Chapter Three

"Can anyone -- anyone! -- tell me why I'm on the list of babysitters?" Sephiroth fumed.

"Well I'm not doing it!" Genesis snapped. "He can kiss my -"

"Maybe you should," Rufus Shinra interrupted, somewhat musingly. All eyes turned toward him. "I'll make sure that nothing happens to them," he assured the men, "but I'd feel safer knowing that they were in your care."

"You'll make sure?" Genesis snapped. "You didn't seem to do such a good job about making sure this didn't happen in the first place."

Rufus' face flushed. "He did this without consulting me," he answered tersely.

"And if he decides to...dispose of them without consulting you?" Genesis returned.

"That's where you three will be useful," Rufus answered. "None of the troops will dare supersede your authority...and you can keep them safe while I have a chance to talk sense to that...father of mine."

Sephiroth had listened glumly to these words, but at last nodded. "Right," he said. "But we might as well come to an understanding now, Genesis. I'm not a babysitter...not now, not ever. You got us into this...you can deal with the problem." With this, he rose and departed the room, without so much as a glance behind him.

"Well, now that we've got this all worked out," Rufus declared, himself rising, "I'll take my leave. Have a good day, gentlemen."

Genesis watched them go, his mouth agape with astonishment and anger. "Can you believe this?" he demanded of Angeal. "They're out of their minds if they think I'm having anything to do with this little scheme."

"Well, you heard what Rufus said," Angeal mused. "Maybe it would be better..."
"No!" Genesis exclaimed. "Absolutely not!"

* * *

"No!" Genesis practically shouted. "I mean it! I'm not playing nanny for any Wutai brats!"

Angeal sighed. When Genesis' mind was made up like this, there was little anyone could do to change it. And yet, he couldn't rest easy knowing that those poor kids -- alone, frightened, in an alien environment -- were going to be left in the hands of gods knew what kind of insensitive, uncaring foster parents.

"Anyway," Genesis snapped, unfastening the lock to his door, "why don't you take the morons in, if you're so worried about them?"

Angeal sighed again. "You know I can't do that, Genesis."

"Yes, because your place is such a fricking dump."

"Exactly," Angeal admitted. "I couldn't keep kids there…they wouldn't fit!" That was, of course quite true, as Angeal was notorious for his horrifically cluttered and unkempt house.

Genesis turned to scowl at him, and then turned the knob to his door. Suddenly, he froze. "Wait a minute," he said. "I forgot to lock this when we checked in on Azimawa earlier."

"Are you sure?" Angeal asked, not necessarily trusting the veracity of his friend's memory.

"Of course I'm sure!" Genesis hissed. Silently unsheathing his rapier, the redhead readied to enter his home. In a flash, the door was open, and he was inside.

"Sir!" a vaguely familiar voice greeted him. He saw a youngish blonde SOLDIER, his hair a peculiar spiked mass reminiscent of Zack's, standing there.

"Sky?" he ventured. "No, that's not it…" he realized as soon as he'd said it.

"Cloud, sir," the spikey haired youth answered. "Cloud Strife."

"Ahh yes." That's it…and what a horrible name it is, too. "Now, what in the name of President Shinra's teeth are you doing in my house?"

"Sir, the Vice President sent me here to deliver the children."

Genesis froze. "The…what?"

"The children: Yuffie Kisaragi, Grozni Kisaragi and Yukki Kisaragi. They're in the living room."

"You mean…you brought those animals into my house?!" Genesis practically roared.

Cloud stared, stunned, as the redhead tore past him, toward the living room. Bursting through the door, he ran smack dab into a good, solid kick. He felt himself flying backward, his chin throbbing, and landing hard against the floor.

"Take that, Shinra dog!" a high pitched, girlish voice called out. "Now, you willing to listen to reason, or do I have to get really tough with you?"

The next thing Genesis knew, he was lying on his back, staring into the impudent teenaged face of a young woman. "Who the fuck are you?" he asked. "And what the fuck are you doing in my house?"