Amaranthus

By: Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-

Notes: I actually really like this pairing, and never saw much of it... however, it was never meant to be...

Disclaimer: Still don't own it. Never will own it. Just happy to be fucking around in fandom again.

We bring these amaranths, these white lilies,
A sign, and sacrifice; may Love, we pray,
Like amaranthine flowers, feel no decay;
Like these cool lilies may our loves remain,
Perfect and pure, and know not any stain

-Joachim du Bellay "A Vow To Heavenly Venus"

Reno saw her under the rain.

That was his first memory of Aeris Gainsborough. She was wearing a thin blue dress, hiked up to her thighs so that she could dig her knees into the mossy ground of her church garden. She was sixteen and still had the baby fat on her cheeks that Reno knew would be gone soon. There was a smudge of dirt on her chin and her hair was tied up behind her head in a knot.

The little hole above her church that led to one of the few vents that opened to the sky. It wasn't much, only a few meters across, but it was enough. And it was hers.

She was laughing as the water splashed down her cheeks, and she didn't realize that she was being watched. Or, maybe, she knew but didn't care. She raised her chin to the sky, eyes closed and neck exposed. Reno could see her breathing, each little breath reverberating through her entire body. She was so full of life, of joy, and Reno couldn't help but look in awe.

No wonder Tseng was infatuated with her.

The water slid its way down her throat like a snake, down and down to her breasts, the water saturating the fabric. He could see the hint of a nipple against her dress.

Reno looked away.

He didn't know why he looked away; he had fucked his way through most of Midgar. It wasn't the first wet girl he had ever seen. But, for some reason, it felt like he was looking at something he shouldn't. It was like even deep inside him, the little bit of morality he had clinging together with bubblegum and some string, told him that this was something he did not earn.

This was something needed to be given.

So, he turned his back to the girl and pulled out a cigarette, listening to her laughter echo in the dilapidated church.

Then, their first meeting was in the flowers.

She was laying on the ground on her belly, her ear against the ground as though she it were her mother and she was listening to it breathe. She must have fallen asleep, because her eyes were closed and her own breathing was even.

Reno didn't want to disturb her, but there was something pulling him forward. It was like he couldn't control his feet, and he found himself leaning so close to her that he could hear her breathing. Oh, he would get an earful from Tseng if he knew...

"I can hear you," she murmured as she slowly blinked open her eyes, then reaching up and rubbing her hand against her eye. The strap of her dress slipped down her arm and she brushed it back up. It didn't stay.

Reno backed up quickly from her. "Sorry, Sis. Didn't mean ta scare ya."

She blinked once, twice, and damn it, she slowly lifted herself onto her elbows. Reno could see down the top of her dress and he looked away. He was pretty sure Aeris noticed, but she did nothing to cover herself. "You didn't scare me. Just... surprised you came out."

"Well, gotta stay in the shadows. Not supposed ta bother ya."

Aeris pushed herself further up and brushed off the dirt on her elbow. "You aren't bothering me."

It was as simple as that. She smiled and turned to a little basket nearby and pulled out a letter, handing it to him. "Tseng will know what to do with it," she murmured as she pulled up her strap and pulled at the pink ribbon in her hair. "You can just give that to him."

After that, it was like sure welcomed Reno into her church. Usually, they wouldn't talk, but Reno didn't mind the silence. In fact, when he compared it to the loudness of the city, this was... quaint.

She was seventeen the first time he slipped his hand under her chin one day, out of the blue. Her breath hitched and Reno could feel her loneliness and desperation through her lips and the curve of her throat when she pulled away. She had smiled, her lips pulled against her teeth, and Reno felt guilt.

Of course, that SOLDIER. The letters.

He expected Aeris to forbid him from going into the church, or worse, a bullet through the head courteously from Tseng, but nothing happened. In fact...

The next day the top button of her new green dress was unbuttoned. In fact, Reno noticed, from the few flutters of thread on the ground and the two buttons missing from the top and bottom, that they were gone. He had handed the two little pearly pieces of plastic back to her. She had smiled, again that smile with her lips pulled against her teeth, and placed them in her basket.

She wore the dress a few days later. The buttons were still missing.

Little things. That was what it was, the little things. Aeris knew she was being watched but she would act like no one was there, no one to see her... nothing at all. She would lay in her flowers, her dress riding up and just stare up into the sky. She would rest her hand on her stomach, playing with a little button or scrap of ribbon, and stare into the sky for hours.

On her nineteenth birthday, Reno brought her a gift. He hadn't expected she would take it-the color was all wrong and Amaranthus never lived long, but they were beautiful in the summer.

"What is it called?" Aeris asked as she held the little red bloom. There were a thousand flowering buds hanging down. She ran her finger over the hanging red roots, her eyes wide.

"Love-lies-bleeding," Reno laughed as her watched her lift her hand from the bottom up, feeling the flowers curl in her hand like a a cat tail.

