Put on your dancing shoes
Several weeks had past since Squall made peace with Fujin and one would think that things had worked out rather well since then. Truth was closer to the opposite, at least as far as Squall was concerned. Fujin was nearly overeager to learn how to dance and Sensei's encouragement didn't make things any better. As a SeeD candidate, Squall didn't get paid on a regular basis. True he did get some pocket money (1000 gil each year, 500 per semester), but it was far from a regular SeeD payment. So when he was asked to buy a pair of decent dancing shoes at the steep price of 850 gil, he nearly punched Sensei in the face.
Quistis was busy with her studies, since her field exam was closing in, while Zell still overslept every morning, thus missing the hot dogs, Seifer was his usual ego-super-asshole-of-Garden self and aside from desperately trying to keep his dancing lessons a deep secret, Squall's own routine wasn't that much different from last year. Waiting in the ballroom for class to start as usual, Squall saw Fujin coming in. She was a good girl, although she did seem odd at times.
Along with Seifer, she was very quiet, just an observer, taking in every movement and every word. When looking at her while Seifer gave a lecture (or harassment as many called it) to some student, Squall noticed that Fujin was like a different person. She never wore that expression whenever she was away from Seifer. "TRAIN." Fujin said, nudging Squall's jacket a little. "We've gone over this dance several times already. We both know it by heart. Why do you want to train more?" Squall asked back, trying his best to sound civil. "NEW SHOES." Fujin said, showing Squall an open shoebox. They were black and shiny, open in the toe and straps going all over around the ankle.
"Fine, fine... just once though." He sighed in defeat. Fujin nodded and changed her shoes. She got up and took the starting position, holding out her arms. Although they'd done this dance many times before, Squall still felt awkward whenever holding a girl so close. Shutting it out didn't help, as dancing required full attention and focus, especially for newcomers. After a few steps swirling around rather gracefully, Squall noticed something was quite different. He and Fujin had the same height, but why was she suddenly taller than him? Seeing hints of bafflement on his face, Fujin said: "HIGH HEELS." Squall's embarrassment just made another height record. For some reason, dancing with a girl that was a few inches taller than him made him feel bad.
"Good, good!" Sensei came in, slightly clapping his hands. "Both of you are so good students. Fast learners and natural in your movements." He was almost moved to tears. What a wimp, Squall thought as he gave Fujin a slight bow, thanking her for the dance. "Now we'll move on to a new dance. I think this one will be more adequate for your level." Sensei said as he took out a marking pen and began drawing out the steps on the floor.
"FAMILIAR." Fujin said, pointing at the drawings. Squall frowned and looked down at the steps. It looked like Sensei was planning on getting both of them killed. "What kind of dance is this?" He asked. "DIRTY." Fujin said. "Dirty? Do have to dance in mud or something?" Squall asked, with confusion on his face. Sensei chuckled and shook his head. "It's called 'dirty' because its... well, very sexually charged in its movement and rhythm." He explained. Squall was dumbstruck. He had to act... and move... sexy to a beat, with Fujin?
"After you've learned this one, you can pick a dance you want to learn more about, fine tune your skills." Sensei mumbled as he overlooked his drawings to make sure he had it all right. Squall glanced over at Fujin to see if she had any objections to this new dance, but it was more on the contrary.
"Okay, Squall come here and stand like this." Sensei pointed at the black footsteps on the floor and showed Squall the pose. Doing as he was told, Squall figured this was going to be a long lesson. "Good, Fujin, stand in front of him and... hang on, you'll need a skirt." Sensei said, holding her shoulders. Fumbling around in a crate that stood next to the entrance door, Sensei found a bright pink skirt. "Just put it on over your pants." He explained as he handed her the skirt.
Fujin shaking standing on one foot tried to put on the skirt, while Squall stood beside her, not making any effort in helping her keeping her balance. After 3 nearly fall, Fujin was ready. "Now, Fujin stand with your back to Squall and hold your left arm around his neck. No, no... closer. Squall, hold her left wrist with your left hand." Sensei moved around the couple, adjusting their position while babbling about the passion of the dance.
