No One Knows Like I Do
Author's Note: I thank you all for such nice reviews!
If only I did own these characters…oh well.
Chapter 3-Much Ado About Everything
Seifer was jarred out of his sleep by a mushy easy listening love song blaring from Raijin's alarm clock. Seifer busted his when he shut it off with a hammer.
"Ooh baby, I can't get enough of you, please don't tell me through, without you I cannot live, I've given all the love that I could giiiiiiiiiive…" Seifer was relieved when Raijin finally shut off the mushy drivel, but relief was short lived when he heard Raijin singing that very same song in the shower.
Exasperated, Seifer slammed his pillow over his to block out the sound. He added that song to his 'Things That Should Be Sent in Oblivion' list mentally. After about five minutes, he snatched the pillow off his head and heaved it toward the door. Sitting up in frustration, he headed toward the bathroom. Unfortuanately, today was a school day.
"Yo! Hurry it up in there! How long could a shower take?! Damn!" he hollered as he pounded the door with his fists.
"Huh? Oh yeah, I'll be out in a few." Raijin often got carried away with his singing and never realized how long he could spend in the shower. He finally emerged from the bathroom along with wisps of steam. "Steamed it up a bit, ya know," he chuckled. "It's all yours."
"About time," Seifer muttered as he pushed past him. He needed the shower to clear his mind and it didn't help that he woke up drenched with sweat. The strangest dream had occurred last night and it left him with chills. The whole time he had been searching for Fujin. He was in a strange town that was a cross between Balamb and Fisherman's Horizon. It wasn't peaceful at all though. It was desolate and the population consisted of many faceless people. He asked the people if they had seen a girl with silver hair wearing an eye patch. Simultaneously, they all pointed to a dilapidated inn. He quickly ran into the inn. Seifer remember the smell of the inn vividly even though this was a dream. It had a musty stench that quickly over took his senses. He reached the lobby and at first saw nothing. Weak sunlight wasn't enough to light the room and he had a hard time seeing. Fujin's form suddenly appeared in the middle of the room, back facing toward him. She slowly turned around and to his horror her face was covered with lacerations. Seifer tried to ask her how they happened, but he suddenly heard his own voice fill the room. The voice jeered and accused Fujin and each comment left another slash on her face.
As dramatic as the dream was, Seifer got the point of it. In the dream, his jeering and accusations physically wounded her, but he knew things that he said to her hurt her emotionally. Once in the shower, Seifer ran plans of action to his head. He was not going to hurt her any longer. He knew that Fujin loved him even when he tried denying it. He dated other girls running away from what he knew was true. 'Why is it so difficult for me to face that?' Seifer made up his mind to talk to her at the Disciplinary Office later on.
~*~*~
Fujin had already been awake since five this morning. As a start to her day she usually jogged around Balamb Garden's beautiful campus. When the Garden had to move to another region, she was usually reduced to run around in the training center's gym. She noticed that more students started to fill the halls, which meant that class time wasn't far off. After a shower and changing into her usual attire she headed to the cafeteria to grab a quick breakfast. There was still a bit of time before class. Upon walking in she spotted Zell in line. She took her place behind him and patiently waited. Zell seemed to have a hard time being patient, so he started boxing in place. He turned around and nearly caught Fujin in the mouth with one of his lower swings.
"Oh! S-sorry about that! I didn't see you there," he stammered. Not that Fujin could blame him. She was even shorter than Zell standing at 5'2". Fujin waved it off and without another word he turned around and noticed that he was next in line.
"Got any hot dogs?!" he asked the cafeteria lady eagerly.
"You're in luck Zell. We have a few-" she was cut off by Zell's sudden outburst of…
"OHHH YEAH!" he shouted jumping high in the air pumping his fist.
He triumphantly carried his "breakfast" over to his table to sit with his friends. The group included his new girlfriend from the library, Squall, Rinoa, Selphie and Irvine. "Hey guys, I got HOT DOGS!"
"That's great Zell!" Selphie exclaimed enthusiastically. "Now we can stop hearing you groan about how you can't get any."
The conversation carried on, but Fujin has stopped listening. She could care less what was going on at that table. She moved up and placed her order of a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich and a pint of orange juice. She ate quickly and headed to class.
~*~*~
"So, can anyone tell me why it would be dangerous to use GFs for a purpose other than to aid you in battle?" Quistis asked. Most of her students weren't alert; it was Monday morning after all. "Rough weekends I take it?"
