Feeling Special (Final Fantasy VII)
Title: Feeling Special
Characters: Cloud/Tifa
Rating: Teen
Disclaimers: I do not own anyone/anything from the forum Final Fantasy. Square Soft/Enix owns Final Fantasy and its characters. There is no copyright infringement intended. I do not make any profit/money or take any credit.
Summary: When everyone else only saw her strength, he treated her like porcelain and delicate flowers.
A/N: Prompt for February 12th - Cloud/Tifa - Something Special - 'When everyone else only saw her strength, he treated her like porcelain delicate flowers.'
Timeline: Final Fantasy VII
Word Count: 1,089
Betaed: No
~~~~Feeling Special~~~~
Tifa sighed as she brushed back a lock of her dark hair that fell into her face, panting slightly as she backed away after she finished beating the monster up. It fell to the ground with a heavy thud, dead.
"Well done, Tifa," Barret clapped her on the shoulder as he passed her, heading over to the creature so he could strip it.
"You're getting stronger," Aerith commented to Tifa who gave her a short smile. Aerith passed her to go over to Cloud who had been watching her before turning his attention to Aerith as she spoke to him. The smile stayed on her face the other commented on her for a good job well done before she followed them as they made their way to their camp site, staying at the back.
It was the same no matter where she went or how she was dressed. Even her father had encouraged her to get stronger, to become faster, to hit harder. The boys at their village were either in awe over her chest or her strength. She had hoped by running her own bar people would begin to see her for who she was but unfortunately, some of the guys had gotten it into their heads because she dressed the way she did, it meant she was encouraging them to come on to her. More than once she had to use her strength to kick them out of the door and warn them not to come back again.
Tifa looked down at her gloved clad hands and sighed sadly to herself, wondering if she would ever been seen as a normal girl. Shaking herself out of her thoughts, she saw that they had arrived at the campsite and everyone started to get things ready. Barret and Cid had gathered the wood while Aerith casted Fira to get the fire going. Yuffie got the food ready while Vincent cleaned his gun. Nanaki was prowling the perimeter to make sure that no other creature got close enough to attack them while their guards were down.
Tifa pasted a fake smile on her face and was about to join them when she heard her name.
"Tifa," she stopped when she saw boots in her line of sight and lifted her head to see Cloud looking at her with concern.
"Cloud," she greeted.
"You're hurt," he told her simply. Tifa was startled as she frowned, she couldn't feel any pain and she didn't remember being hurt in the battle. She looked at herself, trying to see where the wound was only to spot a large gaping wound on her thigh. It was discoloured, giving a green hue, telling her that it was poisoned with yellow glints, indicating that it had been paralyzed as well.
"Oh!" she gasped her hand going down to the wound. She touched the area around the wound only to find that she couldn't feel her thigh at all. Her exclamation had attracted the attention of everyone and they hurried over to see what had happened. Aerith gasped when she saw the wound and lifted her hands up, the green glow already forming.
"I'll heal her," Aerith spoke up.
"No," Cloud cut her off with a cold tone. Aerith was stung as the others looked at him. "You have done enough." He gently linked hands with Tifa as he turned to face her. "Come on, there's a stream near-by. I'll help you to clean out your wound."
"O…kay," Tifa stuttered out, curious by Cloud's actions. He had never spoken to any of them like that, especially Aerith. She spotted Barret opening his mouth, to protest probably, only to close it when he got a cold glare from the blonde as he led Tifa away.
They were silent when they reached stream. He helped Tifa to sit down before he grabbed the bag and tipped it, allowing the bandages and potions to fall out, hitting the ground with dull thuds. He grabbed a cloth and dipped it into the water before wringing it and brought it to Tifa's wound.
"I need to clean the poison out. It will be painful," he told her. She gave him a short nod and he began to slowly clean the wound out. Once he cleaned it, he grabbed the poison potion and tilted it to let a few drops drop onto the cloth before he cleaned out the poison.
Tifa gritted her teeth as pain started radiating through her body. Cloud worked quickly, summoning up his cure materia and used it on the wound. He watched as the wound slowly knitted itself back together before it left behind an unblemished wound. There were a few dried bloods but he washed it away. Tifa sighed when the pain faded and she opened her eyes to see Cloud's eyes locked on her thigh.
"Cloud…" she asked. Cloud lifted his head up and locked eyes with her.
"You need to be more careful," he told her, dipping the cloth back into the water to clean it. Tifa stared at the back of his head.
"I…I guess I was running on adrenaline that I didn't know…" she tried to explain but it even sounded lame to her ears. Cloud snorted softly as he turned around face to her. He lifted his hand to her cheek, wiping away the dirt that had been smudged.
"Despite what people may think Tifa, you're not indestructible," he scolded her softly, his fingers caressing her cheek. "You don't need to prove yourself to anyone."
"Cloud…" her hand came up over his, holding it to her cheek. He never treated her like everyone else did. When they saw her for her strength, he looked past it and saw her for who she was. That was part of the reason why she had fallen for him.
"I can't lose you, Tifa," he looked down at the ground. "You're the one who's keeping me together right now. If I were to lose you…" he looked up at her, his blue eyes bright with fear.
"You won't," she covered his lips with her fingers and shook her head. "You won't lose me."
"You are already taking risks. You didn't even know you were hurt," he pointed out. She smiled sheepishly and nodded. He was right. Tifa leaned in and pressed a kiss to Cloud's lips. She pulled away to see Cloud's startled look and smiled softly.
"Thanks for caring about me," she told him. Cloud stared at her before he gave her a shy smile return.
The End