The door creaked open and Sephiroth woke up. He opened one eye and saw Mr. Hoshi sitting down at his desk. Sephiroth smirked and pretended to be asleep again. His landlord started to go through some papers, muttering to himself all the while. A few minutes later the phone rang.
"Yes, I'm quite alright. Why wouldn't I be? A break in?" Sephiroth listened with interest. Talking about me? Mr. Hoshi looked around the room. "No, I don't think anything was taken. They did break in, you say? I don't see any signs of—" The phone clattered to the desk. Sephiroth rolled over and looked at Mr. Hoshi, who had started making strangled noises.
"Good morning Mr. Hoshi, I trust you've been well." His old landlord didn't answer but moved slowly back towards the phone. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. Just pick it up and tell them your safe was broken into." Mr. Hoshi's eyes flicked over to his safe in the corner. It was still shut and locked. He looked back at Sephiroth cautiously. "I haven't broken or taken anything. Just do as I say and no one will be hurt." Mr. Hoshi picked up the phone again.
"No inspector, I just noticed my safe has been broken into. Yes, yes, everything is gone. No, nothing else was damaged. Thank you. Goodbye." He hung up. "S..s..s..eph…"
"Sephiroth?" Sephiroth supplied. Mr. Hoshi gulped. "I'm in no condition to hurt you Mr. Hoshi." He pulled his trench coat open, exposing his scored flesh. Mr. Hoshi looked surprised, but remained silent and moved no closer. I suppose I have the reputation of being invincible... "I came back to Midgar and need living arrangements. Tell me, is my old apartment still open?" Mr. Hoshi sighed and seemed to collect his wits.
"Yes, General Sir. I've kept it empty for you since you left."
"I'm hardly a general anymore Mr. Hoshi, but thank you. What about my personal effects and storage?" Seeing the former general relaxed calmed the little man somewhat, and he continued:
"I have three boxes of your personal things Sir, but I'm afraid Shin-ra has your storage items." It was Sephiroth's turn to sigh. He rubbed his nose bridge.
"Well I guess that can't be helped. Will you bring my boxes down please?"
"Right away Sir!"
Mr. Hoshi scurried over to the stairs and disappeared. I hope there's a Cure materia in one of those boxes. I'd hate to have a scar and I'm not going to any doctor of Hojo's. Sephiroth wondered where Masamune was. Let's see, how did I get it last time? He hated trying to remember the last fight with Cloud. It was strangely foggy and mixed with Kadaj's memories as well. Sephiroth sat up, put his arms in the air and concentrated. Masamune, come to me. With a rush of greenish light the long sword appeared in his hands. Sephiroth smiled. At that moment, Mr. Hoshi came down the stairs. He yelped and fell on his face. Sephiroth laughed.
"I said you were safe Mr. Hoshi; here, let me help you with those." He tucked Masamune in his belt and carefully rose to help his landlord with the boxes.
Sephiroth was pleased. The three boxes yielded quite a few things including, a few pair of clothes, formal and informal, toiletries, a few books, weapons and armor, and most importantly, materia. The materia case was lying on the bottom of the second box. Sephiroth lifted it out and opened it. He looked slightly exasperated.
"What's wrong Sir?"
"Nothing's wrong Mr. Hoshi, they've just been breeding again."
"Breeding Sir?"
"Well, multiplying might be a better word; mastered materia create more un-mastered materia over time."
"Oh."
Sephiroth collected the 'baby' materia and put them aside. Then he smiled and pulled out his favorite materia, the fire materia. It was a dark green sphere, perhaps an inch and a half in diameter. Sephiroth attached it to Masamune's hilt. For later use… Now, where is my Cure materia? I thought it was in here. After a moment, Sephiroth found the light green materia attached to an armband. It came off with a click and he held it up and concentrated on the spell.
"Curaga."
Warm green light came off the materia and covered the wounds on Sephiroth's torso. He checked them after the spell dissipated; the gashes were gone, except for the largest. Try again… "Cure." Now the Omni-slash wound closed, but it left a four inch silver scar, that ran across the middle of his abs. "&#." Would it have scarred if I'd used the stronger spell again? Maybe it's because Cloud's run me through so many times, or the sword's magic…? It didn't matter. My coat will probably cover it anyway… "Speaking of which…"
"I'm sorry Sir?"
"Nothing Mr. Hoshi, just thinking aloud."
Mr. Hoshi seemed a bit more nervous now that Sephiroth had all his weapons, and full health. He had sat down on the couch and was watched Sephiroth cautiously again. Sephiroth went through the clothing that Mr. Hoshi had saved and found his spare trench coat. He put it on and was very satisfied when the scar wasn't visible at all. But what was better was my spare wallet. He found it in the concealed pocket of the black coat, and inside was several thousand Gil. Sephiroth pulled out a thousand and put it on his landlord's desk. "I think that should cover the apartment for awhile; keys?" Mr. Hoshi silently handed him the keys and Sephiroth took the boxes and went upstairs. Mr. Hoshi collapsed on the couch as soon as Sephiroth left the room.
"What a morning…" He did, however, take the Gil from the desk after a moment.