Ohana

By: fluffy pantoufle

A/N: So, I had an idea in my head of what I wanted this story to be…and it turned out to be something ENTIRELY different. This was a bit of a free-writing exercise, admittedly - I haven't done ANY creative writing in ages, and I wanted to dive back in with characters that I'm familiar with.

I drew inspiration from "Lilo and Stitch," the pool scene in "Garden State," and the fact that it's June. And it's hot. And everyone is graduating and freaking out over their grades and such.

I don't know how I feel about the final product, but as always, I shall let you be the judge. There's a little bit more tenderness to Seifer in this story than I was intending to write, and the S/Q errs more on the side of platonic than romantic… But it's kind of cool. Maybe. Hahaha, please read my little experiment and tell me what you think!

Seifer Almasy loved humid summer days. He loved the tiny sensations that came with sweat trickling down the back of his neck. He loved the dull sting of sunburn. However, had anyone cared to ask him what his favorite part of a long, hot, summer day was, well…

Words became all but unnecessary, what with all the girls scampering about Balamb Garden in their denim shorts and camisoles that left little to the imagination. As soon as the air lost its familiar winter crispness and the first freckles appeared on the cheeks of the fairer of Garden's students, Seifer thought that he had died and gone to paradise. He spent most of his free time during this point in the semester wandering the halls, doling out suggestive head nods and winks to the young women - at least until Fujin and Raijin found and subsequently set him straight. Underneath her cool exterior, Fujin was somewhat of a feminist and found Seifer's behavior to be lecherous.

"Fu," Seifer began in a pleasant tone of voice, "it's all just in good fun! You won't even let me have a little bit of that nowadays? The seasons are changing, love is in the air…"

"NONSENSE," Fujin replied, arms crossed tightly against her chest. "MANWHORE."

Raijin was slightly more understanding than his silver-haired counterpart. "Maybe Fu's a little jealous, ya know," he whispered to the gunbladist. "But she'd be a stone-cold fox if she changed up her duds every now and then, ya-"

"PIG," she hissed, glowering at the two men. "CASTRATE. SLOW. PAINFUL."

Seifer raised an eyebrow, especially when he saw how visibly shaken Raijin was at the thought of losing his manhood - although, whether or not he had any to begin with was a point of serious contention. "I'm just going to let the two of you duke this one out," he said, backing away slowly. "Take it easy on him, Fu. Okay?"

His words fell on deaf ears, and he knew it. However, Seifer also knew that within ten minutes Fujin and Raijin would act as if nothing had ever happened. There was an inherent beauty to that kind of friendship, and the blond was thankful that his posse had accepted him back two years ago. Clean slate, Seifer thought to himself with a smile. And yet, as one underclassman scurried past him with a terrified look on his youthful round face, he knew that not everyone felt the same way as Fujin and Raijin. Seifer Almasy had made history in the worst kind of way, and there was no amount of atoning that would erase his role as the Sorceress's Knight.

As he ambled down a hallway of classrooms, hands stuffed in the pockets of his black shorts, Seifer wondered how much money Headmaster Cid put into air conditioning; the air coming out of each class was downright frigid. Gooseflesh appeared on his bare arms and legs and the gunbladist frowned to himself. It reminded him of how angry he would get as a child, once autumn came and the Centran beaches would be too cold to play on at night. Matron would keep the children in the house, but stone walls and floors did little to keep the drafts away. That would have cut some serious costs, Seifer mused. The old man should've built this place out of rock. Bet it'd be colder than Adel's tit in here…

"Almasy?"

The blond snapped out of his reverie just before he collided into Xu. Regardless of whether or not it would have been an accident was of no importance to her; Seifer liked to avoid the high-ranking SeeD operative at all costs. If it had been anyone else, the perturbed scowl would have elicited some small semblance of concern from him. However, seeing as it was Xu…

"Having a good day, Asrai?" Seifer inquired, knowing full well that use of her first name would make Xu even angrier. It was just a risk he had to take.

He was right - thank Hyne she was so damned predictable. "I will have your balls, Almasy. In a mason jar. In a nanosecond," Xu replied coolly, cracking her knuckles. "It's too hot to deal with your shit today, especially since I know you skipped several classes this afternoon in order to hit on underage students."

"How did you know -"

"Almasy, as far as Garden is concerned I am omnipotent," the brunette stated with a grin. "So I suggest - if you want to salvage your grade, that is - you go and apologize to Instructor Trepe. She was more than a little ticked off that you were absent."

