Rating: R
Disclaimer: I never claimed...don't know why I have to disclaim
A/N: I'm going to have such severe carpel tunnel someday...don't think I've been outside much lately, this fic has completely taken me over. All the better for some of you, but it's getting really hard on me sitting in this room....
Chapter 4: Lies
"Hold still!" Quistis could hear Selphie laughing from the other room as she fought with Seifer.
"No fucking way!" he dodged her. "It burns...are you trying to melt off my scalp or what?" He had hair dye on half of his head, smashed down into his blonde hair and was leaning against the sink, holding Quistis' hands back.
"Seifer...it doesn't burn," she rolled her eyes. "It's just hair dye. If you'd just hold still, I could get this over with."
"I'll wear a hat," he insisted. "This is just stupid."
"Seifer...I'll get Selphie, Paxx, and Krik in here to hold you down," she warned. "Now sit back down!" He narrowed his aqua eyes at her and begrudgingly reseated himself on Quistis' make-shift barber chair - the toilet with the lid down. Satisfied that he was going to stay, she readjusted her clear, plastic gloves and squeezed some more of the dye into Seifer's hair.
"I'm telling you...it burns," he insisted stubbornly.
"It would only burn if I was bleaching your hair, and I'm dying it black," Quistis rolled her eyes. "So calm down. It's all in your head."
"More like on my head," he shot back, his shoulders rolling forward tensely. He had one of Krik's white, undershirts slung around his shoulders so the dye wouldn't stain his clothes. Krik had been only mildly reluctant to part with the old garment, which was full of holes and had, without a doubt, served him for a number of years.
"You know," Quistis hovered close to him as she spread the dye about his head, "this whole thing would probably be much easier if you'd just try to get along with me."
"Funny, I thought you said it would be easier if I got along with Selphie," he retorted.
"Well...that was when I thought you'd actually be around Selphie," she shrugged. "But, since I'm stuck with you..."
"I still think I'd be better off without any of you," he shrugged, tilting his head to one side to look up at her - no doubt, to gauge the impact of his remark.
"Don't move you head like that unless you want this crap running down your face," she frowned. Dutifully, he straitened his head. Quistis smiled a little to herself at that, at least he was following orders for once.
"Quistis...damn it..." he grumbled when she wrenched his head to one side to make sure she got all of his hair. "You could at least have the decency to warn me before you do something like that!"
"Sorry," she apologized. "I'll let you know next time."
Selphie's head peeked into the bathroom, her green eyes alive with amusement. Seifer, who's hair was sticking up in a wild disarray and covered with the dark, gooey hair dye, narrowed his eyes to hostile little slits.
"What?" he demanded.
"Nothing," Selphie held up her hands, "I was just coming in to see if Quistis needed any help."
"Actually," Quistis turned to look at her comrade. "I think I'm okay. When are you planning on leaving?"
"As soon as we finish breakfast," Selphie replied, taking a long, teasing bite of a jelly filled doughnut. "These are so good...I mean, like, beyond regularly good. Positively euphoric!" She held herself up against the door frame and grinned at Seifer.
"Don't think I won't come over there and hurt you, Selphie," he growled.
"Oh...I thought Seifer was following orders now..." Selphie taunted.
"Selphie..." Quistis sent her a warning look. Seifer did seem to be following orders, and she didn't want Selphie's taunts to reinforce his dislike for authority. Of course, Quistis had gone to some extremes to be sure he would follow her orders. Not at all convinced he'd be willing to dye his hair, she'd held his breakfast hostage. He didn't get to eat until his hair was raven black.
"Sorry, Quistis." Selphie had the good grace to flush with embarrassment and escort herself out of the bathroom.
"Always knew I'd end up in Hell someday..." Seifer shook his head, causing Quistis to drip a little of the dye onto Krik's old shirt.
"You don't need to be so negative all the time," Quistis replied and stepped over his legs to get to the other side of him. "Maybe if you looked at the bright side of things every once and a while, you wouldn't be so cranky."
"I'm not cranky," he insisted, looking up at her. "I'm just honest."
"Whatever you say," she shook her head lightly. "You're done...now you just have to let that sit for a while and wash it out."
"How long?" he asked. "I thought that when you were done this whole stupid thing would be done too. I didn't know there was any waiting time involved here."
"Not long," Quistis bit at her bottom lip. "Just an hour."
"An hour?" he got up, rising to his full height in front of her. "I'm not waiting a fucking hour!"
"If you don't, you'll look spotted," Quistis replied, pulling off her gloves and tossing them in the garbage can. "If it makes you feel any better, you can eat breakfast now."
