Chapter 2

Cloud woke up at three in the morning. It was the time he was used to waking up at, his master always thought it was healthy for them. But when he sat up, for a split second he was frightened. He didn't know where he was at. He was in a room all by himself, Cloud's instant thoughts that he was once again supposed to fulfill the Don's desires.

Cloud got out of bed, only wearing a cloth over his hips. He put on his shirt, leaving the buttons undone. He walked up to the door, hearing footsteps. He opened the door to just a crack, his blue eyes widening when he saw a ton of women and men.

Cloud relaxed.

Oh yeah, he was with Master Sephiroth now. The Don couldn't get him here. Cloud sighed in relief, opening the door just a tad bit wider.

He only got a separate room because they had no room with the others, Tifa having to clear out a supply closet for him. Though something was strange.

Everybody was sleeping, so where were the footsteps coming from?

Cloud walked out of his room silently, tiptoeing around the many beds. He might as well take a bath since he was the first one awake.

Cloud tried to remember where to go to find the bath, cursing himself for not bringing the candle by his bedside. He saw a door, going for that one. When he opened it, he came face to face with Sephiroth. Cloud gasped sharply in fear, Sephiroth covering his mouth and pulling him out into the open, closing the door softly. Cloud was shaking in fear, wondering if he was in trouble from being up too early.

Sephiroth moved his hand off from Cloud's mouth, his cat slitted pupils widening as he looked down to Cloud's shivering form.

"Forgive me, I didn't want you to wake the others." Cloud swallowed thickly, calming down from his unsettling fear. He looked down to the floor, sighing softly in relief. At least he wasn't being whipped for being up so early.

Fingers grabbed his chin, Cloud looking up with a gasp. Sephiroth was staring down at him, his lips tilted down slightly.

"Why are you up so early? Your station doesn't have to wake till five." Cloud wanted to look away, but he couldn't. Sephiroth wasn't holding his chin that hard, Cloud could easily turn his head away and break eye contact.

But...

Cloud was lost in Sephiroth's eyes. He felt like he would melt from the heat inside himself when Sephiroth looked down at his attire, or lack of there of. Cloud wanted him to touch him, but he quickly reminded himself that he was a slave and Sephiroth wouldn't do so to the likes of him.

"I was going to take a bath... Master Sephiroth." Sephiroth raised an eyebrow in question, but Cloud just kept his mouth shut. Sephiroth let go of his chin, but Cloud didn't look down like he usually did.

He couldn't look away from his eyes.

"Forgot where it was?" Sephiroth asked, Cloud nodding. He quickly realized he was supposed to answer verbally, clearing his throat.

"Yes, Master Sephiroth." Cloud felt the man was too close, but not close enough. He shivered under his stare and from the cold that attacked his poorly dressed body, Sephiroth never breaking eye contact as he asked a question that made Cloud blush a blistering red.

"Did the doctor hurt you?" Cloud parted his lips before closing them, wondering why he would ask such a question. Cloud took in a breath, not sure how he was supposed to answer that.

"Follow me. You can bathe in my bath." Cloud's immediate reaction surprised Sephiroth as much as it surprised himself.

"Sephiroth that isn't appropriate." Cloud looked away when Sephiroth looked to him, his heart beating erratically in his chest.

"I mean... Master Sephiroth..." Cloud's words trailed off, his entire body glued to the wall. Sephiroth laughed softly through his nose, the noise surprising Cloud. He expected punishment for acting out of line, but instead his clumsiness with words made Sephiroth laugh.

"Follow me. I won't hurt you Cloud." Cloud looked up at that, looking to Sephiroth's outstretched hand. He was a slave.

Why was Sephiroth offering him his hand?

Cloud looked to Sephiroth's eyes but they weren't deceiving him. Cloud slowly grabbed Sephiroth's hand, Sephiroth leading him slowly up the stairs to his room.

If Cloud thought the slaves bath was huge, Sephiroth's was fit for a giant. Cloud looked around in amazement, turning to Sephiroth when he realized he shouldn't be blantly staring at his things.

"Cloud, did the doctor hurt you?" Cloud was unsure of what to say, thinking back to it. When the doctor had pushed in his finger, the friction has burned. It had hurt, and Sephiroth wanted an honest answer.

"Yes, Master Sephiroth."

Cloud wanted to pull away and run back to his room, but also Cloud wanted Sephiroth to caress the area the doctor had accidentally hurt him in. Cloud knew the area was supposed to only be given to the one he loved, and he knew he loved Sephiroth. Shouldn't he be able to touch it?

"Where?" Sephiroth asked, Cloud feeling so small all of a sudden. He touched his cloth, Sephiroth looking down.

Cloud blushed red.

"M-My..."

Cloud looked away, unsure of how to phrase it. He didn't want it to look like he was a wanton whore, but at the same time on instinct he knew he had to answer his question. Cloud cleared his throat.

"M-My womanhood." Cloud felt like fainting, feeling Sephiroth's eyes boring into his head. Cloud looked back to him after a while, his blush less now.

"Master Sephiroth."

Sephiroth looked down again, Cloud wondering if he wanted to check for himself. It wasn't sore anymore, but Cloud hadn't felt the same since. It felt like he had bruised it. He took off his cloth, his member flaccid from his embarrassment.

Sephiroth looked to his face, Cloud's heart beating hard in his chest.

"Can I?"

Cloud had not expected Sephiroth to ask for permission. He parted his lips to reply but he couldn't speak. No one ever asked him, everybody just expected that he would always say yes to their commands. He nodded, Sephiroth taking off a leather glove.

"Tell me if I hurt you." Cloud nodded again, touching a hand to Sephiroth's shoulder to stay balanced when he spread his legs a little bit more.

