Pater Familias

I opened my apartment door and took a long, appreciative sniff. I heard Sakura in the kitchen, rattling pans and singing. She hadn’t noticed I’d arrived home. I hung up my coat, dumped my cell and my wallet, and peered in. I felt a smile stretch my lips.

Sakura wore a pair of track pants and an athletic tank top, a tiny little apron protecting both. Barefoot, her hair up in a sort of cascading tail, she danced around my kitchen and sang. The sight of her so uninhibited and free made my cock jerk.

She pulled a pan out of the oven, slammed the door and looked down. “You’d better be good,” she said.

I spied a wrapper in the trash that proclaimed her fears unwarranted. Dega’s sold excellent ready-to-cook food. Somehow, her lack of expertise in the kitchen made me feel better about my own inadequacy. Yes, I could cook breakfast. No, I couldn’t make anything fancy.

Sakura busied herself making a large bowl of salad. I slipped in and stood behind her. For a moment she chopped celery, but then she stopped and turned her head to look at me. “You have too much body heat to stand that close and not have me know it,” she teased.

“I’m not this hot all the time,” I corrected, moving her hair away from her neck. “Watching you makes my blood pressure and temperature soar.” I bent and mouthed her nape, delighting in how she shivered. “You make an old man feel like a young buck, Sakura.”

Dropping her work, she turned to face me. “Hojo, you might have years, but your body doesn’t know that.” Grey eyes serious, she lifted her hand to touch my brow. “You don’t even have wrinkles. You just have these little laugh lines at the corners of your eyes.”

I would have pressed her for a kiss, but she moved against me. I found it easy and automatic to hold her in my arms, like she obviously wanted. Feeling her cheek press against my chest, I released a sigh. She inspired such contentment.

“You don’t smell like blood today.”

“I didn’t immerse myself in it, today,” I informed. “Today centered around SOLDIER induction and budget planning for Garchae. He looks at figures more closely than Rufus Shinra ever imagined, which is saying something.”

“Poor Hojo, spending his time with numbers,” Sakura taunted lightly, looking up at me with a smile.

Taking my opportunity, I swiftly leaned in and kissed her soft lips. “My time is yours, now, pretty.”

“Glad to hear it.” Sakura turned and picked up her work again. She bumped my groin with her lovely ass, on purpose I was sure. “I’m almost done. Want to wait or would you like to freshen up before I serve?”

The phone rang.

“Well, that answers that,” Sakura giggled.

I went into the living room and picked up the handset. “Hojo.”

“This is Eldon,” Garchae said. “Lily and I are in your area and she wants to see you for a few minutes, if that’s alright. She has a sore throat.”

“Bring her up,” I invited, grabbing for my basic medical kit on top of the mantle. “My door is open.”

“See you in a few, then.”

He hung up and I began looking for my candy. I’d abandoned cherry lollipops for orange and vanilla ones, but I couldn’t remember where I’d-. Ah. There they were. I tore two off the strip and put them in my pocket. “Sakura,” I called out. “Lily and Garchae will be here soon.”

“Should I set two more plates?”

“I’m not sure. Garchae doesn’t like me, but his daughter does.” The man had every reason not to like me, but he respected my abilities and the way I handled his energetic girl. Since Havars had introduced mako into her system, she’d become a handful.

“I’ll set the plates. They can eat if they like. This is a big pan of lasagna.”

“Good enough.” I turned the gas up on the fireplace and dragged a chair closer to it. Until Lily got accustomed to her elevated metabolism, she’d be continuously cold. Mako either made a person chilled in the beginning or burning hot.

“Doctor Hojo!”

I turned in time to get an armload of Lily. She hugged me so tightly around the neck I heard a vertebrae pop.

“Hello, pretty girl,” I said, looking for Garchae as I swung her up. I met his worried brown eyes. “Your daddy says you have a sore throat?”

Lily nodded, reaching out to play with my stethoscope. “Hurts a lot,” she complained. “You can make it better.”

“I certainly can.” I put her on the chair and draped a blanket around her small shoulders. “Are you still getting cold a lot?”

“Yes, but not as much.” Lily opened her mouth, apparently expecting me to look at her throat right away.

I shone a light, noticing she had a lot of mucus over the redness. I cracked the top on a bottle of mouthwash and handed it to her. “Do you know how to gargle?”

“Yep. Daddy makes me gargle when I brush my teeth.” She proceeded to show me.

I held a trashcan up and glanced at the new president of Shin-Ra. “It looks like a severe allergy,” I told him. “Has she been sneezing and blowing her nose?”

