Final Fantasy 7 Hentai-X

[Author’s note: Adultfanfiction.net strips away the tabs. If I weren’t so lazy, I’d fix the problem one way or the other. But I’m way too lazy, so you all must suffer. Muwaha! At least I’ve written you a new chapter, it’s been awhile. Enjoy!]

CHAPTER THREE: THE PROMISE

Up ahead of him, the whistle blew. Steam billowed from the train’s smoke stack, rising into the air like clouds from a pipe. He ran faster, not daring to look behind him. These damn guards were going to make him late! What rotten luck to be spotted by Shinra’s military police just as he was making his way towards the train that would take him back to Tifa’s bar. Cloud sprinted for the bridge. He wouldn’t have time to get on the train like a normal passenger but maybe . . .
He took the stairs two at a time. The bridge went right over the train depot. If he could just get up there quickly enough he’d be alright. A loud crack boomed from behind him, then he felt something graze his ear. He put his hand up to it, and his fingers came away wet with blood. They were shooting at him here, with all these people milling around! Someone could get hurt! (They would if he had the time.)
"Halt," one of the guards shouted, "or we’ll shoot you where you stand!"
Cloud ran across the bridge. But in front of him, he saw more police rushing forward, their rifle barrels pointed at the sky. They had him surrounded. He stopped running, lifting his hands up to show them they were empty.
And then he grabbed the bridge’s railing and hoisted himself over.
The train below had started moving. Cloud’s boots hits the metal train car with a loud thunk, as the soldiers on the bridge opened fire. Bullets whizzed past him as he ran along, leaping from car to car.

**************************************

Wedge sat on a crate, his feet swinging rhythmically back and forth. "Cloud never came."
Biggs turned to look at him, then turned back to Barrett. "Cloud . . . wonder if he was killed or somethin’."
Barrett shook his head. "No way. He’s a professional. Probably just got held up or somethin’. No big deal."
Jessie sat slumped over, holding her head up with her hand, her elbow propped up on her knee. "Cloud . . ." she moaned softly, a worried look on her face.
Biggs tried to ignore her, tried to think positively. "Say, do ya think Cloud’ll fight to the end for AVALANCHE?" he asked, looking hopefully at Barrett.
"The hell would I know?!" Barrett snapped, "Do I look like a fuckin’ mind reader?!"
"Well, you don’t have to say it like that, meanie!" Biggs pouted.
Barrett slammed his fist on the crate.
Everyone jumped up, but not because of Barrett. A voice . . . A voice was coming from outside of the train car!
"Aaaaah…."
The door on the side of the car slid open. Barrett raised his gun arm, pointing towards the door. A figure leaped in, landing on his feet in the middle of them.
Cloud brushed his hair back and smiled. His hair, predictably, sprang right back up again. He straightened up, dusting himself off. The run along the train cars had gotten him a bit dirty.
Biggs and Wedge exclaimed, "Cloud!"
Jessie smiled softly. "Cloud . . ."
He looked around at them all. "Well, looks like I’m a little late."
The only one not exactly happy to see him was Barrett. He stood there, clenching his fist, shaking with anger. "You’re damn right you’re late! Come waltzin’ in here makin’ a big scene!"
"It’s no big deal," Cloud said softly, smiling a little bit wider, "Just what I always do."
Barrett slammed his fist down on the crate again, harder this time. "Shit! You had everyone worried about you! But you don’t give a damn ‘bout no one but yourself!"
"Oh," Cloud mocked, "you were worried about me?"
"Wha--?!" Barrett couldn’t believe it. He was livid. He’d promised not to fight with Cloud but right now . . . all he could think about was punching the guy. "That’s it! I’ma . . . I’ma take it outta your pay!" He turned his back on Cloud, on all of them, and strode towards the next car. "We’re movin’ out! Follow me!" Grasping the handle, he pushed the door open and strode into the next car.
Slowly, everyone rose to follow him.
"Hey Cloud, you were great back there," Wedge said, clamping him on his shoulder. "At the reactor I mean."
"Yeah," Biggs told him, "and we’ll do even better next time."
Cloud shook his head. He didn’t think there would be a next time. Not with him in it, anyway. He stepped through the doorway that divided the one car from the other one.
"Be careful," Jessie told him, as she grabbed the handle of the door, "I’ll shut this." She slowly slid the door shut, then turned to look at him. "Oh, Cloud, your face is pitch black!" Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a handkerchief, then gently wiped Cloud’s face with it. "There you go . . . Say, thanks again for helping me back there at the reactor."
Cloud leaned forward to whisper in her ear. "Do I get a reward for it?" he teased her.
She purred softly. "Maybe . . ."

