Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. These ditties are mine, as are Duke and McCallister. I'm starting to get a little more friendly with Leon and Tifa as potentially romantic…Enjoy the product of my little obsession.

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046 – Scars Remind Us

Tifa lifted an eyebrow as Leon pointed at the spot on the map with his middle finger. "Did I offend you in some way recently?" She asked.

Leon blinked at her and saw what she was looking at. "Oh, no, crooked finger." He showed his index finger, which was very obviously bent from an old break healed-over.

"Oh, that's nothing, listen to this." Tifa rolled her left shoulder, showing off the nasty clicking noise it made. "Got bear hugged by a Nobody last year."

Leon seemed to see that as a challenge and turned up the side of his forearm, showing off the jagged, angry scar, "Heartless wrapped an electric wire around my arm. Took two minutes to get it off."

Tifa nodded, impressed, but lifted up her knee, pointing just above the cap. The knife scar that ran from the top of her knee to the bottom of the cap was self explanatory.

He leaned in and grunted, tugging the collar of his shirt aside to show the bullet wound just over his collar bone.

She tutted and showed off the healed-over burn marks just above her hip. They had been third degree and took weeks to heal.

Leon just pointed to the scar running from his forehead, between his eyes, and ending under his other eye. Tifa pursed her lips and sat back in her chair.

"You win."

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047 – Buried Alive

The second Tifa stopped yelling, Leon started digging faster…if that was possible.

"Tifa? Tifa, keep talking." He said loudly, shoveling the mud out of the hole with his bare hands.

Silence.

Cursing, he dug faster until his hand struck wood. The force he hit it with probably dislocated a knuckle or two, but he couldn't even feel his fingers anymore. Heart hammering, he clawed through the mud, clearing a decent space around the pine box and finding the edge.

With bleeding hands, he tore the lid off, wrenching the wood up as hard as he could, splintering it in several places. Adrenaline aided him in pulling the top of the pine box open. Tifa was limp inside, the side of her head bleeding from where she'd been knocked unconscious before being buried alive.

"Hey." He barked, as if that would wake her.

He knelt in the mud, sliding his arms under her and pulling her upper half out of the coffin, bringing her up into the open air. Her head lolled back against his elbow and he slid his other arm under her knees, hoisting her out of the box.

Once out in the fresh air, Tifa choked, gasping and coming back to awareness weakly.

"Easy." Leon stepped out of the frantic hole he'd dug, easing her down to the grass.

In her half-conscious state, however, she would have none of that and clung to him, choking for air and making noises of distress and panic. Leon awkwardly held her, unsure how to let her know that she was safe…that it was…okay now.

"Easy." He offered again, rubbing her arm.

She had her face in the crook of his neck, uncontrolled tremors shaking her form. "I'm s-sorry." She croaked hoarsely.

"No, it's okay." He said, setting his cheek against the top of her head. "It's okay."

They just sat there in the mud until Tifa calmed down.

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048 - Break

A person could only handle so much before they cracked. It looked like Leon had finally reached his limit. He was sitting forward with his forehead in one hand, elbow on his knee. The other hand was wrapped like a vise around the edge of the couch, as though crushing the upholstery would let some of the frustration, the despair, and the pain leak out and go away.

Tifa didn't try to hide the fact that she'd walked in on him like this. He already knew she was here. Tip-toeing around would have just been insulting. So, instead, she slowly walked over and sat on the couch beside him, not saying anything.

His breathing was short and sharp, barely in control, and he didn't look up when she sat down. She'd never seen him like this.

"Rough day?" She offered quietly, trying to lighten the mood, or at least break the tense silence.

He looked up briefly, but straight ahead, not at her, and only long enough that she clearly saw the red lining his eyes. With an incoherent grunt, he dropped his face again into one hand. He seemed aware that he was finally breaking, and also embarrassed about it, by the way his jaw kept working furiously.

Tifa was usually good at comforting people. When upset, most people liked being comforted, consoled, arm pats and sympathetic words. Leon was not most people, and she found herself wrong-footed. She looked down and saw that her hand was right next to the one he had clenched around the couch in a death grip.

Ha, if she tried holding his hand, she could lose fingers and any respect he still had for her. No, that was definitely out of the question. He clearly wanted to just be left alone, but…no, she couldn't do that either.

So she went for the happy medium.

Before she could talk herself out of it, she reached over and dropped only her pinkie finger over his knuckle, as much contact as she figured he would tolerate. His shoulders stiffened immediately, but he didn't pull away from her.

Even Leon wasn't made of stone all the time, but Tifa felt…special…to know he was willing to let her see that first hand…Even if neither of them would ever speak about this half hour again. He could be made of stone tomorrow.

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A/N 046: I got this idea while watching Jaws, during the scene when they're on the boat comparing scars. Pre-AMNoM, Leon definitely wins, but with the eye-shrapnel Tifa gets in AMNoM, she has him beat.