Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Path of Seduction ❯ Chapter Twenty Five ( Chapter 25 )

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII is the property of Square Enix. No profit is made from this work. All original characters and elements are my own.

 

Path of Seduction

Chapter Twenty Five

 

A small fire crackled to life on the long strip of sand. Sephiroth stared down at the growing flames as he waited. There was not much more he could do. It was a dark night with a waning moon and the sea breeze was cold this high north. His coat lay under him, as usual, and he had arranged his armor and boots beside it with painstaking neatness. Aeris would come, he was sure, and he hoped she would not take too long.

 

It was odd how they had come to this unspoken arrangement. Late walks, secret meetings by the water, stolen nights of shared sleep and scarcely a word of it to anyone. Strife certainly had not figured anything out, not that Sephiroth would have let him. The silver-haired man wondered vaguely if Aeris would be able to find him out here on the beach. They never made any set plans and yet she always managed to seek him out somehow. Or he found her. Using Strife's eyes was a roundabout way of keeping track of things, but it did the job.

 

Sephiroth wrapped his arms around his knees and stared out at the water. Wutai had many beaches but the sea was rough and grayish-green, as if it were perpetually stormy. The sand was more pebbly than fine and tall grasses grew at sparse intervals right down to the tide line. Tourists wouldn't come here for the beaches.

 

The swordsman caught himself idly nibbling his lower lip, something he had not done since childhood. He stopped himself and grunted in annoyance. He had spent the better part of the evening trying to pull himself together. It hadn't really worked. He sighed. Settling down was proving harder than he thought it would be, though he had to admit that it had been one hell of a morning. One fiery hell of a morning.

 

He had a mission now, one unlike any other he had ever taken. It was easier to think of it this way. A mission, objective: confess his… feelings.

 

The prospect was disturbingly unsettling. He wasn't supposed to have such feelings in the first place. Things like this just weren't meant to happen. Sephiroth still could not shake the embarrassed outrage that came with being ambushed by emotion. He plucked a blade of grass and began idly stripping it down its length, more to give his hands something to do than with any purpose in mind. He could always toss the shreds into the fire.

 

For the millionth time he tried to come up with a reasonable strategy for his mission. It was no use. The resourceful, strategic part of his soldier's mind offered only one option - just say it. Logically, Sephiroth knew that was the simplest solution but his gut twisted at the thought of it. There were so many things that could go wrong. Aeris might not completely return the sentiment. She might brush it off or ignore it. Or laugh in his face. Sephiroth knew enough of her to realize that it was unlikely, but it was still a possibility and just the thought of it was enough to keep him going in circles. He was thankful that this was not a real battle. In this frame of mind he was liable to get his feet blown out from under him.

 

A twig in the fire crackled and Sephiroth twitched at the sound. He took a deep breath and then blew some stray silver hairs out of his face. Waiting was not helping the situation. All evening he had been swinging from being only mildly on edge to outright nervousness and it was beginning to wear on him. He wished Aeris would find him quickly so he could just get the whole thing over with. At the same time he dreaded her approach.

 

He twitched when a light scuffing sound reached him. He turned his head in the direction it was coming from. There was no one in sight yet, but the sound continued. Sephiroth rose slowly to wait. He knew that light step.

 

Aeris appeared over the crest of a low dune. She paused to scan the beach for a moment. Sephiroth felt breathless watching her. He lifted a hand halfway to wave to her but his fingers could not stop shaking. It made no difference. Aeris spotted him even as he dropped his hand helplessly to his side. She smiled broadly and skipped over the sand. Her hair flew out behind her as she ran to him. Sephiroth felt the nervous edge flitter away. She looked so happy to see him. Something told him that no matter what happened tonight, everything would be all right.

 

“Sephi-,” Aeris called and bounced right into the man's waiting arms. Sephiroth stepped back with the impact. His arms tightened around his small lover of their own accord. The breath that was knocked out of him burst out in a peal of joyous laughter. He picked Aeris off the ground and whirled her around till she squealed. “Seph, put me down,” she gasped, “You're making me dizzy!”

