Disclaimer- I do not own Kingdom Hearts.

Summary- Somethings are not as easy to see as others.

Unlucky

It was not as if anyone got hurt. Demyx was sure of that.

It was a span of weeks that seemed like years when he met her and they became friends. It was odd how close someone with no heart can get to someone who has one. Yet, when he stumbled upon Aerith Gainsborough his mundane life seemed a lot more interesting.

She was a talkative and beautiful girl. He found himself being easily lost in conversation with her. She was much easier to talk to then his comrades in the organization. He could sit on the floor, lay down on a pew, nap on a rafter, and still find himself at peace here with her. When he fell asleep to her gentle humming she never disturbed him. Then he would wake up to find her next to him, making sure she would see him off before leaving.

She was too kind. Demyx believed that she was sometimes too kind for her own good. That was how he liked it though. He liked their easy going friendship. They could talk about things and never seem to get angry or judge one another.

"Hey, do any of your other friends know about this place?" Demyx had asked her once, wondering why no one else came here. She certainly had spoken about her friends before but he had never seen them.

She shrugged, "They don't seem interested in flowers."

Demyx replied, "I don't either."

Aerith turned to him and gave him a playful smile, "But you pretend well."

He was good at pretending a lot of things. Aerith had also asked him questions.

"What do you do for work?" she asked.

"I do odd jobs." he replied vaguely.

He did not wish to expose his true job. He was sure she would not take it well that he was a heart stealing nobody that was attempting to take over multiple worlds. Nope, that just did not seem good.

She never questioned him or pressed the matter. He was sure that she believed if he had wanted to tell her, he would tell her exactly. She was not a pushy person. She was understanding. That is who Aerith is and if Demyx had a heart, he would love her for it.

How he loved the days off when he would leave the Organization and don the appearance of a normal person who had a heart. He could spend time and talk to Aerith and not have to listen to stupid people think they are superior to him. They were equal. She was happy. He was content.

One day he had entered her garden and she was there as always. She looked the same as always. Today she was sitting on the ground of the church as he came. She was casually watching her flowers, her gardening tools were piled in a small brown basket on the ground next to her.

He walked across the creaky floorboards. She did not acknowledge his presence but she knew he was there. He plopped down next to her and it was only then did she look at him. She smiled, the same cheerful smile she always gave him. Demyx was certain if he had a heart he would gush like a lovesick puppy. That smile was so sugary sweet.

"How's it going?" Demyx said casually, leaning back on his hands.

Aerith's smiled remained on her face as she softly said, "Wonderful. And you?"

"Same old, same old," he said waving a hand. "Get up, do my work, come home, sleep and then do it all over again until I get a day off to relax."

"You always seem so busy," Aerith said while hugging her knees to her chest.

"Lucky, me," he replied sarcastically, "well no one can be as lucky as you."

Aerith looked away blushing. Demyx arched an eyebrow. Why were her cheeks so red?

"So how long are you free for?" Aerith asked him. "Will you be here long?"

"Oh, I'm free all day. If I go back home I might end up having a job to do and I rather not. It's a pain in that butt if I do say so myself."

Aerith nodded. Demyx tilted his head. "You seem different today."

Aerith turned her head to face him, and this time Demyx noticed a flower in her hair. He never saw her wear a flower in her hair before. It suited her.

"I'm actually leaving soon." she said.

Demyx frowned. What would he do all day now?

"I guess I'll hang out here, if you don't mind."

"You're always welcome here."

The very words made Demyx happy, or what he thought the feeling of happiness was. Aerith got up. It was then Demyx noticed she looked different today, aside for the single flower in her hair. She was not covered in dirt, her dress was flawless and clean, not even a single wrinkle. Her hair looked shinier today, as if carefully washed, conditioned, and styled so a single piece would not fall out of place. Her delicate wrists wore silver bangles; he was not use to see her wearing jewelry. What made him notice her sudden change of appearance was that she was not wearing her usual brown boots, the boots she always wore with every outfit he ever saw her in. Today she was wearing silver colored sandals with several straps lacing their way to her ankle.

"You look different too," he said.

"Is that a good thing?" Aerith questioned, biting her lip.

Demyx arched an eyebrow before rolling his eyes when he realized he hoped for a compliment.

"Well, of course, but I think you look great no matter what."

Aerith's rosy cheeks became even rosier, if possible. She ducked her head to avoid the embarrassment before standing up.

"I have to get going," she said. "Feel free to lounge about all day."

Demyx leaned back.

"And if you can, water some of the flowers." she teased.

Demyx grinned as she walked off, the sound of her shoes clicking across the floorboards. Demyx did lounge about all day but never did water the flowers, even if he could just strum his sitar to create a small wave to water them. When it became late, he decided to depart for home. However, he did wonder where Aerith had been all day. It was a boring day without her and would have loved to company. He shrugged, hoping his next visit would be a better one.

