Another Time, Perhaps
By mihoyonagi
Chapter IX
She looked up at him, biting her lip, attempting to hold in her tears. Anger had left her face, but a clear look of confusion still stood. "I don't understand," she whispered.
Their eyes made contact, but after a brief moment of looking deep into her bottomless emerald irises, Sephiroth forced himself to look away. "Do you know what you did when I carried you to bed last night?"
Aerith tilted her head. "I kissed you?" she answered, almost innocently.
He took a sharp intake a breath. "You knew what you were doing?"
Biting her lip, Aerith's gaze fell to the floor. The silence was almost unbearable for the ex-general, but was even harder to endure for the flower girl- she knew not what words to say that would make things right, let alone express her heart. "I've been thinking," she slowly began, looking to her feet. Small red spots were now visible from where the cocoa had burned her feet, but she hadn't noticed, too preoccupied with the radiating feelings swaying deep inside her heart. "About the things you said the other night. About how you feel…"
"Don't misjudge me, Aerith," he shot back at her. His voice was cold as it was back in his bedroom, and he still refused to look at her. Turning, he stood with his back to her so as not to witness the hurt expressions crossing her visage. "I told you those things to get them off my chest. I couldn't bear to travel with you with such ideas weighing down my conscious."
Anger built up inside of her once more. "I don't believe you. What of the stories you told me? What about your secret dislike of being touched? I bet you've never shared that with anyone."
Silence.
"And what about last night? We made each other laugh, and you even carried me to bed! And what about the cocoa? Or was that just a ploy to gain my trust? Has it all been a lie?"
More silence. She starred daggers into his back as a fresh trail of tears seared its way down her face, dripping off the end of her chin.
Sephiroth's body went slack, and his once tight fists relaxed, then sagged at his side. He exhaled. "And what if it was?" he asked, voice cold, but slowly cracking.
When she spoke, her voice was soft and gentle. "It worked. I trust you."
He turned, face filled with rage. "Why? Don't you understand? Torment me not, woman! Stop this anguish you cause me!" he growled.
Her face didn't change. "I do not understand what I do not know."
Sephiroth turned his back to her once more. "I don't deserve your kindness, your smile, or even your attention and pity. I don't ask for your forgiveness - after all that I have done? - I don't deserve any of, no more than I ask it."
Again, her voice remained tender and kind. "I know you never asked for it. But I gave it to you regardless."
"Don't you understand?" he roared, once more. "I am not worthy of you!"
He turned as she balled her fists, face reddening with annoyance. She stepped over the broken pieces of porcelain without so much as a second though. Without seeing it, he knew she bled. He closed his eyes as she and her rage stepped ever closer. He was prepared for a slap, for that was the only thing he was worthy of from her. It wasn't revenge - he knew her not to be the revengeful type - but he knew that hitting him would bring her satisfaction, just as the broken cup had eased her confusion before.
Sephiroth was ready for a punch to the jaw, or perhaps a slap or backhand across the face. What he did not expect, however, were two tiny, strong as steel, arms to circle around his neck and bring his great height down nearly an entire foot so as their lips met in a feverish kiss.
The second their lips touched, Sephiroth forgot all that he had punished himself for, and instead wound his arms around the young woman in front of him. He placed his hand in her chestnut locks. With a gentle tug, he undid the braid and let it fall across her thin shoulders and down her thin frame. Sliding one hand to the small of her back, he crushed their bodies together in an almost frenzied attempt to claim all of her lips as his own.
It was as if an electric current had been sent thorough both their bodies. Aerith shuddered in his arms, which simply made Sephiroth's grip on her tighten, if only it were possible- they were already so close together, it was by simple pure force of nature their bodies didn't melt together and form one being. A wave of goose bumps rushed up the general's back as Aerith's small hands cupped his face, drawing them slowly apart- he had never felt so alive, yet completely at peace.
Sephiroth kept his eyes closed as he held the young flower girl in his arms tightly, as if afraid she would disappear, and with her, every trace of happiness he had ever felt in his life. He didn't need to open his eyes, however- just holding her was enough. Just to be able to feel her soft hands on his face, the beat of her heart matching that of his own, was enough to send him past the moon and back. He felt her gently place her sweet kisses across his face, from cheek to cheek, from brow to chin, and even stopping and kissing the lids of his closed eyes. It was only when she stopped did he dare to look at her.
"How is it," she began, once their eyes had met. "That I spend nearly all of my life looking for romance, and once I stop, it comes crashing down and flips me head over heels in less than a week?"
Opening his mouth, Sephiroth tried to responded, but found he knew not the world to reply with. Instead, he chocked on an intake of breath when her worlds had finally hit him; was she saying that she loved him in return, then? His heart beat faster.
Gently reaching her hand up, Aerith twisted a stray silver tendril of hair around her finger. Still he had no answer. He closed his eyes again, searching for the right thing to say.
Aerith giggled in his embrace. "You don't have to say anything, you know." She let the tendril go free and instead gripped firmly the lapels of his cloak. She pressed the side of her face against the only bare part of his chest, reveling in how warm it was, wondering what his reaction would be. He didn't move in the slightest, and for that, Aerith was glad- she inhaled deeply his strong smell of worn leather and warrior and felt her knees grow weak beneath her weight. She glanced up at him, wondering what it was he was concentrating so deeply on.
After a long while of simply being locked in the arms of the other, Sephiroth finally opened his eyes once more. Not bothering to hide her surprise, Aerith gasped aloud when she looked into his crystalline orbs. For the first time since she had been in his company, his eyes completely gave away his emotions, telling her what words could not; he needed her. He needed to hold her. He needed to be with her, so lest he would finally collapse into the wallowing hole of self-loathing he had so deliberately dug himself into.
