Don't own Kingdom Hearts blah blah etc. Enjoy chapter four! ^^

"Tifa, this was so thoughtful of you!" Aerith sighed happily as Tifa handed her the Sea-Salt ice cream, blessing her friend with a smile of gratitude before indulging herself in the frozen treat in her hands.

Tifa smiled. "Not at all, I figured it'd be a nice way to start today's restoration work – speaking of which, I didn't see Leon in the study, has he come back here?" She suddenly became aware that the ice creams were now melting slightly, as she felt cold, sticky droplets slide onto her hands.

"I haven't seen him since he left this morning, he seemed pretty...frustrated," frowning at the thought of her friend, who normally possessed a calm disposition being in a bad mood, Aerith resigned herself to the notion that she would investigate Leon's odd behaviour.

"Ha, I bet it's just because he's not getting any!" Yuffie laughed as she swung on her chair, oblivious to the shocked expression mirrored on the faces of Tifa and Aerith.

"Uh, Yuffie, don't you think that's kind of rude? Leon's personal life is none of our business..." remarked Tifa, blushing slightly.

"Why do I care about Scarface's personal life? I'm saying that he's probably pissed because he's not getting any treasure for himself!" Yuffie chirped as she bounded out of the house.

Tifa and Aerith exchanged looks of relief. Neither of them were particularly keen on discussing sexual matters with Yuffie, who possessed all the subtlety and sophistication of a Fat Bandit.

Hastily changing the subject, Aerith headed towards the door, sliding her slender feet into her brown suede boots. "I'm going to the Moogle Workshop, you two behave while I'm gone!" Aerith chuckled slightly as her last remark caused a faint blush to appear across Tifa's cheeks, as she understood that Aerith was clearly referring leaving Cloud and Tifa in the house alone.

After thanking the Moogles for synthesising her items, Aerith turned away from the marketplace, mentally crossing off the 'Fencer Earring' from her list of accessories. Synthesis was a particular hobby of hers, as well white magic, and she often sold her creations to residents of Radiant Garden, along with the flowers that now blossomed since the town was restored to its former glory. She had planned to do so as well with her newest handiwork. However, as she gazed as the silver earring, a serpentine dragon atop a gem surrounded by spikes, she couldn't help but imagine how much it would it would have suited him.

It had been a long time since Aerith had allowed herself to think of it, she'd long since banished it from her mind. But reflected in the cyan gem of the earring, glistening in the sun were the eyes of a boy she once knew.

She remembered it vividly, despite the many years having past in which she neglected the thought. She was barely 16 when they met, but very cautious and my no means naive. He seemed to appear out of nowhere, and despite the fact that they spent months together, to Aerith it felt like no sooner had he arrived that he seemed to vanish from her life without a trace. Looking back she felt like something of a fool to have let herself had feelings for this boy, who, she thought, must have only viewed her as a passing fling. She never knew why he stopped replying to her letters, but eventually she learned to shrug it off, assuring herself that he probably moved on, she was only a young girl after all. She wasn't quite sure why she felt so indifferently about the whole matter, but then again, they say you forgive your first love of anything.

Her train of thought had kept her so very occupied that she almost didn't notice the house she was stood outside. She folded the earring back into it's silk wrapping and into her basket, peering up at the tipsy chimney balancing atop Merlin's cottage. Her initial thought was to stop by and have a chat, but as she placed her palm on the large wooden door, the sound of a deep voice caused her to hold her breath and freeze where she was stood.

Aerith certainly wasn't the type to eavesdrop, and upon hearing the rough undertones of Leon's voice she wasn't quite sure why she didn't just invite herself in and make sure that he was alright after the disappearing act of the morning. Except, something in her head seemed to tell her that the conversation between Leon, and what seemed to be Cid (judging from his sharp accent) shouldn't be interrupted.

"...don't know what to do..."

She was breathing heavily but was still able to make out the hushed voices through the wooden door, and felt her heart beat faster as she felt her position becoming awfully precarious.

"...Aerith...can't be around her..."

Her brow furrowed in puzzlement at the words she had just heard. The voice unmistakably belonged to Leon, but for minutes she neglected the conversation being held behind the door to gather her thoughts. Did Leon hate her? Was this why he's been acting so strange? Because he can't stand to be around her? In her mind she tried to piece together every conversation, every moment spent with Leon to analyse his reactions to try to make sense of this, and because no other explanation made sense, she convinced herself that Leon's often seemingly indifferent demeanour was a reflection of his dislike of her.

Of course, with this sudden realisation, she couldn't help but be upset. She bit her lip, she knew that she certainly wasn't perfect and that there must be people who weren't particularly fond of her – but she never expected it from someone whom she'd regarded as a close friend for so many years. She and Leon, along with Yuffie, had been through a lot together; their childhoods; the destruction of their world; the process of rebuilding it; and she never would have dreamed that someone whom she placed so much confidence and trust in would be secretly harbouring feelings of loathing – or ever hatred towards her. It was too much to take in all at once, so she quickly fled from the house without even so much a moment's thought.

She wasn't sure where she was going, but she couldn't face the thought of going home and explaining to Tifa or Cloud why she was upset – she was never any good at hiding her emotions and Tifa especially would demand to know who was responsible for hurting her – and make sure they received a good beating. There was no way she could let them know of this apparent rift between her and Leon, it wouldn't be fair for them to choose sides. How would they go on living together? All these thoughts overwhelmed Aerith's mind all at once, and she knew she had to be alone. Somewhere where no one could see her being over-emotional and where she could spend the evening alone so there was no chance of her bumping into any of her friends, or God forbid – Leon. As the thought crossed her mind again she felt herself begin to well up. She thought to herself that perhaps she was grieving too much – people fall out of friendship all the time, it's a part of life; people change. Perhaps Leon simply outgrew her company.

Or maybe he never really enjoyed it at all, and he'd finally had enough of his suffering?

Whilst analysing this, and many other theories, Aerith wrapped her arms around herself to shield her from the cold that was starting to creep as the evening drew closer, and as she stared out at the great maw from the edge of a sapphire cliff she was reminded how insignificant she was in this big wide world, and for a moment her problems didn't seem so bad.

Thank you for taking the time to read my story, I hope you enjoyed it! I'd really appreciate any thoughts, criticisms or what you'd like to be included in future chapters! Thank you 3