Disclaimer: The Final Fantasy VII characters and universe are owned by Square Enix. I make no profit from this fanfiction.

Snow in Summer

The silver-haired man absentmindedly watched the young woman from a distance, sitting on the roof of the dilapidated church in the slums. The sunlight baked his black uniform, leaving him overly hot. He would have preferred some shade, but he'd been told to keep his distance and keep her within his sight at the same time. But he was a SOLDIER, not a Turk. Hiding wasn't exactly his specialty. So he stayed on top and let the sweat accumulate.

With troops abandoning Shin-Ra and the Turks having problems of their own, Sephiroth had been assigned the task, just for today, Tseng had promised. He understood that the young woman was an ancient, the last of her kind, a being to be protected. He didn't understand why she needed a secret babysitter in the safer parts of the slums, especially when it was so unbearably hot out.

Soft humming floated up from below as the teenager tended her garden. It sounded like a lullaby, as if she was trying to cast a spell on him. Had it been ten degrees cooler, it might have worked.

He considered calling on the ice materia embedded in his sword. At first, he dismissed the idea, but then he figured what the heck. He was quite sure Aeris had already noticed him anyway nearly an hour before. At that point, chancing calling attention to himself seemed like the more reasonable option.

Eyes closed, he lent a light thought to the condensed mako. Quickly, he felt specks of cold on his face which melted into water, wetting his face and armor. Sephiroth opened his eyes and watched the mini storm cloud swirl only a short distance above him. Pleased with the cooling result, he put more into the thought. The cloud spread out nearly fifteen feet, blocking out the sun, quickly cooling him off, a free portable air conditioner. Hell, he should have done this hours ago.

Below, the humming stopped. He peered down and saw Aeris smiling up in his direction. Twirling slowly, her arms reached up, catching snowflakes that fell into the hole in the roof. He couldn't help but smile at the sight.

The woman had a strange carefree presence about her he'd never seen in another. That moment did nothing but prove that fact.

Then she looked directly at him and smiled. "That's amazing. How do you do it?"

Sephiroth took to frowning. He wasn't supposed to engage her, merely watch. But as she looked up at him, her face full of curiosity, waiting for a reply, he knew he'd failed that objective. But what would it matter if he talked to her? If he could hold Tseng and Lazard to their words, he'd probably never see her again.

Lithe fingers grabbed ahold of Masamune and he pushed himself off of the edge, landing on feet that barely made a sound. If the snow hadn't amazed her, his long four story drop certainly had.

Eyeing his sword and armor, she murmured, "Are you a soldier?"

He realized the young woman had no idea who he was. That was a rare occurrence nowadays. The young General nodded with a smile. "Yes, I am."

Finally, she met his eyes again. "And the snow?"

Aquamarine eyes looked up and watched the nearly depleted cloud for a moment. When he looked back down, her eyes were raised to the sky. The sun light, streaming through the cloud, glistened on her skin and hair, her body still slightly wet from the snow. She was beautiful and far too innocent looking. And far too young, he being around eight years her senior, he reminded himself.

At his sigh, she looked back at him. Her smile renewed. Distracting himself from the way it drew him in, he held out his sword and pointed to the orbs embedded into the hilt. "I called the snow using materia."

Her eyes lit up. "Oh, I have one just like that." She dug into her jacket pocket and pulled out a white orb, displaying it to him. "It was my mother's, but I don't know what it does. I keep it with me because, well, I feel like she's with me when I hold it."

She held out her hand, offering it to him.

Frowning, he took it. The power he caressed with his mind was strange, like nothing he'd ever felt before. It wasn't a summon, an elemental spell, or any such thing. It was like light itself. For a moment, he considered calling on its power, but without knowing what was inside, he didn't want risk it, being inside the church with Aeris so close.

Returning it to her, he admitted, "I'm not sure what it does, if anything."

"Yeah..." She cradled the orb lovingly in her hands. "But like I said, it's all I have of her." She put it back into her pocket.

