"Loving Eyes"
By Jayrocc

It had been two months since Meteor almost completely destroyed the Earth. Things had returned to normal, for the most part, and everyone was doing well.
Barret moved to Cosmo Canyon with Red XIII to give Marlene the best education he could, as Red was studying the planet and was traveling all over the world. Yuffie went to Wutai and opened a materia shop and also a fighting school to train all the people in Wutai. Cid returned to Rocket Town to fix the Tiny Bronco, and had already went back into space were he proposed to Shera. Vincent moved to Junon Harbor and was Reeve's bodyguard; Reeve was the building commissioner and was gonna try to rebuild Midgar, without mako reactors, of course.
It seems like everyone found something to do except Cloud and Tifa, who moved into Cloud's villa in Costa Del Sol. Tifa worked at the beach, owning a small shop, and Cloud who really didn't have any one job, but always kept himself busy with something.
Tifa had asked Cloud to go to the gold saucer with her once, and he had declined saying the mayor had asked him to go help the local patrol with a monster they had all had a problem with, but Tifa would'nt give up and decided to give it another shot.
"Cloud, ummm... do you wanna maybe do something tonight," Tifa asked shyly, almost turning red from just asking.
Cloud, who didn't really seem to notice, said, "Sure, Tif, you name it." Cloud, wondering why she was so red, asked, "Hey, Tif, have you been in the sun too long? You're all red."
Tifa, who put her hands on her cheeks to hide the redness, just bowed her head and kinda gave a nod. "Well, anyway, Cloud continued, why don't we just rent a movie and hang out at my place?"
"Well, I thought maybe we could go out, maybe to the Gold Saucer and see a new movie; I heard they opened a new twenty-four screen theater, and added tons of new rides. Come on, Cloud it will be fun." She gave him a quick smile before she gave him a kind of sad look.
"Well, why not," he answered, "I haven't been out in a while." Tifa instantly gave a squeal of delight and gave him a quick hug before she ran towards the villa and disappeared inside.

At about eight o'clock, Cloud and Tifa were driving there car toward the Gold Saucer. Arriving soon after, Cloud insisted on paying the lady at the ticket booth and they were soon inside.
"So whattya wanna do first?" Cloud asked.
"How about the wondersquare," Tifa said.
"Sure, betcha ten gil I beat you in the snowboard game."
"You're on," Tifa said as they hurried to the tunnel. "Last one there is a rotten egg," Tifa said as she pulled ahead and jumped into the tunnel.
"Hey, no fair," Cloud said as he hurried after.

*****

"Well, I'm ten gil richer," Tifa said triumphantly as they walked down the tunnel to the new theater.
"Beginner's luck," Cloud mumbled, but before Tifa could say anything Cloud grabbed her hand. "Hey, Tif, uh, how about a ride on the new gondola?"
"Umm, sure, Cloud," Tifa said mildly, confused but excited at the time.
They walked hand and hand to the gondola. As Cloud released her hand to buy tickets, Tifa brought her hand up to her chest and put it on her heart. Maybe I should tell him, she thought. Tell him what... that I love him, but what if he wants to be with Aeris, or any of the millions of other women that he has gotten as fans for leading the team that saved the world?
Cloud interrupted her thoughts by taking her hand and leading her into the gondola. As the ride started, Tifa wondered why they were the only ones on the ride; there were usually ten people per ride.
"Hey, whatcha thinking about?" Cloud said.
"Huh? Oh, nothing really," she said. She was actually happy to have a chance to be alone with Cloud. It didn't seem to happen very often.
"Tifa," Cloud said, "umm, I really need to talk to you about something."
"Hmm, what is it, Cloud?"
He started to say something, but his mouth closed and he looked up into her eyes. Wow, he thought to himself, she has the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen. Actually, she looked absoultly breathtaking tonight in a soft blue dress and shoes that matched. Cloud noticed Tifa was staring back, as he wondered what she was thinking about.
God, I could stare into his eyes all day, Tifa thought. They were a light blue like the summer sky, but more beautiful than anything in the world. She noticed he had also dressed nicely for the occasion as one of his tradmark spikes fell across his face, making him look even more handsome byt he moment.
They sat looking for a second, but before she could ask what he was gonna say, he came forward and wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her till she was only centimeters from their lips touching. "I love you, Tifa," he whispered as tears ran down his cheeks; he didnt really even know why he was crying, but all the years of loving her finally surfaced as he held her close, wondering what she would say in return.
"Cloud... I... I've always loved you," she said, wrapping her slender arms around his neck, not wanting the moment to ever end. She rested her head on his chest as she spoke, "Cloud, I wanted to tell you ever since I saw you again at the train station in Midgar; I thought I lost you forever and I... I couldn't bear to live without you. I love you, Cloud Strife."
And as their lips met, fireworks started going off outside as if the heavens were rejoicing, and they parted. Cloud said, "Hey Tif, look out the window."
Tifa curiously peeked her head around to the window and looked out, and she soon fell back, wrapped her arms around Cloud's neck and started crying tears of joy and bliss, as she said, "Yes Cloud, I will marry you."
As Cloud got on a knee and slipped a beatiful gold ring set in diamonds and a burgundy ruby in center on her finger, he said, "As soon as I saw it I saw your beautiful eyes and decided I couldn't live without you."
She hugged him tight and said, "Cloud, I love you so much."
He put a finger to her lips and whispered, "I know, you don't have to say a thing." As he brought his head toward hers and pressed their lips together, the fireworks exploded and outside written in the fireworks and easy to see were the words 'Tifa, will you marry me?'
As they started to slowly fade away, Cloud was hugging Tifa as close as he possibly could, and they watched the fireworks in each other's arms, and they both just started at each other with loving eyes.

End

Well, what does everyone think? It's my first and probably only fic I will make, but please please send comments good or bad. Thanx a lot, it's been fun. SEND COMMENTS TO Jayrocc214@aol.com