The sky above Nibelheim was clear of any clouds, allowing the sun to bake the normally cold and soggy mountain ground. The raised mud around the hundreds of footprints left on the road had dried to a fragile crust that crumbled to fragments underneath Cloud's feet as he leisurely strolled home, his school bag slung over a single shoulder. He walked with his back slouched as he gazed up at the sky, lost in his thoughts. He and Zack had returned home from their action packed hunt after a few hours of limping on Zack's part. He had been fine when he and Cloud had left the bugs behind, but once they had passed the fence and made it halfway down the boulder pile, it had become obvious that his leg wasn't handling the stress of climbing with an injury very well. They had slowed down the pace a good amount to make sure Zack wouldn't end up conspicuously limping into town.

After all, Cloud thought, what we do isn't legal.

He deviated slightly from his straight walking path to start kicking a rock along in front of him. His thoughts drifted back a few days earlier. Once the two friends had made it into town, they had managed to get to the poverty stricken area of Nibelheim without being stopped by any of the guards. They made their usual visits to the people who were worse off. One family in particular had a young boy who had taken a liking to Cloud after a few visits. Denzel was always thrilled to see his blonde-haired hero come walking through the decrepit and crumbling wooden cabins that made up the slum of Nibelheim. It had always struck Cloud as a little odd that the boy was happier to see him than the food he had brought for the struggling family.

That day a few days ago, Cloud and Zack had taken the time to visit with the families a little longer than usual despite Zack's injury. They had even played with the children for a time while the sun was beginning to cast deep shadows as it set. Even though he had been quite tired, Cloud always felt reenergized as he played a game of tag with some of the older children while Zack quietly played chanting hand games with the youngest. Their happiness and joy always lifted the tired spirits who watched them. It had been during Cloud's short game of tag with the kids when he had spotted Tifa in the distance. The girl had stood at the end of the long street that wound through the slums, smiling as she watched the kids tackle Cloud the second he had frozen in surprise. When he'd managed to squirm out from beneath the dog pile, she had disappeared.

As Cloud's mind came back to the present, he found that he had a small smile on his face. He quickly shook his head in embarrassment at himself and readjusted the strap on his shoulder as he picked up the pace towards home, his rock forgotten. He turned the corner at the town intersection and was surprised to see Tifa and her friends Eleanor and Shera standing together on the other side of the street, chatting amiably as he walked past. Eleanor and Shera were giggling at something while Tifa's face took on a faint red hue. She opened her mouth to retaliate something when she spotted Cloud walking by. Their gazes met for a brief moment before she quickly turned away and she pushed her friends away from him. He was startled at the cold move, but the surprise turned into confusion as Shera spotted him and grabbed Tifa's hand as Eleanor darted behind her friend and also gave Tifa a strong push. Tifa balked at their actions, refusing to go forward. Cloud kept walking as he watched the whole spectacle before turning away and shaking his head ever so slightly.

Jeez, he thought to himself. Girls are weird!

He continued down the road for another minute before he heard quiet footsteps running up behind him. He glanced back to see Tifa trailing a few feet back. He stopped and waited for her as she made the last few steps towards him.

"Hi," she said as she came to a halt. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and clasped her hands together in front of her. She looked up at him, her ruby eyes as bright as ever. Cloud was unsure about how to act at the sudden approach.

"Hi…" he murmured back uncertainly at her. What was she talking to him for? Wouldn't she rather be talking with her friends than him?

Apparently not. Back at the street corner, the other two girls were smiling at Cloud and Tifa. Shera put her hand around Eleanor's arm and tugged her away as they disappeared around the corner. Cloud looked back at Tifa only to find that she had been watching her friends as well. If looks could kill, Tifa's glare would have murdered her friends five times over. She felt Cloud watching and quickly reverted back to her face from moments before, grinning slightly in embarrassment.

"So," she started. "What are you doing?"

Cloud looked down at the ground and stubbed at it with his toe. "Just heading home is all," he answered. "Why do you ask?" It was Tifa's turn to look at the ground.

"Well, you just looked lonely," she said, "and I was wondering if you would like some company on your way home."

Cloud could not believe his ears. Had she just offered to walk home with him? Had he heard her right?

As he stared blankly at her, her grin fell. "I understand if you don't want me to bother you," she said, turning away. "This was kinda sudden coming from someone who never talked to you in the past… Sorry to bother you." She turned and started to walk away.

