{} indicate inner thoughts.
Not sure where I am going with this. Really I am just flexing my writing muscles as they haven't been used in so long. Please review..it lets me know that there are people who will actually read what I write and it gives me the motivation to continue writing! Good luck to all you other writers, I love your fanfics!



{This is some stupid shit.}

The young woman thought as she took another long drag from her half-gone cigarette. Exhaling, she absently watched the smoke rise high above her head and dissipate slowly. With a soft almost silent sigh, she flicked the remaining bit of cigarette onto the ground and stomped on it with her booted heel. Twisting slightly, she ground the cigarette butt down to nothing so that the remains would be swept away unnoticed; smoking was prohibited in Garden, after all. Leaning back against the wall again, she crossed her slim smooth pale arms over her chest, listening to the crinkle of the pink leather vest as she moved. Her face grew grim as a strand of her golden hair fell forward into her face. After blowing a few breaths out of the corner of her mouth in an attempt to move the offending strand of hair failed she angrily swatted at it with her hand. Suddenly her anger was too much and she clenched her fists tightly.

{Why!?} She silently screamed in the recesses of her mind.

{Why did they take away from me the only life I ever really knew!}

Swinging her arm downward, her clenched fist connected with the cold stone of the wall emitting a soft thud.

"Why my teaching license? Why..." she whispered softly, her vision blurring. Casting her eyes upward towards the darkening sky she could just make out the first few stars of the evening. The graduation of the new SeeDs was tonight. The ball would be a grand affair as it always was. Squall would be there.

"Squall...." She murmured.

Beautiful, silent, cold Squall. Her student. He eyes were so uncaring, so cold, and yet they held within their depths a yearning. A longing to be loved and accepted. Was she the only one who saw that? Was she the only one who could see that he needed a friend?

"Oh, Squall..."

She wanted to hold him and comfort him. Be the angel he needed to watch out for him and care for him. But did she truly love him?
{Do I LOVE Squall? Really love him? Love him....like...like...I don't know...}

Straightening, she silently made her way back into the Garden. Walking the halls, she kept her eyes downcast as she hurriedly moved towards her room. Being an instructor and a SeeD granted her a larger room than most with it's own private bathroom and large walk-in closet. She quickly entered her tidy room with its few furnishings and shut the door. Looking on her dark oak wood desk her eyes grew dark and misty as she saw her teaching material spread out and ready. She would never use that again.
{'Incompetent teaching methods... Not enough graduating SeeDs...must be the instructor...'}
The words kept echoing in her head. She had to tell someone. Someone who would listen. Squall....

When she arrived at the graduating party she searched fervently for some sign of the silent and elusive Squall. Spotting him alone leaning against the wall, she took a deep breath gathering her courage to talk to him. Just as she was about to make her way across the floor, a young slim girl with dark hair dressed in a shimmering short white gown descended upon him. Transfixed, she watched as the young girl not only managed to get Squall to talk to her but to also dance with her. Blinking rapidly, she watched as the couple walked out to the floor and begin to dance. At first Squall was terrible and he was about to leave the floor, but the girl wouldn't let him. After a few moments, she could tell that Squall had gained more confidence and the young couple flowed across the floor with smooth and precise dance movements. When the dance was over she watched as Squall and the girl stood in one another's arms watching the fireworks.

{Impossible!}

She was about to turn away, to leave and seek comfort from the wall in her room as she had done so many times in the past, when she saw the girl leave Squall in a flurry.

{Now's my chance.}

Following Squall out onto the balcony, she found him leaning against the railings. She waited in silence to see if he would say anything to her; to even acknowledge her presence. He didn't.

"So you'll dance with a stranger, but you won't even talk to me?"

She walked slowly to stand next to him and leaned against the railing. She let the silence drag on for several minutes and with each passing second she could feel her frustration and anger growing and her patience ending.

"Why don't you ever even try to talk to me?" she finally said with a cold tone.
"You're my instructor." His voice never changed from that emotionlessness she was so used to. Earlier she had thought she might have broken through that shell when she had gone to fetch him at Dr. Kadowaka's office and when she had gone with him to capture his first Guardian Force.

