Almost immediately after the girls entered their room, it started to rain. Lightning flickered across the windows for a split second, followed closely by the boom of thunder. Rain dripped on the roofs, the windows, bathing the island of Costa del Sol and creating a soft, soothing night song. Tifa loved the rain. She cracked open a window, felt the wind across her skin, smiled as rain, like teardrops, caressed her face. Her hair was undone, it danced in the wind, a brunette sheet. Her eyes were bright, wild. Aeris watched her from the bed and burrowed deeper in the covers, wincing at each thunderclap that shook the inn. "Close the window," she whispered, green eyes dark with worry and fear. Tifa stared at her, frowned when she lowered her head. She complied, and smiled, briefly, when she heard Aeris sigh in relief. Underneath the covers, Aeris heard muffled movement, saw the shadows play against the wall, saw Tifa's profile illuminated briefly by lightning. The bed shifted, and so did the covers. She smelled rain, and the ocean. When she peeked her head out from underneath the blanket, she saw Tifa smiling. "Afraid of thunder?" the martial artist joked, running her fingers through her hair, still damp from the swim and the rain. She was so pale in the dark, like porcelain. Aeris imagined she could see her blue veins pulsing underneath the white skin. So pale, like ivory, that her hair seemed darker, almost black, that her eyes stood out, merlot pools in the shadows. She was striking. Aeris wished she had eyes like that, eyes that people could drown in. "A little. Not necessarily afraid...more, wary." Aeris sat up and tried not to wince when she heard another thunderclap. Tifa's eyes widened slightly. Aeris thought it made her look half of her twenty years. Up close, she could see that her eyes were slightly almond shaped, that she had a tiny scratch on her cheek. Aeris clenched her fists so that she would not be tempted to touch it. "Wary? Why? It can't hurt you. Nothing can hurt you unless you let it." Aeris blinked, surprised at the words. "I guess so." She bit her lip, seemed indecisive, uneasy. Tifa watched her nervous movements. She seemed like a startled bird, a sparrow perhaps. No, Aeris was too beautiful to be called a sparrow. Perhaps a dove, a symbol of a prayer. Then Tifa blinked, surprised at her thoughts. When had she started thinking of Aeris this way? When had this begun? She had always thought the girl was pretty, but never had her thoughts sounded that way to her, she had never had thoughts as delicate and sweet as the ones she just had. For a moment, she was tempted to say it aloud, to speak it into being. Poetry like that should not be kept in one mind. It was quiet for a moment. Tifa watched Aeris, Aeris watched the rain. Then she seemed to pause, turned toward Tifa in confusion. "There's another bed." She pointed, Tifa shuffled. "Why are you in this one, with me?" If Tifa could have answered that question immediately, she would have. Instead, she opened her mouth once, then closed it, opened it again, ran her tongue across her teeth, closed her mouth, bit her lip, contemplated. "The thunder," she finally said. Her voice was so soft, Aeris had to strain to hear it. "You seemed afraid of the thunder. It looks like it isn't going to stop soon. I was going to stay here with you, until you fell asleep, so you wouldn't be scared." It was a lie. She intended to stay there until she fell asleep as well, although she wasn't sure why. Aeris seemed touched at the gesture, smiled in the dark. "Thank you," she whispered. Her eyes were so bright and so very green, her face was an open book, tender and sweet and soft. Her hair, a lighter brown than Tifa's, came down in soft waves against her back, over her shoulders. If Tifa put flowers in her hair, she could pass as a forest fairy. Tifa felt the bizarre, irrational urge to kiss her again, melt into her, fall into the sea, the endless stream of emerald green and never come back. This time though, the kiss would not be to stop tears. She had to turn away, and so she did, turned away from Aeris with her soft eyes and softer face. "You're welcome," she mumbled. She tried to remember Cloud, his hair, his eyes, glowing, but ice-cold blue, the way he smelled, but that image faded away when she felt Aeris' hands against her neck, kneading her shoulders. "You're so weird, Tifa." Aeris meant it as a joke, but her voice sounded strange, softer and