"Wait!" Cloud called after her. She faced him again. The blonde wanted to crawl under a rock from his nerves as he continued, "You… can walk with me. I don't mind."

Don't mind! That makes it sound as if she bothers you! Way to make a good impression! Cloud mentally berated himself. His thoughts were thrown off course as Tifa smiled again. She began walking down the road in the direction of Cloud's house. "Let's get going then, shall we?" she asked past her usual smile.

"Yeah," Cloud said as he followed her down the road.

The walk to Cloud's house was mostly silent with Tifa asking an occasional question that Cloud would answer, albeit slowly in his nervousness at her presence. When they reached his house, he darted inside briefly after telling Tifa to wait on the rickety porch. She stood there curiously for a few moments as Cloud rushed to his room and threw his knapsack on his bed before shutting his bedroom door and heading back outside. He scratched the back of his head before he murmured, "Thank you for walking home with me. That was… nice of you." Tifa simply smiled back.

"Oh, no worries! I'm glad you didn't mind my company." She looked away from him and towards the barn a few hundred feet away. "Say, is it alright with you if I go look at the horses?" Her eyes gazed up imploringly. Cloud was surprised and slightly thrilled that she would like to see them.

"Uh, okay," he stuttered. "Follow me." He walked down the steps with Tifa right behind him and headed to the barn. The path to the barn was well worn and the dry weather made puffs of dirt rise under their steps. The two young people stepped into the barn where the cooler air was a relief. All the horse stalls were empty, but each had a two piece door leading outside. The upper and lower halves could swing separate from the other or be latched together to function as a single door. They were currently all single doors, and each stall's turnout door was open to the air. As Cloud and Tifa walked through the barn aisles, Tifa was constantly turning her head, looking left and right at all the different stalls. An excited expression lit up her face as she ran to look the ladder that led up to the loft. Before Cloud could stop her, she jumped onto the perfectly vertical ladder and started to pull herself up. He opened his mouth and raised his hand to warn her to be careful, but as if she had read his mind, the girl turned towards him, her hands securely grasping the next rung of the ladder.

"I'll be fine!" she reassured him and then she jumped up onto the loft platform before disappearing. Cloud just gave a small sigh and started climbing up the ladder as well. When he reached the top of the loft, he spotted Tifa studying the horse tack and gear. Hearing him step onto the platform, she turned towards him. In her hand were a few straps of leather held together by buckles and a metal bar with prongs that had more leather straps attached to them.

"What is this?" she asked. Cloud took the leather from her hands.

"It's a bridle," he answered. Tifa reached out and touched the metal bar.

"What is this then?" she asked again.

"It's called a bit," said Cloud. He laid the bit in his hand and grabbed the back of the bridle, stretching out the straps the way they would fit around a horse's head. "This bar goes into the horse's mouth," he explained. He then pointed to the prongs. "These are what you attach the reins to. Without reins, you can't steer and guide the horse."

Tifa listened attentively through his explanation before she wandered over to another piece of tack. "This is a saddle, right?" she inquired, pointing at what was indeed a saddle. Cloud nodded. Tifa bent down and hooked one hand under the pommel and another one under the cantle and lifted the saddle. She weighed it in her hands for a few moments before carefully setting it back on the ground. "It's heavier than it looks," she said as she straightened up and brushed off her hands. Cloud shrugged again.

"It's about thirty pounds, if I had to guess," he stated. Tifa gave a small "hmm" and then nodded.

"Yeah, that sounds about right," she agreed. She walked past Cloud and started down the ladder. Once she was at the bottom, Cloud climbed down after her. As he was climbing down, he heard some footsteps in one of the stalls and then Tifa give a small, excited gasp. He saw that one of the horses had come into the barn from outside. It was the gray mare Kat. She stuck her head over the stall door and gazed curiously at the newcomer, and Tifa stared back with twinkling eyes. Cloud walked over gently placed his hand on Kat's forehead. The mare started to carefully rub her head against his palm, trying to rub an itch close to her ear. Tifa timidly crept over. Cloud found it a little amusing that the fairly outgoing girl was suddenly shy and quiet in the presence of a large animal. "This is Kat," he told Tifa as she continued to gaze at the horse. "Would you like to say hi?"

Tifa looked a little startled at the suggestion but she asked, "Is there something I need to do?"

