Little Sephiroth

Chapter 8

Sephiroth looked down at Cloud, tears still dripping out of his eyes while he kept a tight grip on the caregiver's arms.

"Let's see," Cloud muttered, looking at the little, and deciding to start with his boots, "why don't you sit down here for a moment."

The caregiver closed the lid of the toilet and was glad that sephiroth sat down, even though the man was looking very unsure with all of his movements.

Cloud kneeled in front of him, and eased of the wet boots, putting them to the side for now. Standing up, he went for the shirt, just leaving the general in his wet pants.

"Still okay?" Cloud asked, seeing the mako eyes blink at him, the man having gone eerily silent. Sephiroth stared a little longer, making the caregiver feel a little nervous.

Cloud didn't know if he needed to continue or not, scared that he would make a wrong move and that the man would suddenly lash out, or worse, cower away. The man suddenly lifted his hand, and Cloud flinched, taking a step back, but all the little did was put two fingers in his mouth.

"Uhm, yeah," Cloud said, trying to relax and took the step closer, "You're going to have to stand, to get those pants off."

"Okay," Sephiroth said, his voice deep. He carefully stood, definitely unsure of his balance, but Cloud was glad that he could stand on his own.

He removed the belt and opened the button and the zipper before pulling the pants and underpants down, feeling the little put his hand on his back when needed to step out of them.

"There, now we can go shower. Not far now," Cloud said, grabbing the arms again, guiding Sephiroth in the shower, "Uhm, perhaps you best can sit down?"

"Okay," Sephiroth said, lowering himself a little quickly, and Cloud nearly hurt his back trying to slow the movement down.

"Easy there. You don't want to hurt yourself," Cloud said, a little concerned.

"Sorry," Sephiroth said, blinking up at Cloud. So far the little had been very silent and nearly unresponsive to Cloud, ever since he had calmed down from crying. It was a little unnerving, but Cloud guessed that there had to be a reason Sephiroth asked him, a lowly grunt of all people, to help him out.

So, that meant that he just had to try his best. Of course it would take time for the little to warm up to him. He was practically a stranger.

"It's okay. You just need to be careful with yourself," Cloud said with a smile, grabbing the shower head and turning it to the side so he wouldn't need to douse Sephiroth with the cold spray.

Once it was warm, he carefully made sure the man was completely wet, seeing the little shift a little when the spray was above his head and close his eyes in a tight squeeze, clearly not a big fan of it.

"It's okay. I'll be careful," Cloud said, softly, turning off the spray and grabbing the bottle of shampoo, frowning a little when he noticed it was standard issue.

"Is okay. No need," Sephiroth said, making Cloud look at him with a frown.

"No need?" Cloud asked, wondering if the man meant that he didn't want to wash his hair.

"No need careful," Sephiroth said, wanting to proof to the caregiver that he was more than capable of enduring things. He wanted Cloud to be with him for a while, and that meant not being a nuisance. So far, Sephiroth didn't think he was doing a good job of that, but perhaps it wasn't so bad yet.

"There is always a need to be careful," Cloud said, taking a dose of the shampoo and starting to wash the hair, making sure to massage the scalp with his fingertips.