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Cloud and Tifa both grew up in Nibelheim, the small mountain town where they were born. As most of you probably know, our anti-hero wasn't quite the social stereotype; on the contrary, he didn't relate at all to the other youth in town, and neither was he accepted in the groups, anyway. As a result, he totally distanced himself from others, and never really learned, as a child, what it felt like to have friends. However, he did like one kid in Nibelheim, and that was the popular Tifa Lockheart, always surrounded by her own group of friends: three boys, as immature as children are supposed to be, and especially harsh towards Cloud, who, in everybody else's eyes, was "different".

This does not mean Tifa didn't feel anything for him, though. She was intrigued by him, but, at such a young age already, society proved not to work, not allowing the "weirdo" down the street and the most popular girl in town to meet. Cloud never actually knew she cared at this point, but kept watching her from a distance nonetheless: until the fateful day when Tifa's mother died. Crushed and feeling real pain for the first time in her life, and despite how dangerous it might be, she decided to go to the other side of Mt. Nibel, where she believed her mother could be: but her little friends didn't join her on this particular quest, and it was up to Cloud alone to save Tifa when she missed her step. However, our "hero" couldn't make it in time, and they both fell off the mountain; while he was merely bruised, Tifa went into a seven days coma Cloud was fully blamed for.

Cloud becomes even more antisocial after this incident; he'd fight for no reason at all, no matter who it was he was up against. But his affection towards Tifa was not forgotten, and, as soon as he heard about "The Great Sephiroth", he decided to leave Nibelheim for Midgar to join SOLDIER, to impress her. Little did he know that she had already fallen for him, and was about to have her whole life changed by this everlasting love.

Tifa and Cloud have they first private, meaningful talk at the well in Nibelheim, where he lets her know where he's going and what he's leaving for. She was visibly saddened by the news, but still too shy to just go and tell Cloud how she felt about him: instead, she made him promise that he would become her hero, to come back and rescue her whenever she was in trouble. And so, at the age of thirteen, Tifa is left in Nibelheim, her true feelings unexpressed (and this was her first big mistake), her heart willing to wait for as long as necessary. If you're willing to know more details on what happens to both Cloud and Tifa until they (consciously) meet again seven years later in Midgar, check the Story section. Here, I will be focusing only on the outcome of their feelings for each other.

When Tifa sees Cloud again, after all he's been through (the experiments at the ShinRa mansion, running away under Zack's protection and death of the latter), they're both in Midgar: she owns a bar and is a part of AVALANCHE, while all he owns after his failed attempt at SOLDIER is a disturbed, troubled mind and a torn heart; indeed, Cloud can barely feel common human emotions anymore, let alone love; but Tifa has loved him all these years, and she's not willing to let him go this time. Urging to know who this "new Cloud" really is and what's actually happened to him, she signs him in for an AVALANCHE mission, so that he will stay close enough for her to take her conclusions. This is Tifa's second big mistake: once again, she isn't fast enough telling him how she's felt for all these years (delaying something has never made it easier: something she had to learn the hardest way), and before there's anything she can do, Aerith comes into the picture, Cloud literally falling on her lap and finally learning, with her, how to laugh and how to feel. But the last thing Tifa wants is to interfere in his happiness; with a decision as noble as it is cowardly, she restrains herself from doing anything at all about it.

It probably hurt Tifa to no end to once again feel like she was letting the love of her life slip through her fingers; yet, there was a lot of shyness and hard feelings bottled up inside for her to overcome before she could take a single step towards having him. In the meantime, and despite some necessary jealousy in-between, she starts getting along with the flower girl as well, and, more importantly, trusting her (even with Marlene's life). When Aerith dies, Tifa is about as crushed as anybody else: probably much more, actually, but she can't pretend not to see what this means; with nobody in her way now, this is her third chance with Cloud, possibly her last one. But what a lot of people don't seem to understand is that after what he's been through, Cloud needs a lot of emotional healing before he can even consider feelings and relationships; what he had with Aerith was merely a good friendship that might have become much more if they had had the time to develop it, but no matter which girl it was, Aerith or Tifa, he wasn't ready yet.

Nonetheless, Tifa's full devotion and compassion both converge to Cloud throughout the game, and, with her help at the Lifestream, a lot in his mind and heart seems to be mended. After the final battle against Sephiroth towards saving the world from Meteor, whose outcome couldn't have been more positive, I'm assuming there will have been a lot of time for them to work things out, and for Tifa to finally let her feelings known: though, call me pessimistic if you will, I doubt either of them will be ready for anything serious between them to unfold; before Cloud can love Tifa back, he must learn how to love again, and, before that can happen, there's still a long way to go.

I don't necessarily dislike the possible relationship between Cloud and Tifa; surely, they have a common past and a lot of background story that definitely isn't there when it comes to Aerith (you can't even speak of Tifa without mentioning Cloud, for he, himself, has become one of the most important parts of her character and full personal story), but, while I do find Tifa's undying devotion towards Cloud an important part of her character and a logic result of her personality, I realize he can't possibly feel the same way about her anymore (and it probably will take a while for it to be the same again, if that ever happens); on the other hand, old, masochist, "eternal" love isn't the kind of relationship I appreciate the most (I have a huge soft spot for the completely different, spur of the moment, emotionally overwhelming type), and all those elements seem to fit what Cloud and Tifa share, even if mostly one-sided by the end of the game. Cloud surely respects, trusts and likes Tifa as a best friend, while she quite visibly does (and probably always has and always will) love him, or at least something very close to that: but, even if they do have the grounds and the story, I don't think they have the needed feeling anymore, and any kind of further relationship to develop between the two of them feels only "convenient" and "logical" to me: not necessarily passionate.

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