He watched her closely, not really realizing he was doing it, awestruck by her. Before he'd taken on the chore of babysitting her, he'd learned of her past, the fact that she had no known blood relative still living. Yet she kept smiling. He wished he'd had the same strength. Instead of being at peace, as she appeared to be, his search was endless for any remnant of his past, bring only misery to erode his mind.

"Are you all right?"

He blinked at her and realized he'd taken to gritting teeth, making his frown strained. "Yeah, I'm all right."

"You seem..." She took a step towards him, lifted a hand, and touched his cheek. He couldn't help but suck in his breath at the contact. "...like you need a break."

He huffed a short-lived laugh at the words, grabbing her hand to remove it from his cheek, but then she gripped it and wouldn't let the hand go, so he was forced to keep the contact. The only option would have been to rip his hand away, but as the touch warmed him, he found he didn't want to. "I'm sure I could use a break, but I'm on an assignment."

Did he ever not have an assignment or duty though?

"Ah... Well, if you're like the rest of them, then you have to go where I go, yes?"

Sephiroth smirked at the words. Apparently Turks weren't so secretive either. He didn't feel like such a failure now. "Yeah, I suppose."

Aeris beamed at him. "Well, then I'll take you someplace I know that always makes me feel calm."

Her slim hand pulled him a short distance before she hiked up her dress a bit and sat on the ground in front of her flowerbed. Her hand pulled down on his, bringing him to sit down next to her. He put his sword down next to his side.

"Now, breathe in deeply."

"And if I'm allergic to flowers?"

"Are you?"

"No..."

She stuck her tongue out at him. "Then breathe in deeply."

He followed the command, lost in the sweetness of her voice.

"Now close your eyes."

Aquamarine eyes eyed her before she let a playful glare go. He couldn't help his smile and closed his eyes.

"Good, now just listen."

"Listen for what?"

"For the planet. If you're quiet enough, you can hear it speak," Aeris murmured. Sephiroth looked at her then. Her eyes were closed, her breaths quiet, her peacefulness drawing him in. "When I listen, sometimes I can hear my mother's voice."

Not really believing her, he closed his eyes nonetheless and tried to listen. Then, on the edges of his consciousness, he swore he did hear a voice, a woman's voice, but he couldn't understand what she was saying.

He suddenly felt the hand grip him tightly, yanking him away from the voice, snapping his eyes open.

For the first time, Aeris was truly frowning. "I don't think this is helping you relax much."

Sephiroth became aware of how heavy his breaths had grown, the tenseness in his body, the renewed dampness over his body that had nothing to do with the sun or snow. He tried to smile at her again, to relieve her concern, but he was sure the expression was more of a grimace than a smile. "No, I don't think it is."

"Hmm, well, I suppose we could just watch the sunset. That relaxes me too."

The General looked up and realized how late it was getting. The sunset was still a few hours away though. "Perhaps I could just walk you home? I'm due to report back soon, but I'd like to make sure you're home safely."

Aeris grinned at him. "You don't have to worry about me. I'll make it home all right. I always do. Whether or not I have a shadow at my back."

No, he didn't have to worry about her, so why was he? Perhaps it was because she was being nice to him, something few people directed his way, and none of them were ever this nice. The woman just seemed to want him to be happy, no strings attached.

Sephiroth smiled at her grin and courage and kindness. "If you say so."

Her grin turned into a smile. Suddenly, he didn't want to leave her, not so much because he wanted to protect her, but rather because he enjoyed being near her. It was a desire for closeness he'd never truly wanted from anyone in particular before that moment.

She finally released his hand, standing up. He followed suit, reattaching his sword to his belt. When he looked back down at her, her smile faded a bit.

Then she murmured, "I'm sure someday we'll see each other again."

"Yes, I'm sure we will." At least he hoped so.

Unthinkingly, something inside of him wanting so much more, he bent down, bringing his head to her level, her smile all but gone. When he kissed her, she kissed him back, her lips slightly parted, her breath warm and sweet. He didn't want to lose the contact.

When he pulled away, her eyes were still closed. They opened slowly and her new smile was brighter than the sun.

"Good night," she whispered.

"Good night, Aeris."

Minutes later, walking away, wishing he'd insisted on walking her home, wishing for many things, he realized he'd never even told her his name.