~ Watch Me ~

White Sun

Rose left Angeal in the lobby of Shinra HQ. He was keen to continue their conversation about the Banora Mines, but it was late, and Rose really needed some time alone to think. A lot of information had passed her ears that evening, and wondering about what to do with it all was really beginning to make her brain hurt.

Firstly there was Ben – the boy from the warehouse – should she make the Turks aware that she knew where he lived? She reasoned that they likely already knew his living situation, and probably didn't need her help, but what would happen if she didn't pass the information on, and it was vital to their investigation? Would she be chastised? Would her Third Class status be revoked?

Groaning loudly, Rose stepped into the elevator to take her to her digs. She sighed. Why does everything always have to be so complicated?

Then of course there was Angeal's version about what had happened in the mines – that had really rankled. She had no idea what it all meant, and without going back to Banora, – which she definitely didn't want to do – there was no way to investigate further.

Rose wondered if her power could offer some answers? There surely had to be a link? It had been her visit to the mines that had started it all. Perhaps the results of the tests Hojo had carried out might show her something? Not that he was likely to be overly forthcoming with the information...

There had to be a way for her to see her record.

The elevator doors opened, and she thoughtfully made her way down the corridor to her digs. The night's events going round in her head like a carousel. Fighting a frustrated urge to growl, she took the final corner at some speed. Unfortunately to Rose's surprise, she stormed face first into some unexpected body.

Yelping, she stumbled back, a gloved hand catching her elbow, before she could hit the floor. She steadied herself.

"S-Sephiroth? What the hell are you doing here?" She gasped. He was supposed to be in Wutai.

"I returned a few hours ago." He answered smoothly, the ghost of a smile toying lightly at his features. "I thought I'd made you wait long enough to discuss what happened that night in the lab." His emerald gaze wandered over her playfully. Drinking in her small, startled appearance, he finally released her arm. "Are you so torn by distractions, that you can no longer see what's right in front of you?"

Brushing herself down, Rose glared. "I wasn't distracted. I just didn't expect to find you lurking around the corner."

Sephiroth lightly raised an eyebrow. "You should always expect the unexpected."

"Noted." Rose replied flatly, rolling her eyes, before finally straightening up. She looked at him suspiciously. "How did you know where my room was anyway? Is there a bulletin out that I'm not aware of or something, because people keep turning up."

"Your room number is on your internal profile. The company believes it encourages communication. You can choose to hide it if you want."

"Right." She answered softly, feeling incredibly despondent with herself. No wonder Reno had found her so quickly. She sighed and headed for her room. "I'll definitely have to change that. Makes me look far too sociable."

Pushing the door ajar, Rose hesitated. Sephiroth hadn't moved, and it was then that she realised, he may have planned to go somewhere else for their little talk. After all, entering the bedroom of your best friend's sister, especially late at night, was never going to be looked at favourably.

Even if it was completely innocent.

She swallowed nervously. "Sorry, I just assumed you were coming in. Did you want to go somewhere else?"

Sephiroth seemed to consider her for a moment. "It is getting late... maybe here is best."

Rose nodded and went inside. To her horror, she'd forgotten the state she'd left the place in, and stealthily as she could, she hastily stumbled around her room, grabbing up any clothing or discarded items, and shoving them unceremoniously into her nearby wardrobe. She'd just managed to shut them in when Sephiroth appeared, smoothly closing the door behind him.

His gaze wondered curiously over the room.

"I know, I know, it's basically a coffin." Rose said pointedly, expecting the same sizing comment she'd heard from every other visitor. "But it's my tiny coffin, so be nice."

"I wasn't going to say anything." He replied, his gaze lowering to the scattered papers on her desk. His eyes narrowed. "Is that your Mother?"

"Huh?" Rose raised her eyebrows, confused until she followed his eye to the small crumbled photograph discarded on the desktop. She picked it up. "Oh yeah. It's normally in my bag." She said, keen to explain away it's rather dishevelled appearance. "Yep, that's my Mom."

The picture was of the pair of them sat outside their home in Banora. Rose couldn't have been much older than five. The smiles were wide. It was happier times.

"You look close." He noted, leaning carefully over her shoulder.

Rose tried to ignore his proximity.

"We were." She confessed, distracted by a stray lock of silver hair, brushing lightly against her cheek.

She felt him shift.

"Were?" He repeated.

Rose allowed the photo to slip from her fingers, and headed in a flurry towards her night stand.

"Unfortunately Mom still thinks of me as the little girl in the picture. It gets a little suffocating at times. We argue." Shrugging off her jacket, she dropped onto the edge of her bed, and roughly untied her boot laces. "What about you? Your Mom must be proud? Shinra's honoured war hero."

Kicking off her boots, she looked up in time to catch a strange expression flicker ominously across Sephiroth's narrow profile.

Unfortunately it didn't take long for him to explain why.

