Disclaimer: FFVII is owned by Square Enix and this material is the result of harmless mooching by the author who makes no profit from said mooching.

A/N: This picks up in a similar situation that the last chapter ended off on, but this really takes place at a later date.

This ended up being a series of drabbles, but once again are necessary to move on. A warning to all: I managed to hit myself in the feels. Really hard. Sorry if I give the same effect to you.

Sephiroth woke up and felt a fleeting panic when he realized he didn't know where he was. This wasn't his bedroom. Then his leg nudged something next to him. He looked over.

Oh. Cass's room. That's right.

He'd had another nightmare. He forced himself not to think about it. He thought about something else. It was past the normal waking time, so it must be a weekend. Last time he had done this Cass had woken him and walked him to his room so he could get ready. What would she do on a weekend?

He yawned once and decided she'd let him sleep in. He looked over at Cass to make sure he hadn't disturbed her, then paused.

He really did steal all the covers. Cass just had one corner and she held it in a death grip. He pulled some back over her apologetically. How to fix the blanket problem?

The easiest way would to get close. Very close. It started to sound kind of appealing. Being very careful, Sephiroth nudged his way under one of Cass's arms and wrapped his arms around her waist. Within moments he was curled up and dozing again.

Cass woke up and felt herself being cuddled. It was nice, except she usually had no one to cuddle with. She pulled up the bedspread. Green eyes blinked back at her. Oh yeah, another nightmare.

"Um," Cass said, "Morning." Sephiroth grunted and burrowed deeper and closer.

"Or not," Cass said. Yep, Sephiroth was a clinger, but he had good judgement on what was a good grip. And he was so wonderfully warm, despite being a blanket hog. She glanced over at the clock. Yeah, another hour sounded good. She pulled her other arm out to wrap it around him. Sephiroth snuggled ever closer. Cass let her eyes shut again.

"I'm getting up now," Cass said an hour later, "You can either let me go, or I will drag out out of the bed." Sephiroth made a muffled "humph" and emerged from the covers.

"Good morning Cass," he said, despite the disturbance. Then he did something that took Cass completely by surprise.

Cass had given him plenty of kisses, always light, always nice. Usually before he went to sleep, but once when he was dropped off (Hojo hadn't seen). He'd never tried it. Cass usually put them on his head, but Sephiroth didn't think that would be nice for him to do. Her mouth just sounded gross. Her nose sounded weird and not in the good way.

So with nothing else really left, he leaned up and gave her one simple peck on the cheek. Just like what she would do. Then he slid off the bed and started for his room. Cass stopped in shock. Sephiroth normally left his affections with the occasional cuddle and those were usually prompted by some emotional trigger: Injection day, bad dream, Hojo being a dick, that sort of stuff.

What on Gaia brought on the kiss?

Cass brushed her fingers against her cheek and got up. Maybe he did it because he wanted to.

"Here," Cass said. She held out a neatly wrapped package. Sephiroth stopped eating his cereal and just looked at it.

"What is it?" he asked.

"It's a present," Cass said, "for your birthday." Sephiroth continued to stare.

"It's March 28th," Cass said, "It's your birthday. You're seven years old today. I wanted to celebrate it so I got you a present. Take it." Sephiroth took it carefully.

"What is it?" he asked.

"How about you open it up and find out," Cass said. Sephiroth looked at it again. It was thin and rectangular, but the wrapping job was so neat and tidy that he didn't want to ruin it. Very carefully, he started pulling off the tape. It took him several minutes with his method. Cass struggled not to laugh at him.

It was a book. A mildly familiar one at that.

"But..." Sephiroth started, "We finished...how? There's more?" Cass did laugh at that.

"That book was the first in a series," she said, "This is one of the sequels. I only had the first one. I bought you the second." He blinked and looked down on it. His brow furrowed. Never a good sign.

"Sephiroth?" Cass asked. Did she make a mistake?

"I didn't get you anything," he said.

"What?" Cass asked.

"We share the same birthday," Sephiroth said, "You're twenty-two now. I didn't get you anything."

"You didn't have to," Cass assured him, "I wanted to. You liked the part where Harry got all the presents didn't you? I thought I'd do the same for you."

"It's your birthday too," Sephiroth said sadly.

"You got me something, remember?" Cass said. Sephiroth looked up. What had he gotten her? "This morning, when you got out of bed," she prompted. Sephiroth thought about it.

