Chapter 1

"I'm not going to be the one that tells her! You know how she feels about him!"

"Someone has to tell her!"

"Well it's not gonna be me!" Yuffie said, looking at Barret and crossing her arms.

Barret sighed, rubbing the back of his head with his human arm. "Well how about this, I found some good materia the other day."

Yuffie looked up at him and perked up instantly. "R-Really?"

Barret pulled it out and looked it over, "Yeah, it's a pretty rare one too. Found it at the oil site the other day."

Yuffie grabbed it and looked it over, unhidden admiration in her eyes.

"Yeah, it's too bad you aren't going to talk to her though, I would have given it to you." Barret reached for it back as Yuffie glared at him and held it tightly to her chest.

"No way! This is my materia! You aren't going to get it back!"

Barret grinned, knowing he had her trapped in a corner. "No, you only get it if you talk to her."

Yuffie looked at the materia, then back at Barret, then at the material again. She then glared at him, "This is blackmail! Blackmail!"

Barret laughed hitting her on the shoulder, "Yeah, but it works every time. So are you going to do this Yuffie?"

Yuffie nodded, "But only if you give me any more materia that you happen to find for the next two years!"

Barret nodded, "Yeah sure, whatever you want Yuffie." Barret sighed to himself, knowing that he had dodged a bullet in this situation.

Tifa stood at the bar, humming to herself as she cleaned up after some customers. She thought about closing up early today, it was going to be a very special day. Marlene kept running over to the window and peeking out. The door opened and both girls looked over at the door eagerly. In walked Yuffie, Barret and Cid.

"Papa!" Marlene ran over to him and hugged him. Barret smiled at her and picked her up, putting her on his shoulder.

"Say Marlene what do you say about going to the market with me and picking out something for us to have for dinner tonight?"

She nods eagerly, "Yeah! We should make something extra special tonight for Cloud when he gets back!"

"I need to talk to you about something while we're shopping Marlene." Barret said as he walked outside with Marlene on his shoulder and closed the door behind them.

Tifa grinned at her two friends, "What'd you like today Cid? Your usual?"

He nodded, "Better make me a bunch of 'em!" Yuffie looked at him, eyebrow raised. Cid sighed, "Fine, just make me like 3 or 4 of them. And they better be big ones!"

Tifa laughed and looked over at Yuffie, pulling out a glass for Cid. "What'll you have Yuffie? We're gonna close early tonight cause Cloud is coming home you two are welcome to stay for dinner too! We're gonna have a big party." She smiled brightly as she fixed Cid's drink.

Yuffie sighed a little, running her hand over her materia. "That's a nice materia Yuffie." Yuffie held it close to her, possessively. "It's mine! You aren't getting it Tifa!"

Tifa laughed, handing Cid his drink. "So how've you been Cid?"

"I ain't saying nothing til I've had this drink!" He said as he chugged it. He then handed Tifa his glass and said, "Fill 'er up!"

"Cid! You know what happens when you have a lot of those."

Cid glared at her, "Look here ninja otaku, you said I could have as many of these as I wanted if I came here with you to break the news to Tifa!"

Tifa gave him a new drink and looked at him questioningly, "Tell me what Cid?"

Cid just sighed and took another big glared at him, annoyed.

"What's going on?"

Yuffie sighed, her hand running over her materia again. "Well you see it's a long story."