Me: Alright, this is for one of my friends on Da, and here on She's a huge Xaldin and Marluxia fan, so I'm dedicating this one to her! XD Yes you know who you are..

Chapter 1

A Garden Needs Love and Care

This gardener knew just about every plant, in every world. He could give full descriptions on how each one grew, or what each plant was used for in medicine. Better yet, he could arrange flowers, and other plants in such beautiful manners some wondered if he were an angel. This gardener was known as Marluxia, the Graceful Assassin. Some thought the last park of his nickname was a bit much, for the man seemed to be a caring and gentle guy. Yet those who would have enough munny to hire Marluxia to fix their yards, found out otherwise. He was rather weird, just as a few people found out, in the world of Twilight Town.

His hair was a brownish pink color, not the usually color you'd normally see a man have. Though he claimed it to be natural. What's even weirder was the fact that he carried a red scythe around, everyone who would ask him what it was for, he only reply "It's to help cut down the weeds, or unnecessary plants." And would walk along happily.

Some said he always wore a dark black coat that went down to his ankles, but on really hot or hard days, he wore normal jeans and a t-shirt. He was a rather girly looking man, but a lot of customers didn't mind. As long as he did his job, they weren't complaining.

Though one cloudy day while Marluxia was walking down one of the many side walks in the suburban area, he spotted a house with a lawn he had never noticed before. Though how could he have missed it! The house was beautiful, but the area surrounding it was horribly dirty, littered upon, and uncared for. "Dear sweet merciful hoo-ha! Who in the hell would let their yard go to such a waste!" Marluxia would complain and stare in awe. One of his many customers ran up to him, seeing him stop and stare at the house next door.

Resting his eyes on the man he recognized as his best customer, his face lit up. "Well hello Mr. Akins!" Mr. Akins shook Marluxia's hand again in a friendly gesture. "I see you've been looking at Sir X's place." He commented. Marluxia's gaze trailed over to the house, then the yard, and he could only wince at the sight. "..Mr. X? How come I've never heard of him, or seen him for that matter?" Marluxia asked Mr. Akins, resting his hands at his side, letting his scythe hang down towards the ground.

"Well, I'm not sure, Mar. I believe I've heard he works the night shift, at the office in town." He was now adjusting his hat he wore. Marluxia took up his scythe once more, and waved his hand back at Mr. Akins. "I'm going to go check on his residence, see if he's home. His yard looks like it could use some major work."

Mr. Akins gave him a smile, and watched him go. Boy was he serious in his passion for gardening. He had never met a man such as Marluxia, and was actually quiet happy to have someone like him around the town. He was a professional, and didn't ask for too much munny.

Walking further down the side walk did Marluxia go. The wind was light today, and felt good against his face. As he approached the house, he could see just how badly kept the yard was. Horrible thorn bushes grown wildly around the support beams of the over hung roof. Dead fallen over apples trees, with rotten out fruit laying around on the ground.

The side walk had weeds growing up through the cracks, the grass looks like it hadn't been cut in years. He found a duck pond as he entered the rusty gate. It was filled with muck and grim, and he could have sworn he saw part of a dead duck floating towards the surface. "This place.. Is utterly disgusting…" He turned up his nose at almost everything. If anything could grow properly, he would be amazed. He was able to get around some of the old bushes planted around the porch, by chopping them down with his scythe.

The floor creaked, under Marluxia's weight when he stepped onto the porch. "..This is awful…I should give this man a piece of my mind!" Raising up a gloved hand, he knocked on the door rather loudly. Resting his scythe over his shoulder, he waited to hear footsteps, but no such luck. His gaze trailed along some of the windows, and he noticed that the lights were not on. "Mm.. the man said he worked nights…" he muttered to himself, raising his hand to the door to knock again.

Suddenly he heard something fall in the house, and he jumped back. The wood creaked again under his weight, and he could have swore if he had jumped any harder, his foot would have went through the wood. Looking back towards the door, he could hear footsteps coming closer. "Mm.. Judging by the sound.. He must me a large man.. Maybe on the hefty side. Probably late 40's early 50's. " He was thinking out loud to himself on what the man named Mr. X must look like.

Suddenly the door opened, and Marluxia was stunned to see that it wasn't a hefty man, in his late 40's early 50's. It was a man about 4 inches taller then him, maybe mid 20's, with long dread-locke black hair, that was put into a pony tail except the few bangs he had. His side burns were what stood out next. "..Can I help you?" The man spoke. His voice was low, and sounded almost like velvet.

"A-Ah! Yes, are you the owner of this house?" Marluxia caught himself staring, and quickly looked away like he was inspecting the yard again. "..Yes, I am. Why are you a sales person, because if you are I'm sorry bu--"

Marluxia started to laugh at this, and shook his head. "Oh No sir. I'm a Gardener." Marluxia's eyes flashed, and he got a better look at the man. He wore black dress pants, with a black belt, and a white button up shirt, that was actually half way unbuttoned. "..A.. gardener?" He asked again, as to see if he heard him right. "Yes, I noticed your yard, looks as if it has been neglected for sometime now.. and I was wondering if I cou--" "Go on home kid." The man replied, beginning to shut the door, but Marluxia called out to him. "W-Wait! I can help for free!" His hand was reached out towards the door.

The guy stopped and sighed. "You really want to fix up my yard for free.." His brow raised in question testing Marluxia's seriousness. Marluxia took another good look around, and dread sunk in fast, but he swallowed his pride and shook his head. "Yes! For free! I just can't stand seeing plants like this…"

"..I'm Xaldin." He replied to Marluxia. Marluxia blinked, then looked back at him. "Pardon?" Xaldin opened the door a little wider, and leaned forwarded and spoke slower. "My.. Name.. Is..Xaldin..What's..yours?" Marluxia gave him a skeptical look, and then smiled. "Marluxia." "Alright then Marluxia, it's nice to meet you." Xaldin held out his hand for Marluxia to shake. Marluxia glanced at Xaldins hand and shook it in a friendly manner. 'He is an interesting one..' He thought to himself. Working for Xaldin for free, was going to be an interesting task.

"So how long will it take you to get this place going?" Xaldin asked, gesturing for Marluxia to enter his house. Marluxia nodded his head, and followed him, allowing Xaldin to shut the door, once he entered. "Should take about a month or so, with your area like this," Xaldin coughed slightly. "A month?"

"Yes, quiet so." Marluxia found himself looking at all the neat antique things, and beautiful furniture. The house might have been a mess on the outside, but the inside was beautiful. "Your house is lovely." He complimented. Xaldin folded his arms, and smiled at him. "Thank you, been in the family for years now." Marluxia could tell, the house seemed pretty old.

"When will you be able to start?" Xaldin asked him, gesturing for him to sit down. Marluxia shook his head. "No thank you, and I can start tomorrow." His eyes wandered around the room. "Very well, how about 8:00?" Marluxia smiled. "That will work." He started walking towards the door again. "I'll be here at 8:00 with all my supplies." Xaldin noticed he had a scythe, why he hadn't before, he didn't know. "..Very well then! Good day.." He called to him, as Marluxia left.

"Yes!" Marluxia cheered silently as he walked off the porch, it creaked again, but he chose to ignore it this time around. He would be spending the next month improving this place, even if he wasn't getting paid. He didn't mind. He was going to do something he lived for.

To be continued…

Me: Whoot! I hope that was an okay chapter to start off with. x3