A.N.: Hey people I hope everyone's new school year kicked in with out any problems and I hope that all you're all having a great time writing and reviewing more fanfics. Anyways I hope you all enjoy this next chapter any and all comments are not just welcome but encouraged. Enjoy

Chapter 7

(Knock, Knock)
"Who's there?" Rinoa asked as she poked her head out of her bathroom.

It was late in the afternoon and Rinoa had just gotten out of the shower after she had finished working out with Squall in the training room. They always worked out together twice a week for about and hour and a half to always make sure they were in good shape for whatever mission they would have to do next. But at this hour she wasn't expecting any visitors.

"Its me and Fujin." Selphie answered.

"Oh, c'mon in the door's unlocked." Rinoa mumbled while finishing getting dressed.

Selphie bounced into the room while Fujin timidly followed. They both sat down on the edge of Rinoa's bed.

"Hey Rin, hope we didn't come in at a bad time. But you let us in already so we're not going to leave even if it is," Selphie giggled. "We need your help."

"Sure thing Selphie, what can I do for you guys." Rinoa said with a pleasant smile.

Fujin lowered her head as Selphie explained.

"It's Fujin here, as I'm sure you know she and Zell broke up a while ago and I need your help to get them back together." Selphie said as she bounced on Rinoa's bed, causing Fujin to almost fall of the edge.

"Yeah, I was sad to hear the news, you two seemed so perfect for each other. And Zell seems to be taking the breakup pretty badly." Rinoa said as she sat down in front of Selphie and Fujin.

Fujin looked up at her with a wide eye, "You...saw him?"

Rinoa nodded her head.

"Uh huh, he seemed really broken up yesterday when I saw him in the cafeteria, he didn't even touch the hot dogs he bought." Rinoa explained.
Fujin started clenching her fists hard at the thought of how hurt Zell was, she felt like it was all her fault. It wasn't until Selphie put her hand on Fujin's fist that she snapped back into the conversation.

"We'll get him back, Fujin I promise." Selphie said trying to comfort her. Fujin just nodded her head.

Rinoa stepped in, "Well if I'm going to help you out Fujin I need to know what happened between the two of you."

"Affirmative." Fujin answered back.

**48 seconds later**

"And then...Selphie...and I...came here." Fujin said assertively.

"Wow, and you two haven't talked since?" Rinoa asked.

Fujin shook her head.

Rinoa looked rolled her eyes thoughtfully to the left. "Ok here's how this'll work. I'm going to go and talk to Zell and see how he's feeling, about you and to maybe see if I can talk him into meeting with you. If that doesn't work we'll make it look like you two met by accident."

They all nodded in unison and after an hour of more girl talk Fujin and Selphie said good night to Rinoa, made their way back to their separate rooms and prepared for tomorrow. Fujin, happier to have the help of Rinoa and Selphie slept a little easier that night.

Zell was on his way to his room after a brief stop at the library, he was going there on a daily basis for at least an hour to get away from things. It was always so quiet and no one ever interrupted him when he was deep in thought. Well, no one except for the library girl that worked there. She sometimes visited him, although he never really knew why she always seemed so nervous when she was around him. He turned the corner and could see his dorm room just a few feet away when felt some one grab him by the arm and pull him hard from his path.

"Hey chicken-wuss. How's the lonely life treating ya?" Seifer said menacingly.

"What wrong Seifer, does your ass miss my foot kicking it?" Zell said with a pouty look on his face.

Seifer scoffed as he looked down at the ground for a moment. "I just wanted to let you know that I dumped Fujin."

Zell's eyes shot open. "What did you say?"

"Yeah, I got tired of her and realized she wasn't really worth my time. I just thought you would like to know. Oh yeah and I was curious as to weather or not she decided to rebound with you. Has she yet?" He said with his classic smirk.

Zell curled his lip and rolled his eyes down and to the right. "No, I haven't talked or seen her in weeks.