"The..." he trailed off and touched his cheek.

"Mmm-hmm," Cass said, "It was a nice present. I liked it very much." He blinked.

"You did?" Sephiroth said.

"Yes," Cass said, "I don't get kisses often. Yours was very sweet."

"Can I give you another one?" Sephiroth asked.

"Sure," Cass said. He stood up on his chair, setting the book aside carefully, and kissed Cass in the same spot. She turned her head for him. Seemingly satisfied, Sephiroth sat down and started eating again. Cass prepared her own bowl.

"Did you like your present?" Cass asked.

"Yes," Sephiroth said, "Can we read it later?"

"I expected nothing less," Cass said though her mouthful again. She swallowed. "What do you want for your birthday dinner? We can have whatever you want."

"Can I have mashed potatoes?" he asked without hesitation.

"You always want mashed potatoes," Cass said, "but yes, you can have mashed potatoes."

"What do you want for your birthday dinner?" Sephiroth asked. Cass thought about it.

"Pizza," she said, "Doesn't go well with mashed potatoes though."

"Can we have both anyway?" Sephiroth asked.

"I don't see why not."

They talked so much more now. Despite always being near, Sephiroth found that he never tired of Cass. They never ran out of things to talk about and if they decided not to talk, the silence was never strained like it was with other people. Cass would let him be and not pester him and never was upset when he pestered her.

Cass tried to guide him into being somewhat sociable, but she had a feeling that Sephiroth just wasn't interested in things like that. Period. He would talk. He was polite without question, Hojo's doing. Cass would have taught him every swear word she knew if that was not that case. She taught him two or three as it was, with the warning that he was not to say them unless he had no other words to use. Yet, he seemed just as content being on his own and not saying a word.

She did not like that he was being trained to kill and fight at such a young age. It was out of her hands. She wanted him to go out, make friends, have someone else besides herself he could talk to. Someone his own age. He was still so lonely and he didn't even know it.

The honest truth was, she didn't want Sephiroth to end up like herself, with one or two people she really trusted, but always held at a distance. Sephiroth had been the first person she actually opened up to. No one else knew about Aurore or how she felt about Aurore. No one knew she had been abused before Aurore, though she had worded it differently for Sephiroth.

She knew without asking that the situation was exactly the same for Sephiroth, though he never outright said what he was doing with Hojo and his "trainers". He certainly never touched anyone else if he could help it. Cass was the exception. He held her hand, he hugged her, and a kiss each morning had become the routine. He didn't even ask permission to do those things anymore, he just did it.

She just wanted him to have more than one person to do that to.

"Cass?" he asked.

"Sephiroth," Cass replied.

"Am I...timid?" he asked.

"Who told you that?" Cass asked.

"One of my trainers said it when they thought I wasn't listening," Sephiroth replied.

"Hmm...timid is not the word I would use to describe you," Cass said.

"What does timid mean?" he asked.

"Shy. A little scared. You aren't scared."

"What am I then?" Sephiroth asked.

"You'll have to be more specific," Cass said, "you are many things."

"Like what?" Sephiroth asked, "If I'm not timid."

"I'd say...introverted," Cass said, "You aren't scared of talking to people, you just don't have any desire to. That's different from timid." That sounded about right.

"What else?" Sephiroth asked, "You said I was many things."

"That I did," Cass agreed, "You are intelligent...strong, though you'll get stronger over time...perhaps a bit brave as well."

"What else?" Sephiroth asked.

"Well...," Cass paused, "since you aren't really sunshine...I guess you're just a little black rain cloud."

"...What?" Sephiroth asked.

"You heard me," Cass said.

"I'm not a rain cloud," Sephiroth said.

"Nope," Cass said, "Not really. It's a metaphor. Do you remember what that is?"

"...You're saying...I'm like a little black rain cloud?" Sephiroth guessed.

"Yep," Cass said. He thought it over.

"I'd rather be a rain cloud than sunshine," he said.

"Oh?" Cass asked.

"Rain is prettier," he said, "It makes everything clean and makes things grow."

"This is true," Cass said, "but doesn't sunshine do that too?"

"Yes," Sephiroth said, "but I'd rather be a rain cloud."

"Then you can be my rain cloud," she said. Sephiroth didn't know why that made him feel happy, but being Cass's little black rain cloud seemed like a nice thing regardless.

"Cass, What's love?" he asked one night. Cass paused for quite some time.

