Negotiations did not come easily to Seifer Almasy. Nor did compromises. Nor did concessions--but when dealing with Fujin, it generally became apparent that, at times, each might be necessary.

Seifer had never figured out exactly what motivated Fujin, and he harbored no illusions of finding out anytime soon. Fujin was one of those people whom it was best not to question. If she decided to help you, you accepted it; if she decided to ignore you, you left her alone; if she expressed discontentment with you you got out of her way. She didn't offer explanations because she didn't need to. Her reasons were her own, and trying to figure them out would, more than likely, put you on her bad side. He had never confronted her before; should it come down to a clash of wills he had a realistic idea of who would win--no one.

But she had been part of the posse for years, now--through the some of the worst times in Seifer's life. She hadn't been willing to abandon the posse in the face of difficulty or danger or doubt--and now she had effectively told them all to take a flying leap because of some radio clip that reminded her of something.

Seifer could put up with a lot from Fujin. But there came a point where he felt the need to draw the line, and she had stepped across it, this time.

Fujin didn't seem too intent on disemboweling him as he hame up the hill, which was a good thing. After the first time, dodging shurikens seemed like it might become rather aggravating. She didn't look too terribly interested in talking with him, either, but he didn't care so much about that.

A respectable distance from her, he stopped. "What's up?" he asked, well aware that it would probably not get him the answers he wanted.

"IRRELEVANT." Fujin shook her head. "LEAVE."

"Ain't gonna happen." Seifer shook his head. "Look, you know me. And you know I'm gonna follow you to the end of the world if I need to. So what's going on?"

Fujin glared. A moment of silent standoff passed. "Not your business," she hissed, so softly that it was almost lost in the storm. "Mine."

"Since when does the Posse have secrets?" Seifer was caught between being hurt and annoyed, and leaning toward annoyed.

"Always."

Seifer was halfway to his next retort before that one caught up with him.

"Not your business," Fujin continued. "Leave."

Seifer blinked rain out of his eyes, and took a deep breath. "Or what?" he demanded. "I'm coming with you whether you like it or not. You want to fight me over it, I'll fight. You win--and I'm not letting you--I'll follow you from a safe distance. You're not going to get rid of me." Dammit, I'm your friend, Fujin, whether or not you damn well like it.

Another moment of standoff passed, and Seifer could almost hear the tension in the air. Or maybe it was just the blood pounding past his ears--he wasn't quite sure.

Then Fujin did something he would never have expected.

Relaxing her grip on the shuriken so that it almost fell from her fingers, she dropped her eye to stare at the muddy pools by her feet. Another moment of silence passed.

"Please," she breathed. "Don't want you here."

It took Seifer what seemed like a full minute to realize that he had won.

It took him what seemed like another to gather his wits enough to respond.

"Well, I am here," he stated, as cooly as he could. Fujin looked tired--worn out, worn down. It was oddly concerning. "And I'm not going back. ...where are you going, anyway?"

"Centra."

"We're in Centra."

Fujin gestured with her shuriken. "Lower Centra."

"Why?"

She shook her head.

"So I guess I'll find out when we get there, then."

She looked up for long enough to give him a halfhearted glare, then tucked the shuriken up onto her back. Then she walked deliberately past him, down the hill and in the direction the town presumably lay in.

Seifer followed her, saying nothing. He had won the argument, and he wasn't going to abuse the privilege.

He wasn't aware of whether or not they managed to pick up Squall, Nida and Raijin on the way back. He didn't care terribly much, really. Raijin always seemed to find his way back to Fujin, and he rather relished the thought of leaving the SeeDs standing out in the rain until they realized he wasn't coming back for them.

There was a faint, light haze on the horizon. It seemed like the rain might be moving on, and he wished it godspeed.