**************************

Barrett strode through the train car, waving his gun arm at the passenger and glaring at them menacingly until each one had fled into the next car. No sense in taking chances, having some Shinra employee overhear them talking. Best to have the boxcar all to themselves.
Overhead, a speaker crackled to life. "Last train out of Sector 8 Station!" the conductor announced, "Last stop is Sector 7, Train Graveyard. Expected time of arrival is 11:23 a.m., Midgar Standard Time."
Jessie tugged on the sleeve of Cloud’s shirt. When he turned to look at her, she pointed at a large monitor along the side of one wall. "Hey Cloud," she softly murmured, "you want to look at this with me?"
"What is it?" he asked as he allowed her to lead him over to the screen.
"It’s a map of the Midgar Railing system," she explained, stroking her hand along his arm, then reaching out to push a button underneath the screen. A picture blinked to life: a diagram of the entire city of Midgar. "Here, I’ll explain it to you. This is a complete model of Midgar. It’s about 1/10000 scale. The top plate is about 50 meters above ground. A main support structure holds the plate up in the center, and there are other support structures built in each section." She leaned over to whisper in his ear. "The Number One Reactor we blew up was in the northern section." Her teeth caught the bottom of Cloud’s earlobe and she gently bit down, then tugged a little bit on it before letting go and turning back to point at another part of the diagram. "Then there’s Number Two, Number Three . . . all the way up to Number Eight. The eight torstors supply Midgar with electricity. Each town used to have a name, but no one in Midgar remembers them. Instead of names, we refer to them as numbered sectors. That’s what kind of place this is . . ."
Cloud reached out to press another button along the frame for the screen. A tiny picture popped up in front of him, a picture within a picture. A newscaster sat behind a desk reading a story about the latest celebrity couple to break up. Jessie giggled. Then she continued on with her speech, as Cloud pressed an arrow button beneath the button he’d just pressed, and the channel changed to a sitcom about a family with space aliens for neighbors. "Oh Cloud, look at this," she said as she pressed another button and the picture on the larger screen changed to a train route in motion that showed where they were. "This is the route this train is on. The route spirals around the main support structure. We should be coming around the center area right now." Cloud pressed the arrow button again and the channel changed to an old Star Trek movie. "At each checkpoint, an ID sensor device is set up. It can check the identities and backgrounds of each and every passenger on the train by accessing the central databank at Shinra headquarters." She moved closer to whisper in Cloud’s ear again, "Anyone could tell that we look suspicious, so we’re using fake ID’s."
Jessie sucked the bottom of Cloud’s earlobe between her lips, flicking her tongue up and down against it. Cloud moaned, then reached forward and pressed the arrow button again. This time the picture became that of a man standing behind a woman as she bent over on her hands and knees and he pumped his cock in and out of her. Jessie couldn’t help but giggle. Cloud had found a porno station! "Do you like that?" she whispered as she slid her hand into the pocket of his jeans. "Oh you sure do . . . You’re hard!"
"How do you know I didn’t get hard from you nibbling on my ear?" he teased.
The lights in the car flashed red for a second, then went black. "Speak of the devil! That light means we’re in the ID check point!" She stroked her fingertips roughly along the shaft of his cock through the fabric, her hand buried in his pocket.
"That feels good," Cloud purred, as the lights came back on. The picture on the screen changed back to mimic a window, showing the landscape they were passing. Jessie’s hand attempted to wrap around Cloud’s cock, but couldn’t because his pocket wasn’t larger enough. But she kept stroking her hand up and down along it.
Cloud turned to kiss Jessie’s neck, but caught sight of Biggs sitting across from them and watching the whole thing. He almost started to laugh. Sitting next to Biggs, Wedge had his hand in the other man’s lap. So Cloud wasn’t the only one getting a hand job on the train. Just the thought . . . Cloud couldn’t help himself. He soaked his pocket.
Jessie giggled as she pulled her hand back out. Just then, Barrett walked up behind them. A minute longer and he would have caught them.
"Look," he said, pointing out the fake window, "you can see the surface now. This city don’t have no night or day. If that plate weren’t there . . . we could see the sky."
Cloud shook his head. "A floating city . . . pretty unsetting scenery."
"Huh? I never expected ta hear nothin’ like that outta someone like you . . . You jus’ fulla surprises. See that?" Barrett pointed at the top plate. "The upper world . . . It’s cuz of that fuckin . . . PIZZA! . . . that people on the bottom are sufferin’. And the city below is full of polluted air. On top of that, the reactor keeps drainin’ all the energy outta the planet."
"So why doesn’t everyone move onto the plate?"
"Dunno. Probably cuz they ain’t got the money to. Or maybe . . . cuz they love their land, no matter how polluted it gets."
"I know . . . No one lives in the slums because they want to. It’s like this train. It can’t run anywhere except where its rails take it."

