** *Dramatic Music* Wow! I'm on a roll! 3 Chapters out so quickly! Oh well, there won't be any for a while, so make the most of it. Please R&R all the same. **

Disclaimer : Yep! You've got it! Me thinks I own nothing of Seifer, Squall or Quistis, I only own my imagination and my fingers!

Quistis tapped her foot impatiently against the path. What was taking so long? She told Squall to meet her at the front gates at midday, now it was going on half past. What was he doing?

Hearing footsteps she turned around. There was nobody there.

"Behind you, Instructor." Turning back round to face the direction of Balamb, she found herself facing Seifer. She just couldn't avoid him, could she?

"And what are you doing, Seifer? Shouldn't you be preparing for the field exam?" She kept her tone business like, trying to ignore that, from where she was standing, a delicious wave of pure Seifer smell was drifting towards her. Hmmm. She just wanted to lean closer to smell it better. Hyne! He smelt good! She's almost forgotten how he smelled. Just the smell brought back memories.

She shook herself violently to rid herself of her bad thoughts. No student/teacher relationships, no student/teacher relationships, no student/teacher relationships. Perhaps if she kept repeating it, she'd believe herself. That was the reason she's broke up with him in the first place. Cid wouldn't have liked it.

She'd had to say she didn't love him. Otherwise, if he had known the real reason, he wouldn't have let her. He would have told her that they should stay together anyway.

The thing is, she still loved him! Hyne, she loved him so much. So much she practically ached inside. But she had to be cold with him, she had to be distant, she had to argue with him because otherwise all she'd want to do was make love to him.

Except he'd hurt her as well. How could he say it was just a bet? Ergh! She hated him!! "And now I'm really confused." She thought sadly.

Seifer just watched her, a questioning look in his eyes. She was behaving very strangely. "I am prepared, Instructor." Seifer's voice jerked her out of her thoughts.

"Over-confidence is a killer, Seifer." She silently praised her quick thinking. Her cool remarks had saved her so many times.

"Yeah well, keeps life exciting." Seifer shrugged. He wasn't going down that road again. He'd had enough of arguing. Which reminded him...

"So, while I was down in Balamb, prepared, I saw this. Thought you might like it." Holding out his hand, she saw in the centre of his palm, a silver chain with a small, diamond shaped pendant on the end.

Reaching out, she picked it up, trying desperately to ignore the tingle that hand to hand contact sent around her body.

"It's lovely. But you shouldn't have." Quistis meant it as well. She wasn't just being polite. He really shouldn't have. Not after what she'd done to him. But he didn't seem to know what she'd said, how much she'd lied to him. Anyway, why was he being so nice to her? Normally all he did was point out all her faults.

"I just wanted to say sorry, you know, for keep fighting with you. It's becoming a habit, a bad one." All the time he was watching her face to see what she thought. So far he couldn't work out what she was thinking at all.

And he probably didn't want to know. Because all of a sudden, Quistis had the urge to talk about...the unmentionable. That thing that happened ages ago, before she became an instructor. Before she became Seifer's teacher. Before she grew so old, and cold, and distant. She wanted to tell him why she'd broken up with him. Why she'd lied to him. And how she still loved him.

Opening her mouth she managed to utter one word, "Seifer." Before she was cut short by more footsteps. This time coming from Balamb Garden. Squall had finally arrived. She felt a wave of relief, mixed with regret, wash over her.

"Another time, Seifer, I promise." She told him, quietly.

"Hey, Instructor, don't make more promises you can't keep." And he was gone.

Her breath caught in her throat, coming out as a ragged gasp. He remembered. And he still thought about it. Struggling to calm herself, she let her instructor mask slip into place once more.

"What time do you call this?" She asked Squall coolly, all the time clutching Seifer's gift so hard, that the pendant cut into her hand.

** I'm still not sure about how I feel about this chapter. At least there wasn't much arguing! Quistis seems very confused though, sorry if it confused you! **