Angel Trapped On Earth

Chapter Eighteen

.+. Too Late .+.

Sephiroth couldn't help himself as he closed the door to his room and held Tifa tighter against him, savoring the warmth of her body. Sometime during their embrace, he felt the blackness in his heart slowly crumble away. It didn't disappear altogether but slowly cracked to reveal light in. Her light. He wondered if she could do that for him; he wondered if she could conquer his tainted soul. He suddenly felt giddy and held her even tighter against him and searched his lips in a frantic kiss. He could pretend that just for one heavenly moment, she was his.

He reluctantly left her lips and trailed his gentle kisses on her cheeks like raindrops, and he continued his path of tenderness to her eyes where her long eyelashes rested. She gave a contented sigh and felt the familiar wave of passion rock through her body as she leaned in closer for his kisses.

"Oh Sephiroth, you make me feel so…so.." She wanted to tell him how good she was feeling at this moment but couldn't find the words.

To her disappointment, he stopped for awhile to look into her eyes and inquired, "What is it?" She shook her head and nibbled her lower lip in consternation. It was so adorable that Sephiroth couldn't help but want to kiss her all over again, but somehow he knew that her response to his question was equally important.

"You make me feel…beautiful." She finally replied.

His heart slammed in his chest as he heard her say those words and wondered if she had made him pure and good in those few precious seconds. A frown creased her face, however, after she said those words.

"I'm sorry, Sephiroth." She said but now tears weren't spilling down. Instead, an honest light was captured within her eyes

"For what?" He murmured, not quite able to take his eyes off her brown eyes.

She stopped to think about what she had done. Perhaps it was because she was too nosey lately or maybe it was because of she sneaked onboard and hid in his room. He had a right to be mad at her, and it was only right of her to apologize.

In his thoughts, however, he was thinking the exact opposite. He had acted like a callous cad towards her, and she deserved better. It was that recently, he had finally remembered just how evil and tainted he was. He remembered that he didn't deserve her, and he had never meant to have her as his in the first place. He had planned to kill her. She had so bravely tried to nurse him back to health, and that was how he had planned to pay her.

It was different now. She had miraculously broke down the wall that he had skillfully constructed around his heart, but she had broken it. His heart was a whole different matter for he was sure that before it was as cold as ice. In conclusion, he decided that he was a jerk. A man who had stained his hands with blood that he didn't deserve to kill, and a man who had nothing. He couldn't give the comforts she needed, he had no gil and money left, and although Tifa didn't seem like the woman to care, he cared.

He never cared so much before in his life, and the feeling as all so very new to him. He let go of her harshly and looked away from her as if burned just by the sight of her. Tifa felt the rejection of his movement burn deeply within her heart, and she felt the stinging in her eyes again. What had happened? One moment he was kissing her with the utmost reverence and now he was looking at her as if he was disgusted!

"I don't know why you're sorry. It is I who should be. Afterall..I.."

"No..no I'm sorry. I should've stayed here, and I shouldn't have hid in your closet like that." Tifa said earnestly.

"No!" Sephiroth bit out, "You don't understand! You're so good! You're pure! And it pisses me off that you are."

"What are you saying?" Tifa said, horror was slowly creeping across her lovely face.

"I'm saying that you should never talk to me again. Do you understand that?" Sephiroth asked, not believing his own voice.

"Don't be ridiculous. I'm not pure..or good--" Tifa replied, but Sephiroth cut in quickly.

"Look at my hands!" Sephiroth exclaimed. Tifa looked at them.

"Your hands?" She asked in confusion. What did he mean?

"You don't see what I see. I see blood, Tifa. I see my Masamune taking the lives of innocents. And my heart, Tifa!" He said, turning away from her.

Against her better judgement, Tifa reached out and placed a palm against his chest where his heart was lying beneath it.

"What about your heart Sephiroth?" She asked softly, daring to touch her fingers to his chin and making him look into her eyes.

The depths of his green eyes showed a forest of confusion, pain, and remorse. She didn't know how everything had come to lead to this one moment. Here was a man that she hated so deeply, but now he was the one man she loved and needed the most. She was sure of it. She was sure that the rapid beating of her heart wasn't because she hated him. She was sure that the warmth that slowly spread through her body when he kissed her wasn't because she hated him.

She was sure that he needed her too. It was written in his eyes.

"My heart is not good enough for you." He replied darkly.

Tifa was horrified by his painful reply. His heart wasn't good enough for her? If it wasn't good enough then why did she need it so? She admitted that she had never meant to want it in the first place. He was the last man she should've gotten involved with.

But he was so different from then.

The Sephiroth she knew back then had cold and malice shining in those mako green eyes. She was still staring into his eyes intently but all she saw was pain and emotion. How could he not see it? Now he had something within that glowed. Something so good that it was only clear to her, and she wondered why he couldn't see it.

"I think you should go Tifa." He finally said and turned away from her again.

No, she wouldn't stand for this. She wouldn't let another man push her away and leave again. She grabbed him by his arm and leaned in quickly to kiss him. Hard. His reaction was instantaneous and instead of listening to his rational mind, he listened to his traitorous heart. He pulled her tightly against him and kissed her in equal heated passion, trailing his tongue along the outline of her lips.

It was heaven and he knew it. But how was a devil supposed to stay in heaven, he wondered. He didn't care, and as he kissed her hungrily, all thoughts were lost. He kissed her neck at its graceful arch, and Tifa quivered at the touch of his warm lips. His hands found the silky strands of her hair and he hung onto her as if hanging on for dear life.

He pulled away from her sharply and muttered a sharp curse. Tifa sighed heavily and walked away from him towards the door. She paused for two seconds to see if he would come for her, but he didn't. She turned around to find that his slightly slouched back was facing her, and she walked out of the room with great sadness. She never noticed that when she had turned back around, he had turned around to look at her.

It was too late. Everything was too late.

.+.+.

Author's Note : I know, I know. That was a short one. *sighs* I'm dreadfully sorry for the gramatical errors or spelling ones lol. Anyhow, I hope you review and tell me what you think. Due to requests for a lot of fluff, I put in a whole chapter of it although I didn't quite end it well. ^_^ Don't worry, Sephy and Tifa WILL be together. Lol What kind of Sephiroth fan would I be if I didn't have it that way? ^_^ Until next time! Oh and if you like Vincent x Tifa, go ahead and read A Crimson Rose. It's also by me! Oh, and you should definitely read A Wishing Star. It's by Faerlyte (…oh I hope I spell that right……) Well you should be able to look It up by title, it's really good!!!

Disclaimer : FFVII and its characters are not mine. ^_^