Hello. This is a revival of this story because I wrote this in an immature time in my life. I want to make this stories quality rise. So each chapter will be edited based on the changes I want to make.

This is a Vincent/Tifa AU fic and I hope you like it. Warning though, it's OOC.

I support Cloti. But I'm a fave of pairing Tifa with other characters.

Happy reading.

Chapter one:Meet the loner

Tifa's POV

I absolutely hate summer.

I know what you're thinking. 'How could any person in their right mind hate summer,' right? Well if you have to walk 5 miles to a bar before seven AM; sweating enough to fill up a river then you'll know how I feel. The sun hates me, I just know it.

Wiping the sweat off my brow for the fiftieth time in the last five minutes, I sighed with relief when I saw the bar coming into view in the distance. It was like a small glimpse of heaven in this surrounding haven of hell. I say this because it has air conditioning, which is like my faithful servant in the summer...

Except when it breaks down.

Why does it have to be so hot today? It's bad enough I already have chest pains each day when I wake up, a horrible condition mind you, but to have them turn into GUT-CRUNCHING cramps when I go outside is the worst. And I absolutely hate Yuffie right now! She was the one who made me sign up for a job at a bar in the first place!

Taking the hem of my Tee shirt, I pull it away from my skin for a few seconds, barely feeling the tiniest of a breeze going by. I'm surprised I haven't gotten a serious tan yet. Or sunburn. Maybe that large ball of boiling gas feels a little sorry for me after all.

Just when I walked onto the patio of Seventh Heaven- the name of the bar I work at- the door swings open, smacking right into me and sending me hurling to the ground. I grab my nose and yell out in frustration as pain shoots through me. I hate it when I get hit in the face! It was only a few seconds later that I felt a humongous bruise starting to rise.

Could this day get any worse?

Looking up to see the perpetrator, I saw a tall slender blonde run out of the bar; tears running down her cheeks. She doesn't even acknowledge me when she steps right over my leg. The pretty blue dress she's wearing get caught on the edge of the door, but she ignores it; letting a large chunk of cloth rip off

I watch, confused and annoyed, as she runs down the street, wailing like a siren. I never did find out what was wrong with that lady.

"What the heck happened to you?" Yuffie asks when I walk into the bar a few minutes later after just sitting on the ground cursing the world for its conspiracies.

"Please Yuffie, just let me work." I muttered as I walked into the backroom of the bar. I shivered happily as the cool air reached my skin. I guess its worth walking 5 miles in the boiling heat if I can feel this good afterwards.

After dispersing of the funky smell's that love to cling to me in the summer, I slipped on black blouse, a white knee-high skirt, and plain black flats. I hated wearing the other slutty looking uniform that Shinra- the Bar's boss- had use to make me wear. So whenever he left town I would take advantage of the new found privileges, such as giving my friends free drinks and absolutely NOT wearing the revealing maid suit.

Slipping my black hair into a low ponytail, I ambled back into the Bar's dining hall.

"Hey Teef's," Priscilla, a waitress here at Seventh heaven and one of the most annoying red heads ever, greeted as she walked past the counter I stood behind.

I forced out a smile and quickly looked away. Priscilla, unlike me, took full advantage of her uniform. Posing and smiling sultrily at every man who glanced at her. She went to my school, Midgar high, and was one of Scarlet O'Hara's followers. She used to be my friend when we were kids, but like Cloud she left me.

I never forgave her for it.

Standing comfortably behind the counter when Priscilla was out of my line of vision, I waited for someone to come over and order a drink. I didn't have to wait long; Yuffie was already sliding into one of the stools, smiling wickedly.

"Guess what?" Yuffie whispered in a mockingly sweet sing song voice. Her brown eyes glittered as she spun around on her stool, short hair flailing.

I sighed and leaned my elbows on the counter, letting my head fall into my hands. Yuffie was obviously going through a phase where she couldn't just outright tell me anything anymore.

