Pater Familias

“I’ve been gone an hour and a half and you made…brownies?” I asked, looking at the mess in my kitchen.

Sephiroth shrugged. “I have a madness in my method,” he said, quoting me. “Aerith wants sweets.” He took off my woefully inadequate apron and flung it to the countertop. “Who am I to argue with a ravenous pregnant woman?”

I didn’t even try to hide my smile. “Didn’t you want to give me grandchildren?” I teased, remember his tease of long ago.

“Fuck you.” Sephiroth took the brownie pan and lifted it up, ignoring the heat from the still-steaming chocolate. “Your nanites are a colossal failure.”

“Hm,” I commented, taking off my coat. “On anyone else they would have worked. I’ll have to put them in Aerith too if you ever want safe sex.”

“Why the hell didn’t you think of that when you shot me up the first time?” Despite his words, Sephiroth didn’t look the slightest bit mad.

“I did, but you were already occupied and I didn’t want to witness you pounding a new hole into the Cetra.” I snagged one of his brownies as he walked by. “I suppose she told you the sex of your child?”

“A boy.” Sephiroth smiled a genuine, heartfelt smile that transformed his coldly perfect features into beatific beauty. “She wants to name him Rai.”

“Lightning and thunder,” I said, accessing my memory banks. “Very appropriate.”

“You’re an onomastician too?”

“I have a hand in everything but psychology,” I answered. “I don’t care to know how fucked up I am or how fucked up everyone else is.”

“Except for me,” he corrected, looking slightly hurt. “I’ve had psych-evals for years.”

“You’re different, boy,” I said, patting his shoulder. “If something goes wrong with you, the world disappears.”

He sighed. “I know.” He looked me over. “Did you get your errand finished?”

“Oh yes,” I said. “You are perfectly free to go back to keeping me awake with the sounds of procreation.”

That eye roll I knew so well appeared. Sephiroth phased out and upward, leaving me with a kitchen that smelled lovely but with no accompanying bounty.

I cleaned up his mess, took off my shoes and stretched out beside Sakura once more. Soon I’d have all of her tormentors safely tucked away. I didn’t doubt I’d discover more of them. If her parents had begun arranging things for her at fifteen, surely they had more than three prospective husbands lined up.

I remembered her bandage. Gently, I tugged it off and threw it to the floor on the opposite side of the bed. As a handy afterthought I put her pager under the covers, making it look as if it just worked loose while she slept.

My timing proved impeccable. She stirred to wakefulness just as I poised my correcting pencil over my papers once more.

“Mmm,” she groaned. “Hojo?”

“Right here,” I said, waiting until her eyes opened to put my papers down. “Did you sleep well?”

“No nightmares,” she answered, sitting up. In that hazy stage of twilight rest, she sat up and stared at the wall. “How did I get in here?”

“I carried you.” I looked down at her, watching her begin to blush. “I thought you’d be more comfortable lying flat instead of sprawled out on my loveseat.”

“I’m so sorry,” she said, her eyes downcast while she tossed the blankets off. “You must think I’m a basket case.”

“Mental science isn’t my branch,” I said, diffusing her. “I deal with more straightforward sciences.” I stacked my files and placed them at my feet, aiding her in wrestling free of the bed. “But no, I think you’re a very young, very tired woman who needs a place of shelter.”

She laughed. “Shelter,” she repeated. “There isn’t any such thing.” She reached up to rub the back of her neck absently. “But thanks for letting me sleep here. I did rest for a change.”

I glanced at my clock. “Care for a midnight meal?”

As if on cue her stomach growled. She laughed again, placing a slim, delicate hand over her belly. “I suppose that answers that,” she said.

“Good.” I too climbed from the bed. “How about fried rice and chicken?”

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


She watched attentively while I cooked for us. I met that intense, grey gaze while glazing the chicken strips. “Is my effort in the kitchen so clumsy?” I asked, suspecting she didn’t know how to cook but leaving that disclosure up to her.

“Oh,” she said, straightening. Her elbows slammed into the table top. “No, I’m sorry. I guess I’m just…spacing out.”

Right. And spacing out meant focus, direction and intensity.

“What are you worried about?” I asked, throwing the defrosted sugar snap peas into a colander.

“Jonathan and Michael,” she admitted. “I haven’t seen them since…”

“Since they burst in on you and demanded their due,” I finished. “By the way, Sephiroth stopped by your place after he went on a patrol check at Shin-Ra a few hours ago. He cleaned up the mess.” I had to cover my tracks. If she went back home to find the mess gone she’d worry.

Sakura seemed to sink farther down into the chair. “I’ll have to thank him,” she said.

“It took him two minutes,” I said. “Don’t worry about it.”

“He’s General Sephiroth,” she argued. “Surely he has better things to worry about than a bit of plaster at my place.”

