Quistis looked up from the magazine she was reading. "Do you mind?"
"Of course not, Instructor."
Seifer smirked, continuing to drum his fingers on the desk.
The clock on the wall of the discipline room ticked in time to his staccato drumming, and Quistis sighed.
"I don't want to be here any more than you do, Seifer," she monotoned, flipping pages without really paying attention to them. "Let's make this as easy for both of us as we can."
Seifer's fingers stilled, and he stared at her. "You know what would make this go by easier for me?" he asked.
"I haven't the slightest idea," she replied without looking up. "Triple Triad?"
He chuckled. "How 'bout Striple Triad?"
Quistis's brows furrowed, but she still did not look at him. "Striple Triad?"
Leaning back in his chair, he nodded. "You've played that before, haven't you?"
"Not that I can recall."
"Well, it's easy. Regular Triple Triad rules, but instead of winning cards..."
She looked at him.
"You win pieces of your opponent's clothing."
Not amused, she rolled her eyes. Her mouth parted slightly, then snapped shut.
"What, Instructor? Wanna try?"
"Actually," she retorted, "I was going to say something off-color and unbecoming."
Seifer eyed her lazily as she uncrossed- then recrossed- her legs under the desk. "Go ahead. Say it," he encouraged, grinning. "I've got my own cute little off-color reply for it."
She picked a piece of lint off of the jacket of her SeeD uniform. "Well, if you must know, I was going to ask if Striple Triad is the only way you've been able to get a girl out of her clothing."
Seifer's grin turned into a smile. "Well, it's the method requiring the least work on my part."
Quistis nodded. "I see. A regular sixty-second man."
He cocked his head. "Yeah, sixty seconds for her to rip her clothes off for me."
Blinking slowly, she closed the magazine. "Seifer, don't even. I've known you for five years now."
"And?"
"And you've yet to spend the night with anyone besides Raijin."
He shifted in his seat, his smile mellowing a bit. "How do you know so much about my love life? And more importantly, why do you care?"
She carefully removed her glasses and smirked at him. "I know a lot of stuff."
He pursed his lips. "I guess you do, with your little army of puberty-stricken Trepies. Retarded spies."
Clasping her hands in her lap, Quistis leaned back. "Evidently not so retarded that you can't hit on them."
Seifer shook his head and looked out the window. "Just making my rounds."
He resumed drumming his fingers, and Quistis chuckled. "Did I hit a nerve?"
"Not even," he mumbled, expressionless.
They sat in silence for a few moments, the ticking of the clock resounding through the room like pounding footsteps. She regarded him with heavy-lidded eyes, watching as a bead of sweat made its way from his forehead and down the side of his face to his jaw line, where it stayed.
Aware of her gaze, he stilled his fingers and turned in his seat. Stretching his legs out into the aisle, he leaned forward and stared at his boots. Not sure what to do, he began to whistle. It was a tune he knew from somewhere, but could not definitely place.
Quistis leaned forward and played with her glasses. "You know, you could study," she offered.
He turned his head slightly, but his eyes did not leave his boots. "Why bother?" he murmured. "I'm never gonna pass that fucking exam because I know how to think for myself."
Her expression was sympathetic. "Well maybe you should decide which is more important- thinking for yourself or accomplishing what you came here to do."
"Maybe you should read your magazine," he said stonily.
Quistis sighed. "Maybe you should talk to me. Maybe I can help you."
Seifer took a deep breath and turned back around to face her, his gaze condescending. "Help me how? Take the exam for me?" he smarted.
She stood, walked around her desk, and leaned on it, crossing her arms. "Seifer, you should have passed it a year ago. You've got all the skills and training necessary, and more."
He nodded. "Yeah. It's my attitude, right?" he said sarcastically. "I should really do something about that."
Quistis groaned inwardly, and pushed herself into a sitting position on top the desk. "Yes, you should. If you got that annoying little obstacle out of the way, no one could touch you."
"Nope," he said, looking away. "Not even your boy Squall."
Taken aback, Quistis stared at him. "My boy?"