She looked up at him, green eyes narrowing. "Are you playing with me, Reno?" Her voice was gently bantering, and Reno couldn't help but smile.

"Nah, Sis. That's what the locals call it."

She sniffed and then smiled. It wasn't the full smile she would give when she was being impish, running her hands through her hair and crossing and recrossing her legs when she knew Reno was watching when he wasn't supposed to. But, this smile... it was soft. It was natural.

It was Aeris.

She curled the flower around her finger, and a few weeks later she would do the same with Reno's hair.

Aeris was the one who had called out to him and, laughingly, dripped one of the stems against his hair. Her left foot was kicked up and she needed to lean on his arm to not fall as she pushed the flower behind his ear. It hung down, brushing against his chin, and she laughed again.

"It is the same color as your hair!"

She was right; that was why he had gone all the way to a little town near Wutai to get it for her...

"Nah, it's too pretty," Reno complained, but the girl-no, woman, Reno admitted as he felt the shiver run through his body when she leaned against him, her body pressed against his. He could even feel the nubs of her nipples hard against his arm.

Aeris leaned forward and ran her finger against the flower and down his chin, her green eyes thoughtful. "No, I think it is perfect."

This smile was with open mouth and teeth, and Reno grabbed her hand from his face and just held it there.

She lost her smile, but Reno didn't let her get away, not this time.

"Sis, what're you doin'?" he asked, and Aeris's arm tried to buck back. He held it still, looking down at the blue veins running under her skin like spider webs.

"I don't know," she admitted, and with her other hand she reached to pull out the flower from Reno's hair.

The next time it rained, Reno didn't bother to hide as Aeris slowly unbuttoned the top two buttons of her dress, letting the water hit her bare breasts. He could have cupped them in his hand and lifted them to his mouth.

Aeris let her hands wander down to the next button and her breath hitched. She slowly looked up at Reno, and blinked once, twice, three times...

And Reno couldn't stop himself.

He walked toward the woman, her body displayed like a flower ready to be taken. Reno wasn't into cheesy romance, but this was something he couldn't even understand. The way he leaned down and got onto his knees, the water splashing on his Turk jacket, this was all something he didn't know...

"Reno," she whispered, and Reno didn't let her say another word.

Reno grabbed her hand and slid his fingers down to her wrist, pushing her down into the flowers. Her hair splayed against the greens and whites. The pink ribbon in her hair slipped off and Reno carefully hid it under his jacket.

She was soft. He had known she would be, but he hadn't really expected how soft her body was. The only thing rough about her was her hands, calloused from the work in her garden. And with her hands tangled in Reno's hair, pulling at the buttons on his shirt, he liked that roughness.

He slid his hands down between her legs and she giggled when his fingers brushed against her curls. Reno wasn't sure it this was her first time, but when she moaned and widened her legs to allow him access with his fingers, he figured it wouldn't matter soon enough.

It was rushed, Reno knew. He didn't even take off her dress, instead pushing it up to her stomach to expose the paleness of her thighs. She mewled and pressed one of her hands into the dirt and the other further into his hair, pulling him down to meet her lips.

And, despite his fingers inside of her, harsh like a desert, the kiss was delicate, almost like a sweet whisper.

Aeris hooked her knee around Reno and pulled closer, and his fingers slammed down, deep. She moaned against his lips when he pulled his fingers in and out, curling them once before removing them completely. Reno unzipped his pants and pulled out his cock and... stopped.

"Wha-" Aeris let go of his hair. "No, no, no," she whispered against his face, her breath hot against his face. "No, don't stop... Zack... Reno..."

Reno winced.

Her skin was flush, red tinting at the smooth expanse of her collarbone, and Reno wished more than anything that he could keep going...

Reno pushed himself back into his pants and zipped back up, pushing his away from her. "Well, Sis," Reno huffed as he quickly picked up his jacket and tossed the ribbon on the girl's stomach, "whatever." White fury built into his stomach and he stood shakily, making quick work through her flowers.

"Wait, no, Reno!" Aeris scrambled to grab the ribbon, clutching it in her hand, the other pulling her dress closed. "Wait... please... please don't go..."

He didn't come back for a month. In fact, Reno would have preferred never returning at all, except Tseng would give him this look and no, he really couldn't say no to his boss. So, he went to her church and sat in the pew, and she stayed away from him, as far as she could.

The last time Reno saw her, it was away from her flower garden. It was Wutai, and fittingly enough, in a garden of Amaranthus.

Reno wasn't sure when Cloud and the others would be back, but he watched her, like he always had. And, like always, she had known.

"They really were beautiful," Aeris murmured as she reached out to touch them. They curled in her hand, and Reno remembered the feeling of her skin under his hands, how he had curled his fingers inside of her...

"Too bad they die before the summer ends."

Please Review!