Author's Note: Wow, it's been two months or so since the last Chapter. I've been out of school for about a month now, but I've been traveling. Unfortunately this chapter's a bit short, and not much happens. OH WELL. One important thing does. The next chapter has already been started on, so hopefully I'll finish it soon! And much thankies to my Beta Stu-P0t, for editing this even though she's been feeling sick. Go check out her stories and leave her a nice review! She needs to have something to smile at!

Quiet N Cryptic—I do live! And yeah, I'm glad you think that, I was so worried that it wouldn't come across.

Namesake—there are a lot of spoilers… but uh, actually on youtube, there's a guy that put up a complete walkthrough of CC. You can check it out. It's got scenes, field play and boss battles, if you're so interested enough to go try to find it.

Amarissia—I think I almost had a heart attack when I read that review… you are like my idol in CC fics.

Yoshimara—I'm glad you like all the different pairings I have. It really makes me happy that people don't mind all the uh, slutty behavior of many of the characters. XD But yeah, poor Zacky-poo. It has to be an increadibly difficult situation to deal with.

imaxgoxgnomgnomxonxya—This story shares plot with CC up to a point, at that point… well things will go for a turn for the wild. I don't even know everything that's going to happen.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Tseng carefully shifted through the papers on his desk, taking special care to read the full details on the current file. This was quite the dilemma. Cloud's physical record was becoming a wreck, no doubt thanks in part to Reno, whom was seeing that the boy was actively sent out on missions—without making sure that the grunt would get along with the others. It was becoming troublesome, as the file grew thicker. The only positive side was that Cloud never started an altercation, only defended against. The boy was at least learning to not sit and take it. But there was one other problem as well. The boy was not taking his medicine as prescribed. Tseng sighed as he contemplated the ways he could fix the problem without much fuss from the higher ups. Yes, Cloud was an asset and could be used in the future, but he was also a liability and expendable at this point.

The office door burst open as Reno bulldozed past the secretary, almost knocking her down. The teen was in his normal work attire, albeit a little shaken in appearance. The redhead stormed to his desk and slammed his hands down on the table dramatically.

"We've got a problem," Reno announced, voice deathly serious.

"What issue do you find so important that you feel the need to barge in here and create a disturbance?" Tseng asked, closing Cloud's file.

"Sephiroth," Reno stated simply.

"What about him?"

"He's been stalking Cloud."

"Stalking Cloud?"

"Yes. Well, more like, conveniently placing himself near the kid and staring at him for long periods of time. I don't think Cloud's noticed yet, or he'd be freaking out," Reno finally elaborated.

"Could it not be a coincidence that they are in the certain areas because they are both military?"

"It's not a coincidence when the General of SOLDIER wanders into grunt territory. I mean, everyone knows that Sephiroth does not go to the fucking mess hall to get his lunch, yo. It's common knowledge that Sephiroth doesn't even eat lunch. He's watching Cloud, I'm telling you," Reno ranted, banging his hands down on the desk again for emphasis.

"There's not much I can do if Sephiroth is the one that's doing the stalking. It might even do the boy some good if the General takes a liking to him. It could be useful protection," Tseng dismissed.

"If Sephiroth gets his hands on Cloud, it could mean the end of that kid," Reno growled.

"It's not a crime for Sephiroth to have sex with Cloud, consensual or not. There's nothing we can do. Why are you so worked up about this anyway?"

"You set him in my care. I'm going to do my best to see him recover. He's got too much potential to let himself be devoured by those savage shits, yo. I know he could make it to B Class if he tried," Reno iterated.

"It doesn't change the fact that I can't help on this matter. Sit back and wait. If you feel Cloud's life is in danger, then feel free to brief Sephiroth on just how damaged the boy is. I doubt he'll care much, considering how damaged he is himself." Reno sneered, stood up straight and turned away.

"Alright, fine. I'm covering up the camera next time, so don't you even think of trying to watch, you voyeur," Reno spat as he left. Tseng sighed. The redhead just didn't know when to quit.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"That was the best fucking mission ever!" cried one of the grunts as he exited the helicopter. Cloud gave the guy a half-assed glare. He didn't know when to shut up. The ass was like Zack on speed and a double cappuccino—or, at least, what he guessed Zack was like when he was higher than a kite. What Cloud had heard of the young SOLDIER contradicted vastly from what he actually observed of the ravenet during that mission a month and a half ago. Everything pointed to a hyper, happy-go-lucky teen with ADD and commitment issues. However, Cloud saw the more serious side in the older boy. The Zack he met could crack a joke, sure, but he was also anxious and on end. And Zack sure as hell wasn't himself after killing Angeal.

