Hi there!! I know it has been a really long time since i was alive but I'm back. My GCSE's are done and dusted with really good grades. And this September, i started my A levels - what fun they have turned out to be......
I hopefully will get a new chap up in a few weeks - if homework permits me that freedom...
Disclaimer:FFVII does not belong to me.... how sad.... Anyway on with the story!
Chapter 4
"Hey, got a minute?" Jen swung round as her shoulder was tapped on, a sense of worry dawning on her. It fled the moment she saw who it was though.
"Of course I have Kai." He blew a strand of sandy hair away from his face before moving to walk along side her.
"Well it doesn't seem that way anymore."
"What do you mean by that?" She absent-mindedly brushed her hair back behind her ear, trying to keep an eye out for a clock as she walked with Kai.
"Erm J, last time I saw you, your hair was shoulder length – now it's half way down your shoulder blades."
"I've been thinking of cutting it again." She appeared to be day-dreaming as she twirled a strand in her fingers, contemplating what to do with it.
"Oh, by the way – a certain General has been poking around." She froze. Turning her head to look at Kai properly, she noticed he was examining his fingernails and barely paying attention to her.
"Kai? What's he looking for?"
"Info."
"On whom, may I ask?" Kai's gaze flickered upwards through his sandy fringe. Her voice held the frightened trembling of a cornered child.
"You."
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"Hey kid, what took you....?" Zack trailed off as he noticed the distinct lack of colour in Jen's face. "What's wrong?"
"Oh? Oh – it's nothing – just rumours flying around you know." She gave a nervous laugh – there was no point worrying Zack with the news until she had a better understanding of it herself.
"Well you know you can talk to me at any time don't you?"
"Yes Zack - you put your number in my PHS yourself and then put it on a speed dial." Jen shook her head softly, storing everything she'd been told just before into a separate part of her mind. Then she became serious about why she was there and nodded towards the swords leaning against one of the benches.
"You sure you wanna do this today?"
"My, my – is the Lieutenant having second thoughts about the session today? The session he organised himself to get away from the paperwork mounting in his office?" Jen clapped a hand over her chest as if she disbelieved what he was saying.
"Good point – but we'll spilt this one up; half for sword practice, half for just going over the schedule for the last few months you're a cadet." Zack gave her hair a slight rub, causing many of the shorter strands to stick up in the air.
"Not everyone wants their head to be a porcupine like your's!" She cried out, hastily patting the static strands down as she raced after Zack.
What followed was an hour of parry, slash, feint, counter and then slight variation of the pattern as he constantly tried to disarm her. Once or twice she caught him off guard by using a riposte or lunge but she had to keep check on herself so that she didn't use her own little flourish on him – she really didn't want to blind the Lieutenant of SOLDIER or have to guide him to Aeris so she could heal him.
"Alright – first half's up." Zack took in a few deep breaths of air to cool down before leaning against the wall, arms folded across his chest, watching her with his deep violet eyes.
"You said you were going to go over the schedule for the next three months." Jen sat cross-legged on one of the benches while she waited for her heartbeat to return to normal. "Are you allowed to do that?"
"As long as it doesn't get spread around." Zack gave one of his infamous smiles.
"Ah... you're not." Jen placed the Aurora Blade over her crossed legs, the gold colouring still staying astonishingly untarnished.
"Well, what do you think it involves and I'll tell you if you're right." Zack was letting her guess again – which just proved her point that he really wasn't allowed to tell her.
"Well I know we get Mako tests, experience, both physical and written tests and a test run to see if we can work in a team or not." She smiled – this was all stuff she was prepared for as her father had gone through it before he died. The only thing was that she wasn't sure of was when all the tests would fit together on an actual timetable thing....
"That's right – Mako tests are first – in fact they're in a fortnight. Then there's the month field experience which is a week after the Makotests." He gave her another smile. "So you were right about how they followed each other. But when you come back from the field, you'll have a week rest then you have the team test – that's the point where most cadets are finished with the course. Either they can't work well in a team or they can't handle the Mako." He shook his head at that point, black spikes swaying softly, hypnotising Jen with their movements.
