Hello~ Welcome to a new fic! This time it is a Sephiroth/Genesis fic, as I came to appreciate this pairing as of late and Mary L. Murderprincess was so sweet as to start this collab with me^^ We hope you enjoy reading as much as we enjoyed writing! And we also would like to than aubrieta for the wonderful and thorough betaing, it was extremely helpful! *huggles*

Enjoy^^


Blitzkrieg

Chapter 1

The first thing he noticed as he entered the venerable, old stone building that housed the ShinRa Training Academy was not the dusty air ripe with exuberant blabbering, or the faint smell of testosterone from the new cadets who occupied the floor, talking amongst themselves. It wasn't the shiny, clean linoleum that coated the corridors, the sun flooding in through the high windows, nor the curious glances and hushed whispers that followed him as he walked serenely past their rows. He was used to being the center of attention, it didn't interest him enough to even spare them a glance.

At the tender age of 17, Sephiroth was something akin to a legend amongst the students and teachers already. A genius with the sword, he was precise, controlled, and deadly. Enrolling at the Academy to study was more of an annoying formality than something he actually needed. Sephiroth doubted that they could teach him anything here, but as it was, he had to abide by the rules. Becoming a general required that he attend classes and complete the semester, but to Sephiroth it meant little more than sitting in a room and being bored out of his wits. As if he didn't have more important things to do... He might have given a derisive snort but Sephiroth generally didn't waste energy on things like that. Instead, he strode through the crowded halls, head held high, his regal form straight , his long hair swaying with his steps.

It was when he finally reached his class room, half filled with students already, that something other than his own problems caught his attention, something extraordinarily... red. Sephiroth didn't slow his pace as he made his way to the farthest seats, but his eyes were now fixated on the young man in red sitting by the high window.

It wasn't that he didn't want to be here. It was Genesis' dream after all, to become a soldier, to become a hero. Ever since he had played with Angeal between the high apple trees of Banora, he had been dreaming of a world beyond the smell of green grass and fresh apple-pie, far away from the boring country life. Now that he was actually here at the Academy and had taken the first steps toward his dream, he was pissed beyond belief.

This was actually Genesis' and Angeal's first time away from home, something embarrassing enough in itself at the age of nearly 18, but he hadn't expected the city life to be this... peculiar. He did like it, in fact, but the other students already bothered him to no end with their foolish talk and rude behavior.

"Hey, look what that guy looks like!"

'Ha ha, how funny,' Genesis thought, crossing his arms in front of his chest and staring stubbornly ahead.

Angeal, next to him, gave him a sympathetic look. Angeal was never the one being picked on, he was too intimidating, even though you couldn't be frightened of him at all once you got to know him.
But Genesis... oh, he was the perfect victim. Easy to irritate, rather delicately built and lean and, above all, very striking. He always told himself that if he had wanted to make them back off, he could have done it, but in reality, he had stopped believing this some time ago.

"Come on, Genesis. It'll get better, you will see," Angeal told him in a low voice, petting his shoulder with his heavy hand as Genesis felt his whole body shake with the movement. He sighed exaggeratedly just as he saw a flash of silver at the edge of his vision. Curious as always Genesis turned his head to see what exactly had caught his attention and his mouth went dry.

It was Sephiroth himself, staring right back at him with his emerald eyes.

'Oh gods, this day couldn't get any worse!'

Sephiroth graced the redhead with a assessing look from above that could have been interpreted as conceited. The general aura of superiority that naturally exuded from the young man gave his every action the air of an ice prince.

Now this other boy, the red one, seemed the complete opposite: he was fiery and warm, passionate and emotional. Sephiroth could see it all in his expressively narrowed eyes and the grand gesture with which he had folded his arms before his chest. It was a tense, daring kind of stance.
Well, Sephiroth would have been tense and defensive as well what with that outrageous outfit. At least Red provided a little break from the boring, painfully mediocre rest of their class – whom had become utterly silent, watching the two of them with curiosity.

The silver haired man let his eyes glide from Genesis' figure impassively. He could become an interesting distraction every now and again, but Sephiroth doubted that the guy'd make it here for a significant amount of time. He was a country boy, apparently, and before long he'd be on his way back, terrified of the cruel, big city for the rest of his provincial life.

