KaaN Chapter 03 - Don't Touch!

"How in the world did I end up on pet-sitting duty?" Sephiroth grumbled to himself from his seat on Angeal's living room sofa. The Silver General wasn't sure exactly what had happened to land him there; all he knew was that after managing to pry Minerva's claws from Zack's nose and calm down a murderously angry Genesis, Angeal had all but bolted from the room, taking Genesis with him and shouting for Sephiroth to take Zack back to his apartment as he went.

Sephiroth sighed, glaring icily at Zack as if all of this was his fault – which, in a way, it was. Zack simply ignored the dark look, too busy sniffing around the room for something to chew on to care. He may have been a human on the inside, but his newfound dog instincts were very quickly beginning to come into play. Sighing at the less-than-dignified way his fellow First was now sniffing his way around the apartment, the silver-haired man picked up the newspaper Angeal had discarded earlier, scanning it for something that might occupy him until Angeal and Genesis got back. He just hoped they came back soon.
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'Hey Seph! Seph!' Zack barked, trying to get his friend's attention. He was very bored, seeing as he couldn't train with his sword or do squats now and Sephiroth hadn't turned on the T.V. for him. Sephiroth pointedly ignored him, turning a page in the newspaper with obviously feigned interest. He was the pride and joy of Shin-Ra, for Shiva's sake! He'd be one of the first people to hear any news that was in that paper, if not the one to cause most of it himself; the only people who might know more about the goings-on within the company were the Turks and President ShinRa. Zack sighed, whining slightly in a last – futile – attempt to get Sephiroth's attention for the moment.

'Fine,' he growled to himself as his tail drooped in disappointment. 'I'll just find something to do over – Oooh, what's that?' He licked his lips, stalking toward the object with raised ears and a slowly wagging tail. 'Oh, yeeeahh… Zacky likey…'
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The apartment was suddenly a little too quiet for Sephiroth's liking. Although he hadn't responded to him at all, Zack had nonetheless been making quiet little sniffs and "wuffs" up to now, as if just to let his friend know he was still there and still bored. Now, though, there was not a single sound to be heard, and knowing Zack that was never a good sign.

Sephiroth was instantly on alert, his sharp eyes searching for the black SOLDIER-dog while he listened intently for anything out of place. His body was tensed, poised to spring just as it was when he was in the thick of battle. But he was fighting against something now that scared him in ways no Wutaian soldier ever could; if he let Zack ruin something in Angeal's apartment, he knew he would be subjected to one of his friend's famous "Pride and Honor" speeches, and he wasn't sure he had the strength to endure that torture. No, he had to find Zack, and fast.

Within a minute or two, he picked up the sound of Zack's tail hitting the floor slowly from Angeal's bedroom. Seeing nothing in the room, he decided to check under the bed. There, curled up in the unbelievably tight space with one of Angeal's dress-uniform boots in his teeth, was Zack. The dog growled at first, curling his lip, before he realized it was Sephiroth and began wagging his tail again. Sephiroth stayed still, not sure how exactly to handle this. Finally, he narrowed his eyes and held out his hand, reaching for the boot. Zack immediately clamped his teeth down on it, backing up and shooting out from under the bed to bow playfully in front of the silver-haired SOLDIER with his rear in the air and his tail waving madly. It didn't take a dog-whisperer to see what Zack was saying now: "Catch me if you can!"

Sephiroth, refusing to make a fool of himself and take the bait, simply extended his hand again, narrowing his eyes when Zack tensed to run.

"Zack. Give me that. Now," he said in a low, threatening voice. Zack woofed quietly, the sound muffled around the smelly leather in his mouth, and ran in a circle, trying to get Sephiroth to chase him; Sephiroth stayed as still as a statue. "Zack, you are testing my patience. I am your superior, and you will hand that over to me this instant or be faced with severe disciplinary – oof!"

Sephiroth's intimidating speech was cut off when Zack leaped up and butted his head into the General's stomach – hard – before turning and running for the living room. Sephiroth growled, coughing slightly as he got his breath back, and followed Zack at a fast walk. Fair was definitely getting extra paperwork duty for this if he had anything to say about it.

He found Zack waiting in the living room, but now he had abandoned Angeal's boot in favor of a much more interesting toy – Masamune. His teeth were clenched around the hilt of the blade, gnawing happily on the leather that was wrapped around it to help steady its owner's grip. Sephiroth stood frozen in silent fury for a moment, his green eyes beginning to glow with a dangerous light while he stared at the blue-eyed dog. In an instant, he had sprung across the room and snatched Zack up by the scruff of his neck, holding all eighty pounds of the dog several feet off the floor with only one hand as if he weighed nothing. Zack yelped, his eyes wide and his tail tucked between his legs when he remembered just why so many people had called Sephiroth "The Demon of Wutai" in his war days.

"Fair, this is your last warning," he growled in a voice so low that even the dog had to listen closely to hear it. "Touch anything in here I have not given you permission to touch – anything of mine, especially – and you'll find yourself neutered before you can take a breath to beg for mercy. Is that in any way unclear?" Zack whined pitifully, his ears pinned flat against his skull and his lips pulled back into a fearful smile; point taken. "Good. Now lie here by the couch and don't move until Angeal and Genesis come back." Zack bolted for the couch, dropping to the floor so quickly it almost hurt and curling up into a ball. Sephiroth smirked, settling down on the couch himself and resisting the temptation to prop his feet up on Zack.

"Good boy."
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When Angeal returned two hours later, laden down with several bags of pet supplies and a large bag of kibble slung over his shoulder, he was pleasantly surprised to find his home still intact. He had expected some kind of disaster, even if it was just a small one. Sephiroth was not the most adept house-sitter the world had ever known, and Zack was accident-prone even when he wasn't a literal dog. The dark-haired First walked into the living room in search of his student and found him curled up on the floor beside Sephiroth's feet, awake but completely still; not even his tail twitched when Angeal walked into the room. When he spotted Angeal, Sephiroth stood and stretched, yawning lazily in a way that greatly resembled a tiger.

"I trust you found everything you needed?" he asked, indicating the many bags Angeal had brought home with him.

"Yes. This should be plenty for a while. And when Zack's turned back, I can save it for a time when I might have a dog in the future." He turned around slowly, realizing Zack still hadn't moved from his position on the floor, and crossed his arms. "Zack? What's wrong?" The dog looked sorrowfully at him but got up, slinking over to the two of them with his tail tucked firmly between his legs. Angeal turned an accusatory glare to Sephiroth. "Seph, what did you do to him?"

"Absolutely nothing," Sephiroth said defensively. "He was trying to eat one of the boots from your formal uniform and then the hilt of Masamune. I simply reminded him of the many reasons he didn't wish to do either of those things." Angeal still looked skeptical, but he let it drop for now.

"Well, anyway, thanks for your help, Sephiroth. I think I can handle it from here. I'll let you know how it's going tomorrow." Sephiroth nodded, turning on his heel and striding out of Angeal's apartment to head back to his own. Angeal sighed, running his hands back through his hair exhaustedly. "All right, Zack. Let's have dinner, and we can try to figure out more tomorrow." Zack barked excitedly, able to smell the raw steaks Angeal had bought from the butcher shop down the street and hoping at least a piece or two would fall off of the counter for him. He didn't even care if they were raw - they were steak! Angeal chuckled, beginning to prep some of the ingredients for dinner while he put away some of the pet supplies. Everything went smoothly for the rest of the evening, and Angeal never noticed the way Zack tucked his tail between his legs and sat down every time he saw a knife that night.