Chapter Two
For a moment I was afraid that he wasn't taking to me well, but then again I could hardly tell. His expression was harder to read than a rock's and aside from the snide comments thrown in about Zack, his voice didn't give much away either. I knew from that moment that he would be a hard one to figure out.
He stood and walked over to me, with no bounce or any sort of enthusiasm in his step, still holding the rolled up papers he had apparently been trying to work on before we came into his office. His demeanor was much unlike his second in command. He motioned for me to stand, and without thinking I did. His commands were the ones that your mind doesn't even have to comprehend for your body to respond.
"Hmm…hold your arm out. Your right one." He requested and I did as told. "That's your weak arm isn't it?"
"Yes."
"Good, then we'll have to work that one a bit more. Now turn around, face your back to me."
I felt him place his palm on my back between my shoulders and my face flushed, with great luckiness that he couldn't see it. His large hand was cold against my back and his thumb found a particularly awkward spot between my shoulder blades.
"That's why you've got an awkward posture. Uneven muscle build. Zack will have to fix you on that."
I said nothing but in my mind I was trying to figure out why he was…well inspecting me so intently. I noticed Zack at my side and he leaned close to my ear and I could feel his breath on the side of my face as he whispered to me.
"Don't mind him, he does this to everyone. Even me. Be thankful, he scrutinized me a lot harsher. He's a bit anal about this kinda thing. No pun intended." His smile disappeared with a yelp as the rolled up papers flogged him twice in the head.
"Go sit your ass back on my desk before I beat you senseful." Sephiroth threatened with a sliver of amusement, but it was hard to pick up in his monotone voice. He focused back on me. "Now, there'll be a lot of work we'll have to do with you…But you may be worth my time…"
"Take that as a compliment!" Zack whispered rather loudly, only to receive a daring glare from Sephiroth.
"I'll have to assign you a living space. Unfortunately the only one we have available on this floor…is in Reno's apartment. He has a room unoccupied…"
"Oh boy…" Zack added, nonchalantly.
"What's wrong with that?" I asked, apparently I was missing something.
"We'll show you." Sephiroth motioned in the direction of the door, before throwing the papers back on the desk and leading me out. "Zack, hurry the fuck up."
"Hey, you didn't say I had to go too…" The black haired youth followed afterward, seeming rather hesitant as we entered the elevator.
"Reno's apartment is on the 46 floor…which is where you will be." The General hit the button taking us down a dozen or so floors. I spaced out until I heard the ding and the doors slide open. Sephiroth pushed Zack out with a single kick of his leather boot and I quickly followed suit in making an exit, not wanting to be on the receiving end of the General's annoyance.
Both of them seem to slow down once we started to get closer I guess. We stopped before a room that held the numbers 46-143. And written in red permanent marker under that was the name: 'Reno'.
Sephiroth moved toward and hesitantly opened the door, knowing that the chances of it being locked were probably small. He pushed the door open and stepped in pulling me with him.
"Welcome to what we've dubbed 'Reno's ungodly clusterfuck.' We've had people transfer out of here in order to get out of having to room with Reno…"
I nearly stopped breathing when I saw what he meant by clusterfuck. It was the single most unclean living establishment I'd ever seen. The kitchen…Let's not even go there and the rest of the modest condo was strewn with clothes, papers, cans and liqueur bottles, and reeked of it too. There were weapons assorted in random locations and items, that I didn't know what they were, everywhere too. It was insane how a person could live like this.
"Honestly, I think Reno's smart." I looked over at Zack with a look that must have spelled 'how the fuck can you say that?!' And he continued, "He's just making sure no more people come in and get in the way. Heh, living here with Reno's just not worth getting barely noticed by Seph."
"What are you going on about, you idiot?"
"Oh come on Sephiroth! You know that boy's out to get you! You can't even tell me you don't see it, as impassive and inhuman as you act, you have to notice the fact that that Turk is all but stalking you."
"Oh you haven't the slightest clue." The very faint smile shone in the man's eyes, even if you couldn't see it on his face, you knew mentally that it was there.
"Oh my god, Seph! Don't even tell me you…Oh you slut!"
"Hey, I don't know what you're thinking but I most certainly did not!" A growl came from the General who also sent a deadly glare to Zack.
"I know…I just like to rattle your cage."
"I seriously need to kill you."
"Hey…what the hell is going on here? Oh…Hey there General!" We turned simultaneously to see the redheaded Turk leaning on the frame in the doorway to his 'clusterfuck' of an apartment. How he'd gotten there without anyone noticing is beyond me. It must be that 'Turk stealth'. He had a sly grin as he looked over Sephiroth. "Long time no see…"
"Yes, hello to you too Reno. You're ever the flirtatious little brat of a Turk I've always known you as."
"Oh come on, there General, you don't mean that. But aside from all that what are you doing here? Usually I have to stalk you to get any quality time. You showing up in my apartment while I'm not here is a first."
"You have a new roommate who will be living in your free room. And don't even give me that pouty fucking face again…I'm not gonna let you drive out another good Soldier."
"Shit…I gotta take the awkward runt here?" Reno looked me over; apparently he also noticed that I was standing 'inelegantly' as Sephiroth had obliquely put it.
"Yes, and no you will not threaten him. Evidently he's supposed to show serious promise. I won't know until tomorrow, but you're going to behave…unlike how like you typically act." Sephiroth moved closer to Reno and looked down at the man who couldn't have been much older than me. He lifted Reno's head with a gloved hand to meet gaze with him and I could see Reno all but melting against that stare. "Understood?"
"Crystal clear, your mighty sexiness…."
"Good, and quit calling me that."
"As you wish, hot stuff."
