Paper Tiger Burning

I respectfully credit all Original Creators, namely Squaresoft, which became SquareEnix,for these characters. In this way, I pay homage to my Fandom's Original Creator, and illustrate my Community's belief that Fan Fiction is "fair use". I do not claim to own these characters. I do not make money or gil from using these protected characters, nor do I wish to make money or gil from them. In other words, I am borrowing these characters to entertain the adult fanfiction community, but I am doing so with the highest degree of respect to the engineers, game designers, music makers, and voice actors.




I awoke in a bed.

Hearing a slight noise, I opened my eyes.

Sephiroth stood at the end of the bed, his long arms and graceful hands digging through a drawer in the bureau. Half dressed in those leather pants, barefoot, his hair falling everywhere and muscles rippling, he looked quite the elegant savage. The clock above him read 6:30. He prepared for a day at work.

Aware I lay atop a microphone; I kept silent but watched him openly.

He pulled out a black, military issue sweater in ribbed wool with suede shoulder patches and looked at it with a critical eye. I watched, mesmerized as he threaded his arms into it and pulled it over his head. It took him a few seconds to free his hair from underneath. Finally, he sat on the edge of the bed to put on his socks and boots, glancing at me. I gave him a smile, which he returned slightly. I loved seeing those sensuous lips curving upward.

He put out his arm and touched my jaw.

I have maneuvers today, his voice said in my mind.

Well, he’d mentioned telepathy as a talent… Good luck, I thought back.

He smiled briefly. Will you get bored here by yourself?

No. I’ll read your books.

Again he smiled. There’s nothing I would hide, so enjoy yourself. He got up and grabbed an elastic off the top of his bureau, tying back his mane. Glancing at me, he put his hand on the doorknob.

See you in eight hours, flower girl.

I watched him go; smiling because he’d made me think he needed to touch me to talk to me with his mind.

I drifted between sleep and consciousness for while, then got up and quietly tended to my morning ablutions, ever-mindful of mechanical ears. A chiming noise from somewhere in the apartment made me pause in braiding my hair. The sound came three more times. Nervous, I walked into the living room. Shadows moved on the other side of the outer door, making the light on the floor flicker. The knob rattled.

Crushing my panic, I swiftly ran into the kitchen. I’d already thought out a plan for a surprise invasion. I took the oven racks out of the stove and slid them between the appliance and the wall. My heart hammering, I got inside the oven, quietly shutting the door behind me but leaving my finger wedged in it so I could get enough air.

I heard the living room door open. The sound of high heeled shoes and heavy boots paused outside the kitchen door. “I’ll take the bedroom,” a female voice said. “You check the kitchen. Look for any evidence he’s hiding the Cetra.”

“Be quick, then,” the man grumbled. “If he comes back here and finds us there’s no telling what he’ll do.”

“He’ll do nothing,” the woman argued sharply. “He needs you.”

“In case it’s escaped your notice, he’s a sociopath,” the man shot back.

And now I knew. Rufus and Sheila Shinra. But why come here themselves instead of sending sweepers? If they found me it would be the same as if Hojo himself yanked me out of my hiding place.

“He’s a cat with no claws,” Sheila answered. “The Sephiroth of the old days wouldn’t have come back to work for us. I don’t know why you’re so scared he’s just going to flip out on you.”

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe because he’s known for that sort of behavior? Maybe because he offed our old man?” I heard the kitchen door open. “Just hurry the hell up. I don’t know why you’re so determined to think she’s here.”

“Because of the flowers, you idiot! He bought me flowers from some street urchin the night the Cetra vanished. I think he found her and took her home.”

“You’re just jealous. He told me why he wouldn’t fuck you and I think his reasoning is valid.” Rufus stomped into the kitchen. I saw him pulling back the hammer of a pistol as he came through, his face set in anger. Quickly, I let the oven door close the rest of the way.

Breathing hard, I listened to him move around. He opened cabinets. He opened the broom cupboard. He opened the refrigerator and rummaged through it. Finally, he went back out the door. “No one and no sign,” he called out as I crumpled with relief.

“Well, I didn’t find anything either,” Sheila said. “Not even a stray hair.”

“See? You’re imagining things. The Cetra escaped on her own and sniffed out her old resistance friends.”

“I was sure he had her here,” Sheila spat. “A woman can just sense another woman.”

“Whatever. I’ll put out feelers for AVALANCHE and see what I can dredge up. Sephiroth hasn’t been focusing on anything but immediate threats, but I’m sure he can’t refuse targeting Cloud Strife.”

I heard their voices dwindle. Moments later I heard the outer door shut. Not content, I just cracked the oven door again and settled to wait awhile. I wouldn’t move until a few hours had passed. I just didn’t trust the situation and I felt shaken by my close call. A few more seconds of delay and I’d have been whisked off back to Hojo.

When I heard the door open again I nearly jumped out, thinking it would be Sephiroth, but I stopped myself at the last moment. It wasn’t time for him to come home.

“Be fast. The Shinra’s didn’t find anything, but we know what we’re looking for.”

Cloud!

“I don’t understand any of this,” Tifa answered. “Aerith is dead. Sephiroth is supposed to be dead.”

“We’ve known of his return more than six months.” Cloud opened the kitchen door. “I wish I’d had time to put a bug in here. Look, he’s moved his settee to sit behind his table.”

“So? Maybe he likes the kitchen. Moving furniture doesn’t prove Aerith is back from the dead.”

“Does he seem like a man to keep flowers, then?”

“We know how he got them, thanks to Sheila running her big, red mouth,” Tifa said. “I think you did well to get bugs in the bedroom and living room. I thought for sure he’d see you in that soldier uniform and recognize you.”

“They wear full helmets now, the sweeper teams.” Cloud moved fully into the kitchen. “I wonder why Sephiroth hasn’t been targeting AVALANCHE?”

“We haven’t been doing anything, that’s why.” Tifa opened the refrigerator too. “Will you look at all this health food?”

“Huh.” Cloud grabbed something and dropped it. “Soy milk? Tofu? Bean sprouts? What the hell?”

“Maybe it isn’t really Sephiroth?”

“No, it’s him.” Cloud picked up whatever he’d dropped and shoved it back into the fridge. “I just have a feeling. And I know he knows something about Aerith.”

“Well, that’s good enough for me, Cloud, but she’s obviously not here. Rufus and Sheila would have found her.”

“What’s this?”

“Looks like a ball full of seeds.”

“Why would he have seeds in a ball, lying on his kitchen table?”

“I don’t know. Why would he take up Feng Shui?”

“Another good question.”

“Don’t take those! He’ll know we’ve been here!”

“Right. Sorry. For one minute I thought I should. Funny.”

I could hear them moving back into the living room. My mind whirled. Cloud had planted those bugs. Sephiroth would be furious when I told him.

I would tell him, wouldn’t I?

Why wasn’t I running out to reunite with Cloud and Tifa?

Time kept on ticking…

The living room’s outer door shut and locked once again. Trembling with sadness and muscle strain, I closed my eyes.

Nothing was the same. My friends were a liability and my enemy my friend. Here I was crouching in a stove to avoid being seen. I couldn’t leave the apartment without cameras spotting me, couldn’t speak aloud anywhere but the kitchen. I put Sephiroth in danger, and indirectly, my old friends.

What did Hojo find so special about me? Was I worth this kind of effort?

Muscles cramping, I bowed my head and wept.