Tifa Lockhart walked slowly towards the bar she had just recently set up. Seventh Heaven, as it was called, was running smoothly. But there was something missing. Tifa knew what it was in the back of her mind but did not allow herself to think about it any longer than two seconds at a time. Besides, why dwell in the past?
Opening the door and walking inside, she smiled. This place helped people let go for a while as they drowned their sorrows with some drinks. However, Tifa never allowed herself that privilege as she told herself it wasted supplies for the customers.
"Tifa! You're back!" There was a flash of brown hair and then Tifa was almost knocked off her feet by the young girl that had just appeared and hugged her.
"Hey, Marlene." Tifa grinned, hugging the girl back. Marlene was her friend's daughter and she was looking after her for a while.
"I put all the dishes away carefully and didn't break any of them!" Marlene said proudly, her large brown eyes staring up at Tifa.
"That's great! I knew you would." Tifa said, taking her hand and walking with her to the kitchen.
"Yep! Cause.." Marlene trailed off and let go of Tifa's hand, turning away and putting on her 'innocent' face. Tifa waited, but the girl didn't continue what she had begun saying.
"Marlene, what?" Tifa asked.
"Nothing!" Marlene said, rather quickly. Tifa raised an eyebrow and put her hands on her hips accusingly. Marlene quickly put a hand to her mouth, trying not to giggle. As the two girls stared at each other, a sudden giggle-snort sounded from a cupboard. Tifa jumped and Marlene burst into giggles, turning and running for the safety of her bedroom.
Tifa slowly looked towards the cupboard where the sound had come from, knowing it couldn't be anyone horrible because Marlene knew them seeing as she was giggling. It was also obvious now that whoever was in the cupboard had helped Marlene put all the dishes away. So, Tifa thought to herself, who could it be?
"Reno, get out of the cupboard." Tifa said monotonously.
"Whaaat?" came the reply. The cupboard door swung open and Reno pulled himself out, standing up and stretching and then looking at Tifa sheepishly. "How did you know it was me?" he asked.
"Who else hides in cupboards that are too small for them?" Tifa asked.
"Eh, good point." Reno said, scratching his head nervously. Tifa sighed and turned just in time to see Marlene walk into the room again.
"Sorry I didn't tell you! He made me promise!" Marlene said, her eyes begging for forgiveness. The sight of her made Tifa laugh.
"It's fine! Besides, it's good to have some surprises in life." she reassured Marlene.
"Yeah, and remember what I told you Marly? It's so true." Reno said, chuckling. Marlene giggled and quickly put her hands over her mouth again.
"Reno.. what did you tell her?" Tifa asked, looking over at him with a death glare.
"Nothing!" Reno said stepping backwards slightly, an innocent smile on his face. Tifa shook her head in amazement at how alike the two were.
"Fine, have your secrets." Tifa said, running a hand through her hair and heading for the door.
"Tee-farrr." Reno said, leaning lazily against the bench.
"What?" Tifa asked, spinning around to face him again.
"I missed you." he said. Tifa blinked and felt her cheeks going red. Mumbling a 'whatever' she walked out of the room quickly. Reno hurried over to Marlene and squatted in front of her.
"She blushed!" Reno whispered excitedly.
"You're right! She does like you!" Marlene replied also in a whisper, her eyes shining in happiness.
"Come on kiddo, let's go play a game." Reno said. Marlene nodded eagerly and they ran off to play a game, which ended up being twister.
Tifa was up in her room, digging through a drawer which she hadn't looked through in a while. Finally, at the bottom, she found what she was looking for and pulled it out. Looking at the photograph of her childhood friend, she found herself smiling softly.
"Cloud.." she whispered. Her feelings tumbled around inside her and she put the photo down with a sigh. She hadn't seen him in two years since he was rescued by ShinRa, and now she found herself slowly falling for Reno.
"This is silly." she scolded herself, turning away from the photo and crossing to her bed to smooth out the creases. "He's not coming back, just take the opportunity in front of you."
"Remember, you can't be seen." Zack said gently, putting a hand on Cloud's arm.
"I know." Cloud said, shrugging his friend off. Aerith stood to the side, hands clasped together in front of her as she watched with sad eyes. She felt sorry for Cloud as all he wanted was to tell see Tifa again and couldn't because they had to keep hiding from ShinRa.
"I'll follow at a distance as usual, just in case someone sees you and I gotta get you outta there." Zack said. Cloud stared at the ground and nodded. With a sigh, Zack walked over to Aerith. He smiled and kissed her before nodding at Cloud to tell him he could go.
Cloud turned and walked out of the run-down church. It was his turn today to get some food from the shops. Aerith was quite happy staying at the church to look after the flowers that were growing there, although Zack had made it quite obvious that even when it wasn't his turn to buy the food he would follow behind to protect whoever was going. Aerith and Cloud both knew he only did it because he wanted to get out of the church every now and then.
When Cloud arrived at the shops, he walked in and bought everything that was needed. He was wearing clothes that weren't normal for him though Zack had insisted he wear it to increase the chances of staying hidden. Along with the clothes was a hoodie, which Cloud had been forced to wear up.
Cloud moved quickly, darting between shops and making it look like he was really intrigued by everything there was to see. He went over to one shop that sold different hats and glanced over his shoulder, meeting Zack's eye and giving a childish grin. Zack chuckled from where he stood and turned away, sitting down and preparing himself for a long wait while the boy - no, man – had a long look at hats and whatever caught his eye.
As soon as Zack turned away Cloud took off. He didn't care that they had drilled it into his head a million times that he couldn't go see her. He had to! Besides, he knew where to find her and wasn't planning on being very long. Hopefully Zack wouldn't even know he was gone before he got back.
Pretty soon the building loomed up in front of him. He stopped just before knocking on the door, suddenly feeling worried that maybe she wouldn't want to see him.
"Left foot yellow!" Cloud frowned. Who's voice was that? It sounded like a young girl.
"Which is my left foot?" A laugh followed that statement and Cloud found himself smiling slightly. At least he knew Tifa was there. Taking a deep breath, he knocked on the door.
"Coming!" the child's voice was heard again and he heard feet running towards the door.
"No, Marlene don't open the door!" Tifa's warning rang out just as Marlene wrenched the door open. Cloud, Tifa and Reno all stared at each other. Marlene looked up at Cloud with wide eyes and mumbled an 'oops'.
What Cloud saw was Reno standing just to the side of a twister mat and Tifa hurriedly standing up on the mat. It was obvious she had been playing moments before. Marlene, the girl, stood with one hand on the door and the other by her side holding the twister board.
"Cloud?" Tifa questioned, her voice proving that she didn't believe her eyes.