He returned the stare. "Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about, Quissy."
She stiffened defensively. "I'm afraid I don't."
Seifer shrugged and looked at the terminal in front of him. "You spend all your time on him."
She swallowed. "I'm trying to help him. That is my..."
Shaking her head and blinking, she swallowed again. "Was my job."
"Yeah, I'm sure you're gonna miss him like hell," he said with mock-sadness, tracing the edge of the terminal monitor with his index finger. "But you're gonna have a boatload of fresh meat next semester. I wouldn't be too distraught."
Quistis looked down, biting her lip.
When she did not respond he looked up at her. "You look absolutely despondent, Instructor," he teased. "Need a hanky?"
She took a deep breath. "As of yesterday, I am no longer an instructor."
Seifer's taunting grin faded. "Because of me?"
She crossed her legs and clasped her hands around her knee. "Not completely. There were other factors."
Not knowing what to say, he leaned back and looked at the door. A strange feeling came over him, which felt akin to guilt. It was something he was unaccustomed to, but though he tried to shake it off it would not go away.
Quistis looked up. "What, Seifer? Don't feel bad. It's my own fault."
He shook his head absently. "I don't."
Propping her elbow up on her knee, she rested her chin in her hand. "Of course not," she murmured. "That would mean you care a little."
He shrugged. "I'm sorry you lost your job."
"Me too."
"Yeah. Me too."
Quistis searched his face for some betrayal of his thoughts. There was something foreign there- a dullness in his eyes that she had not seen before.
She knew better than to believe for a second that it was guilt. He had no emotional ties to any of his actions, by his own admission. What difference should it make to him that his instructor had been relieved of her duties? She obviously wasn't doing anything for him.
Sighing woefully, she grabbed the edge of the desk and leaned forward. "The other instructors never cared much for me anyway," she mumbled, swinging her legs back and forth. "They all thought I was too young and didn't have enough SeeD experience."
She laughed self-deprecatingly. "I guess they would know."
Seifer looked over, his gaze falling on her swinging legs. They were thin legs, but athletically toned and attractive. He realized that in all the time they had known each other, he had never noticed how perfectly they were shaped.
"They were in your place once," he offered, dragging his eyes to her downturned face. "They just got old. And you woulda become the same way."
Quistis nodded slowly. "I guess so."
"Yeah..." he said, looking again at her legs. "That woulda sucked."
"Yeah."
"Yeah."
She stretched her arms back and rested on her palms, slightly pushing the bottom half of her body forward. This caused her skirt to ride up a bit on her thighs, exposing more creamy skin, and Seifer watched the display in silence.
Quistis was hot.
And she had no idea.
He shook his head and shifted his gaze her face to make sure she had not caught him staring. "So, uh... What are you gonna do now?"
She lifted her eyes to his. "Well," she began after a short pause, "I'm still a SeeD. I suppose I'll be going out on missions like everyone else."
He nodded. "I guess you'd be moving back into the student dorms."
Quistis nodded and leaned forward, pushing herself off of the desk. "Yeah. I guess."
Seifer sighed inwardly as her skirt fell back into place, leaving only her knees exposed.
She paced slowly back and forth in front of the desk, rubbing her hands together. "I never planned for this," she mumbled, mostly to herself. "I mean, I figured I would teach for about thirty years, retire, live off my pension..."
"That's really how you want to live your life?" asked Seifer incredulously. "Work so hard to become a SeeD, then piss away the best part of being one?"
Quistis stopped cold and turned to face him. "Piss what away?"
He ran his fingers through his hair and cocked his head, regarding her thoughtfully. "You mean to tell me that you actually prefer sitting in a classroom all day to being out somewhere, kicking ass?"
She put her hands on her hips. "I'm not like you, Seifer. I don't have to be in constant battle to be satisfied with myself."
He sat up straight in his seat, grinning. "But that's the best part," he cried, slamming his hand down on the desk. "It's one thing to sit there and tell people how to fight. It's a totally different thing altogether to actually be in the thick of it, putting yourself to the real test."