{"I knew it was either you or Seifer when the doctor called." Quistis said with a faint smile as she entered the examination room and saw Squall lying on the table. When Squall rose and turned toward her it took all of her will not to gasp at the red scar that now ran down his nose at an angle. Silently, Squall followed her out of the doctor's office and out onto the walkway that would take them back to class. After a few steps he took the lead. "You should have a thought of your well-being during your 'practices' with Seifer."

"Whatever." He began

"...whatever." She mimicked with a small tight smile. He paused and turned to look her way his expression as cold and dead as always.

"I think I am beginning to understand my student." She said although inside she grimaced. {Will he always be just 'my student'?} He began walking once more.

"Whatever." He stated again, deadpan.

"...whatever." She again mimicked, more amusement creeping into her voice. Squall paused again just before the door and in unison they both placed their right index finger and thumb at the bridge of their noses. Darting a look towards her and seeing her mimicking him again, Squall hurried into the classroom and made his way to the back. Waiting for a moment outside the door, Quistis composed herself. {I was making headway. He really actually noticed me.}

Striding into the room, she took her place at the head of the class.
"Today SeeD examinations will commence. You have all been given your orders. You have a few hours to prepare." Pausing she scanned the room. She noticed a smirking Seifer in the back of the classroom, lounging in his chair and looking at Squall with a mocking expression. She also noted that he, too, bore an angry red scar across his face. Exactly opposite to that of Squalls. She was somewhat shocked at how much pride filled her at the thought that Squall didn't go down without one hell of a fight and how much anger at Seifer for scarring Squall's face.
{Although the scar only enhances the perfect beauty of his cold face.}

"Oh and remember, practice sessions are not the time to try and kill your partners. Right, Seifer?" she allowed some bit of sarcasm and reprimand to enter her teaching voice at the sound of Seifer's name.

"Of course not, Instructor Trepe." He replied in a mockingly sincere tone of voice. Ignoring him, Quistis returned her attention to the entire class.

"I need to see Squall after class. Dismissed."

Immediately, a young group of three male students surrounded Quistis. {They are so
Obvious.} Quistis sighed inside her head. The other students called these and those
students like them 'Trepes'. Supposedly, they all thought Quistis was the greatest
instructor and very beautiful. {Beauty? Me?} Looking past the Trepes, she tried to catch
glimpse of Squall. Seeing his expression, she could tell that he was not pleased at having
to stay after class. {Where would you rather be, Squall? Training in the Training Center fighting the monsters? Why do you try to hide yourself? Why won't you let me in...let me...get close to you...share the loneliness...}
Quistis silently begged him. Stepping around the Trepes, she strolled over to Squall. Forcing a smile, she crossed her arms and watched him silently for a moment. She quietly counted the seconds in her mind, wondering which of them would break first and speak. It was a game between them, a game she suspected that would win her a small amount of respect from him if she could hold out the longest.

"Yes, Instructor?" Squall finally said in a bored tone after a good four minutes had passed.
Smiling broadly now, Quistis congratulated herself on winning this round. "You haven't been to the Fire Cavern to catch your first GF. You can't test for SeeD without doing that. And you can't go to the Fire Cavern without an instructor. Therefore, you need to meet me at the front gate as soon as you're ready to go. Okay?" she said in a rush. She wanted to be the instructor that went with him. She wanted to spend this time alone with him, maybe open him up some. Shrugging his shoulders slightly, Squall turned and left.
Quistis watched him go hope blossoming in her chest. She would get him to open up at the cavern, for sure.}

Who was she kidding? She hadn't gotten him to open up at all at the Fire Cavern. She had had a one-sided conversation with herself about the art of fighting and the use of Guardian Forces, while Squall had muttered his usual response of "...Whatever." But could she give up so easily? She had to try one last thing. Confession. She would talk to him in a place that might make him feel more comfortable around her. The Secret Place. She had to try because she was tired of sitting in her dorm and talking to her true 'friend'; the white plaster wall.

"Meet me at the Secret Place. This is my final order as your instructor." She said, hoping to give him a hint as she turned to leave.

{He will come, if only because I made it an order, and Squall always follows orders.}