Not that Sephiroth cared.

Dourly, Sephiroth sat down, crossing his arms in an, 'I do not wish to be bothered and if you value your front teeth you'll stay far, far away from me,' manner, erecting impenetrable walls around him that deterred everyone from even attempting to look his way.

The redhead could nearly smell the presumption radiating from this man, he who had achieved fame even in a backwater town like Banora. Sephiroth, ShinRa's prized soldier. The magazines were full of futile information about him, like what his favorite food was, what girls he liked, what color, what drink, what, what, what. Genesis disliked him because the guy had everything he wanted. He wanted to be the hero that Sephiroth apparently seemed to be, and he wanted to be as talented with a sword as Sephiroth was. Genesis was used to getting what he wanted and he would make it in this Academy, even if it was the last thing he did on Gaia.

Bristling, he turned away from the silver-haired male, sending him a last challenging look before returning his attention to the back of the chair in front of him and burning holes into the cheap plastic with his smoldering gaze. Oh, how he didn't like Sephiroth, especially the way the man treated everyone like an inferior. Genesis knew that they were inferior in comparison to Sephiroth, and so he couldn't help but wonder why the great swordsman was even here, sitting in a muggy class room with all the lowly boys he so obviously couldn't stand.

Genesis also knew that what he had just done was an atypically bad idea, even for him. Antagonizing one of the most dangerous men on Gaia, if not the most dangerous one, didn't seem to be an exceptionally brilliant flash of genius after all, but Genesis wouldn't be himself if he backed off now. That was absolutely out of question.

And he had Angeal, hadn't he?

In turn, Sephiroth just lifted a brow, thinking to himself that this peculiar young man was quite irritable. It wasn't as if he had done anything to the redhead, but maybe he was waspish in general. Sephiroth mentally shrugged it off, deciding that he couldn't be bothered and then it was time to pay attention anyway, because the door was closed with a loud bang and their teacher had walked up to the front desk. Actually, waddled would have been a more fitting description.

The man who had come to introduce them to the general affairs of their school life was older and quite corpulent. He would have appeared jovial with his dark gray hair, round belly, slightly dirty lab coat and screamingly orange shirt underneath, if it hadn't been for his absolutely unenthusiastic, downright ill-tempered, accusing stare.

The students scurried to their seats, sitting down and remaining stock-still, only a restrained cough from the back cutting through the thick, expectant silence.

Their teacher had reached the table, smashed down the stack of papers he'd been carrying under his arm and caused the front row to jump simultaneously at the deafening sound. The man graced them with a peeved glare and then abruptly turned around, reaching for the chalk to write in spidery letters onto the blackboard:

Doctor Hollander

Turning back to the classroom, he started to holler his introduction with a booming, deep voice. That was also the moment when Sephiroth stopped listening. He knew about the rules, which were quite trivial anyway, and didn't need to hear them again. Instead, his mind and gaze drifted off, caught by a sparkly earring that was attached to a certain redhead and that was too big to not be distracting.

Genesis felt a strange sensation at the back of his head right after their teacher had entered the room. The man reminded him of the father he had never had; he looked unhurried, down to earth somehow, not snotty like his own dad always was.

Shaking his head he tried to get rid of that idea. He couldn't afford to be lost in thought right from the start, he needed to concentrate – which had always been his problem, Genesis was so easy to distract. Now, the feeling of being watched made goose bumps grow up and down his back, made the thin hairs at his neck stand up. Genesis tried to focus, but it was simply not possible. He turned his head slowly, trying to catch what or who was looking at him with such an intense gaze that he practically felt it.

When he – again – caught a flash of silver hair, with green eyes staring at him, he wasn't able to hide his disarray. Why the hell was Sephiroth staring at him?

A loud bang, a clash of metal against metal, made him jump right out of his seat and turn back, facing Doctor Hollander, who examined him closely over the rim of his glasses.

"Is there anything more interesting than this general briefing, Mister Rhapsodos?"

The loud noise also caused Sephiroth to flinch and turn his attention back to their instructor, whose gaze slowly wandered from the redhead to their most prized student.

