AN: EEEK! I actually posted a new chapter!! No, I haven't given up on this
story, just haven't had any inspiration or idea of where to take it. I got
a rather funny idea of what to do to poor Sephy, so, it's just a matter of
getting the 'scene visions' to write down and directing the story in the
direction I want it to go. Sorry for the long wait and all, but I hope you
like this chapter!
**
Weird.. It was simply weird. After returning Sephiroth to the lab- and his subsequent collapsing again, Kita and Paul stuffed his extra clothes in the cabinet under the television, undressed him, and replaced him on the table in the lab, Paul recalled about how Seph had paid for dinner. How was it possible? Surely the banking system had changed in two thousand years.. unless the people at the restaurant had given them dinner for free simply because it WAS Sephiroth who had eaten there.
Kita had already left, but Paul had to know. Returning to the lab, he pulled Sephiroth's bank card from the top drawer of the filing cabinet and headed towards Katachi's office.
The room wasn't spacious, but it looked that way simply because there was only really a desk with a computer on it and chair behind it. The desk was set at the other end of the room, opposite the door, next to the large set of windows that looked out onto the street. The floor was the same tile from the lab and hall, the walls the same white resilient plastic, the ceiling the same lighting. The only difference, was that it was warmer in this room than in the lab, or even the hall.
Flopping down into the chair behind the desk, Paul flipped on the switch and waited for the computer to boot up. Outside, the sky was getting dark. With Sephiroth's bankcard in hand, Paul carefully typed in the pin number on the back of the card onto the computer into the net bank's database. He looked over the numbers quickly to make sure they were right then pressed enter and watched as the new page loaded onto the screen.
The page had a very old picture of Sephiroth, possibly when he was younger but he looked about the same as he was now so the picture wasn't inaccurate. It was further down that caught Paul's attention.
SEPHIROTH
EMPLOYER : Shinra
SALARY : $40,000 per year
CURRENT BALANCE : $80,359,890
ACCOUNT STATUS : Active
Paul blinked and read the current balance again. And once more. "Holy shit... They... forgot to stop paying him!" he had to laugh at that and closed out of Katachi's computer and quickly left, taking Sephiroth's bankcard and returning it to where it belonged in the files. Though, the question nagged at him. How was it that the banking system was the same that his card still worked? He supposed he'd have to ask Sephiroth that later.
**
Katachi worked carefully, scraping and packing in the molds of Sephiroth's teeth while the body lay on the metal table. He smirked slightly at the body while in the background he could hear his assistance doing what they were supposed to. "Dissection next," he said softly with a happy gleam in his eyes. "I can't wait to have your bits set out on tables for me to study."
Suddenly, Sephiroth's eyes focused and he glared at Katachi. The doctor staggered back a few steps his hands dropping the tools he'd been using as Sephiroth sat up and tried to pry the plaster off his teeth. "Like hell you will!" he spat on the floor a few times before Kita came over with a cup of water and a pair of pants. The ancient man hurriedly took a mouthful of water and swished it around before spitting it out on Katachi. Taking his pants he quickly pulled them on and discarded the paper kilt. Taking the glass again he swallowed a few gulps before pulling a face.
Katachi slowly returned to his senses and looked at Paul and Kita, "How long have you known about this?" he asked slowly and watched as Paul smiled slightly.
"Well sir, a while."
"And you didn't tell me?!" Katachi fumed as he watched Sephiroth pull on a black shirt and tuck it into his black pants. Paul raised an eyebrow. Katachi sniffed and looked back at Sephiroth, "Well, no matter, you'll be dead again soon enough, you probably swallowed some of that plaster."
Kita went pale. "We need to get him to a hospital! That stuff's poisonous!"
Sephiroth shrugged as if he could care less and put his belt on. "Really Kita, how often does he just fall over dead as it is? I doubt a little plaster's going to make him STAY dead," Paul pointed out with a slight smirk. The woman looked down at the floor in guilt, realizing that what she'd said had in fact been very stupid.
Katachi watched as Sephiroth went over to one of the filing cabinets, opened the top drawer, pulled out the bag with his bank card in it and stuffed the card into his pocket. He turned and headed toward the door and was out in the hall before Katachi could catch up. "You can't just walk out of here!" The doctor's only answer was a chilling smile which stopped him from following his science project any further. "Wait!!" Katachi called and hurried after, he slipped into the elevator just before the doors closed.
