"What is Headmaster Cid thinking?" Fujin thought to herself as she rode the elevator down to the second floor. The doors slid open with a ding and she stepped out and turned left at the end of the hallway. "I can't teach a class. People don't like people like me, I scare them". She continued down the hallway and stopped at the fourth door, which was Xu's office. She paused for a moment as the door slid open and stalked in. Quistis sat chatting idly with the other woman as she entered. Fujin cleared her throat loudly and the two looked up from the schedule they'd been discussing.

"Oh hello Fujin." Xu greeted with a smile "How've you been?"

Fujin scowled in reply and glared at Quistis.

"YOU KNEW."

Quistis chuckled "Of course I knew. I told Cid that you'd be very good for the job as a matter of fact."

"WRONG."

"Oh come on Fujin." Xu began "You'll do fine. If Headmaster Cid thinks you'll do a good job then you will. Besides you're gonna be a weapons instructor, those kids'll need someone to whip them into shape. You're perfect for that!"

"THANKS." Fujin replied sarcastically.

"Aw, don't worry so much." Xu shuffled through some stacks of paper. "Ah- ha! Kazeno, Fujin. Here's your schedule, list of names, past history of each of your pupils and all the rules concerned with teaching the usage of melee weaponry. I've also included a guide I make for all new teachers. It'll help you know where to get started in giving your skills to others." Xu dumped the formidable stack of papers into Fujin's arms. Fujin hefted the stack and looked incredulously from Xu to Quistis. Quistis gave her a sympathetic look; she remembered her first year teaching and knew how overwhelmed Fujin must already be feeling.

"Come on," she said gathering her slightly smaller stack of papers "I'll help you sort through it okay?" Fujin nodded and side stepped to allow Quistis through the door first.

* * *

"You really shouldn't be so nervous about teaching Fujin." Quistis said as they walked down the hall to Quistis' room. Fujin bit her lip and was silent. "It's really not so bad." Quistis unlocked the door and stepped in as it slid open. Fujin followed her in and set her stack of papers on Quistis' desk. She glanced at the clock as Quistis slipped out of her shoes and loosened her blouse.

" FOUR O-CLOCK." She said "DINNER?"

"Yeah, I haven't had anything all day. What would you like?"

Fujin shrugged and gestured to Quistis.

"Okay, I'll decide. I think I still have some..." Quistis trailed off as she retreated into the kitchen.

Fujin sighed and sat down to read over the information Xu had pressed upon her. She smiled to herself as Quistis buzzed around her kitchen. "Soon to be our kitchen, that was an interesting thought. I've never shared a kitchen with anyone. Come to think of it, I've never shared much of anything with anyone." She looked up from a page on maintaining temper to watch her love once more. Fujin loved to watch Quistis cook, the other woman had tried to teach her how, but the results were...less than satisfactory. So Fujin happily left the cooking to the lovely blonde...who had...let...her...hair down. She gazed absently as Quistis shook out her long blonde tresses. Quistis usually kept her hair up and out of her way, even while she slept, but on rare intimate occasions, she could be persuaded to let it down. "So much for reading over this stupid mountain of paper." Fujin thought. Smile tweaking at the edge of her mouth she got to her feet and joined Quistis at the stove. She wrapped her arms around Quistis' waist and rested her chin upon the woman's shoulder.

"LET HAIR DOWN."

"It's hot over here." Quistis replied.

"SMELLS GOOD."

"Thanks," Quistis said as she stirred some seasoning into a light sauce. " there's some chicken baking in the oven, can you get it out for me?" Quistis stepped out of the way, as Fujin knelt to take the chicken from the oven. "Try dicing it for me okay? Big pieces."

Fujin nodded and set to work with a knife and fork, carefully cutting the chicken into bite sized pieces. As she worked Quistis strained out a pot of noodles she had boiling and dumped them into a serving bowl.

"Chicken ready?"

Fujin nodded and added the chicken to the bowl and held it steady as Quistis added the sauce. Fujin loved it when she and Quistis worked together, she always felt as if for a few moments no one else existed.

"Shall we go out to the living room?" Quistis said taking the bowl and two plates out to the table. Fujin grabbed two forks and napkins and joined Quistis at the table.

"WISH COULD COOK." She said as she seated her self.

"Oh you do fine Fujin." Quistis reassured and served herself from the bowl.

"IF LIKE EAT TOXIC WASTE."

"Fujin!" Quistis laughed "You do fine when you cook. You just need to learn how to know when too much is too much."

Fujin blanched and sighed.

"BREAD."

"Too much yeast."

"OVER-FLOWED ON FLOOR."

"We ate sandwiches for weeks, and practically forced it on our friends."

"DON'T SAY SANDWICH." Fujin made a face.

"Silly." Quistis smiled and continued with dinner.

* * *

That night Fujin sat up in bed reading the student background sheets Xu had given her. She wasn't really reading them, just skimming through to find anything unusual. Since she was teaching a beginner's course, she had a lot of variety in her students. Anyone who was entering the SeeD program had to take this course so she had students from 16 to her age to teach. Fujin was just about ready to call it a night when a name caught her attention. Kotori,Veralsari... 'Sari for short. Where had she heard that name? It sparked memories within her she could not grasp, a child laughing, a flower filled meadow, the sunset, and an overwhelming sadness. Her breath came hard, why was she reacting like this? Who was this Veralsari Kotrori? Fujin shook her head to clear it, "I'm probably just tired." She thought so she cleared the bed of errant paper and clicked the light out.