************************************

The train slowly ground to a halt at the Sector 7 station. Barrett, Cloud, Jessie, Biggs and Wedge stepped out onto the platform one at a time, each staring out through the gloom at their surroundings. An arc-sodium streetlamp flickered it’s yellow-orange light, a shimmering pool of it collected on the ground below. A tall thin woman stood leaning against the lamp pole, smoking idly. Cloud at first thought she might be a hooker. They seemed to frequent this train station. But as the group passed her, he realized that she was dressed too conservatively for that. Probably waiting for someone on the train. He felt a little bit embarassed oves fis first assumption. The woman just ignored them, her gaze fixed on the train as it pulled away.
"Good day," he said, nodding to her.
"Yes it is. Come back without your friends and it’ll be an even better day."
"Cloud!" Barrett barked at him, "Don’t you be pickin’ up prostitutes when I’m around!"
"S-sorry," he stammered, starting to blush, though he tried to turn his head so the others wouldn’t see.
They moved through the streets as a group. Everyone stopped what they were doing to stare at them, some in awe, others in disgust. One woman turned to her husband and whispered, "Isn’t that AVALANCHE?" Cloud watched them out of the corner of his eye, as the man with her nodded his head. He didn’t think it was a good idea for everyone to know who the members of AVALANCHE were, but it was too late now to do anything about it. But if Shinra came looking for them, it wouldn’t be any problem to find them at all.
Barrett kicked open the door to the 7th Heaven Bar and strode in. The few patrons who were sitting around having an early afternoon drink looked up, startled. "Everyone out!" he shouted. "AVALANCHE is havin’ a meetin’!" When they were slow to get up, he fired a shot into the ceiling. That got the men moving.
Cloud pushed his way in past the grumbling customers as they streamed out into the afternoon light carrying bottles, glasses and mugs of whatever they had been drinking. No one was prepared to give up the drink they’d already paid for. Up ahead, Marlene cried out, "Daddy!" and wrapped her arms around Barrett.
"Welcome back, guys," Tifa said, smiling at the group, "Looks like everything went well, huh?" She turned to Cloud, "Did you fight with Barrett?"
"Only a little," he replied, shaking his head and chuckling.
"What’s that you have with you?" she asked, pointing to his shirt pocket. He’d forgotten all about the flower he’d bought.
"Oh this?" he said, pulling it out of his pocket so she could see it. "It’s a flower. I bought it from some girl who was selling them."
"You almost never see flowers here in the slums. Is it for me?"
"Actually . . . it’s for Marlene."
Barrett looked over at him, startled. He’d figured Cloud was going to keep muscling his way in through any means, giving Tifa flowers and gifts and the like. He hadn’t expected Cloud to have bought something for Marlene. The guy was just full of surprises.
"Yippee!" Marlene called out and bounded over to Cloud. He leaned down and presented her with the flower, which she delicately plucked from his fingers and brought up to her nose, sniffing it. "It smells as pretty as it looks!"
"Here, Marlene, let me put it in some water." Tifa took it from the girl and went into the kitchen with it to retrieve a vase. She sniffed the flower as she did. "Yes, it does smell wonderful. I should fill the store with flowers . . . " She came back, carrying a tall crystal vase just the right size for one flower. "Do you want to take it up to your room?" she asked as she handed it back to Marlene.
The little girl shook her head. "We should put it out on the bar so everyone can enjoy it!"
"Aw, that’s such a sweet thing to say," Tifa said, softly stroking the girl’s hair, "Ok, let’s put it right here, that way everyone can see it."
"Ok!"
Biggs and Wedge had gone into the kitchen to make themselves a snack, and Jessie was standing in the corner playing pinball when Barrett called to them, "Alright you fools get back over here! We’re startin’ the meetin’!"
"Yeah . . ." Jessie mumbled, walking back over into the bar area and grabbing a seat at one of the tables. Biggs and Wedge came back out carrying a plate each with a sandwich. All that fighting and blowing stuff up had made them hungry. (Not to mention the quickie handjob on the train. Wedge could still taste the cum he’d licked off his fingertips.)
"Cloud," Barrett said, turning to him, "I wanted to ask you somethin’."
"What?"
"Was there any SOLDIERS guarding that reactor today?"
"Nope," he replied, "none that I saw."
"So we didn’t fight any?"
"If there was anyone from SOLDIER you wouldn’t be standing here right now."
Barrett clenched his good hand closed into a tight fist, his face turning red. "Don’t go thinkin’ you so bad jes cuz you was in SOLDIER!"
Cloud just shrugged while Barrett continued to rail.
"Yeah, you’re strong. Probably all them guys in SOLDIER are. But don’t forget your scrawny ass is workin’ for AVALANCHE now! Don’t go gettin’ no ideas of hangin’ with Shinra again. We don’t need no traitors!"
"Staying with Shinra? Look, you asked me a question and I answered it. I’m no traitor. I don’t give a damn what you think!" He strode over to the pinball machine, ready to take it up to his room.
"Cloud, wait!" Tifa called out to him, rushing over.
Barrett stood up, turning towards the two of them, "Tifa, just let him go. Looks like he misses Shinra!"
Cloud wheeled on him, truly pissed off by him for the first time. "SHUT UP! I don’t care about Shinra or SOLDIER! But don’t get me wrong. I don’t give a damn about AVALANCHE or the planet either!" He reached over and pulled the lever, starting the elevator up. The last thing he saw as he ascended was Barrett, his face red, veins bulging in his neck, as he slammed his fist down hard on the table.