Sephiroth met his sharp gaze with mild disinterest that was masked by polite aloofness. He had never liked Hollander and he suspected that Hollander detested him, merely because of the fact that Sephiroth had chosen Professor Hojo as his physician (in hindsight he had to admit that this hadn't been one of his wiser decisions, but the damage was already done).

Before Genesis got a chance to reply to Hollander's rhetorical question, the man wandered up to them, hands clasped behind his back, a faintly sadistic smile on his dry lips.

"You seem to have taken quite an interest in Mr. Rhapsodos, Sephiroth." All heads turned towards the silver haired man who refused to be embarrassed and simply displayed a blank expression, blinking as if unfazed. Which he was. He had no interest in the redhead at all. Only his infuriating earring.

Genesis, on the other hand did blush, even though he didn't want to. Men didn't blush, but he felt the familiar heat rise to his face, heard his blood rushing and he could almost taste his embarrassment. Abso-fucking-lutely brilliant. Why did he have to make a fool of himself – and the most dangerous man here – right on the first day? It was just his luck, he guessed. Bet on Genesis to put his foot in it.

"I suggest that you save your blooming feelings of camaraderie for a more appropriate point in time. You two will be sharing a room, after all." Hollander deadpanned, teetering a bit on his heels with obvious satisfaction, as he knew that Sephiroth had applied for a single room.

"But…" Genesis started, but did not get all too far because Hollander had already turned around again, giving him a stern but far friendlier look than he had seen him do with Sephiroth. Genesis frowned at that.

"No buts Mr. Rhapsodos." End of discussion. Dr. Hollander's tone and gaze left no space for any comment, even from Genesis, so he just closed his mouth and stared at the man with something akin to amazement.

"So, now… since we've already started dividing you into roommates…" He went on, walking back towards the front of the class room, ranting on and on about how important it was to get along with their room and class mates, especially on missions, and Genesis noticed how the doctor shot Sephiroth blatantly warning glances every now and then. Unfortunately, he could not see what the silver-head's reaction was, but he thought he could imagine it. It was not that hard.

Angeal, next to him, nudged him softly to draw his attention back to the topic at hand, sparing him a second awkwardness in only some minutes. He threw him a thankful look, but Angeal looked pleased, even if his face was turned towards their teacher. They knew each other just that well.

Of course the most recent events didn't do anything to lift Sephiroth's mood. He sat through the rest of the class tight-faced, trying to not let on how much Hollander's ludicrous power games really peeved him.

When the class finally ended and Hollander had released them to go to their rooms to unpack their stuff, Sephiroth stood, walking out of the room with sharp strides. He had to inspect his new living situation, which lay at the very end of the building, meaning that it would take forever to go anywhere! The room that he had previously been promised (the single room), had been close to all the facilities and, on top of that, Sephiroth would have had his own shower.

When he opened the door to his new home the smell of sweaty socks hit his delicate nose with full force, causing him to blink and wrinkle his features in disgust.

This was absolutely unacceptable !

Flipping his cell phone open Sephiroth dialed the number of his superior, pacing the small room that basically consisted of two old beds on opposite sides, two scratched and blotted desks and a wardrobe.

"This is Sephiroth, I need to talk to Tseng, immediately," he curtly ordered into the phone, rubbing his forehead as he stared out the window where he was graced with the sight of a long row of muddy gray restrooms instead of the lovely greenery that he was supposed to see!

"Tseng speaking. What is it, Sephiroth?"

"I am calling because of my room-"

"Ah yes, Hollander informed me already," Tseng impatiently interrupted as he was apparently kind of busy. "I approve of it, even though I must say that it wasn't easy to get you the privileges you are abandoning now. But it will be a moral booster for the other recruits to have you with them, so you can change rooms."

"Bu-"

"I said I approve. If there's nothing else I'll leave the rest to you, I am very busy at the moment."

Sephiroth's expression turned even darker, but he knew better than to get on Tseng's nerves when the man was stressed. "No sir. Thank you sir."

He flipped his phone shut with a scowl, and turning around towards the door, he stiffened. There was the redhead with his duffel bag, occupying the door way.