Standing, he swiftly came from behind the desk to stand a few feet in front of her, gunblade in hand.
"You know what it's like, Quistis," he provoked her, swinging Hyperion playfully in front of her face. "Tell me shooting the fuck out of that robot yesterday didn't get you off... Certainly more than explaining junctioning to some pimply little kid?"
She did not know what to say, so she shifted her weight and placed a hand on her hip, staring at him.
Grinning, he tapped Save the Queen- hooked to her hip- with the tip of his gunblade. "And come on, Quistis," he prodded, resting Hyperion on his shoulder. "Anyone who would choose a chain whip as a weapon has to get off on power."
Quistis shook her head half-heartedly. "It's not all about power, Seifer."
"Bullshit."
"Well, I guess for you," she said, shifting her weight again. "You would be completely happy if all you did was poke people with that-" she nodded toward Hyperion- "thing all day and night. Me, I want to help people. I want to protect and assist. That's what a SeeD does."
Seifer shook his head, chuckling. "It's probably a good thing that you lost your job," he said, amused. "You'd be sending a bunch of pansies out into a world that needs heroes."
Quistis fumed, her hand straying unconsciously to her whip. "I'm training soldiers, not psychotics," she spat.
His eyes became provocative slits, and he smirked at her. "You're not training anything anymore, Quistis," he said stonily. "And for someone who's supposed to be even-headed, you sure went for your weapon in a hurry."
Groaning, Quistis turned and walked toward the window dismissively. "Sit down and shut up, Seifer."
He followed her with his eyes. "Make me," he challenged, taking a battle stance with Hyperion raised.
"Seifer..."
He stomped his foot, growling playfully. "Quistis..."
She whirled around to face him, hands at her sides. "Sit down and be quiet, or-"
"Or what?" he cried, swinging his gunblade. "You gonna kick my ass?"
She glared at him menacingly. "Sit down, Seifer."
"Make me, Instructor."
"SIT DOWN, SEIFER!"
"NO!"
With that he jumped toward her, Hyperion raised.
With a cry she leaned back and kicked him in the stomach, knocking him into a desk. Her shoulder hit the concrete wall, and she shoved herself away from it. "Damn you, Seifer! You'll never be a SeeD! You just sealed your fate!"
Smirking, he jerked back onto his feet. "Damn, Quistis," he chided. "You suck as a teacher and you can't fight worth shit, so really the only thing you've got going for you is that hot little body. You might as well move to Deling City and make your living as a stripper."
Quistis balled her hands into fists, shaking in anger. "Stop while you're ahead, Almasy..."
Seifer's eyes traveled down and back up her body. "I can't wait to wave a gil in your face," he scoffed. "I've always wondered what you look like on your knees, begging."
In one breath Quistis had Save the Queen untied and flung out beside her. "The only begging you'll ever get out of me will be in your wetter incarcerated dreams, Almasy," she seethed.
"This is one of my wetter dreams, Trepe," he murmured sensually. "Either way, you end up screaming."
Gnashing her teeth, Quistis drew her arm back and cracked her whip, the tip missing his face by inches.
Seifer jerked his head back as the sound barrier broke in his ears. "WOOO!" he cried, chuckling. "Bring it, baby!"
Quistis drew back again, poised to take another shot. Right before she swung her arm forward, Seifer hunched down and dove toward her, landing in front of her on his knees.
Before she could react he was on his feet, the tip of his gunblade at her throat. "Power is a great intoxicant, Quistis," he whispered gently, tilting his head and gazing at her mouth. "So is fear..."
Quistis licked her lips and swallowed hard, her eyes fixed on his moving mouth. The tip of Seifer's blade dug into her throat menacingly, but his own expression and tone were as soft and warm as a lover's.
He pressed the blade harder against her tender throat, leaning forward. "Tell me it's not so."
Just as she thought he would press his lips to hers in a kiss, he straightened his head and pulled away, smirking.
Sheathing Hyperion, he stuck his tongue out at her. "You need to loosen up, Instructor," he said, using his free hand to brush a tendril of hair out of her face. "You know I'd never hurt you."
