The Platinum and the Wolf

Ch.3

Wolves don't dance

Disclaimer : once again, I don't own any of the FF8 characters, nor do I own FF8 I made up the character known as Josh, any resemblance he may have to any characters in any other fics is purely coincidence

Pre-chapter note. Some people asked me how Rinoa became a SeeD after what happened in the last chapter. That Question will be answered in this chapter.

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The eight recruits which passed the exam were standing in the head masters office. Josh guessed that some of them had been called to his office directly after arriving at Garden. He looked around, saw the other members of his posse, he saw Rinoa, and the girl with pigtails. 'So,' he thought, 'they both made it.' He was still trying to figure out why Rinoa of all people had made it, but he figured that Squall had something to do with it.

The head master started giving out the reports, and whispering to each of them. He heard him tell Rinoa to 'try harder next time, you can do anything you set your mind to.' other than that, he couldn't make out much of what he said, when Cid came to him, he said 'Congratulations, I expect great things from you.' Josh was the last one, so Cid stepped back and said, "Your reports and guidelines are now in your hands. I'm expecting great things from you all. Dis missed."

Most of the SeeDs left, including Rinoa. Josh was glad, he didn't want to talk about her to her face. He just didn't feel comfortable around her yet. "Excuse me, Headmaster?"

"Ah, What can I do for you Josh?"

"I was wondering," Josh suddenly got nervous, as he realized that Rinoa's boyfriend, and the SeeD Commander was still in the room. "About Rinoa, I just have to know if the fact that she's dating the Commander had anything to do with her becoming a SeeD?"

"What was that?!?!?!" Squall growled. He didn't like the idea of someone saying he had favored his girlfriend, because he hadn't. "Your on thin ice pal!!!!"

"Squall!! This is my office, and I will not allow two of this institutions finest products to duel it out on my new carpeting." Cids words were effective enough to stop Squall in his anger. "Now, Josh, I take it you are referring to the incident today with the Beul?"

"I was."

"Well, What you saw was only a small part of the total exam. You may know, that Quistis was her leader." He paused here to examine Josh's face. "No? Well she gave me an exemplary report on Rinoa, up to the point when she sent her to go get you, of course. You see, She followed orders to the letter, but didn't go any further. As a SeeD, one must not act beyond the commands given, or else they may cause more harm than good. Rinoa did this, and so she was allowed to be come a low raking SeeD, however, she did do quite a bit of damage by leading the monster to where you were stationed, so she is not becoming a rank as high as yourself, or the other candidates. That was the only fair way I knew to do this."

"Thank you for your time Head master, If you'll excuse me..." Josh turned and walked out of the office, but instead of walking to the classroom, he went to his dorm, he was too tired from the fight with the dragon to make a speech.

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Josh lay on his bed, thinking about the day that had passed, he didn't like the thought of being separated from his new friends. He remembered his first day, he had gotten lost, and found himself in the infirmary asking for directions. He met Fujin that day, she had been getting her shots. She offered to show him the garden and he accepted. She walked around the garden, and pointed, giving one-word sayings to everything that they walked by. While thinking of this, he fell sleep, and dreamed.

He was standing on a cliff, looking down at the river below. He took a picture, and turned to get back on his dirt bike. There she was, her black hair flowing, her back shorts hugging her hips, her shirt loose on her slender frame. "Raven?"

"I love you Josh, more than life. Do you still love me?"

The scenery changed, he was outside his apartment he heard voices.

"You need to go, he'll be back soon."

"Why? Haven't we hid long enough?"

Josh knew those words, he remembered hearing them, somewhere. He opened the door, knowing what he would find. There was his girlfriend, and his brother, kissing on the couch. He just closed the door, and as he turned to leave, he found himself in another place again, this time, he was in a desert, surrounded by skeletons.

He heard her musical voice. "Josh? Where are you?" He ran, wanted to get away from the voice, away from the skulls that haunted him so. "Josh?...Are you there?....Can you hear me? I'm scared Josh, Hold me close, tell me I'm safe." Josh realized he was getting no where, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get any friction on the sand.

He felt the shiver down his spine. He knew that shiver, knew what it meant. Kept thinking 'don't turn around, don't turn around' but he wasn't in control. A hand gripped him, and he was spun around to see the decaying corpse that his girlfriend had become. "Why do you hate me?" The corpse looked at him with empty sockets for eyes, worms crawling in it's flesh. "Don't you love me anymore?" The corpse moved towards him, raised the bloody dagger. He knew the dagger on sight. "I love you....and we're going to be together.........." She grabbed his throat, kissed his lips, and said "........Forever."

"WAKE UP!" Fujin was shaking Josh, he tumbled around on the bed, moaning and sweating.

"........Forever......gah!" Josh sat straight up, and nearly threw Fujin off the bed. "No..your dead...your dead leave me be." Fujin tried to stop him, hold him down, but he was bigger, and she couldn't. "Your dead...Leave me alone!!!!!!" Josh stopped, his punch not even an inch short of Fujin's face, when he realized it had been another nightmare. "Oh, man.......I'm sorry Fujin. I guess I had a bad dream, are you hurt?"

