She catches the apple deftly in her right hand, slim fingers wrap around it instantly, securing it in her grasp. She turns it around in her hand, as if admiring it's polished surface, the deepest red and gleaming in the warm afternoon light. She examines it with a critical grey eye, concluding that it is a true red, untouched by the blotches of pink, green, or yellow that so often mar the surface of it's brothers and sisters. A small grin sets her face aglow as she bounces it lightly in her palm. It is passed between hands, rolled across fingertips, tossed a foot or more in the air before being snatched back.
She flops down on her stomach, the cushiony grass as soft and comforting as a down mattress. Still playing with her prize, she presses her face into the grass. She closes her eyes and inhales the warm sun soft earth fruit and flower scent of spring. She doesn't hear him approach. He stands in the shade of the spreading apple tree only a few paces away, and watches her play with one of it's fruit in the grass. He sees a childlike innocence and fasination, she glows with it, that reason alone makes him take a step backward, prepared to leave. He doesn't want to spoil the scene. Doesn't dare step into the sun and cast his shadow upon her. But the damage has been done, a treacherous beam of light darts between the branches, glinting slyly off of his claw arm. The flicker of gold bursts in the corner of her vision like a small flame, and she looks toward it's source.
She drops the apple.
Unable to resist the reflex to gape in surprise, she does just that. It takes a few moments for the image to compute, he looked so out of place there, with his outfit of black, red, and more black, and his don't-come-near-me-my-angst-is-contagious aura...standing beneath an apple tree on what must have been the most beautiful day spring had to offer. He flicks his scarlet gaze away, slightly unerved by her gawking stare. The shock having worn off, she launched herself at him with an agility that would have made her ninja anscesters proud. He didn't get a chance to dodge before she struck him with all the force of a speeding chocobo, throwing her arms around his neck. He couldn't help but stagger stlightly, as delicate as she appeared, the young girl was quite strong.
"Oh my gawd! Vinnie! You're here! As in not in your stinky old coffin here!" She squeeled in an earshattering tone, clinging to him. He stood frozen, unsure how to react to her sudden display of affection. After a tense moment, she released him, her beaming face furrowing into a look of question.
"Hey, what are you doing here?" She wondered, searching his face for an answer. He cleared his throat softly,
"I was traveling through Edge..." He began slowly. She patiently waited for the rest of his explanation. Not interuptted by the outburst he had expected to come, he continued,
"Tifa and Cloud have a new bar there. Apparantly, Tifa has become concerned with your lack of corrospondance, and, in short, wished for someone to check and make sure you had not been eaten by something." He ended his tirade and watched for her reaction, She blinked several times. That was the longest thing she'd ever heard him say, let alone to her.
"Gosh Vinnie, you do care!" She said cheekily, dropping back down into her former sitting position and picking up the fallen apple. He says nothing. There is nothing to say. She tosses the apple in the air, and catches it with her other hand, switches hands, and reapeats the motion. Several minutes of an almost audible "..." pass, until she lets out a frustrated sigh.
"Hey , tall, dark, and depressing, ya gonna stand there all day?" Taking this as a signal to leave, he turns...
"No, you silly great moogle, sit down!" Her voice sounds from behind him, he turns back towards her. She pats a patch of grass to her left,
"Com'on, I don't bite, least not most of the month", She says with a wink, sensing his hesitation. For a moment it seems as if he hasn't heard her, then the tattered red cloak billowed around him in a crimson wave as he gracefully slides down into a sitting posistion. He looks at her, as if to say, 'Alright, I'm sitting, happy now?' Any thoughts of physically voicing this thought are lost as he takes in her true, and glowing smile. Deep in his mind, he wonders briefly why she would want his company on a day such as this, it is as if she reads his thoughts,
"A beautiful day spent alone is worse than a squall in company." She says simply. He can't help but cock an eyebrow underneath his headband, since when had the young ninja begun spouting philosophy? The red cloth not hiding his expression completly, she giggles, explaining herself,
"My mother used to say that, I just remembered it now, pretty true, no?" He doesn't answer for a long time, her eyes have moved back towards the fruit in her hands by the time words slip past his lips,
"You could have found a much better companion."
She rolls her eyes in that typeically teenage manner,
"Here we go again, 'I'm not worthy!' 'Woe is me'! Gawd, aren't you ever going to let anything go? More baggage than a friggin airport, I swear..." Her voice trailed off as a pair of laser-red eyes tried to bore holes through her, ouch, touchy spot, right. She coughed,
"Besides, " She said, calling back her voice, "Tell me that you have something better to do." She challenged, he stood silent. She smirks,"Didn't think so." Long moments pass, but it is a good silence. After a moment she looks over at him again. His red eyes watch the wind toss leaves about in the distance, accented the the vampiric pale skin around them. She remembers, a long time ago, Aerith, poor Aerith, who thought the best of everyone, even she, had called his eyes the color of blood. But they weren't, she realizes, not blood, they're the color of the darkest part of a sunset, the petal of a rose. An apple in spring. Passing the fruit from one hand to the other, she holds it out to him. He looks up, unsure how to react, she nods, "Here. Go on, take it, they're great this time of year." He pauses for several long seconds.
Then, tentatively, he takes it.