Lets all give big rounds of applause to Kiariad and to kysis as they both helped to get my ass back into working on this! :D

I'm very sorry guys about the big break. I have no excuse. Forgive me please.

NOW ON WITH THE STORY!

ENJOY!

Sephiroth and Genesis made short work of getting the hell out of the training room.

Sephiroth had suggested that they head somewhere that they wouldn't be suspected of heading, so they soon found themselves sitting in a quiet corner, of the local strip club.

It was quickly becoming afternoon, but was altogether much too early for a crowd to have gathered; there were a few shady looking characters scattered here and there, but mainly it was just a few of the dancers warming up and practising for the busy night ahead.

The beauty of this location was that nobody cared how strange a pair they made walking into the building, they had seen worse. The quality of character often present in this sort of establishment, was far from the ordinary.

Genesis just had to wonder how it was that Sephiroth had known that this place was even here.

There had definitely been a pattern to his seemingly random dodging in between buildings on the way; he was obviously trying to give off the impression that he didn't know where he was headed, but Genesis could tell he was being far too methodical about it. Genesis got the distinct feeling that Sephiroth knew exactly where they were headed from the moment they had left the Shinra building.

He looked up from over the top of his steaming cup of coffee; they had ordered a cup each upon arrival, regardless of the inquisitive eyes they had received from the managers upon ordering something non-alcoholic in a strip club.

Genesis eyed the man sitting across from him, his face mainly obscured from his view by the delicate silver hair framing his equally delicate features.

For a man so slight in appearance, he sure as hell packed a punch.

"So tell me, Sephiroth" Genesis began, unable to keep the obvious sarcasm from dripping into his tone. "Why is it that you know the precise location of an out of the way strip club? Couldn't possibly be a…frequent visitor now could we?"

He smirked as the man choked on the coffee that he was attempting to sip, as he tried to hide the telltale pink from flaring to his cheeks, as he tried to look anywhere but at the probing man and his embarrassing questions present in front of him.

His smirk only broadened as the man attempted to school his features into that of his usual passive emotionless expression, but failed miserably.

"I…may have visited this location before. But not of my freewill. I was dragged here by a fellow First, actually."

This comment peaked Genesis attention. He still knew close to nothing about any of the First class SOLDIERs besides the General; he would be curious to meet another.

"Oh? And which First Class would this be?"

Sephiroth appeared a little hesitant to answer, but it wasn't as if Genesis couldn't find out such information with ease either way anyway. He sighed, before relenting.

"It was…my friend, Angeal Hewley. But don't think badly of Angeal, he only came because he was told they made the best Margaritas in all of Midgar here, and he just wanted to see for himself. It turns out they do make the best Margaritas in all of Midgar. By far. I mean, have you tried the ones they make at Jack's, just down the road from headquarters? I've tasted water more flavourful than those things. I don't understand why they get so much business. I mean, everyone knows there are plenty of bars in Midgar to choose from, so why—"

Sephiroth caught himself mid-sentence, his brain finally catching up to his mind. He hadn't babbled like that in years!

…What could make him lose his iron hard resolve of vocal celibacy that easy?

He hadn't even realised he was doing it. He was just so relaxed, sitting here in the comfortable chair, out of the way of the prying eyes of the public and all their expectations.

Oh, Genesis. That's right, he was still here.

He peeked up from beneath his silver fringe, noting that Genesis was smiling slightly at him and his antics. He could tell very well from that simple gesture and the light chuckle that followed that Genesis knew he was acting very out of the ordinary compared to his usual self.

After all, anyone who knew anything at all about Sephiroth knew that he was most definitely a man of few words.

They gazed at each other for a few moments, cerulean green linking with ostentatious blue, until they both were brought back to reality upon Genesis's cell phone vibrating inside of his coat pocket.

He reached into his pocket and fumbled with it for a moment, before snapping it open and waiting for whoever had called him to speak.

Sephiroth observed as first a look of surprise, then irritation crossed Genesis's fine features. He hung up again after a few moments, without so much as a simple 'bye' to the person on the other end.

"Who was it?" Sephiroth was forced to mumble after a few additional moments, as it became obvious that Genesis wasn't going to say anything. Genesis looked up at him abruptly, as though he had forgotten he was there; he had obviously been deep in thought.

"Oh…" Genesis began, still thinking back to the brief conversation that had been had just moments ago with his superior. "It was just Tseng" he said with a disinterested tone, as if trying to give off to Sephiroth the impression that it was nothing at all that had been briefly discussed, although he could tell that it was obviously more than that.

Genesis stood to leave abruptly, as though the very air around him had altered suddenly, his chair pushing back and grinding against the ground with a barely audible sound.

He breezed past the General, his coat brushing against his, as he oh so subtly extended a gloved hand and ran it gently through the Generals silver locks as he passed, but the hand was gone as quickly as it had arrived.

Sephiroth listened to the tap tap tap of Genesis's boots as they left the room with slightly wide eyes, feeling as though the whole calming atmosphere he was so loving about this building, had just left right through that door with him.

"I heard about your impromptu sparring session yesterday, Genesis…"

Genesis was looking down at the ground, at where his regulation boots were tapping against the carpet, as he thought about how much more comfortable they felt now that he had worn them in.

He was looking at anything around the room, but Tseng.

"Genesis, look at me"

There it was. He couldn't ignore it any longer. He snapped his eyes up to attention to meet those of the almost midnight black staring at him beyond the impassive face that gave nothing away, of his superior.

"Well Genesis, what I remember of yesterday was assigning you to some office work. Correct me if I am wrong, but I fail to remember ever assigning you to lock blades with General Sephiroth. In a public setting. In a fight that was viewed by a number of people. Who have now spread all sorts of rumours, some of which have even made their way directly back to me.."

