A/N: AHHH sorry that this took so long to come out! School's been a bust, and I've barely had time to breathe until I got all these projects done. Finals are also coming up, and I somehow miraculously threw together this chapter. Not to mention, I've been debating over what direction to go in for this chapter. So this chapter might be a bit rough because I really wanted to get it out for you guys, but I'll try to edit it at a later date.
Also, sorry if you guys were caught off-guard last chapter! I'm just as upset as you guys about Zack and Aerith splitting up so soon. In fact, when I look back on it, it does sound like a really abrupt turn of events, but I do have plans for what this will do for the story in the future. I did promise Zerith, and I intend to follow through with that promise. And yes, I will introduce Aerith soon, I promise that there's a method to this madness!
Final thing! I decided to get on-board with the direct reply to reviews thing starting with the previous chapter, because I just really appreciate your support! They'll be at the bottom of this chapter. Really, thank you all so much for reading! I hope I didn't lose too many of you over this short break _
Chapter 6 ~ Holding Back
Tifa wondered if she had been that energetic when she was a teenager. Then again, she was only twenty. Only a few months ago, she was a teenager herself.
Even still, maybe it would be reasonable to say that Yuffie's a breed of teenager all on her own.
"C'mon, my grandma could do better than that!" Yuffie's eyes glinted with mischievousness, never ceasing her bouncing in her fighting stance.
"I think that's enough for today," Tifa laughed breathlessly. She wasn't necessarily exhausted, but her muscles were becoming sore enough that she knew it was best to stop.
Yuffie pouted as her bouncing ceased. "Aw, you're no fun," she said. "The Great Ninja Yuffie was just getting warmed up, too!"
"Hey, I'm going to be back tomorrow anyway," Tifa reminded her. She pulled off her gloves as she made her way to the benches. She and Yuffie both knew that she could go on for longer, and normally she would go for longer, but Tifa now kept Master Zangan's firm advice against overworking herself to heart. She'd need to, if she was going to extend training to five days a week.
Tifa couldn't help glancing at her phone as soon as she sat down. She sighed inwardly as she saw that there were no new messages or missed calls. Maybe it was a bit of a far-fetched hope. Sure, it was a silly little hope that had her peeking at her phone screen consistently for the past week, but she only felt it grow dimmer and dimmer every day.
As she pulled on her socks and sneakers, Tifa absently wondered if maybe Cloud was just busy. He did promise that he'd call, and who was she to expect that he'd do so right away? She shouldn't worry that it's already been a week, right?
"Helloooo?" She blinked as a waving hand came to focus in her line of vision. "Did you hear me?" Yuffie said.
Shaking herself out of her own head, Tifa looked up at Yuffie. "Sorry," she said sheepishly.
"Sheesh, you've been pretty distracted lately," Yuffie said. She raised her eyebrows and her lips curled into a mischievous grin. "What's goin' on?"
"Oh…you know, work…" Tifa blundered.
"Work's never bothered you like this before."
"Well I do have a film project coming up…"
"Alright, spill the beans. It's a guy, isn't it?"
"What?" Shiva, if there was one thing Tifa learned that week, it was that she was more of a blusher than she thought.
"Aha! It is a guy!" Yuffie put her hands on her hips and leaned forward, smiling suggestively. "So, who's the dude? Is he cute?"
Tifa forced herself into a calm, exasperated expression before looking up again. "There's no guy," she managed to say in a slightly annoyed tone. "Work's just spiking up, and I'm getting pretty busy. It is my biggest role yet, after all." She rolled her eyes playfully for good measure.
"I call bullshit!" Yuffie cried. "And I will find out who this guy is."
Tifa just threw a smile and a dismissive wave over her shoulder as she went out the door. "I'll see you tomorrow," she said.
"Mark my words! The Great Ninja Yuffie can figure out anything!"