deeper. "First, you act as if you can't stand having me around. Then, you become my friend. Don't you hate me?" This same tired conversation. Tifa closed her eyes, rolled her head back, tried not to sigh. She felt Aeris' breath against her neck, bit her tongue to keep from shivering. "No...I don't hate you. I told you that..." Her voice sounded slow and heavy, as if it had been dipped in honey. She felt herself drifting off to sleep, and practiced piano scales in her head to stay awake. "Why would I hate you?" "Because of Cloud. Because you love Cloud, you think I want him." Her breath was whisper soft against Tifa's neck. C, D, E, F... "I don't think that." "Liar." She sounded near tears again. "Listen, maybe I did before." She opened her eyes to stare at Aeris. She looked so vulnerable, so small. "But now I don't. I don't care anymore. About the fight that we have, this fight, without words, without action. I want it to stop. It's not a fun game. Let's forget about it, okay? Put it to rest, bury it. I don't hate you. I was jealous of you. I'm not now." "Jealous?" Aeris sounded like a child. She stopped kneading Tifa's shoulders, stared at her hands. "Of me? What can I do?" "You can have Cloud," Tifa said. She smiled, but it was without bitterness. "You can have Cloud and help us beat Sephiroth, and you and Cloud can live together and be happy. I'll throw your bridal shower. I'll be your maid of honor. I'll give you your first housewarming gift. I'll be the godmother of your child. Would you like that?" It was odd, she had expected to say that and dissolve into tears halfway through. Aeris and Cloud, Cloud and Aeris. Cloud had his flower girl, Aeris had her bodyguard, and all Tifa had was a broken promise. But she only felt empty, like the fight had been sucked out of her. She didn't care about Cloud. She just wanted Aeris to be happy. Aeris tried to make the others happy, tried to make them laugh and smile. She deserved to be happy. She had watched her mother die, had been subjected to experiments, was the last of her kind. She deserved Cloud. The thunder rolled again. The lightning struck, once, twice, three times. Aeris stared at Tifa with an unreadable expression. "No." "No what?" "No, I wouldn't like that." And then she kissed Tifa. The kiss was unlike Tifa's kiss in a number of ways. It was deliberate, softer, thought out. And it grew into something more. Tifa was shocked at first, and then kissed Aeris back, touched her face, pulled her closer. The rain outside continued, went from a storm to a drizzle. Aeris made a soft mewling noise in the back of her throat, Tifa captured the sound in her mouth. They had to pull away, so they did, and Tifa stared at Aeris, listened to the melody of the rain outside. "Why'd you do that?" she whispered breathlessly. Aeris stared off into space. Her hair was tousled, her breathing ragged, her lips bruised, her eyes fever-bright. They burned a hole into the wall. She didn't look like a forest fairy any longer. "Because you were talking nonsense. Because I don't want that. Because you're in bed with me, I'm not in bed with Cloud." Tifa felt a sliver of fear run down her spine. This sounded odd. This wasn't the Aeris she knew. What had she done? The thunder started again, but Aeris wasn't afraid any longer. She held Tifa's shoulders, pushed her down into the bed. "Do you want that?" Tifa knew she could move, but the look in Aeris' eyes startled her. She winced under her gaze. Her eyes were so intense, so brilliant green, that she couldn't escape them. "No..." she whispered. She sounded meek and afraid, and she silently cursed herself. Aeris knelt down close, so that they were almost touching. "Are you sure?" The storm started again, the rain came down violently now. It no longer sounded like a song. "I'm sure." The look in Aeris' eyes faded, she seemed satisfied. She pulled away from Tifa, and then moved closer to her again. Tifa wanted to pull away, but she enjoyed the warmth. Aeris nuzzled her head in the crook of Tifa's neck, made a small satisfied sound under her breath. Tifa pulled her closer, and silently convinced herself that the storm had done it, turned Aeris into that wild, unknown woman, the one who kissed her, turned her body into liquid heat. She kissed the flower girl's forehead, her silent word of forgiveness. It wasn't Aeris doing that, it was just the rain. She chewed her lip and ignored the disappointment. She had become good at that. The rain fell