Part two:D

Disclaimer: Yep, still own naught.

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"What do you call this stuff again?"

Roxas didn't answer for a moment, as the question had been posed right as he'd been gulping half his ice cream down in one bite. He swallowed for a moment, getting the salty-sweet pale blue stuff down, then wincing at the vague brain freeze that followed. "Ow." he muttered, pouting slightly, then shaking it off. "Sea-salt ice cream." He replied matter-of-factly, taking a smaller bite.

His companion wasn't the type to bite ice cream, choosing instead to devour it in small, lady-like licks, pausing every so often to frown over the unusual taste. When Roxas had practically ran up to the small cart along Main Street, then ran back to Aerith brandishing the two blue treats, she'd accepted happily. After all, she enjoyed a nice Popsicle on a warm autumn night, and she'd thought the frozen confection he was offering her was blue raspberry-flavored. Her favorite.

How wrong she'd been.

"Sea-salt." Aerith repeated slowly, examining the steadily melting ice cream with suspicion in her pale green eyes. Roxas nodded happily, taking another bite and appearing not to notice her wary expression. The young woman glanced at the boy, then took another lick. She instantly shuddered, swallowing hard to remove the very peculiar and vaguely unpleasant aftertaste from her mouth. "As in…salt ?" she managed to choke out.

"Mmm-hm!" Roxas confirmed, giving his dessert a fond look. When this particular young blond ate sea-salt ice cream, it became his primary focus, so he hardly noticed how lovely the starlight night was, how bewildered Aerith was by the treat or how a blue trickle of melted ice cream was making it's way towards the silk cuff of his white shirt.

"Ah." Aerith said faintly, holding the confection a safe distance from her pale pink dress. It was disintegrating in earnest now, the warm September air dissolving the ice crystals that held it together, faster than she could (or would) eat it. Denied the pleasure of staining her dress, the blue ooze was now dripping onto the cobblestoned road the pair were walking down, and as Aerith glanced behind her, she saw a trail of sky-blue dots marking their path.

Almost like Hansel and Gretel. The girl thought vaguely, then disregarded that idea. She wasn't exactly partial to the idea of shoving a witch into a stove that night, even if it would save Roxas from being eaten. "I wonder who thought that up." Aerith commented, changing the subject from the weird one going on in her head.

"Some genius." Was Roxas's completely unbiased opinion as he skillfully caught the last melting bit of ice cream in his mouth before it found a home on his shiny black shoes. Aerith glanced over at him and had to smile, despite her mistrust of the notion of salted ice cream. Somehow the young blond had managed to get blue smeared all over his face, including his nose. This would've been sloppy on any other guy, but on Roxas…it was almost endearing.

Stifling a smile as the teenager frowned and licked ice cream off his chin, Aerith eyed the ice cream again. Then, for his sake, she took one more lick, trying to forget the fact that it was made with the same stuff she'd put on her scrambled eggs that morning. "Hmm." She commented, running her tongue across her lips and almost enjoying the aftertaste this time. "You know, when you don't think about what it's made out of…it's pretty good."

Roxas gave a superior sniff, as if he'd known all along he'd win her over. "That's why I don't think about it." he said loftily, then stuck the ice cream stick into his mouth, like an over-sized, sea-salt-flavored toothpick. He gnawed on it contentedly, sticking his hands into his pockets.

Aerith found that soft smile was back on her face as she broke off a small piece of the ice cream with her blue-tinted lips and let it melt in her mouth. "You don't really seem to think about a lot of things." She said in a small voice, swallowing and actually liking the way the salty-sweetness flowed down her throat.

If Roxas had been looking at her when she'd said this, he would've seen the warmth and something almost like fondness echoing in the girl's green eyes. But he'd been preoccupied with his stick, and the words landed harshly on his ears, making him stop stock still, in the middle of a pool of light from one of the streetlamp's which lined the street. Aerith gave the boy a puzzled look, then gasped softly when she realized how that must've sounded. "Oh, Roxas, I didn't mean that! I mean, it came out wrong!" she exclaimed in consternation, reaching out as if her touch would remove the tension gathered in his skinny shoulders and ease whatever pain she'd inadvertently caused him.

