Disclaimer: I don't own any of the original characters of FF8. The only characters that are mine are Akira, Terra and introduced in this chapter, Shiloh.
A/N: Nuttin to say but please review and thanks to those of you that already did: Templar, LiquidSky, Aelise39, lestatsdarkrose, Vamp Queen, Voice Of Mystery, HellFireAngel, Lady Hope, Kezzer and of course, Baby Rose!
"My feet hurt. I'm hungry. I'm tired. I wanna go home. This is boring. It's too hot out. I'm thirsty. Daddy, are you even listening to me??" Akira held onto her father's wrist, tugging it as they walked along the path through Balamb Forest. Seifer hadn't been anywhere near Balamb or Garden for years. In fact, not since he'd been exiled from Garden. He figured it would be okay to take a hike through the woods near there, since no one seemed to go there anymore anyway.
"Hon, you wanted to do something so we are. Can't you just... enjoy nature?" Seifer asked tiredly. He wasn't tired of walking, he was tired of his daughter's incessant whining.
"Nature sucks! It's boring! What do you do for fun around here?" Akira grumbled as she let go of his hand and crossed her arms.
"You don't do anything in nature, you... You just admire it." Even Seifer thought what he was saying was corny, and apparently, so did Akira.
"Well admiring is boring too!" As they continued walking, getting closer and closer to the plains as well as the shore, a loud whirring and people's voices could be heard in the distance. Akira's eyes brightened, as though she'd been away from civilization all her life. "What's that?" And she took off sprinting in the direction of the noise.
"Akira! Get back here!!" He sighed and began running after her. For all he knew, that noise could be coming from an enemy. An enemy? Seifer didn't have enemies. He no longer belonged to a Garden where enemies were abound. What had he been thinking?
He stopped short behind some bushes as he saw Akira talking to a man around his age. A man he could pick out in any crowd. Squall Leonheart. What was he doing there? And with a uniform on? Geez, how long did he expect to stick around at Balamb Garden?
He strained his ears to listen in on their conversation. "Hi!" Akira said cheerfully.
"You shouldn't be here," Squall said. After all these years, his temperment hadn't changed one bit. "Are you lost?"
Akira shook her head. "Nope. My Daddy's here with me. So what are you doing?"
Squall sighed as he looked past her, trying to find this girl's father. "I'm seeing a group of trainees off on their field mission. They want to become SeeDs one day."
Akira looked highly intrigued. "Why would they wanna be seeds? To plant flowers?"
Squall chuckled slightly. "No, not like that. SeeDs are -- "
"Nothing she should be learning about," came Seifer's voice. He walked towards the two slowly and took Akira's hand. "Come on 'Kira."
"But Daddy...!"
"We're leaving," Seifer told her.
Squall stood there, dumbfounded. His steel blue eyes remained widened and his mouth was slightly gaped. Where had Seifer been for so long? And he had a family too? It was hard to think of Seifer as being a father. "Seifer... You..."
"I don't wanna fill her head with all that SeeD garbage," he told him. The two of them walked away, Akira protesting the entire time.
Headmaster Cid looked up from his paperwork as he heard a knock at his door. The man had been showing his age for quite some time - his hair was completely gray, his sight was no longer proficient, and he had quite a few wrinkles, but he still remained the same old Cid everyone at Balamb Garden knew and loved. He saw Squall standing in the doorway and he waved his hand for him to come in. "Mr. Leonhart! What can I do for you?"
"Well, sir... I found something out that I think you should know..." Squall eased himself down into the chair in front of Cid's desk.
Cid still didn't look worried or even the slightest bit concerned, although Squall acted otherwise. "What is it?"
"When I was seeing the group of SeeDs off on their mission, I... I saw this little girl wandering about. She couldn't have been any older than 12."
Cid shook his head and smiled. "What's so terrible about that?"
"You don't understand sir, that little girl... She's Seifer's daughter."
Now, Cid's face finally showed an emotion other than happiness. His face became set, rather coldly, Squall thought to himself. "Seifer you say? He dared to show his face around my Garden?"
Squall nodded. "Yes sir. He didn't say much though, but what he did say was rather... cruel." Squall wasn't sure if he should be telling Headmaster Cid all of this, but Seifer had been exiled as a traitor of Balamb and Garden as well.
"What did he say?" Now Cid was incredibly somber, which even surprised Squall.
"He said he didn't want her to know anything about SeeD, which I found... odd I guess."
"Then that proves it. He still holds a hostility towards this Garden. Maybe he's even sided with Galbadia again."
"Well... what are we going to do sir?" Squall was tempted to ask if he could be the one to personally take care of Seifer, but he bit his tongue. Headmaster Cid wasn't one for violence. Most of the time, his bark was worse than his bite.
Cid sighed and removed his glasses, placing them gently on the desk. "We can't do anything Squall. Seifer left us because he was exiled, and people are only exiled for heinous things, such as what he did. He deliberately turned his back on his Garden as well as his comrades. But... He still has the right to live, Squall. We leave him alone." Squall was almost disappointed at Cid's answer to the situation. Leaving Seifer alone to just... Well, Seifer had already been punished by being exiled, so neither of them owed anything to the other. What was done was done.