The class dragged on for what seemed like 5 lifetimes, if not even more. The beat was too fast for Squall's comfort, the movements weird and he felt right out silly as he and Fujin stumbled around on the dance floor. "Okay, we'll just take this last spin, grab and hold and then we'll call it the day. You guys are doing well for your first time." Sensei said smiling. He explained what they were supposed to do while demonstrating the key poses.
As Squall and Fujin made a right turn, he was to hold Fujin in his right hand and "roll her out like a rope" as Sensei put it. At the peak of the roll out, Squall was supposed to gently yank Fujin back, "thus rolling her back into your arms". Fujin would be doing a lot of spinning, both clock and counter clock wise. Squall inwardly prayed that she wouldn't vomit out of dizziness.
The music started and Squall moved around with Fujin in front of him. The turn came, Squall let go of Fujin with his left arm, which rested rather nervously around her waist and "rolled her out". With a slight yanking motion of his wrist, Squall "rolled" Fujin back. Unfortunately, Fujin gained a bit too much speed on her roll in, so instead of stopping, she smacked right into Squall's chest. He felt two soft bulges press against his chest and at that instant it felt like his face would explode because of all the blood rushing to his head. His heart was racing like a Timber train going wild and for a moment Squall thought he was going to have a heart attack. "Okay, you two love birds. That's it for today. See you next week." Sensei said, turning off the stereo. Love birds...?
Quistis returned form a Blue Magic seminar at Trabia Garden and was eager to get back to her studies. Field Exam was closing in fast and written tests were lined up like pearls on a string. Hopefully, Squall and Seifer had behaved themselves while she was gone. That wasn't very likely she chuckled to herself.
Speaking of the devil, Seifer and Squall was sitting in the cafeteria, arm wrestling with each other. As usual there was a crowd gathered around them, Fujin and Raijin flanking Seifer as usual. That new material arts student, Zell, was really cheering Squall on. He sounded like 5 people in 1, quite amusing. It seemed to be a draw.
Their hands were trembling with the tense muscles, both faces locked in a state of iron hard determination. Seeing some instructors talking with headmaster Cid, Quistis decided to break it off before the two got into problems. Seifer was the head of the disciplinary committee and Squall a prodigy student. She doubted that the headmaster would approve of such childish competition amongst such high profiled students.
"Knock it off you two, the headmaster is coming this way." She said, but neither of them listened. In fact, they didn't even give her a glance. "Squall, the headmaster is coming!" Zell suddenly shouted out louder than the rest of the crowd. For a moment, Squall lost his concentration and with a loud bam Seifer crushed his palm over Squall's. "You still need to train harder, Leonhart." He coldly smirked as he took the glass of water Raijin offered him.
Crossing his arms across his chest, Squall looked down on the floor in silence. The air felt like someone was summoning Quezacotl, it was that tense. Everyone was eyeing Squall, waiting him for his next move. Suddenly, his eyes shot up and looked at the clock. "I have a class..." He mumbled and walked away. Quistis was probably the only one that heard it, yet it didn't make much sense.
Squall had a class now? What kind of class could that be? "Squall, what kind of class do you have now?" She asked him as they walked around in the main hall. "Leave me alone, Terpe." He grunted, not turning. Curios, she was left with dozen of questions. Perhaps Xu could give her an update on recent events?
Xu was standing by the coffee machine, trying to make it work. That poor piece of machinery was as old as Hyne Herself. All the countless of kicks and punches to make it work faster had taken their toll on it. It was on the verge of self-destruction. "Oh afternoon Ms Terpe. How was the seminar?" Xu asked as soon as she noticed her. "Interesting. I wish I could learn Mighty Guard..." Quistis replied. "Oh you will, just take your time." Xu smiled back. "Say, what classes are running now?" Quistis asked casually.