“Sephiroth eats and shits the same as everyone else,” I said, taking the rice from the heat. “He’s not stuck-up.” I put the chicken on to fry and added a bit of soy sauce. “Don’t worry about it, Sakura.”

“I can’t help it.” Sakura fidgeted, playing with the only piece of jewelry on her body, a simple gold ring on her right thumb.

“You can.” I poured in a measure of sesame oil to keep the pan from overheating and took up the tongs. “My son wouldn’t accept thanks anyway; he didn’t mark enough attention to the service to anticipate it.”

Sakura lowered her head. “You’re the same,” she said quietly. “You don’t seem to expect anything for the services you do me.”

I heard something odd in that statement. Lowering the heat on the stovetop, I walked to the table and looked down at her. “And what would I be expecting, Sakura?” I asked quietly.

She flushed a light pink, refusing to look at me.

I couldn’t have this.

I took her by the chin and made her look at me. “What would I be expecting?” I repeated, feeling her swallow against my palm.

“Everybody expects something,” she said softly.

Those grey eyes held dark onyx depths.

I cupped her jaw, savoring the texture of her smooth skin under my thumb. “I expect to see you do great things,’ I said. “If I can take small obstacles out of your way, I will.”

Sakura relaxed in my grip, closing her eyes. Very gently, she sighed. “Hojo,” she murmured. “I don’t mean to disrespect you. Please don’t take my conversation for deeper meaning.”

I let go of her and returned to the cooking, fighting a feeling I hadn’t experienced in ages.

Possessiveness.

Deeper meaning indeed.

I wouldn’t take much more deflection before I needed the entire story from her.

A few minutes more saw the end of my meal preparation. I took our plates to the table and handed her a set of chopsticks. “Wine?” I asked.

“Please,” she murmured, still unable to meet my eyes.

I poured two tumblers full and set the bottle down between us.

We ate in charged silence. The clock chimed half past one. I finished and slid my empty plate away, watching her pick listlessly at the meal. Suddenly frustrated, I took the chopsticks from her hand and picked up a piece of chicken. “You’ll eat if I have to make you,” I told her, pushing the meat toward her lips. “You apparently know a lot about me, Sakura, so you know I mean what I say.”

Looking intimidated, Sakura accepted the food. The blush of embarrassment took over her face as I proceeded to feed her. I pushed the wine toward her, bending until she had to meet my gaze. “Drink,” I commanded.

She obeyed.

Oh fuck it all. He’s mad at me.

Sakura ate on her own now, still avoiding my eyes.

I never wanted to put him out. Look at me. I’m dominating his time, eating his food, sleeping in his bed and giving nothing back.

She stabbed a piece of chicken, eliminating the finer point of manipulating the chopsticks.

If he were anyone else…

She gulped down more wine, looking resigned.

I thought I could outrun them all, but they keep coming. Hojo is the only person standing between me and the auction block and I haven’t been decent enough to tell him why. But fuck, it’s demeaning to tell someone your parents sold you a half a dozen times.

I saw the pieces click together. Feeling slightly mollified, I sat back with my glass to watch and listen.

Goddamn it, I didn’t ask for any of this, but it’s my mess to clean up. If it wasn’t for Dami I’d have already been nabbed. And Hojo himself prevented two grabbings…

She began to chew furiously.

God-fucking-damn it. I’m so tired. Thank Ifrit Hojo let me sleep here awhile or I’d be insane by now. He’s not inclined to charity work; I’ve been lucky.

Sakura gulped down the rest of her wine, an alcohol flush heating up her cheeks.

I don’t understand why Jon and Michael haven’t come after me again. They never, ever give up. And it won’t be long before Steve gets wind of me. He’s the worst. Dad promised me to him first, and he’s relentless.

She picked up our plates and walked to the sink, still not looking at me at all.

George will be next, then Tracy and then Allen. If I could just kill them, I would. Then I’d kill my parents. They don’t care about me or Dami and they never did. I hope she’s safe. That monastery is as remote as they come, but what a suck-ass life, living with celibate monks. I bet she’s eaten enough rice to never want it again. I’m glad dad thinks she’s retarded. If he thought she was normal he’d have suitors after her too.

Sakura finished washing the dishes. She staggered a little while reaching for the stack of clean drying cloths.

I’m so tired. I need a week of sleep. Why can’t they leave me alone? I don’t want to be some trophy wife of a rich asshole. I want to explore my field. I want to hang out with the premier scientist of the last century and absorb him. Instead I’m running from place to place. If only I hadn’t exposed myself with that trial. But I wanted to take my chance.

She leaned on the sink, breathing hard.

Oh shit, I think I’m going to faint. I haven’t eaten so much in months…

I jumped up and caught her just as she began to slide to the linoleum.