Chapter 5

"Woman, what the hell are you doing just lying there, when you should be making me dinner?"

Quistis was lying down on a large beach towel admiring the drifting clouds. She laid there reflecting on the sudden changes that had occurred in the last two weeks, for once in the past couple months she was alive again. She wasn't a wallflower waiting for its time to wither away into oblivion. She was part of something…someone, even if that someone was Seifer.

Seifer kneeled down on the beach towel and observed the blond woman looking at the sky.

"Did you hear what I just said Trepe?" He shifted his body into a more comfortable position.

"Hm? I thought I heard something, but I thought it was s dying walrus or something. Then again there aren't any walruses here."

"Haha, very funny," he said sardonically and gave her a playful nudge. "Well it's hot and this 'walrus' is going for a swim, and last one in the water is a rotten grat!" He immediately got up and started running towards the ocean.

"Damn! It's hard running on sand," he muttered to as he noticed Quistis catching up to him as they got closer to shore. Before she could pass him he grabbed her arm and swung her behind him, causing her to lose her balance and topple over.

"Damn you Seifer!" she cursed as she quickly got back on her feet and continued chasing him. "Damn, I wish I had my whip," she yelled to him.

Seifer charged into the rushing waves with his arms up in victory as Quistis reached the receding waves.

Suddenly she had difficultly breathing. As she gasped for air she started to cough violently. Her legs suddenly felt weak, and she fell on to her knees still coughing. Her head start to feel light, and her vision was starting to blur with dark spots. Quistis tried to fight the darkness surrounding her, but her coughing fit continued, and she started to feel her consciousness fading.

Seifer seeing Quistis fall onto her knees immediately ran out of the water towards her. Just as she lost her battle with the darkness, she fainted and fell into Seifer's arms.

"Trepe! Wake up! What's wrong?" Seifer called out to her has he lightly patted her pale cheeks. "Quistis, come on open your eyes." After trying to wake her a couple more times, he cursed and carried her back home.

He carefully placed her on the couch, and tried to wake her again. "Quistis? Can you hear me?" with no avail he placed a small bottle of smelling salt under her nose. She immediately responded and her eyes fluttered open.

"Seifer? Where am I?" she asked weakly.

"We're back at the cabin," he said calmly. "Quistis what's wrong? Are you all right?" Quistis took a deep breath and shook her head and turned her face away from his. "Tell me what's wrong?" He continued urging her. "Maybe I can help." She just remained silent and stared at the pattern on the material of the couch.

"Damn it Trepe, I know something is wrong." He was growing impatient. "You can't hide it forever." She still remained silent, but tears started to well up in her eyes. "Trepe?" Seifer's voice returned to worry.

She took another deep breath, "I'm dying." Her voice was shaky as she struggled to hold back her emotions.

"What?" Seifer responded with disbelief.

"I'm dying," she repeated a little more loudly.

"How? When?" Seifer mind reeled in confusion.

"A couple months back we were on a mission to search for something, and we came across the Soul Seeker plant."

"Soul Seeker?"

"Yes, Soul Seeker. It is a very rare plant and it releases a deadly virus-like poison when pricked by its thorns.

"A virus-like poison? I've never heard of that."

"Neither have I, until now. Apparently the poison enters the blood stream and stays dormant. Then after some time it would start spreading through the body. While the body tries to fight it, it stops and goes dormant again as if to hid, but then before the body can fully recover it spreads again and basically destroys the body. There are no physical signs or symptoms, and usually when you find out it's too late. From my research I found the victim usually lives about a year before the poison over takes the body and kills the victim.

"It was stupid really. I wasn't careful and scratched myself when a monster sprung a surprise attack on us. So after the mission we had our usual check up and my blood test came out positive that I was poisoned by the Soul Seeker." She finished and wiped the tears spilling from her eyes.

"So that's why you left SeeD? To seek your soul?"

"Maybe…I don't know."

"Did you find it?"

"Well…I found…you." She finally turned her head to face him again.

"Does anyone else know?"

She shook her head. "No, only you and Dr. Kadowaki are the only two people I've told."

"So you left SeeD, your home, your friends, your job, comfort…" His reminder of the past she left behind was causing tears to well up in her eyes again. "…to be alone? To suffer your fate alone?" She nodded. "Why would you do it? Why did you leave?"

"I don't know," she cried.

"I know," his response surprised Quistis. "I know, you didn't want to be alone, but you were afraid. You were afraid of how people would react. Afraid

they would pity you and…"

"No! No!" She covered her face with her hands. "Yes, I was afraid, but I didn't want to burden anyone. But now I don't want to be alone anymore, and I don't know who to go to." Seifer pulled her into his arms and tried to comfort her.

