"You should decorate your ceiling." "...My ceiling? Why my ceiling?" "So that on the weekends, when you come back from a long night of drinking and partying, you can crash out on the floor, stare up, and see a bunch of pretty colors and things...that'd be cool." "...Would I be getting high during these outings of mine?" "Nah, ceiling art can only be appreciated when drunk...not high." "And you'd know this, how?" "I don't. It was just a thought. Why? Did you think it was a bad idea?" "No, it's not so much that, it's just...I never go out partying." "I can tell." "Have you gone to a lot of parties before?" "To be honest...no...not really." Exhausted and sitting on the couch, both Tifa and Yuffie had their heads tilted back and were staring at the ceiling. It was now nighttime, and the two had just returned from the festival. Neither seemed to have the energy to get up. Yuffie tapped her chin. "You should paint Shiva and Siren on your ceiling." Tifa frowned slightly. "Why?" At this, the other girl smiled lazily. "Cuz' their pretty." The fighter lifted her head to stare at her. "Yuffie, I think you need to go to bed." The ninja rubbed at her eye. "I think I do..." Yawning, the girl tried to get up, but failed. "Tif, help me. I don't have enough energy. I think my limbs are dead." She whined. Sighing, Tifa pushed herself onto her feet. "Come on, drama queen. It's time for bed." Yuffie took her hand, and the woman helped her to her feet. "Thanks," she said as she teetered a bit. Shuffling towards her room, the girl stifled another yawn, "Night, Tif." Tifa smiled after her. "Night, Yuffie." The ensuing silence after the ninja's departure left the fighter feeling like a passive thought of shallow origin. Not too long before, she had been making a connection with a friend, reliving a memory of celebration and joy she had long since forgotten. But now, she was back in neutral, lost without the helping hand of a shinobi who knew more about life and the fire that came with it than perhaps she did. After all, Tifa had received many winding blows throughout her lifetime...many of them experienced during the year she spent traveling with Avalanche. Idly, the woman wondered where her true discontent lay. Was it in her current situation? Or was it in her past somewhere, lying unseen? Trudging into the kitchen, Tifa was about to make her way to her bedroom when the door to the garage called her attention. Turning slowly to it, she gazed at it with cold eyes, not wishing to once again drown herself in a hopeless endeavor, an endeavor that, though she may not admit it consciously, was really a project of deeper meaning. "Not tonight. You're not going to torment me tonight..." the woman muttered, continuing her path to her room. About to enter her room, Tifa was once again struck by the fact that she was actually going to sleep in her bed. "This is a record." The woman thought wryly. Fingers grasping the cool metal of the bedroom doorknob, she was just about to open the door when— "OH. MY. GAWD!!" Tifa jerked, head snapping in the direction of Yuffie's room. Hurrying to the door, she burst into the bedroom, flicking on the light and glancing around wildly. "What? What is it??" "S-Spider! On me! Oh Leviathan, I can feel it!!" Yuffie was standing on her bed and reaching at her back. "Crap! It's going down my frickin' spine!" Tifa held up her hands, "Yuffie, relax! You'll smash it and that'll just be disgusting!" "God damn it Tifa, you dunno how frickin' BIG this—HOLY—" Yuffie yelped and fanned her shirt. "It's in between my breasts! Get it out! Get it out! Ugh!!" "Quit it, or it'll bite you!" "What!?" Burying her face in her hands the woman shouted, "Stop jiggling around! You're just exacerbating the situation!" Tifa moved to the side of the bed, gesturing for Yuffie to come down. "C'mere, and don't jerk." Yuffie whimpered as she carefully climbed off the bed, now as stiff as a statue and looking terribly frightened. "Tif...Tif, get it off, it's crawling up to my neck!" Sure enough, the spider crawled out from beneath the shirts neckline. It was a dark spider, not large, but thick. Tifa was relieved to see it didn't have any of the marks of a poisonous spider, and reaching up, she carefully brushed the arachnid into her open palm. "There." Tifa said, cupping the spider. "No need for panic." Yuffie rubbed her neck vigorously, "Easy for you to say...it wasn't crawling all over your skin!" Smirking, Tifa turned to leave the room, "Night, Yuffie." "Hey, Tif?" The woman stopped and turned. "Yes?" The ninja gave her a sheepish smile. "Thanks." Tifa nodded. "No problem." Shutting the door, the fighter went into her room. There, she opened her window and placed the spider on the windowsill. It scuttled out into the shadows of the night. Tifa waved softly for a moment before shutting her window and changing her clothes. Feeling exhausted, the woman finally went to bed. ----- The