 

Sephiroth set her down and grinned into her mussed-up hair when she collapsed against his chest. She wrapped her arms tight around his waist to hold herself up. The man repaid her squeeze with a bear hug that lifted her to her toes again.

 

“Seph!” Aeris gasped. “Ribs… need… breathe.”

 

Sephiroth held on for one second more before easing up. “Sorry. Just missed you so much.” He buried the words into the curls of her hair. Dark locks brushed against his arms and he tangled his fingers in the ends. He loved her hair down like this. He bent to enjoy the scent of it as she nuzzled his chest.

 

“I missed you too,” Aeris murmured and bit his nipple.

 

Sephiroth yipped in surprise. “Well, you're certainly not wasting any time.”

 

“There's not a lot of time to waste,” Aeris replied, tilting her chin up to grace him with a devious smile. “Were you planning on just standing here all night?” She wore that rare, heavy-lidded expression that had taken Sephiroth by complete surprise that night in the creaky mansion.

 

He could hardly believe that he was responsible for bringing this forwardness about but he was hardly about to complain. She had been so shy, even afraid of him in the beginning. Now she felt comfortable enough with him to tease just as she did with her friends. Sephiroth felt his blood burning a trail distinctly away from his brain. It was a strange relief from the overthinking he had been doing all evening. “Ah, I suppose we could get to the… um, lying down part eventually.”

 

“Good.” Aeris stepped out of the circle of his arms and swung her bag off her shoulder. “I snuck my sleeping bag out for us this time.” She undid the flap and began tugging out the huge worn thing, all business.

 

Sephiroth reeled. “You little flirt!” he scolded, almost folding in with the growing discomfort below his belt.

 

“Flirt? Me?” Aeris blinked vacuously up him with eyes too vapid to be sincere.

 

“Yes, you, you tease!” Sephiroth lunged forward to crush her against his chest again. Aeris squealed and giggled as she tried to get loose but Sephiroth was having none of that. He leaned forward, tilting her dangerously off balance as he growled in her ear. “You kiss me that way and give me that look and then you want to stop to unfold a blanket? I call that teasing, my dear.”

 

Aeris smiled smugly up at him. “Well, I call it payback.”

 

Sephiroth paused. “Payback? What for?”

 

The woman rolled her eyes at him. “What do you think you're doing when you walk around without a shirt all the time? Every time I come to see you, you always manage to be flashing some skin. The very first time I laid eyes on you, you were shaking your bare behind at me.”

 

The man frowned. “I recall, my dear, that my behind was indeed bare, but I was hardly shaking it.” His gaze softened. “Why, do you want me to?”

 

Aeris laughed and planted a quick kiss on his nose. “Help me spread out the sleeping bag first.”

 

Sephiroth reluctantly put her down properly and took the bundle from her arms. Aeris shoved his coat aside raced after the free ends of the sleeping bag when Sephiroth unfurled it. Together they set it out smoothly on the sand where Sephiroth's coat had been. Aeris knelt down and set her bag on one corner to keep it from blowing away.

 

“That's better. Your poor coat's taking a beating with me always sleeping on it.” She picked up the heavy coat and shook it to get the loose sand off. Sephiroth knelt down and took the coat from her to fold it himself. Aeris brushed her hair out of her eyes removed her boots while she watched him do it. The man aligned the coat neatly with his boots and armor and turned to find Aeris giving him an odd smile.

 

“What's so funny?”

 

“You're so neat,” Aeris said, laughing. “Everything has to be all perfectly geometrically arranged.”

 

“There's nothing wrong with a little neatness.”

 

“Maybe,” Aeris drawled, “but looking at you just now, I got the feeling that if your boots were just a teeny little bit crooked, you'd drop everything to straighten them.”

 

Sephiroth made a pouty little frown. “I'm not that bad.”

 

“Oh,” Aeris murmured. “So it's just coincidence that the stones around the fire are in a perfect circle?”

 

“Don't be silly, Aeris,” Sephiroth protested. “They're not a perfect circle.” He leaned over to check just in case. His shoulders sank at what he saw. Just as Aeris had said, the stones were all arranged in a very neat circle. Even worse, they were all roughly the same size, shape and color and were evenly spaced. When Sephiroth looked back, Aeris was smiling smugly at him again. Sephiroth looked sheepish for a moment. He had needed something to do with his hands that evening. “I didn't do it that way on purpose.”

