Pater Familias

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.



Though I took pleasure in the day, I felt ready to get home to some quiet. I bade each woman a good evening and returned to my apartment feeling rather good. I’d spent scads of money, entertained two delightful ladies, and returned home with something for myself.

The violin was an antique, made in the days before Midgar held such a teeming population. I’d tried the sound while the women played with a piano. Its richness aroused an urge to play.

But not tonight. Tonight I would just go to bed. I had a lot of immunizations to start tomorrow. The Turks were always first and I tended to think less of them than any in the company. They drained me with their haughty, stoic silence. I didn’t understand their pride in being trained animals. I could give them pride in furthering the field of science, and only by inviting them to the lab.

I showered, shaved again, and got into a pair of sleep pants. The bed looked very inviting. I relished the idea of slipping underneath the cool sheets.

Once settled, I closed my eyes and sighed in relief.

It did not last.

I heard a noise from upstairs like a war whoop, feminine laughter, the sound of something breaking and then the inevitable creak of a bed.

Well, she’d told him. And, in his typical fashion, he’d reacted in a completely unexpected way. He loved it. The idea of being a father thrilled him so much he had to drill Aerith.

Gritting my teeth, I listened to the sounds of their joy. I did feel happy for them, but at the moment I couldn’t muster any real delight. Thanks to Sephiroth I hadn’t slept any better than him the last two weeks, but he was getting tail at least, and I wasn’t. If I didn’t get rest soon I’d pack my belongings and go live in Shin-Ra housing. Maybe I’d get Sakura for a neighbor.

Aerith shouted Sephiroth’s name like he was a god sent from heaven.

I got up, threw on a shirt without looking for its suitability, and shoved my feet into a pair of shoes, sockless. Sakura had to have a couch by now.

I fumed all the way to the housing development, my scowling visage making the cab driver go very quickly. Almost dizzy with fatigue, I dragged myself up the spiral stairs. At the very top I found Sakura’s apartment and knocked.

“Who is it?”

“Hojo,” I sighed.

The lock clicked and I heard a chain moving. Sakura appeared, backlit by a brilliant light. In view of her less than covering negligee, I woke up fully. “Oh dear,” she said. “Are you alright?” she stepped back, gesturing me inside.

Carefully averting my eyes, I flopped down on her couch. “I’m exhausted. My son and his wife are celebrating. All I need is sleep. May I use your couch?”

“Oh! Of course you can use the couch.” Sakura rushed off into another room. Seconds later she returned wearing a bathrobe and carrying a blanket and pillow. “Here,” she said, tucking the pillow under my head. It smelled like her. She then put the blanket over me. Before I could move, she took my glasses off and put them on her coffee table.

“You rest all you want,” she said, her voice soothing. The light snapped off and we were left in nearly complete darkness. “Could I get you anything else before you sleep?”

“No, thank you,” I said, sighing in pleasure. I enjoyed the way women fussed and hovered when they focused it upon me. Plus, the cool dark promised real sleep for a change. My eyelids dragged down, down…

Holy fucking Ifrit, I’ve got Professor Hojo on my couch!

It was the last thing I heard before sleep claimed me.

*********************************************************************

A pounding on Sakura’s door woke me from the deepest sleep I’d yet accomplished since Aerith and Sephiroth both held me. Groggy, I lurched upright and stared at the dimly lit door. Sakura flew past me, wringing her hands. “What now?” she hissed, throwing me an apologetic look. “Who is it?” she demanded, seeing she hadn’t prevented my awakening.

“You open this door, Kura!”

“Michael!” Sakura groaned. “Go away! It’s two in the morning, you asshole!”

More pounding. It rattled the chain lock. I grabbed my glasses and swung my legs over the side of the couch. No more sleep for me. Who was this, another jilted lover?

“I’m not going anywhere,” this Michael shouted. “I’m going to stand here and make noise until you let me in!”

“I’m calling security!” Sakura threatened, clasping her hands together.

“If you can get them here before I get in,” he said, not finishing his sentence. The beating at the door came very loudly, as if he attempted kicking it down. I got up.

“Let him in, Sakura,” I said. “I won’t let him hurt you.”

She had no reason to obey me. Still, she unlatched the door and turned the knob lock with trembling hands.

A giant burst into the room. He was larger than my son, incredibly. I estimated he stood two point ten meters high and weighed at least two hundred kilograms. He was as big around as my mother’s old pickling barrel. He looked at Sakura with fire in his eyes, not spying me at first.