next morning, Tifa awoke to hear noises coming from her kitchen. Frowning groggily, the woman kicked the blankets off of her and left her room. Entering the kitchen, she squinted at the light. "Good morning, Rusty." Blinking, Tifa's eyes adjusted enough to the light to see that Yuffie was already setting food out onto the table. "I made breakfast, hope ya don't mind." "Oh no!" Tifa said, smiling pleasantly. "I'm surprised. This was nice of you." Yuffie grinned. "I saw that you had tofu, green onion, and seaweed and I was jes' like, 'Wow! I can actually cook something with this stuff!' So I did." She waved a hand. "This, Tifa, is what we eat for breakfast in Wutai! White rice, miso soup, and sausage." The fighter nodded, eyeing the food with approval and admiration. "This looks really good. You have to teach me how to make this!" Yuffie blinked as she sat down. "Wow, I never thought I'd hear that. Tifa Lockhart, asking me to teach her how to cook something?" she served a bowl of miso soup and handed it carefully to Tifa. "It's easy enough to make this stuff. Nothing complicated...or else I wouldn't have been able to make it. Did I tell you of the time I burned a tub of ice cream?" Tifa paused as she was just about to begin eating. Thinking the sentence over again, she wrinkled her nose. "How in the world do you burn ice cream?" Yuffie smiled proudly. "No idea! But I managed it!" "Nothing's impossible for The Great Ninja Yuffie I suppose..." Tifa said jokingly. "Hardy, har, har. Very funny, Tif." "I should do stand up comedy. Things may not have always been the easiest in my life, but I can think of a few moments that would earn some laughs from a crowd." "Like what?" "Like the first time we arrived at Costa del Sol. Red XIII was about ready to pass out from the heat." Yuffie laughed. "I remember! He did end up passing out." "He passed out only because you hit him in the head with that soccer ball." The ninja blinked, a sausage held to her lips. "I...did?" Tifa looked at her incredulously. "Yes! And then you ran off and we couldn't find you for the longest time! When we finally did, you were hiding out in that man's materia shop! Don't you remember?" Yuffie frowned. "Materia shop...? ...Oh." A slow grin spread across her lips. "I remember now." Tifa rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I bet you do..." she grumbled. ----- "Tif, why are you living here in Tiesmire? I mean...out of all places you could've moved to, why this place? Couldn't you have moved to Rocket Town? It's not far from here." "I would've, but...somehow, the thought of running into Cid and Shera didn't settle well with me." "Why?" "It's weird...being friends with a couple...a family no less, and being single with no children. You can understand that, can't you?" "I guess so..." a pause. "Yeah. Yeah, I can understand that." Tifa and Yuffie were sitting in the living room. It was around noon by now. With nothing to do and nothing of interest nearby to see, the two settled for simply lounging on Tifa's couch and watching television. However, they were growing more and more absorbed in their conversation than what the TV had to offer: A game show in which the contestants were putting rubber bands around their heads and trying to answer trivia questions at the same time. Disgusted with the sight of people degrading themselves for cash, Tifa turned the television off. "Yuffie, if you don't mind my asking...why did you leave Wutai?" Yuffie shrugged. "I already told you." "Yes...but...what did your father do to you that made you angry enough to leave?" The girl snorted, crossing her arms. "He was being a chauvinistic bastard, like always. A real grade a asshole if you ask me." "He told you to do something you didn't want to do?" "He basically told me to give up my future." "...How's that?" "Tifa, can we talk about something else? Thinking about my dad gets me in a pissy mood." Tifa looked at her for a moment before nodding. "All right..." "Let's talk about you," Yuffie said, turning fully to Tifa. Curling up on the couch, the girl gave the fighter a shrewd look. "When you're through with that truck o' yours, what're you gonna do? Are you gonna just sit here and wait for something to happen to you?" Tifa frowned deeply. "I haven't thought about that..." "Why don't you just take the truck to a garage or something? They'd be able to fix it. I still think you should just take it to Cid." "Yuffie, I don't think you understand. Fixing that truck is just something I have to do on my own." "No offense, Tif. But by the sound of your voice, you know as well as I do that you'll never fix that truck." Tifa didn't say anything. She chose to stare at the blank television screen instead. "Rusty." The woman didn't answer. "Rusty, let's spar." Head snapping toward her companion, Tifa stared at Yuffie as if she were crazy. The ninja shrugged plaintively. "What? We've got nothing else to do