20 January 1979

Jenova ran her fingers through Bat's dusty coat, lightly massaging his upper leg. The bandersnatch whined in pain. His condition was getting worse. Jenova could see his ribs through his thick fur. She decided to bring him home tonight. Having the old wolf live out the rest of his days in comfort was the least she could do.

Jenova had wanted to come earlier, but the recovery from the ill state she put herself in took quite a while. Constant eating and quick naps here and there sped things up to a certain extent, but not by enough. It was time to take action now.

Jenova pushed Bat upwards, urging him to stand. He did so without any difficulty. Jenova gently pulled him by the back of the neck in the general direction of the house. Bat moved forward, never straying from Jenova's side. He writhed and scratched when Jenova lifted him. She soothed him before opening the door to the house and going inside. Bat stopped moving, lifting his head and sniffing in curiosity. He had never been inside before.

Jenova set him down on the floor in her room. Bat had his nose glued to the floor, sniffing everything and bumping into the desk a few times. Jenova let him explore as she filled up the bathtub with warm water, leaving the door wide open to keep an eye on him.

Bat's ears erected in attention at the sound of running water. He followed the sound. Jenova grabbed him by the forelegs and dragged him towards the tub. She dipped one of Bat's paws in the water. Bat jerked himself backwards, then crept closer. He stuck his head in the tub. Jenova splashed some of the water on top of his head and stuck the front part of his body in. She held him in place when he tried to back up. Bat struggled, then eventually calmed down. Jenova slowly lifted Bat's hind legs into the tub. Bat tensed, afraid and confused. The poor animal couldn't understand what was going on.

Jenova poured small amounts of water onto Bat's back, whispering reassuring words. There wasn't anything to really wash him with, so she drizzled shampoo onto him and scrubbed out all of the dirt. Bat didn't panic, but came very close to doing so a few times. He was completely stiff, even after Jenova dried him up.

Bat curled up on the bed after Jenova lay him on there. He hungrily gobbled up the small bits of meat she gave him.

Jenova sighed and used Bat as a living pillow. If only she could take a coma...

9 May 1979

"Lemme in, Sephiroh!" Cloud cried. He pounded his fists on the door. Sephiroth had spent most of the day with Cloud before going with his brothers. Kadaj had locked the door so Cloud couldn't come in, and Mrs. Strife constantly tried to get Cloud to leave them alone for a few moments. Cloud would have none of it. His stubbornness urged him to either get Sephiroth to come back, or to find a way to be with him and his brothers, even if it meant having to be in the same room as Kadaj.

Out of everybody, Kadaj was the one Cloud liked the least. Kadaj didn't like Cloud much, either. Most squabbles started with Cloud angering Kadaj in some way and ended with Sephiroth defending Cloud. One of the biggest arguments was that Kadaj claimed that Sephiroth started to abandon his brothers for Cloud. However, if anyone were to ask Cloud, he'd say it was the other way around. Kadaj couldn't do anything to Cloud, and Cloud did as much as he could to hold that over Kadaj's head.

"Open the door!" Cloud had been there for nearly five minutes. His mother was no doubt looking for him now. She had been washing Cloud's clothes in the sink with the washboard before Cloud sneaked away. His hiding skills had improved greatly, but they wouldn't help him now that he was out in the open. Cloud was at least determined to try the best he could to get in with Sephiroth before his mother came to take him away.

"Go away!" Cloud heard Kadaj say.

"No! Lemme in!" Cloud pounded harder and added a kick.

"Get out of here!"

"Poo poo face!" Cloud yelled. He stopped his door abuse.

"Beat it, midget!"

"Let him in for two minutes." Cloud pressed his face to the door. Sephiroth had said that.

"No."

"Just for a little bit. I'll make him leave if he acts up."

"No."

"Let. Him. In."

The door clicked, then opened. Cloud ran inside. He made himself comfortable on Sephiroth's lap, slumping backwards. He stuck his tongue out at Kadaj. Poo on him.

"Seeing him around sometimes reminds me of when we were kids," Yazoo suddenly said. "Remember those times when all five of us had to squeeze onto one bed?"

"Oh Ramuh, they were terrible," Sephiroth said. "I remember never wanting to go to sleep – it was either the floor or the overcrowded bed. I don't know how mother was able to stand it."

