For Beeria, an awesome writer for the best couple there is, Cloud and Aerith.

A/N : Sweet, I would say. Words in brackets while spoken, are meant to be whispers.
Enjoy. :)

Forgiven

With his arms crossed over his chest, a young man was leaning against a tall, white pillar covered with old vines twisting up, in what seemed to be an old, abandoned building within the depths of the restoring –now known as– Radiant Garden.

He was staring to beyond the middle of the building which was covered with an array of beautiful flowers. His eyes were locked on the flower girl, who was kneeling down, humming a soft tune, and tending to the flowers.

Even after all these years, she still finds flowers to take care of...

His gaze was still on the young woman but his mind wandered off to something else, something that always had bothered him from the beginning, when he came back.

His facial expression showed that he was worried of something and that he was deep in thought. He dipped his head, finally looking away from the young woman and gathered himself in his own thoughts.

However, he snapped back to reality once he heard that soft, sweet voice calling out to him.

"Cloud." He looked back to the flower girl, and stared at her questioningly. "Yeah...?"

The girl stopped her humming but continued to tend to her flowers, never bothering to look up at Cloud, who was still leaning on the pillar, a few ways away from her.

"Remember that day... when Cid had brought you back?" He watched as she kept working on the flowers, scratched the back of his head, and thought; his eyes began to cloud as the memories of that day came pouring into his mind.

Aerith, Leon, and Yuffie were all standing in the library, discussing about what was to happen to Hallow Bastion. They were all interrupted when someone had come in, grabbing their attention away to the door.

"Hey everyone! Look who I found wanderin' about the streets!" Cid walked in, his hand was trailing behind him as if he was dragging something. Everyone waited to see what Cid had brought, and when he stepped to the side, their breaths were caught in their throats.

Yuffie was the only one to gasp out in surprise, and the other two just stood there, wide eyed and dumbfounded.

Cloud, the man with gravity-defying hair; the man who disappeared seven years ago, was standing at the door with half his face obscured by a red scarf and eyes covered by his golden-colored bangs.

He looked at the three who stood there, shying away when he met eyes with the person that meant everything to him, a fact that took seven years for him to actually find out.

Aerith was the first to react. She walked up to the young man standing near the door and when she was close enough, she leant in forwards, clasping her hands behind her back and cocking her head to the side to look up to him and see his face. All he could do was scratch the back of his head.

A small, teasing smile curved upon her lips when she noticed his gaze looking away from hers.

"Hmm?" Her tone was more teasing, than questioning. She couldn't help but giggle in her mind when she noticed a wave of scarlet, coloring over his face and had to stop her self from bursting into a fit.

Aerith straightened herself up, and stepped closer to the young man, whose blush was getting deeper by the second. Everyone watched to see what the flower girl was going to do, and was only shocked when she had done it.

Aerith had lunged herself at Cloud, and wrapped her arms around his neck. She buried herself in his chest and tightened her hold around him. Cloud stood there, trying to register what was going on, while blushing like mad. He looked as shocked as the others, but his face finally softened up when he realized what happened and heard Aerith's voice whisper softly to him.

"I'm glad you're back, Cloud..." Even though he couldn't see, he knew she was smiling.

A small smile tugged at the corners of his lips, and he eagerly wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her in closer. He buried his face into her hair, taking in the sweet, flowery scent she possessed, which he missed, and whispered.

"Me too..."

A few minutes passed before Yuffie broke out a cheer, and soon everyone followed suit.

Cloud smiled, that day was one of the best for him but than again, he did feel remorse that day too. He brought his eyes back to the garden, and quickly pushed himself off the pillar when he noticed Aerith wasn't there anymore.

Aerith?

His face turned hard, with a hint of worry as he yelled out her named. "Aerith!"

No answer.

He began walking towards the center of the garden and stopped, calling out for her again. "Aerith!" This time he heard a faint giggle from somewhere in the building, he sighed in relief and relaxed his muscles. He began to turn around in circles, in spot, to see where Aerith was.

Cloud stopped and let out another sigh when he didn't see Aerith anywhere. He could hear her soft giggles again, and looked over to where he had heard it. His face slowly scrunched up in annoyance when he saw nothing.

