Combat Training for the Stubborn

Chapter two

The training was tough. Even tougher then building a bloody rocket. The past week had left the normally energetic class of engineers wary and fatigued, dark circles beginning to form underneath their eyes.

Drake Skylark was worried for his little cadets.

Even the strongest of his students were looking worse for wear.

It was an hour before class and everyone was off in their own little world trying to think happy thoughts. Prepping themselves for the physical and emotional beating that they were going to receive in an hour’s time.

Skylark listened to the grass as it crunched underneath his boots as his riche green eyes filtered through the herd of students. Bring them out into the fields seemed to have done them all some good, even if only by a little. They were talking and laughing about little things, while some were even talking about the training. Or more like the 1st and 2nd year students were plotting against the instructors with a few of the 3rd years and 4th.

Speaking of 4th year students...there was one that he was interested in finding at the moment, but seemed to be having a little trouble finding him...’What a slippery little devil that child is.’

He stopped and looked around at the base of one of the few trees in the area, but still was unable to spot the bright haired brat.

Leaning against the tree, Skylark sighed. It was relatively quiet in this area of the field. Or so he though, till a well-timed snore broke the peacefulness. The captain looked around, but still, no one in site.

Well this was odd. Snoring with no one around? Another loud inhale caused him to frown and he looks up into the foliage. It came again.

He had heard of sleeping trees and such, but this, this was ridiculous. So if it wasn’t a mystical tree, then there had to be someone up there.

Reacting up to grab a branch, Skylark pulled it back and discovered the source of the sound.

‘So that’s where yer hidin’ boy.’

Doubting that calling up to the boy was going to do him any good, the Captain let go of his current branch and grabbed another, and began to haul himself up the small tree.

Blissfully unaware to the world around him, Cid continued to snore away with his chest rising and falling in a steady rhythm.

Skylark placed himself upon a branch that was about half a foot higher then the one Cid was currently perched on and off to the side. Now that he was seated, he could commence the waking of the bear process.

After discovering the hard way that Cid was a pain in the ass to wake up, Drake had to come up with some way to wake the pilot. It had only taken a few tries…a few classes actually, but he had found the most effective method of waking the young man.

And that was to stare.

And stare…

Stare till Cid started to twitch and his eyebrows pull together.

Keep the eyes open till the snoring seized and a frown turned the corners of his mouth.

‘Almost…’

Eyes never left the blond’s face, even as Skylark started swinging his long leg’s back and forth. ‘Anytime now kid…’

And victory was his when a single cyan orb popped open and began to glare at the staring intruder.

“Do ya mind?” murmured the bleary male.

This made the Captain grin ear to ear. “Not at all!”

Cid groaned, arms rising above his head as he stretched tired limbs and succeeding in popping his back. “Jeez, I was enjoying a nice nap. Then ya have to go and start staring at me. Thanks fer that.”

His chief smiled and finally blinked, hands clasping in front of him. “Anytime cadet! Now, can you answer a question for me?”

“Why should I?”

“Well, I did have to climb this tree to find your scrawny butt…”

Blue eye regarded green ones for a moment, and then Cid grunted, placing his arms behind his head. “Sure, why not? I’m up now anyway.”

“No need to get crabby, Mr. Highwind! It’s just a innocent little question!”

“Like…?”

“Actually, I changed my mind. There’s two now.” The cadet huffed, but Drake ignored him. “Iti!-“

“The hell?!”

“Wutai, only know up to 5. Anyway, question one! Why in Gaia’s holy name are you sleeping in a tree?”

Cid rolled his eyes. “I liked the view an it’s quite up here. Next.”

“That still doesn’t explain why but alright, I shall take your word for it. But just this once.”

“Duly noted. Next.”

The captain scoffed. “My, who pull your panties in a bunch? Fine, your royal grumpiness, last question. Why are you in such a foul mood lately? You seem angrier then usually.”

