A/N: not in time for christmas. but have some warmth regardless. December is hard for many people. I felt pretty despondent this month. but something told me to stop writing where I did. so I did.

Fujin sat at the table, Squall standing over it one hand resting on the surface. A small messenger bag rested between them filled with Galbadian gil notes. Squall, used to the transfer notes that Garden largely operated with, watched in fascination as Fujin counted the bills, stacked them and separated them by face value with a speed that would shame some clerical workers.

"I'm guessing you have done this a lot?" He asked quietly and she snorted a small smirk in the corner of her mouth before she made a tiny shushing noise. He took the hint not to interrupt her further and took a step back amusing himself with watching her count. Yet another skill that made sense only in context. He walked to the empty space in the middle of the room and then carefully sat down on the ground and laid on the hardwood floor without comment. He heard a second snort from the table. He ignored her derision, focusing on his breathing and relaxing his body and mind. Something to fill the time where there was no other reasonable activity. The phone rang, Fujin lifted it to her ear, listening intently. Squall could hear someone speaking softly on the other side for a few seconds.

"NO." She said definitively, waited a few more seconds, Squall could just hear the word bitch and Fujin placed the phone firmly back in its cradle without hesitation. He let out a breath as she resumed counting.

There were moments like this where the lack of direction to focus his effort was frustrating. His meditative state was broken some time later by the sound of Fujin scooting her chair back and standing up. He turned his head slightly to regard her as she walked to stand over him, barefoot in canvas pants and a sleeveless shirt with a jacket over her shoulders to fight the chill in the room. She looked down at him, an elbow held in one hand and her cheek in the other.

"COMFORTABLE?" she asked with an amused little smirk on her face. He let his eyes stare up at the ceiling and considered her rhetorical question seriously.

"Yes, actually." he responded and her smirk disappeared. Then she took off her jacket, tossed it a bit to the side and lowered herself to the ground beside him, her hands resting on her stomach as she stared up at the ceiling.

"DISAGREE." she stated after a minute's contemplation.

"It's not for everyone." he said simply and she let out a small huff of laughter, he chuckled audibly.

"Do you think we could fit a couch up the stairs? Or would we have to take it in the window?" Squall asked suddenly. Fujin was quiet for a moment before responding.

"HALLWAY, COMMON." She said with surety.

"Want to go hunt one down?" He asked looking over. She turned her head toward him questioningly.

"We have to lay low a little while anyway right?" He asked and she closed her eye and tilted her head in a low-effort shrug.

"COMFORTABLE." she said and he snorted.

"Grew on you?" he asked with a cocked eyebrow and she performed another low effort shrug. He chuckled and they lay together on the floor a while in peaceable silence. The consideration though lingered in his mind and he resolved when they cruised out inevitably to get more food somewhere to keep an eye out for a couch...

Three weeks and one very careful ascent later and they discovered the couch was long enough so both of them could lay across it and not have the other's feet in their face. It had been remarkably easy to get it up when they had finally found one that they could walk off with. Walking across the district with it had turned a few heads but not for long. After all, they were dressed like street trash, what's weird about someone trying to save a few gil?

"Not bad." Squall said staring at the blank wall of the apartment, appreciating the somewhat worn cushions of the practically-free couch they had found.

"NOPE." Fujin answers, laying back putting her arms behind her head.

"Good way to use a morning." Squall added to a small noise of agreement. A few moments lounging on their accomplishment brought something to Squall's mind.

"There is something I want to know, though." He said adjusting so he could look at her, she twisted a little to look back at him questioningly, her visible eyebrow rising.

"What are all those buckets for?" he asks. It had been lingering on the edge of his attention every time he looked at them. Just a random collection of plastic and sticks.

"DRUMS." she said simply and his head recoiled with shock.

"Huh. Okay. that makes sense." he said scratching his chin. A few long moments spread before she spoke up again.

