Christmas Flower

Chapter 5: Tifa

"Can I open my eyes now?"

"No."

Aerith sighed and kept her eyes shut as Yuffie lead her by the hand off the elevator of Cloud's apartment building. Yuffie had made her keep her eyes closed once they had finished up with the day spa. Yuffie had let her get dressed, then had her close her eyes while Elena styled her hair and did her make-up while her red jacket was being washed. Yuffie had been gracious enough to let Aerith examine the garment – someone had done a good job of stitching up the rips and holes, and it had been cleaned well too.

"Why do I have to keep my eyes closed anyway?" Aerith asked as Yuffie stopped her in front of the door to Cloud's apartment.

"I've got a surprise for you," Yuffie replied, unlocking the door. It swung open and Yuffie pulled Aerith into the apartment, kicking the door shut behind her and taking her into the bathroom.

"Wait, let me get my boots off!" Aerith protested.

"Too important," Yuffie said, positioning Aerith in front of the mirror. "Alright-y, open your eyes," she ordered. Aerith sighed and opened her eyes a touch, worried about what she would see. She looked at the mirror, and her eyes went wide as she beheld what Elena had done to her.

"Oh my…god…" she whispered, lifting a hand to her cheek. "Is that…me?"

"Scarlet told ya you were gorgeous," Yuffie smirked.

"But…this…" Aerith looked down at herself, and the slightly tight but modest dress Scarlet had generously donated to her clinging to her underneath her repaired red jacket. "Yuffie, this isn't me."

"It is now," Yuffie said, soft but firm. "Aerith, do you want to go back to how you used to be?"

"What kind of question is that?" Aerith asked, fingering the bangs framing her face. "Yuffie, two days ago I was sleeping next to a dumpster in a snowstorm."

"And now you're in the apartment of a handsome, successful lawyer after coming back from a spa," Yuffie finished. "Aerith, live this up! You are literally sitting in the lap of upper-middle class luxury!"

"Yuffie, this isn't going to last forever," Aerith said, turning to her.

"Then enjoy it now! Come on, the first good thing that you get in years, have some fun with this."

Aerith thought for a moment, and smile slid across her face.

"You're right…" she whispered, turning around. "Yuffie, you're absolutely right!"

"Duh," Yuffie muttered, tossing a bang out of her eyes. "Come on, Cloud's got a big DVD collection if you wanna watch a movie."

"Sure, that'd be nice," Aerith nodded. Yuffie left the bathroom and led Aerith out to the living room. She knelt down in from of the entertainment unit and ran a finger along the edges of the movie cases.

"Alright, what do we watch?" Yuffie asked.

"Yuffie, the last time I watched a movie, it was before DVDs were even on the market," Aerith replied. "Just put on something with a cute guy in it and I'll be fine."

"Cute guy, huh?" Yuffie replied, looking over the movies. "Alright then, if you get a cute guy I get fight scenes, only fair." Yuffie slid a DVD case out from the shelf and clicked it open, removing the disk. There was a knock at the door, and Yuffie rolled her eyes and set the DVD down. Aerith watched as she opened the door and groaned.

"Today?" she muttered.

"The tenant said to bring them up today, yeah," the workman replied, pushing his way past Yuffie. He carried a long wooden box into the apartment and set it down in the hall. "I also got three boxes of other crap in the lobby, you wanna help? I'll charge ya less," he offered.

"Yuffie, what is this?" Aerith asked, kneeling down to examine the box.

"Ah, Cloud's Christmas tree," Yuffie replied. "Except he's also so damn busy he never puts it up, that's always been my job. Didn't think he was gonna do it today though, he never tells me these things."

"Oh," Aerith nodded. Yuffie left and closed the apartment door behind her. Aerith looked over the box and flipped up the latch holding it closed, and pushed the lid up. A fake green Christmas tree lay in the box, branches folded up. Aerith reached in and discovered the tree was in three segments, and the top part came out of the box easily. She stood up and looked over the tree, then lifted her eyes to the apartment and bit her lip.

"You said to call you if we needed anything, Mr. Shinra," Cloud said into his cell phone as he walked down the snowy street. "Well, my partners and I would appreciate documentation of exactly who Shinra has bought land from in the past."

"I fail to see how that is relevant, Mr. Strife," Rufus replied on the line.

