A/N: Not sure what happened, just had the sudden urge to write about Fuu. Thanks and dedication goes out to Zeldy (who knows who she is), for letting me play Fuu, being my Seifer and inadvertently inspiring me to write this fanfiction.

Contemplations:

The summer was drawing to a close.

It was apparent throughout the city, even if you didn't happen to know the date. But Fuu did. She always did. And she saw the bitter looks on the faces of her peers, as they slumped around the city, sulking about the rapidly approaching school year. Hayner and his friends in particular.

But it didn't really matter that much to her. She didn't see what the big fuss was about, anyway. School only took up nine months of the year, and if it was required, why complain about it so much? Why narrow your eyes about it if you know that you'll have to go anyway? But she didn't mind school that much anyway. It gave her something to do, instead of wandering around the town mindlessly, like she was doing now, or following Seifer around.

Of course, in the beginning of the year, the teachers always tried to call on Fuu, to ask her questions, to get her to rattle off a full sentence, but after a week or so, her one and two word answers broke their spirits, and they resolved to not calling on her at all. Just like the teachers the last year, and the year before that, and the year before that.

Maybe she didn't appreciate the freedom of the summer as much as other people simply because she was different. She was an observer. She chose to step back from most situations, to watch. She was different, wasn't she? Most girls her age worried about boys, makeup, their hair, and the like, but Fuu couldn't really care less. And most girls her age, at least, the ones in Twilight Town, would like the chance to tag along with Seifer and Rai. Well, they were the closest things to friends that she really had, and lately she had distanced herself more and more from them.

Fuu supposed that she was changing. At least, a little bit. She really just wanted her own identity. Since kindergarten, she had been known as "that one girl who hangs out with Seifer", and it was beginning to frustrate her. She wanted to become independent of the label she had grown up with all her life, but now it just seemed like she was invisible, existing but never seen. Something, something needed to change.

But what was it that made her this way in the first place? Had she chosen her role in life, or had she fallen into a premade space in the world, prepared for her since birth? Did she really decide that she was going to be this way, way back then? She narrowed her eyes as she walked through the alley. She had no idea where she was going, but she didn't care. She just needed to walk. The afternoon sun would set soon, and cast a brilliant orange light over the city. But she didn't really care, not right now.

Would she start talking again? Could she reteach herself how to form complete sentences? Fuu decided that it was a skill that had just lain dormant in the back of her mind, waiting to be awakened. But did she really want to change? Would she have to? Or the real question: Was she really brave enough to change herself?

"What are you doing here?" The voice interrupted her thoughts. She looked up to see Seifer first, and then she looked around to see where she was. It seemed like she had wandered into the Sandlot, now empty as the sun began setting, and everyone had ambled back home. Except for Seifer. And her, obviously. She frowned and raised an eyebrow at him, indicating that she could ask him the same question. "Sorry," He said, recognizing the gesture. She had never really noticed, but Seifer was one of the few (if not the only person) who could decipher her one word sentences and subtle body language.

He sighed, sitting on the bench beside him. "School starts in a week." Glancing back up at her, he saw that she had raised her eyebrows again. "Right. You knew that. But what brings you out here?" He asked, cutting straight to the chase.

Fuu sighed, sitting next to him on the end of the bench. Her hand on her knees, she said, "Contemplation." She shrugged, supposing that that was the best answer. It seemed like there was something more she wanted to say, but she couldn't quite find the words for it, no matter how long she searched.

"Contemplation?" Seifer repeated, his brow furrowed.

"Wandering." She added. "Accident."

"It's okay. I was just curious."

Fuu narrowed her eyes suspiciously. Something was up with Seifer. Never before had he seemed this….nice, even to her. Something was different. Compared to how he normally acted, it seemed like a sham, and act, like he was trying to deceive her. She made no effort to fill the awkward silence, feeling almost like she had been betrayed. For a moment there… She waved her hand, as if brushing away a summer mosquito. But sitting there, Seifer almost looked…thoughtful. He was staring off into the distance, and she hoped he couldn't feel her red eyes on him. She turned her head back, and looked at the floor again.

"Is something wrong, Fuu? You seem…"

And she looked back at him, her eyebrows raised. Now she knew something was different. Seifer didn't care about anyone else's well-being, much less hers, and here he was asking if something was wrong? She had half a mind to call an ambulance and get him carted off to a mental institution. Or ask where the real Seifer was.

"Different?" She asked, directing the question back at him. Seifer understood.

"I don't know, really. Actually, I was really going to ask you, well, after all, you are kind of an observer…so…" He cleared his throat, realizing how much he was stuttering. He picked up where he left off, only stronger and more defiant this time. "Do people change, Fuu?"

She looked at him differently, differently than she ever had before. She realized something on her own, right then.

Yes, people do change.

A/N: That was kinda weird, kinda different for me, but ah, well. Who cares, anyway?