Cloud looked at Jenova in confusion. He didn't expect her to be so quiet. What did he do wrong? She was fine when Sephiroth was being mean.

"Are you okay?" Cloud slid out of his seat and approached Jenova, dropping to his knees and craning his head upward to meet Jenova's gaze as she continued to look down. "What's wrong?"

"...Nothing is wrong. After looking at Sephiroth's face for too long, his ugliness got too ugly and I had to look away."

Cloud heard Sephiroth sigh and turned around to see him roll his eyes.

"But Sephiroth's not ugly," Cloud said. "He looks like a kitty, and kitties are cute."

"I do not look like a cat," Sephiroth cut in.

"Yes you do! Ba, was it really a giant snake that talked to Sephiroth?"

"Now that I think about it, I don't think it was."

"No, it was definitely a snake," Sephiroth insisted.

"I think it really was a cat," Mrs. Strife joined in, "except I think the cat gave Sephiroth its eyes so he could see better than a normal person can." Cloud squirmed as his mother moved him away from Jenova, but sat and listened intently to what the latter said next.

"Is the validity of my true story being questioned?"

"Yes it is," Sephiroth answered for both Cloud and Mrs. Strife. "And I find neither stories to be accurate."

"Then what did happen?"

Cloud looked at Sephiroth with interest, wanting to find out the real story. He was confused by the wording that Sephiroth and Jenova had used, and Cloud didn't know if his mother was right or not. He didn't know who to believe right now: Jenova's story wasn't true according to his mother; neither his mother's story nor Jenova's was accurate according to Sephiroth; and Sephiroth was denying that he looked like a cat. There was no way that Sephiroth could deny that information since he really did look like one. Now Cloud was getting suspicious... Was Sephiroth secretly a cat in disguise?

"I'm not a cat," Sephiroth said in reply to Cloud's question.

"But you look like a cat," Cloud reasoned.

"No I don't."

"Yes you do."

"No I don't."

"Yes you do!"

"Nope."

"Yes!"

The argument continued on for nearly a minute, stopping only when Jenova taunted, "Poor cat is feeling cranky today."

"See? Ba says that you're a cat, too!" Cloud exclaimed triumphantly.

"I'm not a cat," Sephiroth ground out in frustration. "Besides, being a cat isn't a good thing."

"Why not?" Mrs. Strife inquired. "Cats are adorable and they make people happy." Cloud heard Jenova make a weird noise and saw his mother shoot her a mad look.

"I hate cats," Sephiroth said bluntly.

Cloud gasped. "Why?" How could anybody hate cats? Cloud really liked them 'cause they were cute and fluffy, and Sephiroth looking like a cat made him like Sephiroth even more. Cloud had seriously thought earlier about asking Sephiroth if he could pet him, but now that Sephiroth had said that, Cloud was too shocked to do it anymore.

"Because they're ugly, lazy, and never do anything other than eat, sleep, scratch up furniture, and take up space."

"Just like you."

Cloud paid no attention to Jenova's comment. Now he was mad. Cats weren't ugly or any of the other things Sephiroth said. Although Cloud had never seen a cat in person, he was pretty sure that those fuzzy animals he desired the most along with a dog weren't like that.

"No they're not," Cloud argued, slumping against his mother who sat across from Sephiroth.

"Fine, they're not. I still don't like them."

"You better like them!"

"Cloud, be nice. If Sephiroth doesn't like cats, he doesn't like them," Mrs. Strife tried to explain. Cloud would have none of it. He was going to make Sephiroth like cats no matter what. Cloud decided to try using the worst threat he could ever come up with.

"If you don't like cats, you won't be my best friend no more!"

Sephiroth was torn: Should he swallow his pride, just this once, and lie to satisfy Cloud's irrational demands, or should he refuse and face the consequences of how Cloud would react? Although he couldn't blame Cloud, since the boy was only three, he couldn't help but think how... No, stupid was too harsh a word, but Sephiroth didn't think of Cloud's threat as something to take too seriously. The most recent situation he remembered that was similar to this one was when he was nineteen and Kadaj was seven. Kadaj had threatened to run away from home after Jenova restricted his free time as a minor punishment. Needless to say, it didn't take very long before Sephiroth found his youngest brother curled up right outside the dwelling.

Knowing that he was going to regret whichever choice he made, Sephiroth replied, "Alright, I like cats." Shut up, he said in response to his mother's laughing.

He wouldn't have been angry for long, you know.

It was a stupid thing to fight over. There was nothing for me to gain from it.

...Except the opposite of wounded pride.

"Okay," Cloud said with a smug look on his round face. "Are you a cat, too?" The sensations of victory ran through Sephiroth, and he scolded himself. It didn't matter that Cloud was three – the kid should not have this much control over him.

He has to learn sometime that he can't get everything he wants, Jenova remarked. Sephiroth could not disagree. He pulled his mind away from Jenova's and blocked her off enough to show that he was done talking to her for the moment. Not having been in Cloud's mind for a long time, Sephiroth was tempted to stay in the boy's head and explore his every thought. Instead, he delivered his message directly to Cloud before pulling out.

No.

Cloud pouted. The feeling that resulted from Sephiroth's defiance emanated from the boy. However, Cloud didn't break down or overreact. He simply looked back at Sephiroth, the message of I don't want to talk to you anymore transferring from Cloud's mind to Sephiroth's.

"Cloud..." Sephiroth tried to reach over to the child.

"No," Cloud said quickly, burrowing backwards into his mother. "I don't wanna talk to you no more."

Great. Cloud was mad at him all because of a stupid animal. Sephiroth's hatred towards cats grew.

The rest of the afternoon passed with little change other than the hour getting later. Mrs. Strife constantly chanted Leave, just leave over and over in her mind at Jenova. She had been here all day, not moving a muscle. Whenever Mrs. Strife would look at her, Jenova would stare back, never blinking.

Cloud refused to acknowledge Sephiroth, and Mrs. Strife grew slightly worried. She had him practice his reading and writing skills again to distract him and to give him a way to vent his grumpiness. In her opinion, Sephiroth should have said that he was a cat instead of staying silent. Cloud was smarter than Mrs. Strife thought; her son seemed to already know some of the implications of silence.

Soon enough, Cloud forgot about his vow to never talk to Sephiroth and became the chatterbox he normally was around the man. It never ceased to amaze Mrs. Strife how little time it took for Cloud to go from being in a bad mood to going back to normal again. Sephiroth seemed relieved, which Mrs. Strife thought was a good thing. He should be glad that Cloud was as happy as could be again.

Scooping a protesting Cloud into her arms, Mrs. Strife carried him upstairs to rock him and read him a story before putting him to bed. Cloud gave Sephiroth a "good night" and stilled when Sephiroth bid him good night in return, letting his mother settle him into the rocking chair with her.

As Mrs. Strife turned to the first page of a longer children's book that she thought Cloud would enjoy, she wondered where Yazoo and Loz were. Since the day Kadaj had been made to stay outside, the older two hadn't been hanging around downstairs in the evenings like they used to.

Notes:

Started: 2013年4月28日（日）

Finished: 2013年4月30日（火）

Sephiroth is just a big, fluffy kitty. He always looked cat-like to me, and it wasn't just his eyes. Admit it, Sephiroth!

Next chapter will be the last night of November 5th.