"I don't remember that," Kadaj said.

"You were barely able to walk at the time; almost booger age, actually." Cloud giggled when Sephiroth said booger.

"Quiet, you," Kadaj said venomously to Cloud. Cloud glared back at Kadaj.

"Hey, remember the old Hoo-Hah story?" Loz asked.

"What's a Hoo-Hah?" Cloud thought it was a funny word.

"Nothing," Sephiroth said quickly. Cloud planned to ask Jenova about that later.

The conversation went on, switching to random topics. Cloud couldn't have been any more bored. He thought that whatever normally went on in here must have been so fun that he wasn't allowed to join. He kicked downwards in boredom.

Stop it, Cloud heard in his head. Go with your mother if you don't want to be here anymore. It didn't matter how bored Cloud was, he just wanted to be around Sephiroth. He said as much to the voice in his head, though not out loud.

Then sit still. Cloud was compelled to obey. Another thought hit him.

"Where's the doggy?" he asked. He had seen Jenova take a big, gray and yellow, fluffy dog in and out of the house a few times before.

"It's a wolf, Cloud," Sephiroth corrected.

"Where it go? I wanna pet it."

"You can't pet it."

"Why not?"

"It bites." It must've been a mean wolf. But it was so fluffy! Who wouldn't want to pet it?

"Clooooouuuudd," he heard his mother call. She was coming to get him now. Aww, man!

Cloud pushed himself off of Sephiroth's lap and let himself out of the room. He heard Kadaj mutter something as he left.

Mrs. Strife grabbed Cloud by the hand and led him to their room.

"It's time to go to sleep now," she said.

"I don't wanna go to sleep," Cloud whined.

Mrs. Strife sighed and sat down in the rocking chair, pulling Cloud with her. Cloud liked the gently swaying, but he wished that his mother would go faster. More fun that way.

"Cloud, why do you have to bother Sephiroth so much?"

"I'm not bodderin'!" Cloud indignantly denied.

"He can't be with you all the time, dear. If he wants to go with his brothers, you should let him."

Cloud didn't want to do that. If Sephiroth wanted to go with his brothers, Cloud was gonna go, too.

"I think you're getting too attached to him," Mrs. Strife went on. "Maybe you should spend a little less time with him."

"No!" Never ever ever! He loved his mother and would do anything she asked (most of the time), but that was never going to happen.

"I'm not saying you shouldn't be with Sephiroth, but I think you should spend more time with others here and not just him." That wasn't too bad. Jenova was pretty entertaining whenever she was around. However, Cloud was still set on shadowing Sephiroth. Nothing could make him change his mind.

Cloud started to get sleepy. He snuggled up against his mother. Mrs. Strife tucked him in bed and sat by his side.

"Good riddance," Kadaj muttered as Cloud left.

"What do you have against the kid?" Sephiroth was annoyed.

"Everything. Especially the fact that he's annoying as hell."

"He's only two. Besides, you were way worse compared to Cloud back then."

"Liar."

"It's true," Yazoo said.

"You were horrible as a booger. Always running around, breaking things on purpose, biting and hitting everybody for no apparent reason. In other words, an asshole. You're still an ass today, in fact," Sephiroth added.

"At least he'll be gone in two years or something," Kadaj said, ignoring the earlier statement. "I never asked mother when exactly."

"Just leave the poor kid alone. He isn't out to get you." Sephiroth had forgotten about the temporary stay. It wasn't too big a deal; he could always visit Cloud in Nibelheim if he wanted to.

Notes:

Started: 2013年2月20日 （水）

Finished: 2013年2月22日 （金）

"Booger age" is 2-5 years old.

The Hoo-Hah isn't real. Not in this story, at least.

In response to the guest review: Of course this story is going somewhere. Also, even though Cloud is in every chapter so far (except for Chapter 7, since he was barely mentioned), there are other things going on, too, a major one being Jenova's crazy behavior and Mrs. Strife's curiosity. Cloud's point of view is mainly to show how he thinks so far and how he sees everybody. One more thing: the main thing to look for so far (this story will go on way past the time I will mention next) is when The Deal is carried out - August 19, 1980. I've mentioned it in nearly every chapter.

Ah, the irony of the last two sentences.