Quistis came to with a groan. She was lying face down on a rocky shore. She could hear the ocean somewhere behind her, and she could clearly see her suitcase beside her. The back of her head was aching with a dull thud, and when she touched the area gently, her hand felt dried blood. She frowned. She had been hit on the back of the head. It would certainly explain why she was unconscious.

She remembered being on the boat... Chasing Seifer with an ax....

*Almost got the bastard too...* Quistis thought with a grin. Then.. Everything was a blank... Wait... She remembered the ship's captain with... a....

Quistis frowned. The ship's Captain had a frying pan. And he looked a wee bit more than a little drunk. He wouldn't have-

Quistis' train of thought was interrupted by a groan to her left. She turned her head to see Seifer lying a few feet away from her, looking as if he was just waking up. Quistis sat up, very very slowly sat up, and crawled over to him. She gingerly placed his head in her lap, and began to examine his wounds. He too had received a blow from a blunt object of some sort. Like a frying pan.

Seifer's eyes flew open, and the first thing he saw was Quistis, peering down at him with a slight frown on her face.

"Don't I know you from somewhere?" he croaked, chuckling lightly. Quistis smacked him in she shoulder as she helped him sit up. Seifer looked around with a frown on his face. "Where are we?"

"I don't know. I'm pretty sure the Captain clocked us both on the head with a frying pan and threw us on the nearest landform." Seifer's face crinkled up in a glare at the ocean, and began swearing under his breath.

"The next time I see that old goat, I'll-"

"Why don't we concentrate on trying to get out of here?" Quistis interrupted, sighing. "We have to rinse our wounds out with salt water, to get rid of the blood and kill any germs. I see no reason why we should waste a Cure, seeing as we'll probably need it." Quistis said, looking around. She would bet her bra that this area was absolutely crawling with monsters.

"Ok. So let's get naked and go swimming!" Seifer whooped, taking his shirt off and heading towards the beach. Quistis blushed.

"Seifer!" She called after him, blush spreading. "You can keep your boxers ON!"

Seifer pouted, pulling his black boxers back up. "You're no fun! Come on! Strip down to your knickers and join in!"

"Never!"

Seifer got a wicked gleam in his eyes. Quistis squeaked, and began to run away. But she was no match for Seifer, who quickly caught up. He grabbed her around her waist and carried her to the beach, kicking and screaming. He began to strip her down, ripping off her shirt and managing to get the shorts off. Quistis screamed indignantly throughout all of this, but her shrieks grew as Seifer waded out into the water. He grinned at the little blonde in his arms, who was trying desperately to get away. She froze, and looked him in his devilish green eyes.

"You wouldn't dare." She said, suddenly grabbing him tightly around the neck and wrapping her legs around his waist. He frowned as he let go and she just hung there. He quickly solved the problem by diving into the cold blue water, taking her with him. He surface immediately, laughing. His head stung, but his ignored the pain. He went to flick a large string of seaweed off his shoulder, when he froze.

Since when was seaweed white and frilly?

Seifer swallowed as he picked the bra off his shoulder and held it in front of him. It was a nice little bra. Nothing fancy. Seifer smiled at the bra, then froze.

*Now who the hell wears bras around here?* He thought with a frown. He froze again.

Somewhere, under those clear blue waters... Quistis Trepe was swimming topless. Seifer gleefully looked around for Quistis, bra clutched firmly in hand. He finally spotted her underwater, trying to swim to shore and cover herself at the same time. Seifer chuckled and grabbed hold of her ankle, picking her out of the water. She squealed, hanging upside-down and covering her chest. Seifer waved the bra around.

"This belong to you?" He asked, his most charming smile on his face. Quistis glared at him and snatched the bra out of his hand. With a shrug Seifer let go of her ankle, allowing her to drop into the water again.

Seifer smirked when Quistis arose again out of the water, bra firmly across her chest again. With a battle cry Quistis leapt at Seifer's legs, knocking him into the water. Seifer surfaced quickly and swore revenge. A splash war started as water got flung everywhere. Seifer finally stopped his splashing long enough to tackle Quistis. They rolled around on the bottom of the ocean, both vying for control. They finally washed up on shore, Quistis on top, straddling Seifer triumphantly.

"I win." She smirked at Seifer. He stuck his tongue out at her, trying to shrug her off. But Quistis fought him, shoving him back down on the sand. Quistis' hair coiled down her back, her trademark hairclip lost in the ocean. Seifer's chest was covered in sand, and Quistis paused to draw a smiley face on his stomach, using his belly button as a nose. Seifer stared in mock horror at the face on his stomach.

"I declare war on your country!" Seifer pouted, flipping Quistis so that she was now under him. She squealed as he rubbed rough sand on her own stomach, and proceeded to trace out "I (heart) Seifie" on her body. Seifer smirked at her, and she glared, trying to wriggle out from underneath him. But he caught her arms, efficiently pinning her down. She frowned at him, and pretended to pout. With a chuckled, Seifer swooped down and brushed his lips against hers, taking full advantage of her inability to fight back.