"It's fine, it's okay." the blond hastened to reassure her, reaching out and catching her wrists in both hands, almost as a protective gesture. It was hard to tell, though, whether he was protecting himself from the melting ice cream she held in one hand – or from whatever effect her touch might've had on him.

Aerith gave him a beseeching look, a large glob of melting sea-salt ice cream falling onto her sleeve unheeded. "I'm really sorry." She said softly, the corners of her mouth turned down for the first time since he'd met her, something that seemed almost a crime. Hers was a face made for smiling. Not for frowning. Never for frowning.

"It's really okay." Roxas said, releasing her wrists and giving the blue splotch a scowl. "Here, lemme fix that." he muttered, digging in his pocket for the handkerchief that Axel said was a crucial accessory for any tuxedo. Aerith glanced at her arm, then colored slightly in embarrassment at her sloppiness, though she couldn't keep a bemused smile off her face as Roxas dabbed at the stain, then tied the white cloth around her wrist, as if she'd been gravely wounded, rather than just ice-cream splotched. "There." the blond said in a satisfied voice. "Good as new."

A gentle laugh escaped Aerith as she examined the handkerchief. "I think I may set a few trends with this." She said, arching both eyebrows at the boy and waving her hand about. He laughed, the tension evaporating as they continued their walk. The ice cream was extremely messy and difficult to eat, but the young woman did her best. She'd almost forgotten about her earlier, seemingly rude statement, when Roxas spoke.

"I'm usually…not this impetuous." His voice was low, and when she glanced over at him, she was distressed to see he was hunching his shoulders again, hands buried in his pockets. "To tell the truth, I'm usually a lot like you." The wry smile on his face was chilling as he glanced up at Aerith and shrugged slightly. "I usually do what people expect of me." he almost spat.

Slowly licking the ice cream, the young woman looked him up and down for a moment, trying to see what would best counteract the bitterness apparent in every line of his face, every step that he took. Finally, she decided on light teasing. "Well, that's what I assumed." She said coolly, glancing off to her left as they rounded a corner and started walking parallel to the bay. Roxas blinked, obviously not expecting this casual calmness, some of the hostility leaving his deep blue eyes. Aerith smiled, slurping down some melting ice cream in a particularly unladylike manner and smiling at him with bright blue lips. "I mean, do you usually go to proms and kidnap other boys' dates?"

Roxas had to laugh at that, taking the stick out of his mouth and tossing it into a garbage can. "No, this is the first time." he said, arching one eyebrow and playing along.

Aerith laughed lightly, licking ice cream off her lips. She honestly wasn't used to this, to teasing and verbally sparring with a boy, especially a boy she hadn't met before that night. She was usually so awkward when it came to the opposite sex. Even speaking to an unfamiliar boy caused her vague discomfort. But, here she was, joking and walking and eating ice cream with a very enigmatic blond high school boy.

What's more, she was enjoying it.

"Ah. I see." the young brunette said gravely, nodding once or twice. Her wise act was thoroughly ruined, though, as she had to quickly duck her head and gulp down some ice cream before it dribbled on her foot. Roxas watched her, vaguely amused that she was making the treat last so long. "Why the sudden change?" Aerith inquired, having to mumble around the half-eaten blue bar in her mouth.

Pursing his lips thoughtfully, Roxas considered this for a moment, watching her try and eat the salty-sweet dessert as fast as she could. It was a race, between her and the warm night that was intent on melting the ice cream. He was rooting for her. After all, he only had one handkerchief. "I think I'm gonna go with spontaneous, inexplicable demon possession." The blond answered finally, as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

Aerith laughed again, but it came out as more of a snort, around the ice cream. "Oh. Well, I guess that works." She said, grinning at him. Roxas tilted his head to one side, watching her. She was slightly hunched over, trying feverishly to eat all the ice cream, even as it melted all over her hand and the ground and her face. Her hair was falling out of it's neat braid and she had that big white handkerchief around one wrist. He noticed she'd lost one of her diamond earrings sometime during the walk, maybe when they'd sped (flown, more like) across the schoolyard, away from the prom and their peers. She was thoroughly undignified, messy and sticky and grinning like a loon, green eyes dancing.