"You're not alone anymore. I'll take care of you." He whispered.

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"It's your turn." Seifer said tapping his fingers on the table impatiently.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes!"

"All right, Checkmate!" Quistis said with a grin as she moved her queen in front of Seifer's king.

"Shit!"

"I win again,"

"I want a rematch," he demanded.

"All right," Quistis agreed as the reset the board.

Lighting flashed through the window as heavy drops of rain hit the windows. "There's been a lot of rain this year," Quistis commented as they place the last few chess pieces in place.

"Well, it is winter already. In a month it will be Christmas," he pointed out.

"Wow the several months that I've been here have gone by so quickly, and the end of the year is already here. And you know what that means?" She gave him a sly look.

"What?" He asked as he made his first move.

"Your Birthday."

"Yeah what about it?" He obviously more focused on trying to win at their 4th game of chess.

"Don't you celebrate your day of birth?" she asked as she made her move.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Trepe, look at who you are talking to, Seifer Almasy, the sorceress' former knight does not dwell on trivial matters such has his day of birth." He said in a mock serious tone.

"Come on, it would be fun."

"What's the point? A birthday is basically just another day. There are people being born every single day. We might as well celebrate birthdays everyday."

"Well, it's a day for your loved ones and friends to celebrate you and being a part of their lives. I guess," she supplied as explanation.

"Loved ones and family? You know I have neither of those. Are you trying to rub it in that I'm a loner?"

"No, I didn't mean that," she sighed. "Forget it; I just wanted to do something special for you, since you've done so much for me. Well I respect your decision and I won't do anything for you on your birthday. I'll just find some other way to thank you." She said disappointingly. "Now it's your turn to move."

"How many times do I have to tell you that you don't need to thank me for anything." Seifer replied as he moved his knight across the board. "I'm actually letting you stay with me for selfish reasons."

"Selfish reasons?"

"Yes, I let you stay because you keep me company. Like right now, you are keeping me company by entertaining me with this chess match, where you consistently kick my ass at."

"Oh I see, so there is no reason for me to thank you at all since I'm her because of your selfishness. Well I guess for once your selfishness is ironically selfless." She said sarcastically.

"Yes," he nodded. "Now I'm feeling bored, these chess pieces seems to have a mind of their own and refuse to win whenever I play against you."

"So you forfeit?"

"Hell no, I'm just saying we should take a break and continue later. Now Trepe go and entertain me with something." After saying this he leaned back in his chair with his hand behind his head.

Quistis scoffed and walked into the room, and came back a few minute later with a pile of clothes some needles and thread.

"Are you going to teach me to sew?" Seifer asked in shock.

"Well you said you wanted to be entertained. I figured sewing. I can totally see you sewing. You know we could work on a quilt or put some new curtains up." She said with feigned excitement, but she broke out laughing at the horror written across Seifer's face and she finally broke. "Of course not, if I did you'd probably stab me repeatedly with a needle."

"Probably"

"Anyways I was just going to start mending some of your clothes since you obviously don't care enough to mend them yourself, and I have nothing better to do."

"Well I'm a busy man; I don't have time for trivial things like mending clothes. Besides that's women's work" Quistis rolled her eyes and focused her attention on threading the needle.

"That's also another thing I like about you Trepe."

"What?" She asked as she finally threaded the needle and picked up a blue shirt and started to mend the good size tear along the shoulder.

Seifer came and sat down beside Quistis on the sofa. "You don't turn all feminist on me, when I say stupid things like that."

Quistis stopped mid-sewing and looked up at him. "Why should I? I know that you know very well what women are capable of doing. You just say things like that so you can keep up your image of being a jerk, and you always say stupid things anyway."

"Are you implying that I'm a bully with a kind heart?"

"I'm not implying. I'm saying you are a bully with a kind heart. Not that you are a bully anymore. Now you're just a guy with a kind heart, who likes to say stupid things." She smiled and returned to sewing.

"What goes on in here stays in here," he said in his most serious voice, and he leaned back on to the couch and observed Quistis quietly sitting on the other end focusing her concentration on mending his clothes.

Seifer observed the woman sitting across from him. The woman across from him was not the instructor he knew, but the woman he had come to know within in the past months. He picked up a Weapons Monthly magazine that was lying on the end table next to him and flipped through the glossy pages. Seifer couldn't help but smile to himself. Here he was flipping through a magazine, while the only woman in his life was mending his clothes. It was like they were a married couple.

