A/N: I see 'psycho Seifer' left you a good impression, huh? ^_^ Well to be honest, I'm not very good with romance. My 'specialty' (if I actually HAVE one… ^_^) are darker stories.
And so we're starting the final countdown for this fic… Expect three or four (tops) more chapters in the future. The grand finale is approaching… ^_~
Chapter 34: Quistis' birthday
A ray of light came through the curtain, falling right on Quistis' face. She felt a tickling sensation on her face and slowly opened her eyes. She found Seifer awake, resting on his elbow, tracing a finger on her face. He was looking at her with a small, calm smile on his face. When she opened her eyes and smiled back at him, he leaned in and kissed her softly on the lips.
- "And a good morning to you, too…" said Quistis grinning, when they broke apart.
- "You look beautiful when you're asleep…" said Seifer.
- "Does that imply that I'm ugly all the rest of the time?" she asked jokingly.
- "Yeah, that was exactly my point…" said Seifer sarcastically. Quistis grinned "About last night…" he began, while the expression on his face changed "Did I… hurt you?" he asked worriedly.
- "It's OK, you didn't…" she replied.
- "No, it's not." he said sadly "I'm really sorry… I don't know what got into me… I just went… ballistic…"
- "I understand." she said smiling at him.
- "Really?" asked Seifer eagerly.
- "Really." replied Quistis sincerely.
Seifer's lips twitched into a smile and he hugged Quistis tightly. He gave her a deep kiss and then drew back, looking into her eyes.
- "We should start getting ready." he said "Our train leaves in four hours."
- "Alright…" said Quistis touching a spike of Seifer's brown hair "But first, you'd better wash that nasty color off your hair…"
(A/N: Happy, Ling-San? ^_^)
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
It was already 3 o' clock in the afternoon when the couple arrived back at Garden. They took their luggage back to their rooms and decided to head the cafeteria for lunch. When they walked inside, many people stared at Quistis in shock. Her now flaming red hair obviously caught everyone's attention. They walked over to a table were Rinoa and Squall were sitting and joined them.
- "Oh my Hyne!" exclaimed Rinoa "Quisty?!"
- "Nice to see you too…" said Quistis smiling, sitting down next to her.
- "Your hair is simply… amazing!" admired Rinoa, touching a lock of it.
- "Thanks… I needed to make a change." she replied.
- "Looks good." said Squall smiling lightly.
- "And the fringe is just great…" went on Rinoa. The previous day, Quistis had gone to a hairdresser salon and had gotten a trim. The girl who cut her hair suggested that a sideways fringe would make the look better, so Quistis went with it "What do you think Seifer?" asked Rinoa.
- "I don't like it." he lied, shrugging "I told her so…"
- "Yes, in a very rude way as always…" lied Quistis, pretending to sound angry.
- "Seifer…" said Rinoa looking at him closely "You got your eyebrow pierced?!" she asked.
- "Yeah. Believe me, it was the highlight of my trip…" he replied.
- "How come?" asked Rinoa.
- "Well, having to roam around Deling protecting the Instructor wasn't my idea of fun, but… I guess I got some rest…" said Seifer.
- "No-one forced you to escort me…" said Quistis.
- "If I hadn't, your hyper little friend would have castrated me…" he replied smirking.
- "Hmm… Now that wouldn't be a bad idea…" said Quistis sarcastically.
Rinoa sighed and shook her head in disbelief, as the two went on with their fake little quarrel…
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Inside a dark room, a bald man and a middle-aged woman were talking. At some point the man took out a piece of paper from a small tank filled with fluid and hung it up on a piece of rope. This was obviously a photo room.
- "Ahh…" said the man sounding satisfied "…There it is… Crystal clear…"
- "Good job Jack…" said the woman smiling "Are these the last ones?" she asked.
- "No, I've still got quite a few from Esthar…" he replied.