"None, aside from one." Xu replied, sipping her coffee. She quickly removed her lips from the cup, cursing the foul taste of the coffee. "Which class is that?" Quistis knew that she'd most likely blow her innocent cover, but she was really eager to find out what classes Squall was taking. "Dancing classes." Xu replied, pouring the coffee down a near by sink. "Squall is taking dancing classes?" Quistis found that so hard to believe that she thought Squall just had lied to her to be left alone. "Yes, he had to since he insisted on having a Gunblade as a weapon." Xu said as if it was a well- known fact.
Squall looked at the watch on the wall. Fujin was 15 min late, so was Sensei. What's going on? Did they get sick? No, Fujin was watching Seifer in the cafeteria. Maybe Sensei just got sick? If that was the case, he'd be told at the homeroom meeting. "SQUALL." Fujin stood in the doorway.
At first glance, she looked just like she did the day before, but it didn't take long before he noticed that Fujin's outfit was... daring to say the least. She wore a navy blue swimsuit and had a brightly coloured, semi transparent cloth wrapped around her hips as a skirt. The swimsuit didn't hide the fact that Fujin was indeed a girl growing to become a woman as it had a deep cleavage and a pair of diamond shaped holes over her stomach. At the center of the lowest diamond hole was her bellybutton. Squall turned his flushed face away in embarrassment. Why the heck was she dressed like that?!
"MEET AT GATE." Fujin insisted before she added: "BRING TOWELS." They were going out on a swim? In a state of nearly total confusion, Squall managed to ask a member of the dormitory committee for some spare towels and headed for the main gate. "Sorry that I forgot to tell you about today's class." Sensei said a bit sheepishly while cleaning his sunglasses to hide his embarrassment (it wasn't working). "...Whatever. Why are we going to the beach?" Squall asked, clearly not fond of the situation.
"We'll be practising the lift today and the best place to do that is in water." Sensei explained. "Lift...? What lift?" Squall asked, sending a cold glare at him. "You lift Fujin up in the air, holding her hips over your head, like this." Sensei showed him the pose. "Once you find the point of balance, you'll be able to do it on land." He assured Squall. "We'll be doing that... on the dance floor?!" Squall yelped in disbelief. Both Fujin and Sensei nodded.
Despite some rather harsh objections from Squall's side, the dancing class proceeded as planned. Well at the beach, Sensei talked them through the principle of the move and told them to give it their best shot (thumbs up). Wading out in the semi cold water, Squall couldn't believe he was doing this. If anyone from Garden saw this, he'd lock himself up in his room for several weeks or just die of shame on the spot.
Glancing at Fujin, he noticed that she was happy as a clown, smiling, slightly giggling to herself as the waves tickled her belly and her watery reflection making funny faces on the rippling surface. "OKAY! SQUALL, PLACE BOTH HANDS ON HER HIPS! NOW FUJIN, WHEN SQUALL STARTS TO LIFT YOU, YOU JUMP UP. THEN..." Sensei was barking orders from the shore (he couldn't swim and has been terrified of water after a rather nasty episode involving Leviathan).
After listing to Sensei's barking for a few minutes, they gave it a go. Squall figured that this was pretty much as stupid as it got. He lifted and Fujin jumped up. "GOOD, GOOD! NOW HOLD IT!" Sensei was almost dancing with joy. Squall felt his feet slipping in the soaked sand and he was tipping backwards.
"Oh crap..." He cursed before both he and Fujin disappeared inside a large watery explosion. Squall came up first, coughing and spitting out salt water while rubbing his eyes. He hated this already. Fujin came up as well and in-between her coughing, Squall could have swore he heard laughter. "AGAIN." Fujin said, smiling as if she had the time of her life.
Quistis was wandering around along the beach, doing some cure magic stocking. Thanks to Seifer, the infirmary was running a little low and it wasn't uncommon for them to ask a student to collect more healing spells. That way, Garden killed 3 birds with 1 stone; Student gained battle experienced, student grew more used and skilled in drawing and stocking magic and the infirmary got the goods they needed at little, if any expense.