 

“Of course you didn't,” Aeris said, chuckling. She scooted closer and leaned her head against his shoulder. “You do know what they call people who can make perfect circles free-handed, though, don't you?”

 

Sephiroth had a sinking feeling in his gut. “No.”

 

“Insane.” Aeris stifled a snicker and kissed her lover's bare upper arm.

 

Sephiroth reached around and wrapped his arms around her. “I suppose I must be insane. I'm sitting here taking lip from a woman half my size when I could be kissing her instead.” He wrestled Aeris down beneath him and claimed her mouth.

 

She opened her lips readily for him and wrapped her arms around his neck with a soft cry. Sephiroth ran one hand heavily down the length of her body, pausing to push her jacket out of the way. Aeris whimpered as his hand slid down her thigh and made its way back up. Sephiroth deepened the kiss and moaned when he felt her body rise against his. He reached down again to move the length of her skirt aside. He needed to feel her skin. Aeris moved her bared leg up along his thigh and wrapped it around his back. Sephiroth gasped for breath and adjusted his position to reach her neck while he fumbled with his belt.

 

Aeris cried out and began twisting her hands in his hair. Encouraged, Sephiroth growled and bit a trail none too tenderly along her collar bone. Aeris moaned his name over and over. Her limbs flailed about his body. Sephiroth smiled and licked a slow line up the strained column of her throat, eager to reach her mouth again.

 

“Seph!” Aeris cried sharply and flicked her lover on the ear. “Get off!”

 

“That's what I'm trying to do,” Sephiroth grunted past the pain. Aeris slid one hand between them and shoved his chest.

 

“I mean it, Seph! You're on my hair!”

 

The man froze and looked down at her. As she had said, the hand he had planted beside her head to support his weight was pressing down on her hair. There was not much room left for her head to move and the tugging must have been painful. Sephiroth pulled his hand away with a jerk. “I'm sorry!”

 

He rolled off her to let her recover. Aeris sat up wincing and patted her abused locks tenderly. She combed her hair back gently with her fingers, then turned around to let her lover know that it was all right.

 

“It's okay. It was bound to happen. My hair's a mess. It gets into everything.” She pushed her windblown curls out of her eyes. Sephiroth sat up and took her face in both hands.

 

“It's not a mess. It's lovely.” He took one lock in his fingers and gently pulled it straight. It instantly reverted to a softly waved form upon release. “My hair could never do anything like that.”

 

“But it probably never gets super-frizzy either,” Aeris said, looking up at the man's liquid silver strands. She reached up to run a hand through his hair. It was so soft for something that looked like metal in the light. It flowed smoothly between her fingers with not even the slightest hint of anything resembling a snarl. Sephiroth's eyes fluttered closed as Aeris reached up to stroke him again and again.

 

He caught her wrist midway after a while. Aeris stared at him, silently questioning. Sephiroth met her eyes. He took a deep breath, then another. Aeris' skin was lit gold by the fire. The night cast the hollow of her throat, the curve of her cheek in a blue shadow. Her lips were parted and glistening. Sephiroth could feel her pulse fluttering beneath his fingers. He swallowed. Half-formed thoughts sorted themselves into simple words of confession and stayed poised on the tip of a tongue that could not bring itself to speak them.

 

“Sephiroth?” Aeris asked, “Is something wrong?”

 

The moment passed. Sephiroth exhaled, shaking his head. “No.”

 

“Good,” Aeris said in relief and freed her hand from Sephiroth's loosened grasp. She pressed in closer to his side and began softly kissing his cheek. Sephiroth leaned in to the gentle touch as she buried her face in his hair. Her breath was warm on his neck and her mouth was tender and moist. She moaned against him and nuzzled his hair again. “You smell good,” she said lowly. “Like fresh melon.”

 

Sephiroth's breath grew shaky. He recalled his attempts to scrub the fruit-scented shampoo out of his hair earlier that morning. It had been too feminine for his taste but if it got Aeris to react like this, he would merrily squash a ripe cantaloupe onto his head every morning. Or every other morning. Aeris' reaction would probably lead to some difficulties getting his pants on. Sephiroth groaned just a little at the growing discomfort. Forget the mission. Some things just had to be taken care of first.

