs. Strife waiting at the bottom of the staircase.
"Umm, he said he's coming down right now..." Tifa shyly spoke, still unable to gaze into her fierce, ice blue eyes.
"Very well...Tifa, go into the dining room and pick yourself a seat...we're going to eat soon." Mrs. Strife concluded as Tifa nodded and disappeared down the hall.
It wasn't very long before voices could be heard heading towards where Mrs. Strife was standing. Sure enough, the whole gang had showed up, all of which seemed to be in a heated argument about...something. Mrs. Strife stood tall and threw a dangerous glare at Cloud which caused him to quiet down almost instantly. However, the others were too busy biting each other's heads off to notice Mrs. Strife frowning down upon them. Cloud then nudged Johnny hard in the stomach which caused him to be quiet and look up. At this, Mrs. Strife was finally brought to all of their attention and each one threw on an innocent, sweet smile.
Mrs. Strife said absolutely nothing and turned on her heel, heading towards the dining room where Tifa sat patiently waiting. Cloud and his friends merely followed in a straight line, all of them completely silent. All that could be heard was Mrs. Strife's designer heels clicking against the marble floor. Each one had bent their heads, as if to be ashamed of a guilty crime they had made. As soon as Tifa heard the clicking of those familiar, fine high heels, she looked up from where she was sitting and saw them all enter the dining table.
Tifa didn't really care about why they were acting so strangely. She was more interested in finding out who would sit beside her. Crossing her tiny fingers closely together and hoping that Johnny wasn't going to be one of them, she waited. Sure enough, Cloud had plopped down on the seat next to her and Barret on the other side. Tifa let out a heavy sigh of relief and suddenly felt more comfortable. It wasn't very long before the chef had brought in a whole bunch of delicacies that Tifa would probably have never seen, let alone tasted had she stayed with her father.
A bunch of food was plopped onto each child's platter as they all feasted their hungry eyes on the food in front of them. Mrs. Strife took a seat beside Cloud and watched, in mild disgust, each child (except for Tifa) stuffing their faces insanely and rapidly.
"Boys, have some manners! After all I need to tell you all something..." Mrs. Strife spoke, glaring at her own son while he looked up at her, a piece of tomato glued onto his chin.
"Listen, I know you may not know Tifa very well but it's very mean to leave her out all the time! From now on, you are to include her in any games you play! How would you feel if you were her!" Mrs. Strife stated cleanly, making Tifa stare at her blankly.
"WHAT! But she's a girl! An ugly one too! Can't she go...clean the house or something!" Johnny was the first to react to Mrs. Strife's statement.
"Johnny, I will NOT tolerate your nasty comments at this table! If I hear you say something cruel to Tifa once more, I will make sure your mother is very well aware of it!" Mrs. Strife's voice rose, anger blossoming in her eyes.
"Mom...it is sort of strange for a girl to play with us. I mean, what we do is for BOYS! What are we supposed to do with her? Play with dolls?" Cloud commented, wiping away the tomato with a napkin.
"I honestly don't care what you do as long as you are fair and nice to Tifa! I didn't ask you whether you'd like it! It's not an option, Cloud! You WILL include Tifa in your activities or I'll have to tell Uncle Cid about this...and I'm sure you wouldn't want that, now would you!" At this comment, Cloud's face seemed to be drained of all color and his large, blue eyes seemed to widen in fear.
"U-u-uncle Cid! Okay! OKAY! We'll play with her!" Cloud cried defensively while Tifa continued to stare in utter shock and silence.
"That's a good boy...I'm glad I won't have to resort to such a thing!" Mrs. Strife explained happily, petting her son's blonde mat of hair.
The rest of the boys remained silent as they ate away at their dinner and this time, in a much more mannerly condition. Tifa, on the other hand, had never been so confused in her life. She wondered why they all seemed to quiet down when it came to the name 'Uncle Cid'. In Tifa's mind, she really didn't care if she didn't get to play with Cloud. She actually thought it was better because then she wouldn't have to ever face Johnny. Now, all she could do is think of ways to prevent all the grief and torture that awaited her. The more she thought, the more she dreaded it!
"Don't worry Tifa...if Johnny, bugs ya, just tell me and Zack...We'll fix him up for ya!" Barret whispered, smiling delicately at Tifa before he took a long drink from his apple juice.
Tifa was stunned for a moment...Did Barret just say he'd help her? Was he being NICE to her? Tifa felt a little strange...yet a sense of comfort overfilled her soul and she couldn't help but smile. It was the first time she'd smiled since the day she had arrived at the Strife Mansion...maybe it wouldn't be so bad after all...
End of Chapter Three
FITTING IN-
A/N: Well, that concludes chapter 3! Once again, thanks for all the reviews! I'll be sure to try and make the other chapters even longer! Read and review, please! Every single one counts! Chapter Four coming soon!