"INSTRUMENTS?" she asked, it was part of the SeeD curriculum to at least learn two instruments, though more was encouraged. It added more places one could blend in and provided a skill based hobby for many as a coping mechanism for exceptionally stressful life as a mercenary. Squall considered. He was passable on a few instruments, excelling as he always had succeeding by sheer bloody minded determination. Though there were some ways of making music he preferred.

"I learned trumpet, saxophone, violin, and fiddle, though really it's just two ways of playing one instrument." He spoke slowly, thinking it out as he spoke, then looked to her questioningly.

"DRUMS, GUITAR, TROMBONE, CELLO." she listed off on her fingers.

"I've never heard of anybody playing buckets." Squall said, curious more than dismissively. She shifted and pushed herself up as he shifted.

"Hey, you don't have to?" He said after her as she walked into the bedroom and started audibly separating and tapping on buckets. Somewhere a stick skittered across the floor. He flopped back down to the couch and waited. She was going to.

It took her a few minutes of tapping to pick out what she wanted then came back into the main space with two buckets, one she flipped over and sat on the other she placed in front of her holding two sticks that looked like they had been dowels in a previous existence. She put one in each hand and tapped the corner of the bucket experimentally while spinning the other dowel lazily with her off hand in a display of manual dexterity.

Music played on a single bucket was a little different. He had to admit she could get some incredible variety of tone out of it hitting different places and lifting the corner with her feet braced on each side to keep it from going places. She had very fast hands. Her ability to keep a simple beat at roughly four times the note density was actually extremely impressive. He watched, listened really, in silence until she literally kicked the bucket away from her and dropped the dowels with a flourish and a relieved woosh of air from her mouth throwing her arms up and jumping to her feet.

"Yeah, alright, that was actually really impressive." He said, clapping politely as he sat up with a smile. She strutted back to the couch and flopped down taking up a wide swath arms spread across its back and knees comfortably far apart.

"Something to do in the downtime?" He asked as she breathed deep breaths. She waved her head back and forth some raising one hand to give it an ambivalent shake.

"Amongst other things I imagine." He said and she huffed. They sat in companionable silence broken only when her sitting on his legs started to give them pins and needles necessitating him pulling his legs out from under her and her pulling them across her lap then going back to spreading her arms across the back of the couch as they basked in a companionable silence. He watched as she slowly brought a hand down and lay it on his knee. She turned her head to make eye contact then squeezed some kind of sweet spot around his kneecap that made him let out a strangled, high-pitched noise and jump a little. She devolved into stitches of laughter, pointing at him and cackling so hard her face started to turn red as he sat up far enough to put a palm against her head and give it a shove. She flailed at him playfully and ended up falling sideways. Squall decided to sit up and pull her legs across his lap, reversing their positions. His face smoothed from the smile he'd gathered back to a more serious expression.

It took a few moments of breathing quickly to open her eye and when she looked up at him she sobered quickly as well. He looked down at her, a ghost of sadness behind a thoughtful expression, Fujin remembered this look. Whenever he was remembering the past the same sort of melancholy would descend on him. She understood to an extent, there were many good times behind her too.

"I'm…" he started then stopped. Her brows pulled together and she decided to wait, he still had that expression, unbroken by resignation or frustration, he'd continue when he strung the words together.

"I was really scared when she stabbed you." The revelation softened her face. It had been a pretty frightening moment. But even though the blade had hurt pretty badly, punctured a lung, her heart was fine and she had plenty of time to focus on healing magic. She opened her mouth to say as much but he held up a few fingers just barely above her knee where his hands rested on her knee and calves.

"I know, you weren't in any real danger, not at that point. But… We've only been on this mission for what? A month? Heh… Hyne help me. Feels like it did during the war… I guess… what I'm trying to say is… whew, there's no way to say this is there…" he said, bringing up a hand to rub the back of his head then presses it into his face with a chagrined smile.

"This is so messed up…" He let out a nervous little laugh and she shifted putting her elbows under herself to push a little further up.

"WHAT?" her heart having been slowly picking up steam. It took a fair amount of will just to hold onto a calm facade.