 

Aeris paused. “What's the matter?”

 

“Nothing.” Sephiroth straightened. “I was just thinking that the undressing should go more smoothly since we've given each other a little more space for it.”

 

“Well, you're already a good few steps ahead of me.” Aeris said, taking the chance to slip her red jacket completely off. She set it on the pile near Sephiroth's coat and began to work on her boots. Sephiroth stopped her by swinging her feet into his lap and pulling off her boots himself. He peeled her socks off gently and tucked them neatly into the boots, then set the footwear down next to his own tall boots in a neat line. Aeris watched him with an odd smile.

 

Sephiroth brought one foot up to press a kiss on her ankle. Soft lips gave way to a questing tongue.

 

Aeris shivered from more than just the cold air. She rubbed her bare arms to ward off the chill. Sephiroth cradled her foot against his chest and looked at her, concerned.

 

“Cold?”

 

Aeris nodded and Sephiroth immediately wrapped an arm around her shoulders. The girl leaned into his warmth, winding her arms around his waist and rubbing her feet along his legs.

 

“You know,” Sephiroth murmured, his voice low and husky, “we could go for that swim you promised me to warm ourselves up.”

 

Aeris tilted her head to look at him. “I don't remember promising you any swim.”

 

“Oh?” the swordsman asked in the same low purr. “You don't remember that night on the beach?”

 

“I remember,” Aeris said lightly. “I remember I didn't promise you anything.”

 

Sephiroth groaned and slumped forward till his forehead rested on Aeris' shoulder. “I'm going to have to be very careful around you, aren't I?”

 

“Mmhmm.” Aeris smiled and leaned back into his embrace.

 

Sephiroth nudged her gently. “So how about it?”

 

“What?”

 

“That swim. It'll warm us up.”

 

“Are you crazy?” Aeris bumped her head lightly against his. “Look at that water. It must be freezing.”

 

“I'd warm it up for you,” Sephiroth murmured. Aeris snuggled herself closer to his skin.

 

“No way. I'm not getting into that water.”

 

Sephiroth unwrapped his arms from around her with a grin. “Why not? Still worried about your lack of a swimsuit? I don't have one either.”

 

Aeris squeaked from the sudden cold and flattened herself right into the blanket to try to keep warm. Sephiroth leaned over her, planting one arm down on either side of her head to cage her beneath him. He leered down at her but there was something playful in his expression.

 

“Swim,” he commanded, bringing one hand to the neckline of her dress. Long fingers trailed lightly down the row of buttons. “Or I tickle you to pieces.”

 

“You wouldn't!”

 

Sephiroth flexed his fingers dangerously over her ribs. “Wouldn't I?”

 

Aeris caught the glint in his eye and returned it with one of her own. She reached up and pressed her palms flat against Sephiroth's chest. She let her hands moved downwards, let her fingers trail over hardened nipples. The swordsman's eyes glazed over. Aeris leaned up a bit and whispered, “You'll have to catch me first.”

 

She rolled out from under him and began to run down the beach. Sephiroth cried out and collapsed face first into the blanket.

 

“Why, you-,” he sputtered. He pushed himself off the ground and began to chase after her. “I'll get you for that, minx!”

 

Aeris looked back, laughing as she ran. “No, you won't,” she taunted.

 

“Yes, I will.” Sephiroth stopped on the sand even though he was gaining ground. Time to teach the little tease a lesson. He put one hand out towards the laughing woman.

 

Aeris was breathless and lightheaded from the success of her little trick. She felt almost as if she were running on air. It took a few moments for her to realize that she really was. “Hey!” She looked around wildly. She was floating a few feet above the ground, pedaling futilely against the emptiness below her.

 

“Told you I'd get you,” Sephiroth purred as he approached. He gestured and Aeris spun slowly in midair.

 

She laughed, half-hysterical. “Okay, you win. Put me down.”

 

“Not yet, I think.” The swordsman flashed her a wicked smile.