He summoned a portal and stepped through it. When the portal closed the door to the church opened. Aerith's head poked into the church and scanned around before opening the door wider and walked in.

On his next visit, Demyx arrived at the church to find Aerith back to work. She was on her knees, dress dirty, sweat on her brow, pulling weeds with soiled gloves on her hands. He slumped down on a pew, one leg stretched across it while the other was bent and resting on the floor. He leaned against the end of the pew and watched her.

"Back to work I see," he said aloud. "Next time you take a day off, spend it with me. The other day was so boring."

"I'll keep that in mind when I am making plans," Aerith insisted.

She stopped her work, got up, and turned to face him. He looked up at her.

"What?"

"Will you be here next week?"

"Nope, I am booked solid with work," he replied. "But I can sneak away if you really want to see me."

"No, don't worry about it. Go do your work and I'll see you the following week."

With that said, Aerith returned to her work. Demyx never saw her work harder before in her life. After pulling weeds, she trimmed ever plant before putting fresh, dark soil over them. She then swept the floorboards of all dust and dirt, and cleaned the entire church (the parts she could reach anyway) until she plopped down on the pew next to him exhausted, sweaty, and dirty.

"Wow," Demyx said. "I swear watching you made me tired. Did you even take a break?"

Demxy looked at Aerith who was breathing heavily. Her skin looked horribly pale and her body was slouching.

"Aerith, are you alright?"

She sputtered trying to get out her words, "Water... get me... some... please."

She pointed to a large thermos, lying next to her things, empty of her contents.

Demyx could realized she was dehydrated immediately now. He got up and rushed to find a suitable source of water. Halfway down the street from the church, Demyx stopped, smacked his forehead and then pulled out his sitar. He made a stream of water appear and filled her thermos up before rushing back to her.

He held it out to her and Aerith took it. She drank the entire contents. When she finished she let out a sigh before finding herself lying on the pew.

"I'm so tired," she said. "I'll... rest for a moment."

"I'll say," Demyx replied as she curled on the pew. "You didn't even take a break. You could get yourself sick if you push yourself."

She yawned, "I just wanted everything to be... to be..."

Demyx blinked and the waved his hand in a circular motion. "To be what...?"

She sighed, "... perfect,"

"What does it matter if the church is perfect?" he asked.

Aerith did not respond. She was sound asleep, curled up on the pew. Demyx scratched his head. Was he not the one that should be sleeping? He placed and elbow on his thigh and held his head up with hand as he leaned forward. He stared at the girl, bored.

For no real reason, he brought his gloved hand to her face and poked her cheek. Aerith did not respond. He did it a few more times but she did not wake up. He made a "hmph" noise and continued to watch her. After a moment he carefully brushed away her matted hair from her forehead. She was really sweaty and exhausted.

"You shouldn't sleep here ya know," he said even though she would not hear a word. "You could get sick sleeping in those wet, dirty clothes. Then who would I get to talk to? I'd be bored you know?"

It would be a while before Aerith awoke. She apologized to Demyx for dozing off but he did not mind. He brushed it off as if he had fallen asleep before she did and then even told her he had just woken up minutes before her. It in truth was a lie. He stayed up watching over, much like she did when he would sleep. Well, she would do work as he dozed off, but he did not have anything better to do. Besides, he had to admit, despite all the sweat and dirt, she still looked pretty while she slept. Maybe like an angel or something.

"Thank you," Aerith said

"For what?" he asked.

Aerith did not answer, she was sure he knew why but she reached up and hugged him with one arm. Demyx felt something deep inside him flip. Not a heart, there was not one inside the empty chest of his. Maybe his stomach, maybe that was was flipping, or becoming knotted. Heck maybe it was his spleen. Whatever it was, it felt new, it felt different, it felt wonderful.

He wondered if he had a heart, would it be beating so fast that he could hardly hear, maybe breathe. He only wished this moment could last longer when Aerith let him and turned away. He wanted to feel her warm embrace just a little longer, linger in that feeling he lost as soon as she pulled away.

Aerith left the church and Demyx bid her farewell. The following week, Demyx had to do his "oddjobs" for the Organization. The work was lame and seemed to drag. It was just a simple stake out mission. Watch some random idiots go about their daily lives and then report back in the end of the day. What was the point? Why not just steal the hearts and be done with it? He never could understand the point of these types of missions.

As he sat on top of a rooftop in some desert city, he wondered what Aerith was doing now. He wondered if she was in her church right now. Although he told her he would busy the entire week, he was half tempted to go visit her. It would be a surprise. Demyx could imagine her face when he walked through those doors, maybe glad that she would not be alone. Then he could see the rage his superiors would feel if he had left his post to go bumming around. It would not be good at all.

