Steps To Perfection
May. 19th, 2005 09:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
callie_chanRufus had always been fascinated by Sephiroth's body, even before he'd had the luxury of examining it up close. He doubted he was the only one, and it was understandable; not even layers of clothing could conceal the fact that whatever mold Sephiroth had been cast from had been flawless. And while that was intriguing in its own right, the feeling one tended to get after watching him for long enough was skepticism; you had to touch him just to believe he was real.
And Rufus did touch him. Quite a lot.
Being discreet wasn't easy, but neither was it as hard as it might have been. As the president's son, Rufus had freedom to come and go as he pleased, and it was no secret that Sephiroth was ShinRa's pet experiment - and Sephiroth wasn't above abusing the liberties this afforded him to take. The hardest part was finding a good place for their frequent trysts; either of their rooms were too obvious, but there were few other places secluded enough. Often they'd wind up locking themselves in an empty conference room or office, not even bothering to take all their clothes off.
Irritatingly enough, the lengths they went to didn't even seem to matter; the Turks gave him knowing looks every now and then, and his own father seemed to be aware that his relationship with Sephiroth wasn't entirely business-related - although he seemed, without actually coming out and saying so, to approve. Rufus suspected he knew why; his father recognized, as Rufus himself had, that Sephiroth's meteoric rise in SOLDIER meant that he was a force to reckon with, a force that it would be wise to ally oneself with early by any means necessary.
And it wasn't as though he didn't enjoy it...
Rufus nipped the curve of pale skin covering a shoulderblade as Sephiroth's back arched itself towards him. Some days he let Sephiroth be in control, all rough kisses and calloused hands and a mouth so hot it burned, and those days they'd both come within minutes, almost screaming from it. But Rufus felt like taking his time today, since they - for once - had the use of his bed. And, of course, having that perfect body beneath him, being able to touch and taste, getting to watch the muscles move under his skin as Sephiroth curved his back just like that when Rufus entered him...even if he'd wanted to go quickly, how could you hurry an experience like that?
You can't rush perfection, he thought, and almost laughed until Sephiroth moved back against him and his mind returned to more pressing matters.
There was always something slightly unsettling about Sephiroth, all his skill and beauty aside. It wasn't just the eyes, catlike around the pupils and a shade of green too intense even to be chalked up to mako; neither was it the hair, ridiculously long and a shade of silver that almost seemed to glow, which never seemed to tangle. It was all of these things put together; he was flawless, and it wasn't natural. Sometimes Rufus had a hard time believing he was human.
He'd gone to the scientists, once.
"Sephiroth?" Hojo eyed Rufus with open suspicion; it was another open secret that Hojo was protective of his prize experiment, and didn't appreciate anyone else in ShinRa sticking their noses into what he evidently regarded as his personal project - despite who was actually funding it. "What about him?"
"I'm just curious," Rufus said with a shrug, calculated to be as harmless-looking as possible. "I was wondering - did you make him look the way he does on purpose?"
Hojo settled back in his chair; apparently this was deemed a safe topic. "Not directly. He was injected with JENOVA cells in utero, as you know, but beyond that he was conceived and born naturally. The JENOVA cells may have changed his natural coloring, whatever it might have been, but we did not do anything to intentionally change his appearance."
Rufus raised an eyebrow. "So JENOVA cells are the only thing that makes him different from a nomal person?"
"Well, he did have very good genes to start with." Rufus caught the faintest twitch at the corners of Hojo's mouth. "But aside from that, yes - and, of course, he was exposed to mako when he joined SOLDIER, but he was exceptional long before then." Hojo looked inordinately proud.
"Exceptional how?" Rufus asked - a mistake. Hojo almost immediately launched into an animated monologue of compared developmental stages and learning patterns that, to the younger man, sounded like so much scientific babble. He tolerated it for a good minute before clearing his throat. "Professor, if you could put that into somewhat less scientific terms...?"
Hojo paused mid-sentence, giving Rufus a look that was both measuring and mildly exasperated over the rims of his glasses. "Put simply," he replied, with more than a hint of condescension, "Sephiroth has developed, reacted, and learned faster than any child that science has ever recorded from the day he was born."
"How much faster?" Rufus inquired, interested.
Hojo pushed his glasses up on his nose; the light glanced off of them, concealing his eyes as he answered. "It varies, but in many cases - almost twice as fast. In a few instances, even more than that."
Rufus was not particularly knowledgeable in the field of science, but he could still tell that this was exceptional indeed. "Nice," he remarked after a moment, not sure how else to respond.
"Nice?" Hojo sniffed. "It's astounding. He is stronger, faster, and smarter than men twice his age and size. As you aren't a scientist, I don't expect you to know what that means."
"No wonder he does so well in SOLDIER," Rufus murmured, half to himself.
Hojo shrugged. "His abilities would allow him to excel in most fields, I'm sure," he replied. "SOLDIER is a good place to see how he fares physically, however. Otherwise we'd have kept him here, at the lab."
Rufus blinked. "I thought you created him expressly for SOLDIER."
