Past the Forgotten Present

I don't own any of the characters besides Raven. And the entirety of other people you don't know. Muahaha.

Chapter 2

I could feel him watching me.

Those emerald eyes burning into mine.

I blinked a few times, and then promptly buried my face into my drool-encrusted pillow. Oh, bugger. It wasn't a really good dream. Sephiroth Valentine (a/n: Yes, I believe Vincent is Sephiroth's father, and no amount of pro-Hojo flaming will ever change that.) really WAS staring at me. I was starting to think God had a sick sense of humor, dropping him into my apartment right before my day off.

"Mmmr. Go 'way." I didn't care at this point in time whether that offended him or not. 7am is way too early on a Saturday to care what someone else thinks, really.

"Does everyone in your time lose their manners?" For a moment, I forgot the little pep talk we had about not slicing the TV in two last night. I had touched on the fact that in this time, in this world, you break my TV, I shatter you into little bits so tiny not even the ITR can find the rest of you. He finally seemed to take me seriously after I pointed my .357 Magnum into his temple after he tried to do it again. Yes, I have two guns, legally licensed to me, being paranoid as I am about things like this. Actually four. The 9mm, the .357, and the shotgun and rifle I inherited from my dad. Fear my firepower.

I lifted my head and thought about what he said for a good three milliseconds, which is a record for me.

"Nope, just those whose only day off for a few months is today." I re-suffocated myself, trying to wake up from this confusing dream/nightmare. I still couldn't decide which one it was.

He sat back on his heels, still watching me. Not that I could see him, but his eyes were scalding holes into my head.

"You never said what you do." Right to the frigging point. Gotta love 'im. If you don't try and strangle him first. It's me, really. I hated that question.

"Ugh. I was kinda hoping you wouldn't ask that. EVER."

He knelt beside the bed, seeing as I wasn't getting up, not even for his sweet ass.

"Why do you do it if you hate it so much?" Nah, crapballs on a stick. The usual conclusion when I said I hated explaining it. Jeeze, you'd think the clever Sephiroth would figure it the hell out.

"I don't hate it; I just hate explaining it to people without counting them in the 'never talking to me again' pile. If you insist. "I sat up and pulled the shirt that twisted its way around my pitifully small chest back to where it should be.

"I analyze the remains of victims even the FBI can't make heads or tails of and find who they were, what happened to them, and put the person who made them that way behind bars for the rest of his or her physical life. Any questions?" I sighed and laid back down again, waiting for the repulsion or over-interest that usually came with my job description.

But, to my surprise, he didn't do either. He didn't laugh either though, so I'm actually pretty anxious to see what he says.

"I kill people to rescue a virus trapped in metal. I fail to see why your job isn't weirder than mine."

And for the second time in a week, a simple sentence made me laugh. It actually felt good. I didn't laugh often, with what I see everyday kinda killing whatever I saw well with the world.

That's another reason I wonder why the hell I took my job. It absolutely murdered who I was. I actually remember when nearly everything made me laugh and Law & Order was the closest I got to murder. God, I miss those days.

I guess Seph, as I call him inside the safety of my own head, noticed my expression, because he leaned in close and looked me right in the eyes. This made me feel about three kinds of retarded.

Seven-foot, silver-haired soldier aside, I looked forward to a normal day off. Namely, blowing my pay on video games. I looked over at Sephiroth, who was looking out the window in a way that made my heart ache. He looked so damned lonely, like a big deadly teddy bear.

Shaking away that stupid thought, I threw my stuffed cat at him. "Get out. I need to get dressed." He smirked and strode out. On any other man, it would have looked stupid, but with Sephiroth, that gait was graceful and body-meltingly sexy.

Yet another stupid thought and its not even noon. I have to be going batty.

For some strange reason, I fretted over my outfit more than usual. For mall trips, it was throw on a shirt and jeans then go, but I found myself in something I wouldn't wear anywhere but work. Why? Because it looks too damn good on me for normal wearing.

A sort of Victorian style black crinkled blouse layered over some nicely fitting black-dyed jeans. Not too showy, just really good looking. With my multi-hued hair tied half-up in a sort of natural elvish-ish look, I doubted I'll be able to cross the damn street without having to break someone's wrist.

Walking out to the hallway where Seph was waiting, I just took one look at him, and he at me. He smirked. Ah, crap, the smirk. But I looked into his eyes and saw an appreciative expression within them. Wow. Since I was a teen I had dreamed of this moment, but now it was just damn uncomfortable.

I walked up to him and pointed to each item as I named them. "Take the shoulder things off and button your coat. This is me trying to keep us out of jail. ," the next part I didn't think I was going to live through. "At least tie your hair back. Please?"

He glared at me as I took out a hair tie I kept in my pocket. I knew I was going to die. Waiting for the slice of death, I didn't budge.

Well, screw that. He took the tie out of my hand and tied that beautiful mass of silver back.

And just like that, we were heading off into the world, come what may.

Review responses! YAYY! does a happy dance

TenmaAkari- Yay! Thank you for so far being the first to R&R my stories!

Imakegoboom- I shudder to think of what people would do to me if I tried that crap. Good luck Yaz-Otakuing, and see ya tomorrow.

Renegadius- Why, thank you, my love. Yeah, she IS a bit bipolar now that I realize it ,