Demyx looked at his target and then rolled his eyes. It was not as if this guy was going anywhere anyway.

"Oh what the heck," he said. "Not like they'll come and check up on me anyway."

Creating a portal he past through leaving his mission behind. Not as if he cared for it anyway. The portal opened and he arrived in the alley between the church and another old building. Demyx always summoned the portal here so no one would see him come and go in such a way. Demyx headed up the front steps, excited to be back after being gone only a few days. He opened the church doors and expected to see Aerith instantly. The church was empty.

"Well this sucks," he said aloud.

He hoped that maybe she had not arrived yet. He took a seat on a pew and waited. He noted that the church looked even better than the last time he was here. Aerith was really working hard to make it better. He still wondered why she was working so hard.

After an hour or so of waiting, Demyx got up. Perhaps she had already left for the day. He was seriously bummed. He had hoped to see her today. Sighing, he decided to return to his post in the desert city. Maybe he would try again tomorrow to catch the girl.

Tomorrow came and went and Demx stayed several hours longer but Aerith never showed up. He tried again on the third day but still she did not arrive. On the fourth day he arrived early in the morning and waited until late in the afternoon. He found it quite puzzling that she was no where to be seen. Instead of returning to his post, the Nobody decided to look for her. What if she was hurt or sick? He could not just stand here not knowing why his friend was not here.

Demyx entered the marketplace where Aerith said she lived. He did not know whether to ask someone or to just look himself. He wandered the streets and found himself unable to ask anyone about her. He felt like an outsider in such a place, uncomfortable. No, the secluded church with Aerith was perfect for him. Just him and the flower girl. Him and his friend.

Friend, he stopped short. In his head that word sounded so foreign. Comrades, superiors, nobodies, and even heartless were words that made sense to him. Friend, he liked that word.

Demyx suddenly stopped short and felt a smile creep on his face. There several feet ahead stood his friend. He hardly recognized her. Her hair was styled different, in loose curls. She was wearing a blue dress this time, shorter then usual, and wedged heels. One of her flowers was laced into her hair, resting behind over her left ear. She looked good, great even. No, she looked beautiful. So that is what Aerith looked like when she was not at the church. That girl really took time for herself or so Demyx thought at that moment until he saw something that he was sure he did not want to see.

Aerith Gainsborough stood on her tip toes and wrapped both arms around something hugging him to her. Oh, it was a man no doubt with blonde spiky hair and blue eyes. He was a lot taller than Demyx and more muscle. Something about this scene, Demyx was sure, that he was not suppose to see. It felt wrong.

"The day after tomorrow," she said, Demyx could hear her tell the man so clearly, "I want to show you something, by then it will be perfect."

Now he understood. He understood everything. The church was going to be perfect for him, the flowers perfect for him, SHE looked perfect for him. No, the church could look old and dusty for Demyx, The flowers did not need to be neatly trimmed or have a few weeds poking out sometimes for him. SHE could look dirty and sweaty for Demyx.

Something made him want to summon his sitar and make a tidal wave hit the two. He was furious. The two parted ways and he could not even bring himself to call out to her. Instead he turned around and marched back to the church.

The next day, Demyx avoided his mission all together wanting to go to the church. He was hoping Aerith would be there. When he opened the church doors he found her crouching over the flowers. He walked down toward her, not trying to be quiet at all.

"Hey Aerith," he said, trying to hide a smugness he had in his voice. "Miss me?"

She did not respond. Demyx seemed annoyed.

"Aerith," he called out nearing her. "Not even a hello?"

He stopped a foot or two away from her. She did not look up.

"Fine... I'll leave."

She finally turned to look at him. Her eyes were puffy red and in her head she held several of her flowers that had been ripped to shreds by an unknown assailant. Demyx eyes widened slightly. She did not look as if she had merely just started crying, she looked as if she had been crying for hours.

"Aerith..." he breathed out, his voice hardly a whisper.

She rushed to him wrapping her arms around his waist and sobbing into his chest. Demyx was taken aback as she cried into him uncontrollably. He body was shaking, her hands gripping the back of his clothes tightly.

"Gone!" she cried. "All my hard work is gone."

"W-what happened?" he asked.

"Something came in here and ruined the flowers. It crushed them all and ripped them to shreds!" She sobbed and sniffled loudly, not caring how foolish she looked or sounded.

"Why? Why would someone do this?"

Demyx knew exactly who did this. He knew exactly why that someone who did this. He did this because he was angry. Yesterday when he saw her doing everything she could to impress that guy whose name he did not know, he was angry. He stormed through these doors and demolished the flowers. He could have flooded the patch with his powers but instead he stomped on them, uprooted them, ripped the pretty petals until all that was left was a mess.

