Fire and Ice

Feeling disgruntled, Arianna threw the dishes into the sink, being sure to clank them together as she scrubbed in her attempt to make as much noise as possible. She had to get her point across. After all, it had so been Lexi's turn. But the babies always managed to get out of housework.

"Arianna, would you shut up!? There's someone at the door!"

"FINE!" Just when she turned down the volume of her protest, she heard the door open and her father gasp in what sounded like shocked awe.

'Odd,' Arianna thought, then laughed inwardly. 'Maybe it's the Ghost of Christmas Past at the door.'

"The Sephiroth! It's an honor, sir!" At the name, Arianna went blank. 'Huh?' But then she heard a new voice...

"I'm here on call from Shinra, since the Mansion is under construction as of late. But, as you must know, the hotels in the vicinity are not of the best quality. I was curious to see if you would be so kind as to house me for the night."

The new sound made Arianna lose grip on the soapy plate. The tone was cool and confident, every syllable precise and articulate, portraying extreme intelligence. The pitch was just low enough to be truly manly, but not so low that people got the urge to slap him every time he spoke. It was just right. Also, there was an uncanny quality in it that sent shivers up her spine, tickling the sensitive hairs in her ears. She didn't know what it was, but she knew she liked it. She liked it a lot.

Luckily, though, she was able to catch the plate in time before it crashed to the tiled floor. Absent-minded in her eavesdropping, Arianna dried the soapy dish, put it back in the sink, and got on the stool to put the scrubber in the cupboard. Still on the stool, she began to lean forward so that she could look out of the doorway at the beautiful-sounding stranger.

Now with a full visual of the man, all Arianna could utter was "Wow..." A friend had once challenged her to define handsome. She now knew the idea had a one-word definition: Sephiroth. She had never seen anything like him! The man towered over her portly little father with an air of superiority, reflected in his eyes, which were a shade of green that Arianna had not known before now. His hair was an amazing silverish tint, as if it had been geniusly hand-crafted from slate, so long that it came close to sweeping the floor. His skin was surprisingly pale, making her wonder if he simmered in the sun instead of tanned. And although his facial features were a little gaunt, they befitted his lean and muscular structure in a way they could no one else.

'This is a man to behold,' Arianna said to herself. 'A purebred severely out of place among all the stray mutts in this part of town. I wonder if he's so regal because he was a king in a past life?' Then their eyes met, the stool came out from underneath her, and she toppled to the floor.

(Seph's PoV)

Sephiroth was utterly disgusted. Of all places, why here? He despised the small town of Nibelheim, with its small people with small intelligence and their SMALL way of thinking. It seemed as if Shinra had put him on metaphorical diaper duty. Well, he wouldn't have it! He was too good to wipe the asses of the lowly townsfolk. And besides, it wasn't like there weren't enough people to baby-sit that precious Mansion of Shinra's already.

No matter. At least he might receive a bit of relaxation time. But where would he rest for the time being? The Mansion had recently been put under construction, due to horseplay involving some SOLDIERS-in-training and a few explosives. And although Shinra pretended to worship him, this was just a convenient excuse to refuse bedding to someone of his status. He'd have to look elsewhere. It was still early into the night, and fatigue had not and most likely would not set in, but it would still be best to establish a temporary sleeping ground.

He turned his head east. The shabby hotel? Ha! He'd rather sleep outside on the dirt. In honesty, some of the run-down houses were in better condition. Sephiroth scanned through until he found the nicest-looking one. Ugh. Not much of an improvement. Ah, well, hopefully he wouldn't have to be here very long. He strode up to the door and knocked purposefully. Then he heard the clatter of smashing china and muffled shouting. He sighed. Maybe this was a mistake. But there was no turning back. In no way would he play doorbell ditch.