'You have no idea,' Fujiin thought sourly. Her gaze was fixed on her terminal with was animated with a screen saver. The screen saver of the Garden crest floating in empty space seemed more interesting than the class at the moment.
"Miss Kazeno, would you care to tell me one reason why?" Quistis asked regarding Fujin. She propped herself against her desk with her arms folded awaiting an answer.
Fujin knew she couldn't answer this with just one word; a question like this needed more than a concise answer. "Well," she droned, "the GF can sometimes assume the feelings of its user. Suppose 'Johnny' wanted to use Diablos bring harm to some classmates that picked on him. At the moment he would summon the GF it would sense his feelings of hatred, adopt them, and unleash them toward the offender if in the way of its attack."
"Wouldn't that suggest that the GF is not advanced? She makes it sound like its bent on destruction," a know it all student interjected.
"If you listened to last week's lecture, you would have noticed that I pointed out that GFs can have feelings like a human being AND they can adopt them as well, Isazu. Thank you Miss Kazeno. All right, if you don't have your terminals on please turn them on and bring up last week's review for the exam."
Groans filled the room as the students turned on their terminals. The Treppies found no problem in doing what their dear teacher asked. "Work silently on completing part two of the review. When you are finished, send the file to my terminal. I trust that it shouldn't take you too long. I will email your grades to you so they should all be sent by later tonight. Oh, you may leave when you finish."
~*~*~
Fujin's next destination was the Disciplinary Office. She had to work for five hours that day and Seifer's shift was also at the same time. She dreaded the fact she had to work with him today. Unfortunately, Raijin wouldn't be there to ease some of the tension since he was trying to work out taking the written test for the SeeD exam. When she reached the door, she took a deep breath and opened it. To her surprise, Seifer wasn't in yet. She sat down at her desk and sorted through some student records to see who didn't serve their detentions. Whenever there was an evasive student, the Disciplinary Committee had to report them to Xu. Once things reached that level, that student knew he was in some deep trouble and that was putting it lightly.
Seifer walked in the room expecting to have it to himself, when he spotted Fujin. For some reason his heart skipped a beat, but he composed himself and managed to speak.
"Hey Fuj." He sat down at his desk and turned on the computer in an effort of having something to look at other than her face.
"Hey." She never looked up from her work.
'Now what?' Seifer thought desperately. 'I can be smooth with any other girl, even Rinoa at some point, but I can't with her?' A voice he hadn't listened to in ages kicked in. His conscience.
You know what you have to do.
'I don't know where to start.'
Try apologizing.
"Hey Fujin…can I talk to you?" He asked facing in her direction.
"FINE." She still didn't look up.
"Could you at least look at me? I deserve that much."
"REALLY? BEG TO DIFFER."
"Look, I don't feel like fighting today."
"UNBELIEVABLE."
"Fujin please!" He cried slamming his fist on the desk. "Just…let me say what I have to say." He said calming down.
"GO ON." She finally looked at him.
"All right…I didn't mean to be that way with you yesterday."
"Oh, you meant the other times, then?" She interrupted features hardening.
"No," he replied through gritted teeth. "I never meant any of them. I don't know what comes over me sometimes." He didn't know how to continue.
Seeing the great difficult in confessing to her, Fujin decided to drop the cold act. She listened intently. 'He deserves that much,' she thought. "Go on."
"I take you for granted Fujin and I regret it." He slid his chair over to her desk and took her hand in both of his. The gesture surprised Fujin and she inhaled sharply. "I guess I'm so used to you just pretending that nothing I say hurts you that I started to believe that nothing didn't. You really don't deserve that from me." Seifer never had to say this much to anyone in his life. He had no idea how to continue. "You're like family to me Fujin. You and Raijin are the only family I have. More importantly, you and Raijin are the only real friends I have." He looked down at her hand and drew small circles around the top with his thumb. "You were always by my side when I needed you. Even with the whole Ultimecia thing…." Bringing that up was very painful for him. The people of the world accepted him and Edea, but some still thought that they should pay dearly. General Caraway became the president of Galbadia and explained the whole situation saying that it was ultimately Ultimecia directed attacks on cities and the Gardens and that she needed hosts. Even so, Seifer could never forgive himself.
