Blink

By: YukaiChick

Author's Note: OK, I really should not be writing another new story. I have three stories out as it is, and none of them are finished. But when inspiration hits, it hits HARD. I was just psyched about doing this since I thought of it. And I couldn't wait at least until "Riku and Sora Make a Porno" was done to start. So I now proudly present to you, my third-new-story-while-all-the-other-stuff-is-still-unfinished: "Blink!"

This is basically a short story collection. It's going to be a collection of one-shots, all unrelated, except for one thing: They are all based on crack "Kingdom Hearts" pairings, such as SephirothxHades and ZexionxFuu. The stories will also all be canon, because I want to show how it could have happened. So it should be fun, and hopefully you guys will like it.

Reviews are, as always, greatly appreciated. If you hate my writing, please tell me where and how I can improve. BUT DO NOT FLAME ME. I can't stand flamers. Also, if you review, please give me some crack pairings you want to see in this. I'm not sure how many one-shots I'm going to write for this yet, but I need some pairings to work with.

DISCLAIMER: Yeah, right. THEY own ME. I own the laptop I'm writing this on and nothing else.

DEDICATION: For moon maiden of time, because she ROCKS and gave me tons of crack pairings to work with, including this one. She also reviews all my stuff, because she's awesome like that.

NOTES: This first story is set post-KH II, and besides the main pairing, there's also some CloudxAerith and a little CloudxTifa (because really, who knows what Cloud's thinking in that adorably spiky head of his?) I also had most of it typed up on the other computer, but then THE COMPUTER CRASHED AND IT'S GONE AND IT'S NOT COMING BACK. Fucking annoying. So I'm retyping on the laptop and I'll hope for the best…

Now on with the show!

PAIRING: AerithxGoofy

Flower Garden

Aerith Gainsborough dug her trowel deep into the earth, loving how the rich, brown soil crumbled and fell away so easily, creating a perfect round hole. Just like my heart is now, she thought, gently placing a soft pink tulip into the hole and packing the dirt around it with one hand, while gently stroking its silken petals with her other finger.

Aerith loved the feel of the moist dirt in her hands. It was more refreshing to her than any food or drink could possibly be. She didn't care that it stained her strapless, knee-length pink and white dress in tracks of brown and green, or that it caught in the soles of her brown boots, or even that it turned her fingernails black. In the rare times she left the garden and went inside, she was always tracking in muddy footprints and leaving crumbs of dirt everywhere, much to Merlin's annoyance. But it didn't matter. She hadn't really left her garden since HE had left.

She could feel tears gathering at the corners of her eyes, as green as the first buds of spring, as the memory rose up within her. Unbidden and unwanted, but it came anyway, reaching up like bile in the throat. HE had come to Radiant Garden, with HIS spiky blond hair and eyes stained mako-blue and hard, like diamonds. She'd thought she could fix HIM, could make all HIS problems go away. She remembered long nights sitting up with HIM, as he polished HIS Buster Sword and told her stories about the One-Winged Angel, who HE hunted across the Universe. HE'd taken her for rides all over the city on HIS motorcycle, speeding through the streets until everything was a blur and popping wheelies. She'd clung to HIM for dear life, her brown hair whipping free of its orderly braids as she'd laughed harder than she had in years.

She had trusted him enough to take HIM to her garden, her sanctuary, which few people were allowed to casually visit and spend time in. Aerith had been so happy when she'd returned to Radiant Garden and found that the Heartless hadn't destroyed her beautiful garden! She'd shown HIM her herb patch, her vegetables, and best of all, her flowers. Aerith was happy to say that she had one of every kind of flower that could be found on Radiant Garden, and there were even a few rare varieties that only flourished in her little paradise. They'd sat for hours, dangling their feet in the shallow, bubbly brook that ran through the garden, just talking, and HE'd smiled, briefly, just for her.

She'd thought HE would stay with her, in Radiant Garden. Forever.

Then she had shown up. Tifa Lockhart, with her long black hair and chestnut eyes, telling him HE needed to go and save some World Aerith had never heard of. So she'd told him she understood, that HE should go and get things settled. Aerith had even given HIM her entire stock of Elixers before HE left, so that she could be sure that HE would be alright. HE'd smiled again, and had given her a beautiful pair of cloth gloves. "So you don't get those pretty hands of yours dirty working in the garden."

Then HE'd left with Tifa on a Gummi Ship.

Aerith had faithfully worn those gloves in the garden every day for two years. She'd waited for HIM and watched the skies every night, certain HIS Gummi Ship would descend from the skies and HE would jump out, giving her a smile and offering another ride on HIS motorcycle.

But then Sora, Donald, and Goofy returned from some far-off World. They'd told everyone how they'd seen HIM, married to Tifa and living in a small cottage at the edge of a grassy green meadow, surrounded by a herd of chocobos. And HE'd been so happy, laughing and smiling all the time.

Aerith had run out to her garden and thrown the gloves into the brook. As she watched the swift-flowing water carry them away, she'd cried, harder than she had in her entire life. For her heart was gone now. HE had taken it with HIM when HE'd left. And HE would never return now to give it back.

Now Aerith only found peace in her garden, and so she only left if the weather was too horrible for her to sleep out on the grass. Merlin's house had just become unbearable. Yuffie's fussing, Leon's pitying glances when he thought she wasn't looking, Cid's attempts at humor…Aerith knew they meant well, but she just couldn't stand it. So she stayed out by herself, trying not to think of the past.

