"It was quite funny. You should have seen it."

Bat smacked his chops, slowly clearing off the mashed up meat on the paper plate in front of him. He ate about half of the meat before collapsing onto his belly, lazily swishing his tail and leaving the rest of his food to sit in an unappetizing pile.

"Oh, what do you know?" Jenova dragged the unresponsive wolf across the floor and heaved him onto the bed. "You're just a dying animal that apparently has listening problems. And to think that I begged you not to go. Maybe something else will make you listen."

Jenova paused for a minute. Then, "If you dare die on me, I will vandalize your corpse. Skin you and use your fur as a cover. Eat your body. Boil your bones in a stew. Die on me, and I swear I will kill you and make you double dead."

A twitch of the ear and a snore was all Bat offered in response to Jenova's threats. He stretched out his legs to make his sleep more comfortable.

"You hairy four-legged bastard." Bat jolted awake and yelped when Jenova shook him roughly. "All you are good for is sleeping, eating, and dying. Everything on this damned planet dies!"

Bat looked in the general direction of Jenova's voice and whined at her tone, pulling his ears back.

Jenova's frustration ebbed and she looked back apologetically at her pet. She reached out and gently patted the giant head, soothing the bandersnatch.

"Stay here a little longer. Don't go."

Bat let his head drop weakly back onto the bed and closed his eyes.

Sephiroth quietly pondered about how to get the upper hand in the situation as he drew a dog for Cloud. As he had thought before, there was no way he would last longer without sleep than Jenova could, and, so far, the only options he had come up with were that either Mrs. Strife returned home or he find a way to take Jenova out. The former was easier to carry out, but Sephiroth was unwilling to part with Cloud. He didn't know why he liked having Cloud around so much, but there was just something about that kid... He never could place what exactly that something was. It couldn't have been just the way Cloud acted and spoke; Sephiroth had been feeling the same way about Cloud before the boy could even babble. The only thing that really changed from then to now was that Cloud had an easier time worming his way through Sephiroth's heart.

What was he thinking? He was acting like Cloud was going to leave in less than an hour. Hell, he hadn't even suggested the idea to Mrs. Strife!

Sephiroth handed the finished drawing to Cloud, who picked up a pink crayon and scribbled all over the drawing, not caring to stay within the lines. Seeing him, Sephiroth made up his mind.

He wouldn't say anything. He would have to find a way bring his own mother down. It was the only choice Sephiroth would take; he cherished Cloud's presence in the house, and he wouldn't be able to see him anywhere near as often if the boy went back home. Better to enjoy the time he had left with Cloud than see him go before time was up. Sephiroth knew he was being selfish, but he didn't care – Mrs. Strife was in no immediate danger... Not now, at least. Sephiroth was very well aware of his mother's psychotic tendencies, and he assumed that Mrs. Strife was only her victim when it came to her special form of "bullying". When Jenova bullied, she tried to scare the hell out of the victim, talked down to him/her, pretty much anything short of mild hazing. Sephiroth only had to try to stop the bullying before it escalated to murder.

A paper shoved in front of his face tore Sephiroth from his thoughts. Cloud waved his newly colored drawing, the scribbles, smears, and circles of random colors dancing in front of Sephiroth's eyes.

"Nice," Sephiroth commented. "Why don't you try drawing something?"

"But you draw better," Cloud protested.

"Just try."

Cloud dragged a green crayon, making circles and lines. He frowned, and put the crayon down, looking down at his creation with the as much disdain as a kid could have and still look cute.

"I don't like it," Cloud whined.

"I think it's good," Mrs. Strife said quickly. Sephiroth nodded, agreeing with her.

"Nuh-uh." Cloud crossed his little arms, staring down at his messy green stick-figure dog as if he wanted it to disappear.

"I'll draw one more thing for you," Sephiroth offered.

"A cat!"

"A cat...?" Sephiroth asked in an are you kidding me? kind of tone.

"Yeah! Make it fluffy, too!" Cloud ordered.

Sephiroth obliged without any complaint, though he was griping on the inside. He hated cats. Faintly, as he worked on the face, he heard Jenova come back down the steps. He looked from the corner of his eye, watching her sit against the side of the couch facing the kitchen. He remembered the deal that they had agreed on, and how he hadn't set any rules. That meant that anything could happen, and there was no such thing as cheating in this. Not only did that work in his favor, it worked in his mother's. He was going to have to watch out for any traps while he devised his own.

Cloud looked down at the drawing, then back up at Sephiroth.

"It looks like you!" Cloud exclaimed.

Sephiroth narrowed his eyes. "No it does not."

"Yes it does! Look, you have kitty-cat eyes." Cloud pointed straight at Sephiroth's face.

"They're snake eyes," Sephiroth grumbled. Mrs. Strife's reaction to the word snake did not escape Sephiroth's notice.

"Do I have snake eyes, too?" Cloud touched his face, as if he could actually feel how his own eyes looked if he were to touch them. His eyes instinctively closed when Cloud put a finger up to one.

"No."

"How did you get them?"

"I don't know." Sephiroth didn't know how to answer that question.

"How did Sephiroth get snake eyes, Mama?"

"I don't know, either." Well, at least he wasn't the only clueless one.

"Do you know, Ba?"

"Once, a very, very long time ago, Sephiroth was walking out on the fields when he met a giant snake. Right when the snake saw him, it screamed, 'Of all the ugly people I've seen, you have to be the ugliest! Here, take my eyes so I don't have to see anything ever again! It's much better to not be able to see anymore than to see someone ugly like you anymore.' And so, the snake gave its eyes away."

Sephiroth, ignoring Mrs. Strife's bewilderment, turned to face Jenova. "You know I look almost exactly like you, right?"

"And you think I look pretty?"

"Heck no!" Sephiroth joked, censoring his language around Cloud.

"I think you're pretty, Ba," Cloud said sincerely.

Jenova obviously didn't know how to react to that. She looked down at the floor, nearly staring a hole into it. Sephiroth tried very, very hard to stifle his laughter, but couldn't manage to hold in a few snickers.

Quiet, you, Sephiroth heard in his head. He ignored his mother, but tried to stop laughing anyways.

Mrs. Strife watched the exchange with shock and a bit of awe. Sephiroth and Jenova spoke to each other as if they were old friends. She wondered: were the two of them always that way?

Seeing Jenova's strange reaction to Cloud's compliment filled Mrs. Strife with pity. Although she never ever found insults amusing, she understood that it was all a joke just by seeing how Sephiroth wasn't offended. But if saying something nice to Jenova made had her at a loss for what to do... then didn't that mean that Jenova hardly got any kind treatment? If so, Mrs. Strife felt sorry for her. She nearly chastised Sephiroth for laughing – couldn't he see that it wasn't funny?

If Mrs. Strife wasn't so afraid of what would happen, she would do something nice for Jenova. Sighing inwardly, Mrs. Strife wondered if she was too forgiving at times.

Notes:

Started: 2013年4月24日（水）

Finished: 2013年4月27日（土）

Sorry for the long wait! What really frustrates me is how this is short. To make up for it, here's a video of Sephiroth tasting the rainbow: www dot youtube dot com / watch?v=gm46FvPqbxg

Cloud still thinks that Sephiroth has kitty-cat eyes instead of snake eyes.