Warnings: Violence and possible smut. Leaving it as M to be safe for now. Oh, and Fem!Reno and Fem!Cloud (Don't ask me why, that was how this story came to me.)

Disclaimer: Don't own. I also don't own SugarAdict!Seph, nor the idea of the 'Turk playground'. Those two awesome ideas belong to Lord Shinta. I would totally recommend reading her fics Life Long Forgotten, Snow Day, and Donum Deae.

Genesis was anything but happy at the moment.

Why did he have to be the one to review this year's cadets? He HATED cadets! It made no sense! But no, Lazard ignored him and threatened him with extra paperwork if he didn't do it.

Genesis tossed another file to the side and opened up a new one. He had to finish reading all of these cadet files, because later that day he was going to watch the cadets spar.

This was to see who qualified for the mentor program and to see who was most likely going to end up in SOLDIER. It was ridiculous though, because since Zack and his fellow cadets, standards started to go downhill. Fewer and fewer people were truly qualified to join SOLDIER.

And then there were the mako tests. Not many people had the tolerance to handle mako, and to progress through the ranks of SOLDIER, you needed a high tolerance. Few people were 3RD CLASS, and even fewer made it to 2ND. So far only he Seph and Angeal made it to 1ST, though Angeal's student may make the ranks of SOLDIER 1ST if he had the tolerance.

Genesis was currently reading the file of a cadet by the name of Cloud Strife. A sixteen year old from Nibelheim. He was intrigued to see that Cloud was of the fairer sex. A pretty little thing with blue eyes and gravity defying blond hair according to the photo in the file. Very few women applied for the SOLDIER program, and those that did never made it past the mako tests. For some reason women didn't seem to tolerate mako as well as men. Still, it could just be that there are mako tolerant women, they just hadn't applied yet.

According to the file that Genesis had, Cloud was doing very well in her classes, and was at the top of her class when it came to handling materia. Most of the physical scores indicated that she was average in that area. Unfortunately she was below average with her sword work.

Genesis wasn't sure what to think of that. On one hand, you need to be able to use a sword if you are to join SOLDIER. On the other hand the instructors teach methods that are all about strength and brute force. If one had a fighting still similar to his or Sephiroth's, one focused more on speed and agility, then you were screwed.

Hmmmm, maybe he should keep an eye out for this one and see which is it: no skill or wrong technique. Maybe even grab Angeal and have him watch the sparing later. He was good at reading people and evaluating them.

Putting the file down in a separate pile, Genesis grabbed the next one belonging to a cadet David Williams.

O-o-O-o-O-o-O

Sephiroth was hiding out in the observation room waiting for the cadet class to come out and start sparing. He was doing this purely for professional reasons. He totally wasn't hiding from Lazard to avoid doing paperwork, and he most certainly was not stalking the cute little blond cadet he saw two weeks ago.

…Ok, so maybe he was using it as an excuse to avoid paperwork, but come on, who doesn't hate paperwork. And he is nineteen for crying out loud! There is no way a nineteen year old would be able to tolerate doing paperwork for hours on end.

But there was no stalking! Absolutely none! And he didn't have a crush on her either!

…Yeah, that didn't sound convincing at all, even to him.

He really wanted an excuse to meet her, but was terrified of scaring her off. It didn't matter that nearly every girl he met would swoon at his feet or wanted to jump him, he was pretty sure that the idea of having the great and powerful Demon of Wutai stalking you would be more creepy than romantic. It also didn't help that he read her file and knew everything about her (or at least everything the file covered).

And what would he say to her anyways? Hi Cloud, I'm General Sephiroth. I've been stalking you for two weeks and read your file. Would you like to go out on a date with me?

Yeah, there is no way that could possibly backfire.

The gym doors opened and the cadets started to file in. His eyes immediately zoomed in on Cloud the moment she walked in.

Hmmmm, Cloud, the name fit perfectly for his angle.

"Seph? What are you doing here?"

Sephiroth was instantly startled out of his thoughts. How did he not hear anyone enter? Oh, right, he was distracted by the cadet. Did he really let his guard down that badly?

Schooling his expression to a neutral one, Sephiroth turned to face the door to find Angeal and Genesis standing there. Oh crap, if Gen figured out what was going on, he was screwed, and Gen would let the puppy help him plot. Or worse, Tseng.