As the door shut behind her, Tifa exhaled and rolled her shoulders. Being with Yuffie was always exhausting in any way possible. Maybe it wasn't totally necessary for her to go into full actress mode, but gossip and Yuffie was a dangerous combination. Tifa pulled on her cap and made sure her ponytail was snug before rounding the corner and slipping quietly onto the street. She didn't notice when her mind began to wander again.
Sometimes Yuffie could be a little too nosy for her own good. Heh, well she does consider herself a ninja after all. I guess it only makes sense that she enjoys snooping around. Sometimes it's a little tiring to talk to her though. A lot of my friends are pretty chatty, actually. It'd be nice to have someone more relaxing to talk to, maybe…like Cloud…
She mentally stopped herself before her thoughts could wander further. Of course Cloud has been on her mind all week, like a nagging, incessant little poking at the back of her mind. The more time passed, the more anxious she got. Tifa so badly wanted to just call him herself. All it took was the press of a few buttons. And yet…
Tifa mentally slumped, though her pace remained steady. Was she overthinking this? It was just a phone call. They were old friends. Coworkers. There was nothing to be scared of, this was just Cloud. Of all people, why should she be scared of him? Maybe I really should call him.
Or maybe he's too busy to waste time chatting with her.
She fought the urge to run straight into a wall. "I need a drink," Tifa mumbled to herself. It was only three in the afternoon, but she was already done with her circular thinking. She needed distractions. Might as well call up the gang, while I'm at it, she thought as she fingered her phone.
"So when's filming going to start?" Biggs asked.
"In about two months, I think." Tifa took another sip of her drink. "Casting's actually going pretty quickly for the other roles, from what I know."
"Man, you're gonna be gone for such a long time!" Biggs said.
Tifa smiled wistfully. "It'll only be for a year or so," she reminded him. She knew that she'd miss coming to Seventh Heaven to see Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie. Never had she needed to film away from Sector 5, so this would be her first time being away from Midgar for an extended period of time.
"I'm really gonna miss your beef stew," Wedge said mournfully, eliciting laughter from everyone.
Jessie actually slapped Wedge's shoulder. "She's leaving for a year and the first thing you think about is her cooking?"
"It's true though!" Wedge insisted defensively. "Tifa's the best cook in Midgar. Although, maybe without her cooking I'll finally lose some weight…"
Everyone laughed even harder, but Tifa had to smile at the compliment. "Thanks, Wedge," she said. "But hey, I'll still be here for a while longer, right?"
"It all seems to be happening too quickly," Biggs said, shaking his head. "Man, Genesis really likes to move things along pretty fast."
Tifa nodded. "I think Genesis said that we should be able to start the table read in a couple of weeks," she said.
"Actually, I just heard from Genesis earlier today," Jessie supplied. "The table read should be set for next Thursday."
"Do you know who else is cast?" Wedge asked.
Tifa thought for a while, before bursting into sudden laughter. "I only know this because I was on The Cait Sith Show recently, but apparently Cait Sith's going to be a major character," she said.
"Wait, wait. You're saying that an animatronic cat is going to be in a Genesis Rhapsodos movie?" Biggs looked completely incredulous, trying and failing to hide his amusement. "You're joking, right?"
"She's serious," Jessie snorted. "Apparently Reeve Tuesti is involved with the production, and Genesis thought it'd be fun to use Cait. I have no idea how he's going to make that work, but we are talking about Genesis here."
Biggs was now in full-blown laughter, clutching his stomach. "Imagine that! An action-adventure blockbuster with the badass likes of Cloud Strife, and then frickin' Cait Sith trotting alongside him!"
The four of them were chortling at this point, trying to picture the scene in their heads. Tifa hadn't really given much thought to the idea before, but now that Biggs had painted the picture, she thought she had never heard anything more absurd. Jessie did have a point though. This film is the brainchild of Genesis Rhapsodos, and if anyone could make such a ridiculous concept work, he could.
Jessie was attempting to speak, although her question was still broken up by little giggles. "Speaking of Cloud Strife…I heard that you finally met up with him?" she managed to say.