Even though Genesis knew it was the wrong time and that he was meant to be feeling remorse for his disobedient actions, he couldn't help but feel at least a little curiosity at these so called rumours…

He realised that his mind was trailing off, and that he needed to concentrate on his superior and what he was addressing him about if he wanted to keep his job.

He put onto his face a suitable look of shame, before muttering quietly a "Yes sir. Sorry sir. Won't happen again"

Tseng just looked up at him disbelievingly, before finally shaking his head just slightly.

"Genesis. Can you explain to me this then? Why you were with the General in the first place considering I took you off his tail?"

Genesis had to think quickly to come up with something that his superior might have a chance at believing. "I..I still had a hunch that some of his activities were suspicious. I thought it might do well to keep watch on him a little longer"

Tseng looked up at him suspiciously at that, and he couldn't shake the feeling that that was far from the full story.

"If you felt as if his actions were suspicious in some way, why did you not address your concerns to me?"

"I felt as if you might think I was only being paranoid"

"We're Turks, Genesis. Paranoid is what we do best"

Genesis was wracking his brain for any further potential excuses to send his superior's way. He couldn't think of any.

"I'm sorry sir. Next time I will follow orders properly."

Even to Genesis's ears his words sounded hollow and forced. He was almost sure that Tseng wasn't really believing a word he was saying.

Tseng looked up at him again and sighed, before looking away at his computer screen, apparently reading over some data.

"Well Genesis, there is another mission here pertaining to Sephiroth that I could engage you in."

Genesis tried as hard as he could to ignore the flutter in his stomach as he processed the words. Tseng didn't even look over at him as he continued.

"The General is being sent to check on a reactor in Nibelheim. There has been some strange activity reported in the area as of late. You can tail him on your bike. Just try and be inconspicuous this time, he really has no need to know you are there. Affirmative?"

Nibelheim. Genesis didn't really know much of the place, except that it was in the mountains and that there was a reactor there. He had never had the need to go there, but he had heard stories of the mountains surrounding it and the monsters that were scattered in hiding amongst them.

"Yes sir. When will he be leaving?"

"Tomorrow morning. Eight am sharp. You know where he is headed so there is no need to tail too closely, leave plenty of distance between your bike and his."

Genesis saluted with a quick Sir! and left the office. He ambled back down the hallway towards the elevator, then waited for it to open. Out stepped Lazard, with a bouquet of flowers. Once he noticed Genesis he quickly pressed the flowers closer to his chest, keeping the name on the card out of Genesis's line of sight.

"Flowers for a special someone, Lazard?"

Lazard blushed in response, and uttered a quick "That's confidential" before continuing on his way down the hall. Genesis slipped into the elevator, but didn't fail to notice which office Lazard was headed towards with the flowers.

The same one he himself had just slipped out of.

He smiled as the doors closed, before yawning, and pressing the button for his own floor. It didn't take long to arrive there, and he stepped out quickly and went into his own apartment.

As soon as he closed the door he began pulling his clothes from his body, leaving them where they fell as he headed towards the bathroom.

He was left with only his boots on as he made it to the shower, and he quickly pulled those off too as he stepped under the flowing stream of relaxing hot water.

He sighed, closing his eyes, as he just enjoyed the sensation of the water flowing freely down his back. He felt blindly behind him for a bottle of shampoo and poured some into his hair without opening his eyes still, massaging it in before rinsing it out.

After his shower he quickly towelled off his dripping body before more or less falling into his bed. He didn't know why he was so exhausted suddenly, but it had more or less just hit him out of nowhere.

He quickly set the alarm beside his bed, before exhaustion gripped him completely and his mind began to creep into the recesses of darkness that tugged at it, and he was asleep.

Genesis was jolted awake by the infuriating sound of his alarm clock that he had set the night before. The sound was so irritating, and Genesis just felt so tired and angry that it had interrupted his otherwise peaceful dreaming, that he picked it up and threw it across the room, watching as it smashed into several pieces and the irritating sound cut off altogether.

He sighed before crawling out of bed with a yawn, and he began to pull on his uniform, still feeling tired from the day before. He rubbed at his eyes as he pulled on his gloves, then his boots.

Once his boots were tied and his shirt was on, he headed for the kitchen and made himself a cup of coffee, hoping that the coffee would wake him up some. It worked a little, but not much.

He grabbed his keys and phone and headed for the front door, pulling it open but freezing in the doorway. He felt, strange somehow.

Then he realised.

He had forgotten. To put. His pants on.

He was instantly mortified, regardless of the fact that there was no-one in the hallway to have seen his embarrassing mistake, and he quickly pulled the door closed again.

He quickly found his pants and slipped them on, this time heading over to his mirror and taking a look before leaving his room again, just in case he had forgotten something else.

He didn't really look into mirrors too often, and he was surprised by what he saw.

He could see that his muscles had definitely filled out some more, and that he had definitely grown taller. He ran his fingers through his hair, before heading out the door again and making his way towards where he knew his bike to be parked.

He looked down at his watch.

7:55.

Just in time.

WOO HOO I DID IT! :O

Yay. I feel accomplished. I seriously thought this chapter or any subsequent chapters wouldn't ever be written, but its amazing what a motivator guilt is xD

Be expecting another chapter sometime soon. I planned out the plot for the next one mostly already, so it shouldn't be far away.

Please point out any plotholes/inconsistencies if you see them, because I forget what I have already written mostly xD Thanks.

Thanks for reading, and review! You have no idea what reviews mean to me xD

And please, suggestions always welcome.