“Tons,” he replied.

“Hm.” I patted Lily on the shoulder. “Okay, sweetheart, now spit.”

Lily, looking delighted to spit in my trashcan, expelled the neutral rinse. I looked in her ears and nose, seeing evidence to support my suspicions. “We can fix you, Lily,” I told her, hearing her father give a relieved sigh. “I’m going to give you a prescription for an antihistamine cough syrup. In the meantime,” I paused to grab up a throat spray, “this will stop the pain.”

She obediently opened wide for the spray. I spritzed her and handed Garchae the bottle. “You can use this as often as Lily expresses a need for it,” I informed.

“Wonderful,” Garchae said, sounding utterly sincere. His daughter’s health and wellbeing meant everything to him. I didn’t think I would ever forget the shock and horror in his eyes the day he discovered Lily had fallen prey to Lucas Havars’ experimentation.

I found my scrip-pad and wrote the prescription out. “I want to see her again in four days,” I said. “Call me up from the lab if you have to; I don’t want her down in that place.”

“That makes two of us.” Garchae picked his little darling up.

“Daddy,” she complained.

“Oh, alright,” he said, and he let her lean out toward me. “Maybe Doctor Hojo doesn’t want your cooties.”

Lily kissed my cheek with an exaggerated ‘mu-wah’ noise. Smiling, I handed her a lolly.

“Little girls as cute as Lily don’t have cooties,” I said.

“See, daddy?” Lilly stuck the candy in her mouth.

“I know, I know, Doctor Hojo is your bestest friend.” Garchae grimaced. “Thanks for seeing her, Hojo. I’ll bring her to work with me Friday and you can check her out then.”

“Very good.” I gestured to the opening kitchen door, and to Sakura. “Sakura made dinner. Would you like to join us?”

“Another time, perhaps,” Garchae said. “I promised Lily I would take her clothes shopping.”

He looked as happy about that as a man walking to the gallows anticipates his execution.

“Goodbye, Lily,” I said, patting her cheek. “Sometime you’ll have to come and see me when you aren’t sick.”

“Okay!”

Glaring at me, Garchae exited. Lily waved from over her shoulder. “Bye-bye!”

Sakura giggled. “Damn. He’s got an awkward relationship with you.”

I smirked. “But, he’s got a charming girl.”

“That charming girl has your best chenille blanket,” Sakura replied.

I looked around and saw the truth of that.

“Fuck.”

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

It had warmed me to watch Hojo with that little girl. He genuinely liked Eldon Garchae’s daughter. I saw it in how his eyes softened.

“You’d make a good pediatrician,” I said.

Hojo paused with his fork halfway to his mouth. “Sephiroth would gut me,” he declared. “I completely botched his childhood. I should never be given charge of small people.”

“I think otherwise.” Actually, watching Hojo with that child had made me feel very maternal. “You’re not the same man, according to nearly everyone with an opinion.”

“But, I am the same man, Sakura.” Hojo eyed me sternly, his black eyes serious. “My soft spot for a few people doesn’t make up for my general personality.” He returned to his lasagna, apparently content his decree would end the conversation.

“So, if you had another child, you wouldn’t trust yourself with it?” I asked.

He dropped his fork.

“Sakura, you won’t even let me put my dick in you, and you’re asking about babies?”

I laughed. He looked outraged. Ordinarily it would give me pause, but he had that same general air of confusion that most men had when discussing children. “I wasn’t asking you to knock me up,” I protested, still laughing. “I was asking if you thought you could do a better job of fatherhood a second time around.”

Hojo ate a few more bites of lasagna, frowning thoughtfully. “It wouldn’t be hard to do a better job,” he admitted after a few minutes. “In fact, it would be difficult to treat another child with the same callous indifference that I served to my son.”

“Your son has forgiven you,” I said quietly. I hadn’t meant to upset him. This topic had some danger to it, after all. He would have to think about his past.

“I’m grateful to my last atom that he’s seen fit to give me a chance at being his father.” Hojo sighed and played with his food. “Still, I haven’t forgiven myself. I never will.”

“Aerith says that’s bad for you,” Sephiroth said, breezing into the kitchen. He picked up his father’s fork and tasted his lasagna. “Mmmm.”

“Must you drop in on me like this?” Hojo asked, his voice exasperated.

“I didn’t drop in. I walked through the front door, like you asked.” Sephiroth slid a chair out, nodding at me. “I’m only staying a moment. You have to convince me in that time that you won’t drown in a morass of self-hatred the second I’m gone.” He sat down and began eating off his father’s plate in earnest. “I have it easier than you, father. I live with my medicine. You don’t have that benefit.”