"...What?" I asked, attempting to sound interested. Yuffie raised her eyebrow at me, a 'seriously people?' look on her face. I smiled in return, sticking my tongue out at her. She was currently my best, and only, friend. Though she was a freshman and acted even younger than her age at times, I couldn't help but like her company.

Yuffie huffed but answered anyway at my lack of interest. "Cloud's coming over to the bar in a few minutes to talk to you about something."

Forgetting I was in a bar and was supposed to be acting the part of the professional bartender, my mouth dropped open and I squeaked in surprise. Call me obsessed but that was the most life shattering news I had heard in a while.

"Really!? What does he want to talk to me about?" I asked, ignoring the stares currently directed at me. Rolling her eyes, Yuffie looked behind me and studied the drinks. Then as if the need to annoy me took over her brain, Yuffie pointed at one of the glass bottles on the shelves.

"I'd like a bloody Mary please." She said in a bored tone, although I could see her mouth trying not to twitch upwards. Growling in annoyance, I folded my arms and glared at the five foot high troublemaker.

"You act stoned when you drink that." I snapped.

Yuffie smirked at me and leaned her chin on the counter, her short hair barely touching the marble surface.

"Too bad Tee-Fi-Ah." Yuffie drawled, making my name sound like it had three syllables.

"Because I will not tell you ANYTHING if I don't get my freakin' BLOODY Mary!"

I winced at her obnoxiously loud voice. More people were looking over here and I didn't want Shinra on my arse for scaring customers away. Sighing in defeat, I turned towards the shelves and grabbed a bottle of vodka. Maybe its a good time as any to say that I have a HUGE crush on Cloud strife, my childhood friend who barely looks me in the eyes now.

At first I thought he had abandoned me when we went into high school to go to the popular crowd... but he was really just having a hard time since his mother died. Penelope Strife, his mother, was one of the most sweetest blonde women I ever met. And believe me, I'm not very fond of blondes as of late .-Not justified but whatever-

She would make Cloud invite me over every weekend and let me sample the cookie's she made. And sometimes when Cloud was out of the house, she'd do my nails and experiment with my hair. I was sad when she went out of town for months on end to look after her sister, who was poor and really sick.

It was even worse to find out she had been a victim of a Hit and Run car accident on her way back to Midgar. We hadn't found out till two weeks later, right before the day of Midgar's soccer team against Gongaga's team, who were the returning champions.

It totally messed Cloud up to find out his mother was dead, and it killed me to go to the funeral that Cloud's Aunt had planned. He totally blew it at the soccer game, and he wouldn't talk to me for weeks. He went into custody of his father, a drunkard that Penelope would never speak about, and changed completely afterward.

He had given me and everyone else the silent treatment for a whole year. And when we finally entered high school, he didn't bother to acknowledged that I was being bullied by Scarlet O'Hara. And he although he didn't officially join the 'popular' crowd, he also didn't tell them to piss off like he usually would.

It was easy for him to become popular with his good looks, but we had always pretended to gag and promised eachother we would never become like those bratty kids who thought they were better than everyone else. But he apparently changed his mind since he was with them now.

He hurt me. He hurt me like no one else could. But I didn't give up on him. Yuffie, Reno, Aerith, and Zack all knew that I was in love with Cloud so they gave me sympathy. But it wasn't sympathy that I wanted.

I wanted Cloud's acknowledgement.

Slamming Yuffie's bloody Mary on the counter I stood up tall and glared at her, my eyes twitching as she took her time to sip the drink up. It was sooo obvious that she was taunting me as she put a time distance of 5 seconds between each sip.

10 minutes and 12 sips later

"Dammit Yuffie cant you hurry up!" I yelled, a vein in my forehead straining.

While Yuffie had been... enjoying her drink, I had already served 14 other people. Most of them men who smiled lingeringly at me. I ignored them and stomped my foot impatiently at Yuffie, who was smirking like she had just stolen candy from a baby.

