Zack and Aerith were walking through the marketplace without disguises for the first time. They had bought some extra things on the spur of the moment and were having a nice day out.

"Aerith! Check these out!" Zack said, ducking into another little shop that was set up at the side. She laughed, following after him, and the two of them were soon engrossed in more things for sale.

"Zack?" Aerith asked quietly, tapping him on the arm as she stared out the window of the small shop.

"Hmm?" he asked, turning to her.

"Do you know her?" she asked innocently, gesturing towards where a girl with soft red curls stood out in the crowd of the marketplace. "She was staring at you before. Zack?" Aerith frowned slightly and looked back up at Zack. He was staring at the girl, his eyes bulging out of his head and his jaw open in shock.

"Cissnei!?" he gasped finally, finding his voice. Moving from Aerith's side, he was almost out the door before he stopped. Aerith hurried up to him again. "What if she's looking for us? Maybe she... but then... okay I don't know what to do!" Zack turned to Aerith, a desperate look in his eyes.

"Zack, who is she?" Aerith asked.

"She's a turk. From ShinRa." Zack said. Sighing, he ran a hand through his hair.

"Does that mean..." Aerith murmured.

"I don't know." Zack said, shaking his head. "She was always really nice to me."

"Zaaack, you're making me jealous!" Aerith giggled. Zack smiled and put an arm around her shoulders, leaning down to kiss her forehead.

"Don't worry, you're the only one for me." he said.

"And you for me." Aerith replied, blushing slightly.

"Zack?" The two spun, stunned, to face Cissnei as she stood in the doorway to the small shop. "I... I need to talk to you. Is that okay?"

Zack stared at her, thinking quickly in his head whether or not he was going to trust her, and then he nodded slowly.

"We should go somewhere quieter." he said. Cissnei nodded gratefully and the three of them walked off to find somewhere to talk without being overheard.

~~*~~

Cloud frowned slightly, reaching to pull his phone from his pocket. It would take some getting used to being called.

"Zack?" he asked, having looked at the caller ID.

"Cloud, we need to talk. You still with Tifa?" Zack asked from the other end of the phone.

"Yeah. Come right over." Cloud replied, feeling a red tinge appear in his cheeks at the way Zack's question had come out.

"Kay, thanks." Zack hung up and Cloud followed suit, putting his phone back in his pocket. He wondered what was so urgent that Zack wanted to talk to him about. Did it have something to do with Rufus Shinra? Were other people being killed because of him too?

Heading downstairs, Cloud frowned slightly as he heard the sounds of Marlene and Denzel laughing. It wasn't them that had him slightly upset; it was the fact that he could hear Reno laughing and talking to them.

"Tifa?" Cloud walked straight to the kitchen, and found her tidying some things up. "Zack's going to be coming over soon, is that okay?"

Tifa looked and smiled, nodding. "That's fine!"

"Cool." Cloud nodded slowly, not sure what he should say next.

"Cloud..." Tifa said softly. He waited, watching her as she shifted nervously. "I don't want to sound controlling or anything like that, but, would you be able to try and get along with Reno? I mean, you're the one who told me he wanted to help in the first place." Tifa stopped, wondering whether what she had said had been too harsh or something.

"I'm sorry about before." Cloud sighed, looking down sadly. "I shouldn't have said what I did."

"Hey kids! What's up?" Reno walked in, Marlene and Denzel tagging along behind him. Cloud looked over, a glare already automatically on his face. Tifa nudged him and he looked down, trying not to look at the red-head who seemed so perfect for her.

"Not much." Tifa said softly. "Cloud said Zack's coming over soon."

"Oh?" Reno raised an eyebrow, glancing at Cloud who still refused to look up. "Wonder if he's gonna drag you back into hiding?"

"If he does he'll drag us all." Cloud finally looked up, his gaze an obvious challenge directed at Reno. The turk took a small involuntary step backwards.

"You're probably right." Reno said, his voice softer and more thoughtful.

"Do you think we should?" Tifa was looking at Cloud now, her eyes giving away the fear she felt.

"You... might need to." Cloud winced slightly and looked away, hoping she wouldn't notice that he hadn't included himself in that statement. He'd never know, because Reno spoke up before she could say anything.

"What about you?" he asked, folding his arms. "Don't think you're not coming if we have to."

"Cloud?" Tifa asked, confused.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean for it to come out like that." Cloud said truthfully. He would have preferred to spring the idea on them right before it happened so they'd have no chance to object.

"Hey! Yoohoo! Cloud?" Following the sudden voice from the front door came loud knocking.

"That's Zack." Cloud said, pushing past Reno and walking straight to the door. He opened it and let his dark-haired friend in, closing the door behind him again.

"Hey, Cloud." Zack said. "If I've got some like, pretty intense and possibly secret information to tell you, is it okay for them to hear or do you want to go somewhere else?" Zack gestured at where Reno, Tifa and the kids were slowly filing into the room.

"Um," Cloud paused, wondering what answer he would give. "Let's go somewhere else."

Zack nodded. "Hey Tifa! Sorry we didn't really get much time to talk before, we didn't really know that ShinRa was gone. Anywho! Let's go share secrets!" Zack grabbed Cloud's arm and dragged him about five steps before stopping and chuckling nervously. "Uh, where should we go?" Cloud rolled his eyes.

"This way."

"Right on!" Zack followed as his blonde friend lead him upstairs and away from everyone else.

"Why do I have a feeling Zack's overly hyper because he knows something really bad?" Reno asked, sidling over to Tifa.

"Yeah..." Tifa nodded in agreement slowly. "I got the same feeling."