Special thanks to Glaurung II. Her idea for Seph's costume was way better than mineXD …she should dress him everyday :3

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Chapter eleven

"Noooo!!!!!!!" A blood curdling scream.

"It washes out." Zack shook the can again and held it menacingly over the cadet's head.

"But…but…but its friggin' pink, Zack!"

"Well, nature did a good job with the spiky blondness but there has to be some pink too, or the look won't work."

"This can't be right, what kind of person has pink hair?" Cloud held Zack's wrist.

"I don't know. Be glad yours doesn't grow that way." Zack shook his wrist free and pressed that awful button on top the can.

Cloud clamped his eyes shut, not to protect them from the burning evil spray but so he couldn't see what was happening to him. He whimpered pitifully at the thought of what he would look like when he opened them, but Zack only continued to mercilessly disfigure his golden locks.

"There, all done." Zack smiled. "Um…you can open your eyes now."

Cloud shook his head. "Not until I get past the mirror."

"It's not that bad, look." Zack shoved him in front of the glass.

Cloud opened his eyes slowly, fully prepared to cringe at what he saw.

Really, it wasn't that bad. Zack had gone easy on the coloring and it was only the very tips of his spikes that were a deep magenta. He reached up to feel his hair but Zack snatched his hand away.

"Nu-uh, don't touch until it dries. By rights, there shouldn't be black in there but I didn't think that I could got the pink to stick overtop of it and your hair's so light, I didn't know how well it would take."

"Guess it's not as bad as I thought." Cloud acknowledged but remained frowning.

"Of course not. And there's gonna be people with a lot weirder hair then that, I promise you. Now we can fix the collar."

Zack set the buckle into the lowest notch, with was really none too small, but which Cloud found great displeasure with.

"It's strangling me! Uhg, why don't you have something this painful to wear?"

"Hey, I'm the one carrying around a hundred and fifty pounds of dead weight on my back."

"I supposed that's true…"

"There, all done!" Zack stepped back to survey his work and let out a low whistle. "Maybe I shouldn't have…I wonder if it's illegal…no, couldn't be…"

"What?"

Zack heard the door shink. "Ah, there's Seph!" Zack turned to the door, then stopped. A grin brimming with enough evilness to rival the Silver General himself appeared on his face as he eyed the can of pink hair coloring. "He would love this…"

"You wouldn't…" Cloud breathed.

"Hmmm….YAHH!" Zack yowled as the highly volatile substance in his hand combusted. "Shit! Ouch! That hurts, Seph!" He yelled into the other room as black powder drifted into the bathroom sink.

"You keep forgetting that I can sense malicious intent, Zack." Sephiroth appeared in the doorway and immediately observed Cloud's changed visage. He had expected some alteration in hair color but the clothing was more or less a surprise.

Cloud tugged at his vastly uncomfortable collar, which was constructed of a heavy leather band; buckled in the center and with silver studs adorning it. Similar bands encircled his wrists, and a set of matching oversized, studded belts which somehow managed to stay hanging precariously off of his hips. Dark blue fabric, of which there was no excess, draped in every location where there was the tiniest bit of slack and his arms were bare. A stiff collared, half-cape swayed on his shoulders. Lastly and most importantly, a heavy (when I say heavy, I mean heavy) metal chain hung around his neck, to which was attached a triangular pendant inscribed with hieroglyphs which reached past his waist.

"Zack, I told you not to dress him like a stripper, or any sort of…"

Cloud made a strange noise and glared at Zack.

"He is not! He dressed as a normal school kid…I guess." Zack scratched the back of his head.

Sephiroth gave him that questioning look.

"At least he was supposed to be…I don't remember being able to wear that kinda thing in school…but that's how the character goes. He's a normal like high-schooler that's all."

"And what makes him a desirable character to embody?"

"He has special talents!" Zack explained. "Oh yeah…" Zack ran into the living room where he had left a box of cards and threw them to Cloud. "Now it's perfect."

"What is it?" Sephiroth demanded.

"It's a Yugi!" Zack 'explained' energetically and then waved toward the clock. "Better get dressed, Seph."

"At least it's not a girl." Sephiroth muttered and shut the bedroom door behind him, not really noticing that he had just done as Zack had told him.

Cloud stared at the now closed bedroom door.

"Don't let your thoughts wander, Spiky." Zack gave him that devilish grin again.

"Why did he say that?" Cloud asked.

"Say what?" Zack aimlessly began wandering the room.

"Why would he think you'd dress me, like, like…that." Wide cadet eyes implored Zack for a justifiable reason.

"Don't look so worried, Spiky. I just like to get a rise out of him every once in a while."

"But you would actually do something like that to me, right? You know I have enough trouble not standing out for ridicule…"

"'Ridicule'? What's wrong with you that anyone would pick on?"

"But you wouldn't right?"

"What?"

"Just answer."

"Why would you ask something like that?"

"Why won't you answer the question?!"

"You're overreacting."

"Just say that you wouldn't!"

"I can't do that. What if it was some sort of covert Wutai spy mission or something?"

"In combat with Wutai, I am training to fight to the death if need be. Answer the damn question!"

"Yes, but your death may not be what is needed and you must show total dedication to the cause!"

"You're changing the subject!"

"No I'm not!"

"Yes you are!"

"No…!"

"Stop it, both you!" Sephiroth bellowed from the now open bedroom doorway. "If I wanted to hear constant bickering, I would have become involved in some sort of reproduction program."

