Disclaimer: I own nothing

Warning: One bad word


"That's new" Sephiroth lifted gossamer curtains to admire the vibrant plant that was set in a simple yet elegant flowerpot. The thick and lustrous leaves were clustered together, reaching to the sun, the shape more resembling a bush than a bonsai tree although the beginning or an end of an engineered form was there.

Kagome grunted distracted as she scanned quickly line after line too invested in the story to unglue from the riveting page. Valek was so close to discovering the truth!* Wrinkling her nose she looked up, her brows lifted in question. "What did you say?"

"You bought a new plant" he indicated the parapet.

"Aaa… that one." Dog – earring the book, she put it on the floor next to the couch before sauntering to the window "Yes, I mean no – I forgot to tell you but when you've been training, Genesis and Angeal came by." Thinking better on it and remembering the stiff scene she corrected "Well, I think saying that Angeal has brought Genesis here would be more accurate considering it did look like he wanted to be anywhere but here." She grinned at the flash of how he dug his heels refusing to enter closer than it was necessary. As if the difference of a few meters changed anything "He was polite enough to apologize for the whole debacle with the dojo" she waved her hand in front of her, the wide bow undescriptive and yet encompassing more than words. "And this little fellow is my consolation prize." She rubbed the leaves between her fingers noting they were a bit thinner and less shiny compared to when she just got it. The waxy film already diminished and worn out as if someone deliberately scrapped it of with a knife. She knew it wasn't the case here. Plants simply did not fare well in Midgar. However faint, the constant smell and floating particles of processed Mako and the damaged lifestream below made it impossible for the greenery to survive. She sighed resigned. It seemed like this one would share the fate of its fellow brothers and sisters that wilted mostly in a span of a week or so despise all attempts to make it otherwise.

For others it might be a minor inconvenience but for her… it was downright painful. Her abilities required and demanded her to be with and inside the nature. Be one with it. Be part of the cycle. It was broken here and therefore detrimental to her health. Initially she tried to grow things in her apartment. She was quite stubborn about it. Trying each and every type of a seeds she could get a hold off. Once, when she was tending flowers that sprouted from the last year bulbs, she though she had solved the conundrum but they too wilted.

As doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results is a definition of insanity, she finally put a stop to her fruitless endeavors and listened to what her gut and her soul was telling her. Her next experiment was much more successful.

Sephiroth's chuckle pulled her attention back "Yes, apologizing must have been quite a feat to him."

"Prideful, isn't he?" Kagome commented visualizing how he almost choked on the words, eyes askew and head held low. "But loyal I think" she added thinking on how he obeyed Angeal despise being vehemently against admitting to his wrongdoings and asking for forgiveness.

"That he is as well" Sephiroth confirmed remembering fondly their first meeting.

It was a lovely, warm season when he was attending the summer program for gifted children. The school was packed with all sorts of adolescents ranging from the age of 13 to 18 and all of them boys. They were handpicked by ShinRa. Nowadays he believes they have done that because they wanted to have all SOLDIERs' potentials in one place to test them academically and physically against each other but at that time he was too young to appreciate the bigger picture and it was simply an adventure away from the constant probing and tests. Two months worth of freedom. Unprecedented.

He was roaming the premises at his leisure when an uneasy feeling made him stray from the path and turn to the patch behind an old building that was falling apart. Moving at the edge of the forest, the trees hiding him, he progressed slowly but unnoticed. He circled the plot, observing the one sided fight that was happening there.

A group of boys more adults than not was picking on the youngsters. Looking at them now it is hard to believe that someone could have bullied Genesis or Angeal however they were freshmen tormented by the seniors. Four years of difference does not sound like much but at that time, it could have been a hundred. The bullies were taller, stronger, knew more about fighting and it was four against two. It was going to be a short scuffle.

Indeed, Angeal already half stood, half bend down leaning on the flimsy wall, blood flowing from his split lip as he swallowed gulps of air after the series of punches to his abdomen and sides. It was probably the one to his kidneys that winded him so much that he needed time to restore his senses and vertigo. In the meantime Genesis stepped out, protectively hiding Angeal behind him. It was a pitiful sight. Red headed, tall and thin, with a beautiful face like a girl, androgynous some would even say and therefore not deserving to be treated like a man, standing visibly afraid and yet not giving an inch. He admired him at that moment.