Cid paused, turning the question over in his mind. It’s not like he was being like this on purpose… not really anyway. He wasn’t the only one who was in a bad mood for the past week. Hell! It was most of the class. The women were bitchier then normal and half the men were acting as though they were pmsing.

Fucking whiners.

Not to say he wasn’t in pain too, but he wasn’t sitting there bitchin’ and moanin’ about either. If anything, even if it was torture, this was helping him. Helping him to build up his muscles and stamina. He already felt a bit stronger than when they started a week ago.

Dare he say that a part of him actually liked the training?

Maybe.

In actuality, his only problem with this whole thing was who headed it. Heidegger, the so-called head of the military, was a bloody ass. It’s was as if he expected them to grow talent out of their asses and be as strong as those Soldier bastards! They were just engineers in training for fuck sakes! They really shouldn’t even being taking this idiotic training.

Of course, then there was the fact that most of the people in this class didn’t even know which end was up when they had first started. The way many of them just swung wildly made him wonder if any of them had ever fought in their lives. Well, maybe they hadn’t. After all, most of these whiny bastards had lived in the city all their lives, protected by walls and SOLDIERs.

Cid, however, had grown up in the country and had learned how to defend himself from some of the more curious creatures that came in to try and steal some of their livestock. Not a proper training but at least he wasn’t impaling himself on his own weapon.

He realized Skylark was still waiting for his answer and started to speak when an obnoxious voice rang out, “Alright, you lazy cadets have wasted enough time! Time to get back inside! Some of us have important matters to tend to and can’t baby you all day.”

Cid clenched his fist, teeth grinding, “This Cadet respectfully requests permission to fuckin’ beat Heidegger’s ass into the ground and bury him alive, sir.”

Captain Skylark gave a laugh, “Request denied Cadet. Not that I don’t share the same sentiments. Besides,” He hopped down from the branch and looked up, a mischievous twinkle in his eye, “I have a suspicion that you won’t have to worry about Heidegger too much after today.”

A blond brow rose in curiosity but the captain didn’t say anything further, just whistling a merry tune as he walked back inside the arena. ‘Fuckin’ bastard! He knows I hate it when people leave me hangin’ like that!’ Still, he climbed out of the tree and went inside, curious as to what his superior had meant.

~

“Are you worms even listening to the instructions?! I swear to ShinRa you are the most worthless-

“Attention!” Skylark called out suddenly, his voice easily overpowering Heidegger’s.

All activity stopped and the cadets stood straight as General Sephiroth entered the room, his calm and commanding aura filling the space, “At ease everyone.”

“Ah, so good to see you have made time for us, General,” Heidegger gave the silver-haired man a greasy smile, “Though I really don’t see why. These pathetic creatures are such a waste of space.”

The General gave the man a cold smile, “Then I suppose it will be no problem for you to go to Junon after all?”

The portly man’s eyes grew wide and he started to sputter, “J-Junon! Why the hell would I want to go there?”

“Well you see, there is a delicate matter that requires your expertise and President Shinra has agreed that you are the man to go and straighten things out. Do not worry about your other duties, they have already been assigned to be taken care of.” Sephiroth easily steered the confused man out of the building, “If you have any questions, I am sure President Shinra would not mind answering them. However he might believe that you feel yourself unable to handle the situation-”

“No, no! That’s quite alright! I’ll be able to take care of it!” Heidegger quickly assured, unwilling to risk the possibility of losing his good graces with the President, “I assume you have found someone that will actually be able to teach these ungrateful wretches?”

“It is all taken care of,” The General closed the door behind the man with a sigh. As soon as the silver-haired man turned his jade eyes to the silent class and smirked, all in attendance let out a loud cheer. Sephiroth strode over to the grinning Captain Skylark, “I got word of your…misgivings on Heidegger’s teachings and had someone look into the matter.”

“I’m grateful, sir. The cadets were doing well all things considered but I wasn’t sure how long it would take before his particular way of pushing them caused them to collapse entirely.”

