An idea that suddenly shot into my head. It's kind of a mixture of a one shot that I had
in mind earlier, but with elements of this already in it. Hope you enjoy reading this!

M-Rated due to sexual contact and implications!

Her breathing slowly starting to regulate itself again, she loosened her tight grip on the sheet and let her head fall

against the cool pillow. His own fast breath was irregular next to hers, but she felt like they were on an identical

rhythm when she felt his weight on her and his fingers interlocking with hers. With his free hand, he pushed some

of her long auburn locks off her shoulder, kissing it lightly.

"I love you." he whispered into her ear, his voice sending a gentle thrill down her spine.

"I love you, too." she said and turned her head so their lips could meet. He sat up from her a bit, giving her room

to turn her entire body towards him, and she put her arms around his neck, giving herself entirely in the kiss.

When the kiss finally broke, they barely let any distance come between them and lost each other in the other's

eyes, their fingers sometimes caressing lightly over their cheeks or twirling each other's hair around a finger.

He leaned his head lower, kissing her neck and tasting her along the way, the porcelain skin already glistening

with that fine sheen of sweat and earlier marks of his decorating it. He put his arms around her waist, pulling

her up a bit higher as he entered her again, filling her again, and she gave a small pleased gasp.

"Don't forget about me." she begged him, her eyes filling slightly with tears.

"I won't. Ever." he told her, kissing her again as he slowly began to move in her.

I wonder .. if we are what people would call a 'weird couple'.

Their passion ebbing away and their desire satisfied, they slowly began to collect their respective clothes from

the floor, taking their time in getting dressed again as they shot some fleeting glances at each other a few times.

He opened the door of the little room first and stepped out into the outer hall of the church with her close behind

him, clinging slightly to the back of his shirt. Their footsteps creaked on the old floorboards and echoed through

the almost empty place and the only thing to greet them was the one colorful spot in it, the flowerbed that was

growing in the large hole in the ground. Barely paying any attention to it, they approached the large doors that

led to the outside. Before he could reach for the doorknob, he felt her tugging at his shirt and he turned around,

seeing her head hanging low with her gaze on the ground. Carefully, he peeled her fingers off and immediately

pulled her into a tight embrace, inhaling that intoxicating smell of hers. Her own arms were clinging to him again,

like she was going to fall and drown if she ever let go. The two stood like that for a while, until they both lifted

their heads a bit to look at each other.

"How long ..?" she asked.

"I don't know. At least a few days. I'll see you as soon as I can." he answered, giving her a long tender kiss

before they finally let go of each other and, with a desperate look between them, he opened the door to leave.

"Take care of yourself." she said before the door closed. Standing a few minutes in silence, she sighed and turned

to walk down the aisle again and kneeled in front of the flowerbed, picking up the earlier discarded watering can.

It's always the same game. But no matter how often we've played it through, it always feels like it's the last

time. Even if we're tired of it, Zack and I say our words and voice our feelings with earnesty. And we know it.

Nobody knows of it except us. That's how it should be. Although there are times where I wonder what other

people might say, if they knew of our little .. scenario. I wonder .. when did it all began?

Two years ago, our relationship was a bit different. We had just as little time with each other as we have now

and we spent as much of it as possible together. But his company kept calling him away at the best moments.

And then, he got called to go to Modeoheim. He had to leave fast and .. he came back a completely different

man. I didn't know all the details and I don't know them all now. But he came to me to pour his heart out ..

Zack sat dejected on the floorboards, his emotions slowly calming down and he rubbed his arm a few times.

".. I miss him." he finally said, his voice cracking again. He couldn't quite put his entire feelings about his

mentor's death in words. He tried and failed, but felt the burden of having killed him with his own hands.