Now that was surprising. "Since when does Quis- I mean, Instructor Trepe - care about whether or not I show in class?"

Xu shook her head, as if the answer was glaringly obvious. "Seifer, Seifer, Seifer… You're twenty now, correct?" He nodded. "Certainly, you must be aware of the fact that this is your last semester at Balamb Garden, regardless of whether or not you pass your classes. You at least want to be aged out of school with a diploma, don't you?"

She didn't wait around for Seifer's response. As the heels of Xu's shoes clicked on the linoleum floor, the tall blond stared down at his feet. Of course he knew that he was on the more mature end of Garden's student body ('mature' being used quite loosely). It never quite occurred to the young man, however, that his diploma was in limbo. Ever since Cid had reaccepted him Seifer did work hard. Despite his efforts he never passed the SeeD exam, but that didn't matter. After all that he had been through, wasn't Seifer worthy enough to graduate with proper honors?

If I don't graduate, I'm fucked.

That tricky Asrai Xu. Always a bitch, but she didn't have to be - Seifer knew that Xu had always pushed him because she saw his potential. Unfortunately, nowadays it was more like "wasted talent;" she was one of a small handful that refused to give up on him.

Cid, Xu, Fujin, Raijin…

Then there was one person that Seifer never realized gave two shits as to whether or not he received a diploma, and she was sitting at her desk in a classroom five or so feet away. Suddenly, despite the overworked air conditioning, the blond felt beads of perspiration form on his forehead. He could see her sitting in her plush swivel chair, perfect posture as she mulled over a stack of papers, a pen tucked behind her ear. Yet, the pen became all but irrelevant as Seifer's green eyes fell to her attire - arrestingly short denim shorts, a plain tee shirt, and…a winter scarf?

"Chilly much, Instructor?" Seifer inquired from the hallway with a slight wave.

Quistis glanced up from her papers with a frosty blue glare. She reached up and touched the wool scarf wound around her neck with her fingertips, adjusting it so that less of her neck was exposed to the air. Was she truly cold, or was it because Seifer was around? "Unless you have a legitimate excuse as to why you weren't in class today, Almasy, I don't want to hear it."

To anyone else, Quistis's expression and tone would have implied that she wanted to be left alone. Seifer chose not to read her reaction as such, and instead took it as an invitation to enter her classroom. As he crossed the threshold, Quistis let out an audible sigh and lightly slammed a hand on her desk. The gunbladist ignored her, standing in front of her desk and leaning back against a the study panel in the middle of the first row.

"I'm sorry," he muttered as he removed his hands from his pockets, stretching his arms above his head. "I don't have an excuse worthy enough to justify why I missed your class, Trepe. I'm a fucking idiot - you know that. Just please don't flunk me over this."

"Seifer, you're not a fu…" Quistis looked up and sighed again, running a hand through her loose blonde hair. "You're not an idiot. As a matter of fact, you're quite the opposite. Had you been in class today, you probably would have aced the pop quiz."

"Shit, there was a pop quiz?"

Her eyes narrowed at his response. "The only issue I see here is that you blatantly disregard authority in all its forms, and you lack discipline. If you chose to work harder on those aspects of your academic career in Garden, I have no doubt that you'd have succeeded ten times over."

Seifer's jaw dropped at how dismissive Quistis was acting towards him. It wasn't like he expected special treatment from her or anything, but their history was unavoidable. She could have spoken to him like a friend, at least. This was more insulting than if she had actually been hurling insults in his direction. He seethed, waiting for her icy expression to melt away but to no avail.

"Quistis," he began in a low voice, casting the student-teacher relationship asunder, "can you please remove the icicle from your ass and help me? I'm trying to correct my mistakes - the least you can do is meet me halfway."

"Meet you halfway?" she repeated incredulously. "Seifer, I can't begin to put into words how, how…mad I am at you today. And not just today, but nearly every damned day of every single week! And you expect me to meet you halfway?"

There was far more to this situation than met the eye, and it was becoming increasingly difficult for her to hide as the seconds ticked by. "…this isn't just about class, is it?" he asked, choosing to address the elephant in the room sooner than later.

"Don't go there," Quistis warned. "I'm not prepared for this right now."

"When will you be? Hopefully not after graduation!"

