Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VIII and make no profit from writing this.

Prologue

The silver-haired girl made her way swiftly and silently through the lush terrain, her footfalls as soft and fleeting as a gazelle's. Blood caked her chakram in slick goops, making it hard to hold onto, but she didn't stop to clean it. Though she would never admit it, she was afraid to stop moving. Her breath came out fast and shallow, out of sync with her frantically beating heart.

At twelve Fujin was small and bony, but her physique did nothing to hinder her skill. Most Grats she snuck up on were dead before they even knew what hit them.

The forest-like environment of the Training Center had never seemed that scary during class; she must have gone in dozens of times. But now, alone in the bleakly lit setting, it seemed so much more evil. Every patch of darkness was a monster lurking in the shadows. Any unanticipated noise was a possible threat to her life. But she had to get stronger, so she would not turn back.

A loud scream pierced the air not too far from where she was and she nearly faltered to a stop. Not hesitating to be cautious, she turned and ran towards the source, half-hopeful that it was a strong SeeD she could accompany, half-worried that the person was dead.

Two boys around her age -one tan, one pale- were face to face with a T-Rexaur. It was a young T-Rexaur about half the size of an adult, but a T-Rexaur nonetheless. Its beady yellow eyes glittered with bloodlust, and ropes of saliva dripped from its mouth. The tan boy shook where he stood, his staff even trembling in his grip. The lanky blond looked more sure of himself, but the gunblade in his hand was held awkwardly with inexperience.

"Would you get a grip, Raijin?" he barked, green eyes never leaving their opponent. The tanned boy gulped and managed to steady himself, although he still looked scared witless. Knowing it would have been wiser to run away from the T-Rexaur, Fujin jumped in beside the blond and had to duck one of his fast but poorly aimed attacks.

"HELPING." she growled at him. He looked taken aback for a second, but a ferocious roar from the T-Rexaur snapped his attention back to battle.

"Fine, just don't get in the way." he snapped. Fujin's mouth tightened, but she didn't respond.

It was a long and restless battle. It didn't help that none of the young cadets had potions or any sort of magic to aide them. They fought valiantly, and there were a few times that Fujin actually thought the beast would fall and not get back up. Unfortunately for them, it too was a determined fighter.

Fujin prepared to fling her weapon at it, but the sudden movement had caught the monster's eye, and it lunged forward to meet her. Her heart jumped to her throat and she froze up, waiting for the angry red beast to end her. In a furious attack unusual for its kind, it dug one of its razor sharp claws into the side of her face, ruining her left eye in the process. It quickly drew its claw back, and Fujin screamed as it pulled out scraps of her eye along with it. After that, the pain was all she was aware of. She closed her eye against the disorienting vision of red and fell to the floor clutching at her wound, childishly wishing that the pressure of her hand would take the pain away.

"Are you okay?" the blonde shouted at her. It was hard to hear him, as if he was far away instead of close enough to hold on to. She bowed her head, and if she didn't have so much pride she would have curled up and cried in the agony of it all. The blood was flooding through the gaps in her fingers, sliding down her arm, slowly spreading on the dirt beneath her. Stains blossomed like roses along her shirt.

"We gotta get out of here!" Raijin yelled, and Fujin heard the whisper of his weapon meeting hard flesh.

"Shit." the blond boy picked her up and threw her over his shoulder before she could protest, dropping both of their weapons in the process.

"IDIOT." she spat through grit teeth, but he just kept running, Raijin following close behind.

"We'll get you to the infirmary, ya know?" he said shakily, unable to look her in the face. He looked several shades paler than when she first saw him, like he was about to vomit. The blurred and shaking trees faded and dotted out of her vision, and she wondered how badly she was hurt and how much she had bled. Her head pounded against the slender but already defined back of the blond carrying her. The world was crashing down on her, and it was only a matter of time before she broke under the pressure. She acknowledged death, but hoped for the best.

