Talking Bushes: Part Eight
By. Bento Box
11/14/04

--

Seifer was coming out of the men's room when he was intercepted by a slender hand on his forearm. Scowling and turning to frown at the obviously suicidal person presumptuous enough to lay their hand on him without his permission, he silenced his quick retort upon seeing who exactly had stopped him.

"Mr. Almasy?" Kiros Seagill's voice was pleasantly deep and low.

Seifer gave the other man an affable smile. "Mr. Seagill?"

Kiros's return smile was just as cordial. "Would you mind if I took up a bit of your time?" It was like doing a two-step at a top scale banquet, each trading polite inquiries in an exaggeratedly civil manner.

Seifer hid his surprise to the quietly spoken request. Today was just getting more and more interesting, he smirked to himself.

"No problem, I'm free for the next half hour or so. Is that enough time?"

"More than enough." Kiros turned slightly, pausing to glance up at Seifer. "If you could please follow me? I believe that the matter of which I'd like to discuss with you would be better discussed in my private quarters."

Seifer's interest and curiosity piqued at the statement and he followed after the other man. He wondered what exactly Kiros wished to discuss, briefly reflecting on whether or not it had anything to do with Squall. He quickly dismissed the thought in favor of a more probable one--Laguna and the Chicken wuss.

That thought led to other ones; whether or not Kiros was here to gently dissuade Seifer from adding fuel to the fire stoking the speculations and gossip revolving around the President of Esthar, or if he was going find his ass handed back to him on a platter.

Oh, the possibilities. That being said with a hint of more than just slightly masochistic glee.

Seifer followed the other man down the halls and finally through the entranceway into his rooms. Kiros gestured to the plush chairs surrounding a small coffee table. "Please have a seat. Would you like any refreshments?" Seifer shook his head before sprawling elegantly and intentionally casual into the large chair, watching behind a lazy expression as Kiros seated himself across from him.

"Getting straight to matters, I'd like to ask you for your help." Kiros paused, as if collecting his thoughts. "As you may well know, a lot of the media sharks have been circling the Garden lately due to the rumored relationship between himself and Zell. As Laguna is rather oblivious to the consequences of his actions, there's no way for him to set the media straight. Unless is fully convinced that Laguna's so-called 'affair' is really nothing more than a rum our."

Seifer wished Kiros would just get to the point already, that of asking Seifer to help in some way to convince the media that Laguna and Zell weren't actually, heh, "boyfriends." He barely resisted the urge to heave a sigh as Kiros continued on. For someone trying to get straight to the point, he was really taking his sweet time. The rather scarily smug look in his eyes didn't help either. Seifer figured he'd gone way too long without some of relieving himself. Probably because Laguna really was quite that clueless.

Green seemed to be the in co lour these days as well. Seifer snickered mentally to himself, beside himself from amusement.

"... and so what I need you to do is to keep Laguna away from Zell." Finally! They were getting down to business now. "I caught you giving him a kiss earlier. I believe that if the media were to catch more public displays between the two of you, barring the inevitable headlines on how Zell seems to be having an affair on Laguna, that they'll eventually lose interest once it's apparent that Zell and Laguna are merely acquaintances and nothing more, nothing less."

Kiros gave a loud exhale and then sat back in his own chair, watching Seifer expectantly.

Seifer took on a thoughtful and contemplative expression, keeping it on for a few seconds until Kiros started to shift restlessly in his seat, before allowing his lips to stretch in a slow smile that bode no good other than impish evilness. "It would be my pleasure to help you Kiros. Count me in."

Kiros laced his fingers together, crossed his legs, and allowed his own smile to appear as he relaxed. He settled in comfortably, ideas and plans formulating quickly in his mind.

"Excellent. I believe that we should first start out with is...."

--

Notes: Hush, you! I know this part is uber, uber, SUPER UBER SHORT but I finally cranked out something. Lonnie finally managed to beat me enough times to get part eight up and out there. Really, if it weren't for her, you guys would be stuck waiting another YEAR before seeing this short, bloody awful, cliffhanger piece. XD I need some time to plan evilly for the next part though, so here's another EXTRA EXTRA! inspired by Lonnie's comment to the incompleted beginning of this that I had posted up on our writing livejournal.

EXTRA EXTRA #2

Seifer: Would you mind passing me that plate of biscuits?
Kiros: No, no, not at all my dear lad! Here, perhaps some more tea for you as well?
Seifer: Ahh, thank you! These are wonderfully scrumptious! And yes, more tea would be absolutely delightful, thank you!
Kiros: They are simply delicious, aren't they? laughs and tosses head slightly I had them especially delivered to us from Esthar! Nothing beats air mail courier by GFs, you know.
Seifer: Yes, yes. Freshly baked from Lumier's as well, I assume?
Kiros: But of course!
Squall: ...........
Zell: Yeah, man. I think we did just step into the Twilight Zone. Argh. What the fuck! It's TOTALLY freaking me out! There are some things I should never, ever see. And Seifer sipping tea with his pinky sticking out like some.. some... CHICK is one of 'em! It's just wrong, man!!
Quistis: glasses flash ominously Would you like to repeat that again, Mr. Dincht? I'm afraid I didn't quite catch you the first time.
Zell: Uh, er, uhhh... I THINK I HEAR MA CALLING ME! starts hollering I'M COMING MAAAAAAAAA!! takes off at top speed
Quistis: stalks after the runaway blonde Come back here this instance Zell Dincht! I'm not done with talking to you just yet! cracks whip
Kiros: now eating a biscuit Wonderful, simply wonderful!
Seifer: sipping his tea Absolutely! This is marvelous!
Squall: ............