Disclaimer: I do not own these characters, they are the copyrighted characters of Tetsuya Nomura

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters, they are the copyrighted characters of Tetsuya Nomura
ZackxCloud
Rating: PG-13 to R (varies as this story continues on)
Plot: The Lone Wolf and the Wolf of SOLDIER, two different creatures entirely, one of an almost Omega rank and the other, close to an Alpha...They were never meant to fall in love, Alpha's never fall for anyone lower then them. Cloud wants to be in SOLDIER, but when paired with Zack to teach him the ways, will remarks and taunts from others in his own Unit cause the blond man to lose his temper all over Zack, discerning his chances of being with the Alpha? Find out.
Alpha: Head of the Pack (1st Class SOLDIERS)

Beta: Works under the Alpha (2nd Class SOLDIERS)

Omega: Lowest ranking wolf (3rd Class and other Members)

Chapter 1-Rocky Starts and a Sword Fight or Two
Wolves are said to mate for life and when one mate passes on to the next life, leaving the sorrowful mate to live on without him or her, many a wolf would've passed into depression feeling that there was nothing more left in life to live for. This story is about two wolves, different in many plains of personality as well as status standings; he was a stocky, cocky, childish, raven haired man whose hair flushed out like a cropped mane, when he moved it was as if twilight danced in his every step. His features were highlighted by the hued purple eyes that dazzled a shimmer of the dim twilight with each swaggering step. Another was a blond whose hair seemed to dance like that of an oversized bird that wolves could see as a source of transportation or even food if need be; he was shy and coy, soft sky blue eyes were hued by a sight of shy personality as well withdrawn inner person. He would see the raven haired one everyday, but his status was that of an Omega's, not worthy of a Beta or even as his status would grow, an Alpha's, attention. It was undeniable that his heart ached like a childish crush for the heavier status wolf, what could he ever offer to such a creature?
Coy, lilac eyes stared ahead as his boots slapped against the metal of the cat walk that lead to the various and numerous dormitories, gaze was like that of an Alpha keeping his eyes on the others of his pack, but he seemed utterly lost in himself. He was searching for something, or someone.

"Where, oh where, could he be?" his lips quirked playfully as he slowed down his steps, it was if he was padding along through a forest floor, careful to not let onto his prey that he was almost upon the creature, "I know he's around here somewhere…but, I just can't seem to find him."

He knew exactly where his prey was, a pair of faded brown suede boots stuck out from behind a sideway wall, sky blue eyes were buried into a book with blond hair that sat spiked a top his head. Attention fully set into the book as his gloved fingers flicked the page over, eyes ever scanning the pages as to say there was an inanimate treasure that was buried among the words and the infinite pages. It truly was a treasure book to him, it told one how to become a member of SOLDIER, but every time he learned something new; it only seemed to further tell him he would never make it into SOLDIER without a prayer or a best, a miracle.

"Heh…why do I even bother anymore?" he huffed as he closed the book setting it aside him as he tilted his head back, closing his sky blue eyes, "Its not like I could ever find someone in SOLDIER to help me get into SOLDIER. Even if I could…"
Standing up was the next thing that the mind registered as staggering legs bended under the sensation of no movement for a long period of time as the blond caught himself against the wall, "Note to self, never sit down in that position for too long again."

"You should stop sitting like that, it just leaves you open for…things," a voice leaned inwards as the lilac like eyes stared at the closed sky blue eyes as he squatted down in front of the man; fingers nimbly playing over the spine of the book in the man's resting hands, "…Hey, you okay in there Cloud?"

"It's called sleeping, Zack, you should try it sometime, or maybe you're too hyped up on sugar at all hours to even sleep," Cloud muttered as he pushed the man's face out of his own, "Five more minutes."

