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.




“She said she’d marry me,” I told my father as I poured my tea. Aerith had yet to awaken and I wouldn’t bother her until the last moment. She’d need her sleep.

Hojo rolled his eyes. “Congratulations, son,” he said. “Took you long enough.” He grabbed the tea pot from me and made his own orange pekoe. “Will it be a shotgun wedding or did I get to you in time?”

“You needn’t have worried,” I replied. “I’m not that impetuous.”

“Yes, of course, what was I thinking?” Hojo sat down, smothering a huge yawn. “I need an upper.”

“I can’t help you.” I sat across from him. For awhile we stared into our tea, listening to the clock on the wall tick. Suddenly, my father’s head dropped to the table with a bang. A loud snore told me I sat alone now.

I looked at his messy hair, bloody coat, and hunched shoulders. This would never do. We were attending a trial in two hours. If only he’d slept a little last night, but no, he’d had files to go over and people to call. I doubted he’d slept more than a few hours in the last two days.

“Hojo,” I said, slapping the table with my palm. He jerked upward like a suddenly animated puppet. I noticed his face, while tired, looked younger somehow.

“I’m awake,” he said sourly, picking up his tea. At that moment Aerith sailed in. Our eyes locked and she halted. I watched in pleasure as her mind took her to the events of the night. Her lips parted, her pupils dilated, and her breathing accelerated.

Oh good.

By the time I actually got my hands on her she’d be volatile.

“Good morning,” she said, snapping out of it. She put her hand on my father’s head and ruffled his hair. He growled. Smiling, she passed him and came to me. “Good morning, Sephiroth,” she murmured, bending down to kiss my lips very lightly.

I inhaled the scent of her, delighting in that light, feminine musk mingling with the oil of the Holy Ones. “Good morning, Aerith,” I said in her ear, preventing her retreat with a hand on her wrist. “Did you sleep well?”

She shivered. “You know I did,” she answered in a husky voice.

“Spare me,” Hojo said, standing up. “I’ll meet you at the house of law; I’m going to the lab to give myself a shot of coke.” He drained his tea and limped out the kitchen door. Seconds later I heard the front door slam.

“I hope he didn’t go out there in that coat,” Aerith murmured, obviously worried. “Is he really going to go inject himself with cocaine?”

“No, probably not,” I replied, pulling her closer. “He always liked his blow to go up his nose.” I dragged her across my lap. “Forget about him. Think about what we’ll do tonight.”

Her eyes darkened again. She squirmed on my lap slightly, raising my interest. “I can’t if we’re going out in public,’ she said. “I’ll never concentrate.”

“You have a point.” I ground her down onto me anyway. Her quiet gasp of pleasure and surprise sent shockwaves of lust to my cock. “But I could care less at this point,” I confessed, rolling my hips. “I can’t wait to be in you, flower girl.”

“Sephiroth,” she groaned, leaning forward to capture my lips.

And oh, she was sweet. She tasted of hot, raw need and receptive woman. I held her tightly, thrusting against the scorching heat between her legs while I plundered her mouth. In three strokes she flew apart, sobbing my name.

I thought I would burst.

I bit and suckled on her throat, listening to the music of her cries. I’d never had a surrender as fulfilling as hers. As soon as I could I’d bring her back here, shrink her universe down to me and me only.

“Sephiroth,” she repeated softly, resting her head on the top of my shoulder. I felt her body throbbing in time with mine. Slowly, she inhaled and sighed. “How can you do this to me? I had no idea I could feel this way.”

“You can feel even more,” I murmured, loving the idea of teaching her. A lifetime wasn’t enough time to explore her, to show her how she could feel.

I held her quietly while she recovered, feeling tender toward her as well as desirous. In a few minutes she stirred, pressed a gentle kiss to my forehead and slid from my arms. Playfully, I reached out for her again but she danced away, smirking. “Oh, no, not again,” she protested. “I won’t survive it.” She quickly made herself busy with toast, shooting me a sly glance.

We heard the front door open again. “Hello?” Cloud said to the empty living room.

“In here, Cloud,” Aerith called out, putting orange marmalade on her toast.

Cloud strolled into the kitchen. His eyes tracked Aerith first. Then, he looked at me. His gaze dropped to my obvious erection before shooting back to my face. His cheeks caught fire.

Well well well.

Cloud swung both ways.

I wondered if Lockhart knew.