**************************************

Cloud stepped off the platform, then watched as it descended again. He shook his head. After what he’d seen, there was no way he’d ever want to join up with Shinra or SOLDIER ever again. But he couldn’t tell them that. He couldn’t tell them what had happened . . . not now anyway. He walked over to his bedroom door, his hand touching the cold metal doorknob, when he heard the elevator returning. Who was that?
He turned as she called out to him. "Cloud . . ." Tifa stood there, a worried look on her face.
"What?" he sighed, looking down. He couldn’t bear the way she was looking at him. Silently, she glided over to him, and her hands slid up his upper arms, gently caressing him.
"Listen Cloud . . . I’m asking you . . . begging you . . . please join us."
He shook his head. "I’m sorry Tifa . . ."
"The planet is dying. Slowly but surely. Someone has to do something."
"So? Let Barrett and his buddies deal with it. It’s got nothing to do with me."
She ducked her head so that he had to meet her gaze. "So you’re just going to walk out on your childhood friend? You’re going to leave when I need you?"
"Tifa . . ."
"Did you forget the promise?"
"No," he shook his head, sighing, "of course not! But we were just kids . . ."
"We were teenagers, true. That doesn’t change anything. It was only seven years ago. I’ve been hoping you’d come back and honor that promise. Or was it just your way of getting into my pants?!"
"Please, Tifa, don’t talk like that . . ."
"I remember that night as if it was yesterday. The sky was so full of stars. And I remember seeing your back as I approached. The way you sat there on the lip of the well, waiting for me . . ."
"It was cold . . . I thought you weren’t going to come . . ."

