Cherry Blossoms
By Nightdragon
Chapter two~ Dark Horizons
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Quezcotal landed in an open space in Esthar before letting Seifer off and transforming back into Squall. "Geez, you sure that ride wasn't bumpy enough?" Seifer complained.
"Well, you may want to remember two things, one- It wasn't me, it was the GF. Two- you were the one who suggested using Quezcotal to get here" Squall answered back. Seifer slumped against a nearby building.
"Well if you're going to complain, you may as well equip all the GFs to me." He taunted.
"What? Why?"
"Well if you pass out then I'm there to back us up"
"Ummmm…"
"What?"
"I kinda forgot, I used a GF a while before we left… I kinda forgot to bring Potions and Phoenix Down with us."
"WHAT!? Now what are we going to do? It's going to take ages to get those!"
"Ummmm, Seifer…"
"WHAT???" Squall pointed.
"Oh…." Seifer said in defeat. They walked forwards into the city mall.
"Would you like to shop?" The computer asked. Squall tapped in yes and bought the Potions and Phoenix Down that they needed.
"So where do we start, that's the question." Seifer said, thinking and tapping his gunblade against the wall.
"I guess we should see if the slave traders are still where they were last time."
"Wouldn't you have seen them when you landed?"
"No, they blocked us from the city entrance."
"Man, you're on fire today…"
Meanwhile Rinoa hauled up a heavy block onto the wall her new master had ordered her to build. "First my father dies, then the guy I love dumps me so he can play astronauts…" a tear fell down her face.
"Squall… why?" She felt the ring that Zell had made for her, the copy of Squall's.
The wind came and a shower of pink petals blew past Rinoa. One landed in her hand. "A Cherry blossom…"
The same shower of Cherry Blossoms came past Squall and Seifer, who had discovered that the Esthar slave traders were gone. "Huh?" Squall squatted down and looked at some marks in the dirt, "They've only left recently, let's follow the tracks."
"one problem, Mr smart-arse, when we get out of the barrier we won't be able to find any tracks. The winds
would have blown them away"
"well you are equipped with all the GFs…"
"except Shiva, who just happens to blend in well with the snow and ice out there that I saw from Quezcotal"
"why does it matter that we're not seen?"
"why do you want to be seen?"
"(Jackass)" Squall thought, "well, you know on Quezcotal we could see them better"
"look, forget it. We're wasting time anyway"
"so we walk?" Squall asked, Seifer nodded, "thank you." Squall sarcastically thanked Seifer, who looked as though he was about to say something, but stopped himself.
"(Seifer, one. Squall, two. Damn, I can't believe I'm even keeping score.)"
They began to follow the tracks which came past the Lunar Gate. "Let's ask them" Seifer said.
"Ask them what?"
"if they saw the traders!"
"…"
"(and that's another one for Seifer!)" They headed inside and came to the first staff member they saw, who had 'Syria' on her badge.
"Hi" said Seifer. Squall put his head in his hand and shook his head.
"(Please tell me he won't flirt)" Squall thought to himself.
"Hi, can I help you?" Syria asked.
"yes, we were wondering if you've seen any Esthar slave traders go past?" Seifer asked urgently.
"of course! They came past the gate during morning tea"
"you have that here? Oh, anyway, did they have with them a guy with a large coat on, a guy with a tattoo on his face, a girl in light blue, a girl in a short, yellow dress and a woman with long hair?"
"the only person with them who matches one of those descriptions was a girl in the short, yellow dress."
"Selphie," Squall broke in, " they must have sold the rest. Finding all of them is going to be harder then I thought…"
