Final Fantasy 8: Soul Junction
Sequel to Final Fantasy 8: Complete Junction. There's nothing left to do now, Carbuncle's memory is gone, Shadow's still around and so is Griever, What's next? Chocoboy x Nida, Squall x Ifrit, Zell x Bahamut, Seifer x Shadow Yaoi
Chapter One: Familiarity breeds contempt
One week after the Shadow's attack on the Garden and things were finally getting back to normal. The students moved out of Balamb and into the Garden again 2 days ago, yesterday classes resumed, and today was as normal as things were going to get. The one thing that was actually abnormal was the tension between the students, they were all uneasy now that Seifer was back... with Shadow.
Shadow was the one that made them the most uneasy, he a was one of the creatures that took over the Garden in the first place. In reality he wasn't, this was just his form and it was similar to them. Those who knew him knew that he clearly wasn't one of those creatures, not to mention he was much bigger (Cho's size in fact) and stronger. That didn't change the fact that everyone hated him, and Seifer, and moved away slowly when he was around as if he'd attack if they made sudden movements.
"I'm a SeeD now." Cho said, pulling himself off Nida's bed with a small yawn. He glanced over at the clock on the nightstand being illuminated by stray sunlight through closed blinds. "So why did I still have to go to all my old classes?"
Nida stretched his arms outward as he laid back against his pillow, "Because your still technically a Junior classmen, that's why you never were sent on any field missions... until tonight that is." Nida let his hands rest behind his head as he looked over at Cho, instead of searching for his usual clothing which were scatted somewhere along the floor he walked out of the bedroom and headed for the shower.
"I'll give it to you Cho." Nida called from the bed, still unwilling to move "I was sure that you'd be expelled from your title before now Inauguration but you made it."
"Damn right!" Cho shouted, his voice was almost covered by the sound of rushing water that started. The volume was inconsistent so he figured the boy was still trying to get the temperature right.
"You know they're not going to take it easy on you tomorrow." Nida glanced back at the clock, wondering if he should get up now or did he have time to spare. The bed was overtly inviting at the worse times and Nida was never one to be late.
"I don't want them too." Cho called back, this time from inside the shower "And I got Shadow on my side."
"Hmm..." Nida did feel better about this whole thing with Shadow with Cho. Another thing no one knew about Shadow, he made a good Guardian despite his attitude and his sometimes violent nature. "Do you think you can handle the work load? Your still a Junior even if your a SeeD, you have to finish all of your classes and take missions."
"I think I can handle it." Cho still sounded completely confident in himself though he didn't know how much work he was in for.
"Well Congratulations." Nida said, pausing for a moment when he heard the door quietly open and quite footsteps walk through. The only person that walked that quietly was Shadow, and the only time he walked through a door was when he was announcing his presence so that whoever was inside wouldn't be surprised. "I'm proud of you."
Shadow walked into the room, his blood red eyes scanning over his surrounding carefully, "..." He hadn't said anything, though that wasn't surprising since he'd gotten unusually quiet after last week. It was easy to see he was still guilty over what he did, Cho was still healing from it. Whom he was currently looking for.
"Hey Shadow."
Shadow glanced behind him, finding a dripping we Cho, half naked save for the towel wrapped around his waist. "Wow you're really losing it, I would have never been able to get that close to you with out you noticing before." Cho petted him on the head and Shadow quickly shook his hand off and grunted. "So what do you want to know? You look like you want to ask something."
Nida glanced over at Cho "That was a quick shower."
"I'm not done." Cho rested his hands on the back of his neck casually and looked back towards Shadow.
"What's a SeeD?" He asked.
"Glad you asked." Cho said in his mater-of-factly tone that he always used when he was explaining something, or trying to make a sale "I'll explain it to you in the shower."
"What?" Shadow raised an eyebrow questioningly, though it was hard to see since he didn't usually show what he was feeling or any feeling for that matter. He didn't know how since he was still getting use to it.
"You smell like you were training. If your going to come to the inauguration party you have to clean up." Cho pushed him toward the bathroom from behind while Shadow tried to figure out what he was talking about and why he was being involved.
"What is that?"
"Well it's a where all the new SeeDs get together with all the older SeeDs and the teachers and stuff. Probably going to be boring."
"No."
Cho gave him one final push and sent Shadow stumbling in to the bathroom, almost falling from an unexpectedly wet floor. "Why not?" Cho wined, pulling the towel off himself and placing on his sink. "Come on, please."
"No." He wasn't sold on the fact that everyone hated him, now he'd be in the same room with SeeDs all night. He didn't want to put himself through that, especially if he couldn't kill anyone.
"Come on, go with me. It just wont be fun with out you." Cho took out that same Vanilla shampoo and pouring it generously into his palm, he used more then before this time. So much so that it began to run down the sides of his hand and on to Shadow's back for a few seconds until Cho deemed it enough.
"No." Shadow said stubbornly as Cho pushed him abruptly into the tub, his body was immediately met with warm water causing his fur to sag and his ears to perk. It wasn't too hard to hear Cho snickering behind him with his senses, meaning it was also easy for him to pick up the Vanilla being lathered into his drenched fur. Shadow's noise flared and he immediately relaxed, it was soothing.