He was hoping this would be a small retribution to what he felt. He was hoping to come here and be satisfied with her crying over those stupid flowers. However, what he was hoping for what not what he was feeling. It gave him no sense of joy to see her like this. Feeling her in his arms like this did not bring that feeling that he felt within him the first time he felt it. No, it felt hollow like the space in his chest where a heart should have been.

Moments later, the two were sitting on a pew next to one another neither saying a word. Demyx leaned back against the pew, his arms resting on the back rest. Aerith was leaning forward, elbows on her knees and hands folded.

"Why would someone do this?" she asked again, hoping for an answer.

"I don't know," Demyx answered, even though he himself did it.

"I wanted everything to be perfect," she said. "I worked so hard and everything is ruined. What did I do to deserve this?"

Demyx frowned and said honestly, "Nothing."

Somehow that answer did not sit well with Aerith. She spun around on him and glared at him through her tears. Demyx and first thought she had figured it out and nearly wanted to bolt thinking she would hit him.

"Then why would someone do this to me?" she snapped. "If someone had a problem with me why could they not confront me instead of doing something so cowardly?"

She then lowered her head and allowed more tears to fall. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you."

"It's okay," he said. He deserved to be yelled at.

"What do I do now? Everything is ruined?"

The two once again fell into silence. Aerith had cried and stopped crying several more times before she could not longer cry over the loss of her flowers. When the sun began to set Aerith knew she would have to go home.

"Funny," Aerith said standing up.

"What is?" Demyx asked, following her.

She turned to him, her eyes still puffy and red. "I've never cried in front of him."

"Him?" Demyx asked, even though he knew who she was talking about.

"I think, sometimes, I'm afraid to. Afraid to be weak in front of him because I want to be strong for him. Sometimes I think he is so close to breaking himself that... that I don't want him to worry for me."

Demyx sucked in a sharp breath, a single question formed in his head.

"Then why did you cry in front of me?"

Aerith smiled, "Because you're strong enough to not break."

Aerith reached around him and hugged him once more and it was then Demyx knew that he was luckier than that guy would ever be but also unluckier. He had seen Aerith for who she was. Every emotion she displayed were one hundred percent her, no holding back. He happiness, her anger, her sadness were all her. She was who she was and he saw it all. Yet, he would never be able to keep her like this. The awful knowing that he was the only one to see her cry. Why could he not be the one holding her in his arms and feel that surge, that flip, that flutter within him that made him beg to be a somebody and not a nobody with an empty chest that would kill for a heart.

He was not that lucky.

"But I'll bring him here anyway," she said. "I promised, even if it isn't perfect. I'm sure he'll understand. I just hope... hope whoever did this feels bad for doing something so... childish!"

If he did, he would have regretted what he had done for he knew what he had done was wrong.

The following afternoon, Aerith walked to her church, dressed in her normal outfit, prepared to access the damage and hopefully salvage what little she could of her flowers. At the doors of the church she took several deep breaths preparing herself for the moment so not to be so upset that would just cry again. She opened the doors and walked down the aisle. However, halfway down her eyes widened and she began to sprint to the dirt patch.

She skidded to a halt at the edge and felt her heart squeeze in her chest. Flowers, not just the yellow and white flowers she had planted there but different types of flowers, all filled the dirt patch almost to the point that she could not see the soil between the leaves and petals. Vibrant colors like a rainbow had exploded covered the patch and Aerith found herself sinking to her knees.

"Why would you do this?" Aerith asked.

Demyx was leaning against a pillar, dirty from head to tow with soil and sweat, much like how Aerith had been. He had cuts on his fingers and even his face somehow but he did not seem to care.

"Because..." he said. "I don't want to see you cry anymore."

Demyx walked past her and stared at the open church door. He did not look back at her. For some reason, he was sure she knew it was him that destroyed her original flowers. Maybe that was his own thinking but Aerith was not stupid, maybe she played dumb but not stupid. She probably wanted him to come clean and confess his crime but Demyx could not bring himself to do it. He was not strong enough. He was pretty sure she would be angry and he was pretty sure she would cry again.

"Thank you!" she cried out in joy as he began to head toward the doors.

He stopped at the door frame wanting to look back at her. He wanted to see her smiling at him one more time before he disappeared from here forever. He knew she was smiling probably waiting for him to turn around and accept her smile with a grin. He did not.

"Don't thank me." he said.

Because, he knew what he had done as he closed the door.

It was not as if anyone got hurt. Aerith was alright, everything was perfect. No one was hurting anymore.

Well, maybe if he had a heart it would have been him.

X, X, X,

Author Note- I had suddenly got inspiration for this story. I hope everyone enjoyed it. I feel bad for Demyx because he in the end was luckier then "the spiky haired blonde" but in the end brought about his own misfortune. Did Aerith know Demyx ruined her garden, I'll leave that up to you as well as her feelings for him. Thanks for reading.