"I just want to make things right!" He exploded. Tears burned in his eyes. He let go of her hand and buried his face in his hands. Fujin couldn't believe what she was seeing. In the time that she had known Seifer, not once did she see him cry. It pained her to see him this way. Before she knew what she was doing, she moved even closer to him and gently laid his head on her shoulder. She let him cry his frustrations out before she spoke.
"Let me ask you a question. Why do you think I always stay by you?" She asked softly.
"I don't know…. I don't understand why you do…" He answered lifting his head off her shoulder.
"Because people who love you always stay with you." Fujin couldn't believe she just said that. As soon as she did, her heart skipped. "Why else?"
Seifer couldn't manage an answer after that. He just looked at Fujin who immediately looked down.
"Don't…" he said lifting her face. "You're around me more than Raijin is. You must really love me more than anyone else ever did," he joked raising an eyebrow.
"Always did," she whispered. "Just wouldn't admit it."
"I'm glad you did. I would hate to think of us as a one way relationship."
"What?" Fujin didn't understand what he meant at first. Then she figured it. "I can't believe it…" she mumbled. "I don't look like the other girls…"
"Should that matter? I doesn't to me anymore. You don't have to look like them to be beautiful. I see tits and ass when I look at them. But you, I see this right here." He pointed to her heart. "You're beautiful where it counts and it doesn't hurt that you're attractive too."
"That means a lot to me." Fujin embraced Seifer and they held each until the wall clock in the room buzzed, startling them both.
"It's noon," Seifer said. "Care for some lunch? I had no breakfast so I might die from hunger if I don't eat soon." His stomach grumbled in response.
"We wouldn't want you to die now would we?"
Seifer and Fujin walked down the hall together in peaceful silence and anyone who dared to look at in a manner they didn't like would receive a death glare from Fujin and a detention courtesy of Seifer. Rose happened to be nearby getting a drink from the fountain when they breezed past her.
"There's something going on between them…I know there is! Oooh! I gotta tell Macy!" She cried to herself. She was notorious for spreading 'news'.
How was that? I can have a hard time writing some romance 'cause I don't want it to sound to corny. Oh well. If I have some grammatical mistakes please forgive me. My eyes are tired. Maybe this weekend I can do two chapters. I'll try! Reviews, flames, and suggestions are always welcome. Thanks again!
Author's Note: I thank you all for such nice reviews!
If only I did own these characters…oh well.
Chapter 3-Much Ado About Everything
Seifer was jarred out of his sleep by a mushy easy listening love song blaring from Raijin's alarm clock. Seifer busted his when he shut it off with a hammer.
"Ooh baby, I can't get enough of you, please don't tell me through, without you I cannot live, I've given all the love that I could giiiiiiiiiive…" Seifer was relieved when Raijin finally shut off the mushy drivel, but relief was short lived when he heard Raijin singing that very same song in the shower.
Exasperated, Seifer slammed his pillow over his to block out the sound. He added that song to his 'Things That Should Be Sent in Oblivion' list mentally. After about five minutes, he snatched the pillow off his head and heaved it toward the door. Sitting up in frustration, he headed toward the bathroom. Unfortuanately, today was a school day.
"Yo! Hurry it up in there! How long could a shower take?! Damn!" he hollered as he pounded the door with his fists.
"Huh? Oh yeah, I'll be out in a few." Raijin often got carried away with his singing and never realized how long he could spend in the shower. He finally emerged from the bathroom along with wisps of steam. "Steamed it up a bit, ya know," he chuckled. "It's all yours."
"About time," Seifer muttered as he pushed past him. He needed the shower to clear his mind and it didn't help that he woke up drenched with sweat. The strangest dream had occurred last night and it left him with chills. The whole time he had been searching for Fujin. He was in a strange town that was a cross between Balamb and Fisherman's Horizon. It wasn't peaceful at all though. It was desolate and the population consisted of many faceless people. He asked the people if they had seen a girl with silver hair wearing an eye patch. Simultaneously, they all pointed to a dilapidated inn. He quickly ran into the inn. Seifer remember the smell of the inn vividly even though this was a dream. It had a musty stench that quickly over took his senses. He reached the lobby and at first saw nothing. Weak sunlight wasn't enough to light the room and he had a hard time seeing. Fujin's form suddenly appeared in the middle of the room, back facing toward him. She slowly turned around and to his horror her face was covered with lacerations. Seifer tried to ask her how they happened, but he suddenly heard his own voice fill the room. The voice jeered and accused Fujin and each comment left another slash on her face.