The door opened, revealing a dull-witted seeming man, stout, and at least eight inches shorter than Sephiroth's eye level. He had quite a bit of facial hair, consisting of an unkempt mustache and a scrubby stubble of a beard, neither of which made him anymore attractive. The "struck stupid" expression in his "hidden under bushman brows" eyes and square jaw didn't compliment his appearance either. Or his intelligence, for that matter.

"The Sephiroth! It's an honor, sir!"

Sephiroth smiled inwardly. Wonderful. The little man knew and adored him, apparently. This had been a mistake. What luck he was having lately. But he supposed it was better than nothing.

Trying to be polite and business like, Sephiroth cleared his throat, then declared, "I'm here on call from Shinra, since the Mansion is under construction as of late. But, as you must know, the hotels in the vicinity are not of the best quality. I was curious to see if you'd be so kind as to house me for the night."

At this the man looked shocked, but absolutely delighted.

"Of course, sir! But which room..." Then the man went somewhere else in his mind, mumbling that practically no room in the neighborhood was good enough to fit the hero standing in front of him. Sephiroth knew that nothing the man said was of any real importance, so he did not make any true point to listen. Instead, his eyes and ears started to focus in on other points of interest, such as the sound of wood scooting on tile, and a young girl sitting on the couch nearby.

She seemed emaciated, much too skinny to have eaten all the sweets that were left as empty wrappers on the table in front of her. She had the same jaw-dropped look her father had shown. Obviously, his adoration was a household idea.

Then something in the corner of his eye grabbed hold of his attention, and he reverted his gaze to see another girl sticking her head out of the kitchen doorway. But before he could assess her appearance, he saw her figure stumble, heard her squeal, then found her sprawled on the floor, trying to regain her senses. She had her head bowed, revealing nothing but her flowing ebony hair, as black as the deepest bowels of space.

Then she lifted her head, and Sephiroth was surprised to see a very intelligent-looking young woman, age around seventeen, or so he suspected. She had a naturally olive-toned complexion, and she appeared to be one of the lucky teenagers to have escaped the clutches of hormonal acne. Their eyes met again, and he was under the impression that her deep, dark irises were made of... chocolate. Very, very rich chocolate.

Her face suddenly turned crimson with embarrassment. Sephiroth smiled when he thought to himself, 'Redder than the red Materia.'

(Arianna's PoV)

Arianna could feel the blood rushing to her face. That couldn't have gone any worse. Lexi was laughing at her, her father had his hand pressed to his head in a gesture of shame, and even Sephiroth was smiling. Please no, was he laughing at her too? ...No, the humor in his eyes didn't seem the ridiculing type. In fact, his smile was quite intriguing. Only the corners of his mouth were raised, portraying that superiority factor again. And although his mouth exuded all the emotion needed, the rest of his face was impassive, without a single line to show that the smile was even there.

Oh, she had to get out. She had to get out of this horrible situation she got herself in. With as much speed as she could muster, Arianna got up, brushed herself off, and zoomed into the kitchen out of sight, all in one swift motion. She rested her head against the kitchen wall, shaking and still red. She wanted to laugh and cry all at once. She was in a hysteric of sorts, and she wasn't sure why. Sure, the stranger in her house was beautiful, and she had just made a fool of herself in front of him, and the world might stop turning if she didn't run her fingers through his hair... But that was no reason for her to flip out the way she was doing. And she was still blushing!

She sighed, and then she heard her father comment, "You'll have to excuse my daughters. Making me look bad in front of important people is one of their primary sources of entertainment." Making him look bad? Oh, perish the thought!

"Arianna, will you come in here so that you may show our honored guest to his room?"

She stuck her head out of the doorway in bewilderment. "Why me?"

(Seph's PoV)

Sephiroth became disgusted... again. The way this man acted was remarkable. His daughters making him look bad? He was pretty well doing a damn fine job of that himself. And when he called in the girl, and she "questioned his authority," he suddenly became indignant. He reminded Sephiroth of a cock with his breast feathers ruffled.