and we both could use the practice...well. You do." Tifa shook her head. "No way. We could hurt each other." "Oh come on! We both have pent up frustrations that we could use getting rid of. What's the harm in a bit of sparring between friends?" Tifa frowned. "But Yuffie, we don't have any sparring gear. We don't even really have a place TO spar!" "Your front lawn." The girl said, jerking her head toward the front door. "We can spar there just fine." Tifa stared at her incredulously. "Are you insane!? The neighbors—" "Won't say a thing unless they want my fist in their mouths." Yuffie stood. "Come on, Tif. Quit being so worried all the time." "Yuffie-" "Tifa, if you don't spar me now, I'll take it as your yielding to me as the better martial artist." The ninja said this with a smirk, placing her hands high on her hips in her trademark pose. At this, the woman stood, eyebrow slowly rising as she did so. "Oh really?" pursing her lips, Tifa brushed past the girl. "Get your shoes on, we're gonna spar." Grinning, Yuffie stared after her. "That was so easy..." she said, grin widening. Ten minutes later, the two were standing on Tifa's lawn, ten paces apart from one another. After a moment was spent staring each other down, Tifa spoke. "If we're gonna do this, we're going to follow the general rules of street sparring. Are you familiar with those?" Yuffie smirked. "Sure. How do you think I practiced my ninjitsu?" the girl held up her hand and began to tick off her fingers. "First rule: all target areas allowed. Second rule: the match is called only when one person clearly and audibly forfeits, or loses consciousness. Third rule: No grappling. Fourth rule: no use of weapons or objects is allowed unless agreed upon by both contenders." Tifa nodded, impressed. "Very good. So no weapons." "And, basically, discretion and moderation is up to the fighter." Yuffie added, bowing. Tifa returned the bow before falling back to her fighting stance. She smirked slightly, though her stomach clenched at the look on her companion's face. "Exactly...so I guess we'll just have to trust each other not to get carried away, right?" Yuffie fell into her fighting stance, a manic grin on her face. "Right," she said, her eyes glinting. The expression she wore was the same look she wore whenever she was about to enter combat. An intense, and confident look that Tifa had seen often on the girl's face on more than one occasion. To be honest...the look frightened the fighter. Swallowing, Tifa immediately began to regret agreeing to a sparring match with Yuffie. The ninja had completely manipulated her this time. The woman supposed she really was rusty. The two moved toward each other, stopping within arms reach as they began to cycle around. Once. Twice. Yuffie switched her feet a few times rapidly, laughing as Tifa jerked back as the girl did so. Gritting her teeth, the fighter watched her opponent carefully, thinking over and over in her head, "Attack me. Attack me. Attack me!" Yuffie as if hearing the woman's thoughts, snapped a sudden punch toward her torso. Tifa, startled, blocked the punch. Yuffie sent another fast punch towards the woman's throat. The fighter knocked the punch away with the same hand she blocked with before. The ninja, following up, shot a chop towards her opponent's temple. Alarmed, Tifa blocked with both of her hands. At this move, Yuffie smiled devilishly, snapping a sharp kick to Tifa's exposed side. The force of the blow sent the fighter to the ground, some wind rushing from her lungs. The ninja lifted her left leg in the air, and brought her heel down in a rush of wind. "Kyah!" the girl cried, just as Tifa dodged the attack. Pushing herself up to her knees, the fighter looked up in time to see Yuffie's foot coming toward her face in a low roundhouse kick. Blocking it, the woman hopped to her feet, turning to the side as another punch from the ninja glanced off her shoulder. Grabbing her opponent's arm, Tifa reached with the other hand and grabbed the back of Yuffie's neck, sticking her leg out as she aided the girl's momentum and sent her flying to the ground. "What the-!?" Not wanting the opportunity to pass, Tifa lifted her leg and brought it down in a powerful stomp only to miss as Yuffie rolled out of the way and up into a kneeling position. There she lunged forward with one leg, pressing her palms together and spearing Tifa in the gut with her hands. The fighter, letting out a hiss, stumbled back a few steps. "Your pretty good for someone who's rusty." Yuffie said tauntingly as she straightened. She rotated her shoulders and turned so that her right foot was toward Tifa. Hopping back and forth, Yuffie moved her hands in a motion not unlike boxers before a fight truly began. "But you know, I've got the speed and confidence of someone who still knows what its like to be in a fight. Do you remember that, Tif? The adrenaline rush you get when it's just