"That's a hard question," she said, "there's a lot of different answers."

"Like what?" he asked.

"Hmm," Cass thought, "Well some people say that when they mean they like something very, very, very much. An example is that I love strawberries. I like them quite a bit, especially if you dip them in chocolate first, which I know you hate. I like them more than any other fruit."

"So...I love mashed potatoes?" Sephiroth said.

"That's a good one too," Cass said.

"What else can it mean?" Sephiroth asked.

"It gets more confusing when you say you love people," Cass said, "loving another person can be...complicated. Siblings, brothers and sisters, can have love for each other. I love my brother even if I don't know who or where he is and I hope he feels the same way.

"People can have love for their friends which is kind of like love for a brother or a sister, but sometimes that can go even further. Then there's love between two people who are...something a little more than friends. I've never felt that before so I cannot explain it to you. I'm sorry, I just don't know.

"Then there's love for your parents. I don't know who my parents are, but I'm sure they loved me at least a little bit. Yours did too."

"Even if my mother died?" Sephiroth asked.

"Even then," Cass said, "I'm 100 percent positive that your mother loved you more than anything in the entire world, even if she died.

"Loving someone is...wanting to be with them all the time. You miss them when they aren't there and you're happy when they are. You feel like you do things better together and you never want to be apart."

"My mother wanted to be with me?" Sephiroth asked.

"Yes," Cass said, "I've never met a mother who didn't love her child."

"What about you?" Sephiroth asked, "Do you love anyone?"

"Only a few," Cass said, "I'm just not made to love everyone."

"What about me?" Sephiroth asked, "do you love me?"

"That is a ridiculous question," Cass said, "Of course I love you."

"What kind of love is it?" Sephiroth asked.

"I'm not sure," Cass said, "I just love you. That's all I need to know. It's not something as easily defined as rain and butterflies." Sephiroth was lost in thought for a long time.

"I think I love you too," he said.

"You think?" Cass said with mock horror. Sephiroth nodded.

"I'm almost certain," he said, "I love you."

The first time he said it, Cass wasn't sure she had heard right. Then he repeated himself. Nope, she had heard right, he had said it.

"Where did you hear that word?" she asked him.

"I don't remember," he said, "One of the technicians used it I think, a long time ago."

"Do you know what it means?" she asked. He nodded and told her what he thought it meant. Cass bent down to his level, not that far anymore. It still meant that she wanted him to pay close attention.

"You don't have to call me that," she told him, "I don't expect you to."

"Do you not want me to?" he asked. She decided to tell the truth.

"No," she said, "I do want you to, but I don't want you to if you feel like you have to."

"I don't feel that," he said, "I just felt like calling you that. Should I stop?"

"Just...don't feel obligated," Cass said, "I don't care what you call me so long as you're okay with it."

He kept saying it. Cass tried once more to talk him out of it, but it was useless. The new name stuck. Her reckless half reveled in it. She would never deny that it gave her a swell of pride each time he said it.

Sephiroth liked the sound as it left his mouth. It just felt natural. He knew that Hojo wouldn't like this new name he had for Cass, but he wasn't going to stop and Hojo couldn't make him. He was resolute in that.

It didn't take long for him to forget that he had ever called Cass anything else.

"Mom?"

"Hmm?"

"How many books are there in this series?"

"Seven."

"Can we read all of them?"

"It would be cruel to stop you at two, so yes."

"Are they all this good?"

"I personally like the fourth one best, but I think all of them are quite good."

"Why did you only have the first one?"

"I borrowed the rest from a library. I'll get them all for you if you want them. I used to have the fourth one too, but it fell apart because I read it so many times."

"...Mom?"

"Yes?"

"Are we going to have to move soon?"

"They're building a new place for us to go to. A bigger one in a bigger city. It's going to take a long time to build though. A few years. It's kind of hard to build."

"Is that what you were drawing? The city above a city?"

"Sort of. The new building will only be a small part. I'm helping them design it, but like I said it would take a few years before we actually have to go there. It doesn't even exist yet."

"But Hojo's going to move too, isn't he?"

"I'm afraid so, but by then, I think you'll be spending more time outside of the lab. You'll be too big for doing what only Hojo wants."

"Good."

"Speaking of Hojo, I'm afraid it's time to get ready for bed."

"One more chapter?"

"...Fine, but only one."

"...Mom?"

"Yes, my little rain cloud?"

"I love you."

"I love you too, Sephiroth."