Cloud shook off the thoughts of the ravenet as he exited the copter. It was nearing dinnertime, but he was too tired. The vigorous exercise was enough to seal of his hunger and fatigue his muscles to the point of not functioning. An introduction to squadron leader training, they'd called it. Bull, it was more like Regulation Army Entrance Exam Part Two. It was a labyrinth in the middle of the desert, crawling with fiends and booby traps. Each member of the squad was required to lead for half an hour before passing on the role. And at the end of the maze, the asshole in charge released an adolescent behemoth on the squad, then topped it off with a tonberry after the former was defeated. The whole mission had taken well over six hours, thanks to tonberry.

Cloud felt his muscles screaming as he slinked his way into the grunt shower room. He stripped nonchalantly. The normal troublemakers had all headed to the mess hall to get in line early. The others had followed him to the shower, but he wasn't worried about them. Now that he was fighting back, he figured they would be too tired to start something. Besides, he'd more than proven himself out in the field. He was one of four that was able to lead the squad to victory over the damned tonberry.

He moved into the showers, soap and washcloth in hand. The showers were open, leaving everything in plain site. It was hard to hide things from your comrades,but it was an unspoken rule that everyone minded their own business. That still didn't stop the occasional wandering eyes. Cloud left his eyes rest briefly on each boy as he picked out a place to shower. Everyone was covered in cuts and scrapes. He felt especially sorry for the ones that were doinked. They had nasty gashes on their stomach, deeper than what was easily cured by a sip of potion.

The blond finally settled on a space and turned on the water as hot as it'd go. Sure, he'd just come from the desert, but his muscles were screaming. The intense pressure combined with the scalding heat began to instantly relax his taught muscles. He shifted slightly so the water pelted his back. Oh, Gaia, it felt good. After a few moments he began lathering the soap into his washcloth, placing the soap on a small ledge lining the walls. He was careful to scrub every part of himself thoroughly. There was sand in places he'd rather not have it and cuts and scrapes in easily agitated areas.

When he was finished, he grabbed his soap and headed back the change room, snatching a towel from the basket on his way out. Starting with his hair, he sat down on a bench. He gave it a few tussles before moving on to other parts of his anatomy. He could feel his spikes starting to rise back into place, as stubborn as ever. Nice and dry, he grabbed at the spare sweats he kept in his locker and dressed quickly. He dumped his wet towel in the dirty basket and gathered his things, heading back to his room.

He climbed the stairs leading up to the higher-ups rooms, taking his time as his muscles were still screaming bloody murder at the effort. Reno still didn't trust his peers enough to leave him down with the lowest of grunts, so he was still stuck with three higher-ranking grunts. Shoving the door to his floor open, he slunk down the hall, nearly collapsing at his door.

"Wow. You must be tired. Don't I get a hi?" Reno's disembodied voice sounded from his left. Cloud grumbled before turning around pressing his back to the door.

"What do you want?" he nearly growled.

"Hey, hey. I'm just checking in, yo. How was the mission?"

"Hell," Cloud said bluntly.

"Looks like it. Boy am I glad I'm not in my training days anymore," Reno joked, a goofy grin on his face.

"Oh like it was so hard for you," Cloud sneered, turning his head so that he could glare at Reno from the corner of his eyes.

"You'd be surprised, yo. They had me learning parkour and shit. I was training nonstop all day for like a year before I even qualified for my Turk training. And I've been here for like, what? I think four years," Reno explained.

"You've been doing this since you were so young?" Cloud asked.

"Hey, I'm only a couple years older than you. I came here maybe when I was a year or so younger than you. So it's not really that big a difference."

"Ah, yeah. I guess. Look, Reno, I'm really tired now, so can you fuck off?"

"Uh, sure. I'll let ya have some peace. But, uh, here," Reno said, handing Cloud a bottle. "You look like you need it, yo. And don't worry about paying me back." The redhead retreated as soon as Cloud's hands were firmly grasping the potion. Cloud looked at the glass container with a bit of a disgruntled expression. He sighed, shrugged and figured, what the heck? He removed the cork and downed the potion in one go. He felt a little lightheaded, not used to taking a full thing at once, but ignored it as the desired effect was near immediate. He sighed contentedly and opened the door. He stumbled back as his support disappeared. He regained his balance just enough to make it to the bed before collapsing, asleep.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

The Great General Sephiroth growled at the papers on his desk. Fuck them. He had more important things to do. Like find out the name of that grunt without actually asking anyone or letting on that he was interested. With Zack taking time off, his one source of nerve calming sex was gone, out the window—flown away like a bird. The silveret made up his mind—the next morning, when he had his psychiatrist appointment, he would pointedly bump into the damned doctor and steal a look at the name. The grunt was coming to see the quack less and less often, but the appointments were still early in the morning—right after Sephiroth's. So everything would work out fine, he was sure.