you and the other person?" Tifa tried to focus more on Yuffie's movements than what she was saying. The ninja was trying to distract her, trying to psyche her out...but regardless of Tifa's knowledge of this, she found it hard to concentrate. "Come on Tif!" Yuffie snapped a few punches into the air and smirked. "I'm the Greased Lightning! Even if you anticipate an attack from me, are you even gonna be quick enough to block it? Cuz' you can't avoid it, I'll tell you that much." Tifa's mind drifted to a cool forest, the wind rustling the leaves and the sun shining through the leaves, painting the forest floor in a pale green light. Standing before her was not nineteen-year-old Yuffie, but rather, her past self, when she was only sixteen. A smudge of dirt was on her nose, and her hair was messy and tangled from days of negligence. Wearing the same predatory look she wore now, the Yuffie then was just as fierce and fiery in battle. Tifa recalled how raw her movements had been then. As a martial artist still sharp in her practice, the woman could nit pick at all the little things Yuffie did that left her exposed, that caused her just that much more time to recover after delivering an attack. But now...now she couldn't. She had stopped training, and was now dull in her senses. Yuffie, however, had improved. That was as much as Tifa could tell. What she really should have been noticing, however, was the fact that Yuffie had now come closer, inching some to the side. "Tifa, how do you move with those breasts of yours anyway? I'd imagine they'd come flying up to knock you out or something...why don't you try and attack me with them? I'm sure they could bludgeon a person to death." Tifa grew red in the face. Why'd Yuffie always have to-? "Kyah!" Yuffie kicked out with her left leg in a swift and powerful roundhouse towards Tifa's trunk. Tifa blocked the attack, her mind still on what Yuffie had just said, and so when she looked up to see Yuffie's hand flying toward her neck in a chop, the fighter didn't react quickly enough to block. The blow connected, and Tifa gasped, coughing as her hand flew to her throat. Yuffie withdrew, pausing slightly in the face of Tifa's coughing fit. But the fighter straightened her back, falling into a fighting stance once again. Yuffie raised an eyebrow at her. "Sure you don't wanna yield?" Tifa shook her head, a fierce scowl on her face now. Yuffie smirked, "Okay then!" The girl rushed forward, throwing a wild punch towards her opponent's head. Bewildered, Tifa knocked the punch away, sending one of her own towards the ninja's rib cage. Yuffie blocked that as well, snapping a punch towards the fighter's throat. The punch was blocked and what followed could only be described as a quick and confusing series of attacks, blocks, and reversals. Panting, the two opponents somehow managed to lock arms, faces inches away from each other. Gazes fierce from the throes of combat, they stared for a moment into each other's eyes before pushing the other away and falling back into their respective stances. This time, it was Tifa who attacked first, sending a straight kick to Yuffie's head. The ninja dodged the attack, sailing a roundhouse towards the woman's knee in retaliation. The attack was blocked and Yuffie followed up immediately with another roundhouse toward the woman's side. Blocked. Another follow up, this-time a roundhouse to the woman's head. Tifa, instead of just blocking the attack, grabbed the ninja's ankle, and, using her size to her advantage, pushed Yuffie to the ground with a strong shove. The ninja fell with a loud "Umph!" and Tifa attempted to follow up the counter attack with swift blow from the heel of her palm to the ninja's sternum. Yuffie, anticipating that move, grabbed the fighter's arm and pulled her down, planting a foot in the woman's stomach and sending her sailing over her head, where the fighter crashed to the ground, head lying near Yuffie's. Panting, neither of the two stood. "Y-Yuffie..." Tifa wheezed, wincing at the sores suffered from earlier. "Y-Yeah, Tif?" Yuffie huffed back, her hair matted to her forehead with sweat. "Let's call it a tie, m'kay?" "...O-okay. That sounds good." They still didn't get up. The few neighbors who had been watching retreated back into their homes as soon as they saw the fight was over. "That was one hell of a sight..." one man muttered, a beer can clutched in his hairy fist. He grinned lecherously. Yuffie wiped at her forehead as she stared up at the sky. "I don't think I wanna move. The clouds look so pretty." Tifa looked at them more closely. Pointing she said, "There's a chocobo." Yuffie tilted her head some so that she could see where Tifa was pointing. A lazy smile spreading across her face, the ninja nodded. "That's neat." They fell silent, their breathing turning low and rhythmic. Their chests rose and fell in sync, and Tifa closed her eyes after a moment. She