Sephiroth wondered how long he'd been standing there already, but Genesis' blue-gray eyes roamed the room lazily as the other students shuffled around, getting their stuff and hurrying to their rooms.
No, Genesis was certainly not eager to get to his room and make 'happy-friends' with his roommate. He doubted that Sephiroth would be any different in private from how he was in public; he did not seem to be that kind of guy. He sighed. This was going to be a pain in the ass; he had hoped to bunk with Angeal, it was what he was used to, Angeal was what he was used to.

Sephiroth certainly was not what he was used to. He was the complete opposite of his childhood friend.

Angeal had always accepted him for who he was even if Genesis was bitchy, girly and a true drama queen from time to time. The dark haired young man had rarely, if ever, complained about Genesis' antics, but the red-head just knew that he wouldn't get along with Sephiroth because he was obviously not as clement as Angeal. But Genesis wouldn't change for some sniffy dickhead just because he was a better soldier… at the moment.

He hadn't even noticed that he had gotten up to join Angeal at the door, chatting idly with him until they had to part. Just then he had realized that he had absolutely no idea where his room was. The only clue he had was the sheet of paper in his hands with a rather confusing map printed in way too tiny letters and a bright yellow 'x' marking his destination, while a red 'x' marked his current position. This was way too much like a military operation just yet. This just sucked BIG time and was no fun at all.

After a hideous odyssey through seemingly endless halls, passing numerous doors, but no people at all, he had finally stood in front of the door that was marked with the right combination of ciphers. Awesome, he had finally done it. Without a second thought Genesis had opened the door, but froze dead in the doorway when he came face to face with silver and green again.

Sephiroth hadn't seemed to notice him just then as he was on the phone. His grim expression told even Genesis that it was something that wasn't exactly good news to the other. The red head felt a pang of sympathy for the taller man, but he pushed it away angrily. This man, guy, boy, whatever, was supposed to be his rival; he shouldn't feel any sympathy for him at all.

Being lost in thoughts as he was, Genesis did not notice that Sephiroth's piercing eyes were suddenly focused on him. The phone was closed, the conversation had obviously ended and Genesis felt the heat creep up his neck again. It irritated him that Sephiroth was able to take him by surprise; he shouldn't be able to do that.

"What?" He hissed grumpily, crossing his slender arms in front of his chest in a rather defensive posture.

Sephiroth just continued watching him closely and Genesis suddenly felt very small under his superior stare. He hated feeling small. And he did what he always did when he felt small. He got upset.

"Stop fucking staring at me…"

Sephiroth's left eye twitched marginally. How he detested peasants and their unpolished, rude attitudes... But, as it was, he had to live with this guy from now on, until next year at least. Then he would get his wonderful, single room back or die trying!

Practical as he was Sephiroth assessed that, until then, they had to get along somehow. There would be a lot of avoidance involved from his side, of course. At this he was a professional, after all. Smoothing his expression into a blank one, he straightened.

"My apologies. I did not intend to stare." Even though he didn't expect the other to take it, he held out his hand. If the brat refused then that was his own problem, no one could say that Sephiroth hadn't tried. With a superior look he went on with the utterly redundant introduction.

"My name is Sephiroth, SOLDIER Second Class. You might have heard of me." His eyebrow arched ever so slightly. "And with whom do I have the pleasure of living?"

Genesis eyed the taller man suspiciously. He had seen him react to his rude behavior for no more than mere seconds and this was certainly not what the redhead had expected. Normally people would get all bitchy on him, especially ones like Sephiroth. But he had obviously underestimated the silver swordsman, he had not been given all of this praise without a reason; Sephiroth was definitely trying to be professional with him.

How Genesis hated people who treated him as an inferior and Sephiroth was definitely trying to do that now. Genesis was not easy to intimidate and he would show the silver haired soldier who he was dealing with.

"Genesis," he said lowly, crossing his arms in front of his chest and crooking his hip to the side.
"Genesis Rhapsodos, SOLDIER Third Class. And yes, I certainly have heard of you… not that I can really understand all the hype that is going on about your person, if I might say so." He smirked cockily, while turning his head sideways. "But of course, as any professional SOLDIER, you would not care about what other people think about you, am I correct?"

He could show his well educated side if he wanted to, but normally he was used to rebelling against his parents by trying to forget his straight and boring upbringing.

Slowly, Sephiroth withdrew his rejected hand, eyes narrowing.