Seeing him advance upon her, I moved my arm to distract his eyes.

“What the fuck?” he asked in a booming voice.

“Calm down, Michael,” Sakura said, raising her arms.

“I will not!” He pointed at me, his slab of a face moving toward real anger. “Who the hell is this?”

“Professor Hojo,” I answered. “Who are you?” I put my hands in my pockets, realizing I’d left all my tricks and chemicals at home.

“Michael Burnside,” he announced, as if I should know his name. “And I’m Sakura’s fiancée!”

“No you aren’t,” she said sharply. “I never agreed to marry you. How did you find this apartment?”

Burnside grinned unpleasantly at her. “I have connections, honey, you know that,” he said. Slowly, he began advancing upon me.

I did some quick math. Burnside wasn’t as strong as a mako-engineered SOLDIER, so I didn’t worry about subduing him, but I didn’t want Sakura harmed in a fight. Some women threw themselves in the middle of them and I didn’t know yet if she would be that type.

“Michael, you just settle down,” she said, coming alongside him and hanging on his gigantic arm. She might as well have been attempting to stop a rolling automobile. “We broke up a year ago, you oaf!”

“You were promised to me,” he said, shaking her off. “I see you’ve forgotten that.”

“I didn’t forget anything!” Sakura stomped her foot. “Your family broke it off. Don’t you remember? Or have you taken too many blows to the head to keep a thought longer than five seconds?”

He casually took a swipe at her, meaning to give her the back of his hand. I dove at him, knocking him backward. We crashed into her coffee table and shattered it. Burnside promptly rolled on top of me, his weight taking my breath. “Stay down, little ant,” he said, punching me in the jaw.

Nearly stunned, I brought my knee up into his crotch. He grunted, the fire flaring in his eyes all over again.

Lovely. A man with impervious family jewels.

Before he could land his next hit, I brought my elbow down onto the main nerve in his right leg. I could hear Sakura dialing security, her voice breaking when the line picked up.

Summoning my strength, I locked a leg around the back of Burnside’s knee and twisted upward, rolling him underneath me instead. He howled as I forced him down into the shards of glass. I wasn’t heavy enough to keep him prone, so I leapt off. He clambered upright, breathing through heavily flared nostrils.

“Not bad, pip-squeak,” he rumbled.

Adrenaline, mako and J-Cells danced within me. The adrenalin, a neurotransmitter, prompted the mako to flood my cells. The J-Cells, acting independently as always, urged me to transform. This was not something I wanted to do.

“Get out,” I advised him. “Security will be here soon.”

“I’m not going without Kura.” Burnside made a grab for Sakura. I intercepted, blocking his hand. He made a fist and punched me before I could see it coming.

It seemed I traveled a kilometer before I hit the opposite wall. The impact nearly took my breath, but I’d been tensed, waiting for it. Plaster and lathing exploded as I lodged like a bullet into the wall. Through a haze of dust I spied Burnside taking Sakura by the arm. He began dragging her protesting form toward the door.

I popped loose of my lathing prison and rushed him. He turned just as I reached him, but he wasn’t quick enough to prevent my strike. I hit him in the solar plexus and he went down, releasing Sakura.

“Are you alright?” I asked her, kicking Burnside to his back and stepping on his neck. This would keep him from recovering. I’d put him unconscious.

“I’m fine,” Sakura said, looking at me with large, grateful eyes.

It occurred to me in that very instant, even as I felt Burnside writhing under my heel, that Sakura had trusted me to subdue this creature. She’d opened the door knowing full well he dwarfed me.

Security rushed in. They took one look at me and instantly assumed control of Burnside, who rode the very ragged edge of consciousness. Here was my advantage as Shin-Ra’s Head of Science Division. I belonged on Shin-Ra property, while Burnside did not.

The man thrashed and flopped as a guard used four cable ties to secure his wrists. “Destruction of Shin-Ra property, assault upon a private citizen while sheltered under the Scientific Trade Act, assault upon a Shin-Ra employee on Shin-Ra property, resisting arrest, and disturbance of the peace,” the guard panted, finally bringing out his stun gun.

“Professor Hojo, do you wish to press charges?” another guard asked, taking out his notebook and a pen.

I met Burnside’s eyes. “No,” I said slowly, watching him stare at me in shock. “Just get him off the grounds,” I said. “You’ll be on good behavior now, won’t you, Mr. Burnside?”

