When Sephiroth had told Zack that he had an important mission for him, a top-secret assignment that was vital to the future of the company, Zack hadn't expected this. People called in SOLDIERs for monster disposal, conquest of small countries, that kind of thing. They didn't rely on them to be babysitters.
As he considered some of the SOLDIERs he knew – Kunsel and his extensive porn collection among them - he thought that was probably a good thing.
But Zack had grown up in a small village and, naturally, had been relied on to watch children younger than himself more than once, so he was confident he could handle it.
"This is one of my little brothers, Yazoo," Sephiroth had said hurriedly, as he tried to bundle another child, a chubby toddler, into his outdoor clothes. "I'm taking Loz with me, so he shouldn't be too much trouble. Just remember, he's not an ordinary child. And don't let him wind you around his little finger, because he'll take shameless advantage of it."
Zack was amused. Everybody thought their kids were special, but he wouldn't have thought Sephiroth would fall prey to it. Of course, he wouldn't have thought Sephiroth had infant brothers in his apartment either, which explained the Top Secret part. The general liked to safeguard his privacy as much as possible, and the idea of Sephiroth as 'someone who liked kids' would probably have all of the SOLDIER fan-clubs going into a collective swoon. And he was pretty sure that the news would fail to strike fear into the hearts of ShinRa's enemies, too. They'd probably start planning kidnapping attempts.
That, Zack decided, explained why Sephiroth wanted a SOLDIER to babysit. He was there to protect a defenseless child from potential evildoers.
Still, he had to admit that Yazoo – and really, what kind of name was that for a kid? He'd have to talk to Sephiroth about that, because the poor boy was in for a world of teasing when he reached school – was adorable. At seven months, he still had the round, chubby features of a baby, with a little snub nose, and he peered up at Zack from under ridiculously long lashes a few shades darker than the fine, silvery hair atop his head.
"Aww, look at you," he cooed softly, not worried now his commanding officer was no longer there to see him acting goofy over a baby. "I bet you're a little angel."
It took less than an hour to figure out why everything under knee-height was reinforced.