Maybe this is what prompted him to step in. Maybe it was this odd feeling of inexplicable kinship he experienced the first moment he saw them. He wasn't sure what pushed him but he did it.

Prowling out of the shadows, electric materia chirping in his hand, he neared their backs. He noted with some pleasure the nervous eyes, jumping from Genesis to him; the involuntary balancing on the balls of their feet as if waiting for a command to run; the skittishness. Not so sure of your victory anymore?

He might have been same age as their victims but from the very first day he set himself apart from the crowd. He was different than other kids. He always knew that. He was stronger, faster, smarter and his MP capability was through the roof. He sneered at them… accidents happen.

They turned tails and sprinted away like a bunch of cowards they were.

Needless to say, for the rest of the summer Genesis followed him like a puppy and where Genesis went, Angeal followed. They have become fast… what? Friends? Colleagues? Nothing to this effect. This was only few weeks and after that due to his military obligations, he never came back to the school, at least not in the capacity of a student. He sometimes visited as a teacher's aide or the instructor and then the national hero. Due to this their paths crossed several times over the years and although they were not close, they were not strangers as well. The established familiarity and lingering respect helped him later to work closely with them when they joined SOLDIER division.

"Then you will not mind I've invited them next weekend for an evening full of fun sans destruction, obviously." Kagome's voice called him back from the memories.

"As long as you are okay, it's fine." he said in a flat voice, face directed to the window.

"What is it?" she asked worriedly cupping his cheek.

Glancing at her, he admitted "I don't want you to feel obligated to meet with them just because we work together."

"Don't be silly. I've enjoyed our last meeting" he looked at her dubious "I did!" she protested "up to a point." she added in a calmer voice "and it's fun to see you with them – you behave differently" she explained, twinkles in the eyes.

"Differently how?"

"I don't know. Just differently." She put a finger to her lip "It's like I can see a side of you that you never show." She added pensively.

His gaze sharpened. It did not escape his attention that she also revealed a different side mentioning for the first time her life outside of Midgar. To be fair he never asked about it afraid that when she accommodate, he will be obliged to return the favor. His childhood was a can of worms that he was not quite ready yet to open. If he'll ever be.

"I just want to know people who keep you safe better." She explained meekly rubbing her arm.

"Do you have any specific plans?" he asked a note of approval enough for her to understand he was fine with it.

"I was thinking about some games, board games or card games. Little chance of destruction there… what do you think?"

"As long as it's not sparring, we should be fine." He pronounced.

Sephiroth should know better than to say it.

Despise his enhanced senses and superior physiology it seemed that Genesis competitive and yet impatient nature has made him quite unsuitable to Kagome's game of choice. After the third loss in the row, he pulverized the blocks, completely destroying the set and putting a stop to building, how he described it "a fucking menace of a tower." Undeterred Kagome pulled out a set of standard cards which happened to be more to everyone's taste.

She quickly came to hate them, the cards and the boys as their extensive training in tactics made them exceptional players and she just fell like a tiny, little mouse playing among the tigers. Quite terrifying. Although, come to think about it, there was this one time when she won. She smiled remembering her triumph and how she rubbed it in their noses.

Kagome wasn't of course aware that the reason why she was victorious was because they have felt terrible about her losing all the time and frankly someone would soon die if Sephiroth saw her long face again. They have put their brains together trying to set the game in such a way that she would win. It was the most challenging deal they have ever played considering she did not behave in the most rational way but they have prevailed and succeeded. Her unadulterated joy was a prize enough.

Soon, to Kagome despair and guys contentment, the game night has become a weekly exercise accompanied by snacks, drinks and the gossip although if you'd ask the males they would passionately deny that any tale telling was involved. Men did not chitchat! They discussed important news. And if she guilt tripped them to switch to a more Kagome friendly game every so often, then what? It made her happy and in turn it made Sephiroth happy which created a safer environment for everybody. Not to mention that seeing Genesis or Sephiroth trying to draw or mimic the titles of the contemporary movies or books was priceless!

In the end socializing in the informal set and outside ShinRa has only tied them closer together with Kagome acting like a glue. She was a sun shining on them, welcome and addictive considering what they have known mostly in the recent years was blood, suffering and death. Sephiroth for the first time stood more with than apart from others. He finally felt like he had close… friends.


* Kagome is reading one of my all times favorite The poison study by Maria V Snyder. It's a fantasy so could be easily published in FF7 world