"Ouch, Seph, that's a scary thought when you don't phrase it quite that way... Little Sephiroth's running around…he-he, that might be kind of cute…"

"Zack, stop now." The 'cute' word almost made him snap sometimes when applied to himself.

"Hee-hee, ShinRa would have to at least triple their insurance policy…but you might make a decent dad…I mean, they'd at least have really good teeth…" Zack pondered.

"You should have stopped approximately three seconds ago, Zackary."

"…you'd have to learn to loosen up a bit though…kids need fun…but that's where I'd help out! Hey! They'd probably end up calling me Uncle Zack! Heh, that wouldn't be too bad! They'd have big green eyes and silver hair…" Zack smiled to himself. Then he noticed…

Oh, shit. Sephiroth had that look again.

Zack whirled around to see Cloud if had any appearances of distress which he could exploit.

"Cloud?"

Sure enough, the kid had a rather blank expression on his face which seemed out of place on him.

"Cloud?! That's wrong?!" Zack tried to put as much panic into his voice as possible and snapped his fingers an inch from the cadet's nose.

Cloud jerked back scowling. "What? It's nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing."

"Oh, thank God you're okay!" Zack hugged him. "Now, how do you like what I got for Seph?"

Sephiroth tugged at the feather-light fabric tied around his neck.

"He-he, I knew I'd never get him too agree to anything that wasn't at least mostly back. I sear he doesn't even know there are other colors."

There was indeed a good deal of black, showcased by a billowing cloak, lined in a white which mirrored the General's snowy hair. The collar was far from inconspicuous and rose almost to his ears before falling back down to his shoulders, giving a rather non safe impression. A tailored coat came down to his mid thigh, trimmed with a tasteful mount of gold, which clearly implied a noble birth. Its cuffs were just as extreme as the collar and also accented with gold. Beneath this was yet another well fitted dark vest, closed in front by four silver fasteners. Directly around his waist, a simplistic belt bore the weight of his rapier, with the aid of some extra chains. Little change could be found in the pants however; they were still fairly close fitting, and back, somewhat shiny, well yes, they were tight. The boots gloved his calves and reached up to mid-knee, they had to a sturdy but considerably high heal, raising his normally conspicuous height too…?

Suffice it to say that the ceiling was reaching minimum clearance. All in all, the new wardrobe expanded the Silver General's bubble of personal space from ten feet, to roughly fifteen.

The tie of Sephiroth's discontent, originated from a white satin shirt beneath the rest of the gear, which managed to somehow be very fitting.

"I compliment your presence of mind, Zack, in seeing to it that I was not deprived of certain necessary accessories." Sephiroth flexed his fingers. His hands were still clad in those omnipresent leather gloves.

Zack smiled, pleased with himself.

"But I must question your apparent interest in strangling everyone whom you are designated to attire." Sephiroth frowned furiously, giving another tug at the satin.

"Not my fault. Blame character designers." Zack shrugged.

Sephiroth jingled the familiar looking chain which held his cape in place. "Are we getting a discount rate for these?"

"Yeah, actually. How'd ya like the sword? I sharpened it myself just so I'd know you'd like it. It's perfectly usable."

"Ah, yes," A very faint look of satisfaction came into Sephiroth face as he drew the slender rapier examining the razor edge and an elegantly narrowed point. "The lack of range and slashing abilities of this is nothing short of embarrassing."

"Eh?!" Zack's mouth dropped open. "After all the work I went to for your damned perfectionism! Hell if I'll ever try and find anything for you again! Fastidious bas-…!"

"However," The silver haired man cut Zack off before had could dig a pit any deeper. "It is extremely light and portable, with an exceptional stab attack. I believe I will keep it." He sheathed the weapon with on flourish and a sharp snick. "One can never have too many side arms."

"Humph." Zack milked the moment for the full five seconds, during which he was capable being angry.

"Shouldn't you be dressed?" Sephiroth asked.

"I am!"

"Buttons where make for a reason you know." The General motioned pointedly to his shirt and jacket which were undone well down his chest.

"Ha, whatever you say, Mr. I'm too sexy for a shirt." Zack slung the enormous metal cross onto his back.

"I believe I've explained this on multiple occasions, Zack. The only way that the armor will stay properly…"

"Heh, whatever!" Zack snatched the chain around Cloud's neck and pulled him toward the door.

"Hey, this is really handy!"

……………………………………

Voila! The costumes I entrapped our lovely bishies in:D I hope they are to everyone satisfaction. If you haven't seen them, I posted pics on my profile and if you have seen them, they're still kind of pretty. Yes indeed, you didn't need all that LONG description of what Cloud and Seph were wearing did you? But you guys don't mind toooo much, do you?

Sephiroth is none other than the lovely Alucard of the Castlevania universe! I swear these two are the same person. Again thanks to Glaurung II!

Cloudkins is Yugi Moto of Yu-gi-oh of course! I was reading a profile on Yugi and it said something about him being a pure-hearted, sweet kid and I'm thinking, ah, he's perfect! So I start examining his clothes, and begin thinking…WTF? Innocent high schooler, eh? XD well, that worked itself into the story. I realize there was kind of a slightly different outfit that he wore, were the emblem whatzit was hung on a normal cord. But that wasn't as sexy enough for my purposes…no that wouldn't do at all!

And Zack is Wolfwood a la Trigun! Because…because…heck I don't know, he's just hot!

Next episode may be quite a bit longer and will be located at the event itself! How many dreadful things do you suppose can happen there?

And review pweeease! I worked so hard!XD