"I was thinking about watching this year's batch of recruits to see if any of them can qualify for SOLDIER. May I ask why you two are here?"

"Well I'm here because I have to review this batch of cadets to see who is valid to be part of the mentor program."

Oh, right, he forgot about that. "And why is Angeal here?"

"Gen wanted me to take a look at one of the cadets," he said. "I think one of them may have caught his attention."

Well that was a twist. Gen hated cadets. What was special about this one?

"Which one?"

"A cadet Cloud Strife."

Huh? "What is it you want with her?" A shit! Idiot!

Genesis raised an eyebrow, "How did you know that?"

Ummm, quick! Think of something plausible! "I occasionally like to take a look at who is applying to the SOLDIER program. I noticed that we had a female apply this year, and as you know that doesn't happen very often."

Neither Angeal nor Genesis seemed totally convinced with that answer, but they decided to let it slide.

"I read her file and it stated that she was struggling in the physical aspect of the training program. More specifically the sword training area. As you know the teachers focus more on strength and brute force. Angeal is here to help me figure out if she has potential and is being taught the wrong moves or just isn't SOLDIER material. Would be a shame if she wasn't cut out for it considering her talent with materia."

Ah, so that was what caught Gen's attention. Genesis is a master materia user and not many SOLDIER use materia, so seeing someone with talent for it is a good thing in his opinion.

Having nothing else to say Sephiroth tuned is attention back to the cadets, who began sparing, quickly scanning the group for Cloud.

Genesis and Angeal silently moved up to the window also to look for the cadet in question. Genesis was the first to find her and pointed her out to the other two. Sephiroth instantly zoned out and just watched her. Angeal was studying her movements. While she had the very basics down, she had trouble most of the techniques. She didn't have the build to perform those maneuvers successfully. In other words, she had the aptitude but what she was learning wasn't playing to her strengths.

Genesis actually wasn't paying attention to the cadet, or any of the other cadets for that matter. He really didn't care at all if they passed or not. He let his gaze drift over to his two friends and…well Seph seemed quite interested in the cadet. And if Gen had to guess by the way the youngest of the trio was staring it wasn't for professional reasons.

A half hour was spent watching the recruits spar and learn new techniques before the class was dismissed.

"So Angeal, what did you think of the cadet."

"She has potential, but her build doesn't support the fighting style the instructors teach. She does move quickly though, so maybe she would do better if taught a style similar to yours or Sephs."

"Well considering the amount of work Seph already has I don't think that he has the time to take on a student, meaning that I'm her best chance of getting into SOLDIER, and it wouldn't be fair to let such potential go to waste," Genesis said, not at all processing what he just said.

Sephiroth and Angeal just stared at him like he grew an extra limb. "Uh Gen," Angeal started, "did you just volunteer to mentor a cadet?"

It was then he realized what it was that he just said. Crap…"Apparently I just did."

Sephiroth stared at his friend a second longer before turning his gaze back to the gym where a few cadets still lingered before they headed off to lunch. He immediately bristled when he found HIS cadet.

That didn't escape Gen's notice and quickly glanced in the direction the young General was looking. Turned out that Cloud was receiving unwanted attention from another cadet if her expression was anything to go by. Gen recognized the other cadet as David Williams from his picture. Not only did this confirm any suspicions that Gen had about Seph's true intentions for being here today, but it also showed that their dear General had competition for the poor girl's affections.

"Well I need to go talk to Lazard. I'll see the two of you and the puppy in the mess hall, okay?" Gen said, pretending not to have noticed anything.

Sephiroth nodded before briskly walking out of the observation room, trying very hard not to let his jealousy get the better of him.

"Alright, we will be in our usual spot," Angeal replied as he went to follow Sephiroth, leaving his oldest friend alone in the room.

Genesis didn't hide a grin as a plan began to form in his head. So Sephiroth had a crush on a cadet, eh? Maybe he needed just a little help from dear sweet old Gen to give him a push in the right direction. Genesis walked out of the room and headed to the elevator. He would have to go and visit Tseng and let him know of this new development and help him plot.

Of course that's assuming that he wasn't too busy with Ren.