Maybe it was because of her earlier encounter with Yuffie, but Tifa felt herself involuntarily flush with self-consciousness at the question. "Um, yeah, Genesis had us meet about a week ago – "
"A week ago? And you never talked about it until Jessie asked?" Wedge cried. "Well c'mon, how was it?"
Tifa remembered how Wedge idolized Cloud, and giggled. "He's definitely a little…different," she said. "He used to be such a shy boy. I think he's grown more confident since then."
"He's an A-lister now," Jessie pointed out. "He probably just outgrew his shyness."
Tifa frowned. "No, it's more than that. He almost seems…cockier. I don't know, something felt off about him."
"Well, you also haven't seen him for years, right?" Biggs said. "You can't expect him to be the same. The city changes people, and you should know that better than anyone. You've probably changed in his eyes, too."
"Mmm…maybe you're right." Tifa had a feeling that there was more to it, but she decided it was better to just brush it off.
"So, you're probably gonna hang out with him from now on, right?" Wedge said. "I mean, costars that happen to be old friends. You guys probably have a lot of catching up to do."
"Ah…well, we did talk about maybe meeting up again sometime, but – "
"You should invite him here!" Wedge cut in excitedly. "A bar's a good place to meet up, right? Can you introduce him to us?"
Tifa laughed at Wedge's eagerness. "Well, I don't want to bother him or anything…"
Jessie rolled her eyes. "Oh, c'mon Tifa! You guys are old friends, right?"
"Ah…" Well, maybe 'friends' is an overstatement.
"So it shouldn't be a big deal for him to make time for you."
"If anything, I bet he wants to spend time with you now that you've reunited," Biggs added.
Tifa desperately hoped that the heat on her face was just the alcohol.
"Wait a second." Jessie leaned in to inspect her face, eyes squinting. "Are you…shy about seeing Cloud Strife?"
Tifa's mind was a scramble at this point. "Well, he is really famous now, so he's probably really busy. It's probably better to just leave him alone – "
"Oh, come on!" Jessie said in exasperation. "When I first told you about Genesis's offer you were pretty sure about declining. Then I mention Cloud and suddenly you were totally on board. I know he's the reason you agreed to this project anyway!"
Wedge's eyes widened. "You were gonna turn it down?"
The blaze on Tifa's face was growing at an alarming rate. "Well…initially, yeah…"
Biggs slowly broke into a mischievous grin. "Hang on a sec…Tifa, you don't have a crush on Cloud, do you?"
Thankfully, the gods seemed to take pity on Tifa, as her phone started to ring. Grateful for an excuse to escape the conversation, she excused herself before she darted away to a quieter corner of the bar. Tifa didn't even look at the screen of her phone as she yanked it out and flipped it open. "Hello?" she said, wincing at how high her voice was.
"Tifa?"
She nearly dropped her phone. Of course, of all times. It was the voice she had been aching to hear all week.
"Cloud?"
Rumia35: Hehe, I'm glad you liked it! I could tell you what Cloud's hiding…but that would be no fun, now would it? And don't worry, like I said there's a method to the madness! ;) Zack and Aerith definitely aren't going away anytime soon, so look forward to them appearing in the future. Thank you for reading!
Musicnutftw: Ah, thank you for pointing that out! Yeah, I need to work on my writing a bit. I don't have betas anymore so it's a bit rough. But thank you again, I'm glad you're enjoying it!
GloriousCreation: Haha, I find it hard to dislike Cid myself. I really do think he's a good guy, he's just reluctant to let it on, a bit like Cloud maybe? Ah yes, the problem kinda ties with the fact that Aerith has her own stuff going on for her, which will come up later. And thank you!
Nyan Cat: :3
Sunflowerspot: I really didn't either, actually, it was just that in order to move the plot along, it had to happen. Maybe I could've put in a little more warning, heh. But I hope you stick around, and thanks for reading!