Quistis growled and shoved him away. "You are the single most... most..." she stammered, winding Save the Queen angrily.
Seifer chuckled, falling back into a seat. "You're so cute when you're angry."
"Shut up!"
Their heads snapped up when the door opened.
"Uh, Quistis?" Xu said tentatively, tucking her hair behind her ear and stepping inside. "I hope I'm not crashing some type of party in here..."
Quistis sighed and shook her head. "Just trying to keep Seifer in line."
"Which she's doing a really good job of!" Seifer called, turning to face the front of the room. "See? I'm all in line."
Xu sniffed. "Right."
"Xu, what can I do for you?" Quistis inquired, smoothing her hair and standing as straight as possible.
"I was wondering if you knew anything about the group going to Timber?"
Quistis shook her head and pursed her lips. "Mnh nh."
Seifer shot up out of his seat. "Timber?"
"Sit down," Quistis ordered, giving him the corner of her eyes. "It's none of your business."
Nodding toward the door, she put her hand on Xu's back. "Let's go outside."
Xu nodded and stepped to the door and walked through it as it swooshed open. Giving Seifer a last, dismissive glance, Quistis followed.
"What's going on in Timber?" Seifer demanded, walking after them.
He stuck his hand between the door and the frame, shoving it back open.
"Seifer, take your seat!" Quistis told him sternly, pointing inside the room. "If you don't-"
Seifer silenced her with his hand and turned to Xu. "Who went to Timber? To help Rinoa?"
Xu eyed him suspiciously. "Rinoa?"
Quistis crossed her arms over her chest. "Seifer..."
"No!" he shouted, making Quistis and Xu jump. "Cid sent SeeD to Timber for what?"
"That's classified inform-" Xu began.
Before she could finish, Seifer turned and took off running down the hall.
Quistis groaned and went after him. "Seifer! Where do you think you're going?" she shouted. "Stop!"
Groaning, Xu went after them. The last thing she saw as she rounded the corner was Seifer shoving Quistis against the wall inside the elevator, and the doors closing in front of them.
"Of course not, Instructor."
Seifer smirked, continuing to drum his fingers on the desk.
The clock on the wall of the discipline room ticked in time to his staccato drumming, and Quistis sighed.
"I don't want to be here any more than you do, Seifer," she monotoned, flipping pages without really paying attention to them. "Let's make this as easy for both of us as we can."
Seifer's fingers stilled, and he stared at her. "You know what would make this go by easier for me?" he asked.
"I haven't the slightest idea," she replied without looking up. "Triple Triad?"
He chuckled. "How 'bout Striple Triad?"
Quistis's brows furrowed, but she still did not look at him. "Striple Triad?"
Leaning back in his chair, he nodded. "You've played that before, haven't you?"
"Not that I can recall."
"Well, it's easy. Regular Triple Triad rules, but instead of winning cards..."
She looked at him.
"You win pieces of your opponent's clothing."
Not amused, she rolled her eyes. Her mouth parted slightly, then snapped shut.
"What, Instructor? Wanna try?"
"Actually," she retorted, "I was going to say something off-color and unbecoming."
Seifer eyed her lazily as she uncrossed- then recrossed- her legs under the desk. "Go ahead. Say it," he encouraged, grinning. "I've got my own cute little off-color reply for it."
She picked a piece of lint off of the jacket of her SeeD uniform. "Well, if you must know, I was going to ask if Striple Triad is the only way you've been able to get a girl out of her clothing."
Seifer's grin turned into a smile. "Well, it's the method requiring the least work on my part."
Quistis nodded. "I see. A regular sixty-second man."
He cocked his head. "Yeah, sixty seconds for her to rip her clothes off for me."
Blinking slowly, she closed the magazine. "Seifer, don't even. I've known you for five years now."
"And?"
"And you've yet to spend the night with anyone besides Raijin."
He shifted in his seat, his smile mellowing a bit. "How do you know so much about my love life? And more importantly, why do you care?"
She carefully removed her glasses and smirked at him. "I know a lot of stuff."
