The two teens walked in silence for a bit, heading nowhere in particular except away from Tifa's house. The fighter clomped along with her arms crossed, glaring straight ahead. Aeris watched with some concern, wanting to cheer up her friend, but not quite sure where to start. She hadn't seen Tifa quite so aggravated before. Eventually, she decided to try what she thought was a comedic approach.

"So," she started, getting her friend's attention, "I don't think I'll knock on the bottom part of the door next time."

Confusion overtook the brawler's features.

"Uh, why not?" she asked.

"Well," the flower girl explained, "it was great fun while I was by myself, but then you actually opened the door. Then it was like, 'Oh, hello Tifa's crotch, how are you today?'"

She ended her explanation with a dopey grin, expecting a surprised laugh from the taller girl. When she got nothing of the sort, she turned to find the brawler had stopped walking several paces back, her face burning red. As soon as their eyes met, Tifa quickly turned away, hiding behind her long hair as she moved to catch up to her friend.

"Come on," she said as she passed Aeris, who watched her friend's unexpected reaction with worry.

"Tifa, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, let's go."

"No!"

Surprised, Tifa stopped and turned to find Aeris glaring at her. What now?

"Tifa, I know something is wrong," the flower girl declared, "and I'm not going to stand here and let you lie about it. It's not nothing. I'm your friend, Tifa. I care about you. Tell me what's wrong so I can help you."

The fighter stared at her blankly for several long moments. When the sundress-clad girl showed no sign of wavering, she gave a deep sigh. God, she's usually so pleasant and agreeable, I completely forgot she had a stubborn side.

"Do we have to do this?" she demanded wearily.

"Yes, I think we do," Aeris responded firmly.

Tifa groaned. Talking about her feelings was not her favorite thing to do, especially as of late. Unfortunately, she didn't really have the ability to refuse a direct demand from Aeris. She gave another sigh as she prepared to give in, on one condition.

"Can we at least go to the water tower? If I have to talk about stuff, I'd rather do it somewhere comfortable."

"I agree to these terms," the older girl announced imperiously, tilting her chin up, "Let us make haste, then."

The fighter smirked at that. The girl I've fallen for is such a dork.

The girls made the short trip in silence. Approaching the leaky old water tower, Tifa hopped onto one of the old crates at its base, sitting atop it with her legs hanging off the side. Aeris plopped down in the flowers beside her, the pale blue of her sundress both standing out and fitting in with the multicolored petals around her. There was another period of silence, with Tifa nervously bouncing her feet off the side of the crate. She gasped when the other girl stilled her legs by leaning against them and looked up at her.

"So, what's wrong?" the flower girl asked, her voice no longer firm, but soft and concerned, "Why are you so grumpy today?"

Running a hand through her hair, the martial artist took a deep breath before responding.

"I just…" she began, cutting herself off and trying again, "It's like, today, everyone has been going out of their way to embarrass me. First Cloud, then Mom, then you. It sucks."

"I didn't mean to embarrass you, you know," Aeris replied quietly, turning to hug Tifa's legs, "I was trying to make you laugh because you seemed upset. You reacted a lot differently than I thought you would."

"Yeah, well…" Tifa trailed off again, groping for the right words, "That, I can forgive, I guess. Your intentions were good. But Cloud and Mom were doing it just to mess with me, and it just upset me, you know?"

Aeris hummed in agreement, resting her head against her friend's legs. "That wasn't nice of them. What did they do?"

The fighter rolled her eyes. "Just teasing me, as usual."

"About what?"

Tifa blinked at the question. … SHIT! SHIT! CHANGE THE SUBJECT!

Feeling the younger girl's legs tense up, Aeris looked back up to find an envelope suddenly thrust at her face. She jerked back, silently deciding that she really needed to teach her friend how to hand things to people.

"I, uh," Tifa stuttered, "I needed to give this to you."

With some confusion, the older girl took the envelope, sparing Tifa an odd glance before opening it. The fighter watched in relief as her friend carefully unfolded the sheet of paper from inside, sat back, and began to read. Crisis averted. She lay back on the crate and let Aeris distract herself with Cloud's list of flowers.

Perhaps two minutes later, a muffled hiccup caught her attention. Curious, she sat up in time to hear another as her gaze fell upon a wholly unexpected sight. Aeris was staring wide-eyed at the note she held in one trembling hand, the other covering her mouth as tears poured down her face. Tifa reacted without thought, dropping from the crate to kneel beside the crying girl.

"Aeris?!" she questioned frantically, "Aeris, what's wrong? What happened?" What the hell did that idiot write?!

