Have any of you encountered this strange interpretation of the characters? I've seen it a few times.

People take the fact Tifa never spilled the beans about Cloud's incorrect memories as her using him. Similarly, Aerith later on admitting on the Date that she knew something was amiss with Cloud has resulted in people I've met complaining she too was simply misleading him for her own reasons.

Far as I can tell, the idea was born of how Tifa and Aerith purposefully withheld critical information out of, if not malice, but selfish desire for affection. Tifa does say something to the effect that she was worried Cloud was going far away and stuff like that.

If you can't tell, it's not something I agree with. Tifa was doubting the validity of her own memories so she wasn't going to confront Cloud on how his were wrong. And Aerith didn't really sense anything was up with Cloud until well into their journey. In both cases, I think the girls recognized Cloud was a mess waiting to happen. They were afraid to apply pressure in fear of breaking him, just like indeed happened.

Does anyone here have any thoughts on this? About why the two ladies held their tongues? Was it selfishness or altruism?