Title: Sephiroth's Mistress

Fandom: Final Fantasy VII

Pairing: Sephiroth/Cloud

Rating: M?

Warnings: Yaoi, humor

Disclaimer: Characters and settings belong to Square Enix.

Author's note: Please forgive the length between my updates. I'm sure all of my readers and reviewers are somewhat used to it by now, yes? I've tried to make it a bit longer than usual. As usual love to all my reviewers!

Part Twenty-One:

Outside of the second story window, the whole of Wutai was scurrying about in a busy dance. Each citizen was decorating, cleaning, preparing meals, or otherwise readying the peaceful city for the upcoming tournament. When the news had been released shortly after General Sephiroth's acceptance of his fiancé's involvement, the entire place had gone into a frenzied state of preparation.

Yuffie giggled at their hurried pace. It was rather amusing to see everyone getting together for the sole reason of witnessing the extent of Misora's power. That thought dampened her chipper mood somewhat.

The blonde haired girl was just too sweet in Yuffie's opinion to partake such an aggressive competition. Still, even she understood the reasoning behind it. If it somehow meant that the others would be kinder to little Misora, then Yuffie was in full support of it.

Stepping away from the open window, the young Wutaian girl looked over to Misora. They had gone together to purchase from the armory and weaponry shop any items Misora was missing for her upcoming matches. So far they had only needed to look for a few lightweight armaments with materia slots—not too difficult to find in the battle hardened city.

The little blonde was currently standing before the counter full of the various kinds of offered materia. Yuffie thought she looked so frail, too frail, but Zack had sworn to her that the little girl would be able to handle herself—that she was tougher than she looked by far. Shaking her head slightly to banish her fearful thoughts, the dark haired Wutaian walked over to see if she could help any.

OoOoO

Lord Godo kept his steps even, his pace steady, as he continued down the hall, knowing that Lieutenant Zack was following. They had managed to convince the rather surprisingly protective General of their ingenious plan. There were, of course, a few details that meant that everything could fall through. Godo knew, though, that the two of them could not dwell on those what if's, that they had to be as prepared as possible and hope for the best.

The door to his private sitting room was slid open by his companion who flashed him a disarmingly charming smile so that the two of them could enter. The SOLDIER First Class had specifically sought the Wutaian Lord out, hunting for him for the better part of the morning from what Godo gathered from his servants. All for this, this conversation over the finer points of their plan.

"Well?" Godo prompted.

The brunette SOLDIER finished securing the wooden door, before turning a serious look on the older man. His eyes glowed lightly from the Mako that flowed through him from his many injections to make him to be the fighter he was. All in all, Lord Godo found the sight to be slightly alarming.

"For starters, you do realize that a lot of your people are going to want to challenge Misora, right?" Zack questioned in a tone of voice that sounded just a tiny bit demanding. When Godo gave a small nod of his head, Zack continued.

"I think we need to go over a few things. Like how we're going to keep Sephiroth from just jumping in to the fray. Or how we're going to keep to the rules of no deaths." Here he flashed that falsely sweet smile of his again.

"Any ideas?"

"Well, for starters, I think after round one, we can rule out the latter of our most prominent problems. As for the first…"

Godo's dark eyes watched intently as the SOLDIER First Class rubbed thoughtfully at his chin in mock consideration before running a tired hand through his chocolate colored locks.

"…I think it'd be best if we had Misora talk to him about it. Demand to be left alone to fight as she may, ya' know?"

The Wutaian Lord nodded again. Why were they discussing this if the Lieutenant already had it all planned out…?

"Oh, and maybe get a few of your best to sit near us to hold him there, just in case?"

At Godo's laugh that followed this question, Zack smiled his first true smile that morning, chuckling right along with the wizened warrior of Wutai.

OoOoO

Cloud shifted uneasily as Sephiroth settled himself on the large bed. Telling the sometimes intimidating Shinra General what Zack wished him to say, had turned out to be harder, much harder, than the blonde cadet had first anticipated. It would have been a simple thing for him to demand of the friendly SOLDIER First Class to not interfere during a fight. But, to do the same to the silver haired man before him, it was taking all of Cloud's willpower to not run and hide in the first place available.

Snapping out of his thoughts, he took note of the slightly raised silver eyebrow, a prompting for him to begin he was sure.

"Um…" racking his brain for a way to start the particularly taxing conversation, he failed to notice the tall man rising from the bed.

Strong arms circled around his huddled frame and only then did Cloud realize just how nervous he was. Settling back into the warm embrace of the older man, Cloud attempted to steady his beating heart and ragged breathing.

"Cloud, relax. It'll be okay," Sephiroth whispered beside his ear, his warm breath ghosting along the fine hairs and causing a delicious shiver down the blonde's back.

The young cadet shakily nodded his head, fixing his frantic thoughts back into some semblance of order. Right, he could do this. Zack thought he could at least. Taking in a deep steadying breath, Cloud started.

"I think it would be, um, best if you were to, uh, not interfere in the tournament, regardless of what happens. I mean, we're trying to prove to them that I'm strong enough, right? It wouldn't look to good if I had to rely on you…" the small blonde said in a slightly stuttering rush before trailing off into silence.

Cloud didn't dare to look back at the man who still held him firmly yet comfortingly against his form. He could only hope that there was no argument; he didn't think he would be able to say no to anything that Sephiroth himself demanded.

After a few silent moments, Sephiroth's rich and smooth voice again whispered by his ear, "If you are certain of this. I will not meddle."

OoOoO

As soon as the words slipped past his lips, the silver haired General turned the pliant body around. Tilting up the blonde's chin and looking upon the invitingly parted lips, Sephiroth bent forward to place a soft, chaste kiss on those same lips, watching as relieved and happy blue eyes slipped closed.

Cloud could do this, Sephiroth was positive. He was much more resilient and had more strength than most gave him credit for. Zack had told him so, and he himself had seen the stubborn power the blonde cadet boasted.

Yes, Cloud could do this…at least he fervently hoped so.

OoOoO

Author's ending note: I think this chapter was a little slow, but I do apologize for the slight cliffy. Anywho, whatcha think about it so far? Let me know and R & R (as I work harder then) and let me know how I did!

Next chapter: Uhem. Now, for the next chappie, I believe it will be the opening of the tournament and perhaps the first of Cloud's battles. Whatcha think?