At that moment, the tension was sliced by a familiar, perky head poking its way into the classroom. The broad smile on Selphie Tilmitt's face suppressed any anger that Seifer was feeling, at least for a minute or two. He instead chose to watch Quistis's reaction to her friend's entrance - under whelmed and off guard. The SeeD instructor suddenly seemed to resemble more a deflated balloon than a fiery, beautiful blonde woman.

"Quisty-kins!" Selphie greeted with a laugh; she waved at Seifer, who quietly returned the gesture. "I wanted to remind you that we have to be in Balamb at six, okay? Rin has us scheduled for our final bridesmaid dress fittings, and she's meeting Sis at the train station right now!"

"Thank you, Selphie," Quistis smiled. "It almost completely slipped my mind. I'll be there."

Selphie clasped her hands and bounced lightly on her toes, her bubbly brown hairstyle following suit. "Oh, I'm soooo excited! What better way to start off the summer than with a wedding, eh? It's gonna be super-duper gorgeous, too - Rinny's letting me decorate the ballroom for the reception!"

The instructor nodded. "Yeah, I remember Rinoa telling me she gave you the job. It's going to be beautiful, Selph - the Garden Festival always looks good every year. This should be a piece of cake for you!"

"I hope so! I've gotta do the best I can for Mr. and Mrs. Leonhart!" Selphie exclaimed as she exited the doorway, humming cheerfully as she skipped down the corridor and away from Quistis and Seifer.

"Is that what's bothering you, Trepe?" Seifer asked after the coast was clear. "Please don't tell me that you're upset over a fucking wedding."

"Can you give me a little more credit than that, Seifer?" she retorted bitterly. "It's so much more than just a stupid, silly little wedding."

The tall blond scoffed. "Little? Aren't there gonna be like, three hundred guests at the ceremony itself?"

Quistis rolled her eyes. "You know what I meant. And believe me, that's not what's wrong. I'm happy for them."

"Really?"

"Really. Is that so hard to believe?"

"Perhaps," Seifer replied curtly, crossing his arms over his chest. "But that's not what we were discussing before Bubblehead walked in. I want to know what I need to do to pass your class and complete the curriculum."

She took several moments before replying, trying to make the words sound right in her mind before letting them go. "Seifer, you've missed so many classes…if I pass you now, it can be construed as favoritism. My job would be at stake - it goes beyond my own personal classroom policies -"

"Oh, come off it!" he cried, throwing his hands up. "Instructor, how often do I come to you like this? Seriously? All I need is that fucking diploma! Once I graduate, I leave - and you don't have to think about me anymore, and Xu doesn't have to boss me around anymore, and Cid doesn't have to do me any more fucking favors…" Seifer paid no mind to how Quistis seemed to shrink back into her chair, her hands clasped in her lap. "I'll be out of everyone's Hyne-damned hair! I'll go back to whatever filthy rock I crawled out from under, right? And then if you ever do want to remember what I looked like, you can just take out one of the fucking history books and turn to the chapter about the Lapdog!"

His last words reverberated through the classroom and out into the hallway, leaving an eerie definiteness in its wake. Even if Seifer had earned ten diplomas, it wouldn't have mattered. The academic year was at a close and once the Leonhart wedding enraptured all of the Balambii continent, the Almasy reign in Garden would quietly come to an end. It wasn't the way Seifer envisioned his life panning out when he was a boy, that was for sure. He was finding it impossibly hard to accept.

Not only that…but had he made a positive influence on anyone's lives? Even a little bit? Beyond Fujin and Raijin, the only friend he knew in recent years was staring at him with doleful blue eyes - the way one would look at a dog bound for euthanasia. As far Seifer was aware, friends were willing to go out on a limb for one another…even if it meant pardoning an absence or two for a passing grade. Right? Right?

"Seifer," Quistis began softly after what seemed an eternity, "if the past several years have taught me anything - anything at all - it's that, well… Life isn't black and white."

"…okay?" Seifer shrugged. "And?"

Sensing his confusion, she held her hands up in protest. "Wait! Let me finish."

"All right. Carry on, Trepe."

Clicking her tongue at the lackadaisical use of her last name, Quistis continued. "When you leave Garden and head out into the world, Seifer…they're not going to give you a chance. So many terrible things have happened in the past, so much destruction that may never be repaired in our lifetimes - events that the world will hold you accountable for." There was a long pause as the words sank in; it was the truth that everyone in Garden tried to avoid. The young blonde instructor may have actually been the first to say what had been on everyone's minds since the second Cid decided to accept his estranged "son" once more.