Hojo snorted. "Hardly - but you would think that, I suppose. Just because he is good at it doesn't mean that was why we created him."
"Why did you create him, then?"
Hojo's eyes glittered behind his glasses. "Technically, what I'm going to tell you is classified information, but since you are the President's son, I believe we'll get away with it..." He gestured to a nearby chair, and Rufus sat down. He was slightly uncomfortable; nobody was particularly comfortable in Hojo's office, much less his confidence.
"We'd been experimenting for years with JENOVA cells, of course," Hojo confided to him. "Mostly with goblins; their genetic makeup is similar to that of a human's, and no one cares if they don't survive. And most didn't; JENOVA, as you may or may not know, killed off an entire race, and too many cells being introduced to the body kills the host. We spent years just trying to find the maximum amount of cells a body could cope with and survive, and even that was a hollow victory; the goblin survived, but its mind was permanently affected; its IQ dropped and it appeared to lose all coherent thought." Hojo shook his head. "So then we began experimenting with different goblins, to see if the effect was the same - and in many cases it was. But interestingly enough, younger goblins seemed to be affected less. Eventually, we realized it was the body rebelling against the JENOVA cells - the younger goblins fared better because their bodies were still growing, and so their bodies became accustomed to the presence of the cells as they aged. In the instance of one very young goblin, its body accepted the JENOVA cells to such a degree that they actually enhanced its IQ and abilities as it grew."
"What happened to it?"
Hojo gave him a steady look. "The other goblins turned on it. As far as we were able to tell, they sensed something unnatural about it and dealt with the matter in their own primitive way."
Rufus thought of Sephiroth, of the looks of resentment and fear he received almost as often as looks of awe, and couldn't find it in him to be surprised. "Go on."
Hojo picked up where he'd left off. "So it was concluded that, if we could introduce the cells early enough into a body - say, a human one - the cells would become a natural part of the body, enhancing it in every measurable way...possibly even in ways we haven't been able to see."
"So you injected the JENOVA cells into Sephiroth in the womb," Rufus finished. "As early as possible, right?"
Hojo nodded. "We also injected them into the mother; we thought that her body would perhaps pass some of the cells to him as well, possibly exceeding the maximum survivable dose of JENOVA cells in a way the body wouldn't reject."
Rufus paused. "But - what about the mother's body?"
Hojo shrugged again. "She consented to the injection."
Rufus stared at Hojo for a minute. "So...I suppose it worked. But that still doesn't explain what it was for - just because you could? To see just how good of a human being you could create?"
"You can think of it," Hojo replied with a thin smile, "as a step towards perfection."
Rufus gave him a questioning look.
"Can't you see the possibilities?" Hojo waved a hand. "Sephiroth carries JENOVA cells in him, with no apparent ill effects. His abilities and intelligence far outclass anything that could be expected of someone his age, and he hasn't finished developing yet! He is one of the most perfect specimens of humanity that science has ever recorded!"
"Yeah..." Rufus said dubiously. "So...?"
Hojo smirked. "Suppose he had children?"
Rufus parsed this. "More JENOVA cells?"
Hojo nodded. "Frankly, it's far too long a process to raise a child from birth with JENOVA cells. We've begun work on finding an accceptable dose for adults - it will be less than what we could do with Sephiroth, but we may still be able to replicate the positive effects they had on him to a lesser degree. And the children of two people injected with JENOVA would have those cells as well, to a greater degree than their parents."
"So you didn't create Sephiroth to fight," Rufus mused, alternately horrified and bemused. "You created him to breed?"
"Why not?" Hojo made a dismissive gesture. "All living things seek to pass on their genes anyway."
"But why go to all this trouble?" Rufus shook his head. "Sephiroth has a kid with another JENOVA experiment, and then what?"
"Can't you see it yet, you stupid boy?" Hojo snapped impatiently. "As the JENOVA cells get passed genetically, humans will become more and more infused with it. If Sephiroth is so exceptional now, with the dosage we gave him, then what would his child be like with an even larger percentage of those cells? His grandchild? With enough JENOVA-infused experiments, humanity could be perfected." Hojo's eyes positively glowed.
Rufus looked back at the man for a long minute as his skin crawled, and didn't visit his office again for nearly a decade.
"Sephiroth," Rufus murmured the next time they were alone together.
Sephiroth looked up at him from unzipping his pants. "Hm?"
"Promise me something."
Sephiroth frowned; Rufus didn't usually sound that serious. "What is it?"
"Never have kids."
no subject
Date: 2005-05-20 04:54 am (UTC)...and now all that description of Sephiroth's perfection woke up my SOLDIER!Greed....
no subject
Date: 2005-05-20 02:51 pm (UTC)I'm starting to become rather proud of my Hojo muse, because he seems to do a very good job of being creepy and scientific and just, well, Hojo.
Oh dear, I've woken up Greed. *slaps wrist lightly* Bad, bad Callie. >D
Yay! More SOLDIER!Greed!-Callisto
no subject
Date: 2005-05-20 03:14 pm (UTC)I can see him doing a bland :blinkblinkblink: at Rufus and just shaking his head. :)