The silver-haired man nodded, “Yes, I could tell. A little bit of harshness can toughen a soldier but to take away all self-esteem does far more harm than good. I want them to take pride in their skills not make them fall apart at the seems.” Cat-like eyes scanned the celebrating group and quickly found a blond figure off to the side. A silver eyebrow rose at the cadet’s angered appearance, “Cadet Highwind does not appear pleased Captain.”

“Oh?” Skylark quickly found the young man and smirked, “Ten gil says he’s upset that he didn’t get the chance to give Heidegger a good kick in the ass on the way out, sir.”

“Hmm, you know him better than I do so I won’t take that bet. Let’s see if he’s made any progress. A good spar should work the aggression out of him.”

Cid looked up to find both Captain Skylark and General Sephiroth coming his way and groaned. ‘Now what?’ He stood at attention though, as he was supposed to when his superiors approached.

“At ease, Cid,” Drake called out with a smile, “Seems you get to be the lucky, or should I say unlucky one, again this time.”

Cid blinked in confusion for a moment before he cursed, “Fuck! You mean I gotta be the pretty boy’s punchin’ bag again?!”

Skylark looked like he was about to reprimand the cadet but Sephiroth shook his head, “Cadet Highwind, perhaps if you have been properly applying yourself in the training, you will end up with a few less bruises.”

“Yeah right! Training ta fight with that fat bastard is like tryin’ ta learn flyin’ from a naval officer. It ain’t gonna work cuz they ain’t done it before so how can they teach it?”

The General gave a small chuckle, “It seems this one cadet has more intelligence than most of the administrative board, Captain.”

Skylark beamed with pride and ruffled the younger man’s blond hair, much to Cid’s displeasure, “Yep! No disrespect, General, but there’s no way in hell you’re stealin’ him from my department.”

The blond finally pulled away from the man, grumbling as he pushed his hair back, “Look, if I have to get my ass kicked, I’d rather do it now instead of later. So can we get this over with?”

The General waved toward the wooden weapon rack, “After you, Cadet Highwind.”

The blond paused, his blue eyes boring into jade, “If yer gonna be choosin’ ta use me as a test dummy all the time, at least call me Cid, sir.”

Sephiroth couldn’t help but smile. Yes, he definitely liked the man’s fiery spirit. ‘Should be fun to see how he handles the new “supervisor”.’ “Fine then, Cid. Pick your weapon.”

Despite the man’s mocking tone of his name, Cid grinned, “Yeah, that reminds me. I promised something’ last week didn’t I?”

A silver brow rose curiously as the cadet walked over to a large black bag sitting next to the weapon rack. First a large staff was removed, considerably better looking than the curved ‘staff’ he had used the week before. Next came something that made even Sephiroth’s mouth open with surprise. The cadet had actually taken the time to create a true wooden replica of Masamune, taking the time to carve in even the smallest of details onto the hilt, “Was a damn pain in the ass findin’ a good picture of the damned thing but I think I got it right. Took me hours but I think focusing on this was tha only thing that kept me from wringin’ that fat dipshit’s neck.”

The General didn’t respond, instead taking the weapon in hand and testing the balance. While slightly lighter than his real blade, the wooden sword was properly balanced and moved easily, “I commend you on your workmanship, Cadet Highwind.”

“Call me Cid, remember? And that ain’t nothin’! Ya shoulda seen what my granddaddy could do with just a pocketknife!”

Sephiroth nodded and took a step away, familiarizing himself with the blade as he walked to the arena, “I have seen your blueprints as well and must admit you have skill with schematics. But I must wonder, with such talent and focus, how come you hold back in your abilities as a fighter? Could it be that it is outside of the grasp of your mind?” He smirked as he glanced back, noting the steadily growing anger in the azure gaze, “Or perhaps you are too afraid of being beaten to put your all into it, Cidney?”

