AHHHHH!!!! Chapter four!

Thank you all so much! If I had time on these computers, I would list every one of you, but as it is, I can only post from school, and I only have a limited amount of time. I'll find a way to thank everyone specificly, but it will take a while. In the meantime, enjoy this chapter.

DISCLAIMER- I DO NOT OWN FINAL FANTASY

Reno and Zack's punishment is briefly mentioned, but we get to see the extent of it next chapter.

Pairing: SephirothxCloud eventual SephirothxZackxCloud

-o-o-o-o-o-

To say that Sephiroth was pissed would be an understatement. He ordered Cloud to handcuff Reno and Zack to the desk, then leave. As Cloud retreated to his apartment, he heard Zack start begging for his life and Reno started sobbing.

A small grin made it's way across the blond cadet's face as he trotted down the hall. He knew they had it coming.

Sephiroth staggered through Cloud's apartment door and threw a file at him. "Your under my command, which means I decide what you learn. I'm going to teach you to be a commander. You seem to have a nack for it."

Cloud caught the file and flipped it open. It was about a minor arms-dealer in the slums. He followed the General through the door into his quarters, wrinkling his nose as he smelled the scent of choco-dung sticking to Sephiroth.

"Where did the file come from? I thought you only got the important cases. And uh, sir? What happened to Zack and Reno?"

Sephiroth took his seat and shuffled papers around. "Once they finish cleaning my office and buying me a new desk and fixing my window you mean? They're going to be put on janitorial duty for the next three months, and in their off time they get to clean the stables. Lucky them, huh?"

Cloud wanted to make a joke about how he was surprised they were still alive, but the words caught in his throat when he saw how his mentor was looking at him. He looked concerned and confused, but preoccupied.

"Cadet... You weren't actually hurt, were you? Your act was quite convincing..." whispered Sephiroth.

Cloud's brain sparked into action once again. "Oh, no. I just sort of thought about how I felt when I was younger and bullied in my hometown."

Something in the glowing green eyes flared. "Are you ready to talk about your father yet?"

"What about the case?" Cloud deflected.

Sephiroth now seemed to be acting like a child that had denied his favorite treat. "If you wish."

Cloud felt guilty, and he drug a chair to Sephiroth's desk so they could both see the file, though he was sure Sephiroth had already looked over it. Which he had.

"I'll tell you someday, sir," Cloud encouraged. The blond looked back at the file. "But you still haven't said where you got the file."

Sephiroth's mouth turned upwards ever so slightly. "I suppose you could say I picked a Commander's pocket. He won't miss it."

"He doesn't know you took it?" Cloud asked. Sephiroth shook his head and gestured for Cloud to put down the file.

"Cadet, how would you go about gathering information on this group?"

"Well, I suppose I would..."

-o-o-o-o-

That night Cloud went to sleep thinking, something he rarely did. As it turned out, he loved his lessons and Sephiroth was slightly impressed at how well Cloud could reason out problems. He left margins in plans to compensate for human error, something Sephiroth learned to do the hard way.

In fact, Cloud's mind was so preoccupied, he didn't hear his door creak open and admit a freshly washed General. He only looked up when said General sat on the foot of his bed.

The old Cloud would have panicked at the thought of a man visiting him in the night with no one around.

The new Cloud however, only shifted to accommidate the larger man. He trusted Sephiroth and knew he had morals. He wouldn't hurt a defenseless cadet. He had his principles, and Cloud guessed he wasn't into guys.

The silence stretched on for what seemed like forever. It wasn't awkward, but peaceful. After a few minutes, Sephiroth removed his boots and rested his long body against the wooden frame of the bed at Cloud's foot. His legs crossed and rested beside Cloud.

"I have a problem only you may relieve me of," Sephiroth told him, quite glowing eyes looking out the window.

"And what would that be, General, sir?" Was that a hint of sarcasm he detected in the sleepy teen's voice? He hoped so. He had a sparse supply of friends, and all of them had some enough hero-worship that they agitated him. Zack was the only one that could act normally around him. As normal as Zack ever was, that is.

He shook his head and willed himself to focus. "I can't sleep because something is bothering me. I..." Sephiroth trailed off, unsure of how he should proceed. As far as he knew, Cloud appriciated blunt honesty, so that's what he would get. "You facinate me, like a puzzle that is refusing to give me all the pieces."

Bright blue eyes blinked up at him, amused and confused. Sephiroth plowed on. "I want to know about your father."

Cloud's innocent face froze up and a grim expression took over his face. "I see. Anything in particular? I can see your not just going to let it go."

Sephiroth fought down the urge to cheer. He had been expecting to recieve more of a fight. "What was his roll in your life? That seems to be the biggest problem I have at the moment."

Cloud rolled onto his back and nudged Sephiroth's leather clad legs over some. "Well, this isn't exactly the best bedtime story, but it'll have to do."