"Why… You have every reason to hate me. I'm glad you don't. Whatever this…." he said, bringing back his hand to lay on her calf again.

"Is, I…" he trailed off again looking away from her, his face turning slowly red as his throat worked but he didn't make any noises. Just as it looked like his will was going to break and she felt the tension in his body rise to begin to stand up, her hand shot out and grabbed onto his firmly. He paused and she quickly turned his hand so they were holding hands palm to palm.

His face turned back to hers where she wore a look of concentration. Her other hand came up and she sat up. His eyes went wide as she brought her face up to his and he started to pull back.

She placed her hand on the back of his head and brought their foreheads together. Eye to eye.

"Squall." she said softly, and then almost laughed as her throat closed right up too, she swallowed the nervous squirming in her stomach and spoke softly.

"I c-care about you too." she admitted, her breath smelled like the spiced pork they had for lunch mixing with the smell of her, The sharp antiseptic smell of her soap that lingered just as a gasp under the earth of her skin sweat and warmth. She felt warm against his forehead, her fingers firm and just slightly cool. But maybe it was only because his face had finished brightening into a rosey blush. Her eye was bright, looking so closely he could see every little detail, mesmerizing in its intensity and the furious feeling rioting beneath. He could feel how tense she was even to her legs where his fingers lay against the dense strong fiber of her pants, the tone of her muscle standing out like a spring coiled.

Her heart was pounding in her neck, stifling her as she looked into his pale eyes, past the frostiness of their color, the grey under blue so like a glacier as they danced like a river taking in detail so keenly. She could almost see his heart beat through his eyes, the fear, the melancholy holding to the edges, the anticipation. She could feel the short shorn hairs on his scalp under her fingers shift as his hair tried to stand on end, she felt it too, like a wave of pins and needles. His skin was hot under her fingers. But he wasn't sweating yet. Every time she touched him she marveled at it. She was often cold, it was a numbness in the background of her attention, he was so warm. All the way to his eyes where she imagined she could see warmth like hot spring water beneath the ice.

They held this shockingly intimate position for a few heartbeats, then he pulled back gently and she let him go, pulling her hand back from his head and bringing it back to let herself fall back down onto the couch. He looked away from her only slowly, his eyes kept shifting back for just a moment before he looked away. Her boldness had tied her stomach in knots but as the silence stretched, their hands stayed held together. She knew because she was doing the same thing.

"SO, um… music?" Fujin ventured her confidence wavering in light of their little moment.

"I listen to a little… I guess some people call it lounge music? Jazz, piano...small band stuff." He says softly, as though speaking too loudly will shatter some fragile aspect of the moment.

"Usually a little… um, slower, than the stuff they were playing at that club." He keeps talking awkwardly to keep his actual question out of his mouth.

"I didn't really take the time for it for its own sake." He lapsed into a pregnant pause thinking.

"I was pretty much buried, heh." he said softly. Fujin made a small noise of amusement drawing him to look back to find her with a tight-lipped, suppressed smirk.

The ringing of the telephone made both of them jump, share a look and with a sigh and a quick disentanglement Fujin nearly stomped over to the phone and snatched it up to her ear, holding it quietly. Squall could hear a woman's voice on the other end though he could not reliably make out the words.

"YES." Squall watched Fujin carefully, her tense body language and the way she glanced back to him. He found he could read more into her from here. He lounged as he had been Fujin sounded upset, her normally sharp enunciation clipped off the end of her word.

"NO."

"TWO." There was a long pause.

"TEAM." She said sharply, then frowned, tapping her foot one fist planted in her hip. Whatever the next question was made Fujin recoil slightly and look concerned then her eye angered in thought. She pulled away her head from the receiver covering the mouthpiece.

"SING?" she asked at a slightly lower volume. He lifted a hand flat and wavered it with a small shrug. She nodded and lifted it back up.

"YES." She said looking at him questioningly, listening with one ear and questioning him with her eyes. He crossed his arms and shrugged.