Sephiroth didn't seem to mind Cloud's misconduct, Cloud closing his eyes in fear and anticipation. He felt him touch his core, Cloud feeling his thighs start to shake from the need building inside himself. Sephiroth's fingers didn't push in, but Cloud knew he felt the wetness from the arousal Sephiroth unconsciously caused.

Cloud suddenly felt a tingle, a feeling he somewhat remembered from when Tifa healed his back.

Sephiroth was using a cure.

Sephiroth pulled his hand away, Cloud opening his eyes. He didn't feel that awkward bruising feeling anymore, Cloud looking to Sephiroth. Sephiroth moved away, Cloud's hand moving off his shoulder and falling to his side.

"Bathe."

Sephiroth left with that, Cloud left with shaking legs and a fluttering heart. He panted softly in the empty room, trying to reign in himself.

He shouldn't lust after his master.

He shouldn't love him.

That only led to conflict.

:::+:::

"If you can't reach something, don't clean it. Others will finish the job." Cloud nodded in understanding, watching and listening carefully to everything Tifa said. Cloud liked being a butler more than being a slave. He hadn't thought there had been a difference before, but Tifa explained.

As a butler, he had a job. He would be paid, treated with respect, cared for. Being a slave was just being used.

Cloud didn't like being used.

Cloud sighed softly, for the twentieth time since she started her tour five minutes ago. Tifa looked to him worriedly, Cloud not even paying attention. Sephiroth only touched him that way to cure him, so why did he keep telling himself there was more to it than that?

"Does your back still pain you?" Cloud looked to Tifa, shaking his head.

"No, forgive me. I've just been thinking." Cloud nibbled on his bottom lip, wondering how he could phrase what happened without it sounding like a sexual advance. Tifa didn't seem to notice his inner turmoil, easily seeing his uneasiness as nervousness.

"I know, it's hard to suddenly switch lives like this. Usually we would give you more time to adjust, but we are preparing for a ball placed three days from now."

Cloud looked to her face, deciding to ask her little by little.

"Would the Master ever let one of us bathe in his bath?" Cloud asked. Tifa reacted as if she had been slapped. Her eyes widened and she took a step back, her lips twisted into a firm scowl.

"No! His bath is off limits!"

Cloud didn't ask anymore on the subject.

Since she acted such a way to his first question, the last thing he wanted to ask was if Sephiroth healed injuries on her body.

On any part.

Cloud cleared his throat, following her into the kitchen. Sephiroth was sitting at the table, and as if disturbing him was the worst idea in creation, Tifa pulled him into the kitchen. She was only up to his shoulders, but even so she was very strong. Cloud almost stumbled, but she steadied him.

"You will not have to serve him. Specific maids are chosen to do such a thing. You will not help serve at the ball, not until I show you how to do it properly." Cloud nodded, looking around the large kitchen. He was not the best cook in the world, but he was an amazing baker.

Only, and only when his previous master allowed it, Cloud would bake a cake for the slaves.

Cloud's mouth watered at the thought of cake.

When was the last time he had it?

Last year.

"You will not work in the kitchen yet. Though I have to ask, do you have any cooking abilities?" Cloud nodded, looking away from the pie a man was making.

"I can bake. I used to make cakes for the other slaves." Tifa nodded, leading him over to who seemed to be the baker. Cloud was in awe, the man making a strawberry stuffed cake. Cloud loved strawberries.

"Cid, Cloud's new here. Can you mentor him on how to bake?" The man named Cid looked to Tifa, his hands not stopping from icing the cake.

"Why should I?" Cid asked, Tifa putting a hand on her hip. She frowned in displeasure, but Cid wasn't affected.

"I'll tell Master Sephiroth you drink his tea."

Cid's hand stopped icing the cake, his permanent scowl turning into a look of fear. It quickly fled though, replaced with anger and annoyance.

"Fine. I'll only mentor him at night though." Cloud smiled in happiness and awe, glad he would bake side to side with the lead baker. Cid looked to Cloud, his eyes softening slightly.

"I'll mentor you from seven to eleven. No longer or less." Cloud nodded, looking to Tifa who seemed pleased with her act of persuasion and its success.

"Until then Cloud, you will perform cleaning duties. They will be simple, so they won't agitate your back. Is it still sore?" Cloud swallowed thickly when Cid looked to him with curiosity. Cloud didn't want anybody to know about it, his past was his own business.

"Just a little."

Cid, even though he was curious didn't ask anything about the subject, Cloud more calmed by that.

"Send him to see Yuffie. She's the best cleaner here." Tifa nodded, Cloud following behind her.

"See you later, chocobo," Cid called after him, no heat in his words. Cloud smiled, vaguely remembering someone used to always call him that.

"Is everyone nice here?" Cloud asked when they left the kitchen, Tifa stopping by the stairs. Cloud stood in front of her, clenching his toes in his shoes. He had never worn shoes before, it felt really good for his feet to be warm.

"Yes. We all look out for each other here. We're family." Cloud smiled, Tifa looking to the side. She bowed, Cloud a tad confused from her actions. He looked to the side, his eyes meeting with cat like jade. Cloud gasped, bowing to Sephiroth.

"Do you need any assistance, Master Sephiroth?" Tifa asked, Sephiroth quiet for a second.

"No."

Cloud looked up when he heard Sephiroth advance up the stairs, his heart close to leaping out of his chest.

"Always ask that if he passes by you," Tifa told him. Cloud nodded, but he wasn't paying attention.

Because Master Sephiroth let him use his bath, did that mean he liked him?

And...

What about the way he touched him?

He looked to Tifa when she grabbed his hand, a small smile on her lips.

"Let's go find Yuffie."