"Perhaps she would have been. Unfortunately my Mother died shortly after I was born."

Rose paled, mortified with herself for being so insensitive. She jumped up. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to..."

To her surprise, he was smiling. "It's fine, Rose, I came to terms with it a long time ago."

Rose didn't believe that was entirely true, but she didn't want to push the matter further. Something like that was private, and it wasn't like Sephiroth to allow her to push boundaries. In fact, his demeanour the entire night had been completely out of character.

Rose shook the thought from her mind.

"Did you want a drink?" She said instead, indicating a small fridge in the corner. "I have sodas?"

"Sure." He replied, clearly happy for the change of subject.

Feeling better, Rose passed him his can.

"Cheers." She grinned, knocking their drinks together. She caught him smirking again, clearly amused by something in her actions, and huffed. "Now what have I done that's so funny?"

"Nothing." He said softly, subtly shaking his head. "I just don't usually do things like this."

She frowned. "Have drinks?"

"Socialise." He corrected her.

Rose thought back, remembering when Zack had told her how lucky she was to train with Sephiroth, that he was basically a recluse. Apparently he'd been right.

Her frown deepened. "Why though?"

He shrugged. "I've never really felt the need for it. Besides, people tend to find me intimidating."

Rose could see that. Sephiroth's appearance alone was enough to put you on edge, even without the armour and sword. Mix that with his omnipotent reputation and fighting skill, and you have someone who was perfectly unapproachable. Like looking at the Sun.

"You have Angeal and Genesis?" She offered, shyly brushing a stray tendril behind her ear. "And I don't find you intimidating." She half lied, watching nervously as he suddenly closed the distance between them.

Her room really was small.

"Is that so?" He murmured softly, his expression turning playful, as his tilted his head thoughtfully down at her. "I guess I'll have to try harder in future."

"Uh-huh." She nodded dumbly, treacherous heat turning her pale cheeks to crimson, her heart now a painful lump in her throat.

Rose tried to swallow, but the ball of nerves refused to dislodge itself, and in a bid to create some much needed distance, she dropped herself down onto her bed, bringing her knees up to her chest as she pressed herself back against her pillows. It was shameful really, her body reacting like this, he was just a man for goodness sake, she needed to get a grip.

"So, Hojo." She stammered breathlessly, taking a large gulp from her soda can. "What the hell happened? No one will tell me anything."

Sephiroth's lips twitched upwards briefly, clearly delighted by her reaction, but he allowed whatever teasing comment he had to slide, and instead slowly nodded his head.

"Do you mind if I sit?" He murmured, carefully removing his sword.

Rose shook her head.

Setting his Masamune beside her own blade, Sephiroth settled beside her on the edge of the bed. "You do rile easily, don't you?"

She breathed. "So people keep telling me."

"You really should learn to watch that. An enemy could use it to distract you, and you distract yourself enough as it is."

"Strangely, an enemy hasn't tried to wind me up yet." She replied, probably a little too haughtily. "And I don't get distracted. I just... prioritise differently. You should know better than to act that way. It's unprofessional."

Sephiroth laughed. "Now you sound like Angeal."

Rose rolled her eyes. "You're all about the compliments tonight, aren't you?"

"My apologies." He murmured warmly, the mako in his eyes buzzing with life. "I promise not to rile you further."

She considered him, relaxing a little. "Good. I'd hate to have to throw you out."

Sephiroth observed her silently for a moment, his gaze dancing with an emotion Rose couldn't quite place. His cat-like orbs appeared to search her features, a starved man suddenly faced with forbidden fruit, but the words that were forming on his lips never came, and his gaze lowered, flickering briefly to the bare skin of her legs before shifting awkwardly away.

Rose's mouth had gone dry. Had she imagined that?

"I stopped Hojo as soon as you started to scream." Sephiroth confessed suddenly, distracting her from her fanciful thoughts. "In hindsight, I should have intervened long before. Forgive me."

"It wasn't your fault." Rose answered quietly, confused by the guilt she heard in his voice. "How were you to know what he would do?" Sephiroth said nothing, and she pressed on. "What... what was that stuff he injected me with? It couldn't have been the mako, I don't feel any different."

"Your mako infusion failed, the professors aren't sure why, though it is likely to do with the level that is already in your system. As for the substance he injected you with..." Sephiroth hesitated. "There is no record of it."

"But it wasn't just mako?"

"No."

Rose nodded slowly. "I knew it."

"Whatever it was," he continued, finally meeting her gaze once again. "You reacted completely unexpectedly to it, at least that's what I took from Hojo's reaction. He knew it would be painful, but then you abruptly stopped screaming, and it was like you had just passed out, except..."

Rose frowned, intrigued by his hesitation. "Except what?"

"You glowed."

Her brow lifted, shocked. "I what?" Whatever she had expected him to say, it wasn't that.