What she really wanted though was to learn White Wind. She'd seen a demonstration of it on the seminar at Trabia Garden and after that, she'd more less grown convinced that it was by far more handy than Cure spell. Seeing a rather odd looking gentleman standing on the beach and shouting loudly out at the sea, Quistis wondered what was going on.
Perhaps someone was drowning and needed help? She was about to run down to the man when she noticed an even stranger looking pair splashing around a little out at sea. At first she thought that she needed to get her eyes checked (again), but after a few moments there was no doubt. That was Squall all right; trying again and again to lift some girl into the air. Who was that girl? Quistis grew even more curious and sneaked up a little closer to get a better look. Silvery hair, dressed in blue and with a patch over her right eye.
FUJIN?! Fujin and Squall... they were a couple? "DAMN IT ALL TO HELL! I'm done with this crap! I need a break." Squall shouted out, splashing water around him angrily. Crouching behind some bushes, Quistis hid and listened on to their conversation. She knew it was impolite, even flat out rude, but she couldn't help herself. She just had to know more.
"FUN?" Fujin asked, still smiling. "NO." Squall pouted back, imitating Fujin's way of speech. "WHY?" She asked back, picking up a towel. "It's cold, wet and totally pointless!" Fujin's face grew troubled and worried. Clouded with concern, she sat down and dried her hair for a while.
"SEIFER BETTER." She said after watching some seagulls fly by. "He's a better dancer than I am?" Quistis drew a quick breath and held it. So they were dancing after all. Fujin nodded. "GENTELMAN." Fujin said. "DISAGREE." Squall said, again imitating her way of speech.
There was a long pause. "YOU LIKE?" Fujin said, for the first time sounding shy, almost like a girl. "Like what? Dancing? No, I'd rather be without it." Squall admitted. Fujin shook her head. "LIKE... ME." Again, Quistis let out a small gasp. Thankfully, the wind and the waves sounded louder than her gasp.
"Leave me alone Fujin, I don't want to be with anyone." Squall said in a tone that clearly meant that the subject was closed. "Okay you two, ready for the second round?" Sensei came from out of nowhere and suddenly froze. Even he sensed the weird atmosphere between Squall and Fujin. "Class dismissed." Squall said as he packed his stuff and walked back to Garden.
A few days later, Squall was struggling with a soda machine in Balamb when Zell came by. "S'up Squall?" He greeted the loner cheerfully. Squall gave the machine another hard bam with his fist before he, without turning, said: "Leave me alone, I'm seriously not in the mood." Squall had been asked by Sensei if he could drop by his school. He'd tried to tell Sensei that his timetable was so stuffed right now that there was no chance he could spare a single second.
Xu on the other hand, told Sensei a different story. She even postponed his status magic test so that he could help Sensei out. Why didn't he ask Fujin? She loved dancing, so why him? Squall hated to have things forced upon him, but he was in no position to object. Follow instructions blindly, that was the code of SeeD.
Knocking on the back door of Sensei's school, Squall tried to brace himself for the worst. "Come on in Squall!" Sensei greeted him and invited him in. Leading Squall to the main room of his school, Sensei opened the door wide and nearly pushed Squall inside. It was a dancing studio. Along the walls were wooden bars to hold on to, probably used a lot during ballet classes, a rather fancy and expensive looking stereo system stood in one corner and one wall was covered with a huge mirror. The floor and walls were all white and the room was crowed with... girls.
"Mind telling me what this is all about...?!" Squall hissed with clenched teeth. "Demonstration class. These are all from Galbadia Garden. They're planning on a big event, Garden festival or something and they asked me to help them out." Sensei explained. "What do you want me to do?" Squall asked as he got quite uncomfortable since all the girls eyed him from head to toe as if he was a piece of live size candy figure or a movie star. "Give them lessons." Sensei said simply. "Forget it." Squall said bluntly and left.