Gasping for breath, he asked, "Where are you going?" A shrug was his answer. "There wasn't anything in your files that noted that you were such a bastard," he stated and got smiled at again.
"You can't just go out there! What if people find out?! The world would be in chaos! You DID almost destroy the world before! They don't know if you'd do it again!"
"If I come up with any plans to do that, I'll make sure to call you," Sephiroth stated sarcastically, looking straight forward with a blank expression.
Katachi fumed, "That's not what I meant!" the elevator door opened on the first floor and Katachi spun around to face a mob of media reporters.
Softly, Sephiroth brushed past Katachi while wearing a pair of rather trendy sunglasses. "'Scuse me," he said and the media people melted out of his way but closed in on Katachi after he was through. The doctor stared as Sephiroth just left through the front door before Katachi could do a thing and the cameras were hurriedly turned on.
A microphone was shoved into his face and he stared at it in horror. "Doctor! Have there been any new developments in your studies?!" the question came and he worked his mouth for a second.
"Ah uh uhm.. no."
**
Paul sighed, looking toward Kita, "You know, it occurred to me yesterday that it was rather odd that Sephiroth could use his bank card at that restaurant, and I'd mean to ask him about it today..."
Kita blinked a few times, "You're right. That is odd."
"I checked his account last night. It was active and he had eighty million."
Her eyes went wide and she turned to stare at her coworker. "Eighty.. million?" Paul nodded slowly.
The man smiled suavely, using one of Katachi's poses, "Well, since our project has run away and our boss ran off with it, I think we've got free time. Wanna see if there's something on TV?"
Kita sighed, though she had to smile a bit. Paul wasn't handsome, but at least he had more of a sense of humor than Katachi did. "Sure," she replied and they left the lab, heading for the lounge.
**
Nearly an hour passed before Katachi returned, fuming mad still. He stalked into the lounge where he found Kita and Paul watching some kid's cartoon. "He was ALIVE and you DIDN'T TELL ME?!" he shouted from behind them, making the two scientists jump and turn to face him.
"Actually, we did, sir. The first time we found him out of place. You didn't believe us," Paul pointed out scientifically, watching Katachi's face turn even more red, with anger and probably embarrassment as well.
"You didn't bring me concrete evidence!" he blurted, still scowling. "All you two told me was that you found him sprawled on the floor and slightly warm! You're fired! Both of you are fired! Get out!" he remained standing in the doorway, blocking their path.
Paul got to his feet and moved to stand in front of Katachi, staring at the man's eyes for a long moment. "Maybe you shouldn't blame your own mistakes on other people," he stated and brushed past his former boss in much the same way Sephiroth would have done. Kita was quick to follow, not wanting to get yelled at any more than she had.
**
Katachi paced back and forth in the hallway between the door to the lab and the door to the elevator. "Where the hell is he?!" the doctor shouted rather suddenly. He'd somehow managed to BS his way through the questions from the media and not let any of them know that the guy they'd let just walk past them was really Sephiroth. What he really hoped was that Sephiroth would return. They guy had nowhere else to go for the night, except maybe to Kita's or Paul's apartments, but if those two harbored HIS new ride to fame, they were going to be in for it.
He turned around to start back down the hall toward the door that lead to the elevator and came to an abrupt stop when he ran into someone tall, well muscled, and wearing black. He adjusted his glasses and looked up at Sephiroth's face with a glare.
"Waiting up for me?" Sephiroth asked with a sarcastic hint to his voice and a blank expression.
Katachi lifted a finger and waved it at Sephiroth's face, "You need me to survive in this world! It's a lot different than from that backwards society you came from!"
"I think I can manage," Sephiroth replied, eyeing the finger that wasn't going to be connected to the doctor much longer if he kept waving it the way he was.
The doctor glared, "And how will you get money?! They can't keep you fed forever you know!"
A smirk came to Sephiroth's lips, "I think I can manage."
"Where will you sleep?!"
"I've got ample accommodations."
Katachi eyed, "If you think you're going to be so rude as you're being and expect to stay here then forget it!"
"No.. I just came back to get my things. I bought an apartment building."
"I assume that you meant to say that you rented an apartment." Katachi corrected, his tone indicating that he felt he was far superior to Sephiroth in intellect.
Sephiroth smiled chillingly, "No. I said what I meant."
The doctor stared at Sephiroth, "...Bought an apartment building.... How?"
