"YES SIR!"
"If you do embarrass me in front of the boss, I will personally make sure that the lot of you snot-nosed brats had wished that you'd never been born! Is THAT clear?!"
"YES SIR!"
The room echoed with the loud affirmative. Somehow, I'd managed to get into morning muster without catching the eye of the drill sergeant. Good thing, too. The drill sergeant's idea of punishment for tardiness was a one-on-one sparring match with the sergeant himself. Not a pleasant way to spend the morning.
I no longer second-guessed myself during group practice, but the sergeant wasn't someone I wanted to tangle with until I'd had much more experience than I have now. That man knew more tricks on how to hurt you without any permanent damage than anyone that I've ever met. Each time that I had to spar with him, I ended up with bruises in places that I hadn't even known existed! Luck was with me.
With that, the drill sargeant started us off on the basic exercises. Putting everything out of my mind, I concentrated instead on the moves of the exercises. Pretty soon, the physical exercise calmed me, and I lost myself in the movements. I still had to concentrate in one-on-one sparring not to notice everyone watching, but in drill, I knew I was good. My movements were crisp, sure, and powerful. I focused on nothing except the orders that were snapping from the sergeant's mouth, and the recruits to my side and in front of me, synchronizing my movements with theirs.
After about an hour, the sergeant finally stopped and gave us a few minutes break before breaking us up into our sections. My year's recruits had started out with fifty odd recruits, separated into five sections of ten. Over the past six months, as recruits dropped out or were killed, we'd been reduced to three sections of eight. After our training was over, even if we didn't qualify for the SOLDIER program, we'd be guaranteed positions in the Regular Army as officers.
I took a look around at the other recruits and wondered which of us would make it to the SOLDIER program. According to the stats, less than a quarter of us would be able to withstand the Mako treatments. Over 75% of the population could not take more than limited exposure to Mako. Too much exposure would cause them to develop deep muscular aches and tremors, fever, shortness of breath, dizziness and nausea. Some of the reports described the experience as similar to having an extremely bad case of the flu. If exposure to the Mako was continued, it could lead to loss in bone density and the loss of motor skills.
The reason that so many young men were willing to take the risk of Mako poisoning, was because if you were one of the lucky quarter of the population that did not get sick, the Mako treatments increased your physical or mental strength by at least a factor of three. The SOLDIERS themselves were divided into classes, depending on how effective the treatments were.
Fourth Class SOLDIERS received augmentations of speed, dexterity, and muscle tone. They were the most common, and the most numerous. Currently, there were almost a hundred SOLDIERS, Fourth Class. SOLDIERS, Third Class, were those that received increases in their mental abilities. Their ability to process and store information, their natural instincts, and their ability to handle the more complex materia was increased exponentially. There were about fifty SOLDIERS, Third Class. Those that had increases in both physical and mental abilities were what made up SOLDIERS, Second Class. There were less than fifteen Second Class SOLDIERS. Of those among the ranks of Second Class, the exceptionally strong were given the rank of First Class. Sephiroth and Zack were the only two First Class SOLDIERS in the entire Shinra Army.
I'd been surprised when I first realized that my lover was the only man alive who came even close to Sephiroth in ability. I don't think I really believed it until I saw the two of them sparring one day. Now *that* had been a sight! Their movements had been almost too quick for the eye to follow. A dodged blow from Sephiroth's Masamune had left a three foot long, four inch deep gash in a wall of our practice room. I know the Masamune's an exceptional sword, but still! If Zack hadn't dodged it, he'd have been cut in half. That, more than anything, showed how much skill my lover had. Nobody else, and I mean nobody, can keep up with the General in a full-on sparring match.
The SOLDIER in charge of my group had us paired up and sparring each other. I groaned. Of all the other recruits to be paired with, I had to be paired with our resident bully. He had at least a foot of height on me, and probably a hundred pounds. For all his bulk, though, I knew he was fast enough to really have to make me work if I wanted to win this one. Damn. There went my hope for an easy morning workout.
Taking a deep breath, I tried to clear my mind with some of the meditations that Zack had taught me. Everyday, I got a little bit better at tuning out the others. Which was a good thing, I guess, but I don't know how Zack was going be able to teach me how to both tune out necessary distractions *and* be aware of my surroundings. It was hard enough doing one at a time.
Oh well. Time to see what I could do.
* * * * *
Tseng wondered if his day could get any worse. After the incident with the blonde kid, his boss had been in a mood. An anticipatory and impatient mood. Not a good combination. He called practically every hour, wanting to know if Tseng had found out who the pretty little blonde had been. Tseng sighed.
Finding out who Cloud was had been easy enough. He'd just talked to some of the recruits and SOLDIERS and asked a few, discreet questions. What else he'd found out, however, had brought his incipient headache to full-force.
Cloud Strife. Age 15. SOLDIER recruit. One of twenty-four still left from fifty. That, more than anything, told Tseng how good the kid was. By this time, most stupid, incompetent, and unsuited candidates had either quit or died. That he was still alive, and was held in high esteem by most of his instructors, spoke volumes for his skill.
What bothered Tseng, and the reason he was debating whether or not to crawl under a rock and hide was one stray snippet of fact. One that he hadn't been looking for. One that he had *not* been happy to find out. One that said Cloud Strife was the lover of one Zack Wolf, SOLDIER, first class. Not good.