- "Ah, yes… Those were golden…" said the woman smirking "The two little love-birds thought they'd get away with a few locks of died hair and a pair of shades? Ha!" she added scoffing "When you're done, bring them up to my office. I need to start working on my masterpiece…"
- "Right away Mrs. Robinson…" said the man, taking out another picture from a tank.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Selphie and Irvine walked hand-in-hand inside the cafeteria, walking over to Squall and Rinoa's table.
- "Hey…" said Selphie sitting down "How come no-one else is here?" she asked.
- "Seifer and Quistis were here just a while ago. They came back from their trip." replied Squall.
- "Yeah and Quistis dyed her hair red!" said Rinoa excitedly.
- "No way!" said Selphie grinning.
- "Yes way! And Seifer got his eyebrow pierced." added Rinoa.
- "Ooh… Wouldn't want to miss that…" said Selphie raising an eyebrow. Irvine shot her a sideways glance "I love you…" said Selphie grinning, hugging him.
- "Anyway, did you guys tell Zell and Shizuka about tomorrow?" asked Irvine.
- "What's tomorrow?" asked Squall.
- "Duh! Quistis' birthday dummy!" said Selphie.
- "Oh yeah. I forgot…" Squall said.
- "I told them." said Rinoa "They're in."
- "In for what?" asked Squall again.
- "The surprise!" said Selphie exasperated.
- "We're gonna surprise her in the morning, remember?" asked Rinoa.
- "No, no-one told me about it…" said Squall.
- "Well, we just did." said Selphie "By the way, we're going to need your card."
- "What card?" asked Squall.
- "One of these cards like those the Instructors get to get into all students' rooms. You've got one that opens every door, right?" asked Selphie.
- "Yeah, but it's for emergencies only." said Squall.
- "Aw, c'mon… Just for tomorrow… To surprise her…" said Selphie.
- "No. It can get me into trouble…" insisted Squall "I told you. It's for emergencies only."
- "Alright…" said Selphie crossing her arms "Then I guess the time you and Rinoa 'hid'…" she added, doing quotation marks with her fingers "…in the cleaning staff closet was an emergency?" she asked sarcastically. Squall's eyes shot open.
- "You told her?!" he asked Rinoa furiously.
- "Well…" said Rinoa smiling awkwardly.
- "Damn, we need to get one of those too!" said Irvine.
- "To the topic if you please!" said Selphie loudly "I guess we can borrow your card Squall…?" asked Selphie.
- "Whatever…" he said shrugging.
- "Good. Did anyone tell Seifer about tomorrow?" asked Selphie.
- "I'll tell him." said Irvine.
- "Great! I got the cake today, so everything's set! Remember, we're all meeting tomorrow morning at 7 in my room. We've got to be over at hers before she leaves for class." said Selphie.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
It was just a minute past midnight when Quistis heard a knock on her door. She was in the bathroom, brushing her teeth. She checked her watch and saw it was 12:01 at night. Puzzled, she walked over to the door and opened it. She found Seifer waiting outside, wearing a pair of jeans and a deep green V-necked sweater she'd bought him as a gift. He was hiding something behind his back.
- "Happy birthday." said Seifer smiling warmly.
- "What?" asked Quistis confused.
- "It is your birthday, isn't it?" asked Seifer rhetorically.
- "Yeah… Tomorrow…" she said grinning.
- "Well this is 'tomorrow'… It's a minute past twelve so it's already October 4th." he said smirking. Quistis smiled "I just wanted to be the first one to tell you 'Happy birthday'." Seifer added.
Quistis pulled him inside the room and closed the door, giving him a passionate kiss.
- "These are for you…" he said when they broke apart, handing her a bouquet of lilac orchids and a small box.
- "Thanks…" said Quistis smiling broadly smelling the flowers "I love them…"
She walked over to her desk and put them inside a vase.
- "What's this?" she asked, holding up the small box.
- "Open it and you'll find out." said Seifer.
Quistis did so and found a small pendant inside. It had a thin, fine, silver chain and it consisted of two slivers of silver, wrapping a small purplish-blue stone. Quistis looked at it in awe and slid her slender fingers through the chain.