"TWO DAYS." She said and then put down the receiver. Squall waited for her to walk back over and drop onto the couch before he spoke.

"Work?" He asked and she nodded.

"BODYGUARD." she said and chewed the inside of her cheek a moment. Squall waited as she thought.

"THREE DAYS." she added. Squall frowned.

"Some kind of event…?" He asked and she nodded.

"EXHIBITION." Squall nodded. That made sense, a large event with a lot of strangers moving together.

"SING?" she asked after a moment turning to look him in the eye.

"I can, I guess." She stared at him a few more moments searchingly before she let it drop. They sat beside each other in an awkward silence a few moments before throwing her legs across his lap.

"MEETING." She said, throwing an arm across her eyes. Squall hesitantly placed a hand on her calf the other was thrown across the top of the couch carelessly.

"That's what's happening in two days?" Fujin nodded slightly in assent.

"I was starting to get restless." He admitted easily enough and she sighed relaxing slightly into the couch.

Squall carefully adjusted his second hand jacket. The alterations he'd made weren't perfect but the suit hung well enough. Ironically that was probably for the best, some street trash wouldn't exactly have something fine on hand and they hardly had the time to get something from a tailor with the money they had on hand so it was a quick alteration. He'd gotten rather deft with a needle even compared to some of his classmates who put more effort into their clothing. His particular style was largely absent for what he felt were obvious reasons, but he'd made due. Black was a fine color for him.

Fujin actually had a fine suit, looking sharp in slacks with a button up dress shirt and a smart vest in an ocean-like blue that really highlighted her natural coloration. It would draw attention away from him in any event.

The meeting was at a fancy restaurant in the downtown of Deling, to the point where they had to leave the weapons at home. Not the biggest imposition, but it still left him feeling naked. Fujin maintained her poise without falter so he took her example, straightened his back and kept a step behind her as they walked into the dimly lit establishment in the late afternoon, the sun still high enough that the clouds hid it lending the candle lights all the more gravity. When they arrived their client was already seated with two thickly built individuals sitting at the table immediately outside the booth. An effective deterrent, they had a military look about them despite the more casual attire. Squall didn't stare at them, and they didn't pay him any visible mind besides slowing their talking a bit as the pair approached and slid into the booth side by side Fujin first with Squall on the outside.

The woman they sat across from was middle aged, lines were just forming at the corners of her eyes and mouth. Her brown hair was elaborately pinned into an offset bun with a gilded comb. Her smile was practiced, inviting but with a warning.

"Hello 'Lee', I do not believe we have had the pleasure…" She started, and Squall's brain hung on the way that the woman said Fujin's name. He did his best to sit still and not draw attention. Largely keeping his eyes on the obvious guards at the table next to them.

"MA'AM." Fujin said smoothly, making no effort to extend a hand or anything else. The other woman took this in stride.

"I had heard you were direct. No matter, I am Demelza Echt, and I have reason to believe my life is in danger regarding an upcoming event, as I expressed over the telephone." the woman elaborated, Squall suspected mainly for his benefit.

"The short version is that I expect at some point to be attacked at the event. It is a number of art showcases, four to be exact. Over a week I will want an escort through all of the events. I have heard from reliable sources you are capable and… uniquely powerful, is your…. Associate? As well?" she asked, turning her head to look at Squall who politely slid his eyes back as he was being addressed.

"YES. JUNCTIONED, TRAINED." Fujin's tone was just slightly derisive, Squall actually doubted that the woman could tell, judging by her expression as it lightened slightly.

"Good. That's good. Unfortunately I am only allowed a plus one, so I will have to arrange something for you my boy. But if Lee is correct, it may be simple. How well can you sing, boy?" she asked softly. Her smile riding the knife edge of condescending.

"I practice regularly." He stated conservatively the woman frowned, unimpressed.