So why couldn't he keep his eyes off her?

"What is it?" Aerith asked after a moment, frowning slightly, the ice cream melting right off its stick and landing in between her feet as she stopped, puzzled by his silence. Roxas stopped too, and for a moment they just looked at each other, bathed in moon and lamp light, listening to the sound of the waves, crashing against the sand only a few hundred feet to their right, the ice cream, the prom, their friends and family and the whole crazy world forgotten, completely forgotten as they watched – GAZED AT – each other.

Finally Roxas spoke. "Your teeth are blue." He informed her in a very soft voice. And, for some reason, that brought a faint blush to her porcelain-smooth face, and, with a nervous giggle, she smiled hesitantly. He smiled back, then glanced over her shoulder, at the dark, churning, endless bay. "Hey, Aerith?" he said.

"Hmm?" she replied, starting to absently lick at the ice cream that was no longer there, her eyes softening as they lingered on his face, his eyes, his nose, his lips –

Roxas suddenly grabbed her hand again, startling her, making her drop the ice cream stick as he almost danced around her, towards the bay, pulling her after him, that same almost-wild, giddy, excited smile on his face as she followed his gaze towards the dock that stretched out in front of them, and gasped. "Feel like being impulsive, one more time?" he asked breathlessly.

And her answer was to smile radiantly, grip his hand tighter, and match his step as they ran towards, then across, their feet pounding on the wooden planks, their hearts pounding in their chests, then, clutching to each other as hard as they could, sure that nobody in the entire world had ever felt this free, this alive, this HAPPY –

off the dock.

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"Are you cold?"

Aerith smiled softly at the anxiety in Roxas's voice, hugging the silk-lined, cotton-poly blend black jacket tighter around herself and pretending not to notice that the sleeves were a few inches too short. "No, I'm just fine, thanks for asking." She said smoothly, feeling insanely grateful that she'd worn her waterproof mascara today. It was bad enough that her little jump into the bay had reduced her carefully curled bangs to a stringy mess. She didn't think she could've handled being a raccoon too.

A touch of worry left the young man's bright blue eyes, but he kept them fixed on her as they made their way back through town, trying to distinguish the difference between blue stains left from the ice cream and the blue lips that signaled pneumonia. So far Aerith didn't seem too close to freezing to death, but things changed quickly. Roxas planned to stay on his guard until she was safely back at the gym.

The gym… Frowning slightly and sticking his hands deeper into his rather damp pockets, Roxas glanced up the hill to the school that stood, glittering and welcoming, strains of music already drifting down to where they walked. It was only 11:47 (or it had been when his unwaterproofed watch had been submerged in the bay), and the prom was still in session. It would be sickeningly easy to slip in, dry off a little in the hall, then return to wallflowering as if nothing had happened. In fact, it was probable that nobody would ever know about their little swim.

And yet…Roxas didn't feel like he wanted to hide it. He wanted to walk in there with the beautiful, dripping girl next to him, and let the whole world know that they'd run off together, let them wonder and whisper, feel secure and aloof with her hand in his, even though he still couldn't bring himself to grab it now. More than anything, Roxas didn't want this to be just a bad case of too much punch, or being blinded by the moonlight.

He wanted it to be real.

"Oh, there's my date."

And it wasn't. Almost reluctantly, Roxas followed the path of Aerith's green eyes across the parking lot, to where a group of the schools resident senior cool guys stood congregated around a red sports car that probably cost more than the average house. Roxas couldn't tell whether the young brunette was looking at the brooding blond, or the careless dark-haired boy, or even the one with the peculiarly colored hair. It didn't really matter, though. All that mattered was that she belonged to one of them. Not to him.

Roxas could almost taste the self-pity and gloominess, building at the back of his throat, as he contemplated another two or three hours of sitting in the corner by the punch bowl, waiting for Axel and Larxene to get bored and leave, trying to snag a ride home with another friend if they forgot he existed, possibly forced to walk home under the stars, which was far less pleasant if you were doing it alone – then Aerith turned around, slowly slipping the jacket off her shoulders, then reaching out and grabbing his hand.