- "Seifer… This is beautiful…" she said holding it up.
- "May I?" asked Seifer approaching her.
He walked behind her and pulled her hair around one shoulder. He took the pendant from her hand and passed it in front of her neck, locking it behind it. He held it with one hand, then gently let it slip and fall in front of her chest. He gave her a soft kiss on the shoulder and pulled her hair back into place. Quistis turned around and looked at him.
- "How does it look?" she asked smiling.
- "Amazing…" he said admiring her.
- "I like the stone…" she said.
- "It's sapphire." said Seifer "Thought it'd match your eyes…"
- "Real sapphire?" asked Quistis surprised. Seifer nodded "Hyne, it must have cost you a fortune!"
- "Don't even think about it…" said Seifer touching her chin.
- "This is all too much…" said Quistis smiling "Thank you…" she said hugging him.
- "*Sigh* I wanted to do something special for your birthday, but we won't have time with your classes and all…" said Seifer, caressing her hair.
- "You've already done something special." said Quistis.
- "What's that?" asked Seifer.
- "You showed up." she said smiling at him and kissed him softly "Can I ask for a favor?" she asked.
- "Anything." replied Seifer.
- "Stay for tonight…"
- "That's not a favor, that's a pleasure kitten…"
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The next morning…
Quistis woke up being held inside Seifer's strong arms. He was already awake and was looking at her.
- "Hey beautiful…" he said smiling.
- "Hey handsome…" she said smiling back "How long was I asleep?" she asked.
- "About half an hour…" he said.
- "Let's go back to sleep…" said Quistis lazily "We hardly got any all night…"
- "You've been sleeping for thirty minutes!" protested Seifer.
- "I'm tired!" she whined "You got me tired…"
- "C'mon…" said Seifer huskily "It's your birthday… Let's celebrate it…" he added kissing her neck.
- "We've been 'celebrating' it all night! I need sleep!" said Quistis giggling.
- "You can sleep later…" he said pulling a lock of hair away from her face, kissing her.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Selphie walked cautiously towards Quistis' dorm, holding a box. She motioned to the five people behind her to come along. She opened the box and took out a cake, handing the box to Irvine.
- "Everyone keep quiet…" she whispered "This is going to be so great! Quisty will love it!"
- "Hey, didn't anyone tell Seifer about this?" asked Rinoa.
- "Oh shit…" said Irvine, slapping his forehead "I forgot…"
- "Nice going!" said Selphie furiously.
- "Well sorry, I had loads of other things to do!" said Irvine.
- "He might have wanted to come!" said Selphie angrily "Maybe we should go get him…"
- "Just forget it. We'll tell him to come over in the afternoon, when we'll all gather." suggested Irvine.
- "*Sigh* Anyway, where are the candles?" asked Selphie.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Seifer and Quistis rolled out of bed with a bed sheet wrapped around them. Seifer fell hard on his back holding Quistis on top of him and sent out a groan of pain. Quistis hugged him tighter and laughed hysterically.
- "Ow… That hurt you know!" he said indignantly.
- "Aww… My poor bunny hurt himself?" asked Quistis mincingly, kissing him on the nose.
- "Yeah, Mr. Bunny now needs 'special treatment'…" said Seifer mischievously.
- "Mmm…" hummed Quistis and kissed him.
Seifer rolled on the floor, getting Quistis underneath him and slid back into her.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Selphie held up the cake, while Zell lit the candles.
- "Squall, get your card out." said Selphie "Now, on the count of three, everyone yell 'Surprise!', OK?" she asked. All of them nodded. Squall took his card out and got ready to open the door "Alright…" said Selphie "One… two…"
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
A/N: And I officially declare this the ULTIMATE cliff-hanger of this fic! Hee, hee… *grins devilishly*
ON THE NEXT CHAPTER OF 'LOVE CONQUERS ALL':
What? Did you really expect me to fill you in on ANY of the events that will take place next time?
Oh, you did? MBWUAHHHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!
BE PATIENT! :-p