felt as if she could sleep right there on the lawn... "That was a good match, Tifa." Yuffie said after a moment, her voice quiet. "Mmm..." Tifa mumbled, her eyes still closed. "Is your neck okay?" "A bit sore, but nothing serious." "For a moment I was afraid I really hurt you." "Well all targets were allowed, Yuffie. I'm not upset with you if that's what you're really worried about..." "Yeah, I know...it's just..." the girl paused, licking her lips. "When you're sparring with a person that you know personally...you don't get that anxiety you feel when fighting a stranger. My dad and I used to spar all the time...that is, until me and him started having arguments all the time. ...It was nice sparring with you, Tifa. I hadn't sparred with anyone in a really long time. I forgot how it felt...that trust and connection, y'know? It's a great feeling. We have to do it again sometime." Yuffie placed her hands behind her head and crossed her ankles. "If only everyone in the world solved their disagreements with one good spar. Y'know. Slugged the hell out of one another, but never to the point that it grew too serious. It'd get rid of the pent up anger and resentment. I know people who have become best friends after giving each other black eyes. It's like war veterans I guess. When you experience battle with one another and live to tell about it, you form this bond. You can't recreate that anywhere else. It's special. Y'know?" Tifa didn't say anything. Yuffie blinked and tilted her head back to stare at the top of the fighter's head. "Tif?" she pushed herself up into a sitting position and stared down at the woman. Her mouth dropped. "I don't believe it!" she breathed incredulously. "She fell asleep!" ----- A silly thing...waking up. You were just on the line between consciousness and sleep, dreams and outrageous realities made true by a fuzzy haze of transition. The angel in your dream, with her creamy skin and wispy hair, offset by the rosy background of an evening sky, appeared to you as vivid as it did in your dream world. In fact, the angel was almost recognizable, with her large, bright eyes and cocky grin. ...Wait, what? Tifa's eyes fluttered. "...Y-Yuffie?" Yuffie was staring down at her with an amused expression on her face, her hair blowing into her eyes with the cool evening breeze. "Morning, Rusty." Tifa frowned and sat up slowly, groaning at the stiffness in her neck and back. Rubbing her neck, she stared around her in shock. "I fell asleep on my front lawn??" "Yep." Tifa turned to glare at her. "Why didn't you wake me up!?" she cried. Yuffie shrugged innocently. "I didn't wanna disturb you! You seemed comfortable there on the grass..." "Oh my god! My skin! It itches!" Yuffie chuckled nervously. "Heh...sorry, Tif. I just...I couldn't bring myself to do it. You look so cute when you're sleeping." Scratching at her back, Tifa gave the ninja a disturbed look. "You watched me sleep??" "I had to make sure a bug didn't crawl up your nose!" Standing, Tifa picked the grass from her hair. "Yeah? Well you could've just woken me up!" Tifa stormed back into her house, Yuffie quickly following her. "Y'know, you talk in your sleep?" "So?" "You kept muttering something about an angel." Tifa swallowed, her cheeks turning a light pink. "I was just having a dream..." the woman mumbled, flopping onto the couch and picking more grass blades from her hair. Yuffie flopped down next to her. "Sounded like you were having a really nice one...what was it about?" "Did you eat, yet?" Tifa asked, attempting to change the subject. "Yeah, I made a sandwich...made you one too. It's in the fridge." "Thanks." Tifa said as she stood and went into the kitchen. Opening the refrigerator, she took the sandwich out and sat herself at the table. Yuffie stared at her from where she sat. "Tifa, you're acting a bit weird." "Well I did just wake up in my front yard." The woman snapped, biting fiercely into her sandwich. "Geez, Tifa...Look, I'm really sorry I just let you sleep there. Next time you look peaceful and like you're getting some much needed rest I'll be sure to bother you." The ninja crossed her arms and glared down at her shoes with a loud, "Humph!" Tifa rolled her eyes with a sigh. Swallowing her bite of sandwich, she said, "Yuffie, you're intentions were sweet...if a little creepy. But you can't deny, it was a bit ridiculous. How long did I sleep there?" "Three hours." Yuffie said, still not looking up from her shoes. But she wasn't frowning anymore. Setting down her sandwich, Tifa scratched at her arms, "I've gotta go take a shower...this itching is gonna drive me insane." Standing, she left Yuffie alone in the living room. Moving into the bathroom, Tifa locked the door. There she began to undress, her head still buzzing with her disbelief. "I can't believe she just let me lie there..." the woman muttered, stepping into the shower. She shook her head as she turned on the