 

Aeris pouted. “Aww, I'll be good, I promise.”

 

“I'm not done with you,” Sephiroth said simply. His fingers moved slightly and the buttons on Aeris' dress began to slip through the buttonholes.

 

“What are you doing?” Aeris squeaked.

 

The wicked look slipped from Sephiroth's face for a moment. “Well, we were planning to get to the undressing, right?”

 

Aeris huffed and brought her hands up to hold her dress on. “You kinky bastard.”

 

“And you like it that way,” Sephiroth teased. He moved his hand again and the buttons came undone as quickly as a zipper. The straps slid off the woman's shoulders and the fabric was pulled away from her body by ghostly fingers.

 

Aeris' residual resistance faded. She let her arms fall limp at her sides. The dress floated off and fluttered away, leaving her suspended in midair wearing nothing but her simple undergarments. Sephiroth looked pleased at the result of his handiwork. Aeris was breathless.

 

“Sephiroth,” she gasped, unwittingly drawing the swordsman's eyes to the way her chest heaved. “I'm cold.”

 

“Oh,” Sephiroth said, blinking. He lowered his hand and let Aeris drift to the sand. He wrapped his arms around her as soon as she landed and began to rub the chill out of her skin. “You get cold quickly.”

 

Aeris sighed and leaned in against his chest. “You're always warm.”

 

Sephiroth kissed the top of her head. He wanted to tell her that he would keep her warm as long as she would let him, but he was having trouble forming the words. Aeris pressed her lips against his chest.

 

“Sephiroth?”

 

“Yes?” His voice cracked a bit over the simple word.

 

“Are you going to finish undressing me or what?”

 

“Hmph, eager little thing, aren't you?” Sephiroth placed his large hands on her shoulders. “Guess it's a good thing I brought you down. If I'm finally getting the chance to take your underwear off I want to do it with my own two hands.”

 

Aeris made a contented sound. “You don't mind that it's all boring cotton stuff?”

 

Sephiroth was a little confused. “Why would I mind?”

 

The flowergirl hid her blush against his shoulder. “I don't know. You wouldn't think something lacy was more exciting?”

 

“Perhaps,” Sephiroth murmured into her hair. “But it wouldn't make much sense while you're hiking over mountains. I'm still a soldier. Practicality is admirable.” He traced the clasp of her plain bra. “Of course, once I get you someplace where it would be convenient to be impractical…” He brought his hands around to cup her breasts through the cotton, lifting them slightly. “I wouldn't mind seeing these in something… thoroughly flimsy.” His fingers flexed in a gentle mimicry of clawing.

 

Aeris blushed. Sephiroth smiled slyly. There was still some of the old fearful shyness in her. He could really enjoy himself ferreting out every last bit of it. He tilted her chin up and kissed her cheeks, then her forehead before pressing a very soft kiss on her lips. He was careful with her, reminded of her skittishness the very first time he had kissed her.

 

But she wasn't the skittish one now. She was matching him move for move, letting him set the pace for the while, letting the gentle brushing of lips become a soft clasping. Sephiroth grasped her solidly about the waist to keep her from feeling his hands shake, but the kiss they shared remained gentle and hesitant. He had to wonder if this was how she had felt that first night under the trees, not knowing what would come, what was at stake in a simple kiss.

 

He faltered. Parted lips stilled and his breath mingled with hers. It hit him like lightning that this kind of indecision was fatal on the field, that it allowed the enemy time to get the jump on him.

 

Aeris was no enemy but she caught him anyway. She slid her tongue along his lower lip and into his mouth, coaxing him to respond. He did, slowly, letting her have control.

 

It scared him, this surrender, but he didn't know what else to do. He did not know how to tell the woman how much she had come to mean to him. He had never meant for her to mean anything at all. He swayed a little on his feet, alarmed at his slip into passivity. Aeris paid no mind, winding her arms around his neck and drawing him in closer so she could get a better taste. Sephiroth's breath hitched before Aeris covered his mouth fully and began to nibble his lower lip the way he had often done hers.

