The battle wasn’t going too badly. They had already knocked down the first Boundfat, but after taking a hit from Ice 2, Cloud didn’t want to take any chances.
“Tifa, Cast cure on me” he called over as he began preparing himself to attack. He almost winced when he heard her reply.
“I can probably finish it off, why do I need to cast cure?” Tifa demanded. Ever since Aeris ran away she’d been stuck on healing duty. She did not like it, and she made sure to let them know. of course she would cast cure when she was ready to make her move, but that didn’t mean she had to roll over and play good little medic.
“Tifa. Just cast the cure spell” Cloud yelled back. He was getting fed up with her constant complaining. SOMEBODY had to heal, and she was the only person that made sense to do it. he lifted his sword up as he got ready, then charged forward, slicing the other Boundfat in half. He huffed frustratedly and put his sword back onto his back before checking for loot.
It was ridiculous. It hadn’t even been a full day yet and he’d sat through more of her complaining than he had heard during their entire trip. As he stood up, he saw her leaning towards him.
“Why do I have to be the healer” she demanded “I’ve been training nearly my whole life in hand to hand combat! I should be up there on the front row with you, not sitting on my butt casting cures!” she flung her arms slightly to demonstrate her exasperation.
“Vincent can’t heal.” Cloud replied sternly. “When he reaches his limit, he transforms and then it’s just good enough that he still fights our enemies and not us. If he was our healer we’d have to go without cures for the whole fight if he transformed on us.”
Tifa wouldn’t accept that answer. She put her hands on her hips “Then why not have Yuffie do it!” she asked sharply.
“I don’t trust her” he said simply, then continued “You remember what happened in Wutai. I don’t think it would be a good idea to give her one of our most important materia.”
“Then Cait Sith!” Tifa tried
“I don’t want to deal with him.”
Tifa pulled the green materia from her glove, holding it out “Then you take it!”
He turned away “Tifa, you need to stop this. It’s not even like you spend all the time healing, I usually let you get your action in. I just need you to cast cure when one of us gets really hurt.”
She grumbled, putting the materia back into the slot on her glove as Cloud walked over to a treasure chest nearby. He opened the chest, and pulled out what appeared to be a cross between a crown and a circlet, with a red crystal centered on it. Hoping it might get her into a slightly better mood he looked back at Tifa “Hey Tifa, found something for you”
She looked up, seeing the crown in his hands, she huffed seeing the joke Cloud missed “Oh, very funny.” she called back, she wasn’t trying to be a spoiled princess, she was just trying to get into the action.
Cloud walked up to her and put it onto her head before she could react, neither of them were aware of what the crown did, but it soon became apparent to her.
Unfortunately, before she could open her mouth to object, two more boundfats and a hungry lept out of nowhere, their only warning was Vincent sharply calling for their attention as he attempted to shield them from the initial attack.
Drawing his sword Cloud charged forward, calling over his shoulder as he swung “Tifa, cast a cure on Vincent”
“Yes sir!” she replied quickly, beginning to gather the energies for her cure spell right away. as the spell left her, and the energy was expended from her body, it felt so.. right. So good to cast the spell. She blinked wondering why she didn’t notice it before.
Vincent stood all the way back up as the healing energy filled him, taking his gun, he aimed squarely between the eyes of the Hungry and fired; downing it in one shot as he glanced over at Cloud, who was defending himself against the attack of one of the Boundfats.
Cloud was a pretty tough guy, so a little injury from the Boundfat was hardly enough to slow him down. Of course he still had the injuries from the last battle that Tifa hadn’t gotten around to healing. He charged back forward, attempting to cut the Boundfat down, but only managing to graze it thanks to the gash down his arm.
“Tifa, I need you to cure me” he yelled, slightly frustrated that she spent the whole time arguing with him rather than healing him after the previous fight.
“Right away!” Tifa chimed, sounding more cheerful than before. She began to feel the wonderful energies flowing through her before expending them towards her love. Um, towards Cloud. as she watched the spell move outward and into him, she blinked a few times wondering about the thought that had just passed through her mind.
Her attempt to gather her thoughts was however cut short by the ringing sound of Vincent’s gun going off again. She shook her head, forgetting she was wondering about anything. Cloud walked back over to her “That was much better, thank you Tifa” he said to her, trying to be supportive of her attitude change without sounding too official about it.
“No problem!” She said smiling, somehow hearing him tell her that she was doing a good job made her feel so.. wonderful! It was the most amazing feeling to please her master-um-friend. she shook her head again as Cloud turned around.
“Lets get going” he said, marching on. “there appears to be a place we can rest ahead”
Tifa smiled absent-mindedly as she followed her master, already starting to think of a few ideas to please him when they arrive.