"Many drunks practice singing regularly, that doesn't mean they have any actual skill. I'm asking you to prove yourself, boy." she says enunciating sharply, keeping a polite tone for the moment. Squall glanced at Fujin met his eye and gave him a twitch that might have been a shrug. Squall huffed a silent gripe and took a few deep breaths.

"What do you want me to sing?" He asked, hoping for some kind of hint as to the kind of music expected of him.

"What about 'Eyes on me'?" Demelza suggested. Squall grimaced slightly. That had been Rinoa's favorite song. He knew it, by heart. Fujin read his hesitance immediately and her head turned slightly toward him. He raised his head and moistened his lips to signal his intent, Fujin relaxed slightly as Squall sung, softly. Moderating his voice to keep it from carrying far.

His words were slow, without backing his voice nonetheless carried the weight of the verse. Forlorn love, though his words carried it deeper the tune turning darker, no longer did love merely miss them, but that it died there on the floor. Bled out and empty, angry even at the time lost, and the heartache. He sang the whole thing and nobody stopped him, nobody moved. Fujin's lips fell open, slowly and Demleza looked like she wanted to cry. Even the two bodyguards' conversation had fallen silent as he sang his soft dirge. He stopped at the end of the first chorus, and turned his head away from the table.

"Satisfied?" He asked, barely above a whisper. His throat felt rather tight by the end and he took a glass of water to combat the bad taste in his mouth.

"What did you say your name was?" The woman asked, her voice betraying her shock.

"Vincent." he answered simply.

"...I have never heard a version of that song like that. And I remember the woman who wrote it." Demelza said, regaining her poise quickly.

"...Thank you, Ma'am." he said with the distinct cadence of 'whatever'. Fujin turned her face back to face Demelza who seemed to shake herself from a distant memory.

"Good, I will arrange a position, there is intended to be live music. We'll get you into the event under that auspice, it can be arranged, I believe. As for you Miss Lee, you will be required to stay with me, and to that end, I will provide something… suitable… to wear." the matronly woman said, looking at Fujin's attire derisively.

"This is to be something of a high society event, what society is left in Deling. The provincials have taken much of our best and brightest to the outlands with their rebellion. No matter. It will be resolved in time." she said with the conviction of one sure in their beliefs. Squall and Fujin both were silent in the face of that.

"I need you both to mind your place, and not embarrass anyone. " Squall's face darkened minutely, Fujin's poker face remained immaculate.

"GIL." Fujin cut in, the woman looked wrong footed a moment.

"Oh, your pay? Four days of your time, and the opportunity to be seen in high society as a bonus…" Demelza trailed off considering, sizing up Fujin primarily. Squall's eye slid over to his friend as well as she considered.

"ONE HUNDRED SEVEN." She stated firmly, Demelza looked to consider this, a delicate frown forming so as not to exacerbate her wrinkles. Squall blinked at the specificity, though Demelza shot back quite quickly.

"I'll be providing your clothing, it wouldn't do to have you mis-match, One hundred even." Fujin raised her nose, lip curling just lightly with a delicate sniff and made a show of turning her head to Squall, to Demelza's consternation if her audible sigh was anything to go by. It was a massive amount more money than he'd expected. It was true what they say, get people to focus on something small and they'll let something big slip by…

"...I guess." he said and Fujin nodded, looking back to Demelza who looked a touch like an agitated pigeon, puffed up and imperious despite the danger. Perhaps she didn't even realize the danger. It dawned upon Squall that she might well not. SeeD's power was unbelievable. It sounded like a monster. That a human could be monstrous sounded like a fantasy, her ease insulting them might be from a place of security. His mood darkened fractionally. It wasn't his problem, not really. And apparently he was going to have to sing in front of people. This mission wasn't one he would have asked for, and yet. Nothing to be done, when the phone rings they had a choice to make. They still had most of the money from the last job, this would set them for potentially many months. For a few days watching high strung nobility snipe at each other. At least he wouldn't be expected to talk to any of them… his musings snapped back in as a small fold of bills crossed the table where Fujin pulled it to her with two firm fingers, tucking it in her breast pocket carelessly.