"Yeah, like I'd want to eat with this smelly shit on my head..." he bit out and walked out of the bathroom to check the time. Quistis lagged behind in the bathroom for a few more moments, wondering what exactly she was getting herself into by going off alone with Seifer. Surely less than if she let him wander off without someone to watch him, but there was still a doubt in the back of her mind as to whether she could spend any length of time alone with him without killing him.
Selphie, Paxx, and Krik were getting ready to leave by the time Quistis finished her breakfast. Seifer was pacing around the room like a caged animal, and she tried her best to block out the tension that came from him.
"Wish us luck," Selphie reached out and grabbed Quistis' hand in her own. Her touch was comforting, friendly. It hadn't been often in the past few days that Quistis had felt like she really had a friend. The simple gesture from Selphie, however, reassured her that everything would work out and she'd be back in Balamb with an instructors license in hand by the end of the month.
"Good luck," Quistis smiled.
"You're going to need it," Seifer offered. "How much more time?"
"Little under half an hour," Quistis replied.
"You're sure I can't wash it out now?" he asked.
"Positive."
Selphie snickered and leaned close to whisper in Quistis' ear.
"Good luck with him," she said. "I can't even begin to tell you how relieved I am to be Paxx's girlfriend instead of his! But, you're tough, Quisty...you'll keep him in line."
"Thanks," Quistis replied, a genuine smile crossing her lips. She'd need luck on her side. Cid couldn't have chosen a more difficult test of her skills than Seifer, and he knew it just as well as she did. The only up side Quistis could really see to the whole ordeal was that showing she could lead Seifer would prove to everyone - including herself - that she could lead anyone.
"I've been practicing my fussy girlfriend act," Selphie announced as she gathered up her things in a small pile. "I think I've got it down."
"Great," Quistis leaned back in her chair, and looked down at her feet. "You seem very prepared, I know you'll do beautifully on this assignment."
"You too," Selphie grinned. "Anyway, I'm off to join the army! Or...rather...enlist my boyfriend in the army." She giggled into her hand and waved enthusiastically as she walked out the door, wishing Seifer luck on his hair. The door closed behind her, leaving Quistis and Seifer in a tense, thick silence.
"Can't say I'll miss her," Seifer finally broke it. With a long sigh, he flopped down on a chair and grabbed the last doughnut. Quistis watched him with interest as he chewed, reflecting upon how much he'd changed since he was her student. He'd been problematic, that was no secret, but he'd also been filled to the brim with a kind of charming self-confidence. The entire ordeal with the Ultemica had replaced bits and pieces of that self-confidence with tension. As her student, his teasing aggression had been boyish. The only time she could remember his violent side taking on the frightening, murderess fever that engulfed him presently was when he slashed Squall's face.
The boy had been replaced by a man. A man who was frayed around the edges and further from peace than anyone Quistis had ever met.
"What?" he demanded. "I know I look like an ass, but that doesn't mean you can stare at me."
"Hmm?" Quistis came suddenly back to reality. "Oh...sorry. I didn't mean to stare, I was just thinking."
"About what?" he swallowed down the last of his doughnut and licked off his fingers.
"About back when I was an instructor actually," she shrugged. "Guess I just miss it...simpler times."
"You weren't exactly the most talented instructor ever to grace Garden," Seifer laughed. "I was your student...and look at me. Must be great to get the chance to work with your greatest failure."
Quistis frowned. She'd never really thought of him as such, but Seifer really was her greatest failure. It had been her job to get through to him, and she'd failed miserably. A part of her liked to think that it was Seifer's choice to fail, all instructors had failing students. After all, he rarely paid attention in class, he acted up constantly...how could she do anything but fail him?
"How long?" he asked.
"Fifteen minutes."
"Damn."
***
Quistis sat down on the bed and pulled off her boots. The leather was soft and well worn. They'd been best friends to her feet for the past four years, and even though they'd become increasingly worn, she hadn't had the guts to get herself a new pair. They just wouldn't be the same. Her skirt quickly went the way of the boots, landing on top of them in an orange heap. Orange wasn't her favorite color, in fact, she didn't even particularly like orange. The outfit, though, was her favorite simply because of the style.
Humming lightly to herself, she pulled off her shirt as well and, standing in her underwear, looked for something inconspicuous to wear. She figured that it probably wasn't likely that the average woman wore outfits that featured a belt to hold a weapon.
She pulled on a knee length blue skirt and had just gotten a white and blue shirt over her head when there was a knock at her door.
"Come on in," she called out, and moments later Seifer walked in. He paused sheepishly, his golden hair now turned a deep, shimming black. Quistis would have hardly recognized him had it not been for the scar that ran down his face - a gift from Squall.
"I look stupid," he finally announced, slamming the door in his wake.