*************************************

The stars, like tiny precious jewels, glimmered in the heavens above him. He sat on the lip of the old stone well, shivering slightly as he waited for her. His hands reached back, pressing against the wood covering that had been placed over the well so no one would ever fall into it. The wood was smooth, damp from yesterday’s rain. He still couldn’t believe he’d had the courage to ask Tifa to come meet him out here. Would he be able to tell her when she arrived? If she arrived, it seemed, as she was still not here, an hour late. Was she coming at all? He was ready to go home.
Behind him, something crunched. He turned, and there she was, her long brown hair streaming past her face. She smiled and rushed over to him.
"Sorry I’m late," she called out to him as she made her way over to the well, to him. When she was standing in front of him, she asked, "You wanted to talk to me about something?"
"Yeah," he said as she sat down next to him, "Come this Spring . . . I’m leaving for Midgar."
". . . All the boys are leaving our town."
He didn’t hear the hurt in her voice. "But I’m different! I’m not just leaving to find a job. I’m going to join SOLDIER! I’m going to be the best there is, just like Sephiroth!"
"Sephiroth . . . The Great Sephiroth . . . Isn’t it hard to join SOLDIER though?"
"Yeah . . . I probably won’t be able to come bto tto this town for awhile . . ."
"Will you be in the newspapers if you do well?"
"I’ll try."
"Hey, make me a promise ok?"
"What kind of promise?"
"If you get famous and I’m ever in a bind . . . You’ll come save me. Ok?"
"What?"
"When I’m in trouble, I want my hero to come rescue me! I want to experience that, just once."
". . . Your hero?"
"Come on! Just promise me!"
"Well . . . if I’m your hero . . . then you have to be my woman."
"But . . . you’re leaving!"
"I know. I don’t mean while I’m gone. But when I come back, I should be able to sweep you off your feet and carry you away."
Tifa started to giggle. "Yeah I guess you’re right." She put her hand over top of his as their eyes met. "But . . . I don’t want to get involved with you right now if you’re going to leave. It would hurt too much when you go."
"I . . . I understand. But . . . can we . . . at least once . . ."
She slid her other hand up along his upper arm on one side, turning him gently to her. "I’ve never even kissed a boy," she said as she leaned forward, her lips pressing to his. He slid his free hand along her left leg up to her hip as they kissed. Her heart fluttered, beating its wings against her chest. It was true, she barely knew Cloud. But all the other boys had left already or were getting ready to leave, and none of them were paying her much attention. She didn’t want to stay a virgin the rest of her life, but she wouldn’t be leaving Kalm any time soon. And Cloud was definitely handsome. Oh and he could kiss . . . She melted against him, slipping her arm around his shoulder.
His tongue teased her lips, and she slowly parted them, her own tongue sitting at the threshold to greet his. Back and forth he stroked the tip of his tongue against the tip of hers as she pulled him closer, leaning back. They laid down together, her back against the wooden well-covering. What an odd place to make love, she thought to herself, but at least no one would catch them. His hands slid up over her breasts. The last year she’d spent filling out, and now whenever the boys DID notice her, it was always her breasts that they noticed. But not Cloud. He might have glanced seruptiously at them from time to time, but his gaze also fell on her long brown hair, her eyes, her hips. Whenever she caught him looking at her, he seemed to be drinking in her image, the way a man lost in the desert might guzzle from a cantene. It made her blush, and he was always quick to look away. Now he had her blouse pulled up, his thumbs stroking circles over her hard nipples through the fabric of her bra, as he lashed her tongue with his own. She moaned deeply, breaking the kiss, and he used the opportunity to plant a kiss on the underside of her chin.
Her hands stroked up and down his back as though she were searching for something. Her legs wrapped around his hips as she rubbed her lower body against the erection she could feel in his jeans. She yearned to undress him, but knew it would be too cold for him. His lips found her nipples, and she moaned again.
But this was too much. Too much of a tease. She needed him inside of her. Her hands pressed to his chest and then she pushed him up. He looked confused until her hands slid down to the waistband of his jeans and she started to unbuckle his belt. He gazed down at her, waiting to see her reaction. She gasped as her fingers pulled his zipper down and his erection fell out of his pants. It was so big. Would she be able to fit it inside of her? The thought frightened and excited her. Tentatively, she stroked her fingertips along the shaft. It was so hot! It was almost as though his penis had a fever! The thought was almost enough to make her giggle. She wrapped her hanoundound it, lightly squeezing it. She could feel the blood pulsing through it, making it throb.
Cloud moaned softly, then reached down for her shorts. He could tell she was cold, gooseflesh covered her legs, so he didn’t really want to do this, but there was no other way. His fingers fumbled the button open, then pulled the zipper down, as Tifa’s fingertips slowly stroked his erection. He pulled, dragging the shorts down off her hips and up along her legs. She had to let go of him as he pulled the shorts off her.
And he almost laughed. She had on Sailor Moon underwear! The faces of the "scouts" swam disembodied along with the purplish-black kitty face from the show. Tifa had on little girl panties!
"Don’t laugh!" she warned him, seeing his expression. "They’re . . . they’re kinda for good luck." Her cheeks started to turn red as she blushed.
"Don’t worry," he said, his fingertips stroking down against the fabric, causing her to shiver with pleasure, "I won’t laugh." He reached up and hooked his fingers under the waistband, then yanked them down and off of her.
He gasped. Tifa had shaved her pubes into a landing strip. Actually, not quite, as the strip was tapered, the top half wider then the bottom half. Her lips were bare, though. Cloud had never seen a woman naked down there before, and he stared wide-eyed and unabashed. Slowly, he reached down and stroke his thumb along her pubes. So soft. He slipped his fingers down between her lips, felt how wet she was, then brought his fingers up to his lips to taste her.
She grabbed hold of his cock. "No more teasing me, Cloud. I need you."
He leaned over her, his hands on either side of her shoulders, as she guided him into her. She pressed the head of his erection into her opening as he leaned down, pushing his hips forward to meet her. When she felt him slide into her, she stroked her hands up his back, letting go of his cock. Inch by inch, he entered her, until he was more then three inches into her. There was a barrier and he could go no further. He knew what this meant.
"Hold onto me, Tifa," he whispered.
She clutched his shoulders as he moved his hips back, sliding out of her an inch, then pushed forward. She gasped hard in pain, he nails digging into his flesh. Little flowers of pain blossomed behind her eyelids like explosions, then it was over. Or rather it simply faded until it was gone. She lay beneath him, panting. Slowly, he pulled back, and the pain flared up again only to die down as quickly. He moved against her, finding a rhythm. Her hands clutched his shoulders, holding onto him, as he moved his hips in waves against her. Now . . . now it felt wonderful. Better then the nights she’d spent soaking in the tub, using the shampoo bottle on herself and pretending it was Nikki, the famous visual kei guitarist. She had no idea it would feel this exquisite, this sublime.
She leaned back, her eyes slipping closed, moaning softly as Cloud grunted and groaned over top of her, his pace quickening. She knew he wouldn’t be long and so she relaxed, enjoying every sensation, the feeling of him inside of her, the way his pubis brushed her clit with every thrust, his body moving in time with her own . . . All of the sensations began to slowly wash over her, like the ocean lapping at the shore. She let go, gave herself up to this man who was still just a boy. Her lips parted and she called out, her own voice sounding to her ears as though it came from some great far off distance. And she could hear him growling in her ear as he pushed forward, sliding into her as far as he could, the semen spurting deep into her. She would have time to worry about that later, but now she shivered as the pleasure coursed through her. She lay there with him on top of her, and her lips found his ear. "You promise, right?"
"Of course . . ."