 

Sephiroth blinked. This was what he had wanted. She was eager and willing and fully responsive. She enjoyed the things they did together. She sought him out so they could do more. But that wasn't all he wanted to give her anymore and it wasn't all he wanted from her either. Love could supposedly make him happy, if he let it, but one wrong step in any direction could make him hurt so much. He didn't know if he liked that kind of risk.

 

Aeris broke off the kiss and stared up at him. “You're distracted.”

 

Sephiroth stared down at her. He tried to answer but all that came out was a soft sigh. He leaned forward till they were forehead to forehead, as if that would allow her to feel the confusion in his mind, or let her pick out what he wanted to say from the muddle. He took a deep breath and waited, but she did not say anything.

 

“I… was just thinking,” he murmured.

 

“About what?” She asked the question softly. Her tone was not threatening. It was almost inviting. Sephiroth felt the strange knot inside him tighten at that. He was used to commands and derision and cold assessment when it came to his reactions, symptoms, whatever they were. Not this gentle interest. Not this warm concern. He swallowed.

 

“About us. Where we'll go from here.”

 

Aeris made a small sound and rested her cheek against his chest. “I'm glad. I was worried you might be thinking of someone else.”

 

Sephiroth's brow furrowed at the edge to her voice. There was something possessive there, maybe even a bit jealous. “There's no one else,” he said. “Just you. Always you.” He stood rigid on the sand, waiting for an answer of any kind.

 

Aeris tilted her head back up. “Good.” The smile she gave him was small, but sweet. It didn't make him worry that all she wanted of him was his body. But then her hands slid down his back and she worked her fingers under his belt. “Let's not waste the night, okay?”

 

“I need more than a night,” Sephiroth murmured. Aeris kissed his bare skin, reminding him that stolen nights were all they had. Sephiroth tightened his grip around her. One night was not enough, not for what he wanted. Stealing her away from her friends was not enough now. It was not enough to get her away from them. He wanted her to be with him entirely, all his and no one else's, not because it would serve his purposes but because he knew something now that he hadn't before and going on without it didn't seem remotely pleasant.

 

Aeris nipped him again, bringing him back to the present. Sephiroth growled. He had tonight and he would not waste it. If his damned voice wouldn't cooperate, there were other ways to show Aeris what she meant to him. One way or another, he'd get his forever.

 

He bent low and bit her neck, right below her ear. She cried out just as he had known she would, and her back arched, pressing her curves flush against him. Sephiroth's eyes glowed with the satisfied smile his mouth was too busy to bear. He knew how to make Aeris want him. Just plain `wanting' wasn't enough, not anymore, but it was a start.

 

Aeris moaned under his tongue. Sephiroth knew every point on her throat that made her breath catch, knew when to tighten his grip on her to keep her from falling down. The look that he knew had to be on her face was burned into his head. He kept her distracted with his tongue while he slid his arms up to work on the clasp of her bra.

 

His fingers, usually precise and graceful, were clumsy from need. The hooks evaded his first attempt. And his second. He bit Aeris' collarbone, drawing out another whimper as he fingered the cotton again, struggling to keep her hair from tangling in his fingers.

 

Working blindly was no good. He nibbled his way around Aeris' neck and peered over her shoulder to get a look at what he was doing. He bit down a bit harder than he intended to when he realized that her hair was blocking his view.

 

“Mm, Seph!” Aeris breathed. Sephiroth licked the spot to soothe it and leaned around a little bit more. His neck was bent at a strange angle, allowing him to nibble near the back of her neck. He remembered that she had seemed to like the scrape of teeth there, where the fine soft hairs grew at the nape. She had responded well enough to it when he'd had her on all fours in Nibelheim. He drew his teeth together slowly over the same spot, knowing that he would leave a furious red mark if he had to keep it up much longer. Proper payment for the crick he was going to get in his neck, at any rate.

 

He growled again when the clasp, hanging on the verge of giving way, changed its mind and slipped firmly back into place. Sephiroth swore at the thing in his mind and dug his chin into Aeris' shoulder, bracing himself for a battle.

 

“Need some help?” Aeris asked. As unaccustomed to normal human behavior as Sephiroth was, he could not miss the mirthful lilt in her voice.