"I really enjoyed myself tonight." She said in that soft, beautifully musical voice of hers, lily-colored fingertips feeling like fire and snow on his skin. And suddenly the chill wind that had been slowly turning the bay water in his hair to ice felt a lot warmer, like he was standing in an oven, like his collar was too tight and his face was on fire and inside he felt a million different things, all of them culminating in this weird nausea/elation that made him want to be sick and pull away and never, never, never let go and then he looked into her eyes.

Aerith half-smiled, that same weary sadness creeping back into the jade-colored depths of those eyes, but mixing with this blissful happiness that came out in her tone and the way she held his hand, like she also never wanted to let go, as she whispered, "Thank-you, Roxas."

In that moment, Roxas felt brave enough, strong enough, good enough to do a million different things to change the way this night would end. He could grab her other hand and run off once again, he could spout soft, soothing words that would banish the melancholy from her eyes, he could grab her, hold her, kiss her the way he desperatelydesperately wanted to –

Or he could just let her go.

"You're welcome, Aerith." The blond boy said in a soft voice, squeezing her impossible soft hand once, savoring the beautiful feeling it gave him, then releasing it. Confusion flickered in her eyes as she glanced from him to her hand to the group of teenage boys that still hadn't noticed them, before finally, reluctantly nodding, signaling she understood, and breaking eye contact with him. Roxas knew he was doing the right thing, knew that it was better this way, knew that nothing he could do or say would make him be enough for her. But that didn't stop this from hurting like hell.

"Well." Aerith said, eyes downcast, examining her feet as if that would keep him from seeing the sweetly bewildered agony lingering just underneath her silky eyelashes, hugging herself tightly, his jacket forgotten in her grip. "Then this is goodbye." Roxas didn't say anything and, after a moment, the young woman swallowed hard, then turned to go. Roxas closed his eyes tightly, unable to watch her pivot on her heel, feeling the very edge of her long milk-chocolate braid skim his cheek –

Suddenly, as if through some power of its own, his hand shot out, grabbing her shoulder almost roughly, halting her midturn. Aerith flinched slightly at his touch, turning and giving Roxas a half-accusational, half-weary gaze, as if asking why he was prolonging this torment. In answer, the blond boy took a deep breath, then reached up towards her hair, grasping the very end of it in one slightly trembling hand. "Just, wait." He commanded with more authority than he'd ever felt.

And she waited. She closed her eyes and held her breath as he fumbled with her ribbon, untying it and dropping it to the gravel parking lot beneath their feet, then quickly unbraided her hair. Roxas was feeling light-headed from the silky strands sliding through his fingers, and the mixed smells of the salty bay and her rose-petal shampoo that lingered about the smooth, cinnamon-caramel tresses. He ran his hands through it a couple more times, then stepped back.

Aerith swallowed hard, then opened her eyes, giving him an unreadable look, awaiting his next words. Unbraided, her hair flowed over her shoulders and into her face, damp from the bay, wavy from the humidity, glowing with starlight. Roxas took a deep breath, then, trying to recapture the casualness that had been between them before, glanced up at her. "Wear it out sometimes." He said softly, forcing himself to not add 'for me' to this request.

The young woman took a deep breath as well and whispered, "I will."

Silence reigned for a moment, neither wanting to break the contact between sapphire and emerald, neither wanting this to end. But, as all things were apt to do, it did. Aerith glanced away first, hugging herself tightly. "Bye." She said softly, turning once more, her hair following like a flower-scented curtain.

Roxas closed his eyes, savored her scent and the lingering sensation of her hair twining through his fingers, and the sight of her, blue-lipped and bright-eyed, grabbing his hand and running out of the school, into the bay and the sound of her footsteps, crunching across the parking lot towards her expected life, leaving him to return to his.

"Bye." He whispered back, knowing that THIS was electricity. THIS was a jolt.

It wasn't until he was halfway inside that he realized she'd taken his jacket.

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Guh. Call me crazy, but I think unbraiding a girls hair is ten times more romantic than just snogging her. I wish someone would do it for me. -forgets her hair's too short to braid-

Hope you all enjoyed it and that it was worth waiting for. :D

Read/review/go jump in the bay.