**********************************

"So you remember now, our promise?" she asked him.
"Yeah I remember. But I’m no hero and I’m not famous. I can’t . . . I can’t keep the promise."
"But you got your childhood dream didn’t you? You joined SOLDIER. So you have to keep the promise, Cloud! You have to!"
The sound of the elevator behind them startled them both. Cloud let go of her hands. He hadn’t even been aware that he’d been holding them. They both turned to see who it was. And there stood Barrett next to the pinball machine. He strode forward.
"Alright big shot, a promise is a promise!" He slapped down a bundle of gil into Cloud’s hand. "Fifteen hundred gil, your pay for the mission."
Cloud was incredulous. "This is it, huh? It hardly seems worth it but ok. I can’t live on this though."
Tifa turned to stare at him. "So does that mean . . .?"
"You got the next mission lined up? I’ll do it for three hundred." He had to make more then what he’d spent on Tifa’s bracelet.
Barrett grabbed Tifa’s arm and whispered in her ear. "That’s money for Marlene’s schooling!"
"But we’re really hurting for help aren’t we?" she whispered back.
Barrett turned back to Cloud. "Two hundred."
He shook his head. It would barely cover the amount he’d spent. "Fine . . . two hundred gil. I just hope this next mission is as much of a piece of cake as this one was. It won’t be worth it otherwise."
"Oh Cloud!" Tifa hugged him around the neck and kissed his cheek. Barret just sighed and went back downstairs. Maybe, Tifa thought to herself, maybe she’d be able to convince him to stay after all. Maybe . . .
Cloud pulled her arms off of him and reached for the doorhandle to his room again. "Let me know when supper’s ready ok? I want to get some rest. You and your friends have given me a headache . . ." And with that he slipped into his room, leaving Tifa out in the hallway to wonder what had just happened.

[Author’s postscript: Nikki, for those who didn’t get the reference, which would be all of you I’m sure, is a character from another Squaresoft RPG, Chrono Cross. He looks like he could either be in Poiso Dir Dir En Grey. Since this is a Japanese game, I went with the idea that he’s a visual kei musician.]