"TOMORROW." Fujin said as Demelza nodded slightly. Fujin placed a hand on the seat between them and Squall stepped out of the booth smoothly following her lead. He'd thought they might stay for food but Fujin apparently wasn't inclined. Judging by the look on Miss Echt's face, she had been expecting them to stay as well.

"Have a good night, Ma'am." Squall said prefuncterally, turning his back on the woman to head to the door less than a pace behind Fujin.

Once they stepped out into the cool evening air of Deling city, it wasn't quite frost yet, but soon the damp would turn to ice. They started to head out, heading to a rooftop first. He took a deep breath of sharp air, coughing at the metal taste that settled on the back of his palette.

"Squall." Fujin said softly and his head turned to her, rarely did she let her game face slip when she wasn't home. They took a route around, walking through alleys and side streets in their usual method to throw off tails, ascending to rooftops and dropping to the pavement cutting impossibly from place to place. Her word took him as they walked across the gravel of a rooftop.

He turned his face back to her, she stopped walking briefly, a pensive look on her face.

"Why…" she trailed off, holding her elbow awkwardly picking at her pants a moment before sighing and walking past him to head to the next building. He frowned but fell in behind her again.

"I like singing… for me…" he said softly, but he could tell by her moment of hesitation that she had heard.

"Could…. Do you know 'Excuse Me'?" She asked, walking after him.

"It doesn't sound as good without a violin." She pulled the short stack of bills out of her pocket holding it between her index and middle fingers. He stopped walking and shifted his weight onto one leg. They stood in a fairly uncomfortable silence for a few moments before he spoke up when it was clear she wasn't going to.

"...sure." he said as they changed their path.

A few hours later, Squall stood on the street corner a few blocks up from the shop. They had finally found an instrument in workable condition for a price that wasn't awful. Squall was gently flicking a string with a finger and listening intently as he tuned the instrument against itself having gotten one string in key in the shop. Fujin smiled listening to individual notes to avoid feeling awkward; he had insisted she bought a guitar, strings with strings. And there was little chance of them getting a piano into that little apartment. It was lazily held over her shoulder while he fiddled with his fiddle. The most remarkable thing to Fujin was watching him gently produce notes while walking without interruption. It wasn't exactly playing and walking, but it was impressive nonetheless. She couldn't do that with a guitar. At least not how she tended to play. The walk back to the home was a fairly quick one all told.

Arriving back Squall was finished with his tuning and stood firmly in the middle of the room bringing the violin up to his cheek and taking a deep breath before he started to play. Fujin set down the guitar on the couch immediately plopping down to listen as he began to play something relatively slow seemingly testing his fingers. He interrupted himself a number of times squeaking a note or misplacing a finger but on the fifth attempt he seemed to find his stride and played through a short piece. Finishing it with a small smile.

"I guess I do remember how to play." He said seemingly mostly to himself.

Fujin provided quiet applause and indeed there was a smattering of applause through one of the walls. Fujin's eyes widened a little and Squall turned pink at the attention but gathered himself to try something a little faster, more a jig than the slow roll of his previous piece. Fujin, finding herself on the edge of her seat consciously slid back and leaned into the old fluff of the couch but she couldn't stop one foot from bouncing a little along to the beat.

"SING?" she asked as he seemed to be winding down.

"Um… lemme think." he said stretching his hand and pressing his fingers into his palm thoughtfully before deciding.

There's always a difference between an unaccompanied piece and hearing the music to go with it. Floria's Nightingale was an old song, she'd insisted her great grandmother had taught it to her, who had insisted it had come all the way from Centra. But it was simple and though it lacked rhyme it had a smoothness to it that Squall really brought out in the vibrato played against the strings. Her ears practically rang with the silence of the piece's ending.

"LOVE." she said without thought. Squall brought the violin down from his cheek.

"I really need to look at the sheets for that again… I think I messed up part of it." He said quietly justrifying as he walked over to the kitchen table to set down the violin gently.

