A/N: A funfact from my side: I started taking piano classes in January. So now I can actually make sense when I talk about music-related stuff. XD And I guess it also explains my absence here.

Thanks: Wholethechatout, WarriorKing849, Rex the wolf, Kurenai no Musha, and Chaos The True Kage of Lyoko, my new beta reader. :)

~ "Oh yes, I know him. He comes here regularly to buy flowers. The kind that you put on someone's grave." ~

66) Document

To Aqua's surprise, the lights in Leon's office were off. The door was slightly ajar, but nobody else seemed to be in there.

Hmm, that's strange, Aqua thought, but stepping inside anyway to leave a note on his desk. Usually, Leon could be found in his office at this time of the day. Perhaps he had gone home early for a change?

The bluenette sighed in disappointment, but decided to proceed anyway. She had barely taken three steps when she crashed into someone who let out a grunt of surprise, before falling over and taking Aqua with him. Aqua didn't have to use her eyes to know who she had fallen onto; a faint scent of coffee hung in the air, similar to the same brand that Leon seemed to like.

Her eyes widened in embarrassment and she was quick to scramble up. "I'm so sorry, Leon!"

Here was hoping that she hadn't actually hurt him.

"…It's fine," he muttered, and she could hear the light fluttering of sheets of paper, even though she couldn't see anything.

She could barely made out his silhouet, which made her wonder what was going on.

"What exactly were you doing?"

"One of my documents fell off the desk. I wanted to pick it up," he replied, before straightening as well.

"Oh... Then why are you sitting in the dark?"

"Because the power went out," Leon replied in a matter-of-factly tone.

"I thought you were meditating," she added jokingly.

As soon as he let out a rather uncharacteristic snort, the power went on again with a flicker. The room was bathing in warm light again, emphasizing Leon's need to keep the place as tidy as was possible. Leon's eyes then fell on a stray page under his desk. He bent forward and picked it up. After giving it a brief glance, he placed it on a random stack of papers on his desk.

"Were you looking for me?" he then asked curiously.

"Yeah… I was wondering if you had the time to play something with me."

His steel-blue eyes rested on her form for a moment, before he nodded, as though he could sense her restlessness. He probably could; Leon seemed to have a sixth sense, kind of like assassins did. The truth was that Aqua needed this distraction very badly, especially after that fight with Terra earlier today. She still couldn't believe that things had gone so downhill so quickly. Ever since the accident, Terra had become a bit too unpredictable to her liking. Sometimes it could be nice, but it usually resulted in a fight and she was not the only person caught in the middle of that unfortunate event. Aqua hated to admit it, but sometimes it felt as though her friend had become a completely different person. Poor Kairi; she probably had it even worse than her.

Together they walked to one of the empty classrooms that had a white pianoforte in it. It was Aqua's favorite room, probably because of that instrument. This week the hallways were particularly quiet, because it was the week of the exams. The libraries, on the other hand, were probably packed. The law students were usually the early risers and pretty much all the spots were taken by the time that students from other faculties would make their way to the libraries. Good thing that the library had started using a card system that allowed flexible students to sit on vacant spots for the duration of the absence or break taken by the person who had actually claimed the spot first. When that person decided to return, the 'flex-student' had to go look for another vacant seat. Aqua hadn't had that luxury back when she had been a student.

That was one of the aspects that Aqua definitely didn't miss about her time as a college student. In fact, she had found her first grey hair on the day that she graduated and something told her that the stressing had added to that process.

While the two were playing a technically easy piece by Brahms, Aqua allowed her thoughts to wander randomly. She thought about how close she had become with Leon throughout the years. Sure, she didn't know everything about him, but that didn't matter (and it was probably more than his average friends did anyway). It was unbelievable how many taciturn men she seemed to attract. Maybe she had a type after all.

Not that she thought about Leon that way of course...did she?

On her way back home, Aqua decided to stop by at Aerith Gainsborough's famous flower shop. She really liked the woman and it had been a while since she had visited her thanks to all the commotion in her life. Aerith had been in charge with the floral decorations for Terra and Kairi's wedding. They had met through Zack, Terra's cousin. It could be just Aqua, but she felt like Zack and Aerith could be the perfect couple. They had so much chemistry going on. But then again, what did she even know about chemistry?

Aerith was in the middle of storing away the flower pots that she had stalled outside. According to Ven, the walking psychology dictionary, the colored pots were what lured inside all those innocent customers. The human eye loved color.

Aqua was more than glad that Marluxia, her assistent, had left already. Something about him gave her the creeps, but she couldn't put her finger on what it was that made her feel so uneasy around him.

The flowergirl showed a radiant smile when she spotted the bluenette. "Aqua, it's good to see you again! I'm almost done here."

Aqua laughed. "It's fine, take your time. How about we go for a drink and some cake in the moogle shop when you've closed the shop?"

"That sounds great! What brings you here anyway?"

When Aqua mentioned that she had been making music with Leon prior to her visit, Aerith smiled knowingly. "Oh yes, I know him. A man of few words. He comes here regularly to buy flowers. The kind that you put on someone's grave." As an afterthought she added, "Though now that I think about it, I haven't seen him in a while."

"Oh..."

Something about that made Aqua's heart ache. She couldn't stop thinking about it. Because losing one of your parents at such a young age was tragic.

A/N: Next chapter: "Oh… are you going somehwere?"