Deciding that the paperwork could wait another fourteen hours or so, Sephiroth pushed away from his desk. He felt the need to escape into a place that no one would bug him. While the thoughts of chasing down the blond beauty were a nice distraction, the death of his two friends still weighed heavily on his mind. He slammed his office door open and gave his secretary a grunt as he swiftly exited to the elevator. Nearly breaking the number pad, he jabbed at the ground level button. He'd go for a walk around the compound. Clear his head. Maybe visit the places they had always gone together.

As soon as the doors had opened wide enough, Sephiroth slipped out and into the lobby. He ignored the few people loitering around the lobby as he swiftly exited the building. The night air was crisp and pleasant—not too chilly, but cool enough to nip at his bare chest. The General kept his pace up as he turned the corner of the building sharply and walked along the side of the building to the training fields in the back.

The fields weren't large at all, consisting of only four hundred-yard fields with tracks surrounding them. Each field had its own purpose for training, though it was mostly used by cadets. SOLDIER and the officers of the Regulation Army had their own floors dedicated solely to training their men. There were also three separate weight rooms open to all employees of ShinRa. The fields, as Sephiroth understood it, were the original trodding ground of the full Regulation Army, when ShinRa had first established it. When SOLDIER was established, another field was added to facilitate the much smaller group of men. As both factions and the company grew, the main forces were moved inside, training was scheduled to be in locations outside Midgar, and the fields fell to training and testing cadets.

He imagined that the blond grunt must still be seeing a great deal of the fields. The boy was young looking, no older than fourteen or fifteen, meaning he was either still a cadet or a newly promoted member of the Regulation Army. Since the boy was seeing a psychiatrist, however, Sephiroth was more willing to bet the grunt had made it into ShinRa officially.

Sephiroth sighed, coming upon the field containing the obstacle course. He remembered coming as a young boy to the field to participate in the entrance test. He had already been a part of SOLDIER at the time, but Hojo had forced him into taking the test to prove that he was genuinely the best. The bastard had gloated for years at the fact that he was the only one to pass the test with a perfect score. The coot had it shoved in his face by Hollander later when Genesis and Angeal had taken the test. Hollander had been working in Banora on and off since before any of the three had been born and had practically hand selected Genesis and Angeal for SOLDIER. Both had blown away Hojo's expectations, scoring perfects. By the time the two were thirds, Sephiroth was already a second, nearing another promotion.

Sephiroth had known the two since he was around the age of ten, but he'd only call them mere acquaintances at that point. He did not truly get to know them until they were placed under his direct command at the age of eighteen. Sure, he'd had prolonged encounters with them before hand where they had formed a loose friendship, but trust between temporary partners on a mission and trust between SOLDIERs in a Special Ops unit was completely different.

Relations between Genesis, Angeal and Sephiroth had started out strained. At sixteen, the three debuted in Wutai, decimating the enemy forces. But Genesis and Angeal combined barely killed half of the number that Sephiroth had in just those few hours. They had been shocked, if not horrified, at Sephiroth's strength, leaving them too reserved around the silveret. It only worsened matters that Sephiroth was much high classed than they were. The gap in the right between the then A3 Angeal and Genesis and the S1 Sephiroth was blindingly obvious. However, as they began working under Sephiroth directly, the gap between their apparent abilities lessening, a deeper understanding formed between the three. They were inseparable in the two years before Sephiroth was promoted to General. While all three had been promoted, Sephiroth found himself overwhelmingly busy with directing the movements of SOLDIER on the battlefield, moving between the frontlines and Midgar, and doing endless hours of paperwork.

The fields invoked so many memories with his dearest friends. The three of them would often visit the fields late at night for additional training—training that was outside in the fresh crisp air and not on the stuffy SOLDIER floor. It was in one of the nooks of the wall facing the fields that Sephiroth had had his first truly pleasurable sexual experience. Sure there had been a few curious hand before, but nothing until then could have compared to the feel of Genesis's mouth wrapped around his cock as Angeal's tongue battled with his own.

