Chapter Three:

"Quistis! Wait up!" Rinoa called out loudly as they dashed into the main area of the Training Center. There, Quistis witnessed what she had feared the most. Damien, Quistis' favorite of all of her child students, lying unconscious a few yards away of a small fox demon in the center of the grassy area with his small wooden sword sitting beside his opened hand.
"Damien!" Quistis called out, terrified, as she broke into a sprint towards the demon, which began to step closer to the small child with his sharp teeth bared.
"Quistis!" Rinoa shouted as she followed right behind her.
Just before the demon had leapt forward, Quistis stepped firmly in front of the child to shield the demon's strong pounce. The force of the demon's powerful lunge forward was so strong that Quistis was violently knocked down, but held firmly onto the beast to restrain it from attacking the small boy behind her. While Quistis held off the furious beast, Rinoa fell to her knees beside the injured boy and scooped him up into her arms before standing again to run off a few yards away.
"Stona!" Quistis shouted as she rested her hand against the demon's forehead. In mid-snarl, the beast was frozen in his attack over her, and collapsed over onto the grass.
"Are you okay! Quistis?" Rinoa called out as she held the small boy tightly in her arms. Quistis laid on the grass, her arms and face scratched from the demon's sharp claws, and looked up at the bright ceiling. She slowly turned onto her side, ignoring her bleeding wounds, and got onto all fours to crawl over to Damien and Rinoa.
"Damien?" Quistis asked worriedly as she knelt in front of Rinoa. Damien, snug in Rinoa's arms, slowly opened his eyes weakly and turned his head over to see Quistis' smiling face.
"Lady Trepe...I'm sorry-"
"Shhh, don't worry about it. I'm taking you to the infirmary to get all patched up, okay buddy?" Quistis interrupted with a sweet smile. She turned to look at Rinoa graciously before gently taking him from her arms and placing him in her own.
"Let me come with you," Rinoa asked sincerely as they both stood to their feet. Quistis remained silent, but nodded as she turned and walked away towards the exit with the small child in her arms.
As Rinoa watched her walk away, she couldn't understand why that particular child meant so much to her. Not only had Quistis leapt in front of the beast to shield the child, she had found the strength to carry the child away with her own wounds giving her grief. Never before had Rinoa seen Quistis so self-sacrificing. It showed a side of Quistis that Rinoa had never seen before. Yes, she always seemed to be a mother-figure for some of them, she always took to responsibility. But nothing like this.

Inside the infirmary, Rinoa and Quistis sat in the waiting room patiently. Quistis had been bandaged up from the scratches and wounds and felt perfectly fine other than the occasional soreness and aches. Dr. Kadowaki had tended to the boy immediately after they had brought them in. After a few moments, Quistis found the courage to break the silence.
"Thank you... for coming here with me," She said quietly without looking at Rinoa.
Rinoa simply smiled her kind and sweet smile before lifted her hand to pat Quistis on the back, "Hey, no problem! I felt that I should have done something to help after that happened!"
"Ow..." Quistis groaned from the soreness of her wounds but weakly smiled.
Dr. Kadowaki entered into the main lobby with her welcoming smile and clipboard in hand, "Quistis, Rinoa," she stated as the two women stood from their seats, "Damien can see you now. He suffered a few minor injuries, a few cuts, bruises, and a bump to the back of the head. He should stay here over night to rest, but should be ready to go back to his dorm by tomorrow."
"Thanks, Dr. Kadowaki!" Rinoa responded politely as the two entered into the resting area. There they found Damien, sitting up in his bed with a bandage around his head and around parts of his arms. He stared down at his bed, huffy, and curled his lower lip up in spite.
"Hey, Damien. How're you feeling?" Quistis asked kindly as she sat on the side of his bed. He continued to stare down at his bed, unchanging and silent to her question. After a few moments of silence, Quistis looked down at the floor and sighed, "Damien, what where you doing in the Training Center without adult supervision?" Rinoa stood in the back corner of the room, hands folded in front of her, and watched as the small child tried to hold back tears of frustration.
"The other kids, they were making fun of me..."
Quistis crossed her arms as she sat on the edge of the bed and nodded slowly as she heard this, "Are they, now? What are they saying?"
"They're saying that I'm a little baby and that I'm a teacher's pet... they say that I'm not strong enough to make it past my second year at SeeD... I wanted to grow stronger. I want to prove them wrong..."
Quistis paused and smiled at the small boy sitting in shame in front of her and took her hand and placed it under his chin and slightly raised it to make him look at her, "How about this... You get some rest tonight and tomorrow, when you get out of this bed, I'll make time for you and train you myself. Before you know it, you'll be kicking the shit outta them," Quistis stated with a wink. Damien's face lit up as he heard this and gave a great smile of pride and happiness.
"But!" Quistis said quickly as she stood from the bed, "You need to get some rest. So go to sleep and I shall see you tomorrow. I'll pick you up in your dorm, okay? I don't want you entering the Training Center ever again by yourself, okay?"
The small boy nodded and leaned back to fall onto his pillow with a giant smile across his face. Upon leaving, Rinoa followed soon behind before turning to him and whispering, "Don't worry, my first time at the Training Center alone wasn't so great either..." With this, Damien giggled and waved goodbye to Rinoa and Quistis as they exited the room.
As the two entered into the lobby, Quistis turned to Rinoa and rested her hand on her hip, "Before that whole incident with Damien, you were going to ask me something."
Rinoa paused, not expecting her to ask about that, and grinned, "Oh, it's nothing. Don't worry about it! You need a break," She tried to walk out from the entrance and leave Quistis there in the lobby, but was halted after a hand reached out and caught her shoulder.
"What is it?" Quistis asked, somewhat worriedly, "Is there something wrong? After what happened today, I believe I owe you, so ask me anything."
Rinoa looked at Quistis and fidgeted a bit before spitting out, "Can you cook?"