Fujin looked a little scared, but not injured. She gave her usual one word answer, then walked out of the room. "GET CHANGED. BALL."

Josh got changed into his SeeD uniform, and walked out of his room, to see that Fujin had done the same. "Wow, you look....Spectacular." Fujin blushed slightly.

"NEED DATE. HOPING YOU."

"Sorry, Fujin, I already made plans, maybe some other time?"

Fujin looked a little sad, "AFFIRMATIVE."

"Well, I need to go get her, she said to be early, so I'll see you later."

"LATER." Fujin noticed that he hadn't mentioned the girls name, but figured she'd find out soon enough.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~At the SeeD Ball~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Josh Hadn't gotten a date, in fact, he hadn't planned on coming at all. But he couldn't tell Fujin that, so he made up the story about needing to be early, and found himself a good place to hide.

Fujin would be mad at him for a few days, but he figured that in her anger, she'd forget about his promise to tell her about his relationship. Two birds-One stone In case he was found, he talked to the band, and told them that if he gave a signal, they were to play Eyes on Me.

He hated to be mean to someone he liked so much, but he hated dancing even more. He figured that if he wasn't dancing, they wouldn't look for him to be in the ball room. So he found a corner where there had been a depression for a drinking fountain a few years ago. The fountain had broke, and they had taken it out. He hid there for the first part of the ball. He thought everything was going according to plan. Until some unexpected tears washed his plans of hiding down the drain.

Fujin had been looking for Josh for over an hour. If she couldn't be his date, perhaps she could at least get one dance with him. When it finally set in that Josh had lied to her, she found herself sitting next to a wall telling Rinoa, of all people about her problems.

"HATES ME."

"Oh, he does not hate you.

"LIED."

"And why do you think that is."

"THINKS UGLY."

"I was going for 'to protect your feelings'"

"NEED BE ALONE."

"Ok. If you need anything, let me know."

As fate....or in this case, the writer of the fic...would have it, Fujin was sitting next to where Josh was hiding. Now, I realize that you may think very little of Jos right now, hiding while a woman who loves him cries less than 10 feet away, but hopefully you'll understand by the end of this chapter, why Josh was hiding. If not, you might at least think less of him for what he does next.

Josh felt the pain in his chest building up, and he almost exploded, when he heard Fujin trying to hold back the tears, he could see her, and watched, as a single tear started down her cheek. That was too much. He stepped out of where he was hiding, and being careful that he wasn't seen, he walked over and wiped the lonely tear away.

Fujin didn't even look up, she felt a hand on he face and didn't like it. "LEAVE."

Josh didn't leave, he bent over, smelled the lavender scent of her hair, and whisper in her ear. "May I have the privilege of this dance?" Fujin looked at him, and a smile crossed her face. She wiped her eyes and hugged him enthusiastically.

"WHERE DATE?"

"That much you were right about...I lied. I've been hiding over there since I left the room." He pointed to the insert where he had been. He saw the sadness in her eyes. "It's not because I think your ugly, or because I hate you, But, If you'll agree to dance with me, I'll explain it all to you."

Fujin looked surprised, was he asking her to dance...or was he asking her on a date? She couldn't talk, so she just nodded.

"Alright, wait right here." he went over to the band, and talked to the conductor one more time. They reached an agreement, and he walked back as the previous song died down. "Ready?" He asked, extending his hand. She took it, and as he walked her to the dance floor, She realized that he favorite slow song was playing.

She looked at him, and smiled. He bent over to whisper in her ear, "I've never done a slow dance, can you lead?" Again, Fujin could only nod. She placed his hands on her hips, and put hers across his neck. She felt safe, and rested her head on his chest. She felt him move his hand from her hips, but didn't think anything of it, she enjoyed this feeling to much. It felt like they were dancing on air.

Josh read the look on her face, and said "They say that when two people care, they can dance and it feels like the floor beneath them is air." She nodded once, her eyes closed. "I wonder how many can say that they actually have?" Fujin didn't realize what he was saying, and only looked at him with a confused look on her face. He pointed down.

When she looked down, she saw that they were a few feet above the ground. She pulled Josh closer to her, and heard him laugh a little. He had use Float a second time to get the best of her. The thing is...she didn't mind.





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Me thinks Fujin and Josh make a cute couple....but maybe I'm biased, since I was the matchmaker..and all

These are my thanks to my reveiwers

Faultering Hues- thank you for the compliment. I hope you continue to like my writings.

Quycksylver - We all have our pet-peevs, sorry, I was using a program without spell check, but I'm using a different one now. If only I could get it to quit catching on the characters names

To all readers-

I've gone back and re-checked my work. I had no idea I messed up so much on spelling, no wonder English is my worst subject, I'll try to do better in the future. I've spell checked the other chapters, and re-posted them

There will be at least one summoning of the new GF. I need Rinoa to be a SeeD, but just barely for some future plans I have for the fic. Hope you enjoy!!

To all the rest of you who are reading this.......PLEASE REVIEW. I can't write a good fic without a good audience.