It had been at these fields where Sephiroth had met one of the most life altering people in all his existence. It was Angeal's birthday, and the three had gathered outside the fields to watch the cadets make fools of themselves. The SOLDIER cadets were out that day, making just as big asses out of themselves as the regular cadets. However one stood out above the rest—one that made the biggest ass out of himself, had great strength but absolutely no concentration whatsoever, and had the most strikingly cocky strut since Genesis walked the field as a cadet. That was the day that Angeal decided he wanted to take on an apprentice.

With thoughts of Zack drifting into his mind, Sephiroth turned away from the fields. He wondered if the ravenet was handling the situation any better now that some time had passed. He wouldn't blame Zack if he'd gone into a catatonic state from grief. The General could only hope that Zack would make a healthy and swift recovery from the blow.

Having done absolutely nothing to clear his head, Sephiroth entered the side staircase to the building. Maybe, just maybe, climbing seventy some-odd sets of stairs could ease his mind.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Sephiroth eyed the desk in the corner of the psychiatrist's office. That was the desk that housed all the files, the desk that had the blond grunt's file. It was lying right on top of the desk, he could see it, but for the love of the goddess, he just could not see the name on it. The damned doctor had noticed where his eyes were drifting about twenty minutes earlier, but had yet to say anything. Sephiroth rarely talked during these sessions, which greatly pissed the psychiatrist off. But in his opinion, the man wasn't any better than Hojo. He would have to have a word with the president about this psychiatrist. He was sure he was making the patients worse, rather than better.

"Are you going to continue pretending everything in your world is happy and peach colored with cream? Or are you going to finally admit that you have issues with the traitors' death?" the psychiatrist spoke. The General knew the man had a name, but he never really cared enough about the wackjob to remember it.

"Whoever said I try to live in a rose-colored world?" Sephiroth asked the psychiatrist.

"The traitors were your friends, they have been killed, and what's more, by the person who became closest to you after they betrayed ShinRa. You have to be feeling something inside, yet you've yet to talk about it."

"I may not be able to fully understand my emotions, but I have already come to terms with their death. I hold no grudge against Zack for what he did, and if it were not for my current position, I would be with him in Costa Del Sol, comforting him. Now they are dead, but the reason they betrayed ShinRa has still not been brought to full light. It is my job now to find out why."

"You are something else, Sephiroth. If you are like this now, then I wonder what you would be like if you had been the one to bring their lives to an end."

"I did not, so it does not matter," Sephiroth said sharply. "Though I wonder, how much of this contributes to Hojo's study of my life?"

"Nothing leaves this room, Sephiroth. Everything you say is safe here." At that Sephiroth laughed.

"Safe? I would have to disagree. There are cameras in every corner of the room, and you wear a microphone. There's a recording device hidden in the lamp. I am not a damned fool like the others who come to see you." The psychiatrist chuckled.

"Impressive. We use the most state of the art spying technology, yet you're still able to spot all of them."

"You will be writing this in my file won't you?"

"File? Are you interested in it? Is that why you've been staring at my desk?"

"No. I was wondering what kind of lies you could have written in Angeal and Genesis' files," Sephiroth said bitterly. The psychiatrist stiffened, obviously not cozy to the fact that he was being called out.

"Well, look at the time. I'm afraid our session is over for today, General," the man said. Sephiroth carefully watched as the coot rose from his chair, timing his own motions just right. He stood, bumping into the psychiatrist with just enough force to knock the man into his desk, splaying the file folders on his desk. The file under his own becoming visible, Sephiroth made a quick mental note of the name: Cloud Strife. Oh, what a fitting name for such a beauty.

"Oh, how clumsy of me. I must not have been paying attention," Sephiroth said, moving to make sure the man was not too jostled. "I'm terribly sorry."

"No, no, I'm fine. My papers are just a bit messed up now, but nothing I can't easily fix. See you tomorrow, Sephiroth," the man said, waving the General off.

"Yes, well, good day then," the silveret said, nodding toward the psychiatrist as he exited. As he neared the elevators, he could see the grunt—no, Cloud­­—entering the lobby. Ah such a sweet, simply little victory it was to know the boy's name.

-.-.-.-.-

Author's Note: soo some reviews would be nice. I like hearing the feed back and it makes me more likely to work on this stuff, especially if I haven't touched it in a month or so. I'm currently starting a FF7AC fic, so if nothing comes out for this for a while, just review and it'll remind me to come back to CSSA.