After Closing Time {Tifa/Private}

[Yuffie Kisaragi]

A cloaked figure wandered the streets of Edge, heading toward the bar known as 7th Heaven. How long had it been, a year perhaps? Yuffie Kisaragi had been pursuing a job of treasure hunting and, back to her old habits, some thievery. Still the 19 years old woman was largely legit now. She was trying hard to be a good person, not to steal and take for her own. She didn't really want to do this but it was necessary, or so the old gang had once told her in some long, drawn out and highly annoying lecture. Oh, those were the days. Still now the young woman was coming back to see an old friend. She had been keeping in contact the last year but she hadn't actually seen any of the old crew. It was time to pay Tifa a visit.

It was nearly two o'clock in the morning, the streets had cleared out, every good little boy or girl had better have been asleep by then because if Yuffie was seen... well there could be trouble. 7th Heaven was, of course closed. Yuffie purposefully dropped by later than closing time so she could be alone with Tifa. She looked at the door and snapped her fingers, a lock-pick falling into her grip and allowing her to masterfully pick the lock that was on the door. She opened the door and wandered into the bar with a gentle swagger as Yuffie Kisaragi, The Single White Rose of Wutai, always did. "Been a while." She muttered as she looked at Tifa, who was behind the counter cleaning the dishes. Of course Yuffie didn't expect Tifa to recognize her. Yuffie was in her brand new cloak, a cute Mog cloak with button eyes and a red stitched mouth that covered all of the upper half of Yuffie's face down to her nose. The collar was a high one which covered her mouth. Her face couldn't accurately be seen in it. It was an ideal cloak for sneaking. The thing covered her entire body and she rose a hand out from under it, tilting forward with a smile so that Tifa would be able to see her pearly white teeth.

"Can't tell me you don't remember me, do ya? I'll let ya know I had to take a stupid boat to get here from Wutai. I hate those things so give me a good greeting." Yuffie joked as she slowly brought her hands up to her hood, flipping it over her head to reveal her true face. She walked over to the counter and gave her old friend a smile. "Haven't seen ya in a while but you haven't changed a bit. What's going on around here, Tifa? I see the bar is as good as ever. Still... you ever gonna hit it off with cloud? And how is Barret? I haven't heard from the big guy in a while.

[Tifa Lockhart]

Tifa was once again cleaning up the mess that her customers had left her. The kids were in bed, and Cloud had left earlier that morning to go on another job. Typical day, really. Rubbing a towel around the inside of each glass, she sat them all into their respective places in the cabinets. She wasn't expecting anymore company tonight. Barret had called saying that he would be working for a bit longer before he could come and spend time with Marlene, so she wouldn't even have him to say hi to. She made a grimace, unhappy with her lifestyle, though she knew that there was no escape, and she would have to keep it up in order to take care of what needed to be taken care of. At least she made good tips.

Her ears catching the sound of the lock being played with, she kept her alert up. Surely no one would ever try to break into here. She could easily call up one of her allies, and they could be here soon. Well.. not a lot of them. Vincent maybe, but where he was, no one knew. The bell at the door was always taken off once the bar closed, so she didn't hear it ring like normal. Still, she heard the sound of the door opening, so she turned around, a knife behind her back just in case. Tifa was never fearful, she could handle herself. But she always worried a little since the kids were sleeping upstairs. Barret trusted her to care for Marlene, and Cloud trusted her to care for Denzel, so it was more a responsibility on her shoulders, though she didn't mind at all. It was quite nice actually to pretend that she was a single mother. Watching the person walk inside, she knew it automatically to be none other than Yuffie. She was the only one who would ever use a pick to open up the door at this time at night, and it hadn't been the first time. "Yes it has, Yuffie," she replied with a small smile, setting the knife back into it's drawer.

Walking out from behind the bar, she walked over to the stools where the customers usually sat. Taking a seat, she watched Yuffie move over to the bar as well. "Of course I remember you. You're the only one would pick a lock around here," she teased to the younger woman. Tifa listened to the talkative ninja talk. "The same as usual," she began, answering each question as they came to her. "Cloud? Ha, he doesn't recognize that I even really exist. Funny though, he did actually try to strike up a conversation with me last night," she replied, her eyes beaming with her new information that normally wasn't something that a girl would say. No girl would ever really brag about a man asking her how she had been. "Barret is doing well, but he had to work for an extra day, so he should hopefully be by tomorrow to spend some time with Marlene."

Knowing the ninja usually told all about herself, Tifa knew that it was kind of pointless to ask questions. She had to admit, she loved being around Yuffie. She thought of her as a younger sister that she could talk to about everything, even though Yuffie tended to blab it to others sometimes.. Oh, the memories of her torturing Cloud and she about each other. Still, she couldn't help but smile.

