Hello my lovies! I am back! My muse had run away on an extended vacation with Reno, but they have returned. Isn't that Wonderful? (Of course it is.) When I was writing this this chapter got really long, so i chopped it in half. the other part should be up within the next few days...

The Torture: Part Uno

"Step on my feet one more time and I will personally make sure you never need shoes again," Sam hissed threateningly under her breath at him as they entered the five-star restaurant that had been taken over for the President's party.

"Sooorrrrrrrryyy," Zack whined back.

He was trying very, very hard not to make a total fool of himself as he served as Sam's escort. His stomach was doing flips as he finally realized that he would be sitting at the same table as other 1st Class SOLDIERs. As they got closer to the table they were assigned to, he saw two men already seated with them.

One man was dressed in a plain black suit with his dark hair brushed away from his face with the exception of two bangs that hung over his temples. Dark stubble shaded his chin. He had bright cobalt eyes and very strong features that just screamed "Masculine!" There was something just cool about him.

The man was talking to the other man at the table. This one had lighter brunette hair that almost looked red layered about chin-length. Unlike his friend he wore a long, red-leather trench coat and dark leather pants (What was it with SOLDIERs and leather, really? Zack wondered to himself). In one hand he held a copy of what looked like LOVELESS, and in the other hand he held a glass of wine. Both men appeared to be in their early to mid-twenties.

Sam sat down confidently in her chair as soon as they reached the table in a position that showed off her shapely calves without bothering to say anything. The two men, however, greeted her with a nod and the one in red remarked, "At last, Dear Friend; Together once more."

"Hey guys," Sam responded, brushing one of her loose bangs to the side. "Sephy-rock still not here yet?"

The first man shock his head and turned his attention onto Zack. "And this is your student, correct?" Zack had to fight the surprisingly strong urge to squeal like a thirteen-year-old girl as the older and clearly more experienced man observed him. Weird. Normally he would have asked what his problem was. Something was definitely different about this guy.

"This is Zack," Sam answered before Zack even opened his mouth. "You can sit down, you know," she addressed him. Zack flushed and took the seat beside her. "He's my new pet…uh, I mean student. Yeah. Student. That's it."

"Heya," Zack smiled, gaining a chuckle from the sterner one and a little smirk from the other.

"Zack, these two loons are Commander Angeal Hewley and Commander Genesis Rhapsodos," Sam motioned to each man in turn.

"Glad to meet ya," Zack smiled brightly.

"That Turk was looking for you again," Genesis told Sam absently as he turned a page in his book.

She blinked and tried to appear as unaffected as possible. "Really?" she asked casually, an eyebrow raised. Angeal pulled from his jacket an envelope with "Sam" scrawled quickly across it and handed it to her. For some reason the hand writing looked familiar to Zack… Sam opened it and read the note inside swiftly before smirking softly. "Goof," she announced, tucking the note into her handbag. "As is I'd be seen with him."

"So, Angeal, when are you ever going to get yourself a pet-grunt," Sam asked, thus changing the subject.

Angeal's own eyebrow rose. "When I find one who I am certain will make it to 1st Class."

"One day, you'll be sorry you didn't," Sam mocked. At that point Zack zoned out of the conversation and let his mind wonder.

Out of nowhere a hand came down on Zack's shoulder, startling him from his absent state of mind. "Should I be jealous, Sam?" a slightly cynical voice asked. Zack froze at the slightly dangerous edge to the man's voice. Wait…he knew that voice… Oh Shiva!

"Yes. Genesis's whole, 'I'm-a-dark-moody-and-poetic-piece-of-man-candy' routine has gotten through to my heart. We are now going to ride off into the sunset on a golden chocobo and make lots of little SOLDIER 1st Classes," Sam answered in a tone that could almost be called pleasant if she wasn't such a bitch.

"Oh, that's fine then, yo. I'm gonna go run off with the first piece of ass I get my hands on then," the man answered. The dangerous edge was gone, and Zack looked up nervously to see a familiar face leering down at him. Reno's blue eyes narrowed as he stared Zack down, and the glare was intensified by the scar-like markings by his eyes. The hand on his shoulder tightened ever so slightly.

"Then I suggest you sleep with one eye open," Sam advised solemnly. "Sams are not known for their ability to share. One could almost say they're known for the amazing ability to not-share."

"Fortunately I know how to appease a Sam," he answered playfully.

"Oh, really?" Sam asked, the eyebrow once again raised.

"Really," he answered. "Sams have but one weakness…" he started, a smirk on his face. "Chocolate." Out of nowhere Reno pulled a red rectangular box from behind his back and presented it to her with a flourish.

Sam took the box and said flatly, "I'm not sleeping with you. Ever."

"Can't blame a guy for tryin', yo," he shrugged with a wink before walking off into the crowd of people milling about trying to look important.

As soon as he disappeared Sam ripped open the box and her eyes widened as she gaped. "It's from Midel," she whisper-shouted excitedly.

Zack's eyes widened. Midelian chocolate was not easy to come by. Did he mention it was expensive? Oh so very expensive…like more money than he was probably was going to ever see in a year expensive. "Whoa," he remarked. Sam's eyes were wide and her pupils huge as she nodded her agreement to his remark.

Genesis leaned across the table and said fake secretly to Zack, "That Turk has been flirting with her since she made 1st Class two years ago. She's in denial of her attraction."

"Shut up! I so am not!" Sam denied loudly and vociferously. "You just are so obsessed with your stupid romance stories that you see love where clearly there is only violent dislike."

"If you say-so," Genesis responded sing-song before going back to his book.

"You're damn right I say so. By the way, no chocolate for you," she hmphed before popping one of the pieces of fine dark chocolate filled with some kind of fluff with brandy and crème. Her expression turned orgasmic and she moaned, lapping at the traces of chocolate left on her fingertips like a cat laps at milk.

Angeal chuckled softly at Sam's antics. For once he almost hoped that Sephiroth wouldn't try to kill Reno over this "indiscretion." Almost, but not quite. His own desire to disembowel the Turk over his constant harassment of Sam was too strong to stop Sephiroth. He really had to have a long discussion with Genesis about encouraging the Turk.