Several weeks had past since Squall made peace with Fujin and one would think that things had worked out rather well since then. Truth was closer to the opposite, at least as far as Squall was concerned. Fujin was nearly overeager to learn how to dance and Sensei's encouragement didn't make things any better. As a SeeD candidate, Squall didn't get paid on a regular basis. True he did get some pocket money (1000 gil each year, 500 per semester), but it was far from a regular SeeD payment. So when he was asked to buy a pair of decent dancing shoes at the steep price of 850 gil, he nearly punched Sensei in the face.
Quistis was busy with her studies, since her field exam was closing in, while Zell still overslept every morning, thus missing the hot dogs, Seifer was his usual ego-super-asshole-of-Garden self and aside from desperately trying to keep his dancing lessons a deep secret, Squall's own routine wasn't that much different from last year. Waiting in the ballroom for class to start as usual, Squall saw Fujin coming in. She was a good girl, although she did seem odd at times.
Along with Seifer, she was very quiet, just an observer, taking in every movement and every word. When looking at her while Seifer gave a lecture (or harassment as many called it) to some student, Squall noticed that Fujin was like a different person. She never wore that expression whenever she was away from Seifer. "TRAIN." Fujin said, nudging Squall's jacket a little. "We've gone over this dance several times already. We both know it by heart. Why do you want to train more?" Squall asked back, trying his best to sound civil. "NEW SHOES." Fujin said, showing Squall an open shoebox. They were black and shiny, open in the toe and straps going all over around the ankle.
"Fine, fine... just once though." He sighed in defeat. Fujin nodded and changed her shoes. She got up and took the starting position, holding out her arms. Although they'd done this dance many times before, Squall still felt awkward whenever holding a girl so close. Shutting it out didn't help, as dancing required full attention and focus, especially for newcomers. After a few steps swirling around rather gracefully, Squall noticed something was quite different. He and Fujin had the same height, but why was she suddenly taller than him? Seeing hints of bafflement on his face, Fujin said: "HIGH HEELS." Squall's embarrassment just made another height record. For some reason, dancing with a girl that was a few inches taller than him made him feel bad.
"Good, good!" Sensei came in, slightly clapping his hands. "Both of you are so good students. Fast learners and natural in your movements." He was almost moved to tears. What a wimp, Squall thought as he gave Fujin a slight bow, thanking her for the dance. "Now we'll move on to a new dance. I think this one will be more adequate for your level." Sensei said as he took out a marking pen and began drawing out the steps on the floor.
"FAMILIAR." Fujin said, pointing at the drawings. Squall frowned and looked down at the steps. It looked like Sensei was planning on getting both of them killed. "What kind of dance is this?" He asked. "DIRTY." Fujin said. "Dirty? Do have to dance in mud or something?" Squall asked, with confusion on his face. Sensei chuckled and shook his head. "It's called 'dirty' because its... well, very sexually charged in its movement and rhythm." He explained. Squall was dumbstruck. He had to act... and move... sexy to a beat, with Fujin?
"After you've learned this one, you can pick a dance you want to learn more about, fine tune your skills." Sensei mumbled as he overlooked his drawings to make sure he had it all right. Squall glanced over at Fujin to see if she had any objections to this new dance, but it was more on the contrary.
"Okay, Squall come here and stand like this." Sensei pointed at the black footsteps on the floor and showed Squall the pose. Doing as he was told, Squall figured this was going to be a long lesson. "Good, Fujin, stand in front of him and... hang on, you'll need a skirt." Sensei said, holding her shoulders. Fumbling around in a crate that stood next to the entrance door, Sensei found a bright pink skirt. "Just put it on over your pants." He explained as he handed her the skirt.
Fujin shaking standing on one foot tried to put on the skirt, while Squall stood beside her, not making any effort in helping her keeping her balance. After 3 nearly fall, Fujin was ready. "Now, Fujin stand with your back to Squall and hold your left arm around his neck. No, no... closer. Squall, hold her left wrist with your left hand." Sensei moved around the couple, adjusting their position while babbling about the passion of the dance.