"You don't look stupid," Quistis insisted. "What's most important is that you don't look like you."
"Yeah...right," he rolled his eyes and leaned against the wall. "Is that what your wearing?"
"Yeah." Quistis looked down at herself. "Why?"
"No reason," he shrugged. He too had changed. The gray trench coat and vest ensemble were gone, replaced by a t-shirt and blue jeans. Combined with the jet black hair, he looked very little like the Seifer who had stood aboard Galbadia Garden and ordered the airborne attack on Balamb Garden.
Smiling to herself, Quistis slipped on a pair or strappy sandals and walked into the bathroom to do something with her hair. Seifer followed behind her, hanging in the background as she let her hair down and pulled a wide toothed comb through it.
"What?" she finally asked.
"When are we leaving?" he asked. "Because I don't think they're really going to care whether you look cute or not."
"I'm not trying to look cute," she rolled her eyes. "Just inconspicuous."
"You couldn't look inconspicuous if you tried," he shook his head and walked away. Quistis frowned at her reflection, looking closely at herself for the first time in days. Her long, golden hair came down around her shoulders and back, curling a little on the ends. So maybe she had a few distinguishing characteristics - her hotly blue eyes and a few scars of her own here and there - but assuming everyone would immediately notice all of her imperfections no matter how hard she tried to hide them was unreasonable.
"Are you ready to go?" she asked, turning away from the mirror to see Seifer picking her clothes up off the floor.
"I've been ready," he replied. "Waiting on you."
"Well then...let's go." She grabbed her skirt from him as he went to toss it on the bed with everything else he'd picked up. It took her only a few short moments to get all of her clothes packed and together.
"We'll come back for them," he announced.
"No we won't," Quistis shook her head. "I'm in charge, and I say we take them with us. We'll check out as we leave." Grimacing, Seifer walked away from her to get his own things, muttering under his breath the whole way.
"Bossy little bitch..." he grumbled.
"That's hardly a way to talk about your beloved, Seifer," Quistis called after him.
"Beloved my ass."
Seifer was relatively quiet as they checked out of the hotel and walked toward the army recruiters office. His insults fell into a brooding silence, and Quistis wasn't really sure which she preferred. The silence was a little too much like Squall in his pre-Rinoa days. The dark hair didn't help to dim his sudden resemblance to arch-rival.
Paxx, Krik, and Selphie were nowhere to be found when they entered the small office, and Quistis heaved a sigh of relief. The man behind the desk was in full uniform, aside from the helmet which sat on his desk and was being used as a paper weight. He smiled at them as they walked in.
"Hello. How can I help you?" he asked, looking back and forth between the two of them. His dark eyes caught momentarily on Quistis until Seifer's arm snaked around her shoulders and pulled her toward him.
"Well," Seifer grinned down at Quistis for a moment, "I'd like to join the army."
"Oh, great!" The recruiter scrambled to find the proper paperwork. "Please, have a seat." They both lowered themselves into chairs, and the uniformed man practically shoved the papers and pen into Seifer's hands.
"Great," he began to fill in the blanks quickly in a loopy, almost illegible scrawl. "When will I be able to start?"
"As soon as you want," the man grinned, obviously having a good day.
"Good, because we'd like to leave as soon as possible," Seifer replied, his voice dripping with faux enthusiasm.
"We?" The man tilted his head and gave Quistis a curious look. "I'm assuming you must mean this lovely lady."
"Yep," Seifer shoved his paper across the desk. "The missus...we're expecting." He reached over and patted Quistis' stomach.
"We're not - "
"She's a little touchy about it," Seifer interrupted her. "Worried she's going to balloon up to two hundred pounds or something."
"You know, my wife was the same way for our first!" the recruiter leaned on his elbows. "Funny little woman thing I think."
"Must be," Seifer shrugged.
Quistis was fuming. Seifer had blatantly strayed from the plan. She wasn't supposed to be his pregnant wife, she was supposed to be his girlfriend. Sitting back in her chair and trying to hide her murderous intentions toward her husband, she let them talk.
"Anyway," the recruiter took Seifer's papers and added them to the growing pile under his helmet. "I'm sure we can get you and your wife on a train in a few hours. I can get you a uniform here, or you can get one when you arrive at your post."
"Oh, I'll just get one now," Seifer replied. "There'll be somewhere safe for her to stay, won't there?"
"Oh! Of course!" the man nodded. "We never send new soldiers anywhere dangerous, so you're wife is free to stay with you through training and until you feel that she's in a situation you don't want her to be."
"Wonderful!" Seifer grinned widely. "Well then...how about that uniform?"
"Right this way!"
Seifer cast Quistis a cocky grin as he walked out of the room, and she silently tried to find a good reason not to kill him.