"DIDN'T NOTICE." she said, truth be told she hadn't ever heard the whole piece before, just the opening notes, which she was pretty sure everybody knew.

"You going to tune that thing or play it with loose strings?" he asked as a way of changing the subject. She looked over at the Guitar she had been talked into buying and lifted it.

"C." she said simply and he picked up the violin again with a sigh and sawed a C for a few moments while she began her tuning.

"At least now we'll have something to do besides train in the alley and sit around." He said with some hope hiding behind his deadpan.

"AFTER." she said gently and he nodded. The job was going to take a few days, though not the whole day. There was something… lightening about playing music again. He hadn't really gotten much out of it before at Garden. But he couldn't help but feel that the darkness of the city had weighed on him. A song sprung to mind, and found its way out his lips even as he looked to the dark of the window. It had been four weeks since he had seen the sun.

"Excuse me while I run… I really gotta get, outta, here." He sang softly and looked out the window. The sound of guitar strings interrupted for a moment then resumed more quickly. He stood by the window, listening to notes and chords echoing. Once she seemed satisfied she gently started strumming and the opening notes of the song he had sung from started to play. It drew him from staring out the window, to look back at her while she looked at him evenly, but with a note of pleading. He sighed and quietly started singing. Her rendition isn't perfect, she misses some chords, her time wandering a little from his memory of the song, but the soul is there. He forgets a few of the words, letting them go. They can both feel the sentiment though. The banked embers at the heart of the song putting out scorching heat. At some point during the slow song filled with a kind of pain his eyes had closed. He opened them in the last stanza to feel the moisture in his eyes and sees it mirrored in hers. As the last words echo out she misses a note and pauses to run the back of her hand across her eye, then returning to muddle through the end.

She set aside the guitar. He stepped back over to the window. He could hear her walking around behind him, keeping her distance as he looked back out to the puddles from last night.

He heard her gather up the buckets that had been shuffling around the room stacking them back up and setting them aside with the guitar sounded like. The instruments ending up crowding around the largely disused table. Both of them typically prefer to eat on the floor than at it. Squall reached into his jacket pocket pulling out the package of smokes, opening it and fishing one out with the lighter and lighting it. He didn't even cough anymore, probably a bad sign. He was getting used to it. He heard Fujin walk up behind him, he took the roll from his lips and offered it over his shoulder. She took his shoulder and turned him around instead.

He paused looking her in the eye; his confused and questioning the look of pensiveness and shallow, rickety courage in hers.

"Squall." she said softly. Then her lips came together and her eye slid to the smoke plucking it from his fingers and putting it in her lips. His eyes settled watching the tip burn bright cherry red as her mouth flexed and she held it to the side, then spread her arms stepped into him. The impact of her body on his swayed him nearly knocking him over despite its gentleness.

"I feel it too." She said softly, her chin resting on his shoulder, her words just past his ear, a whisper. He wrapped his arms back around her, loosely his warm fingers against her relatively cool skin. That was something that always bothered him, no matter what she was always cold, he noticed it every night when she ended up laying against him, wherever she touched him she leeched the heat out of him leaving him feeling cool. Sleeping touching someone else usually left him sweaty, he was always hot, coat, gloves, didn't matter, hot with or without. Seemed like she had the opposite problem. He could swear he could feel where she was by the chill alone. They stood like that. Holding each other close it felt natural, it felt easy, even with his back against the wall he felt like he was standing tall here. All at once it crashed down on him and his jaw clenched, tightened to where it hurt. His grip tightened and she stiffened before hers did too.

"You feel it too." he said softly. She didn't make a sound but he could feel her heartbeat speed against his cheek. He was sure she could feel his do the same.

A/N: Dawn is coming, cold, clear, and sharp. Next chapter is another mission. and soon, a familiar face. Thank you for those who read, and thank you twice more to those who review. To those who are not authors, there is little that makes our day more so than knowing people are out there, enjoying what we make. Thank you for your time, as always. Please do consider leaving a review to tell me what you think.