"Aerith?"

Aerith whirled around, startled, a few pieces of hair flying free of her pink ribbon and into her eyes. She swiped them back into place and sighed inwardly when she saw who had spoken. "Oh…it's just you, Goofy."

"Uh-huh," Goofy nodded. "Sora asked me to come an' give ya some lunch. He's out trainin' today." He held out a wicker picnic basket covered in a checkered cloth. Aerith could see some of Merlin's home-baked bread poking out.

"Thank you, Goofy," Aerith gave him a tiny smile and gently took the basket off the dog-man's arm. "It was sweet of you to come out here."

"Not a problem," Goofy waved her off. "I jus' love lookin' at yer flowers. An' they smell real nice, too."

Aerith set the basket down, picked up her trowel, and began digging another hole in the flower bed, a little apart from the first one. One thing she really couldn't stand anymore was people in her garden, standing around, shuffling from foot to foot, and trying to bridge long, awkward silences.

Like Goofy was doing right now.

"Uh, Aerith?" When Goofy finally spoke again, he was so quiet Aerith thought for a moment she'd only imagined him talking, until he continued. "Why're ya always out here alone? You should come on back to Merlin's place. We all miss ya, Aerith. We're worried about ya."

Trust Goofy to ask the questions Aerith didn't want to answer. "Just…go away, Goofy," she said, trying to hold back more tears. "Please."

After a moment, Aerith heard long, loping footsteps crunching across the grass, and she knew Goofy had left.

Aerith took deep, shuddering breaths, trying to keep the tears back. It seemed all she did nowadays was cry. Then she happened to turn her head to the side, and her eyes fell on the reason she'd started digging a new hole to start with. She picked it up, gently twirling it between her fingers by its bright green stem.

She'd been thrilled when she'd found this flower growing amid a group of old, cracked stones in the old bailey yesterday. She'd only been expecting tedium, after all, when Yuffie had begged and wheedled her to come along on some errand or another. She'd never seen a plant like it before, and suspected it was the only one of its kind. The flower looked like a lily, with three long, curled golden petals striped with deep purple and long, thin, pale roots like threads of silk. It had taken Aerith an hour and a half to dig those roots out from the rocks without damaging them, working in the dank and dark of the bailey. But she had succeeded.

Suddenly, the wind picked up, whipping Aerith's dress around her knees. The flower, which she'd been holding loosely, was torn out of her hands.

"No!" Aerith raced after the flower as the wind blew it in crazy, looping spirals all over the garden. There wasn't another flower like that one on all of Radiant Garden. She had to have it!

But it was too late. The beautiful lily was blown into the brook before Aerith could grab it, and was quickly carried away by the swift current. Aerith had no idea where it could have gone.

"No…" She sank to her knees on the banks of the brook and buried her face in her hands, staying like that for the rest of the afternoon.

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Later that evening the skies clouded over, and rain poured down in buckets. By the time Aerith got to Merlin's house, her clothes and hair were soaked through and dripping. She accepted a towel from Yuffie and lay down on one of the spare beds in the back room, quietly crying herself into a half-doze.

Aerith couldn't really sleep unless she was in her garden, so she was lying on the bed fully awake and listening to the rain when she heard the voice outside.

"Aerith?" It called up at the window. "You awake?"

She debated simply ignoring it as a figment of her imagination. It wouldn't have been the first time, after all, and everyone else was asleep, if Leon's snores in the next room were anything to go by.

"Hello?" The voice called again. "Should I come back later?"

Curiosity won out, and Aerith got up and tiptoed to the window. Standing outside in the pouring rain was Goofy, dripping wet and with a silly, yet oddly sweet, smile all over his face. Held out in his white-gloved hands was Aerith's striped lily, the one she'd thought lost forever.

Aerith nearly forgot to breathe. How had he…? She gestured for Goofy to wait, then ran quietly outside into the rain, not caring if she was barefoot and only in her nightgown.

Goofy gently placed the sodden, yet still-beautiful flower in her hand. "Don' be mad, Aerith, but I hung around an' watched ya in the garden fer a bit," he whispered. "So I saw yer flower blow away, and ya looked so sad…It, uh, caught on a bush a little ways downstream, so I rescued it after it started rainin' an' you went inside."

Aerith again felt tears springing to her eyes, but these were different. These were tears of pure joy. For in this moment, she knew she would be alright. She would survive, without a doubt. After all, she had all her friends at her side, to help and to guide her through any storm. Aerith put a hand on her chest, surprised at the warmth she felt there. Her heart, it seemed, had finally returned to her.

"Thank you so much, Goofy. For everything." She held out her hand to the dog-man. "Listen, I know it's late, and it's raining, but would you like to come with me to the garden? To help me plant this?"

A large, white-gloved hand slipped into her own. "I'd love to, Aerith," was Goofy's quiet response.

Author's Note: Well, there's your AerithxGoofy. Bit of post-Valentine's Day super-fluffy goodness for you. It was SUPPOSED to be out last weekend, but better late than never, I guess. (kicks computer)

I know it's just fluff, but that's because the thought of a Disney character doing more than that kind of scares me. O.o

Reviews/Constructive Criticism are appreciated, flames aren't.

NEXT PAIRING: ZexionxFuu