"Oh, but my DEAREST Tifa! I was only taking some of my valuable time to savor this lovely bloody Mary." Yuffie began.

But I couldn't take it anymore, and I wasn't going to let her spend anymore time wasting my precious minutes. Grabbing her drink, I forcefully pushed it to the other end of the counter. Due to luck it didn't crash onto the ground but slid to a stop.

Yuffie looked surprised for a split second before looking up to stare at me, her face somewhat unreadable.

We had a staring contest for a while. And after a few minutes someone called out to me, asking for a drink. But I ignored them.

After a few more seconds, Yuffie closed her eyes and let out a high pitched laugh, surprising me and a few people sitting next to her.

"You're too much Tifa!" Yuffie said, sitting back in her chair and smiling at me in that way of hers.

I sighed, my annoyance edging away, and waited. Yuffie glanced to the side as if contemplating whether she should tell me. But when she saw the look on my face, she grinned once more.

"Cloud wants to apologize for the way he's been acting in the past year, five months, 2 weeks, 6 days, 10 hours, 19 minutes, and 12 seconds." Yuffie said teasingly, but she kept her face straight. I rolled my eyes.

"Is that all?" I asked, biting my lip. I mean, for Cloud to be coming to see ME during one of the most normal days in my life was ironic. I had imagined him coming over to my house in the middle of night during one of my 'eat ice cream and cry over my crush' moments, and asking me on a date after hours of him begging me to forgive him, with me looking totally gorgeous but passive about it of course.

I know I'm pathetic, but a girl can dream cant she?

"Well, I did hear a rumor that he's going to ask you to the Summer fling dance." Yuffie muttered, standing up to get her bloody Mary before someone else could. I watched her, my mind reeling.

Then Yuffie's words finally sunk into my thick head.

CLOUD WAS GOING TO ASK ME TO THE DANCE!?

'Oh god, remind me to build a church for you one of these days!'

Then my mood darkened and I panicked. I had to look great when Cloud walked in that door! I mean, what if he saw me in this drag and had second thoughts?

"Hey Priscilla take over my shift!" I yelled, and ran off before she could protest.

Running to the abandoned apartment that was on the second level of seventh heaven, I ran into the room that used to belong to Scarlet, one of the popular girls in my school who used to be poor. She also used to date Shinra before she became rich and moved to a mansion on the other side of Midgar.

When I first started working here, Shinra had given me permission to own some of Scarlet clothes, obviously thinking I was poor since I wore plain clothing-I'm not by the way.- I had kindly refused. But now, as I rummaged through dresser drawers, I was totally thankful that he gave me permission.

Pulling out a black turtleneck and jeans,- so as to not look desperate.- I took my hair out of its ponytail and shook it so it went down to its full length. Slipping on the clothes, I glanced quickly in the mirror and smiled.

I glanced at my shoes and grimaced. Black flats with sexy jeans and a backless shirt just didn't go together. Kicking off the distasteful shoes, I looked through the closet that was set by a large window overlooking the road that led to the town. It was a plain dirt road, but the tree's surrounding it were lovely as the sun shined through them.

When I found a pair of low heels I shoved them on my feet and ran down the stairs. I hadn't been paying too much attention to what was in front of me so I ended up almost ramming into someone when I reached the of the stairs. Heck, not almost, I did ram into someone. The contact was instant and so sudden that i gasped in surprise when I fell to the floor for the second time that day.

Groaning in annoyance, I lifted my head off the ground. A headache was already starting to brew. Rubbing my head, i grimaced. Why do people have to keep running into me?

Looking up to give whoever it was a piece of my mind, I blanched and nearly fell unconscious due to the combination of shock, fear, and maybe a minor concussion. But years of practice in case Cloud would propose to me kept me upright.

The man who I'd bumped into had eyes the color of blood.

Hope you like this (Edited) chapter.

Love you guys.