Squall stood. "All right sir, I just... thought you'd like to know."
Cid gave a nod and replaced his glasses on his face. "Thank you Squall. I appreciate your concern."
Squall entered the kitchen to find Rinoa fixing herself something to eat. She turned at the sound of footsteps and smiled, reaching out to give her husband a hug and kiss. "Where've you been all day sweetie?"
Squall sighed and took a seat at the table. He let out a yelp and stood back up for a moment, removing a toy truck from underneath his rear and tossing it onto the floor. "Well, the trainees were asking about a million and one questions about their mission after I'd just gone through explaining it to them... twice... And then... I had a talk with Headmaster Cid."
Rinoa placed a plate of leftovers into the microwave and sat down beside Squall. "A talk with the headmaster? What about?"
"I, uh... I saw Seifer this afternoon." Rinoa let out a quiet gasp. "And he has a daughter."
"Seifer has a daughter?" Rinoa echoed. "Good for him." Squall was surprised at Rinoa's reaction to the news.
"What do you mean "good for him"? Aren't you... shocked?"
Rinoa giggled as the microwave buzzed. She stood and retrieved her meal, returning to her seat by Squall. "Seifer is a human being Squall. It's no surprise he has a wife and kids now. Why shouldn't he?" Squall had nothing to say to Rinoa. She was right, but he'd never admit it, not even to her. "But what I don't understand is... why'd you talk to Headmaster about it?"
"I felt he needed to know. Seifer was an enemy for a while Rin. Even he was thinking that maybe he joined up with Galbadia again."
"Squall, think about what you're saying for a minute here. Seifer has a daughter now right?" Squall nodded. "Why would he put his life on the line constantly if he has a child and wife to support? You quit being a SeeD when we had our baby, so why wouldn't he?"
"He isn't sensible like that Rinoa. He doesn't care about anyone but himself." Squall's voice held contempt and his icy eyes were frigid.
"Maybe he's changed."
All of a sudden, a young boy the age of ten raced into the room with a large sword. Squall's gunblade. Squall reached out and took the dangerous weapon from the child's hands. "How many times do I have to tell you not to play with this Shiloh?"
Shiloh, with his mother's eyes and father's hair, hung his head. "I dunno..." he muttered.
"Exactly," Squall barked. "I've told you so many times that you don't even remember."
"Squall..." Rinoa hated it when Squall reprimanded their son. She always seemed to think he was too strict with him.
"Rin, if he keeps running around the house with this, he'll get hurt."
"Dad, I am not gonna get hurt," Shiloh insisted. "I know what I'm doing. And guess what?"
Squall was almost afraid to ask. "What?"
"I'm gonna be a SeeD just like you Dad. Then, you won't yell at me for running around with a gunblade anymore." Shiloh smirked as he crossed his arms, almost defiantly.
"You... want to be a SeeD?" Squall asked. He felt Rinoa place her hand on his shoulder.
Shiloh nodded fervently. "Yeah. I saw that smelly old uniform in your closet when I was looking for your gunblade 'cause you hid it from me the last time I... Oops..."
Squall smiled and picked up Shiloh. "So you're a little spy are you?"
Shiloh tried to squirm away from his father desperately. "Dad... Cut it out!"
"Squall, don't let him get away with it," Rinoa said with a smirk.
"Oh I won't..." He began tickling his son's ribs until he was laughing so hard he was crying.
"Okay, okay! I won't do it again! Hahaha!! I promise!!" Shiloh cried. Finally Squall set him back down.
Squall walked into the living room in a zombified state. He had woken up in the middle of the night due to the loud commotion coming from the next room. He found Shiloh seated on the couch, watching cartoons and eating a bagful of cookies his mother had made three days ago. "What are you doing awake?"
"I couldn't sleep," came shiloh's reply. His big brown eyes were glued to the television screen. "Wanna watch tv with me?" Squall was about to say no to his son's offer, but didn't.
"Shi, can I talk to you for a minute about something?" Squall asked.
"Um, yeah. There's a commercial on now anyway."
"When you said you wanted to be a SeeD earlier, did you mean that?"
"Definitely! It'd be so awesome to kill enemy soldiers and to go on secret missions and stuff." Squall looked almost disappointed at Shiloh's answer. He'd expected to hear him say that he wanted to be a SeeD to help protect people and to become a stronger person, but that was until he realized he was talking to a ten year old.
"Oh, I see. You want all the action and none of the responsibility, right?" Squall smiled, but inside he was saddened.
"Responsibility? You don't have any responsibilities when you're a SeeD! You get to do what you want, when you want and how you want. And if anyone says any different, POW! You can beat them up and knock them out!"
"I admire your enthusiasum Shiloh," Squall said with a chuckle.
"What's enthusisum Dad?"
"Um... Your spunk. I admire your spunk."
Well there's the next chapter. And to Templar, I'm very sorry about not emailing you before about the new chapter! I hope you don't hate me!! :) Anyway, please review and lemme know what you think, okay?