Seifer winked at her and released her arms, and was about to get up when Quistis suddenly sat up, grabbing him roughly on the back of his head and kissing him soundly. Seifer felt his heart pound in his chest, as he began to return the kiss with vigor. After a few moments, Seifer gently broke the kiss, and stared at the woman underneath him in wonder. Then, putting a stiff frown on his face, he got off of her and walked over to where his clothes were piled in a heap. Quistis frowned, then followed suit, brushing sand off her back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They walked in silence.

Quistis had discarded her ruined shirt in favor of another from her suitcase, which she carried firmly in her left hand. Her whip was securely fastened to her hip, and she sighed as she looked out into the bleak landscape. It sure wasn't pretty. And Quistis was right to assume there were monsters.

A whole hell of a lot of monsters.

And Seifer's gun blade was being upgraded in Esthar City.

It didn't matter much. Quistis had her whip, and most of the monsters fell victim to it with the first strike. She almost wished for a real challenge, but the brief reminder that Seifer had nothing but magic on him kept her from making such a fatal wish. She shook her head slightly, feeling the little salt grains from the ocean cling to her hair.

Seifer had a slight frown on his face as they walked, studying the terrain intently. Suddenly, a little light bulb went off over his head as he excitedly looked around.

"I think... I know where we are!" Quistis stopped walking long enough to raise an eyebrow at him.

"Look." Seifer said, kneeling down and grabbing a stick. He drew a rough outline of the planet, making a dotted like from FH towards Balamb. "This little dotted line is the ship, right? Well, I'd wager we were about halfway to our destination." Seifer continued the dotted line so it was in- between FH and Balamb. "As you can see, the closest land would be over here. And I'm sure the captain didn't want to drop of two unconscious people. So, I'll bet he faked a break-down of some sort, an unfortunate detour he had to make that would slightly deter the journey."

Seifer made the dotted line take a right and head towards the Great Salt Lake. Quistis frowned.

"That's a pretty big detour, Seifer." She said critically. Seifer shrugged.

"Look around us, Trepe. It's exactly like the terrain of the area." Quistis frowned, and realized (As much as she hated to admit it), Seifer was right. "Now, if we head southeast, we should hit Esthar by sundown." Seifer reasoned, pointing towards the direction they had to take. Quistis sighed.

"... I guess it sounds reasonable." She said, wrinkling her nose.

Seifer gave Quistis his trademark smirk. "I have to pick up my gun blade anyway. And my coat. And I can buy more clothes. We can just hop a train in the morning and get to Balamb then."

"Where is your jacket?" Quistis asked, just now realizing the absence of yet another Seifer trademark

"Had to have it repaired." Seifer grunted, standing up. Quistis sighed. She did not feel like walking all the freaking way to Esthar... But then again what choice did she have?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Edea wrung her hands nervously at the dock, while Cid paced and Squall stared into space.

The boat was 2 hours late. Cid and Edea had planned to meet them when the boat arrived at the dock, and Squall came to make sure there wasn't some sort of hidden agenda on Quistis' and Seifer's minds.

The boat finally came into view on the horizon, and Edea breathed a sigh of relief. Cid finally stopped pacing and Squall stared blankly at the oncoming vessel. But Edea's worry returned when the boat docked, and only a few people came off, none of who were Quistis and Seifer. Squall managed to frown harder when he caught a glimpse of the ship's Captain waving drunkenly to the passengers leaving. Something just wasn't right...

Squall's hand shot out and grabbed the collar of one of the passengers as he walked by.

"Was there a tall, blonde man and a petite blonde woman on this ship?" Squall asked the terrified man calmly.

"Y-y-y-y-a! S-s-s-seifer Almsy and Quistis Trepe!" The man stuttered, feet dangling off the deck.

"And where are they now?" Squall asked in the same calm tone.

"I-I-I-I don't know! T-t-t-hey were in a huge fight, it was spectacular to watch! T-t-t-t-hey disappeared when she, Quistis I mean, was chasin' Seifer with an ax! T-t-t-then the Captain had some engine trouble and we had to dock in the middle of nowhere for a short period of time while the captain got the part we needed! T-t-t-that's why we're so late!"

Squall looked the man square in the eye (Much to the poor man's terror), to see if he was lying. Then he dropped the man back on the deck. Squall didn't bother to watch him run off as fast as his legs could carry him as he started towards the ship, followed closely by Edea and Cid.



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Oh, I know I promised to have a nice long chappy. But I got sudden inspiration for another fic, which I'm madly plotting out. Keep an eye out for it within the next two days. The next chapter should be up on... Oh say Monday?