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He could hear her purring, and feel the vibrations on his chest. He smiled contentedly and let it lull him to sleep.
Sephiroth awoke with small paws walking up and down his body. He didn't open his eyes. He wanted to know what Meirei would do. The small paws stepped up to his shoulder, then down to his knees. It jumped down to the mattress and walked in circles, then on his body again.
"I can't find her!" A voice Sephiroth recognized and Truffles' spoke in a loud whisper.
"Shh" Zack said. "Don't wake him up!"
"Zackary." Sephiroth didn't move. "If I open my eyes and you're still in this room, I'm assigning you every piece of paperwork I have." He heard quick steps and his bedroom door closing. He breathed deeply and lifted the covers to look at Meirei. She was still resting her front paws on his chest, but was already awake.
"Good morning, Meirei." Sephiroth smiled. He was granted a profound view of her tonsils. He chuckled and slid out of bed. He shivered as the cold hardwood floor met his bare feet. He turned around when he heard a 'BONK'. Meirei had come from under the covers and had walked head first into the headboard. Her clumsy sleepiness added immensely to her cute factor. Sephiroth would never admit that, of course. He picked her up and walked to the kitchen, where he sat her on the counter.
"Zackary why are you still here?" Sephiroth started making breakfast.
"You said nothing about leaving your apartment." Zack rubbed his eyes.
"We want breeeakfaaast!" Truffles whined. His stomach gave a high pitched grumble to emphasize his demand.
"Get out, mutt." Meirei was glaring daggers at him from her sleepy half lidded eyes.
"Not a morning person, are you?" Zack joked.
"Not a person at all." She deadpanned.
Sephiroth blocked out their bickering as he made breakfast. Toast, eggs and bacon. He divided it into two SOLDIER sized portions for himself and Zack, and filled two small desert plates for Meirei and Truffles. Sephiroth and Zack talked about the new training program while Meirei kept Truffles away from her plate.
"EW!" Sephiroth jerked his head to Meirei, alarmed at the sudden outburst.
"What?" He looked her over for any injuries Truffles might have caused.
"Is this meat?" She spat out a piece of bacon. Truffles stole it from her. "That's like…cannibalism!" she stared in disgust as Truffles wolfed down her bacon.
"Seph…" Zack guffawed. "Meirei's vegetarian."
"No shit." Sephiroth stared as the kitten lapped water from a bowl.
In his office, Sephiroth had already set up Meirei's bathroom and showed her where it was. He was currently doing paperwork and she was lounging on his couch. As usual Sephiroth didn't show it, but he was bored.
He shredded another useless piece of paperwork. Then, a thought occurred to him. He tore a blank page from his notebook and balled it up in his fist. He threw it to Meirei. When it landed next to her, she jumped and stared at it. Then she stretched her neck and sniffed it. Then she lifted her paw and tentatively hit the ball. It rolled off the couch to the floor. She leapt after it.
For a few minutes Sephiroth watched her play around his office. Then he was brought back from his thoughts as someone knocked on his door. He lifted his head from his palm and Meirei flopped back the right way up and jumped on the desk.
"Come in." Sephiroth called.
The door opened and Sephiroth's least favorite Turk came in. Wild, red hair all over the place and a shabby looking suit. He strode over to Sephiroth's desk and plopped down on one of the chairs in front of it.
"I'm spent, yo." Reno sighed. "Little fucker ran from the shots, had to do it myself…"
"May I help you Reno?" Sephiroth cut in.
"Oh, yeah, right." He put a folder on the desk. "Tseng wants your permission to start the pet training program earlier. Sign at the end of each page, and twice at the last."
Sephiroth read quickly though the document and was searching for a pen. Meirei picked one up she had found under the couch and gave it to him.
"Cute kitty. What's his name?" Reno eyed the cat. He knew better than to put his hand anywhere near animals he did not know."
"Excuse me." Meirei scoffed. "But I am a lady."
"Who the mindless godless fuck forgot to clean the air vents, yo!" Sephiroth saw a squiggly furry thing fall on his desk.
"Tell me about it." Reno picked the small animal up and started dusting him off.
"Hey, fucker, stop slapping me, yo!" the squiggly thing said.
"Reno?" Sephiroth demanded an explanation.
"Oh, this is Numnum! He was looking for alternate escape routes!" Reno put the ferret on the desk. It shook itself and spotted Meirei.
"How you doin', babe?" it trotted to her.
"Please detain this rodent, I do not want to be infested with rabies." Meirei inched away from the ferret.
"Rodent!" Numnum acted offended. "Let's not hurt each other with words, pretty thing. I think I know what you need. You need some lovin', yo!" he began to approach Meirei again. When his nose touched her cheek, she swiped her paw at him. Four thin red lines adorned Numnum's face.
"Numnum! What did I tell you about high class women?" Reno scolded him.
"Don't let the father catch you?" Numnum rubbed his cheek.