"It didn't last long, no more than a few seconds, after that you could have just been asleep. But it excited Hojo, and that is rarely ever a good thing."

Rose blanched. "But he's been warned, right? He's not allowed to come near me any more."

Sephiroth inclined his head, but he didn't offer her any reassurances, a gesture that made her heart sink sickeningly. There had to be a line that even Hojo couldn't cross, surely?

"If you want real answers, try and speak to Hollander. He might not work with Hojo, but he ensures that he's more than aware of what he's researching."

Rose nodded, more questions flying noisily through her head. She scooted to the edge of the bed. "Hollander... that's the professor I met before, isn't it? The one that was with Hojo that night?"

"It is."

She bit her lip thoughtfully. "Okay. Okay, I could do that. He seemed... tolerable, at least? I mean, he clearly didn't like Hojo, and that's always a plus in my book." Rose grinned, only to find Sephiroth watching her closely again. She simpered timidly. "Is something wrong?"

He considered her. "Your eyes." He remarked softly, and Rose felt his knee brush against her own. "I had assumed that their colour came from the high levels of mako in your blood, but the little girl in this picture shares the same physical quality."

Rose looked down, she hadn't seen him pick up the photo of her Mother and her. She took it gently between shy fingertips.

"They're not so unusual." She said, studying the child with the bright emerald orbs. "I'm sure they're pretty ordinary if you were to look around."

"There is nothing ordinary about you, Rose."

Something in the way he spoke made her look up. He was watching her again like he had before, a man torn between his morales, and what he wanted. It was like she could wash away at any moment. Footprints in the sand.

No one had ever looked at her like that.

"I'll take that as a compliment." She breathed quietly, distracted by his own body and closeness. She shifted, and his nose grazed lightly against her cheek, her heart fluttering like bird wings in her chest.

"I should go." He murmured stiffly, and Rose was pleased to see he was a little distracted himself. "It's getting late."

"It is." She mumbled in agreement, though part of her panicked that he was going to do the gentlemanly thing.

There was so much to suggest that this was the wrong thing to do. Sephiroth was her superior. He was her brother's friend. They hardly knew each other, and yet when he began to dutifully pull away, Rose let out an active sound of protest.

She threw her lips onto his a little harder than was necessary, greedily twisting her fingers up into his hair in order to halt his retreat. Luckily Sephiroth didn't seem to mind, she could feel his devilish grin pressed eagerly against her mouth, before skilfully shifting her back against the pillows. He must have removed his gloves, because knowing fingertips soon traversed her spine, venturing boldly beneath thin cloth to paint intricate patterns over bare ribs.

Rose sighed, and Sephiroth's head dipped toward the delicate skin of her throat, knowing lips tracing her arches with expert skill, as incoherent words rolled tellingly off her tongue.

Her hands swept across his bare chest, eager to remove his coat, but the material caught tauntingly against his shoulder armour, and Rose let out a frustrated growl.

"Patience." He smirked, catching her lips in another deep kiss, before smoothly detangling himself from his armour and leathers.

Rose wasted no time memorising him, her fingertips travelling the tight contours of his body with feverish delight. They quickly grew daring, stroking a slow and purposeful line down the centre of his abdomen.

Chuckling, Sephiroth halted her efforts, strong fingers shackling her wrists, and pinning them pointedly over her head.

"You have the self-discipline of a toddler." He chided, gazing down at her with clear amusement. "I'm trying to savour this."

Rose pouted with frustration, fighting half-heartedly against his hold, before giving a wicked grin. She thrust her up hips up to meet his, enticing a barely stifled groan from the First Class SOLDIER, as she pressed cruelly against his need.

Smug, Rose giggled triumphantly. "Now whose distracted?"

"Hardly." He countered softly, quickly regaining his composure. His hands trailed purposefully down her waist. "As always, Miss Hewley, you hold my complete attention."

He roughly pulled her hips forward, enticing more surprised giggles from Rose's lips, before skilfully slipping off her shorts.

She opened her mouth argue about double standards, but Sephiroth smoothly caught her lips with his, silencing her to a moan.

Rose happily surrendered.

His touch sent every nerve in her body on fire, the anticipation of them being together was more than words, it was so completely tangible. Soon all garments were forgotten, their skin moving softly together as their bodies intertwined. Then he was inside her, each thrust tempting soft moans, and unintelligible words to fall loosely from her tongue. Later – much later – he would leave her, sneaking out in the early hours to ensure he wasn't seen.

They'd agreed it was for the best.

For now though, Rose was happy to be lost in the rapture, devoured by a being she'd compared to the Sun.

R&R!

Okay guys, I'm going to level. This took me a LONG time to write. Things were edited, they were changed, until it got to a point, that if I kept going over it, then I was never going to be happy. Are you happy? I hope so – please let me know.

And as always, thank you, and take care x x x