At day break, Sephiroth woke up to a slight kick on the base of his bed to wake him. He moved toward his sword ready to attack, having a blade on his neck before he could entirely reach the handle.

"Your first instinct should not be to draw your weapon," she told him. "Sometimes someone will be faster and will be able to get you before you have a chance to get your weapon…"

Sephiroth lunged his weight, seizing the end of her sword and flipping his weight over it into a standing position. With his sword in hand, he moved it uncomfortably in one hand, as he'd held his smaller sword from before.

Soldire looked at him, resting the tip of her sword on the ground. "Have you never wielded that before?"

Sephiroth shook his head, "No I haven't. How obvious is it?"

"Very," she came up behind him and helped him bring his sword overhead and poise his body for movement. "Does that feel better?"

"Yes, much," Sephiroth confirmed. She came up beside him, holding her sword the same was as he, and then she started to make a downward swing, and he mimicked her movements and they began practice striking. They did repetitive downward, sideways, and upward swings.

"Ready to try one handed?" she asked once you noticed he was comfortable adding a variety of movements.

"We can do that?" Sephiroth asked, though he felt pathetic still for requiring a woman teach him, but at the same time, he felt much more respect for women knowing they were strong and brave, and scarred like this one.

She laughed slightly at him, and then held the sword in one hand, using the other hand to counter balance the offset weight distribution. Sephiroth copied her movements, and then she changed her weight and went in front of him and stood tightly and waited "Attack me."

Sephiroth did as he was told; he lunged forward and assaulted her. His sword clashed on hers, and they began fighting with all their strength against one another. Sephiroth had never fought something that could fight back before and wasn't entirely sure of what he was doing, but he could feel his adrenaline rushing, and his heart beating so fast. He felt alive.

Their battle was long and intense; they continued to wear each other out, though Sephiroth was working on not getting stabbed by her. Soldire finally spoke to him, "Instead of being aware of my sword and watching it, watch my eyes. They'll tell you where I'm going to go and how I'm going to move. Anticipate my movements; don't try to meet them before they hit you."

Sephiroth watched her while she stopped moving, and she stared at his eyes and they both moved into position to prepare to fight. She made a move toward him, pleased when his sword met hers and he started to swing and fight her back. They resumed their fighting; now Sephiroth was becoming very involved in the process and was horribly enjoying what they were doing.

Their battle ceased when a dragon worked its way inside the cavern with them. Soldire poised herself and held her sword ready, "Looks like now you'll learn how it is to have and ally instead of just an enemy."

They stood side by side, but brandishing their weapons and the dragon moved in and roared from deep within the back of its throat, hissing and groaning loudly. Sephiroth and Soldire were ready and Soldire smiled and looked at him, "Show me your stuff."

Sephiroth smiled at her, and then moved to be the hitter, with unreal strength he stuck at the ground, dropping it to the ground with one hit. Soldire held her sword under her arm and applauded him. He turned back and smiled at her, she could see those eyes. She knew that mark, and knew who Sephiroth was going to be when he learned who he was.

"I need to tell you something…" Soldire began.

"About how you left the Shin-Ra when you were 4 by your mother's hand?" Sephiroth asked.

She chuckled, "How did you know?"

"I'm nothing if not clever," Sephiroth stated, knowing their battle was over for today and he was seated and taking his boots off. "SOLDIER didn't start until I was 8. They started training me before they started it, just like you. You must have returned and offered to fight, and they decided to use both of us to be the ultimate weapons."

They decided to use you for the project because they wanted a man, not a woman. Soldire knew that was the truth. Her mother had told her that she had been injected with Jenova's cells while she was pregnant and those cells were infused in Soldire's DNA. She possessed the same unreal strength as Sephiroth. Her pupils were the same, but she had already fought in SOLDIER with then men. Sephiroth had not yet been tainted by tasting blood. He was lucky, and maybe she'd had gotten to him early enough that she could prevent him from becoming too strong… or using his Jenova cells power to destroy the planet. She fought wanting to use Meteor… maybe he could too.

"I'm glad you knew," Soldire told him, her words were deep and heart felt, "The last I want to do to you is lie."

"You are protecting me from something, but I hope you will tell me one day. I respect you for being honest."

She looked down at her hands while she sat next to him and she smiled and looked up and him, "I appreciate it."

Sephiroth smiled at her back, but not his usual mischievous grin she was growing very used to, more of a grin that spoke on deep values. His lips parted slightly while he looked at her, and he brought them into his mouth for a second and then moved closer to her with a rapid movement, and brought his lips to hers. He expected something… something painful to happen, but he hoped it wouldn't. He was deeply pleased to feel her arms around his back, as if she was trying to pull him closer. She supplied a soft moan of happiness from the back of her throat. He loved that sound, and he wanted to hear it again, but apparently she didn't want to. She suddenly back away from him in terror, like she had lost control, and she went to her bed without saying another word.

Sephiroth looked at her, and sighed deeply, unsure of what he'd done wrong, but regardless, he had offended her and he was deeply ashamed to have offended her. He would apologize to her in the morning… but… he hoped she would let him stay… he didn't want to go back to the Shin-Ra. He didn't want to be in SOLDIER… he wanted to be with her. With her? Yes… with her… he wanted to be in her arms again, he felt as if he needed to be in her arms. In fact, he knew it, he needed to be in her arms, he needed to be close to her, in was in love with her.