"Why are you smiling?" Quistis paused from her sewing and looked up to find him looking at her and smiling.

"Nothing, I was just thinking how we look like a married couple sitting like this…It's quite nice," he added.

"Really? Then why don't you find a nice girl and settle down with her? Then you could have this everyday." She suggested.

"What girl?"

"What about that Joyce girl from the school. She seems to be quite smitten by you that one time I encountered her." Quistis was trying very hard to suppress a giggle as she made the suggestion.

"Smitten is an understatement. Besides stalker isn't a quality I want in my woman."

"Oh? So what is your 'type'?"

He thought for a bit. "My type of woman would have to be able to put up with me," he smirked.

"Well that really limits your choices."

"She also needs to be able to cook, clean; you know the usual women work, like mending my clothes and stuff." He continued.

"Sounds like you want a maid instead."

He continued on rambling about his ideal woman, which quickly turned into a ludicrous topic, and he grinned as he notice his succession in annoying Quistis at his lack of seriousness of the topic. "And most importantly is I have to love her as much as she loves me," he finished proudly.

Quistis raised her eyebrows in question at his last comment, "so do you love someone right now?"

He looked straight into her eyes, "yes."

"Oh," this came out sounding slightly disappointed. "So who is it?"

"Me," he said with a smug smile.

"Seriously, who is it?"

"I don't want to say."

"Why not?" Quistis continued to pursue.

"Because I'm not sure if she feels the same way or not."

"Why don't you ask her then? I don't remember you ever being so shy before." She teased.

"All right, Do you love me Trepe?" he asked after taking her advice.

"What? You're kidding right?" Seifer remained silent. "You have to be kidding. You can't love me."

"Why not?"

"Why not? You know why not!" She exclaimed. She tried to calm herself down and continued, "Seifer I know it's normal and part of life to want to start a family of your own with someone you have feelings for and are fond of, but don't choose me."

"Why? Don't you want a family of your own?"

"Of course I do, but I'm not fortunate enough to have one." She tried to reason with him.

"Yes you are!" He leaned over and grabbed her hands. "Yes you are," he repeated with frustration.

"No, I'm not," she said firmly. "How can I be fortunate enough to have a life when I'll be dead in less then a year?" She pulled her hands out of his grasp and stood up.

Seifer stood up as well. "Just because your life is cut short doesn't mean you stop living. You're acting like you're already dead!"

She laughed bitterly. "You're right. I died the day I heard about my sickness. I gave up living when I made the decision to leave Balamb Garden."

"I don't believe you. You want to live, but you just won't let yourself live. You were never a good liar. I don't care if you think you deserve life or not but I still love you," he declared.

"No you can't love me! No one can!" she cried and ran into the room and slammed the door shut. She leaned her back on the door. Hot tears were running down her cheeks as she slid her back down the door and kneeled onto the cold hardwood floors of the room.

"Quistis," Seifer yelled through the door. "Open the door." He pounded on the door pleading to her. "Trepe don't be stubborn," he continued speaking through door. "Trepe even if you don't want my love. You of all people deserve to be loved. Your whole life you've always been the responsible one. The grown-up, the instructor, the big sister, you're were always the one giving and guiding everyone, and yet you never asked for anything in return." He paused and listened through the door. The only response he heard was Quistis's quite sobbing. He continued, "I think I know why you left garden. You were so use to handling everything yourself. When this happened, there was no one there to guide you through this because you never let anyone come close to you. And you never let anyone close to you because every time you let someone in they always left and took a part of you with them. So you left hoping to find something, like your soul, but instead you ended up here with me. If you don't want my love I understand fully of your reasons for rejecting me. Just say the words and I will never bring it up again. I know how alone you have been these past years…so have I." He waited for a minute and pulled himself way from the door.

Quistis was sobbing quietly as she listened to Seifer speak. She slowly got up to her feet and when she reached the bed she let herself fall onto it and cried.

Moments later Seifer slowly opened the door and found Quistis on the bed still crying. He quietly crept into the room and sat down next to her. He lightly ran is fingers under her eyes to wipe away her tears.

"Trepe, I'm sorry."

"I know," she managed to choke out. "Seifer, can we continue with our lives as if today never happened? Please?" She pleaded.

Seifer nodded disappointingly. "I promise. Now get some rest I'll wake you when dinner is ready." He kissed her forehead and left her alone.

A/N: Wow. I'm so glad to see that there are people are are still following this fic! I just want to thank you guys for all the reviews. They are always appreciated, and I promise I will finish this fic just for those who have been following for so long. Thanks again!