"Well, put your hand out like this." Cloud demonstrated. He held out his hand flat and palm up. Tifa copied him. "Then just put your hand out to let her smell you. Let her come to you."

Tifa did as he directed, and the gray mare stretched out her neck. She made a huffing sound as she sniffed Tifa's hand, and the girl snatched her hand back as if she had been bitten. She then laughed at her small moment of fear and stuck her hand out again for Kat to sniff. She looked back at Cloud for reassurance and he gave a nod. Tifa then gave a small yelp as Kat started rubbing her upper lip against the girl's palm, looking for a snack. When she found none, the mare contented herself with licking Tifa's hand again and again. Tifa looked back at Cloud with confusion across her face. "I-is this normal?" she asked as Kat kept licking. Cloud gave the tiniest smile.

"It's normal for her. None of the other horses lick people." Tifa chuckled at that and started to stroke the horse's neck. Her eyes softened.

"She's such a pretty horse. This is so cool," she murmured. Cloud quietly watched as Tifa pet the horse, not feeling a need to answer. A few minutes later, some sounds came from a neighboring stall and the old mare Fantasia stuck her head over the wall to see what was going on. Tifa walked over to the new mare's stall and acquainted herself with her while Kat pinned her ear angrily at the sudden lack of attention. The other horses were also starting to make their ways to their own stalls, and Tifa went from horse to horse, asking Cloud their different names as well as other questions. What did they eat? How big did they grow? Were they hard to take care of? They continued this pattern, Tifa asking and Cloud answering until they had reached the last horse. That was when Tifa said, "Oh, I think I already know your name." She turned to Cloud. "This is Nabi, right? The one you rode to town a week or so ago and rode on after those thieves?"

Cloud stiffened slightly at the last mention. He'd forgotten that Tifa had been one of the people searching for him at his mother's request. He gave a stiff nod in reply. Tifa did not push it any further and instead crooned at Nabi as she stroked his soft fur. After a few minutes, Cloud mentioned that he needed to feed the horses. Tifa immediately offered to help. They threw hay to the horses and poured grain into feed buckets that they quickly set into each stall. As they worked, Tifa continued to laugh at the neighs and nickers of hungry horses. When they were done, Cloud and Tifa went outside and sat on the fence, watching the sun beginning to set. The air had cooled down a bit since that afternoon. A pleasant breeze drifted past, tossing a few strands of Tifa's hair over her shoulder and pushing Cloud's bangs further into his eyes.

As he impatiently swatted at them with his hand, Tifa turned towards him. "Hey, Cloud?" she asked softly.

"Hm?" He continued to try and get his unruly hair out of his face.

"Was that mare that was stolen special to you?" Tifa questioned carefully. Cloud stopped messing with his hair and looked up, staring straight in front of him and not at Tifa.

"Yes."

Tifa nodded sadly. "I thought so." She turned away. "Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why was she so special?"

Cloud looked down at his hands and started picking at one of nails. His silence made Tifa feel as if she had overstepped a boundary. "You don't have to answer," Tifa blurted out. "That was a bit of a personal question."

Cloud glanced at her. His expression was not angry, which made Tifa feel a little better. He said, "It's alright. I don't mind answering." He jumped off of the fence to sit on the ground, leaning his back against a wooden post. "The reason she was special is because she was a gift to me from my father before he died." Tifa made a quiet sound of sympathy.

"I'm sorry…" she said to the blonde.

He simply said, "What's done is done. I can only hope she's safe. They took her either downstream or upstream by boat. I would assume downstream, but I can't go that way. Not with all the patrols the Caps have around there." They lapsed into silence again. It seemed to be the norm for Cloud, but Tifa did not like the silence. She hopped off the fence.

"I think it's time for me to head home. I don't want to be walking home alone in the dark," she said as she started to walk to the road. "Thank you for letting me see the horses, Cloud, and teaching me a few things. It was really nice of you." With that, she hurried her pace. She did not expect Cloud to jump over the fence and jog up beside her.

"I'll walk you home," he said to her.

"Oh, you don't have to," Tifa told him. He shook his head.

"Yes I do. It's not safe for girls to walk alone when it's late," he said stubbornly.

"Well, it looks like you'll be the one keeping me company, huh?" She leaned forward to see his expression, a grin forming on her lips. Cloud turned away from her. Was his face a little red?

"I guess so," he answered.