The class dragged on for what seemed like 5 lifetimes, if not even more. The beat was too fast for Squall's comfort, the movements weird and he felt right out silly as he and Fujin stumbled around on the dance floor. "Okay, we'll just take this last spin, grab and hold and then we'll call it the day. You guys are doing well for your first time." Sensei said smiling. He explained what they were supposed to do while demonstrating the key poses.
As Squall and Fujin made a right turn, he was to hold Fujin in his right hand and "roll her out like a rope" as Sensei put it. At the peak of the roll out, Squall was supposed to gently yank Fujin back, "thus rolling her back into your arms". Fujin would be doing a lot of spinning, both clock and counter clock wise. Squall inwardly prayed that she wouldn't vomit out of dizziness.
The music started and Squall moved around with Fujin in front of him. The turn came, Squall let go of Fujin with his left arm, which rested rather nervously around her waist and "rolled her out". With a slight yanking motion of his wrist, Squall "rolled" Fujin back. Unfortunately, Fujin gained a bit too much speed on her roll in, so instead of stopping, she smacked right into Squall's chest. He felt two soft bulges press against his chest and at that instant it felt like his face would explode because of all the blood rushing to his head. His heart was racing like a Timber train going wild and for a moment Squall thought he was going to have a heart attack. "Okay, you two love birds. That's it for today. See you next week." Sensei said, turning off the stereo. Love birds...?
Quistis returned form a Blue Magic seminar at Trabia Garden and was eager to get back to her studies. Field Exam was closing in fast and written tests were lined up like pearls on a string. Hopefully, Squall and Seifer had behaved themselves while she was gone. That wasn't very likely she chuckled to herself.
Speaking of the devil, Seifer and Squall was sitting in the cafeteria, arm wrestling with each other. As usual there was a crowd gathered around them, Fujin and Raijin flanking Seifer as usual. That new material arts student, Zell, was really cheering Squall on. He sounded like 5 people in 1, quite amusing. It seemed to be a draw.
Their hands were trembling with the tense muscles, both faces locked in a state of iron hard determination. Seeing some instructors talking with headmaster Cid, Quistis decided to break it off before the two got into problems. Seifer was the head of the disciplinary committee and Squall a prodigy student. She doubted that the headmaster would approve of such childish competition amongst such high profiled students.
"Knock it off you two, the headmaster is coming this way." She said, but neither of them listened. In fact, they didn't even give her a glance. "Squall, the headmaster is coming!" Zell suddenly shouted out louder than the rest of the crowd. For a moment, Squall lost his concentration and with a loud bam Seifer crushed his palm over Squall's. "You still need to train harder, Leonhart." He coldly smirked as he took the glass of water Raijin offered him.
Crossing his arms across his chest, Squall looked down on the floor in silence. The air felt like someone was summoning Quezacotl, it was that tense. Everyone was eyeing Squall, waiting him for his next move. Suddenly, his eyes shot up and looked at the clock. "I have a class..." He mumbled and walked away. Quistis was probably the only one that heard it, yet it didn't make much sense.
Squall had a class now? What kind of class could that be? "Squall, what kind of class do you have now?" She asked him as they walked around in the main hall. "Leave me alone, Terpe." He grunted, not turning. Curios, she was left with dozen of questions. Perhaps Xu could give her an update on recent events?
Xu was standing by the coffee machine, trying to make it work. That poor piece of machinery was as old as Hyne Herself. All the countless of kicks and punches to make it work faster had taken their toll on it. It was on the verge of self-destruction. "Oh afternoon Ms Terpe. How was the seminar?" Xu asked as soon as she noticed her. "Interesting. I wish I could learn Mighty Guard..." Quistis replied. "Oh you will, just take your time." Xu smiled back. "Say, what classes are running now?" Quistis asked casually.
