Disclaimer: I know, it's been a while, but FFVII still doesn't belong to me.

Chapter 6

The next morning found Tifa greeting the dawn in the basement, the rising sun leaking in through a slit of a window near the top of the room as she stretched her tight muscles, only now coming to realize how much she'd let herself slip. She used to train every day, but with everything getting so much more ordinary, she'd let herself get caught up in the routine, and had forgotten to give herself time to work out. Clearly, that was why the spiky-headed jerk had so much ease surprising her lately.

Her sleep last night had been fitful at best, with torrid images of that same jerk in varying states of undress running around behind her eyes, preventing her from getting anything close to a good night's sleep. At some point, she'd just tossed the covers off and decided to make good on her promise to resume her training, so here she was, venting some of her frustrations against the wooden practice dummy she'd set up down here when they'd first moved in.

She was just getting into the motions, her punches and kicks getting steadily faster and surer as the old familiarity came back to her, when she heard the door at the top of the stairs click open. She didn't turn to look, but continued up her barrage and pretended to ignore the padding of feet down the wooden stairs. She ignored them even when she knew they had reached the concrete floor, focusing on the dull thudding noise of flesh against wood until she was breathless, sweat running down her forehead. But still, she didn't turn around, instead picking up her water bottle from its place against the wall, and taking a few deep, much needed gulps. He didn't speak until she'd finished.

"Hey," it was Cloud's voice, of course. Marlene and Denzel would never have been so quiet for so long. "You want a real sparring partner?" That made Tifa turn around, sizing him up critically for a moment, but he didn't appear to be kidding. She refused to smirk, instead, she shrugged, and walked towards the stairs, brushing past him without looking at him again.

"Sure, but we should go outside. There's not a lot of room to move down here." She pointed out, and she could tell without looking that he had nodded and was now following her upstairs, and out into the backyard, which was just now filling with morning sunshine.

They faced one another barefoot in the grass, still damp with morning dew, and Tifa knew she couldn't avoid looking at him anymore, but that was all right now. For the moment, he wasn't Cloud Strife, bane of her romantic existence, but just an enemy. Just another obstacle she had to knock out of the way. She raised her fists, and Cloud raised the wooden practice sword he used for sparring, cocking his head to the side as if to ask if she was ready. In response, she attacked.

They were a good match. He was stronger, mako-enchanced muscles holding up that oversized sword of his, but she had speed, and she was proud to admit, her technique was better. Even so, he caught her more often than she liked, and she knew it was because of her own lackadaisical attitude towards training of late. She'd have to polish her skills up a bit, and then she could show him who was in control.

By the time they'd worn each other out, the sun had risen fully, and despite her breathlessness and the grass stains on her clothes, Tifa realized she was smiling. She did martial arts because she really enjoyed them; so why had she let herself get out of that habit? Looking at Cloud, she could swear she saw a hint of a smirk on his face as well, but he turned away before she could be sure. She didn't know what to make of that, so instead she wiped the sweat off her brow and took a swig from her water bottle, watching as he stowed his practice blade in the same garage where Fenrir waited for him. When he emerged, she lowered the bottle from her lips, screwing the lid back on before she tossed it to him, still half-full.

"Thanks," she said, somewhat awkwardly, as she started back towards the house. "I think I needed that." She added, it had been a long time since she'd had any physical exertion like that. It felt good to use her muscles again.

She gave a quick glance to the clock on the stove as she passed by, noting that she had time for a quick shower before she had to make sure the kids were up. The morning passed by quickly, a blur of getting Marlene's hair brushed and making sure Denzel finished his toast before she hustled the two of them out the door, watching from the step as they headed off down the road, somewhat worried. Denzel had informed her on the third day of school that he didn't need to be walked to school like some kind of baby, and from the tone he'd used, she assumed it had to do with the other kids. She didn't like letting them walk alone, though.

"The school's not far." That was Cloud behind her, but she managed not to jump when he caught her by surprise…again. She turned her head but caught herself before she actually looked at him. Edge was safe now…so why did she still have a nagging feeling in the pit of her stomach as she watched her two charges, little birds without feathers, really, disappear around the corner? "You want me to follow them? Make sure they make it?" His tone was teasing, but Tifa actually liked the idea.

"Can you do it without them realizing you're there?" She asked, quite serious, and he gave a mocking sigh, rolling his eyes as he walked around in front of her, quirking a cocky eyebrow.

"You can't even tell when I'm right behind you, and you're worried I'm going to get caught by a couple of munchkins?" He teased, not letting her answer before he took off at a run after them, jumping someone's fence to cut through their yard to make up for lost time. Tifa smiled and gave a sigh of relief, wondering how come things suddenly felt so normal. She'd thought for sure Cloud would want to finish that conversation from last night, or would at least be sullen and mopey today, but here he was, acting like nothing had happened at all. Maybe he'd decided it would be easier to just pretend that. Maybe it would be. She decided that she wasn't going to bring it up unless he did.

A/N: It's been what, three, four years? Yeah, even I didn't think I was coming back. But I was struck with Cloti inspiration, so here you have it. Whatcha think, better or worse than the old stuff?