"It .. just made me realize how dangerous being a soldier is. Things are normal, every day is mostly just one

long wave of training and free-time, you get called to a mission .. and suddenly, you don't return." he said,

sitting in one of the pews and watching Aerith tending to the flowers. "I always wanted to be a hero .. rescue

a village from a monster. Or save a child from death .. just something that would make people look up to me,

see me as an idol and maybe say what a good job I did. Of course I knew about the risks, but .. maybe I just

never really registered it."

Aerith brushed her hands off and stood up, turning towards the young soldier and wondered if she could say

anything to make him feel better. Or if she was expected to. Perhaps she was just to stand here and listen

to him, give him a chance to work it out. Zack looked up and his eyes focused on her, waving her over.

"It made me think .. what if I suddenly left for a mission one day and wouldn't return. How you might feel.

What we'd regret, having our last possible moment just be a stupid, meaningless every-day thing." he told her

and she noticed a slight blush creeping up his face. "So .. I was thinking .." He didn't go on, just held her hands

in his and staring at the floor. Finally, Aerith leaned down to look into his face and squeezed his hands slightly.

"You were thinking ..?" she asked, curious. Zack tugged at her hands and she leaned down further, her ear

level with his lips, and his face firered, the soldier told her.

'In case we suddenly get separated, let us make our last moment .. special' he had told me and I had agreed.

Whenever he is told of an upcoming mission, he'd come see me and tell me about it. To not regret anything,

we'd make love, confess our feelings to each other and just try to stay together as long as possible.

Aerith patted off her skirt and sighed. Her body was still warm and her legs wobbly from before. Wondering if

she should go home for the day, she fanned herself with her hands to cool down. The girl headed for the door

her lover had walked through himself just a while ago, entering the slums. They were their usual calm self,

but a few newer merchants had arrived and were calling out their products. Several people saw Aerith and

waved at her, calling out a greeting and a few kids simply ran towards her, throwing their short arms around

her legs, making her trip home take longer. The flowergirl waved back or patted the kids' heads before going

on and sighed when she arrived at her home. Seeing the two-story house, she immediately noticed the large

flowerfield behind it and, slightly frustrated, she remembered that she hadn't watered those flowers yet.

Filling the watering can, Aerith headed up the slope, rather grateful for this little distraction as it would keep

her from facing her mother right away. She wasn't sure how much her face had cooled down by now and she

didn't know exactly how much her mother knew about her relationship. But she had already gotten some

rather unnerving smirks from her. Hearing the people on the top of the plate walking above her head, she

wondered if Zack had already left on his mission.

Although it originally started as a scenario for missions that happened about twice a month, if Zack was

given something that resembled a regular schedule, it became more frequent. Lately, it had become a

daily thing. Even if he had no missions waiting for him. But Zack told me that even the just plain old

training days were dangerous - that it wasn't the first time a soldier would die from an accidently aquired

wound during training and it wouldn't be the last time. He had confessed that he already lost some

comrades that way.

The church door opened and Zack entered, his expression brightening when he saw the girl leaning over

the flowerbed. His steps hastened and he threw his arms around her before she had a chance to stand

up and turn around.

"Hey there." she grinned, patting his hand. "A bit overzealous today, aren't you?"

"Can't help it. I haven't seen you for a while." Zack answered, thinking of the previous mission that had

taken almost a month. He grinned at her. "Want a present for my return?"

"Oh, like what? Are you planning on granting me a wish?" the girl asked and the soldier laughed.

"Sure. Tell me what you want." he said and chuckled when the girl rocked her head from one side to

the other. ".. can't think of any wish?"

"Actually, I have several." Aerith confessed and turned around to look at him.

"Any idea how many?"

".. twenty .. three?" she admitted slowly, a sweet smile decorating her lips. The soldier shook his head

in a fake exasperated matter at her and handed her a pen and some paper.

"Write them down. So I don't forget." he told her and heard his phone ringing. He answered the call,

listening while Aerith wrote down her wishes. When she was done, she watched him, the fine frown

appearing between his eyebrows and his lips clenching slightly.

".. work?" she asked quietly when he put his phone away. He didn't answer, just glared at the floor for

a while. Finally, he held out his hand for her little wishlist and sighed.