until dawn. ~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~ Yuffie wasn't sure about this new Tifa and Aeris. She knew something had happened the night before, hell, she had planned it. Tifa never snored, but neither Tifa nor Aeris knew that. When they had gone in the room together, Yuffie had patted herself on the back, a job well done. Another score for the great Kisaragi. Maybe they would give her some materia as a reward. But now the air around them was different. It seemed as if it was still tinged with the lightning from last night, a flicker of something more. Yuffie wasn't sure if that was good or bad. Cloud was unaware, sullen from his conversation with Hojo. The pale, simpering, stringy haired scientist, surrounded by beautiful women, had given them a poor clue, only to "head west." Barret was unnervingly quiet, and Red XIII was brooding over one thing or another. Only Yuffie noticed how strange Tifa and Aeris were behaving toward each other. Gone was Tifa's moodiness, gone was Aeris' teasing. They were both quiet as they separated from Cloud. He gave Tifa a handful of Softs and smiled at her. "Take care of Aeris." Tifa said before he could speak. He scratched his head, confused, and Tifa patted his shoulder, and on an odd impulse, hugged him. He blinked in surprise, mumbled her name in confusion. "Tifa?" "Don't worry about Aeris. I'll take care of her. Don't worry. We'll beat Sephiroth. Everything will be fine." She breathed in his scent, snuggled closer, felt his warmth. She smiled, and he reluctantly returned the hug. "Yeah, sure Tifa. I know. Um, we better split up again." And they did. Before she left, Tifa waved goodbye, ran to follow Aeris. Cloud was more confused than ever. "What the hell was that?" "Don't be tryin' to understand the nature of women. Just get yo spiky headed ass on the move. We gotta get goin'." Barret muttered. Cloud frowned, adjusted his sword, stuffed his hands in his pockets, and grumbled silently to himself. "Everyone's weird today...Tifa's cuddly, Aeris was quiet, so was Yuffie. And Barret's acting like he's on the rag." Red XIII snorted and chuckled under his breath. "Ah, you two-legged things...you don't even understand yourselves, how can you understand each other?" He ran to catch up with Barret and Cloud rolled his eyes. "Whatever." ~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~ "So uh..." Yuffie kicked a rock, watched it skip across the dusty road. She ran her fingers through her cropped hair. "How was your night? I mean, you two guys. You get along?" Tifa blushed, whistled, tripped over a rock and fell. Yuffie winced, and Aeris helped her up. Tifa spat dust out of her mouth, coughed, wiped her face. "We had a great night!" Her voice was unusually high and chipper. Yuffie had her second clue that something was up. "Really?" "Mmhmm." Aeris sounded calmer, more subdued. "How many Softs do we have left Tifa?" Tifa jumped, startled at the sound of that voice, so calm. "Enough to last us until we reach um...what did Cloud call it? Corel." "And then the Golden Saucer! Gambling, here I come!" Yuffie ran ahead, sang a song without words and laughed, all thoughts of Aeris and Tifa forgotten. She was a child again. Almost. Aeris watched her run, heard her laughter fade as she got further away. She turned toward Tifa, and her eyes were so serious, that Tifa wanted to shrink away, curl into a ball and whisper for her to go away. Please leave me alone, Aeris. I'm sorry... "The kiss." Aeris said. Tifa shuffled, and the dust moved with her. "Yes?" "It wasn't the rain. I'm not sorry. Are you?" She seemed older now, she seemed her age, older than Tifa, older than everyone but Barret and Red. Tifa thought for a while, thought she wanted it to happen again. Thought of the way she hugged Cloud. It felt like a goodbye hug. "I'm not sorry." Aeris smiled, turned away, her single braid moving in the wind. She was the forest fairy again. A fairy queen. Tifa followed her dutifully, and watched out for monsters. She had fallen under the fay's spell. end of chapter six Did you like this chapter? I liked writing it, I hoped you like reading it. Are the descriptions better? I hope so. Hmm. Next chapter: Corel, desert prison, Dyne and chocobos. Yeehaw, and all that jazz. I'm a city girl. Forgive me. Note: "Older than everyone than Barett and Red..." remember, they all think Red is forty-eight years old as of right now.
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