I clearly saw that he would not. However, he nodded, affecting compliance.

“You can’t stay here tonight,” Sakura,” I said. “Come with me back to my place in Basan Square.”

Ah yes. He made note of the address. Hopefully he would be smart enough to follow me home.

“Come on, you,” the biggest guard said, shuffling Burnside out the door and down the hallway.

“Oh, Hojo,” Sakura said, taking two steps before practically falling into my arms. She swooned just a little, her pupils darkening as she fought to stay awake.

“Don’t worry, my dear, it’s over,” I said, feeling a little wrong-footed. Usually I played the villain, not the hero, and I now had a damsel in distress truly playing the damsel to perfection. I held her up, giving her a very small shake. “Don’t fall asleep now,” I chided gently. “If I can’t sleep, neither can you.”

That brought her back around. She gave a weak little laugh and clutched onto my shoulder. “Sorry,” she whispered.

“Didn’t enjoy seeing the caveman as much as you thought you would?” I asked, amused. I cast a look at the remaining guard. “Will you call a cab for us?”

“Sure.” The guard took my address and called the cab company while I stood there, holding Sakura upright. “They’ll be here in ten minutes,” he said. “Are you sure you don’t want a company vehicle to take you there, sir?”

“We have a new president,” I said, winking. “He may not like that on the expense account.” I’d use the cab driver as an independent witness to the fact Sakura and I went to my apartment.

“Oh, of course,” the guard said, clearly not getting my drift at all. “Good night, sir.”

I set Sakura down on the couch. “Just wait here a minute,” I told her. She nodded, closing her eyes.

I went into her bedroom and collected a suit she had hanging up on the back of her closet door. I got shoes that halfway matched at least, and put everything in a small suitcase she had shoved to the back of her wardrobe. It still had the price tag on it because she’d had to buy everything new only a few days ago.

When I came back out to collect her I found her pouring Triple Filter in a tumbler. The line kept climbing toward the top of the glass. Finally, she corked the bottle and looked at me. “I’m forever apologizing to you,” she said, hefting the drink. Five swallows killed it off. “Still, here’s another one. Thanks for everything.”

I set her suitcase down and tilted my head at her, wondering if I would start hearing her thoughts again. “Truly, one cannot take the blame for someone else’s poor judgment,” I answered, waiting.

Is it my imagination or is he slightly green?

I smiled to myself. Bingo.

“Still, you wouldn’t have that big bruise on your face if you didn’t know me,” Sakura said, pouring another glass.

I’ve seen Michael rip people apart, people much bigger than Hojo. And not only did Hojo survive, he beat him. He beat Michael with one punch. I expected him to shoot him.

“My dear Sakura, I am quite accustomed to injury,” I replied, taking her robe up off the countertop. I stood close enough to inhale her delightful scent, holding the garment out. She obediently threaded her arms into it. I turned her and tied the belt shut, sensing she wasn’t quite altogether with me at the moment. “Besides,” I told her, “it will be gone by afternoon tomorrow.”

“Are you sure you aren’t hurt?”

I can’t believe he isn’t injured. Michael put him almost through a wall.

“I’m fine,” I assured her. “Drink up. I hear the cab.”

On cue, the automobile gave a honk.

Sakura drained the glass and allowed me to lead her to the door. I picked up her keys, purse and suitcase, and led her out. Swiftly, I locked up and escorted her down the stairs.

Another apartment ruined by a bozo. What do I have to do to get rid of these men? My parents so deserve a beating for hooking me up with all these losers. I never asked for any of this drama.

Poor Professor Hojo. He’s had nothing but trouble since I entered his life.


On the contrary, my dear, I thought. I’ve had nothing but fun.

I opened the lobby door for her, noting the guards still formed a loose group just outside. In the middle stood Burnside. Oh, excellent. I put Sakura in the cab and leaned in, giving my address clearly. I then got in and stuck my arm out the open window, waving to the guards. “Thank you, gentlemen,” I said. “Report to President Garchae first thing this morning.”

“We will,” one of them said. “Sorry about this, Professor Hojo.”

“Not an issue,” I said, smiling, looking directly into Burnside’s angry eyes. “Every now and then a beast gets out of the zoo.”

We sped off into the darkness.

Yes, Burnside would follow for certain. And I would be ready. I had a zoo he couldn’t get out of.