"None, aside from one." Xu replied, sipping her coffee. She quickly removed her lips from the cup, cursing the foul taste of the coffee. "Which class is that?" Quistis knew that she'd most likely blow her innocent cover, but she was really eager to find out what classes Squall was taking. "Dancing classes." Xu replied, pouring the coffee down a near by sink. "Squall is taking dancing classes?" Quistis found that so hard to believe that she thought Squall just had lied to her to be left alone. "Yes, he had to since he insisted on having a Gunblade as a weapon." Xu said as if it was a well- known fact.
Squall looked at the watch on the wall. Fujin was 15 min late, so was Sensei. What's going on? Did they get sick? No, Fujin was watching Seifer in the cafeteria. Maybe Sensei just got sick? If that was the case, he'd be told at the homeroom meeting. "SQUALL." Fujin stood in the doorway.
At first glance, she looked just like she did the day before, but it didn't take long before he noticed that Fujin's outfit was... daring to say the least. She wore a navy blue swimsuit and had a brightly coloured, semi transparent cloth wrapped around her hips as a skirt. The swimsuit didn't hide the fact that Fujin was indeed a girl growing to become a woman as it had a deep cleavage and a pair of diamond shaped holes over her stomach. At the center of the lowest diamond hole was her bellybutton. Squall turned his flushed face away in embarrassment. Why the heck was she dressed like that?!
"MEET AT GATE." Fujin insisted before she added: "BRING TOWELS." They were going out on a swim? In a state of nearly total confusion, Squall managed to ask a member of the dormitory committee for some spare towels and headed for the main gate. "Sorry that I forgot to tell you about today's class." Sensei said a bit sheepishly while cleaning his sunglasses to hide his embarrassment (it wasn't working). "...Whatever. Why are we going to the beach?" Squall asked, clearly not fond of the situation.
"We'll be practising the lift today and the best place to do that is in water." Sensei explained. "Lift...? What lift?" Squall asked, sending a cold glare at him. "You lift Fujin up in the air, holding her hips over your head, like this." Sensei showed him the pose. "Once you find the point of balance, you'll be able to do it on land." He assured Squall. "We'll be doing that... on the dance floor?!" Squall yelped in disbelief. Both Fujin and Sensei nodded.
Despite some rather harsh objections from Squall's side, the dancing class proceeded as planned. Well at the beach, Sensei talked them through the principle of the move and told them to give it their best shot (thumbs up). Wading out in the semi cold water, Squall couldn't believe he was doing this. If anyone from Garden saw this, he'd lock himself up in his room for several weeks or just die of shame on the spot.
Glancing at Fujin, he noticed that she was happy as a clown, smiling, slightly giggling to herself as the waves tickled her belly and her watery reflection making funny faces on the rippling surface. "OKAY! SQUALL, PLACE BOTH HANDS ON HER HIPS! NOW FUJIN, WHEN SQUALL STARTS TO LIFT YOU, YOU JUMP UP. THEN..." Sensei was barking orders from the shore (he couldn't swim and has been terrified of water after a rather nasty episode involving Leviathan).
After listing to Sensei's barking for a few minutes, they gave it a go. Squall figured that this was pretty much as stupid as it got. He lifted and Fujin jumped up. "GOOD, GOOD! NOW HOLD IT!" Sensei was almost dancing with joy. Squall felt his feet slipping in the soaked sand and he was tipping backwards.
"Oh crap..." He cursed before both he and Fujin disappeared inside a large watery explosion. Squall came up first, coughing and spitting out salt water while rubbing his eyes. He hated this already. Fujin came up as well and in-between her coughing, Squall could have swore he heard laughter. "AGAIN." Fujin said, smiling as if she had the time of her life.
Quistis was wandering around along the beach, doing some cure magic stocking. Thanks to Seifer, the infirmary was running a little low and it wasn't uncommon for them to ask a student to collect more healing spells. That way, Garden killed 3 birds with 1 stone; Student gained battle experienced, student grew more used and skilled in drawing and stocking magic and the infirmary got the goods they needed at little, if any expense.