He pursed his lips. "I guess you do, with your little army of puberty-stricken Trepies. Retarded spies."
Clasping her hands in her lap, Quistis leaned back. "Evidently not so retarded that you can't hit on them."
Seifer shook his head and looked out the window. "Just making my rounds."
He resumed drumming his fingers, and Quistis chuckled. "Did I hit a nerve?"
"Not even," he mumbled, expressionless.
They sat in silence for a few moments, the ticking of the clock resounding through the room like pounding footsteps. She regarded him with heavy-lidded eyes, watching as a bead of sweat made its way from his forehead and down the side of his face to his jaw line, where it stayed.
Aware of her gaze, he stilled his fingers and turned in his seat. Stretching his legs out into the aisle, he leaned forward and stared at his boots. Not sure what to do, he began to whistle. It was a tune he knew from somewhere, but could not definitely place.
Quistis leaned forward and played with her glasses. "You know, you could study," she offered.
He turned his head slightly, but his eyes did not leave his boots. "Why bother?" he murmured. "I'm never gonna pass that fucking exam because I know how to think for myself."
Her expression was sympathetic. "Well maybe you should decide which is more important- thinking for yourself or accomplishing what you came here to do."
"Maybe you should read your magazine," he said stonily.
Quistis sighed. "Maybe you should talk to me. Maybe I can help you."
Seifer took a deep breath and turned back around to face her, his gaze condescending. "Help me how? Take the exam for me?" he smarted.
She stood, walked around her desk, and leaned on it, crossing her arms. "Seifer, you should have passed it a year ago. You've got all the skills and training necessary, and more."
He nodded. "Yeah. It's my attitude, right?" he said sarcastically. "I should really do something about that."
Quistis groaned inwardly, and pushed herself into a sitting position on top the desk. "Yes, you should. If you got that annoying little obstacle out of the way, no one could touch you."
"Nope," he said, looking away. "Not even your boy Squall."
Taken aback, Quistis stared at him. "My boy?"
He returned the stare. "Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about, Quissy."
She stiffened defensively. "I'm afraid I don't."
Seifer shrugged and looked at the terminal in front of him. "You spend all your time on him."
She swallowed. "I'm trying to help him. That is my..."
Shaking her head and blinking, she swallowed again. "Was my job."
"Yeah, I'm sure you're gonna miss him like hell," he said with mock-sadness, tracing the edge of the terminal monitor with his index finger. "But you're gonna have a boatload of fresh meat next semester. I wouldn't be too distraught."
Quistis looked down, biting her lip.
When she did not respond he looked up at her. "You look absolutely despondent, Instructor," he teased. "Need a hanky?"
She took a deep breath. "As of yesterday, I am no longer an instructor."
Seifer's taunting grin faded. "Because of me?"
She crossed her legs and clasped her hands around her knee. "Not completely. There were other factors."
Not knowing what to say, he leaned back and looked at the door. A strange feeling came over him, which felt akin to guilt. It was something he was unaccustomed to, but though he tried to shake it off it would not go away.
Quistis looked up. "What, Seifer? Don't feel bad. It's my own fault."
He shook his head absently. "I don't."
Propping her elbow up on her knee, she rested her chin in her hand. "Of course not," she murmured. "That would mean you care a little."
He shrugged. "I'm sorry you lost your job."
"Me too."
"Yeah. Me too."
Quistis searched his face for some betrayal of his thoughts. There was something foreign there- a dullness in his eyes that she had not seen before.
She knew better than to believe for a second that it was guilt. He had no emotional ties to any of his actions, by his own admission. What difference should it make to him that his instructor had been relieved of her duties? She obviously wasn't doing anything for him.
Sighing woefully, she grabbed the edge of the desk and leaned forward. "The other instructors never cared much for me anyway," she mumbled, swinging her legs back and forth. "They all thought I was too young and didn't have enough SeeD experience."
She laughed self-deprecatingly. "I guess they would know."
Seifer looked over, his gaze falling on her swinging legs. They were thin legs, but athletically toned and attractive. He realized that in all the time they had known each other, he had never noticed how perfectly they were shaped.
