TSENG'S FLOWER

Summary: Tseng pours his heart into something most unexpected for the first time in his life. Oneshot.

It was a rose. A pale shade of red. And the petals were fading, crimpling, dying. Tseng couldn't stop the flower from dying, either. He'd done all he could think of. He watered it regularly, paid it special attention, sat it by the window and let it soak up the sun. He gazed at it longingly, thought of her as he did, but it still continued to die.

One day, he was sitting in his office, his glasses slipping down his nose and his eyes fixed on his computer screen, reading the monthly Shin-Ra newsletter all the executives received in their mailbox. And she walked into his office, smiling bright and smoothing her skirt every five seconds like a little girl eager to please her parents.

He looked up at her, motioned for her to sit down and without a word continued to read over the newsletter which mostly consisted of the recent chain of events. The drop of the Sector Seven plate, Reno's admission to the infirmary, and of course, Tseng's recent failure to capture the flower girl.

Elena smiled and did as she was told and kept her knees together and head bowed, not daring to look up at her new superior. She was so giddy, so excited and so anxious. This was her second day at work, her first day meeting Tseng and her last day as a little girl. Her blue eyes strayed around the office curiously as she fiddled with bubble gum ring on her pinky that cost her two dimes and a nickel.

And she laid her eyes on that plant, that dying, pale rose that Tseng had nearly given up on. She leaned forward, her mouth slightly agape with this look of pure, childish innocence that even Tseng couldn't fail to see. He had chanced to glance up at her as her fingertips traced the withered petals.

"Don't touch that." Tseng said before he could stop himself. He bit his lip and caught himself reaching out to smack her hand away. Elena jumped and immediately pulled back, nodded repeatedly and stared at her shoes, almost certain that she had screwed up her first impression.

Tseng swallowed, appalled that he had almost slapped the rookie Turk over a plant. But he reminded himself that this rose was no ordinary plant. He sighed heavily; both hands clasping the pot the special plant resided in and pulled it closer to him.

"I'm sorry." He said quietly, shamefully, sadly. "This plant, it's…very important to me."

Elena nodded as if she understood, but she couldn't. She couldn't possibly understand how much the plant meant to him. She just couldn't, and that was that. Sometimes it was just that simple and just that vague.

"It was a gift." said Tseng, "From a very close friend of mine."

And this time, it was Elena who couldn't stop himself. "A girlfriend?" She asked, leaning forward a bit in her seat as she twisted her ring around her pinky anxiously.

Tseng felt his heart drop, but his expression didn't illustrate the shattering impact. His face paled just a bit, not enough for her to notice that those two simple words made him suddenly feel dreadfully uncomfortable. And finally, as he set the rose down on his windowsill behind his desk, Tseng nodded.

"Yes, a girlfriend. A long time ago, you see."

Elena was suddenly far more interested in digging up her boss's little secrets instead of asking him if she was really required to polish her shoes every day.

"Oh…" said Elena quietly, her voice hushed but her expression loud. "Did you two split up?"

Tseng's frowned deepened, but he didn't deny her an answer. He nodded slowly, but didn't go any further without being prompted, and Elena was the type of person to do just that. Prompt, prod and push further into her boss's personal life.

"Oh, well…" She looked at the flower and before she could scold herself for even thinking about it, Elena stood up, smoothed her skirt and walked around her boss's desk, lifted the plant in her hands and sat back down in her seat, placing the plant on the corner of the desk where it had originally sat. And Tseng watched her with an unfathomable look of astonishment and curiosity.

"You have to water it every day." Elena said plainly with a nod that clearly said she knew what she was talking about, "and you have to set it in the sun…" She moved it over a bit and Tseng watched, almost fascinated with her simple, forward demeanor. "That way, it won't die. It's not dead yet, you know…with a little love…"

"I've done all of that…" Tseng said, forgetting completely that this was the rookie and he was her superior. This was suddenly two people discussing planting techniques, something easy with no strings and no consequences or rewards. It was just a conversation, if something as simple as that could fit into Tseng's busy work schedule. "I've watered it, given it sunlight…"

"What about love?"

Tseng looked up at her for the first time, his eyes filled with a look that merely said, "What?"

"What about love?" repeated Elena, a little smile tugging at the corner of her lips, "Do you talk to your plant, sir?" That last bit had been thrown into her question unexpectedly, but neither seemed to notice or care.

"Talk?" He blinked in confusion and looked from the blonde to the plant as if she were asking him to commit an unspeakable crime.

She nodded, fighting back the urge to snigger and look as innocently as she shouldn't have been. "Talk! You know the healthiest plants hold conversations with their owner?"

Tseng sighed and shook his head in disbelief. "I don't have time to talk to a plant…" he mumbled half-heartedly, "I…it just seems ridiculous…"

"Maybe that's why she left you." And Elena knew she had triggered something in him. She watched his expression change from sad and tired to shocked and appalled. And Elena left with a little impish smile on her face, leaving Tseng speechless.

When she was gone, Tseng immediately went back to the newsletter with a look of pure determination on his face. But it wasn't long before he found himself gazing at this rose, this rose he couldn't stop from dying no matter what he did. And he found himself pulling the plant close to him, his calloused fingers gently brushing over the leaves, his eyes filled with an unreadable expression of sadness and pain.

"Aerith." said Tseng slowly, gently, almost as if he was afraid that someone would hear this forbidden little talk. "Aerith, I…I'm sorry. I'm so sorry I chose this job over you. I'm sorry I broke my promise, I'm sorry I left you, I'm sorry I watched you cry and I'm sorry you're alone right now…"

Tseng found himself choking on his words, and it wasn't long before he had his head buried in his hands. It wasn't long before he could taste the salty tears at the corner of his mouth. It wasn't long before he was crying, his head filled with the girl he had left behind for the sake of the job.

"Aerith, I'm sorry I broke your heart…"

Three weeks later, Tseng was dead. His body was lost forever in the Temple of the Ancients. And his faithful Turks were left to empty his office with a somber sadness, their faces creased with hurt and their eyes swelled with that tender look of pain.

And Elena lifted the red rose that Tseng had secretly spoken to. She was surprised to find the petals red and full of life and the leaves vibrant and green. It was not sitting on the windowsill where she had expected it to be, but on his desk. In this empty office, clouded with an atmosphere of lost love, this rose was the only thing in this room that held any color or meaning.

And she cried through her sad smile there in the office, clutching that plant to her chest like a quiet treasure that no one else would ever share with her. And Reno knelt beside her, put his arms around her, and stroked her hair tenderly, closing his own eyes, fighting his own tears, for he had lost the only father-figure in his life. Rude, too, put a surprisingly gently hand on her shoulder and listened to Elena cry and moan and wail about the dinner she would never have and heaved a heavy sigh.

That night, the three remaining Turks silently went to the church in Sector Six of Midgar and planted it among Aerith Gainsborough's other flowers. But Tseng's flower, the three of them decided, was the most beautiful and the most loved out of that little patch of heaven.