"You kids should be more careful, it could have been a lot worse than this." The stern voice belonged to Dr. Kadowaki, Fujin could hear the woman scolding her allies from her small room. The doctor had done the best she could, but Fujin's eye was permanently damaged, and she would have to wear an eye patch after the bandages came off. Though her head still smarted, Fujin didn't mind the handicap. The eye patch, along with her primal way of speaking, would help to maintain the tough image she had worked so hard to create for herself, and less people would be likely to approach or otherwise try to irritate her. It wasn't as though she had been pretty before the accident, anyways.

"Okay, we get it, we get it." the blond boy, Seifer, she had learned his name was, retorted. "Can we please go in and see her?" he added impatiently. Fujin's mouth fell open. They wanted to see her?

There was a very pregnant pause, and Fujin counted five whole seconds before Kadowaki bothered to answer. "I'll see if she wants to see you." That was a safe answer. Fujin was somewhat of a regular at the infirmary, thanks to the fights she kept getting into, and Kadowaki knew her well enough to know that Fujin didn't like most people.

"The boys who brought you in want to see you." Kadowaki poked her head in to announce. Fujin hesitated, the usual "no" not spilling from her lips. She didn't like talking to people; most people were shallow and irritating. But for some reason those boys seemed different, separate from society due to their refusal to conform to it. Like herself. She simply nodded, and if Kadowaki was surprised at the answer she hid it well.

Seifer took the only seat while Raijin stood a little behind him. If it hadn't been obvious before, it was obvious now who the leader was in that friendship. Fujin looked at him, waiting for him to say something, but he just stared at her carefully, as if he could gain some insight into her soul if he looked hard enough. None of them broke the silence for a long time, and she was mildly impressed that none of them fidgeted or looked away.

"That was pretty cool what you did back there." Seifer finally commented. Fujin raised her visible eyebrow. "Not getting hurt, helping us out." he didn't blurt it out like an awkward excuse, he merely explained it to her. Raijin nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, we would have been dead meat if you didn't come along. You kick ass, ya know?" he added sheepishly. Fujin nodded back to them. She didn't know what to say. She wondered how long it would be until they became unnerved by her silence and decided to leave. Quiet fell between them again, weighing the air with thoughts left unsaid.

"You don't like talking much, do you?" Seifer asked when he was sure she wouldn't say anything. He was persistent, Fujin would give him that much credit. She nodded again. "That's fine, 'cause Raijin talks too much."

"Do not!" Raijin protested.

"All right, that's enough. You two need to leave so Fujin can get some rest." Kadowaki came in to inform them. Fujin took one last look at them, all the while reminding herself that people lied, that this was the first and only time they would ever associate with her.

"Okay, get some rest Fujin." And then Seifer did something no one had ever done to her before.

He patted her knee on his way out.

The breath caught in her chest, but neither boy had heard it. Raijin waved before following Seifer, and Kadowaki turned off the light and closed the door. Fujin sat awake in the darkness, heart still hammering from the unfamiliar contact. It had been a long time since a hand had reached out to her with the intention of kindness instead of pain.

She couldn't help but think, as she laid back in her pillow, that she wouldn't mind a casual touch like that every once in a while, especially if it was Seifer doing the touching. Raijin seemed tolerable as well. Despite logic telling her that there was a fat chance of them talking to her, she found herself longing for their presence. She bit her lip and sighed.

People don't like you. They'll only disappoint and betray you. They'll leave you. The words twisted around in her mind, repeating themselves over and over like a malicious lullaby.

However, they did come back, early the next morning while Fujin ate her breakfast. Kadowaki grudgingly let them in again, and Seifer led the way, proudly displaying her chakram.

"We went back for it as soon as we left your room." he said with a wide grin.

"And cleaned and polished it, ya know." Raijin added. Seifer placed it next to her, and for a moment she just watched it gleam in the early morning sunlight. Both boys smiled at her, their simple innocence catching her off guard.

"Why?" she asked, forgetting to add that edge to her voice. Had they really done all of this out of guilt?

"Because you had our back." Seifer explained. "Now we've got yours."

End Prologue

A/N: This idea has been buzzing around in my head for about two days now. Might not seem like anything big, but usually my ideas go away after a minute or two, so this was kind of a big deal to me. I'm still looking up the FFVIII script so I can be as accurate as possible, so it might take a while for me to update. Couples are still questionable at this point. Any feedback is greatly appreciated, especially this early.