Even Skylark cringed, immediately looking to find his Cadet shooting him a murderous glare promising that Cid would be yelling at him later for telling the General about his aversion to his first name. Looking back at the smug silver-haired man, Cid nearly exploded, “AFRAID?! I’ll show you afraid, ya pompous, overbearing ass!”

Sephiroth turned in the ring, “Then come, show me you ARE more bark than bite.”

Cid was sure he heard a snicker somewhere and made a mental note to introduce a certain fellow Cadet to his fist. As he entered the ring, he quickly brought his staff in front of him spinning it as he circled the swordsman. One thing he had learned in the previous week was to study your opponent, find any possible weakness. And damn it all, he couldn’t see any opening in the General’s stance. ‘Fuck it!’ He thought with a grin. ‘After all, I’m gonna get my ass kicked anyway, might as well go out with a fuckin’ bang!’

Sephiroth watched the Cadet closely, giving a mental nod as he saw blue eyes scanning him for possible openings. ‘At least he has been paying attention.’ Then a wide, almost feral grin appeared on the tanned face and the General quickly squashed the urge to raise a brow. ‘What are you thinking, Highwind?’ A harsh cry was the only warning before a wooden staff came hurtling for his head. Sephiroth merely smirked. ‘Foolish.’

The wooden Masamune easily cut off the attack but rather than the Cadet stopping as he had expected, Cid continued to rain down blow after blow at him. The General frowned because, although he was easily able to block each move, it was getting increasingly difficult to read the blond‘s actions. There was no style or method to the staff-wielder’s attacks and that kept the normally composed swordsman on his toes.

“Well well, Seph! Looks like at least one of these cadets has potential if that frown means anything.”

Cid hesitated for just a moment at the amused and friendly voice, but that moment was all Sephiroth needed. The blond brought his attention back just in time to see a predatory gleam light the cat-like eyes and swore mentally. ‘Oh shit. This is gonna hurt.’

The faux-Masamune became a blur and Cid attempted to block what he could but the fiery pain erupting on his arms and legs let him know how futile his attempts were. Soon he found himself in the same position as last week, his back on the ground and a wooden blade at his neck. When Sephiroth opened his mouth, Cid just knew the bastard was gonna ask the same question and he decided he just didn’t want to hear it. Some instinct yelled at him that this was the opening he needed but there was no way with Masamune’s extra length that he would be able to land a blow. So he did the only thing he could think of, hurling the staff at pretty boy’s smug face.

Whether or not Sephiroth had been expecting it, nobody would ever know, but when that wooden staff pegged the General square in the forehead, everything went silent. The only sound was the hollow echo of wood falling to the ground and of the young cadet’s panted breath. And it stayed that way as if Stop had been cast.

But as the saying goes, ‘There is always one.’

“Oh...now THAT was priceless!”

A silver brow ticked and cat-slit eyes pointedly glared off to the side, a frown etched on his features. A young man with a wide grin and spiky black hair raised his hands in mock surrender, “Aw, come on Seph! No need to give me the death glare. You gotta admit that was funny. I haven’t seen anybody hit you except Angeal or Genesis and this guy did it without a drop of Mako in him!”

The frown disappeared with a exasperated sigh before the silver-haired General turned back to the awe-struck Cadets, “This will be your new head instructor and supervisor, First Class SOLDIER, Zack Fair. He is also my Second-in-Command and I expect you to show him the same respect that you would me, is that understood?”

It took a moment but everyone shook off their shock and shouted, “Yes, sir!”

Cid slowly regained his feet, grumbling, “I don’t care who he is as long as he ain’t like Mr. Head-Up-His-Ass Heidegger.”

Zack laughed and clapped the blond on the back. When the cadet winced and swore between gritted teeth, he quickly apologized, “Oops! Sorry man. I kinda forgot you were just on the receiving end of one of Seph’s ass-kickings. I had a few of those when I started but trust me, you either get used to them or learn to like going to the medical ward.”