"That is quite correct." the silver haired man replied loftily, as if Genesis' opinion really didn't matter at all, though his eyes went from a deep sea green to hard jade. "I do not care about the opinions of people who have just met me for 3 seconds and know nothing about me, yet are arrogant enough to judge me already."

"Ah," Genesis scoffed lowly, "Well I certainly was not the one walking around like the earth belonged to me all alone. Even though I have to admit I like doing that as well. But never mind… it's not like you would care at all, right?" His lips twitched into a fake smile as he stressed the word 'care' for Sephiroth to get what he meant.

Taking his backpack, he walked towards the sleeping area, head held high, trying to get rid of the strange feeling in the pit of his stomach. He would beat ShinRa's greatest SOLDIER, even if it was the last thing he'd do.

"There is nothing wrong with the way I walk," Sephiroth replied, inwardly frowning. Who did this brat think he was? He ought to have respect for his superiors, because in all actuality Sephiroth was of higher rank (and it wasn't his fault that his superiors had somehow forgotten to mention that Sephiroth had to take this class to make SOLDIER First Class and that he was now stuck with insolent peasants! And besides, he was walking normally!)

"And by the way, this is my bed. Take the other one."

Sephiroth didn't know why, but he felt that he had to prove his point here (namely being the one who was in charge) and he would teach Genesis to bow to the proper discipline. It was a power game, a thing Sephiroth usually despised and was far above, but for some reason this guy just managed to push his buttons so, which in turn annoyed Sephiroth even more. He never lost his cool, something he was infamous for, but he sure as hell wouldn't let Genesis get the better of him!

"Nah, of course you walk normally, like every other normal human being." Genesis threw a daring smirk over his shoulder before he slumped down on the bed Sephiroth had just pointed out was his.

"And what if I like this one better than the other and want to have it?"

He bent down to open the leather straps of his high black boots, pealing them off his legs before settling on his bed, crossed legged and definitely not willing to move an inch from here even if it was just to annoy the silver haired SOLDIER. During the past few minutes, Genesis had developed an odd, suicidal desire to make Sephiroth show emotion, to make him loose his cool, aloof attitude and to prove everyone wrong. He wanted to know that he was indeed only human, even though a lot of people doubted it. Oh yes, and the one emotion Genesis had always been able to provoke easily was anger.

'Perhaps this is not the best idea,' a tiny voice in his head told him, pointing out that Sephiroth still was superior to him, not only by rank but also strength and knowledge. Normally, Genesis valued his life enough not to risk it so easily, but he doubted Sephiroth would kill him just because of a little teasing.

"Then you have a problem."

Sephiroth' s tone was flat, hard and utterly unamused.

"I will get my personal belongings now. When I come back I expect my bed to be empty."

The SOLDIER turned and abruptly left the room, barely able to conceal his rising temper. It was due to his iron will that Genesis wasn't a bloody smear on the wall by now. That guy was just too insolent for his own good, which actually reminded Sephiroth a lot of a particular little someone...

Once he was outside the room he inwardly sighed and shook his head, the tension bleeding slowly from his body. It was replaced by another kind of annoyance: mild frustration at himself for letting his buttons be pushed.

As he walked down the sun flooded and noisy halls the young man swore to himself that he wouldn't let that happen again. In fact, it was quite unusual for anyone to get under his skin these days and to think that this loudmouthed brat had managed... He must be overworked.

Grabbing his stuff that had neatly been placed by the door of his beloved single room, and that now obviously housed another very happy inhabitant (judging from the loud cheering that wafted through the closed door), Sephiroth went back to his unloved roommate, his back straight, shoulders stiff and lips pressed into a thin, fiercely determined line.

While Sephiroth got his stuff Genesis actually considered getting up and being out of Sephiroth's way once he was back because the man had seemed deadly serious about it. But if he backed away now, he would ensure that Sephiroth would never see him as equal. And that was the last thing he wanted to risk.

So he stayed where he was, inwardly afraid of his roommate's temper and the situation to come.

Genesis drew his duffel bag closer, emptying it on the bed and making a mess before he roamed through it and finally got his hands on his most prized book, Loveless. Oh, it would have a special place, right next to the bed on the nightstand, so he could read it whenever he felt like it.