What she really wanted though was to learn White Wind. She'd seen a demonstration of it on the seminar at Trabia Garden and after that, she'd more less grown convinced that it was by far more handy than Cure spell. Seeing a rather odd looking gentleman standing on the beach and shouting loudly out at the sea, Quistis wondered what was going on.
Perhaps someone was drowning and needed help? She was about to run down to the man when she noticed an even stranger looking pair splashing around a little out at sea. At first she thought that she needed to get her eyes checked (again), but after a few moments there was no doubt. That was Squall all right; trying again and again to lift some girl into the air. Who was that girl? Quistis grew even more curious and sneaked up a little closer to get a better look. Silvery hair, dressed in blue and with a patch over her right eye.
FUJIN?! Fujin and Squall... they were a couple? "DAMN IT ALL TO HELL! I'm done with this crap! I need a break." Squall shouted out, splashing water around him angrily. Crouching behind some bushes, Quistis hid and listened on to their conversation. She knew it was impolite, even flat out rude, but she couldn't help herself. She just had to know more.
"FUN?" Fujin asked, still smiling. "NO." Squall pouted back, imitating Fujin's way of speech. "WHY?" She asked back, picking up a towel. "It's cold, wet and totally pointless!" Fujin's face grew troubled and worried. Clouded with concern, she sat down and dried her hair for a while.
"SEIFER BETTER." She said after watching some seagulls fly by. "He's a better dancer than I am?" Quistis drew a quick breath and held it. So they were dancing after all. Fujin nodded. "GENTELMAN." Fujin said. "DISAGREE." Squall said, again imitating her way of speech.
There was a long pause. "YOU LIKE?" Fujin said, for the first time sounding shy, almost like a girl. "Like what? Dancing? No, I'd rather be without it." Squall admitted. Fujin shook her head. "LIKE... ME." Again, Quistis let out a small gasp. Thankfully, the wind and the waves sounded louder than her gasp.
"Leave me alone Fujin, I don't want to be with anyone." Squall said in a tone that clearly meant that the subject was closed. "Okay you two, ready for the second round?" Sensei came from out of nowhere and suddenly froze. Even he sensed the weird atmosphere between Squall and Fujin. "Class dismissed." Squall said as he packed his stuff and walked back to Garden.
A few days later, Squall was struggling with a soda machine in Balamb when Zell came by. "S'up Squall?" He greeted the loner cheerfully. Squall gave the machine another hard bam with his fist before he, without turning, said: "Leave me alone, I'm seriously not in the mood." Squall had been asked by Sensei if he could drop by his school. He'd tried to tell Sensei that his timetable was so stuffed right now that there was no chance he could spare a single second.
Xu on the other hand, told Sensei a different story. She even postponed his status magic test so that he could help Sensei out. Why didn't he ask Fujin? She loved dancing, so why him? Squall hated to have things forced upon him, but he was in no position to object. Follow instructions blindly, that was the code of SeeD.
Knocking on the back door of Sensei's school, Squall tried to brace himself for the worst. "Come on in Squall!" Sensei greeted him and invited him in. Leading Squall to the main room of his school, Sensei opened the door wide and nearly pushed Squall inside. It was a dancing studio. Along the walls were wooden bars to hold on to, probably used a lot during ballet classes, a rather fancy and expensive looking stereo system stood in one corner and one wall was covered with a huge mirror. The floor and walls were all white and the room was crowed with... girls.
"Mind telling me what this is all about...?!" Squall hissed with clenched teeth. "Demonstration class. These are all from Galbadia Garden. They're planning on a big event, Garden festival or something and they asked me to help them out." Sensei explained. "What do you want me to do?" Squall asked as he got quite uncomfortable since all the girls eyed him from head to toe as if he was a piece of live size candy figure or a movie star. "Give them lessons." Sensei said simply. "Forget it." Squall said bluntly and left.