Sephiroth made no change in expression before he turned and walked toward the door, pulling me with him and Zack too. "He'll be back to take over your hell hole of living space later, now I don't want to see your face around me until I bring him back, Reno." He didn't wait for an answer. He simple slammed the door closed and continued to walk toward the elevator.
"Oh and I might warn you. Stoic as the man can be, he does have a fiery temper…Did I tell you this already? I don't remember. But one of the few things that makes him angry are when people touch him, or he has to touch people." Zack whispered to me, watching Sephiroth walk way ahead of us.
"Then why did he touch Reno's face like that?"
"Reno would all but DIE to get Seph to pay any attention to him at all. Reno's easy manipulated by Seph and that simple touch was to make sure that Reno abided with what he said…"
"I thought Reno was a Turk? We share living quarters with Turks?" I asked, already more confused than I should have been.
"Well that's a tough thing to explain really. The top floor of this building is where the President resides. The 69th is Seph's floor, and the rest of the people take the remaining. It all depends on the president who lives in the building. It just so happens that we have some Turks in here too…"
"Where do you live?"
"Oh I reside in the building on the other side of the ShinRa complex. But most of the time I crash in Seph's suite, because I know that deep down in that half non-existent heart he loves me!"
"Hold your breath on that Zack and see what happens." That deep voice echoed down the hall to us and we both looked up to see Sephiroth waiting for us by the elevator. "Nice to know you think I can't hear you."
"Oh I always know you can hear me…Hell I have a firm believe that you can read my mind too, but I know when to stay out of arms reach…Heh, I at least want a point five seconds time to think before you slaughter me, should I say something wrong."
"You have a brain after all."
"Though let's just hope that you can't read my mind…It might be awkward if you could suddenly pick up on all the weird things I think about doing to you…" The second in command poked with a joking tone.
"You are a pervert Zack, but I expect nothing less from you."
"I thought you were trained to think of only three things…Battle, war, and ShinRa. You know for being Mister cold as ice, you sure do have a lot of insults bottle up in you." He was teasing now, but there was a familiarity in that teasing that made me wonder.
"I've saved them in my memory database for later use because I knew somewhere along the lines I'd be stuck with someone like you."
"Ouch…that was just cold Sephy…" He paused and looked up at Sephiroth once he realized the mistake he made. Zack hung his head before pushing me away from him and I watched from against the wall as Zack received Sephiroth's fist in his gut and judging from the massive gasp emitting from the black haired man, I'd say it smarted.
Sephiroth said nothing as he walked away. The look of anger that had flashed in those brief seconds had disappeared back into his mask of indifference. He dropped his eyes from my gaze almost as if shamed in some way. My eyes followed him as he walked into the elevator and punched the button without looking up. Once he disappeared from sight I kneeled down by Zack who has slumped to the floor.
"Hey are you okay?" I asked.
"Yeah…fuck man…He's got a punch…"
"Why did he do that?"
"Because I called him 'Sephy'. There's your tutorial of what not to do…"
"Well I figured that already," I rolled my eyes. "But why does he hate it so damn much?"
"You ask a lot of questions don't you? You better be thankful he's been in a good mood…up until now that is…" He sighed, pulling him self to his feet with my help of course. "He hates that name because that's what Hojo used to call him."
"The professor?"
"Yeah. Hojo apparently put Seph through the most horrible shit as a child. He's never told me, but you can tell just by the way his demeanor drops. I swear, I think Sephiroth has split personality. He's real nice once you've cracked the outer shell…But man that a hard thing to accomplish…He's like a block of never melting ice."
"Sounds like there's more to him than he seems…"
"You haven't the slightest clue…Sad to say I get the feeling I don't understand him nearly as much as Reno does…I don't like it, but then again I've never been through the shit those two probably have…"
"You know Zack…I may ask a lot of questions…But you sure as hell give the answers in a heartbeat."
"I'm a nosy bastard, I gotta know the answers." He snickered to himself as he motioned toward the elevator. "Now hopefully Seph will calm down a bit and he'll be approachable… However if when we get to the lobby everything is going up in flames…then it's safe to say he's still upset…"
"That's a real positive way to look at it…"
"Hey I'm being realistic here…"
We entered the elevator and followed Sephiroth to the lobby floor. It seemed that both of us held our breaths when the door opened. There was no burning anything, nor were there any signs of hostility at all. Zack placed a hand on the elevator door and hesitantly peeked his head out only to have a cascade of water splash him in the face. He shivered and I peeked out to see the General standing there, face impassive save for a small smirk, and holding an empty bucket that dripped water on the floor by his feet.
"Consider yourself owned."
"You are just evil…" Zack shivered exiting the elevator. "And since when the hell have you developed a sense of humor."
"I've been around you for far to long now, and you know how the old adage goes 'stupidity is contagious.'"
"Will you ever be nice to me?"
"Shall I spare your feelings or put it bluntly? Ah, fuck your feelings. The day I start being nice to you is the day I fuck Reno in broad daylight with the entire population of this building as the audience."
"That would be hot…"
"ZACK."
"Kidding!" Zack stuck his tongue out and shook the water out of his black hair. He leaned back to me and gave a smirk. "I know deep down inside Seph really does cherish my presence."
"What are you smoking, Zack?"
"…Or maybe that's just my wishful thinking…"
I shook my head and smiled. Perhaps these people weren't bad…I mean I knew it would be nerve wracking being a First Class Soldier and all, but it made things much easier when the General's own 'sidekick' could act like that and not get dead. Originally I was more afraid of how it would be working for The Sephiroth, the renowned god of war, but I felt a slight bit more at ease as I lingered around the two.
There were still things that aroused my curiosity. What kind of person was Sephiroth? And just how much of himself would he show?
To be Continued…