"Then what are you going to do all night." Cho asked, softly massaging his fingers into Shadow's fur and filling the black hair with white foam. He had to admit, it was hard washing a dog who was as tall as he was, but Shadow wasn't exactly a dog.
"What do I usually do." He shot back sarcastically. His nose flared again and he caught himself closing his eyes for a quick second as the scent of Vanilla surrounded him. This had to be one of his favorite things about this world, it had so much appeal to the senses, even Cho's scrubbing felt good. He wouldn't have minded staying like this for a few hours.
"Exactly! So come with me, forget about everyone else." Cho moved his fingers teasingly up his head and scratched behind his ears. The sudden sensation caused Shadow to lean back and open his mouth slightly. "I'll get you some vanilla ice cream after words."
He wasn't sure what ice cream was but the vanilla part sounded tempting, if it was anything like this shampoo. "...I'm not going."
"Come on, Since when did you care about what everyone else thought about you? Your the same guy that thought the humans would die out a million years ago." Cho said, stifling a laugh as the foam drifted over the wolf's eyes.
Shadow shook himself in a very canine like manner, sending a flurry of shampoo and water at Cho. The former tyrant GF snorted and gave a small bark "Alright I'll go."
"Yes!" Cho reached upward and turned the shower head on himself and Shadow, rinsing out any remaining soap from both of them. "Now let's cut that fur."
"Don't push it," Shadow growled firmly.
"Kidding." Cho backed off the subject though he was considering it, not that he'd actually attempt to do something like that, he liked Shadow's fur...though Cho couldn't help thinking it was a horrible mess after being washed as he turned off the water. Usually it would work itself back into it's normal form after a few hours but he didn't have that long. "But I'm going to have to comb it."
"What's that?" Shadow watched as Cho pulled a comb out of the cabinet and ran it through his fur. "What's the point of this?"
"So you can look nice...or at least neat...or less wild." Cho searched for the right words and still couldn't find the right one, finally he just gave up after wild.
"I don't care what they think remember?"
"I don't really care what everyone else thinks, it's kinda like a habit. People want you to look nice for these type of things, stand up strait and all of that." Cho started to move to other areas of Shadow's fur, finding it to be an easier task then he expected.
"Why are you doing it if you don't care?" Shadow asked. "This is too much trouble, I'm not going."
"I'm a finally going to be an Official SeeD, I have to look good for the occasion...Oh that reminds me." Cho's managed to remind himself about something he wanted to tell Shadow, he couldn't believe he'd forgotten. "It's my first mission tomorrow."
"I'll be ready." Shadow agreed instantly, it was his first time officially being a GF and a good time to show off his training.
"Since it's my first mission tomorrow that's why you have to come with me to night." Cho was thankful Shadow's fur was wet because there was no way he'd be able to comb it otherwise.
"This is that important to you?" Shadow tilted his head back and allowed Cho to comb the fur between his ears. "I don't get it."
"Of course you don't, nothing was ever really important to you...It's so hard to explain this type of thing, I guess you'll just have to find something like that to get it. "
Shadow already had found something important to him, nothing else seemed to come first any more. Not his power, not his pride, not everything he ruled over before, not even everything he'd learned in his hundreds of years of existence. It was Cho...whom he stilled held much desire to mate with, just as strong as the first time he saw him, Maybe that had something to do with it... 'Damn it, these Human emotions aren't worth the effort.' "Alright I'll go damnit."
"Yess! Now the only thing we have to do is grooming." Cho said with a large trademark grin, Shadow knew he wouldn't like it. He thought he wouldn't even dare to ask this but he wanted Shadow to look his best also, though he thought he wouldn't a moment ago, it seemed like he had no choice.
"Grooming?"
"Your fur, it's every where. The only thing we need to do is... cut it."
Shadow pulled away "Your pushing it again."
"Seriously! It will make you look a whole lot better." Cho lightly began to scratch behind Shadow's ear as he reached for a pair of scissors on the edge of the sink. "Please, Please! I promise you'll look great." Cho begged. "Come on, everyone likes a clean dog!"
Shadow glared at him, making Cho freeze with the scissors only an inches from a strand of black fur. "I'm not a dog, don't call me that!"
"Sorry." Cho rubbed his head nervously, "Just let me do it, I'll never ask again."
Shadow look at him for a moment, he didn't know why this was important but he didn't like the idea of someone cutting anything off of him. "Fine." Shadow snorted, laying down and closing his eyes while Cho slowly lifted the scissors over the untamed hair on the top of the wolf's head. he leaned forward to get a better angle and...'Whoa...' Cho started losing his footing on the wet floor and stumbled forward, the scissor in turn slipped past the strands and sliced through the top of his ear. 'Oh crap!'