[Yuffie Kisaragi]

Yuffie grinned and walked up to the counter. "I'm sure blondie will warm up to you soon enough, Tifa. Anyway, I bring gifts from Wutai!" Yuffie reached back and pulled, from inside the back of her cloak, four large bottles of sake. "Three for the bar and one for just us two. This isn't that cheap tourist crap either. This is made by the village elder, best stuff in Wutai, strong too. I remember when I was a kid I would sneak in the storage shed to snag myself some of this stuff. Never got to three sips back then without forgetting where I was and why I was there though, so nobody ever noticed any was gone." Yuffie set the three bar bottles on the counter and beckoned Tifa to come sit down at a table with her. She pulled out a chair and sat down, placing her feet on the table and drawing two sake cups from her cloak pocket as well. "I figure its been a while since we got together and talked, almost a year, after that incident with Bahamut SIN and those creepy materia thieves. We need a good bit of catching up."

Yuffie giggled as she set the sake cups and bottle down, opening the bottle with a grin. She had actually stolen all of this from the Sake Storehouse in Wutai but Tifa didn't need to know. All that mattered was that soon enough a liter and a half of premium grade sake would be drunk and Yuffie and Tifa would be reminiscing the wonderful past. Maybe Yuffie would also get some interesting news on what was happening in her good friend's life as well. It never came to mind that perhaps Yuffie would be one of the people spilling everything they knew. Wutai's best sake tended to have a way of loosening even the most tempered tongues and Yuffie's wasn't tempered at all in the first place. Yuffie poured the cups full of sake and gestured at the opposite chair for Tifa, grabbing her own glass. "How about a toast! To good money and good sake... Or something like that!"

Yuffie didn't wait for Tifa to toast with her before drinking her glass, the steady burn of the sharp sake being felt in her right away, her whole face heating up with the single cup. That stuff was quite strong. "So Tifa... I know you are after Cloud. I really need to know, what are you doing to get him?" It was very obvious that Tifa loved Cloud. She was head over heels for him almost as much as Yuffie was crushing over a certain red caped man named Vincent Valentine, a man she would never acknowledge her love for until he realized she was there. Still she was very supportive of Tifa and her love for Cloud though she still kept that one night at the Gold Saucer with Cloud three years ago a secret from everyone. Cloud had gone on a date with all three of the girls of avalanche, Yuffie included. Yuffie had stolen a kiss on the cheek from Cloud that night though it had been terribly embarrassing and Cloud never replied with anything but an awkward silence. Still back then Yuffie considered it a win on her part.

[Tifa Lockhart]

Tifa merely smiled at Yuffie's words. Cloud and she had her ups and downs, but she felt as if they were getting closer, even if just a little. It had to do a lot with Cloud's painful memories; things that weren't his fault, yet he believed them to be. Slowly, Tifa tried to ease his pain, but the only way that seemed to ever work was by mentioning how much the children looked up to him. Denzel thought of him as a role model.. as well as a father, though she didn't know if the blonde-haired man knew that or not.

The brunette snapped out of her thoughts at the mention of gifts from the ninja. Naturally, Yuffie would bring alcohol. The young woman, too young to be drinking legally, enjoyed her liquor. If Tifa were to ever get caught letting her drink in the bar, she would be shut down, but that is why Yuffie only came by after closing hours to drink. "Haha, only you would sneak in to get some alcohol. But, you are my favorite little thief," the woman grinned as she walked over to the table where her friend was, and took a seat.

The woman nodded at Yuffie's words, knowing that there were many things she had to talk about. "Yuffie, with all of the people vanishing from their villages, and with.. him as the one who is supposedly doing it, we need to round up the gang. Even Cloud agreed to this.." Her worries would never stop. The children meant to much to her. Still, the thought of losing the man who she.. loved, was even more to bear. The burden was heavy on her heart, and she would give her life so that all three of them could be safe.

Tifa extended her hand to the glass, her delicate looking, yet strong fingers gripping it and bringing it to her face, not yet taking a drink. Tifa smiled once more at Yuffie's words, lifting the glass into the air before taking a long drink of the sake, the sting reminiscent of last night when had a few too many drinks. Though the woman worked in a bar, she really didn't drink, and was actually a lightweight compared to Yuffie, though who wasn't? With Yuffie's words, Tifa choked a bit as she went to take another drink of the liquor. "Well, I am trying to just be there for him. I don't want to... let everything out about how I feel for him. He knows that I care, but I'm not ready to reveal my deepest feelings." She didn't want to say too much, because knowing Yuffie, she would find Cloud and blab her mouth off to him.

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