"They were in your place once," he offered, dragging his eyes to her downturned face. "They just got old. And you woulda become the same way."
Quistis nodded slowly. "I guess so."
"Yeah..." he said, looking again at her legs. "That woulda sucked."
"Yeah."
"Yeah."
She stretched her arms back and rested on her palms, slightly pushing the bottom half of her body forward. This caused her skirt to ride up a bit on her thighs, exposing more creamy skin, and Seifer watched the display in silence.
Quistis was hot.
And she had no idea.
He shook his head and shifted his gaze her face to make sure she had not caught him staring. "So, uh... What are you gonna do now?"
She lifted her eyes to his. "Well," she began after a short pause, "I'm still a SeeD. I suppose I'll be going out on missions like everyone else."
He nodded. "I guess you'd be moving back into the student dorms."
Quistis nodded and leaned forward, pushing herself off of the desk. "Yeah. I guess."
Seifer sighed inwardly as her skirt fell back into place, leaving only her knees exposed.
She paced slowly back and forth in front of the desk, rubbing her hands together. "I never planned for this," she mumbled, mostly to herself. "I mean, I figured I would teach for about thirty years, retire, live off my pension..."
"That's really how you want to live your life?" asked Seifer incredulously. "Work so hard to become a SeeD, then piss away the best part of being one?"
Quistis stopped cold and turned to face him. "Piss what away?"
He ran his fingers through his hair and cocked his head, regarding her thoughtfully. "You mean to tell me that you actually prefer sitting in a classroom all day to being out somewhere, kicking ass?"
She put her hands on her hips. "I'm not like you, Seifer. I don't have to be in constant battle to be satisfied with myself."
He sat up straight in his seat, grinning. "But that's the best part," he cried, slamming his hand down on the desk. "It's one thing to sit there and tell people how to fight. It's a totally different thing altogether to actually be in the thick of it, putting yourself to the real test."
Standing, he swiftly came from behind the desk to stand a few feet in front of her, gunblade in hand.
"You know what it's like, Quistis," he provoked her, swinging Hyperion playfully in front of her face. "Tell me shooting the fuck out of that robot yesterday didn't get you off... Certainly more than explaining junctioning to some pimply little kid?"
She did not know what to say, so she shifted her weight and placed a hand on her hip, staring at him.
Grinning, he tapped Save the Queen- hooked to her hip- with the tip of his gunblade. "And come on, Quistis," he prodded, resting Hyperion on his shoulder. "Anyone who would choose a chain whip as a weapon has to get off on power."
Quistis shook her head half-heartedly. "It's not all about power, Seifer."
"Bullshit."
"Well, I guess for you," she said, shifting her weight again. "You would be completely happy if all you did was poke people with that-" she nodded toward Hyperion- "thing all day and night. Me, I want to help people. I want to protect and assist. That's what a SeeD does."
Seifer shook his head, chuckling. "It's probably a good thing that you lost your job," he said, amused. "You'd be sending a bunch of pansies out into a world that needs heroes."
Quistis fumed, her hand straying unconsciously to her whip. "I'm training soldiers, not psychotics," she spat.
His eyes became provocative slits, and he smirked at her. "You're not training anything anymore, Quistis," he said stonily. "And for someone who's supposed to be even-headed, you sure went for your weapon in a hurry."
Groaning, Quistis turned and walked toward the window dismissively. "Sit down and shut up, Seifer."
He followed her with his eyes. "Make me," he challenged, taking a battle stance with Hyperion raised.
"Seifer..."
He stomped his foot, growling playfully. "Quistis..."
She whirled around to face him, hands at her sides. "Sit down and be quiet, or-"
"Or what?" he cried, swinging his gunblade. "You gonna kick my ass?"
She glared at him menacingly. "Sit down, Seifer."
"Make me, Instructor."
"SIT DOWN, SEIFER!"
"NO!"
With that he jumped toward her, Hyperion raised.