"Well…yes…but that's not the point." Reno picked Numnum up and took the folder back from a smirking Sephiroth. When the door closed again, Sephiroth took a tissue and cleaned Meirei's paw.
"Who's that?" she asked him, as she inspected her claws.
"Reno. He works for the Turks, under Tseng." Sephiroth threw the tissue away and turned back to his paperwork. There was little left now.
"Who are the Turks? And who is Tseng?" Meirei was reading one of the reports while she talked. Multitasking. Sephiroth liked that.
"Maybe you should read the database and a few reports. I suppose if you're going on missions with me, you're going to have to know this kind of information." Sephiroth said.
"Maybe I can help you with paperwork too. I can type, you know…" Meirei sat on top of the 'finished' pile.
"I think I have an idea." Sephiroth dialed Zack's phone. "Zackary. What is the name of the Cadet you help?...Yes, send him here…I'm going to give him some extra credit, since you say he is so capable…Yes…Yes…Thank you." Sephiroth hung up.
A few minutes later, there was another knock on the door. Zack came in followed by a blond Cadet holding Truffles.
"Meirei!" Truffles jumped off the Cadet's arms and ran to the desk. He stood on his hind legs and started jumping, trying to get up. Meirei lowered her head to look at him from the edge of the desk.
"What is it you want?" she asked.
"Let's play!" Truffles kept jumping.
"No."
"Pleeease!"
"No."
Zack picked Truffles up and put him on the desk. He started jumping around Meirei. She pushed him off the desk.
"I like this." She said, looking down to the hopping puppy.
"You're teaching her to be a bitch, Seph, stop it." Zack put the whining puppy back on the desk.
"Um…"
Sephiroth looked at the Cadet.
"Zackary, you're not needed here anymore."
"Aww, Seph, let me stay here, I don't want to do paperwork!" Zack whined, much like Truffles.
Sephiroth responded by giving him an icy glare. Zack was immune to it, but he got the message anyways.
"Fine. I want Spiky back in the same number of pieces, though." Zack picked Truffles and went out, stopping only to ruffle the Cadet's hair.
"Step closer." Sephiroth said to the nervous blond wreck after Zack closed the door. He did, and his eyes went immediately to Meirei. Sephiroth saw a small smile tug at his lips. Meirei was looking curiously at him, her head tilted to her right.
"Name."
The Cadet saluted sharply and straightened his back.
"Strife, sir. Cloud Strife."
"Strife." Sephiroth tested the name on his tongue.
"Yes, sir."
"Cadet, from now on, you will no longer attend classes." Sephiroth started explaining.
"S-sir?"
"You will study through books and only go to class during Exam Period. Your physical classes will be on weekends with Lieutenant Fair. I want you here in this office every morning, Monday through Friday, at oh-six hundred hours sharp. You will be given a clearance card to enter this floor and office. You are not to snoop around, you are not to be here alone unless you were given a direct order by me or Meirei. You will be handling official ShinRa documentation. You are not to read it, only handle it as ordered. Is that clear?"
"Yes, sir." Cloud saluted again.
"Very well." Sephiroth stood up and went to a discrete door behind his desk. "Follow me." He unlocked it and entered a file room. In the center, was a huge, soft-looking sofa. Sephiroth led him to a file cabinet with a small number one printed on it.
"You will take these files, open them to the first page, and let Meirei read, until she tells you to turn the page. Finishing the file, you will put it back exactly where and how you found it and take the next one. Understood?"
"Yes, sir."
"Start now, I will call you at midday."
"Yes, sir." Cloud took the first file from the first drawer of the first cabinet. Meirei, who was listening closely to Sephiroth, passed her master rubbing herself against his ankles, and went to the sofa. Cloud sat next to her.
"Um… How would you like me to hold it, miss?" Cloud asked Meirei.
"Miss?" Meirei laughed. "Cloud, I am only three days old, you may call me by my name."
"Three days? That makes you the youngest one I met! Your birthday would be on the... second of November, then?" Cloud brightened up.
"Yes. I was the last Hojo made." Meirei hopped on Cloud's lap and made herself comfortable. "Put it on the couch next to you and turn the pages with one of your hands. That way, you can study with the other."
Cloud did as told and Meirei started reading. Cloud took one of his tactic books and began reading too. Every now and then Meirei would softly say 'turn' and Cloud would. In the beginning he messed up the books, but after a few minutes they were like clockwork. He was surprised to find out that Meirei read a 500 page file in less than an hour. They were in the middle of file number 5 when Sephiroth entered.
"Is everything in order?" he asked, picking Meirei from Cloud's crossed legs.
"Yes, sir." Cloud stood.
Sephiroth regarded him for a moment, then asked Meirei.
"How do you like him?"
"He's very quiet and wasn't sneaking looks on the files. Studying." She explained. Sephiroth nodded satisfied and led the way out of his office to the hall. It was bustling with people heading for the cafeteria.