As dramatic as the dream was, Seifer got the point of it. In the dream, his jeering and accusations physically wounded her, but he knew things that he said to her hurt her emotionally. Once in the shower, Seifer ran plans of action to his head. He was not going to hurt her any longer. He knew that Fujin loved him even when he tried denying it. He dated other girls running away from what he knew was true. 'Why is it so difficult for me to face that?' Seifer made up his mind to talk to her at the Disciplinary Office later on.
~*~*~
Fujin had already been awake since five this morning. As a start to her day she usually jogged around Balamb Garden's beautiful campus. When the Garden had to move to another region, she was usually reduced to run around in the training center's gym. She noticed that more students started to fill the halls, which meant that class time wasn't far off. After a shower and changing into her usual attire she headed to the cafeteria to grab a quick breakfast. There was still a bit of time before class. Upon walking in she spotted Zell in line. She took her place behind him and patiently waited. Zell seemed to have a hard time being patient, so he started boxing in place. He turned around and nearly caught Fujin in the mouth with one of his lower swings.
"Oh! S-sorry about that! I didn't see you there," he stammered. Not that Fujin could blame him. She was even shorter than Zell standing at 5'2". Fujin waved it off and without another word he turned around and noticed that he was next in line.
"Got any hot dogs?!" he asked the cafeteria lady eagerly.
"You're in luck Zell. We have a few-" she was cut off by Zell's sudden outburst of…
"OHHH YEAH!" he shouted jumping high in the air pumping his fist.
He triumphantly carried his "breakfast" over to his table to sit with his friends. The group included his new girlfriend from the library, Squall, Rinoa, Selphie and Irvine. "Hey guys, I got HOT DOGS!"
"That's great Zell!" Selphie exclaimed enthusiastically. "Now we can stop hearing you groan about how you can't get any."
The conversation carried on, but Fujin has stopped listening. She could care less what was going on at that table. She moved up and placed her order of a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich and a pint of orange juice. She ate quickly and headed to class.
~*~*~
"So, can anyone tell me why it would be dangerous to use GFs for a purpose other than to aid you in battle?" Quistis asked. Most of her students weren't alert; it was Monday morning after all. "Rough weekends I take it?"
'You have no idea,' Fujiin thought sourly. Her gaze was fixed on her terminal with was animated with a screen saver. The screen saver of the Garden crest floating in empty space seemed more interesting than the class at the moment.
"Miss Kazeno, would you care to tell me one reason why?" Quistis asked regarding Fujin. She propped herself against her desk with her arms folded awaiting an answer.
Fujin knew she couldn't answer this with just one word; a question like this needed more than a concise answer. "Well," she droned, "the GF can sometimes assume the feelings of its user. Suppose 'Johnny' wanted to use Diablos bring harm to some classmates that picked on him. At the moment he would summon the GF it would sense his feelings of hatred, adopt them, and unleash them toward the offender if in the way of its attack."
"Wouldn't that suggest that the GF is not advanced? She makes it sound like its bent on destruction," a know it all student interjected.
"If you listened to last week's lecture, you would have noticed that I pointed out that GFs can have feelings like a human being AND they can adopt them as well, Isazu. Thank you Miss Kazeno. All right, if you don't have your terminals on please turn them on and bring up last week's review for the exam."
Groans filled the room as the students turned on their terminals. The Treppies found no problem in doing what their dear teacher asked. "Work silently on completing part two of the review. When you are finished, send the file to my terminal. I trust that it shouldn't take you too long. I will email your grades to you so they should all be sent by later tonight. Oh, you may leave when you finish."
~*~*~
Fujin's next destination was the Disciplinary Office. She had to work for five hours that day and Seifer's shift was also at the same time. She dreaded the fact she had to work with him today. Unfortunately, Raijin wouldn't be there to ease some of the tension since he was trying to work out taking the written test for the SeeD exam. When she reached the door, she took a deep breath and opened it. To her surprise, Seifer wasn't in yet. She sat down at her desk and sorted through some student records to see who didn't serve their detentions. Whenever there was an evasive student, the Disciplinary Committee had to report them to Xu. Once things reached that level, that student knew he was in some deep trouble and that was putting it lightly.
Seifer walked in the room expecting to have it to himself, when he spotted Fujin. For some reason his heart skipped a beat, but he composed himself and managed to speak.