With a cry she leaned back and kicked him in the stomach, knocking him into a desk. Her shoulder hit the concrete wall, and she shoved herself away from it. "Damn you, Seifer! You'll never be a SeeD! You just sealed your fate!"
Smirking, he jerked back onto his feet. "Damn, Quistis," he chided. "You suck as a teacher and you can't fight worth shit, so really the only thing you've got going for you is that hot little body. You might as well move to Deling City and make your living as a stripper."
Quistis balled her hands into fists, shaking in anger. "Stop while you're ahead, Almasy..."
Seifer's eyes traveled down and back up her body. "I can't wait to wave a gil in your face," he scoffed. "I've always wondered what you look like on your knees, begging."
In one breath Quistis had Save the Queen untied and flung out beside her. "The only begging you'll ever get out of me will be in your wetter incarcerated dreams, Almasy," she seethed.
"This is one of my wetter dreams, Trepe," he murmured sensually. "Either way, you end up screaming."
Gnashing her teeth, Quistis drew her arm back and cracked her whip, the tip missing his face by inches.
Seifer jerked his head back as the sound barrier broke in his ears. "WOOO!" he cried, chuckling. "Bring it, baby!"
Quistis drew back again, poised to take another shot. Right before she swung her arm forward, Seifer hunched down and dove toward her, landing in front of her on his knees.
Before she could react he was on his feet, the tip of his gunblade at her throat. "Power is a great intoxicant, Quistis," he whispered gently, tilting his head and gazing at her mouth. "So is fear..."
Quistis licked her lips and swallowed hard, her eyes fixed on his moving mouth. The tip of Seifer's blade dug into her throat menacingly, but his own expression and tone were as soft and warm as a lover's.
He pressed the blade harder against her tender throat, leaning forward. "Tell me it's not so."
Just as she thought he would press his lips to hers in a kiss, he straightened his head and pulled away, smirking.
Sheathing Hyperion, he stuck his tongue out at her. "You need to loosen up, Instructor," he said, using his free hand to brush a tendril of hair out of her face. "You know I'd never hurt you."
Quistis growled and shoved him away. "You are the single most... most..." she stammered, winding Save the Queen angrily.
Seifer chuckled, falling back into a seat. "You're so cute when you're angry."
"Shut up!"
Their heads snapped up when the door opened.
"Uh, Quistis?" Xu said tentatively, tucking her hair behind her ear and stepping inside. "I hope I'm not crashing some type of party in here..."
Quistis sighed and shook her head. "Just trying to keep Seifer in line."
"Which she's doing a really good job of!" Seifer called, turning to face the front of the room. "See? I'm all in line."
Xu sniffed. "Right."
"Xu, what can I do for you?" Quistis inquired, smoothing her hair and standing as straight as possible.
"I was wondering if you knew anything about the group going to Timber?"
Quistis shook her head and pursed her lips. "Mnh nh."
Seifer shot up out of his seat. "Timber?"
"Sit down," Quistis ordered, giving him the corner of her eyes. "It's none of your business."
Nodding toward the door, she put her hand on Xu's back. "Let's go outside."
Xu nodded and stepped to the door and walked through it as it swooshed open. Giving Seifer a last, dismissive glance, Quistis followed.
"What's going on in Timber?" Seifer demanded, walking after them.
He stuck his hand between the door and the frame, shoving it back open.
"Seifer, take your seat!" Quistis told him sternly, pointing inside the room. "If you don't-"
Seifer silenced her with his hand and turned to Xu. "Who went to Timber? To help Rinoa?"
Xu eyed him suspiciously. "Rinoa?"
Quistis crossed her arms over her chest. "Seifer..."
"No!" he shouted, making Quistis and Xu jump. "Cid sent SeeD to Timber for what?"
"That's classified inform-" Xu began.
Before she could finish, Seifer turned and took off running down the hall.
Quistis groaned and went after him. "Seifer! Where do you think you're going?" she shouted. "Stop!"
Groaning, Xu went after them. The last thing she saw as she rounded the corner was Seifer shoving Quistis against the wall inside the elevator, and the doors closing in front of them.