"Well," he began, his tone scorching, "It's the least you can do for interrupting our conversation."

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow. What conversation had that been? Then the little man turned to him, and spoke, automatically gracious again.

"You will be staying in the nicest room in the house, which is my daughter Lexi's room." The girl on the couch made a short, high-pitched sound, like that of a mouse's final squeak before being abruptly silenced by some predator. The other one had an odd little smirk on her face.

The man flushed, turning on his daughter, growling, "Lexi, there will be NO discussion! You can sleep with Arianna in her room."

Sephiroth noticed that the smirk vanished from the second girl's face.

"What!? Why can't she sleep on the couch!?" She seemed confounded, as if she was being convicted for a crime she had no part in. After twenty years of keeping his emotions in check, Sephiroth wasn't sure how to react to a house full of overly dramatic people. The flush on their father's face grew deeper, and it appeared that he had to apply some effort to keep from shouting. The man spoke again, through clenched teeth,

"Young lady, I said NO DISCUSSION. You know the couch is hard on Lexi's sensitive spine."

"She says..." Sephiroth heard the girl mumble, but apparently he was the only one who did. But then she straightened herself up, looked at him with a defeated, shy smile, and made the gesture for him to follow her.

"Please come with me," she grumbled in a tone of very little confidence. He walked behind her past the temperamental little man, and the skinny girl who seemed permanently immobile on the couch, up a narrow set of stairs where the ceiling was so low that ducking was not an option but a necessity, through a thin hallway with three doors, and through one of those doors into a surprisingly spacious room. And besides the hoard of stuffed animals in the corner and the feminine lavender paint on the walls, the room wasn't too shameful to stay in.

"I hope you find our modest conditions to your liking."

Sephiroth strode past the young woman into the stomach of the room, and took a good look at the bed. The frame was, actually, truly long enough for him to sleep in comfortably. He was pleasantly shocked. The sheets appeared full and silken, the pillows voluminous enough to signify bird down as their stuffing. "This will do fine, thank you."

He began to unholster his sword from his belt when he realized that the girl was still behind him, so he turned his head to glance back at her. Her head was cocked to the side, her gaze downward, and in her eyes were an expression that Sephiroth unfortunately was unable to read. But then she realized that he had caught her in the act of whatever she was doing, and corrected herself. She giggled, gave a feeble good night, and left the room, hurriedly closing the door behind her.

(Arianna's PoV)

Arianna was unimaginably embarrassed. She didn't seem to be functioning properly tonight. She replayed the last two minutes in her mind... Two minutes. Wow. Was that really how long it took before she screwed something up again?

She had been doing fine, showing the man up to where he could sleep, in Lexi's room, which had always been larger and nicer than her own. But just to make herself feel better, she said in a hostess sort of way, "I hope you find our modest conditions to your liking."

When he passed her to get a better look at the room, she happened to notice that the extension of cloth coming past his lower back that was part of his suit swept up at an angle. At that moment, there was only one thought inside her head, but it buzzed like an angry bumblebee: WHAT AN ASS!

But the second that she glanced back up, she saw that, to her disadvantage, he was staring straight at her. She giggled, feeling stupid, squeaked, "good night," and ran out. Now, she was down at the couch she chose to sleep on. Her father had departed to bed shortly after she came downstairs. And so had her sister. TO GO SLEEP IN HER ROOM!

She sighed, lying down on the couch to stare up at the ceiling. She had no idea why she couldn't do a thing right around this man. She had never felt such a strong physical pull toward anyone. And even though Sephiroth had a sense of beauty to him that was almost feminine, there was still no mistaking the verility in his figure and his manner. He was sexy, and it pissed her off that she couldn't manage to be sexy back.

Arianna tried her hardest to stay awake, but the longer she lie on the couch, the harder it became to keep her eyes open. Details vanished; colors began mixing until that beautiful green of Sephiroth's eyes was the last thing she saw before the black of a deep sleep.