Hojo met my eyes. I clearly saw his frustration.

“Sephiroth,” he began, his tone measured.

“Don’t try to reason with me, father,” Sephiroth interrupted, putting his hand on Hojo’s shoulder. “Gather yourself up so I can go back to Aerith. She’s worried about you, too.”

Hojo took a long, slow inhale through his nose. Releasing it, he let his head drop back. After a minute, Sephiroth nodded and stood up. He squeezed Hojo’s free hand for just a moment, then walked out without another word.

“He loves you,” I said, bringing his eyes back to mine. “It isn’t just forgiveness.”

“I know.” Hojo resumed his meal, having to serve himself another portion of lasagna.

“Is it normal for him to eat so much? Every time I see him, he’s eating.”

“It takes a lot of fuel to power his body.” Hojo smiled briefly. “He weighs close to four hundred pounds, and all of it muscle.”

Wow. Sephiroth looked big to me, but not that big. He had his father’s lithe build.

“Topic change,” I said.

“Go for it.” Hojo dug into his salad, not looking at me but listening.

“I’m thinking about getting a new apartment, the one right beside my current flop.”

“Oh?” Hojo cocked his head. “Something wrong with the old one?”

“Aside from a broken door?” I teased.

He grinned into his plate. “Aside from that, Blossom.”

“Well, it’s too cramped. The other one is much bigger and about the same price.”

“What about housing at Bio-Tech?” Hojo met my eyes again. “Are you still going to Bio-Tech?”

“I’ve vacillating on it. I got an offer from Shin-Ra.”

Hojo blinked. “Really?”

“Yes. Garchae wants to open a botany division. He has plans to turn Midgar green.” I felt a lot of excitement over the idea. “I directed him to Thol’s Café when he asked for my resume.”

Chuckling, Hojo leaned back. “You didn’t tender a resume in paper at all?”

“I didn’t need to.”

“Agreed.” Hojo ate for a few more minutes before his cell went off. As he sighed, I got up and retrieved it, carrying it in to him.

“Hojo,” he answered, putting it on speaker.

“Professor,” came a panicked voice. “This is Tech Milligan. We’ve got a mutated, twenty-yard-long lab rat in SL-10. It’s eaten four of us, and Jenson, the door-operator, had a heart attack. We can’t get out and no one can get in!”


Hojo pinched the bridge of his nose, then removed his glasses. “Are you standing in front of the door’s key-panel, Milligan?”

Screams echoed in the background.

“Y-yes, sir.”

“Key this in,” Hojo said. “Five-five-nine-ott-nine-ott-five-double-seven.”

The screaming grew louder.

“Got it!” I heard scuffling. “Everybody out!”

A few seconds later, Milligan returned to the phone. “It was Albertson’s fault, sir. He spilled the mutagen. He hit Cathy with it, too, and she got eaten first.”

“Body count?” Hojo asked coolly. “Name names, please.”

“Mikal Jennings, Cathy Navers, Beatrice Long and Stan Devora, sir.”

“And Albertson?”

“Lu is taking him to the E.R., since you aren’t here, sir. He got his arm gnawed off.”

“Recovered?” Hojo asked mildly, yawning.

“No, it got eaten. Frankly, I think that’s what made it mad.”

“Right.” Hojo, looking peeved and a little bored, yawned again. “Tell Lu to hold him there. I’m pressing charges within the company. I’ve told you all time and time again to be careful with how you handle dangerous substances.” He scratched his chin. “Just a moment, Milligan. Isn’t Albertson the one who spilled mako on the spider?”

“Yes, sir,” Milligan answered. His voice sounded cowed.

“And whose brilliant idea was it to let him handle something dangerous? I told him to stick to monitor tech.” Hojo’s eyes narrowed as his voice dropped.

“Cathy Navars, sir.”

“Ah, well, she paid the ultimate price already.” Hojo sighed. “Anything else, Milligan?”

“No, sir. Thank Shiva you were answering your phone.”

“Yes, thank Shiva I was there to remind you of the emergency pass code,” Hojo answered dryly. “There’d better not be a mess in the lab tomorrow morning. Call pest control and have them harpoon the rat.”

He hung up before he got his affirmative. Ink jumped into his lap and bumped his hand. He looked at her. Leaning close, he spoke right at her closest ear. “I have morons for techs, kitty,” he whispered. “Grow up big and strong and I might feed them to you.”