"Aerith," her name rolled of his tongue as if he tasted the sweet, pure, and untainted beauty of it it. He buried his face in her neck, placing one had on the small of her back, the other winding tightly around her waist.
"Yes?" she asked, weaving one hand around his neck, the other through his long silver hair.
"Be with me."
Had the room not been completely silent, Aerith wouldn't have heard his plea for her heart.
Words couldn't form the answer she needed, so she simply circled both arms around his neck and held him tightly. She felt him shake, if only for a moment, in her arms. It was only when he shook again did she realize he was crying. She then felt the sensation of warm tears on her neck and shoulder. The only thing left to do was simply let him cry.
What a sight; the strongest warrior of the stars and ex-murderer, crying in the arms of the purest thing he had ever slain. And she didn't even falter in the least to comfort him…
Without warning, Sephiroth hoisted Aerith up and, with a slight surprised squeal from the young woman, sat her upon the countertop of the kitchen. "Stay there," he commanded, not bothering to look at her. It was only when she made a move as if to jump off the counter and follow him did he stop and turn to her. "Stay there," he, again, commanded. Biting her lip and wondering what it was he was thinking, she obediently sat back down on the counter under his gaze. He then fled the room only to return moments later with a broom and dustpan in one hand, and a first-aid kit in the other. Aerith smiled faintly- only so long spent in her company and her habitual custom of helping others rather than herself had begun to wear off on him.
He placed the broom against the counter next to her, and the dustpan atop it, only a few feet away. Sephiroth then placed the kit between she and stationary cleaning supplies, proceeding to open it. Carefully, he turned her so as her feet were resting on the counter, no part of her body hanging off. Retrieving a pair of tweezers from the white box next to him, he carefully plucked the few pieces of porcelain from the bottom of her tender feet.
The last piece was rather deep and Aerith took in a sharp breath when he pulled it from her sensitive flesh. Placing the tweezers next to the box, he then rummaged through it, pulling free a few cotton swabs and some cleaning alcohol. Pouring a good sized amount of the clear liquid onto the fluffy ball of white puff, Sephiroth picked it up with the tweezers he had set down moments before and continued to clean her feet.
Aerith, once again, sucked in a sharp breath as the alcohol in the swab stung the open cuts on the bottom of her feet. Sephiroth momentarily stopped what he was doing and looked up at her, concerned that he had truly hurt her. She smiled down at him, a bit sheepishly, for being so weak, and then wiggled her toes in a cute fashion to show him that he could, indeed, continue without worry. And that he did.
After he was sure that her cuts were clean and nothing foreign was still lodged in her foot, the general retrieved a few bandages from the kit that sat patiently, almost proud to be of service, on the counter. Peeling off the adhesive tape from both sides of the small dressings, he carefully placed them on the deep scratches on the bottom of her foot, making sure they were secure.
Carefully, Sephiroth once again turned Aerith and gathered her small figure in his arms, still letting her rest on the counter, her legs resting against either side of his hips. He placed his chin on the top her head and let out a large sigh. "I'm sorry."
Aerith smiled against his warm chest. "You shouldn't be- you aren't the one who had the temper tantrum. If anything, I'm sorry for being so angry earlier."
"I'm not sorry about that- you had all the right in the world to be angry with me, what with all I said and did to you… I'm sorry for everything else- for how I treated you, and all that I have ever done to harm you."
"I know," she replied simply, rubbing her check against the warm leather that covered her lower half of his chest.
Again, the general heaved a large sigh.
Pulling away from him, Aerith met his confused gaze and greeted it with a kind, warm, gentle smile. Taking his hand in hers, Aerith removed the thick leather glove that hid his ashen skin from the rest of the world, and then pressed his palm against the flat of her cheek, her hand overlapping his.
Sephiroth wrinkled his brow in wonder and puzzlement.
Still she held her smile. "It's not so bad, is it?"
The face of the one-winged man didn't change- he still looked down at the flower girl with a face full of confusion.
"Your dislike of touching others, or having them touch you; it's really not that bad to be held in the arms of another, is it?"
He smiled down at her, moving his hand from her face to circle it around her back. "I don't mind it so much, anymore," he paused for a moment, and Aerith watched at he grinned devilishly. "So long as it's you."
Surprising her once again in such a short period of time, Sephiroth scooped Aerith off the counter and walked right over the mess she had made while in her fit of rage, and down the hall and into her bedroom. Carefully, he placed her on the mattress, then pulled the covers up to her neck, tucking her dutifully in.
It was Aerith's turn to crease her forehead in confusion. "What-" she began, but was cut off abruptly by a small hand gesture from the general.
"You were only asleep about forty-five minutes earlier, and you shouldn't be on your feet anyway, what with your cuts and such." He gently placed his ungloved hand on her face and smiled, for the first time, genuinely and truly, down upon her. "Is there anything I can get you, my sweet?" the last part was hesitant, as if he was unsure she would enjoy being called by such a simple, but endearing, pet name.
"Only you," she answered before she had time to think. He watched her face grow red as she pulled the covers up to cover all but her eyes. She gazed back up at him, unsure.
He only smiled down at her. "As you wish."
Carefully, he climbed atop the covers and settled in comfortably next to her. Even in the darkness, he could see her blush. Lovingly, he hooked a leg across her waist, and then wound the corresponding arm around her as so he was half lying atop of her, half next to her.
"Seph…" she whispered, face reddening even more. "What are you-"
Sephiroth shushed her by placing a single finger atop her lips, smiling down at her. He then proceeded to rest his forehead in the crook of her neck, smile still upon his face. "Go to sleep," he whispered simply.
Aerith coiled her arms around his neck and, for a few moments, ran her thin, delicate fingers through his long platinum mane. They both fell asleep soon after…