"People don't entirely understand what happened to you, Seifer. Ignorance allows them to hate you so freely, and even if I do pass you for the year…" Quistis inhaled, unwound her scarf from her neck slowly, and continued, "I don't know how much help it would be to you."

"But it's a chance, right?" Seifer asked. "You'd be giving me something I could actually use, Trepe. No one's done that for me, and I highly doubt that anyone ever will. Not after what I've done."

"I know, I know," Quistis murmured, laying the scarf on her desk. As she gingerly smoothed it out, she whispered, "…I'll do it. But promise me that you won't waste yourself, okay?"

Seifer took a moment to process what Quistis was saying before a huge grin curled the corners of his lips skyward. "Are you fucking serious?" he cried; the tone of his voice made it hard for the young woman to discern whether or not he was outraged or pleased, but it became all but apparent when he rounded her desk and picked her up in a tight bear hug. "Quistis, you're a saint!"

She couldn't help but feel like a rag doll in his embrace; the instructor always knew how physically powerful her student had been but had never experienced it like this. Hell, she couldn't even remember them hugging as children - more often than not they had been too busy arguing to hug, and Edea putting them in separate corners for time-out didn't help that cause much. Her arms were powerless; they wrapped themselves around his neck, reciprocating the unexpected show of affection as Seifer swung her round and round.

"Why did I ever call you all those shitty names when we were kids?" Seifer exclaimed, a veritable wellspring of joy pouring out of him. "If I would have known back then that you would give me a passing grade, I wouldn't have put gum in your hair! Or thrown your teddy bear in the ocean! Or told Chicken-Wuss that you had a crush on him!"

Quistis burst out laughing, knowing full well that she'd probably never see Seifer Almasy this happy ever again. Not only that, but she couldn't recall the last time she felt so overjoyed, either… "I never knew you told Zell that!" she laughed, briefly forgetting how to form syllables as the giggles took over. "That explains all the strange looks I used to get at Garden Festival! Thanks, Seifer!"

"Not a problem, Instructor," he said, finally putting her down. The gunbladist watched as she meticulously tugged at her shorts and shirt, readjusting what had gone awry mid-embrace. Without giving it much thought, Seifer took initiative and ran his hand through Quistis's long blonde hair, tucking several strands behind her ear in the process.

Feeling his hands in her hair caused Quistis to glance up, slightly alarmed at this new contact. While they were friends, had anyone walked in at that very moment, well… There would be a scandal amongst the faculty, that was to be sure. "Please," she whispered, shying away from him. Instinctively, she reached for her scarf and draped it around her neck once more. "I have to finish grading these papers before I head to Balamb…"

Quistis Trepe. All business, all the time…what a tease. Seifer raised an eyebrow as she returned to her seat, crossing her ankles in front of her as she tucked her knees beneath her desk. "I…" She peeked up from the corners of her eyes, waiting for him to speak. "Quis…thank you. I mean it."

"You're welcome," she replied. "I'll see you tomorrow in class?"

He nodded and waited for her to say something else, but the ever-dutiful Instructor Trepe was already engrossed in a pop quiz; the answers had been scrawled in smudged purple ink and were most likely incorrect. Her hair had fallen from behind her ear and shrouded her face from view. Before he irritated the woman once again - always a possibility - Seifer began to walk towards the door, clasping his hands behind his back as he did so. He was too grateful towards his childhood friend at the moment to do anything to made her mad…

I'll have to stay on her good side for the next couple weeks. Shouldn't be too hard, so long as that damned kid in the third row doesn't piss me off. I still think that morons shouldn't raise their hands in class if they don't know the Hyne-forsaken answers, and -

"Seifer?"

"Yeah?" Without a second's hesitation he had turned around, as if the sound of Quistis's voice had in the past several minutes become essential.

"I, um…" she drummed her fingertips on her desk, obviously not knowing where to begin. "What are you going to do? Once you graduate, I mean… Are you going to stay close to Garden?"

Seifer shrugged. "Hard to say. Guess I'll just have to go where people hate me the least, don't you think?" He forced a smile, noticing how much that last query disquieted Quistis. "You have any ideas?"

"Well," Quistis began, an awkward tone lacing her voice, "I just…I've been giving it a lot of thought lately. Not just you leaving Garden - but everyone, you know? With Squall and Rinoa getting married, and Zell spending more time in Balamb Town with his mother - and you know it's only a matter of time before Selphie and Irvine get married themselves - I just wonder where that would leave me."

