Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. These ditties are mine, as are Duke and McCallister. Enjoy!

..:-X-:..

076 – Defense

Tifa saw Leon hit the wall, heard the loud crack as his head slammed back, and only hoped it wasn't his neck breaking. She ducked to avoid the Heartless Guard Armor's fists as they swung around the empty construction district of Radiant Garden. The Opposite Armor was still stomping around, over half of its health left, according to her last scan spell.

She punched through the center body of the Guard Armor and sent it spiraling away. While it reoriented itself, she saw Leon slump down the wall, hopefully just unconscious. The Opposite Armor had locked onto him and was smashing its way over to finish him off.

Dammit, of ALL the times to be double teamed…

Dropping her shoulder and rolling to avoid the Guard Armor's feet, she sprang to her feet and dove forward, ending up by Leon's body. Two fingers to the neck let her know he was still alive and she got only a split second of relief before the Opposite Armor launched a reverted foot forward.

There was no way she could block that or get them both out of the way. Glancing around, she reached out and, in one fluid motion, grasped the handle of the gunblade, dragged it off the ground, and swung it baseball-style against the incoming foot.

The blade cut cleanly through the Heartless' limb and nearly ripped Tifa's shoulder out of socket. She swung through and let the momentum and the weight of the weapon bring it back to the ground. Springing back to her feet, she nudged her boot against Leon's ribs.

"You alive?" She said, watching the Guard Armor and Opposite Armor regather themselves for another strike.

Leon groaned and started to come around. Not fast enough. Grunting, she whipped a Hi-Potion off of her belt and popped the cork out.

"You can have a concussion later." She said, handing the bottle to him as the Heartless attacked with fresh gusto.

..:-X-:..

077 – Aye, Aye

As the last of the bandaging came away, Tifa tilted her head as she inspected her reflection in the mirror. The skin and tissue had finally healed completely, and bright pink and white lined scars painted a horrific picture from her left eye almost back to her ear, causing an unnatural recession in that section of her hairline.

Her left eyelid was lame, closed over the useless socket. Her eye had healed, but the wounds and the scarring had robbed her of half of her vision. It had taken weeks to adjust to the depth perception change, and combat training had been humiliating and hellish, but she was making progress.

Drawing a slow breath, she pulled her hair back and looked at the length of the scarring. The shrapnel from the attack had nearly peeled her scalp off. She was lucky to be alive; she couldn't mind the scars compared to the alternative.

Still, considering that a lot of her job had her around civilians and children, it might have a negative shock value if she was walking around flaunting her battle scars. This mess of flesh around her eye wasn't the mysterious, alluring kind of scar Leon had. Frowning slightly, she picked up the eye patch that Dr. Leng had given her after her last check up on her eye…as a less-than-subtle suggestion.

Feeling curious and more than a little ridiculous, she stretched the elastic band around the back of her head and settled the patch over her eye. It was larger than she'd expected and covered all of the scarring, even the stuff that stretched into her hairline. Brushing her hair out of the way, she took a step away from the mirror to get a better visual.

It wasn't hideous.

She'd seen worse attempts to hide a scar.

No, she wasn't 'hiding' anything. She wasn't ashamed or embarrassed by this. She just refused to wave the scars around in everyone's face like she was some sort of war hero with an angsty tale.

Deciding to try it out for a day, she walked out of her bathroom, through her bedroom, and into the main living area of the apartment. It seemed like she'd barely stepped out when Leon walked past, late for some meeting or other.

"Shiver me timbers." He greeted, not skipping a beat as he reached the door to leave.

"Oh shut up." She called after him, dropping on the couch.

Duke lifted her head from her spot on the recliner, ears perked. Tifa sighed and looked at the dog.

"Do I really look like a pirate?"

Duke just put her head back down, licking her nose.

"I was afraid of that."

..:-X-:..

078 - Wedding Part One

"Will you at least consider it?"

"No."

"Leon, you're being a selfish ass."

"And you're not?"

Tifa scoffed. "You're going."

"Why?"

"Because I'm not going alone."

"Why are you going at all?"

"Andrea and I had a falling out about a year ago. We've hardly spoken since. I'm tired of losing friends by force, so I'm trying to save the ones who are still alive." She groaned.

"And just showing up at her wedding is going to magically mend matters?" Leon quirked an eyebrow.

"She will never speak to me again if I ignore the invite to her WEDDING." Tifa grimaced, sinking onto the couch. "And if I show up alone, she'll give me the pitiful, 'oh, still not found Mr. Right?' face and I will slap her and we're back to square one."

Leon gave her a flat look. "So you want to pretend that we're going out to be spared a condescending moment at your ex-friend's wedding?" He shook his head, "Women."

Tifa pointed at him threateningly. "You WILL be my arm candy for this. You owe me."

"I don't owe you anything."

"Traverse Town."

"…You're calling in THAT favor for a wedding?" He looked incredulous.

"Yes. I. Am." She enunciated obviously.

"You're losing respect points for this." He said as she walked into the kitchen.

"Yeah, yeah." She tutted.

He sighed and hung his head. "Fine." He straightened and glared at her, "But I am NOT wearing a suit."

"Fine."

"Fine."

"Good."

"Right."

"Thanks."

"Hmph."

(…to be continued…)