Sephiroth helped him sit up and observed as he climbed over his legs to turn on the lamp. That done, he fell back on the bed, legs draped neatly over Sephiroth's. Something in the blond told him he shouldn't stay in that position , but he told that part of his brain to shut the hell up because he was tired. And besides, Sephiroth didn't seem to mind!

He searched for the most appropriate place to start, and settled on his mother's pregnancy. "I'll tell you the entire story now, so you don't have to come in my room at random times to call me a puzzle, all right? My mother and my father ran away from their mothesr and their fathers. They were a teen couple and convinced they were in love. They ran all the way to Nibelhiem, a small mountain village."

Sephiroth's eyes were hungrily devouring Cloud's sweet face and his ears picked up every sound he made, including his steady heartbeat. He kept his face unreadible.

"When they got there, the villagers were nice enough. Then they found out that my mother was pregnant, and my father was whole-heartedly for her getting an abortion. The entire town hated me and I wasn't even born yet. They believed that children have no right to live if their parents aren't married."

"That's not fair," was Sephiroth's quite comment. Cloud just looked tiredly thankful up at him.

"Thank you for being the one person that sided with my mother. I don't even believe as much. I think her life would have been better if she had an abortion. But anyway, she refused to let them kill the fetus and her boyfriend stayed with her."

Sephiroth was now fasinated by Cloud's unfeeling referral to himself as "the fetus."

" I was born premature. Which is why I'm so small now, I'm guessing. Through the first years of my life, I was sick. Really, really, deathly sick, actually. My father worked and my mother worked to get money to pay for the medicines that I needed. I guess I was lucky my father helped, considering he didn't want me."

"What did your parents do to earn money?" Sephiroth asked quietly, only now shifting his legs out from under Cloud's. He drew them up to himself and rested hid chin on his knees. He was absolutly fancinated, given he never had a childhood for himself. And what kind of person wouldn't want to take care of Cloud? Behind he back, Zack called Cloud "careforable" which was not a word but fit the blond perfectly, so he didn't slice out Zack's tongue like he said he'd do if Zack made up more words than he already had. But next time...

"My mom created herbal remedies to a lot of little health problems and she could sew well. Don't give me that look, my town is as backwater as it gets."

Sephiroth was indeed giving him a look. He knew Nibelhiem wasn't advanced, but no medicine? And no sewing machines?

"City boy," Cloud accused. Then blushed when he realized he was insulting the General of Shinra army.

"Guilty. But if I am a city boy, then you are a country boy."

"No, I'm a mountain boy, quite literally actually, and you'd know if you let me finish my life story for your amusement."

Sephiroth tried to look properly chasted. He gave a loose wave of his hand to show that Cloud could go on.

Cloud settled himself more comfortably and took a moment to compose his thoughts. "Well, my dad worked odd jobs. He continued to do that for a while, then..."

Sephiroth stirred uneasily when a small measure of pain entered Cloud's expression. His eyes were unfocused, and he was looking at the light blue sheets. Sephiroth bought them for Cloud, because he refused to let his mentor buy sheets like his own black silk sheets, so he bought light blue cotton.

Sephiroth made himself refocus when Cloud started again. "My father heard about a mining job in a nearby town. He told my mother that he would go and send money back. So he left. I was about seven when it happened." Cloud clenched up more, curling inward on himself.

The General now proceeded to mentally kick himself for bringing up bad memories for his charge. "Cloud..."

Cloud shook his head, beginning to cry. "My father never came back or sent money, and there were no bodies found, so my mother and I believe that he just ran away. I hope he's happy where ever he his."

Sephiroth felt horrible for bringing up Cloud's past, and he understood why Cloud always treated his friends well. He was probably afraid they were going to leave him. He stretched out his long legs over the side of the bed. He knew Cloud wasn't finished, but he was going to let Cloud sleep it off before he tried to hear the rest of the story.

"Cloud, get some sleep, rest. I thank you for telling me."

"Don't abuse the knowledge," Cloud warned.

Sephiroth shook his head. He got an idea and acted on it. He leaned over to the blond cadet and hugged him briefly. When he swept out of the door moments later, he heard Cloud sobbing a bit harder.

Why would anyone want to hurt such a sweet child? Sephiroth wandered dazedly. In the brief times he spent with the the cadet, he always felt softer. Like he didn't have to play the part of mean evil General. Even with Zack, he had to keep up a cold demenor. Cloud was quiet and spoke bluntly, he kept quiet and was observent. He was different from Zack. And he seemed to be more like Sephiroth than anyone else.

Sephiroth hated most of Cloud's teachers for tormenting him. Sephiroth was eternally grateful for them putting Cloud with him. Neither emotion could triumph over the other. He sought out his bed, but knew he wouldn't sleep at all.

...perhaps he should have the Turks investigate Cloud's sire...