"It is not your place to question my methods, Mr. Shinra, now will you provide the information I've requested or not?" Cloud asked, looking up at the awning over a set of four glass doors. The word "Highwind" was written in elegant script on the blue awning in dark gold.

"I will have to see what I can do, I will contact you when if I find anything," Rufus said, irritated.

"Good, farewell," Cloud said, snapping his phone shut. He pushed open the door of the store and walked inside. Highwind's was a two-story toy store that sold all sorts of technological toys and merchandise, including a handful of computer and electronics. Naturally, it was busy for the day. Cloud went up to the nearest register at the front of the store and leaned over.

"Excuse me, I'm looking for Cid, he's expecting me," he said. The cashier looked up and smiled.

"Oh, hello Mr. Strife. Yes, he's just back there in his office." She pointed to a section of the store, and Cloud nodded and started walking. The families walking about the store thinned out as Cloud reached a door that had been roped off. He slipped under the rope and pushed open the door marked "Employees Only".

"Fuck no!" a voice shouted from down the hall. Cloud smirked and kept walking until he found a door marked "Manager". He waited and listened.

"Three hundred thousand gil? I'm a toy store owner, not the fucking king of Wutai!" the man inside the office shouted. "Yeah?…The hell you talking about, I saw those designs!…we're obviously looking at different artworks! My kid in second grade does better shit than that! What…fuck you! You're fucking fired, take a hike!"

There was a bang as the man slammed the phone down, and Cloud took that as his cue to open the door to confront the middle-aged man sitting at his desk glaring at the telephone. The man had one a dark blue sweater with khaki-toned jeans and a pair of glasses pushed up onto his forehead

"Dammit, I need a smoke," he grumbled, tossing the glasses on his desk, standing up and grabbing his coat from the back of his chair. He noticed Cloud and waved. "Oh, hey spiky."

"Hello Cid," Cloud nodded. "How are things?"

"Fucking terrible!" Cid snarled, gesturing to the desk. Cloud stepped into the office and looked at the desk. Sketches and drawings of Cid's store in various states of festive decoration covered the surface. "I've been looking for an interior designer to decorate my store for the last month and I still ain't found one worth shit! It's less than two weeks until Christmas and my store ain't done up yet!"

"That's a problem," Cloud agreed. "Hey, remember when I saved your ass from that sexual harassment suit?"

"Fuck yeah, saved me half a million gil, stupid bitch," Cid replied, pulling on his coat. "Walk and talk, I need a cigarette." He pushed past Cloud into the hall.

"Well as I recall," Cloud began, following Cid down the hall and onto the floor of the store, "you also said you 'owed me big time', and if I ever needed a favor, just ask." Cid stopped at the entrance and eyed him suspiciously.

"What did ya do?" he muttered.

"Nothing," Cloud shrugged. "I have a friend who needs a job, you need a new cashier, right?"

"I pay and treat my employees like shit Cloud, who the hell would wanna work for me?" Cid said, walking outside and pulling a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from his pocket. "But hey, sure, it's Christmas, another worker can't hurt any. Tell me about this friend."

"Girl, about my age, pretty, nice, a little awkward," Cloud recited. "Her name is Aerith. Think you can put her to work?" Cid lit his cigarette as Cloud spoke.

"Aerith, huh? She sounds like half the girls in existence," Cid said, taking a drag from his cigarette. "Hell, sure, why not? Where is she?"

"She's at my place, she's staying with me," Cloud said. "I could bring her down sometime to meet you."

"Hell, take me to her, I always wanted to see your pad anyway," Cid replied. "You drive, right?"

"Yeah, but how can you meet her? Aren't you at work?" Cloud frowned. Cid let out a bark.

"Cloud, I own and manage the damn place, who the hell is gonna yell at me for taking off?"

"Nice digs," Cid nodded as he looked around, following Cloud down the hall to his apartment.

"I haven't had time to decorate yet, so don't be surprised to see it as it is the other eleven months of the year," Cloud warned, pulling out his key and sliding it into the lock.

"Hell, as long as I don't see a pair of panties hanging from the ceiling lamp, I'm good," Cid replied. Cloud smirked and unlocked the door, pushing it open.

"If you wanna wait here I'll go get…" Cloud trailed off as he walked inside, and his eyes went wide. "Her," he finished, dropping his key to the floor. Cid looked over his shoulder and whistled.