They walked and carried on a small conversation that drifted from topic to topic. They talked about school and their teachers. Cloud mentioned a few stories about his misadventures with Zack, and Tifa told him about her different experiences with Shera and Eleanor. The difference in their lives was a little off-putting to Cloud, but Tifa seemed to find his life fascinating, so he continued to talk in his low murmurs. But once they entered town, he trailed off. He didn't know where Tifa lived. She picked up on his hesitation and said, "I'll lead from here." They made their way to the wealthier side of town and Cloud uneasily remembered that Tifa's father was Mayor Lockhart. Even though the town mayor was more of a figure head at this point due to the Caps, his position still gave him an important status. Even though he was nervous, Cloud didn't mention it to Tifa.

When they finally reached her house, the red sky was streaked with golden clouds and the sun had disappeared beneath the horizon. Lights were starting to come on in the different homes around Tifa's house; they were the only houses in Nibelheim that had a decent source of electricity. Tifa hurried up the steps with Cloud right behind her. She pulled a key out of one her pockets and unlocked the door. As it swung open, the two teenagers were surprised to see Mayor Lockhart himself standing just inside the threshold, as if he had been about to leave the house. The man was not exactly the tallest person in the village – Cloud wondered if he even reached six feet in height – but he had a stocky build that made it seem as if he could knock someone flying with one swing of his fist. The man's dark brown eyes widened at the sudden appearance of his daughter, and his bushy mustache seemed to twitch.

"Well! I was wondering when you would get home, Tifa! You had me worried," the mayor's deep voice boomed. Tifa gave an almost unnoticeable roll of her eyes.

"I'm fine, Dad. Cloud made sure I was safe and walked me home." At this, the mayor looked past his daughter's shoulder and spotted the blonde young man behind her. Cloud shifted uncomfortably under the older man's scrutiny.

Finally, Mayor Lockhart said, "That was very kind of you, young man. You're Stella's son, aren't you?"

"Yes sir," replied Cloud.

"How is your head doing?" asked Mayor Lockhart. "I heard that people have been awful fond of knocking it around lately."

Cloud grimaced and said, "I'm doing alright, but I've been better."

"That's completely understandable," replied the mayor. He then put a hand on Tifa's shoulder. "Well, Cloud, I appreciate that you walked Tifa home. Now if you will please excuse us, it's getting late, and I'm sure your mother is beginning to worry about you." The man went back into his house after a wave.

Before Tifa followed him inside, she gave Cloud a final smile.

"Thanks, Cloud. You know, you're better company than I thought you would be." Cloud gave an impish grin at the statement and ruffled the hair on the back of his head.

"Um. Thanks," he trailed off. He turned his back to Tifa and started his long walk home, calling over his shoulder, "See you at school tomorrow."

Tifa was about to go into her house when she suddenly remembered something. She hurried back to the street and called, "Cloud! You remember that the field trip to the mako reactor on Mt. Nibel is tomorrow, right?"

In fact, Cloud did not remember. His week had been so distracting that he had completely forgotten. "No, I forgot. Thanks for the reminder!" he shouted back. Tifa smiled and waved at him before finally disappearing into her house. As Cloud headed home, he wondered at the events of that afternoon.

I wonder what tomorrow will be like? he thought to himself.

If only he knew.

A/N: I'm back everyone. This chapter definitely took a while to release, and I apologize. It somehow got deleted off my computer and I was too frustrated to rewrite it for a while. But here it is! The story is going to finally pick up the pace starting next chapter, so stay tuned!

Review Responses:

Irish-Brigid: There's definitely going to be more plot twists after this chapter! I'm going to blow your MIND! :D
JukedSolid: I'm glad you like it so far! There wasn't any action in this chapter, so I hope you didn't get too bored. xD There's gonna be some excitement next chapter!
sunflowerspot: It's alright. I put that warning there just for that reason!
J Luc Pitard: I'm trying to find a way to make Jacob pop up one more time in the story. I've had the idea since I started writing, I'm just not too sure how I'm going to incorporate it though. I'll cross that bridge when we get there. I hope you liked the Cloud and Tifa interaction in this chapter! Zack is going to be fine, he's not the one I'd be worried about in this story. ._.
SapphyreMyst: Ew! That would freak me out. I pity you and the poor bug who came back to life during that! DX Truth is, I love praying mantis bugs. They are, like, the coolest bug ever. o_o

Thank you for the reviews! I love you guys!