water. When she was through, the fighter grabbed a towel from the rack and tied it around herself, tossing her clothes into the hamper before leaving the bathroom and moving down the hall to her bedroom. There she changed into her pajamas. As she pulled her shirt over her head, she heard Yuffie enter her room. Tifa pulled her hair out of her shirt with a sigh. Leaving her room, she stopped at Yuffie's door, considering going in. But realizing she didn't know what to say, the fighter continued walking past, her shoulders slumped in dejection. Taking a hair clip from the bathroom, the woman clipped her damp hair up into a messy bun, moving slowly into her kitchen. Picking up the sandwich, she took another bite, chewing the food slowly. It didn't take long before her eyes drifted toward the garage door. "Tifa." Tifa jerked slightly and turned to see Yuffie standing behind her. The ninja had her arms loosely crossed. "I...I think I'm gonna be leaving tomorrow." She said quietly. The fighter blinked. "Oh?" "Yeah..." Yuffie rubbed the back of her left leg with her right foot. "I only meant to come visit you. I don't want to be a bother." "Yuffie, you haven't been a bother to me at all. In fact..." Tifa smiled genuinely, "This is the most fun I've had in a long time...spending time with you." At this, Yuffie's eyes brightened. "Really?" Tifa nodded mutely. The fighter sat herself at the table, taking another bite of her sandwich. Yuffie sat in the chair next to her, biting her lip. "Tifa." Tifa looked to her. Swallowing her bite, she asked, "What is it?" Yuffie stared down at her hands. "What...what're you gonna do after I leave?" Tifa blinked. "I...dunno." "Are you gonna keep working on that truck of yours?" "...I guess so." Yuffie nodded, biting her lip again. Tifa, swallowing down another bite, looked at the girl with concern. "Yuffie, what's wrong?" "I want you to come with me." The silence that followed these words was so thick, Tifa was sure she could feel it pressing down on her. "...You...you want me to...go with you?" Yuffie recoiled at the woman's words, and Tifa quickly corrected herself. "Not to say that I don't want to spend time with you! I like you a lot, Yuffie! It's just...that's a big thing to ask." The ninja shrugged meekly. "I dunno...I just...It's been fun, hanging out with you, and it gets lonely on the road, y'know? Plus I...don't really like the idea of leaving you alone here...just so you could continue tinkering with that stupid truck." "The truck isn't stupid, Yuffie." "That thing's a hopeless case, Tifa. You have to admit it. You have to." Tifa didn't say anything. She chose to take another bite of her sandwich. Yuffie sighed and stood slowly, laying her palms on the table. "The offer still stands, Tif. It'll be fun. We'll see all the new stuff that's been built, and visit some of the old places too. We'll even stop to see the others. I'll be leaving later sometime tomorrow so..." the girl coughed. "Uh, yeah...G'night Tif." Tifa muttered a 'good night' in return as the girl walked away, not to be seen for the rest of the night. Finishing her sandwich, the fighter wiped the crumbs from her lips and from her clothes. She stood and began walking toward her bedroom, but stopped as she glanced over at the garage door. Looking from the hall to the door and back, Tifa chose the latter to move to, her breathing sharp and shallow. Opening the door slowly, the hinges squeaked as she pushed it open all the way. A silhouette in the doorway from one world to another, the woman lifted a slow hand and flicked on the light. The truck seemed to glare at her, it's weathered face asking the silent question, "Where the hell have you been all this time!?" "Away..." the woman breathed, moving towards it. "And what have you been doing while you were away?" "Remembering how to live." The truck had no response to this, so Tifa pulled a stool from near the side table and sat herself before it. Her face a shadowy visage, the woman glared down at the hood of the truck as if it were the cause of all her troubles. "Yuffie's right. I don't know why I keep bothering." The truck had an answer to this, and it gave it readily. "Imagine what a dream I'd be, running smoothly down the street with my body gleaming from a new coat of paint. Wouldn't that be nice? And it would be all your doing." "No amount of skill and hard work can change you." The woman said, her voice hollow. "Now who told you that? It'd make you feel better, wouldn't it? Knowing that you accomplished what you had set out to do? You aren't a quitter, now are you?" "This isn't a matter of quitting, it’s a matter of realizing a truth." "And the truth is whatever you choose it to be." Tifa blinked, her eyes spacing out. "...Your right. The truth is whatever I choose it to be..." The fighter didn't move from where she sat.
Back to Vagrants Rhapsody Index - Back to Final Fantasy 7 Shoujo-Ai Fanfiction