Zack Fair was a First Class SOLDIER who had been given the chance to befriend the mere SOLDIER Grunt known simply as Cloud Strife, not a bright bulb of sorts if he had to say. The first time he met him, the man's words were all over the place; he was like a little kid meeting his childhood hero for the first time in person, it was cute, but he could never tell the man that. Zack was already considered the ladies' man of the SOLDIERS, but there were a few that questioned his close relationship with various male members of his squad. Rumors had gone around that he swung on a different swing and that swing liked to swing upside down as well as other odd positions, but no one was about to walk up to him and question him about it. Cloud knew he was straight, even if there had been a small number of men who had done more then smack him in the ass when he came out of the shower. It was becoming scary trying to take a shower alone in fear of the next thing he knew, he would find himself against the shower, backside exposed while someone known as 'Bubba' or 'Butch' made him their man bitch.
Too many of the cases of men leaving the security sector of the ShinRa SOLDIER grunts had been due to such incidents while they were left to wander the ghetto's of Midgar, insane and babbling fools.

"Come on Cloud, its no fun when you sit here by yourself, sleeping among everything else," Zack was truly worried for the grunt; he had been spending every waking hour studying and only studying that silly manual, "Hello…Earth to Cloud."

Cloud was out like a light.

"Tch…idiot," Zack picked the man up as he worked his hands up under the man's armpits, working him towards the solitary dorm that the man shared alone, "Geez Cloud, I think you need to lay off the heavy dinners at meal time."

His soft snoring was the only thing that kept the man in check as Zack pushed opened the door, plopping the man on the bed; beside him fell the manual he had been reading as it lay open, revealing where it had left off:
-A good SOLDIER knows when to admit when he's wrong, and when he has gotten in too deep with a problem; remember these truths and becoming a SOLDIER shall come naturally to you.

"What a load of crap…morals don't measure up to anything in this place," Zack closed the manual as he placed it beside the man's bedside; he was almost undressing the man with his eyes but he remembered that taking advantage of a sleeping man was not the smartest or most dignified thing, "See you later, Cloud."

The door shut behind him as he leaned up against it, every thing in him was screaming that it was wrong to have such thoughts running through his head; they weren't natural or moral at all, disgusting even that he had thoughts of taking advantage of the man while he slept; it made him sick. He could not answer the questions as to why he didn't seem turned away from it; answers were illusive to him as was his own personality. Illusive like a wolf, who slinks through the thickets, making sure that it isn't seen when hunting down prey, but he wasn't alone this time as he walked down the cat walk plank, stopping around the corner where he had found Cloud sleeping. Someone had followed him and getting them off his trail was the first priority; he managed to shove the figure up against the wall as he growled through his teeth.

"What the Hell are you doing over here? You know this is restricted to those who live in this sector," his elbow laid jammed up against the man's throat, nearly crushing him as he saw the man was making an attempt to speak.

After rubbing at his sore throat, the man managed to form sentences, "I could say the same for you 2nd Class SOLDIER, Zack Fair, tell me, why do you watch over that little grunt like he matters worth a damn?"

Zack wasn't sure what the man meant as he kept an eye on the man's general demeanor, "Let me guess, you're friends and you thought, why not watch over him, he'll never amount to being a SOLDIER; face it, he's just as good as jail bait at this point…you won't be able to save him every time he goes into the Shower Hall alone…"

"You listen to me you little prickly son of a bitch…keep all hands off him, he's still a young kid and I don't need his head screwed with by an asshole like you, you touch him, and you'll wish you were down in the Mako Labs," Zack pushed the man's head towards the railing as the man caught himself from a sudden impact and date with the metal railing, "Now get out of here, unless you had something urgent you had to speak to him about."

Picking up his wounded pride was the only thing the man wanted to do as he steadied his steps, his gaze picking up and staring at Zack, Zack was worthy of an Alpha wolves' title; this man was nothing more then a trouble making Omega or even outcast member of the pack. An evil glint of something danced in the man's gaze as his smile turned cocky and devious, softly chuckling to him self as he gathered his steps once again; glaring at Zack as he went.

"You can't always protect him, Fair, he's going to have to land on his own two feet and move forward, pursue his dreams without 'Mommy' babysitting him every step of the way…"

Zack had in his mind, the perfect image of how he would've handled the situation; kick the man over the railing and watch him fall to his doom, and when no one else was looking, slip back into Cloud's room and confess his undying love to him. But the sane and sensible side of him told him other wise; he would get his rewards in the end and when he did, Zack would be there to watch him fail. Zack had become increasingly unsure as to why he had reacted the way he had; he had seen too many good friends leave ShinRa because of problems within the Company that forced them into earlier retirement without a reason. His heart went out to them, even if it didn't show, every time he saw them leave; he couldn't help but think he was the cause of their downfall.