"But you have Xu, right?"

"Of course I do, but Xu is…Xu. We're friends, but I think sometimes that she may have a more familial relationship with her work than she does with the people around her."

"You're worried about family?" Seifer chuckled, despite himself. "Quistis, you're a capable person. Maybe it's just my lack of family experience, but… I think you'll be all right."

Her voice became uncharacteristically weak - too strange. It made Seifer feel uneasy. "Weren't we family at one point? Even if it was just for a day in between our arguments and the pranks we'd play on each other?"

"Well, sure we were," Seifer conceded with another shrug. "But how much does that mean nowadays, Trepe? Even though the world loves you and they fucking can't stand me, neither one of us are in a position to be sentimental. You work in a military institution, for Hyne's sake."

"I don't know if I'd necessarily call it sentimentality," Quistis mused softly. "Do you remember how Matron used to describe families when we were living in the orphanage?"

"Vaguely," Seifer muttered, craning his neck in rumination. "We all used to get so bent out of shape about the fact that we were orphans - I used to just be a royal pain in the ass. Squall hid. Selphie cried…Zell, too. I can't remember what you did, other than try to keep the peace…"

"Sounds about right," she agreed with a nod. "Matron used to tell us that even though our homes had been destroyed, we could create new ones. Homes are the easy part, you know? It's recreating a family that's rough."

The gunbladist, realizing that he wasn't leaving the classroom anytime soon, found a comfortable patch of wall to lean up against and pondered. "Home. It was the orphanage, for me. After everything that's happened - even before - I don't know if I ever thought of Garden as home. I just remember missing a place that I wasn't even sure existed until after you guys brought down Ultimecia…then the visions became a hell of a lot clearer."

Quistis smiled. By her expression, Seifer could tell she was trying to create a mental image of the orphanage in her mind. "Maybe that's all a family is, Seifer. Maybe it's just a group of people that long for the same place, even when it becomes impossible to understand why."

"If that's the case," Seifer began, placing his arms akimbo, "then it doesn't matter where any of us end up. We're all still thinking of that same place. And, if that's the case…why are you so worried about what's going to happen to you?" He tried to make his voice uplifting. "You know that Selphie and Rinoa wouldn't leave you in the dust - even Dincht! I bet he's still pining for you after all these years!"

"Shut it, Almasy," Quistis chided. "Do you remember what Ellone used to say to us?"

"Can't say that I do." Seifer shook his head. "My memory recall obviously isn't as sharp as yours, Trepe."

"'This is our home,'" she started, attempting to produce Ellone's lilting, motherly tone. "'In this home, we make a family. And family means that no one gets left behind or forgotten.'"

Suddenly, everything that Quistis was trying to say became abundantly clear. Why couldn't she have just come out and said it? Balamb Garden was a home of sorts, but what was most important was the orphanage - the home that had initially created their odd little family. With everyone growing up and leaving, it was only natural for Quistis - the big sister of them all - to feel the way she did.

"…how could I ever leave you behind, Quistis?" Seifer whispered. "You're the only one who hasn't forgotten me."

"I know," she said with a deep inhalation, trying to stifle tears. "But with the wedding and graduation -"

"Just say the word, Quis."

"What?"

"Hyne - you want me to stay or not?"

"Seifer, I couldn't."

"What, do you think I have some sort of amazing career prospects out in Esthar or something?" Seifer laughed. "I owe you. And even if I didn't - say the word, and I'll wait around as long as you want me to." She was going to protest once more, but the gunbladist only lifted an index finger. "Family. Remember?"

She used the end of her scarf to wipe a stray tear from the corner of her eye, and she smiled. "Of course."

That was all he needed to hear - no need for a potentially emotional scene to get any more out of hand. It wasn't his style, and he knew that in that regard he and Quistis were two peas in a pod. Hell, it was a surprise that she even shed one tear in his presence; this must have been tearing her up something awful. He strode over to her desk, leaned down and placed one soft kiss on her forehead. Her shivery reaction was palpable, even for him - the gunbladist simply smiled.

"Hey, Seifer?"

"Yeah?"

"Would you like to come with me to the wedding?"

"…Trepe, now you're pushing it."

"Please?"

"You could always ask Dincht."

"And I could always flunk you."

"…Hyne-damn it. Fine."

Quistis smiled.