“Are we going together?” he asked me. “I mean, am I coming with you?” He frowned, breathing through his nose. “How are we getting to Block Five?”

I spared him his grasp of speech. He had good taste, after all, and I couldn’t fault him there. “Of course you can…come…with us, Cloud,” I said, smiling. I didn’t swing both ways but he didn’t know that. Let him imagine getting in between me and the flower girl.

He flushed harder. Gripping his single pauldron hard, he nodded and sat down. “Most everyone else is in transit now,” he said, deliberately not looking at me but at Aerith. “I expect we’ll be ones of the last to make it.”

“Eldon rented a car for us,” I told him. “Do you drive or are you limited to motorcycles?”

Cloud managed to look at me long enough to give me a sour smile. “I can drive, General Disaster,” he said. “What, can you not?”

I almost regretted I didn’t swing both ways. Teaching his smart mouth a lesson as roughly as possible sounded like fun. But I knew it was only my libido talking, woken up by the idea of really getting my hands on Aerith. I had no interest in anyone but her.

“I can drive,” I replied, emphasizing the last word very deliberately.

Cloud shuddered. Casting a quick look at Aerith, who busily made more toast, he leaned closer to me. “Cut that shit out, do you hear me?” he whispered.

“Oh, lighten up,” I murmured back. “I’m not allowed to kill you or torment you physically; what’s left but innuendo and bickering?” I pushed my leg out at him. “And by the way, break my leg for me.”

Cloud stared at my knee. “What?”

“Break. My. Leg.” I pointed to the middle of my thigh. “I broke it while we fought and thanks to you it healed crooked. I limp like my father now.”

Cloud grinned. “Fine. Break my arms first. I’ve got the same problem.”

“What are you two doing?” Aerith asked as we stood up.

“Nothing,” Cloud and I said in unison. I grabbed his left arm, feeling for the bad mend. I raised my knee and snapped the bone.

“Sephiroth!” Aerith flew to the edge of the counter, wringing her hands. “By the Planet, what-?”

“It’s okay,” Cloud gasped, holding the new, properly aligned break. “Bad bone-mends,” he said. “Just ignore us.”

She flinched as I broke his other arm. I couldn’t blame her. The wet snap sounded very loud and echoed in the room. “Maybe you should leave the room for this one,’ I said, putting my leg at the proper angle for Cloud. “This one will be noisy.”

Aerith fled.

Cloud studied my thigh a moment, his arms already healed. “I need something really hard to break a bone that big,” he said thoughtfully. “Maybe the back of my sword?”

“Try it,” I said.

He drew, reversed the blade and raised it. His bright blue eyes sparkled with relish. “Oh, this is too good,” he said. “I wish I could go slowly and savor it.”

“I’ll bet,” I said, preparing for the blow.

He swung and I nearly collapsed. Cloud’s increased strength made his focus incredibly powerful. I suddenly had more appreciation for the people I’d thrown around. Gritting my teeth, I fixed the bones into proper placements and held them.

“Why not give us indestructible skeletons?” Cloud posed, sitting back down. He took my tea and drank it in one gulp. “I mean, I’m sure they could have.” He turned his head to the door. “It’s okay, Aerith,” he called out. “We’re done.”

Looking pale, Aerith sidled back into the kitchen. “Okay now?” she asked us both.

I stood on the leg. “Yes,” I said, relieved. Now I wouldn’t stagger all over the place when I walked. That had irritated me.

“If you ever break a bone,” Cloud said to her solemnly, “line it up right in less than ten seconds or it will fuse crooked. And since fused bone is stronger than regular bone, it’s a real pain to fix. You have to break it right at the-.”

“I don’t want to know,” Aerith interrupted, holding up her hands. “I’ll take my education when I break something.” She went back to her breakfast and just looked at it a long minute with her hand over her stomach.

“Sorry,” Cloud said lowly. “I forgot about your weak stomach, Aerith.”

“I’m a healer, I don’t have a weak stomach,” Aerith snapped. A second later she threw her toast in the garbage. Dusting off her hands, she marched past us. “I’m going to take a quick shower,” she informed. “We can leave as soon as I get out.”

Cloud leveled his blue-mako eyes at me. “See, that’s why it took so much out of her to heal all those kids,’ he said. “She’s not strong to the sight of blood and pain.”

“Interesting,” I said. “She didn’t have any trouble with her own corpse.”

Cloud shuddered. “Well,” he rasped. “Maybe because it was hers?”

“Possibly.” I shrugged.