"Hey Fuj." He sat down at his desk and turned on the computer in an effort of having something to look at other than her face.
"Hey." She never looked up from her work.
'Now what?' Seifer thought desperately. 'I can be smooth with any other girl, even Rinoa at some point, but I can't with her?' A voice he hadn't listened to in ages kicked in. His conscience.
You know what you have to do.
'I don't know where to start.'
Try apologizing.
"Hey Fujin…can I talk to you?" He asked facing in her direction.
"FINE." She still didn't look up.
"Could you at least look at me? I deserve that much."
"REALLY? BEG TO DIFFER."
"Look, I don't feel like fighting today."
"UNBELIEVABLE."
"Fujin please!" He cried slamming his fist on the desk. "Just…let me say what I have to say." He said calming down.
"GO ON." She finally looked at him.
"All right…I didn't mean to be that way with you yesterday."
"Oh, you meant the other times, then?" She interrupted features hardening.
"No," he replied through gritted teeth. "I never meant any of them. I don't know what comes over me sometimes." He didn't know how to continue.
Seeing the great difficult in confessing to her, Fujin decided to drop the cold act. She listened intently. 'He deserves that much,' she thought. "Go on."
"I take you for granted Fujin and I regret it." He slid his chair over to her desk and took her hand in both of his. The gesture surprised Fujin and she inhaled sharply. "I guess I'm so used to you just pretending that nothing I say hurts you that I started to believe that nothing didn't. You really don't deserve that from me." Seifer never had to say this much to anyone in his life. He had no idea how to continue. "You're like family to me Fujin. You and Raijin are the only family I have. More importantly, you and Raijin are the only real friends I have." He looked down at her hand and drew small circles around the top with his thumb. "You were always by my side when I needed you. Even with the whole Ultimecia thing…." Bringing that up was very painful for him. The people of the world accepted him and Edea, but some still thought that they should pay dearly. General Caraway became the president of Galbadia and explained the whole situation saying that it was ultimately Ultimecia directed attacks on cities and the Gardens and that she needed hosts. Even so, Seifer could never forgive himself.
"I just want to make things right!" He exploded. Tears burned in his eyes. He let go of her hand and buried his face in his hands. Fujin couldn't believe what she was seeing. In the time that she had known Seifer, not once did she see him cry. It pained her to see him this way. Before she knew what she was doing, she moved even closer to him and gently laid his head on her shoulder. She let him cry his frustrations out before she spoke.
"Let me ask you a question. Why do you think I always stay by you?" She asked softly.
"I don't know…. I don't understand why you do…" He answered lifting his head off her shoulder.
"Because people who love you always stay with you." Fujin couldn't believe she just said that. As soon as she did, her heart skipped. "Why else?"
Seifer couldn't manage an answer after that. He just looked at Fujin who immediately looked down.
"Don't…" he said lifting her face. "You're around me more than Raijin is. You must really love me more than anyone else ever did," he joked raising an eyebrow.
"Always did," she whispered. "Just wouldn't admit it."
"I'm glad you did. I would hate to think of us as a one way relationship."
"What?" Fujin didn't understand what he meant at first. Then she figured it. "I can't believe it…" she mumbled. "I don't look like the other girls…"
"Should that matter? I doesn't to me anymore. You don't have to look like them to be beautiful. I see tits and ass when I look at them. But you, I see this right here." He pointed to her heart. "You're beautiful where it counts and it doesn't hurt that you're attractive too."
"That means a lot to me." Fujin embraced Seifer and they held each until the wall clock in the room buzzed, startling them both.
"It's noon," Seifer said. "Care for some lunch? I had no breakfast so I might die from hunger if I don't eat soon." His stomach grumbled in response.
"We wouldn't want you to die now would we?"
Seifer and Fujin walked down the hall together in peaceful silence and anyone who dared to look at in a manner they didn't like would receive a death glare from Fujin and a detention courtesy of Seifer. Rose happened to be nearby getting a drink from the fountain when they breezed past her.
"There's something going on between them…I know there is! Oooh! I gotta tell Macy!" She cried to herself. She was notorious for spreading 'news'.
How was that? I can have a hard time writing some romance 'cause I don't want it to sound to corny. Oh well. If I have some grammatical mistakes please forgive me. My eyes are tired. Maybe this weekend I can do two chapters. I'll try! Reviews, flames, and suggestions are always welcome. Thanks again!