Tseng and Zack had been meeting in Zack's quarters, and finishing up the details to the security concerning his boss's inspection of the troops the next day. The door had opened and Tseng had automatically glanced up to see who the new person was. Tseng hadn't been able to control the widening of his eyes. His mind had immediately started to come up with explanations other than the one that had suddenly burst into his mind at the sight of large turquoise eyes and spiky blonde hair.
The word that Zack had found a new lover, and actually seemed to have fallen for him, had reached even the Turks. When Tseng had first heard, he remembered that he'd been amused and had commented that, "It was about damn time for that boy to fall." Tseng and Reno had even sat around and speculated on who could've managed to actually catch the biggest flirt in the Army.
Tseng's frantic thoughts had all come to a crashing halt when the boy walked over to Zack's side, and Zack had absently-mindedly snaked an arm around the boy's waist to pull him closer for a light kiss before turning back to Tseng.
"Tseng, I want you to meet the recruit I'm mentoring," Zack had started. Tseng had been sure that he didn't want to know what Zack was going to say next. "Cloud, this is Tseng. He's a Turk. Tseng, this is Cloud."
That was the first time that Tseng had hated being right. "Aw, fuck. I'm screwed."
When both Zack and Cloud had looked at him as if he was losing his mind, Tseng had realized that he'd actually said that aloud.
"What?"
Tseng had quickly gone for damage control, "I just remembered something I was supposed to do for the boss. He's gonna fucking kill me when he finds out."
The damage control had quickly started to crumble when the kid spoke, a questioning tilt to his head. "I've met you somewhere before…"
Tseng had sent a quick, yet earnest, prayer to his ancestors asking for Cloud not to remember. The damage control had completely fallen apart when Cloud's next words were, "You were with that blonde man this morning! The one that tried to kiss me."
"WHAT?!"
Tseng had wished that there was some way for a hole to open up in the ground and swallow him. His thoughts had quickly gone into overdrive to find a way to placate the suddenly not quite so easy-going SOLDIER in front of him. Luckily for Tseng, Zack's attention had still been focused on Cloud.
"Just what happened this morning, Cloud?"
Cloud had turned to give Zack a shrug, "Nothing much. On my way to morning muster, I ran right into this tall, blonde guy wearing a white suit. I guess he thought I should apologize by letting him kiss me, but I disagreed." Cloud had nodded to Tseng, "He was there, behind the guy."
"Do you know who the guy was?"
Cloud had shaken his head, "Nope. No clue. I figure he must've been some big shot executive, though. I don't think he was used to anyone refusing him."
Tseng could see the instant that Zack had put everything together. Tall, blonde guy in a white suit, with a habit of getting what he wanted. With him there. Zack had turned his narrowed gaze upon Tseng.
"Your boss." Zack's tone had been flat.
Tseng had groaned silently, and known that the shit was truly going to fly then. Although Zack adopted a humorous, easy-going attitude, Tseng knew that Zack had a ruthless streak in him that was a mile wide. At least. Sephiroth usually tried to play within the rules. Zack had no compunction with getting down and dirty if the need suited him. There was a reason why that man was feared outside, and within, the Army, for all his jokester ways.
Tseng had quickly reined in his racing thoughts and given a small nod, "My boss."
"Did anything happen?"
An involuntary smirk had tugged at Tseng's lips. "Your boy there handled himself pretty well."
"He did?"
Tseng had nodded, "You should've seen him. He practically threw Rufus off him, while saying something about not caring who he was."
Cloud had blushed, and Tseng had watched, fascinated, as Zack's eyes softened at the sight. It looked like the rumors had been true, and Zack really was head-over-heels in love with the little blonde kid. Not that Tseng blamed him.
Apparently, his Ancestors had decided to take pity on him, because Tseng had been paged. Tseng had used that as an excuse to get the fuck out of that room. Now, Tseng was faced with trying to explain to Rufus Shinra why he couldn't pursue his interest in Cloud.
Not only was Zack a SOLDIER, first class, and not one to be messed with, but he was also a close and personal friend of Tseng's. Tseng suppressed the desire to bang his head on the wall. How was he supposed to tell Rufus Shinra, the head boss's *son* not to bother Cloud, when he was all bent on bothering the poor kid, because his lover was the second, if not the most, dangerous man in the entire Shinra army?
Point. Rufus wanted Cloud. There was no question about that. Point. Zack was Cloud's lover. Point. Zack was a very, very dangerous man to piss off. Point. From all the rumors, it sounded like Zack and Cloud had become inseparable. Point. Rufus wanted Cloud. Point. Rufus wanted Tseng to facilitate said want. Point. Tseng was not a happy man.
Tseng took a deep drag and growled to himself. There were days when he wished he'd taken up a different occupation. Sure, being part of Shinra's covert ops team was exciting as hell and paid good, but no amount of excitement and gil was enough to pit him against a SOLDIER who was Sephiroth's equal. Times like this, Tseng really hated his job.
End Chapter 3
"Listen up, babies. The boss and his son are going to be here tomorrow to inspect the sorry lot of you. If you actually pass the inspection, most of you idiots will accompany the boss's son to Wutai. Those in the first group to get preliminary testing for Mako-treatments will remain. Now, in order for you morons not to embarrass me tomorrow, we're going to spend the entire day making sure that you've actually learned what we've been teaching you. Is that clear?!"