Disclaimer: I own Final Fantasy VII about as much as I own China. Which means, I don't own Final Fantasy VII at all.

Note: …Actually, I can't think of any author's notes to put in here. Everything in this chapter is pretty much straight forward from the rest of the story…

Chapter 22: Disbelief

"I'm telling you the TRUTH, Cloud!" Yuffie shouted after her leader. She was having a little bit of trouble following his quick pace to Tifa's room.

"Heh, we'll see about that," Cloud muttered, not believing Yuffie at all. Vincent, actually kissing Tifa? Vincent, actually showing some sort of emotion at all? No, Cloud just couldn't believe that…at all.

He stomped through the hallway, and then paused before he opened Tifa's door…he was almost afraid that Yuffie was telling the truth. If she was being truthful, it wasn't that Cloud would be jealous of Vincent or anything…it was that his "baby sister" probably wouldn't need him any more. It's that fatherly thing, where dads don't want their daughters dating because the boy might take the girl away from him.

Cloud knew he was being greedy…but he couldn't help it. Almost cautiously, he opened the door…

Vincent was, indeed, kissing Tifa.

"Your ten minutes are up, Valentine," Cloud snapped in disbelief.

"…If you say so," Vincent said quietly, pulling away from the woman. He seemed strangely calm.

"Yes," Cloud said, giving a short, almost manic laugh. "I say so. Can I speak to you for a moment, Vincent?"

"I suppose," the gunman shrugged after helping Tifa back into bed. She couldn't manage to say anything.

"I TOLD YOU SO!" Yuffie screamed after Cloud as the two men walked past her.

Cloud led Vincent down the hallway until they reached Cloud's bedroom. The spiky-haired leader pushed open the door and entered, beckoning for Vincent to follow. The gunman reluctantly obeyed and Cloud shut the door, then delivered a hard blow across Vincent's face.

"And why did you find it necessary to hit me?" Vincent grumbled, rubbing the side of his face.

"Tifa's injured," Cloud seethed. "If you don't know how many men have ever attempted to take advantage of her when she was in perfect health, then ask her-— know that she'll tell you it was too many. And if you don't think it looked like you were patiently waiting for a time to take advantage of Tifa, you must be insane."

"I wasn't trying to—"

Cloud punched Vincent again, who grumbled, glaring at the leader.

"YEAH well it looked like you were trying to. Listen. We're going to go to the Northern Crater and try to defeat Sephiroth tomorrow. No one needs any extra gunk on her mind. That means she doesn't need you on her mind. So, stay the hell away from her…"

Vincent stared at Cloud, then shook his head. "I can promise you that I won't hurt her. I cannot promise that I will stay away from her. Now, if you'll excuse me I need to prepare for tomorrow." With that, he slammed open the door and left.

"Bastard…" Cloud growled, fists clenched as Vincent left.

Vincent, unheeding of Cloud's warnings purely out of spite, headed straight back to Tifa's room. After all, it wasn't like he was going to hurt her or anything…he only wanted to see her. Of course, he still respected Cloud as a friend and a pretty good fighter but he knew when he was being reasonable and unreasonable.

"What do you mean, Cloud's being unreasonable?" Vincent was surprised to hear Gallian Beast's voice for once. "He was just being protective of his, quote-unquote, 'little sister' because he doesn't want her to get hurt…"

"Well," Chaos laughed, "the woman is going to get hurt anyway. She'll die, actually! Right, Vincent?"

Vincent didn't answer. Instead he froze halfway down the hallway…maybe it was best he didn't go see Tifa. He did, after all, still have his gun with him.

Knowing that Chaos would probably make him shoot Tifa as soon as he entered her bedroom, he instead retired back to his, sighing.

"Hi Cloud," Tifa murmured sleepily, rubbing her eyes as she sat up to look at the man who had just entered her room.

Cloud smiled, taking a seat on the edge of her bed. "Hey Tifa. Feeling any better?"

"Yeah. It doesn't really hurt so much now. Mostly, I'm just tired. Don't worry about me," she assured him, smiling warmly.

He nodded. "…Hey…if this isn't a bad time, I'd like to talk to you about something."

"Sure, you can talk to me about anything, Cloud," Tifa promised, giving him another tired smile.

Cloud nodded. "You and Vincent…when I came into your room earlier he was kissing you. You…you aren't in a relationship with him, are you?"

The smile slid off of Tifa's face. "…Actually, Cloud…"

He stared at her, suddenly not smiling any more. "You're in a relationship with Vincent."

"…Well, yes. I don't see how that's bad—"

"You don't see how it's bad? Tifa! The man kidnapped you, God damn it! He kidnapped you, shot you in the shoulder, put you in all kinds of danger and you're telling me you love him?" Cloud demanded.

Tifa opened her mouth, then closed it and sighed. "Cloud—"

"Wait just a second! I'm not done!"

"Cloud…"

"Was this just some kind of trick to fool me? Did you two fall in love and decide to make this scheme just to make me mad or something?"
"Cloud."

"Or did you let him kidnap you for some sick reason? Were you two so mad at not being able to get some 'alone' time together, that you had to run away and fake a kidnapping?"
"Cloud?"

"Honestly, Tifa! Forgiving someone right after they kidnap you really isn't normal! It's suspicious! Tifa—"

"CLOUD!"

"WHAT?"

Cloud's breathing was heavy with anger. He looked down at Tifa and suddenly felt guilty when he noticed she was on the brink of tears. No, that wasn't right. He was her big brother! He wasn't supposed to make her cry!

And yet, he did.

"…Look, Cloud. I didn't want to be kidnapped; do you honestly think I'd do that to you…? And y-you can't exactly help it when you fall in love with someone! He wasn't…I didn't want to be kidnapped and I was scared, okay? I was scared. But he didn't hurt me…never on purpose, anyway. And he took care of me…he kidnapped me, yes, and he should have never done that. But…I came back safe; I was only hurt by accident. Pure accident. Okay?" Tifa said quietly.

Cloud was silent for a moment, then just nodded, kissed her forehead in a fatherly manner (FATHERLY manner, mind you) and stood up. "You should get some rest," he said softly before leaving.

Yumesuta: Crappy chapter, I apologize. Anyway, please review! There won't be too many more chapters after this.