"They're shipping me off to Nibleheim tomorrow." he said. "Something about a defect reactor and some

monsters roaming the town." Aerith frowned, he never told her details about his missions. And the name

Nibleheim didn't tell her anything. Although, she only been in Junon and Midgar and had been told that

she was born in the Icicle Inn. There were probably a lot of towns she didn't know anything about.

".. what will you have to do?"

"Take care of the monsters. We're taking some engineers with so they can fix the reactor, plus some

guards. Stuff like this is always a big deal to ShinRa." he said and grinned slightly. "Well, Cloud will be

with us. He'll be happy, going home .." Aerith sat herself on Zack's lap, putting her arms around his

chest, leaning her head against him and listened to his heartbeat in her ears.

"Sounds really big .. I'm going to miss you."

".. just getting there is going to take at least two days." he muttered, more to himself than to her,

and held her close to himself.

Hearing of such a mission so shortly after he came back from another one scared me. I felt like

he was going to be pulled away, that ShinRa was taking him from me the way they had done with

my mother. Or maybe I was realizing just how much he meant to me.

Carelessly, Aerith ran a finger over Zack's naked chest, feeling the muscles move beneath it, his

warmth so comforting and how his body shook with silent chuckles.

"Hmm .." he mumbled, putting his hand over hers and squeezing it lightly.

"What?"

".. just thinking. Somehow, saying it doesn't sound right." he said, earning him a confused look from

her and kissed her fingers softly. "Just saying 'I love you' .. I don't know, feels to me like it's not

the right way to express my feelings for you anymore. Maybe there are no right words ..?"

Aerith sat up a bit to look at him and frowned, wondering if he meant what she thought.

"So .. your feelings for me are so strong that you .. can't find words to express them?" she asked,

averting her eyes when she felt her cheeks blushing.

"Pretty much."

Aerith blushed and smiled, but then her face clouded up again. "It's late .. you'll have to return

to ShinRa soon, right?" she asked, having heard from him how soldiers were expected to spend

the nights in their rooms at the company.

"Doesn't matter. I'm not going to leave you tonight. I'll stay right here with you until I have to go .."

The flowergirl straightened up, lying on top of him, and kissed him. He reciprocated the kiss, feeling

her tongue asking gently for entrance. Granting it, he noticed how carefully and softly she was

moving it, like she was trying to mould every detail of him into her mind. The soldier tugged her

closer to him, letting his hands roam over her body underneath the blanket, feeling her soft skin

beneath his fingertips. He grinned slightly when they slid over her hips, causing her to flinch slightly

and moan into the kiss. She broke the kiss suddenly as his hands grasped her breasts and began to

knead their soft form. Her mind was already beginning to go blank, thinking how unfair he was at

times, knowing her weakspots and exactly how to fuel the fire in her body over and over again.

'I love you' are beautiful words that might say how much a person means to you and I would've

been happy to hear them again and again. But .. hearing him say how he stumbles to find words

to really express his feelings made me happier. Perhaps our love for each other had grown larger

over the years and we had reached a place where we just knew how the other felt about us.

That we loved each other so much that we didn't need to words say it.

We just knew.

Aerith stood stiffly amongst the flowers, hearing the rain pound heavily on the plate above

and feeling that familiar cold wave sweeping over her arms. She clenched her hands into fists,

but that couldn't stop the shaking. Almost laughing at herself, she felt her lips stretching into

a painful smirk and her eyes burning with tears.

I was shocked. Despite having prepared for this moment so often, knowing that it was bound

to come at some point. Having not regretted our last moment together. I cried, because I

was shocked that after four years of waiting .. I had still hoped.

This is actually the last One Shot I'm going to upload. I still have plenty ideas to write up,
but I don't want to put up anymore until I get some reviews. Even if it's just a one-line thing
and it can even just be your opinion on ZackxAerith, I want some reviews.