Sephiroth shrugged and brushed past Katachi to head into the lounge and pull out a duffel bag from under the TV. Tossing his bag over one shoulder, he once more brushed past the shocked doctor and headed toward the elevator.
**
Weird.. It was simply weird. After returning Sephiroth to the lab- and his subsequent collapsing again, Kita and Paul stuffed his extra clothes in the cabinet under the television, undressed him, and replaced him on the table in the lab, Paul recalled about how Seph had paid for dinner. How was it possible? Surely the banking system had changed in two thousand years.. unless the people at the restaurant had given them dinner for free simply because it WAS Sephiroth who had eaten there.
Kita had already left, but Paul had to know. Returning to the lab, he pulled Sephiroth's bank card from the top drawer of the filing cabinet and headed towards Katachi's office.
The room wasn't spacious, but it looked that way simply because there was only really a desk with a computer on it and chair behind it. The desk was set at the other end of the room, opposite the door, next to the large set of windows that looked out onto the street. The floor was the same tile from the lab and hall, the walls the same white resilient plastic, the ceiling the same lighting. The only difference, was that it was warmer in this room than in the lab, or even the hall.
Flopping down into the chair behind the desk, Paul flipped on the switch and waited for the computer to boot up. Outside, the sky was getting dark. With Sephiroth's bankcard in hand, Paul carefully typed in the pin number on the back of the card onto the computer into the net bank's database. He looked over the numbers quickly to make sure they were right then pressed enter and watched as the new page loaded onto the screen.
The page had a very old picture of Sephiroth, possibly when he was younger but he looked about the same as he was now so the picture wasn't inaccurate. It was further down that caught Paul's attention.
SEPHIROTH
EMPLOYER : Shinra
SALARY : $40,000 per year
CURRENT BALANCE : $80,359,890
ACCOUNT STATUS : Active
Paul blinked and read the current balance again. And once more. "Holy shit... They... forgot to stop paying him!" he had to laugh at that and closed out of Katachi's computer and quickly left, taking Sephiroth's bankcard and returning it to where it belonged in the files. Though, the question nagged at him. How was it that the banking system was the same that his card still worked? He supposed he'd have to ask Sephiroth that later.
**
Katachi worked carefully, scraping and packing in the molds of Sephiroth's teeth while the body lay on the metal table. He smirked slightly at the body while in the background he could hear his assistance doing what they were supposed to. "Dissection next," he said softly with a happy gleam in his eyes. "I can't wait to have your bits set out on tables for me to study."
Suddenly, Sephiroth's eyes focused and he glared at Katachi. The doctor staggered back a few steps his hands dropping the tools he'd been using as Sephiroth sat up and tried to pry the plaster off his teeth. "Like hell you will!" he spat on the floor a few times before Kita came over with a cup of water and a pair of pants. The ancient man hurriedly took a mouthful of water and swished it around before spitting it out on Katachi. Taking his pants he quickly pulled them on and discarded the paper kilt. Taking the glass again he swallowed a few gulps before pulling a face.
Katachi slowly returned to his senses and looked at Paul and Kita, "How long have you known about this?" he asked slowly and watched as Paul smiled slightly.
"Well sir, a while."
"And you didn't tell me?!" Katachi fumed as he watched Sephiroth pull on a black shirt and tuck it into his black pants. Paul raised an eyebrow. Katachi sniffed and looked back at Sephiroth, "Well, no matter, you'll be dead again soon enough, you probably swallowed some of that plaster."
Kita went pale. "We need to get him to a hospital! That stuff's poisonous!"
Sephiroth shrugged as if he could care less and put his belt on. "Really Kita, how often does he just fall over dead as it is? I doubt a little plaster's going to make him STAY dead," Paul pointed out with a slight smirk. The woman looked down at the floor in guilt, realizing that what she'd said had in fact been very stupid.
Katachi watched as Sephiroth went over to one of the filing cabinets, opened the top drawer, pulled out the bag with his bank card in it and stuffed the card into his pocket. He turned and headed toward the door and was out in the hall before Katachi could catch up. "You can't just walk out of here!" The doctor's only answer was a chilling smile which stopped him from following his science project any further. "Wait!!" Katachi called and hurried after, he slipped into the elevator just before the doors closed.
Gasping for breath, he asked, "Where are you going?" A shrug was his answer. "There wasn't anything in your files that noted that you were such a bastard," he stated and got smiled at again.