Seifer's smile continued to grow, "Oh really, well then I guess she has better taste than I thought after all. Oh well I'm bored of you now. I think I'll go train for a little while with Rajin. See ya round chicken- wuss." And with that Seifer shoved Zell off with his shoulder and started making his way towards Rajin's dorm.

*He, now the next time Chicken-wuss talks to my Fujin he'll make a total ass of himself and she'll want nothing to do with him and come back to me where she belongs.* Seifer thought to himself.

When Zell reached his door finally he found a note there with his name on it. He opened it up as he opened the door to his singles dorm. He pulled up a chair and sat on it with the back of the chair facing his chest. The letter read:

Hey Zell, I can see you're feeling pretty down and I want to talk to you about whats wrong and maybe see if I could help you with whatever your problems are. Meet me at the water fountain towards the Quad if you wanna talk. I'll be waiting for you there at 8:00pm. Don't keep me waiting too long ok? See ya there.

Your Friend,
Rinoa.
Zell looked over at his clock and saw it was 7:55. He decided it would be rude of him to leave Rinoa waiting for him if she was concerned with him this much.

"Oh well I mean, what could it hurt to just talk to her about it? I haven't really spoken to anyone since.." Zell sighed hard and then turned off his lights and took out his keys to lock his door on his way out of his dorm.

He walked with a quicker pace that he usually did so that he made sure not to keep Rinoa waiting. As he made his way down the last hallway he saw Rinoa at the bottom of the stairs sitting on the edge of the fountain.

"Awe jeez, way to go and make her wait for you Zell, couldn't you have taken just a little longer to get down here." He mumbled to himself.

Rinoa saw him come down the stairs and waved to him as he got closer to her. "Hey Zell how are you?" She kindly said to him.

"I'm doing ok I guess. I dunno I mean, I've been spending every day at the library around 4 o' clock to try and think things through and see if I can make things better but so for to no avail. What about you?" He said as he sat down next to her.

"I'm doing good, thins with me and Squall are going great. We're both really happy together. I heard about you and Fujin and just wanted to make sure you were ok." She said as she put her hand on his shoulder.

"I just don't know how to feel anymore." He said as he let out a sigh. "On one hand I miss her terribly, but every time I think about how she hurt me I feel like a part of me just keeps dying." He turned to look at Rinoa, "What would you do, if you were in my place and you caught Squall with another woman. And he looked happier with her than he ever did with you. What would you do?"

Rinoa thought hard for a while to try to imagine what it would be like to lose Squall. She almost started to cry. "Um...I don't know what I would do. I really couldn't imagine my world without him anymore."

"Yeah well, the only thing I know for sure is that I don't want to feel this way anymore. Maybe if I found her with someone else, why of all people did it have to be Seifer? How could she feel anything for him. How could she love him after all the pain he's caused me. It would be like Squall falling in love with Ultimacia after her possessing you." He said bitterly

Rinoa slouched down and rested her head on his shoulder. "I can't imagine the pain you must be going through Zell, but I promise you it will get better in time. But do you think it would make things better if you tried to talk things out with Fujin? I mean you still love her right?"

Zell looked up at the night sky. He prayed to the gods so that he could get out his next sentence with out breaking down. *Sniff* "I don't know, my body aches when I'm not holding her. I want to try to find a way to be with her, but I don't know if I can forgive her...I'm sorry Rin, I should go." He quickly got up and started heading back towards his dorm again.

Rinoa called out to him. "Zell wait." But he was already gone.

Selphie and Fujin made there way up to Rinoa, they were both sitting at the stage watching the two from afar. The look on Rinoa's face didn't fill them with any hope.

"So how did it go Rinnie?" Selphie asked timidly

"Not so good, Seph, but I think if he sees Fujin again and they talk he might be able to stop being so stubborn and swallow his pride and take her back." She said as she stood up and brushed herself off. "I think I have an idea, he said he's been spending time at the library every day around 4 o' clock. I think if he bumps into Fujin...it'll be quiet there and chances are he'll stay calm in a place like that. I think it could work if you two just get together there. What do you two think?"