Only moments later he heard the door open and close again. He looked up at once, his gaze partly mocking, yet partly afraid of what was to come.

Sephiroth did not look amused and his eye twitched, a vein popping on his forehead when he entered their room and found that Genesis had not only not left his bed but on the contrary, had littered it with his rubbish.

Flexing his fingers the silver haired man resisted the sheer, overwhelming urge to grab him by the collar and shake the dumbness out of hi-

Or maybe not.

Suddenly he found himself standing close to the red-haired brat and before he knew it, he had the boy in his grasp and had flung him to the bed opposite his.

Sephiroth blinked, but then he straightened and relaxed the scowl that had crept onto his usually smooth features.

Well.

It was the brat's own fault.

It wasn't like Sephiroth hadn't warned him or anything. Turning back to HIS bed Sephiroth started to let Genesis´ belongings follow, throwing them over his shoulders, one after another.

"It seems that you are not only annoying but painfully slow as well," he intoned coolly as item after item flew at the redhead, landing on the mattress with soft thuds. As his fingertips brushed over old leather he stopped though, taking a closer look.

Loveless?

Sephiroth snorted.

Genesis wasn't quite able to follow what Sephiroth was doing, totally stunned by the silver-haired's act of violence. He sat there, on his – no, Sephiroth's – bed, blinking in a confused manner and without really noticing the other man's actions before his brain was able to comprehend the situation.

Sephiroth had… thrown him… across the room… from the bed… HIS bed. Sephiroth was throwing his precious stuff, Genesis' most precious items… Who did the arrogant dumbass think he was? Treating Genesis like this…

Gritting his teeth together, he tried to keep his temper, tried to not worsen the situation, but when Sephiroth dared to touch his Loveless, dared to laugh about it, dared to even look at it, he snapped.

"If I were you, I'd lay that down… or you'll regret it, Sephiroth…" he said lowly, spitting out the other's name with venom, a dangerous tone lingering in his voice, his eyes ablaze with anger and annoyance. Genesis stood up and crossed the room with long, graceful strides, reaching out to grab Loveless from the swordsman's hands.

Sephiroth turned, very slowly lifting a silver brow. He was the very image of Unimpressed.

"Is that so," he almost drawled, taking a perverted delight in withdrawing the book at the last second and holding it out of Genesis' reach like a big bully stealing candy from a small, crying child.

Not that he would have minded seeing the brat cry; there was a sadistic streak tightly interwoven with Sephiroth's personality and it always showed when he was stressed. (which was why the people surrounding him usually tried to keep his stress levels down with supreme effort)

"I'll tell you what…" His lips stretched into a thin smile that didn't reach his eyes as he leaned a bit forward, again as if he was talking to a child. He could feel the rising ire within Genesis hit his skin in hot waves and Sephiroth greedily absorbed it.

"…If you promise to be a good boy now and stay on your side of the room, I might consider returning this heap of drivel back to you."

Genesis gaped at him for a moment, disbelief written all over his face when Sephiroth held the book out of his reach, telling him to behave like a fucking dog. He was taking Loveless – Loveless of all of Genesis' possessions – from him and he was obviously enjoying the red-head's anger.

"If you promise to return it to me now, I might consider letting you live for a moment longer," the shorter man snapped, reaching out one last time to grab the book Sephiroth was holding in his – according to Genesis – filthy hands, that were definitely not allowed to touch Loveless at all.

"That is extraordinarily generous of you, but I think I will decline." He still held the book, flicking it open with his thumb, and browsed the pages briefly with his gleaming eyes.

"When the war of the beasts brings about the world's end
The goddess descends from the sky
Wings of light and dark spread
afar
She guides us to bliss, her gift everlasting " he recited, his deep voice dripping with unconcealed mockery. Then he snapped it closed.

"On second thought it really isn't worth the drama. Go fetch, boy." And with that he threw the book out of the askew window, not smiling anymore.

At all.

tbc?


So, what do you think so far? Was that something you would like to read more of? Please tell us^^


Sephiroth: BMIK

Genesis: Mary L. Murderprincess


Disclaimer: All characters mentioned in this fanfiction belong to SquareEnix and we are not making any money from it because we are nice people and no one would pay us anyways.