Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy or Squaresoft, blah, blah, blah...
Days later, Squall began to regain consciousness. As he opened his eyes, he saw Rinoa on his left, apparently examining his bandages. Tears were running down her face. He tried to reach for her, but a searing pain shot through his arm. He gasped then gave a choked moan.
"Ohhh," Rinoa's eyes widened.
"Squall? Oh, Squall! I thought you were going to die! You lost so much blood! Are you feeling okay?" Squall nodded slowly.
"Were am I?" He asked quietly.
"You're in the infirmary. I'm so glad you're alright. I thought I lost you..." She kneeled beside the bed and placed her head on Squall's muscular, bare chest. He wrapped his good arm around Rinoa and kissed her deeply.
"Heh, heh, heh! It looks like ol' Squall here is doing better!" Squall and Rinoa broke apart abruptly and looked to see Dr. Kadowaki laughing at their shocked faces. Rinoa blushed and gave Dr. Kadowaki an excuse she knew wouldn't work.
"I-I was just checking his bandages..." The old woman only smiled more broadly. Those two are such a cute couple.
"Looks to me you were doing more than that!" She chuckled. She walked over to Squall to check his wound. When she reached him, however, her eyes widened in shock.
"Rinoa...look at this..." Rinoa peered over and gasped.
Squall's wound had almost healed completely! All that was left of it was a 3 inch cut that was hardly deep enough to bleed.
"...I can't believe it...he was only in the infirmary...four days..." An astonished Dr. Kadowaki mumbled. Squall was puzzled as well.
"...How did it heal so fast?" No one knew.
Just then, Zell, Quistis, Irvine, and Selphie somehow managed to cram themselves into the small office.
"So! It appears that Squall's awake! We dropped by to..." Irvine trailed off as he saw Squall's shoulder. "How'd that happen?" Quistis squeezed forward.
"Squall, what did the wolf that attacked you look like?" Squall described it. Quistis looked thoughtful and turned towards Dr.Kadowaki.
"Do you think that maybe we should examine the wolf? Maybe it wasn't what it appeared to be." Irvine held up a hand.
"Listen, lady, when I saw that wolf, it looked just like any other. What do you mean that 'it wasn't what it appeared to be'?" Quistis shrugged.
"I agree with Quistis. I think that examining it's body is a good idea. For all we know that animal may have given Squall a disease." Dr. Kadowaki added, "Show me the body."
Irvine and Zell lead Dr. Kadowaki to the decaying corpse.
"Ugh..." Zell commented.
"I think 'ugh' just about sums it up."
The rancid, coppery scent of blood drenched the air. A whole manner of crawlies had thoroughly investigated its body for days. The stench was terrible. Zell quickly ran behind a rock and began to retch. Dr. Kadowaki grimaced as she bent down to collect samples of blood, fur, and saliva. She placed the samples into a small bag rather quickly. She then turned to Irvine and Zell, who were both slightly green.
"Have someone dispose of this thing."
Later that night, Dr. Kadowaki sat peering into her microscope, examining a drop of the wolf's saliva, finding nothing unusual. Out of curiosity, she added a few drops of Squall's blood, which she had collected earlier. Suddenly, something amazing began to happen.
As Squall's blood cells came into contact with the wolf spit, the saliva rushed forward and completely dominated Squall's blood. The fluids began to mix, forming a new substance which the old woman could not identify. Dr. Kadowaki was excited and pondered the meaning of this phenomenal change. Suddenly, the answer slowly dawned on her with horror. She prayed that her conclusion was incorrect.
***
"Squall Leonhart, please report to the infirmary immediatly. Thank you." Dr. Kadowaki's anxious voice crackled throughout Garden, waking many students in the process. Squall heard and groggily wondered what they wanted him for. Probably want to interrogate me on that stupid monster. He looked over at Rinoa, who had managed to sleep through the announcement. Carefully, he crawled over her to change his clothing.
Inside, he met a grave looking Dr. Kadowaki.
"Have a seat." She prompted. Squall looked at the doctor carefully, noticing that she appeared unusually tired, old, and distraught.
"Last night, after you left the infirmary, Squall, I stayed up after hours to investigated the samples that were taken from the animal's corpse," the doctor began. "Out of pure curiosity, I placed a sample of your blood as well as a portion of the beast's saliva under a high power microscope. I noticed immediately that something phenomenal was taking place when the two substances made contact. The DNA found in the wolf's saliva began to merge with your own, Squall. These new cells of genetic information rapidly began to multiply." Dr. Kadowaki leaned over her cool metal desk to peer more closely at the two. "Do you have any idea what this means?" Instead of waiting for an answer, the woman rose from her chair and began pacing around the small office.
"It means that this...this...creature has obviously given you a portion of his DNA and I'm almost positive that by now your entire genetic makeup has been changed overnight." She looked at Squall.
The young man looked up at the doctor, shocked.
"Dr. Kadowaki, d-do you have any clue what's going to happen?" Squall asked shakily. The older woman sighed deeply, seating herself once again and rubbed her face with her hands. She looked back up at Squall.
"I don't know. Overall, I think it would be a good idea keep this between us so I can do some more research. However, if you begin to feel unusual in any way, I want you to come straight to me and we'll notify the Headmaster. Understand?" Squall nodded slowly.
"Yes."
A/N: Hold up! This isn't going to turn into some stupid, corny, cliché werewolf fic (I myself can't stand those...) The plot will thicken over the next several chapters. Sorry, I'm busy being with the CC team so updates will be few and far in between. Thank you so much to everyone who reviews!