Slowly, the older girl turned her eyes from the paper to the girl beside her. She stared for a moment, which absolutely did not help Tifa's nerves, then suddenly pounced, crying out the fighter's name and wrapping her arms around her. They ended up propped against the crate, Tifa sitting with her back against it as Aeris sobbed into her chest. Confused and deeply concerned, the dark-haired girl did her best to console her friend.

Within a few minutes, the flower girl got herself back under control. When she sat back, however, there was a wide smile on her face, to Tifa's further confusion. Before she could pull her thoughts into enough order to ask what the hell was going on, Aeris spoke.

"I'm so happy, Tifa," she said, taking the fighter's hands in her own.

"Y-uh, good?" Tifa replied, completely bewildered.

Aeris giggled through her tears, squeezing Tifa's hands gently.

"Yes, it's good," she said, "I'm just sorry you felt you had to write it down like that."

What? "What? Write… what are you talking about?"

Aeris gave her friend a confused look, not sure how to explain.

"I- Your letter, Tifa. It was beautiful. It made me so happy that you found the courage to express your feelings. I'm happy for you. I-I'm happy for us…"

The letter. Cloud's note. What the hell has he done?!

Quelling her rapidly-growing anger and seeking to confirm her sudden suspicion, the brawler kept her voice as calm a she could as she made a request.

"Uh, Aeris, do you mind if I see that letter for a sec?"

Still confused, the smaller girl retrieved the note from where she dropped it and handed it over. Accepting it carefully, Tifa closely examined it. Written on the paper was not a list of flowers or anything else. She was looking at an incredibly heartfelt and passionate love letter. From herself, to Aeris.

Putting aside the fact that her blood was on the verge of boiling in embarrassed rage, the fighter had to admit, it was a good forgery. The handwriting was only slightly off, and the signature was almost perfect. Chocobo-ass even wrote it the way I would have! He included everything I would ever want to tell her! God dammit!

"That sneaky bastard…" she breathed, her hands shaking in fury.

Aeris blinked at that, more confused now. "…Tifa?" she asked timidly.

At the sound of her name, the younger girl focused her gaze on the auburn-haired beauty in front of her. That prick made her cry for nothing. And now I might have to make her cry again.

"Aeris," she said tonelessly, "I didn't write this."

"What?"

"The letter. I didn't write it. It's a forgery."

"What?! Who would-"

"Cloud. He told me it was a list of flowers for his mom's birthday, tricked me into giving it to you."

By this point, the flower girl was staring in open-mouthed shock.

"Why?!" she demanded, tears welling up in her eyes again.

"I don't know," Tifa growled, "He probably thought he was being either helpful or funny. I'll beat the answer out of him when I see him."

Aeris' gaze dropped to the ground between them, tears dripping onto the flowers.

"… S-so, it's not real?" she asked sadly, "None of it is true?"

Tifa blinked at that. She wasn't sure she'd ever heard someone sound so disappointed. Aeris is… sad to think I don't love her?

Compelled by her natural honesty, and the faint spark of hope that just ignited in her chest, the martial artist decided to correct her friend.

"It's… not that is isn't true," she said slowly, her nerves railing against the admission, "In fact, he got the whole thing completely right. He just did it without me knowing, then tricked me into giving it to you. If I had written it, it would probably be exactly the same as this one. Everything written here is true."

Again Tifa found Aeris staring at her, eyes wide and mouth hanging slightly open. Fresh tears rolled slowly down her cheeks, her chest heaving with her heavy breaths. Moving once more without thought, Tifa crawled to her knees in front of her friend, and asked the question she suddenly found dominating her mind.

"Aeris, may I kiss you?"

Her response was a soft gasp, followed seconds later by a small, silent nod from the flower girl. Slowly, Tifa leaned in, cradling the girl's face in her hands, neither one breaking eye contact as the fighter's lips pressed softly, gently, against Aeris'. After a moment, the older girl's lips pressed back, each girl moving her lips against the other's, quickly finding a calm, pleasant rhythm together. Neither was sure how long the kiss lasted, but by the middle of it, both girls' eyes had drifted shut, both content to dwell on the feeling of it. Unfortunately, need for oxygen eventually forced them apart.

They parted slowly, eyelids rising languidly as the girls separated. They found, to their surprise, that Aeris had migrated onto Tifa's lap at some point, though neither could recall when. It didn't seem terribly important. So rather than discussing it, or anything at all, they sat together in contented silence. For hours, they basked quietly in the afternoon sun, and in their newly shared love for each other.

Dude, this chapter was hard. Romance is hard. Also, I thought about including what the letter actually said, but then I thought, "Nah, screw that noise." But this is the end of the main storyline. Up next: Epilogue.