"C'mon Aerith... I don't wanna play games..." An exasperated sigh escaped through his thin lips when no Aerith came out. He dipped his head in defeat, and stood in the middle of the garden to wait.

Cloud felt two hands grab his hands from behind, he was about to turn around but the hands kept him from doing so. He looked up in confusion, and felt something lean against his back. He turned his head to look behind him and saw a pink ribbon and brown hair; he brought his face back to look at the cracked walls in front of him.

An amused smile had been placed on Aerith's lips. She had her back against Cloud's and flirtatiously blurted out something.

"Question! Why do you look so worried, Cloud?" She jerked her head forwards, than brought it back.

He could hear the worried tone in her voice, and hesitated in replying. He looked to the ground where the flowers were beneath them, and looked back up, sneaking a peek of Aerith behind him before he dipped his head again and began to shift uncomfortably, finally responding.

"I... think I want to be forgiven..." His voice was quiet, and unsure. He heard Aerith question him with a soft 'hmm' before he looked up defiantly, sure of what he wanted, and slightly nodded.

"Yes... I want to be forgiven..." He turned his head around; catching the way Aerith had jerked her head forwards in amusement and heard her giggle.

"By who?"

She finally turned around, motioning Cloud to turn around as well, and they finally looked at each other, eye to eye.

He saw a small smile on her lips, and felt his heart skip a beat. Aerith looked amused, but a hint of worry could be seen in her eyes. Cloud shied away from them, and thought for awhile.

"By... everyone... Yuffie, Cid, Squall..." He finally looked back at her, knowing that she was listening intently to him and squinted his eyes, slightly, in remorse.

"You, especially...Aerith..." He looked away again.

He had to admit, he was afraid... that's why he never said anything, but he wasn't really sure of what he was afraid of, he just...was.

Aerith could only laugh, and Cloud looked back up to her, slightly hurt.

"Is that all, Cloud? You're so lame!" She continued to laugh as Cloud looked at her, bewildered.

He was angry at how Aerith reacted to his confession, he was hoping for something more... sweet, or something, not laughing. He growled slightly before questioning her, coldly.

"Why are you laughing?" Her laugher subsided, and she wiped away an invisible tear from her eye. She locked her eyes onto Cloud's and smiled warmly, walking closer into him.

"Because... I don't need to forgive you. There's nothing to forgive." Cloud registered her words into his mind before firing back a line of stuttered explanations. He was silenced, however, by a finger that was gently pushing against his lips. Cloud watched as her mouth moved, and slowly averted his gaze onto Aerith's sparkling eyes.

"No buts. You came back... (to me), didn't you? That's more than enough." Her mouth quickly formed a smile as she took her finger off Cloud's lips. Aerith turned around; having her back face Cloud's and stated.

"Just having you back... Is more than enough for me..." She could feel her face heat up, and got slightly annoyed when Cloud began to spit out useless explanations once again. Cloud sighed and stopped when he knew she wasn't really listening to him. He dipped his head in defeat and whispered.

"I just want to be forgiven..."

With a sly look on her face, she quickly turned around lunging herself towards Cloud, and grabbing his face gently before softly placing her lips on his, inducing him in a sweet, chaste kiss. She felt his arms snake around her waist, dragging her in and let go, parting away from his lips.

She saw the confusion in his eyes and giggled slightly. Wrapping her arms around Cloud's neck, she pressed her forehead against his and looked into his eyes.

"I won't forgive you for disappearing... (I don't need to) But I will forgive you for thinking that you need to be forgiven..."

Aerith's smile widened when Cloud's face showed that he was even more confused, but his expression soon changed and he smiled, pressing his forehead harder against Aerith's.

The two stood there, in the middle of the garden, embracing each other, wanting to never let go.

Cloud tightened his arms around Aerith's waist, and looked into her eyes while smiling, before he slowly closed in on her face, sliding his eyes to a close, and pressed gently against her lips.

He felt a burden finally lift off his shoulders, and finally figured out that he was,

Forgiven.

Author's Notes : Yay for cloudxaerith! I'm not sure why I italacised the last two lines, but I did, so hah :P

Anyways, my ninth fic (?) for this couple, and it is definately not the last. : I hope you enjoyed this one as much as I did
&please read and review. (I like reviews )

See ya in another story:D