"Zack," the true Alpha had appeared at the bottom of the stair well as Zack looked over the edge of it, staring down at the aged wolf, Angeal, he was truly an Alpha among Alpha's, "Can I have a minute with you?"

Zack rolled his eyes as he shifted down the stairs in a youthful bound as he came to stand in front of his mentor, "What's up?"

All Angeal could do was shift away as he moved towards a secluded area, whenever he did that, Zack knew it had to be serious and it had been a while since the man had had just reason to pull him aside and speak to him on matters of private situations.

"You is what is up, Strife was given to you as a way to help control you and get you over childish ways as well as take him under your wings to kind of help him a little because he seemed to be of a little interest to the Higher Ups and figured you would be the best candidate to help him," Angeal seemed tense; he was the only one that could ever straighten out the young man, "…You're a SOLDIER, and ONLY a SOLDIER, remember that."

Zack was confused by the man's demeanor; he knew that his job came before anyone else, "Understood, sir."

"Good," Angeal took his leave as he left Zack standing where he had now stood.
Days wore on into nothing less then simple training days, Cloud would spend his days, when he had a free time, would find himself lost in the manual again, "Strife!"

"Yes sir," Cloud closed the book after book marking the page he had been on as he moved towards his Commander.

"I'm having you go one on one with SOLDIER Zack Fair today, see what you can do against him, who knows, you might be pretty good," the Commander seemed confident enough in the man's skills as he pushed Cloud gently forward as Zack stood in position for fighting as swung his sword around.

Cloud became flushed as he had a practice sword thrust into his hands, all the while, the others of his unit watched in wonder as to what would happen, This could end badly…I can't do this, I just can't do this…Zack's a friend, and he's at least a First Class SOLDIER…I'm no one. I can't do this.

"Come on Strife show us what you're made of."

"Prove to us that you are worthy of being a part of SOLDIER."

"Like he'd ever make it?"

Laughter began to erupt as something within Cloud seemed to snap as he gave no warning to Zack as the next sound that was heard, amongst the silent gasps of shock was the sound of metal hitting metal against the sounds of grunts that escaped the raven haired SOLDIER. Cloud's eyes were fierce and dark, pent up abuse, sneers, jeers, taunts, and cat calls of never obtaining the ideals of being apart of SOLDIER were now boiling towards the top as he dug the blade down deep against Zack's own blade. Zack was doing all he could to keep from the man impaling him with the practice blade; it was dull and not meant to do harm, but it was sparking with each hit as Cloud crushed Zack down into the floor. All eyes were on the situation, but Zack knew better then to let your opponent have the upper hand as he carefully swept Cloud's feet out from under him as Cloud caught himself falling backwards to the mat.

Zack's gaze was steely and well practiced as he stared into Cloud's sky blue ones, the Alpha had won against the Omega, "You sure are one hot tempered little blond aren't you?"

"Shut up…" Cloud pushed him upwards with the blade as the tip came up against Zack's fleshy cheek.

"SON OF A BITCH!" Zack's sword fell to the side as he pressed a gloved hand against his face, trying at all costs to stop the bleeding, "Why did you do that for?!"

Cloud seemed overtaken by something as he stood there, the tip of the blade shifting up under the man's gloved hand as in a final blow; he left another discerning blow against his face. A clatter of feet rushed Cloud as the sword was wrenched from his hand and he was pulled away from Zack as Zack was helped to his feet; no one knew exactly what had caused Cloud to go off on the man like he had. Zack was in a way Cloud's mentor, but something in that moment changed; he saw Zack as just as another taunting voice in his head telling him he would never making it into SOLDIER.

"Let's go Strife, you need a cool down moment," Cloud was carted off to a secluded area as the mist of blood rage remained in his eyes; it was frightening, but it was soon worked out of him as howls of pure shock erupted from the showers.