"Do you use gel or is it natural?"
"What?" It was such a random question in the middle of what they were discussing.
"Your hair – is it natural or do you use gel?" Ocean blue locked onto his violet for a moment, questioning but full of wonder.
"It's natural."
"Oh. Right.... What about the other two exams?" Back to topic again and back to a serious face.
"The physical and written exams are the last three weeks – a week of written and a week of physical. The spare week is for a bit of recuperation between the exam types." Zack watched her carefully; her head nodding as she took in the information, gloved fingers caressing the sword absent-mindedly.
"Ah so roughly two months of testing and examinations." She nodded her head again. "I can handle that. I take it there's a cadet meeting either this week or next where it's explained in full to the others, right?" She stood up after moving the sword and placing it with utmost care on the bench beside her.
"So I'll see you in a few days for your next session. Ok?"
"Sure Lieutenant – but how ever shall you cope when I'm not here?"
"I'll just have to annoy Seph some more." Zack gave a rather wolfish grin and she couldn't help but sigh.
"How ever does he put up with you?" It was the ageless question that all cadets wanted to know ever since Zack became the Lieutenant of SOLDIER.
"Who knows? Maybe when you get into SOLDIER you'll see for yourself." Zack had a little twinkle in his eyes.
"If and when I get into SOLDIER, I'm making sure to steer clear of you." She gave him a wave as she walked towards the gym door, using it as an effective barrier when she got through it. When she got into SOLDIER she'd make more effort to stay of the radar and if it was true that Sephiroth was searching for information on her, then did that he mean he knew someone like her when he was younger? Or perhaps he knew her? But could it merely be curiosity?
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He gave a short sigh as he noticed the files piled haphazardly on his desk – he hadn't neglected the stuff these last few weeks, he just hadn't done as much as normal. He'd also 'forgotten' his appointment with Hojo whilst he had been doing his little research on Laurett. Several weeks of asking all the cadet supervisors and instructors had only left him with a glowing report of Laurett's skills – nothing about the cadet themself. And it was hopeless to even try to ask any cadets - they turned into a pile of mushy gloop literally if he even looked at them.
Glancing at the clock in his office, he almost forgot why Zack hadn't been waiting for him to return to his office. It was only when the Lieutenant came waltzing in, whistling a happy tune to himself, that Sephiroth realized he'd just missed the day's training session between Zack and Laurett.
"Any luck?" Zack grinned slightly as he slumped onto the office sofa, Sephiroth's right eye twitching at the motion.
"I would have had better results if I'd remembered the day and time."
"Well next time you're welcome to come observe." Zack crossed his arms as he reclined back. "I just don't get why you're so into this cadet."
Sephiroth was silent, Zack's question lingering in the air between them. It was only when Zack began to whistle again that the General moved. "I told you before I knew someone named Laurett once." Zack nodded in confirmation. Sephiroth's right hand trailed down his desk until it reached a certain drawer and pulled it out. Long pianist fingers curled around a wooden frame which was drawn out very delicately. "Here." He handed it to Zack, who upon looking at it, became enlightened to the General's actions.
"This is when you were younger, right?" Sephiroth nodded once. The picture contained four people - three boys and a girl. The girl was happily enfolded in the arms of the boy stood behind her. "That's Angeal... Genesis... You... and... Is that-?" Zack pointed to each face as he named them, his finger remaining on the fourth person. The face looked very familiar, especially when framed by that silver hair and accompanied by those deep ocean blue eyes.
"That's the person i used to know – Jennifer Laurett, or as we called her back then Jenny." If there was ever a time Sephiroth guarded his emotions it was now as past memories struggled to reach his attention.
"You think they're the same person?" Zack stared at the girl some more, mentally comparing her to the cadet he trained with so often.
"I've learned nothing is impossible. The cadet uses a sword called the Aurora Blade, don't they?"
"Why do you refer to Jen as 'they'? You're serious about this?"
"Zack answer the question."
"Yeah, Jen does – pretty good at twirling a sword more than double the regular cadet standard. Good at switching the sword between hands as well." Zack noticed the small smile forming on Sephiroth's face.
"I think i will come to your next session."