"You can't just go out there! What if people find out?! The world would be in chaos! You DID almost destroy the world before! They don't know if you'd do it again!"
"If I come up with any plans to do that, I'll make sure to call you," Sephiroth stated sarcastically, looking straight forward with a blank expression.
Katachi fumed, "That's not what I meant!" the elevator door opened on the first floor and Katachi spun around to face a mob of media reporters.
Softly, Sephiroth brushed past Katachi while wearing a pair of rather trendy sunglasses. "'Scuse me," he said and the media people melted out of his way but closed in on Katachi after he was through. The doctor stared as Sephiroth just left through the front door before Katachi could do a thing and the cameras were hurriedly turned on.
A microphone was shoved into his face and he stared at it in horror. "Doctor! Have there been any new developments in your studies?!" the question came and he worked his mouth for a second.
"Ah uh uhm.. no."
**
Paul sighed, looking toward Kita, "You know, it occurred to me yesterday that it was rather odd that Sephiroth could use his bank card at that restaurant, and I'd mean to ask him about it today..."
Kita blinked a few times, "You're right. That is odd."
"I checked his account last night. It was active and he had eighty million."
Her eyes went wide and she turned to stare at her coworker. "Eighty.. million?" Paul nodded slowly.
The man smiled suavely, using one of Katachi's poses, "Well, since our project has run away and our boss ran off with it, I think we've got free time. Wanna see if there's something on TV?"
Kita sighed, though she had to smile a bit. Paul wasn't handsome, but at least he had more of a sense of humor than Katachi did. "Sure," she replied and they left the lab, heading for the lounge.
**
Nearly an hour passed before Katachi returned, fuming mad still. He stalked into the lounge where he found Kita and Paul watching some kid's cartoon. "He was ALIVE and you DIDN'T TELL ME?!" he shouted from behind them, making the two scientists jump and turn to face him.
"Actually, we did, sir. The first time we found him out of place. You didn't believe us," Paul pointed out scientifically, watching Katachi's face turn even more red, with anger and probably embarrassment as well.
"You didn't bring me concrete evidence!" he blurted, still scowling. "All you two told me was that you found him sprawled on the floor and slightly warm! You're fired! Both of you are fired! Get out!" he remained standing in the doorway, blocking their path.
Paul got to his feet and moved to stand in front of Katachi, staring at the man's eyes for a long moment. "Maybe you shouldn't blame your own mistakes on other people," he stated and brushed past his former boss in much the same way Sephiroth would have done. Kita was quick to follow, not wanting to get yelled at any more than she had.
**
Katachi paced back and forth in the hallway between the door to the lab and the door to the elevator. "Where the hell is he?!" the doctor shouted rather suddenly. He'd somehow managed to BS his way through the questions from the media and not let any of them know that the guy they'd let just walk past them was really Sephiroth. What he really hoped was that Sephiroth would return. They guy had nowhere else to go for the night, except maybe to Kita's or Paul's apartments, but if those two harbored HIS new ride to fame, they were going to be in for it.
He turned around to start back down the hall toward the door that lead to the elevator and came to an abrupt stop when he ran into someone tall, well muscled, and wearing black. He adjusted his glasses and looked up at Sephiroth's face with a glare.
"Waiting up for me?" Sephiroth asked with a sarcastic hint to his voice and a blank expression.
Katachi lifted a finger and waved it at Sephiroth's face, "You need me to survive in this world! It's a lot different than from that backwards society you came from!"
"I think I can manage," Sephiroth replied, eyeing the finger that wasn't going to be connected to the doctor much longer if he kept waving it the way he was.
The doctor glared, "And how will you get money?! They can't keep you fed forever you know!"
A smirk came to Sephiroth's lips, "I think I can manage."
"Where will you sleep?!"
"I've got ample accommodations."
Katachi eyed, "If you think you're going to be so rude as you're being and expect to stay here then forget it!"
"No.. I just came back to get my things. I bought an apartment building."
"I assume that you meant to say that you rented an apartment." Katachi corrected, his tone indicating that he felt he was far superior to Sephiroth in intellect.
Sephiroth smiled chillingly, "No. I said what I meant."
The doctor stared at Sephiroth, "...Bought an apartment building.... How?"
Sephiroth shrugged and brushed past Katachi to head into the lounge and pull out a duffel bag from under the TV. Tossing his bag over one shoulder, he once more brushed past the shocked doctor and headed toward the elevator.