Cid just rolled his eyes and limped over to pick up his staff. He was stopped by a heavy boot landing on the wood. Blue eyes lifted to meet the General’s piercing gaze, those strange cat-like eyes studying him like a puzzle. The young Highwind pulled at the staff again but it still wouldn’t budge and he growled in annoyance, “Ok, look Princess. Sorry I hit ya and all but ain’t that what we’re supposed to be doing here? If I’m too afraid to hit one guy cuz of his rank, what happens if I DO get attacked? I can’t wait to see if the bastard’s important or not before I go after him right? Now would ya mind getting the fuck off this and let me get back to class? I’m already gonna have a hard enough time moving as it is, I don’t need to be usin’ one of the second rate weapons they got over there too.”

Cid wasn’t entirely sure but he thought he saw a flicker of amusement in that gaze for a moment before the black boot lifted away. Grumbling under his breath about prissy commanders, he started to return to his classmates who were already getting paired off. A large gloved hand on his shoulder halted his movement and he had to fight the need to wince at the pain from that simple pressure, “You will take a break today, Cad-”

“Cid,” he growled.

Though he didn’t see it, he could hear the smirk in Sephiroth’s voice, “Fine, Cid. You will take the day off from the lessons. Head over to the infirmary and let them know I said-”

“HELL NO! I ain’t goin’ anywhere near those whack doctors. Respectfully speakin’ sir, I ain’t no wimp and I will stay here. Nobody’s gonna say Cid Highwind’s a quitter even if I don’t wanna be here in the first damn place.”

The General raised an eyebrow at the incensed Cadet. Normally any trainee would jump at the chance of taking a day off. He looked up to find Zack hiding snickers behind a gloved hand and Captain Skylark beaming with pride. Sighing, he released the blond and went to stand by Zack and watch how the rest of the class was progressing.

The brunette grinned at him, “Looks like you got a stubborn one on your hands there, Seph.”

A silver brow rose as a corner of his lips twitched upward, “No, YOU do, Zackary.”

Zack groaned and looked out at Cid, who was now attacking another male cadet with a particular vengeance, “Oh yeah. Damn.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


AN: Woooowwww Chapter two already! Arent we fast! Frizz’s muses went into overdrive and we already had half of it done when chapter 1 was post.

Enjoyyy!

Reviews

From Frizz: *cackles madly* God this is just gonna be too much fun! And this is just the tip of the iceburg...part of me wishes to drop hints but I shall be good and keep my mouth shut. *happily hums I Kissed a Girl*

*pauses and glances at her partner in crime* Oh, and Sapph? Fair warning, Nymphy may or may not take over soon and just go completely wild...particularly for that...one scene. So you might have a totally hyper me on your hands.

Sapph: Oh sweet Cidney in a high chair O.o *smacks forehead* The mini-hyper-monster wants out! SHIVA SAVE US ALL! And no dropping hints lady! Ohhhh boooyyy this is going to be a lonngggg however long this takes us XD

-
From Komikitty: Oh I like this, I like this a lot. Cid calling Seph's hair ridiculous made me giggle like mad. I vote for porny goodness, and a happy ending, if possible...never mind the fact that the game plays like a Greek Tragedy. Anyway, I do look forward to the next chapter. =^_^=

Frizz: Yes, I do think Cid would find the sheer length of Sephy's hair ridiculous, let alone the color. As far as smutty goodness, we will just have to wait and see how the story goes. Even Sapph and I don't know where our muses will end up with this!

Sapph: Ya! What she said XD Our muses are tossing the thought around though, so just sit patiently and we will al see where this goes :D And as for Sephy’s hair on my part….I like it! Screw what Cid thinks ;) For now ;D

-
From Kiheki: Cid and Seph huh? That could make for an....interesting time. I say go for it! I cannot wait for this to go further.

Frizz: Interesting is...an understatement. When Sapph first told me about this, I think something broke in my brain!

Sapphy:…….Hope nothing to serious broke! ;) And Kiheki, like Frizz said, it is a hugee understatement :) hope you like this chapter hun