Streams of garland hung from the corners of Cloud's entertainment center, white and blue lights interwoven among the green. A covering of white fluff covered the entire top of the unit, and several Christmas figurines stood on top of the center with several small ceramic houses. A coffee table in the corner of the room had been moved to make room for a Christmas tree, which was currently bare but put up. Garland also hung from the arc to the dining room, with a sprig of mistletoe hanging from the center of the arc. An open wooden box with ornaments, tinsel and lights lay in front of the Christmas tree. On the wall over the sofa hung a wall hanging depicting an angel, and a few stuffed figures including a stuffed Santa Claus lay on the back of the sofa leaning against the wall.

"I thought you said you haven't had time to decorate," Cid muttered.

"I haven't," Cloud murmured, stepping into the apartment and looking around.

"Is someone there?" Cloud looked as the door to the guest room opened, and Aerith emerged. "Oh, Cloud!" she gasped. "I wasn't sure when you'd be home."

"Aerith?" Cloud whispered, staring. The homeless flower girl had been transformed. Aerith had on the same red coat she had been wearing the night he found her, but it had clearly been washed because it was much more bright and vibrant than before. Her hair had been tied into a long braid, with her bangs falling on either side of her face. She had on a long, form-fitting pink dress that reached her ankles, and still had on her brown boots. Aerith noticed Cloud's stare and blushed.

"Oh, yeah," she said softly. "Yuffie took me to some sort of day spa…I'm still getting used to this every time I look at a mirror," she chuckled slightly.

"Ah, you're Aerith?" Cid asked, pushing past Cloud, who was still staring at the apartment and the woman who had decorated it. "You decorated spiky's place then?"

"Well, I had just wanted to set the tree up," Aerith began. "But then I saw all the garland and extra lights and knew there would be more than enough, so I started wondering what to do with all of it. And, well…" Aerith spread her hands. "Sorry, I guess I got carried away. Yuffie said it would be alright." Cid grinned.

"Honey, what would you consider a large sum of gil?" he asked. Aerith thought.

"Um…ten thousand gil? Why?"

"Ten thousand, I spend that much on lunch!" Cid waved his hand. "I'll pay ya twenty thousand gil if you can make the windows of my store look have as damn good as this!"

"What?" Aerith's eyes went wide, and the exclamation broke Cloud out of his stupor.

"Yeah, what?" he repeated. Cid turned to him.

"Cloud, I told ya, I've looked at like, a dozen designers and not one of them could do half as good as this!" he replied. "Fuck the cashier job, I want her to do the designing! Aerith, what's your education, degree, diploma, whatever?"

"Um…no?" Aerith held up her hands. Cid laughed.

"Ah, whatever your education, you got a good eye girl! You ever done interior designing before?"

"No. I just held up a decoration, looked at the room and figured out where and how it would look best."

"Simple and effective, I like that," Cid grinned. "We gotta talk, you come to the store tomorrow, we'll have a chat."

"Sure, but…who are you?" Aerith asked.

"Cid Highwind, I own the toy store downtown, except the place needs a Christmas touch and bad. You up for it?" Cid replied.

"You own Highwind? Oh my god, I love that store, I used to always love your Christmas displays!" Aerith cried.

"Well, this year you can design it," Cid decided.

"Aerith, you sure about this?" Cloud asked.

"Hey, you told me to put her to work!"

"I meant as a cashier!"

"Too bad, she's got way too much taste for a cashier," Cid threw an arm around Aerith's shoulder. "Aerith, I don't always say this to people I just met. Hell, I don't say it to a lot of people I know. But hey, I like your style."

"Thanks," Aerith said nervously.

"So, hey, spiky," Cid said, turning his attention back to Cloud. "You're the one putting up the room for her, so you said. You on board with this?" Cloud looked at the room one more time, then back at Aerith.

"Sure," Cloud nodded. Aerith beamed.

"I'll be right back, I was checking lights in my room," Aerith said, going back to the guest room. Cid shook his head as she closed the door.

"Ain't this just gorgeous?" he asked, looking at the scene Aerith had set up on the entertainment unit.

"Yeah, she is."

"I was talking about the room, Cloud."

"I wasn't."

I wanted to finish this by Christmas, but I'm a horrible procrastinatior. There will likely be six or seven chapters total, and I'll try to finish this by New Year's. Merry Christmas!