Shadow laid as still as ever as if he didn't even notice that the tip of his ear was laying on the ground beside him. Cho could only stand there apprehensively, afraid to make another move. Shadow glanced up at him. "Why aren't you..." He saw the look on Cho's face and knew something was wrong, he immediately followed Cho's eyes down to the piece of his ear. Which made him growl "Wha--"
"I'm sorry it was an accident." Cho lifted his hands in defeat and dropped the scissors immediately. "I'm not so good at this...Nida can do it."
Shadow snorted, twitching his injured ear slightly and letting the black shadows surrounding his body slide upward and replace the severed part. "If he's anything like you..."
! - ! - !
Nida walked into the doorway with a sleepy yawn and nothing but his boxers. "Finally decided to get an hair cut huh?" He said with a small chuckle, taking Cho's place and kneeling beside Shadow.
Shadow looked up at him in mild annoyance.
"Alright I quit." He said defeated, running his hands through the fur on his back and taking a handful. "You know I didn't think you'd actually go."
"..."
"To think Cho can actually wear you down."
"What is that suppose to mean?"
"Nothing." Nida shrugged, carefully trimming the messy entanglement of fur. He took the comb from the sink and gave Shadow's back a quick stroke before he started cutting again. "Just that you don't seem to like the idea very much, and your pretty stubborn."
"Are you saying I'm getting weak?"
"No not at all. People who occasionally give in and force themselves to do something they don't want to show they have reason." Nida said, brushing his wrist against Shadow's ears to push them down slightly as he began cutting the top of his head. "You just seem like you really don't want to do this."
"Too much trouble, I don't want to be bothered with it." Shadow said casually, folding his paws over his each other and resting his head on them.
"Maybe...or at least that's what your telling yourself." Nida moved carefully down Shadow's neck, equally combing as much as he cut, making sure Shadow's was strait as he needed it before proceeding. "Maybe you don't want to be bothered, but I think that your don't want to do this because you know everyone there hates you."
Shadow glanced up at him with one red eye "The views of humans don't concern me, it doesn't matter what they think of me."
"It shouldn't should it? I know your probably wondering why you care about it, why it feels the way it dose when you know no one likes you, when they all just wish you'd just disappear and go off and die some where with out a second thought. Lonely eh?" Nida looked down at Shadow, making sure he couldn't see him looking.
"..." Shadow opened his eyes for a moment, staring blankly at the wall. He quickly closed them again "Whatever, If that's true why would I be bothered with this whole thing. I don't have to be doing this, it doesn't matter what your hormonal peers think."
"I think all of that time you spent not feeling anything is making this even harder. That if you ignore it long enough then it will go back to the way it was and you wont feel it anymore." Nida shifted positions and settled on the other side of Shadow. "I've been living in this world all my life, it doesn't get any better. If any thing it only get's worse."
"...Then why am I here, what is the point of these damned emotions? They're just reactions in the brain that make you weak." Shadow snorted.
"You must have a reason, or else you would have left already."
"And what makes you think you can talk about me like you know me."
"I do know you." Nida couldn't help but smirk.
"Human."
"Familiarity breeds contempt." Nida started dusting off the lose fur from Shadow's body. Speaking before Shadow could get another word "Done. Tell me if you like it."
Shadow stood up and shook himself to clear anything Nida, he hadn't even noticed how long he'd been laying there, or how much hair was there. Did he even have any left? He felt lighter...Shadow walked out of the bathroom towards the mirror in Nida's room, but he encountered a very happy and fully dressed Cho on the way.
"Whoa! You look much better!" Cho said, "Nida did a much better job then I would have."
Shadow glanced over Cho with a quick once over look. The boy now had his SeeD uniform on for the first time, his hair messy had been combed and his appearance was much neater then it had been any previous time in his life. He even stood up straighter then usual just as he said before. "Your..."
"I look good huh?" Cho said proudly "I gotta look my best, I have to make a good impression."
Shadow gave up on words to describe it and walked past him into Nida's bedroom "Why are you so concerned about it? It's just a gathering of other humans." Shadow said, looking over himself in the mirror sitting next to the window. Now that his hair was cut he looked a lot... slimmer, much neater, and his fur was short enough for him to wonder about warmth in cold places. It was practically pressed against his body, this was a completely new experience to see himself like this.
"Everyone thinks I just a kid, I have to do really good and prove that I'm SeeD material. One mistake and they'll probably just say I'm too immature or not strong enough."
"Hmm..." Shadow walked back in to the living room and took his usual position on the couch, he didn't think he was ready for this. Being there, with all of those people, and he knew all of the attention would be on him and Cho. The thought made his shudder, he didn't understand how something like this could effect him so much. He almost backed out of the whole thing right there...but then he remember why he was doing this, for Cho.
"Only a half-hour left Cho, you better get..." Nida's voice trailed off as he emerge from the bathroom with a towel around his waist and a damp body. He couldn't believe he was looking at Cho, it was such a difference. 'He looks...amazing...'
"So, how do I look?" Cho asked, Sure he thought he looked alright but it didn't mean much unless Nida thought so too.
"Great..." Nida couldn't help but stare at a lose of words, he had to regrettably force himself out of it though, he had to be there early and help set up. Just as well, seeing him like this made him want to do things to him...
! - ! - !