Fujin nodded her head assertively. "Affirmative...thank you...for...talking to...him."

Selphie started bouncing up and down, "Yaay, you two are getting back together. That's soo great!"

"Don't get so happy yet Selphie, hopefully everything will go well tomorrow." Rinoa cautiously said.

The next day Fujin prepared herself for her big chance, she looked at herself one last time in the mirror(something that was still kind of new to her) and made her way down to the library. There she met up with Rinoa and Selphie, they told her Zell had already been in there for about a half hour. With one last thumbs up from the two Fujin took one final deep breath before she walked in.

She saw in the back standing next to one of the bookshelves. She snuck up behind him and pretended to be holding a book in front of her face as she "accidentally" bumped into him.

"Oh...sorry." She began. Then she tried to looked surprised as he raised her head to see Zell staring at her.

"Umm...it's quite alright." He said. "So how are things?" he asked in a monotonous tone.

"I'm ok...you?" She asked trying to keep her cool. She summoned up all her courage and was able to get out the seven words she was hoping Zell wanted to hear.

"I want...to ...be with...you again." She said

"Fujin, don't...really I'm still not sure how..." He started but then for the first time Fujin interrupted him.

"Are you...saying you...don't miss...me? That...your body...doesn't miss...my touch? That...my love...didn't mean...anything...to you?" She said ready to cry.

Zell started clenching his fists. "I do miss you Fujin, with every thing that I am, but you ripped my heart out. I just can't pretend that nothing ever happened. Besides how do I know your not just going to run back to Seifer after you get bored of being with me?"

"Idiot." She said with a hurt look, "I want...to be...with you."

"No, your settling for me, Seifer told me what happened between you two." Zell blurted out.

"What?!" Fujin said with confused look on her face.

Zell started again. "I don't want to be with you just because you're on the rebound. You may have ripped out my heart but I still have my pride.

Fujin started shaking her head. "No...that's...not true."

"Then look at me the way you do to him. Look at me with the same longing in your eyes. Tell me you didn't feel anything for him when you were kissing him." He said pleadingly.

Fujin looked at him hurt, she did feel something for Seifer when they kissed but she couldn't lie to Zell not now...he would know if she did. She slumped her head down and replied.

"I...am looking...at you...the way...I look...at him..."

"And?..." He asked dreading what she would say next.

"I felt...something...when we...but..."

Zell cut her off. "Enough."

"But..." Fujin tried to get out.

"I said enough! This is too hard, I can't do this. I use to think you would never do something like this to me. Whenever I look at you, even now...all I can see is how happy you looked while kissing him. I keep saying to myself that it's better this way. That I'm better off without you, but in the end I'm still staring up at my ceiling knowing that I'm the one that lost because your not feeling sorry that you lost me. Instead I'm the one who's screwed because all I can do is think about how much it hurts to not have you, how much it hurts to have lost you." He said holding back his tears.

At this point they had the attention of everyone in the library, even Rinoa and Selphie were there watching them. Fujin was crying as she absorbed all of Zell's words. She kept shaking her head in protest.

"You're...wrong...I'm trying...to make...things better." She got out with tears streaming down her face.

Zell stepped back from her. "Well it's not good enough. I keep thinking what I did to drive you to him...how did I failed you? How am I not better than him?! How could you just give into him with out thinking about what you were doing us?"

Then he turned his back to her. "How could you forget about me so quickly."

"When...I kissed...Seifer...what I...felt...for him..." she tried to say, but it was too late Zell was already walking towards the door.

Fujin broke down and was on her knees crying harder than she'd ever cried before. In between sobs she kept saying. "It...didn't compare...to how...you make...me feel."

A.N. Well I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Sorry it's taking me so long to get his out. I'm still trying to figure out an ending so if any of you have one in mind I'd be more than happy to hear it. Don't forget to review and let me know what you all think. I'll have the next chapter up soon. :D