 

 

“No, no, I have it,” he grated out, then set his jaw and his mind to the task, pushing her hair boldly out of the way now that there was no point in covering up his difficulty. “Dammit,” he muttered. It was one of those three-hook varieties. Why couldn't it just have been two or one? Why couldn't it have been one of those flimsy silky things that were meant to be ripped off a willing body? He felt Aeris' shoulders shaking slightly under his chin.

 

“Sure you don't want me to help?” Aeris reached one hand back in that strange double-jointed fashion women seemed to develop just to be able to deal with their devilish undergarments.

 

Sephiroth pushed her hand away. “I can manage,” he insisted. Aeris' response was more buried laughter.

 

The soldier tackled his task head on, fidgeting to get the hooks to slide out of the eyes all at once, mumbling several choice phrases he had picked up during the war. Aeris didn't understand a word of it, but she could guess the meaning.

 

“Stupid hook,” he began to mumble in Continental speech again. “Ridiculous, convoluted, overcomplicated, unnecessary underwear. It's some woman that invented this thing, had to be.” Aeris giggled a little. Sephiroth could feel her grinning against his chest.

 

“I didn't think underwear would give you so much trouble, soldier.”

 

Sephiroth grunted. “Despite anything the tabloids might have printed, I don't have that much experience removing women's underwear.”

 

“Really. Well, I suppose the girls just used to toss their frillies at you.”

 

“Yes,” Sephiroth mumbled without thinking. He was rewarded with a stinging smack on the shoulder.

 

“Ow! What was that for, woman?” He stepped back, rubbing the spot. “I try to be honest in this relationship and that's what I get?”

 

“Honest?” Aeris' shoulders drooped as the jealous frown she wore gave way. Sephiroth could not stay mad at her. It was strange having someone act this way over him, but nice, somehow. He was… wanted. It made him feel just a little bit hopeful. He gingerly wrapped his arms around his lover again.

 

“I didn't think girls really did throw underwear at you,” Aeris murmured.

 

“It's not like I asked them to,” Sephiroth replied, running his hands through her hair. “Someone tossed a red thong at me while I was in a military parade once.”

 

Aeris stared up at him, eyes wide. “What did you do?”

 

“I ducked. The officer behind me got it right in the face.”

 

“Eww!” Aeris wrinkled her nose. “I hope it was clean.”

 

Sephiroth shrugged. “I never bothered to ask. In any case,” the swordsman slid his hands around Aeris' back again. “I was not defeated by underwear then and I'm not going to be now!”

 

Aeris grinned and leaned in closer. “Good luck, Soldier!” She tilted her head to one side to keep her hair out of the way. Sephiroth tackled his new mission with both hands and a growl. Aeris held her laughter in at his mutterings.

 

“Try and slide both sides along each other before you separate them.”

 

“I'll get it, I'll get it.”

 

“… You know, if you twitch your wrist just right it'll pop ri-.”

 

“I said I can handle it.”

 

“All right then, Soldier boy.”

 

Sephiroth took a deep breath and ran his fingers lightly over the clasps again. Then he gritted his teeth and attacked. “Aha! Got it!” He waved the prize over his head like a flag of victory.

 

Aeris watched him with her arms crossed over her chest to ward off the night air. “You're not getting any ideas about roasting it over an open flame in retribution, are you? Because I'm going to need it in the morning.”

 

Sephiroth paused midstep in his little victory dance. “Can I at least interrogate it?”

 

“Fine, but no torture. That's unethical.”

 

“Ok, then. I'll be good to it and we can work out a prisoner exchange in the morning.” Aeris rolled her eyes when the swordsman tucked his trophy away in his belt.

 

“You don't have to cover up, you know,” Sephiroth said, looking down at her chest. “I already know what they look like.” Aeris stared blankly up at him. “Oh, right, you're cold again.” He scooped her up and jogged back towards the dying fire. “Don't worry, dear, I'll keep you warm.”

 

A.N.: Ewww, cooties! Ooey-gooey, silly in love people! I would have updated sooner if I could, but I hardly have the time or energy left at the end of the day to make the usual effort. Thanks for waiting. It really means a lot to me. Now y'all better run off and brush your teeth before Sephy-in-love gives you cavities.