Call Me Crazy

Chapter Three-'We have a deal then.'

Bringing her arms above her body, Quistis stifled a bare yawn as she ventured down the hallway, her boots clicking rather loudly. She peered around, stopping in mid step. Where was everybody? Yes, most students were in class at this time but there were the usual lurkers that she would catch and assign the according punishment to the way they responded.

"It's too quiet…" The blonde instructor spoke out loud to no one, her thoughts kept to herself, 'Hmm…I wonder where Seifer has ran off. Hang on, why in bloody hell am I thinking about that arrogant bastard?'

Giving an angry snort, Quistis began to march down the hall, her nose held high whenever she rounded around the corner, running head long into somebody. She stumbled backwards, the person barely moving.

"Good afternoon Instructor," A deeply accented voice chuckled, two sparkling violet eyes looking down at her. She brought her eyes up to meet a familiar face, smirking even in the aftershock of nearly falling flat on her back, "Hello Kinneas."

Irvine smiled and wrapped an arm around her gently, in a friendly matter, "How ya doing Quisty? It seems like it's been months since we last sat down for drinks…"

She smiled at him and squeezed him before unwrapping himself, "It's alright, I understand. You've been out on field missions and I've been doing what I've always done, do what Squall needs and teach the incoming Cadet's."

The longhaired auburn brunette nodded, commenting lightly, "Doing what the Commander needs includes taking in Almasy?"

Quistis sighed, taking her glasses from the ridge of her nose and slid it to hang on her shirt. The cowboy smirked and reached over, rubbing her arm softly, " 'ey, it's alright babe. Gotta do whatcha gotta do."

She smiled and nodded, reaching forward to cup and pat the side of his face, "No matter what, you're always here for me Irvine…"

Most people didn't understand when they wrapped an arm around each other going down the hall and gave each other big hugs in midst of one having a significant other. They had a very close relationship for most of the period after the Sorceress Wars, in which they needed each other and were there even when the other didn't.

He wrapped his arm around her waist and begun walking with her slowly, "That's what I'm here for darlin. So has that Almasy been treatin you right or do I need to kick his ass?"

"No, no," She chuckled, resting her arm around his back, "We're…getting long okay. We did good for the first few hours until I stayed up late, walked half asleep into his room, and slept in the same bed as him."

Irvine snorted, taking his hat from his head as he laughed. She shook her head still, leaning against him with a sigh, "What's even better is we both freaked out and then we ended up arguing the rest of the morning until he was out the door."

Glancing down at her, he raised an eyebrow, "Babe, you need to take some time off…"

She shook her head, "No, I can't Irvine."

Unwrapping himself, he crossed his arms as he stood in front of her, looking quite stubborn. She crossed her arms in mock replication, glaring back at him, her cornflower blue eyes sparking also with playfulness. The cowboy yawned and his appearance broke as he brought a hand to his lips before scratching his unshaven stubble like chin.

Raising an eyebrow, Quistis spoke saucily, "It doesn't appear that I'm the one who needs sleep, Mr. Kinneas."

He tipped his hat and turned, beginning to walk down the hallway, his cowboy boots clicking until he went to round the corner and waved his half-gloved hand at her, calling in his deep voice, "Maybe so. Toodles."

The instructor gave a content yet exhausted sigh and turned, walking down the again as she had been. She took her glasses from hanging on her shirt and replaced them in front of her eyes, the usual calm façade appearing again on her face, her Siren like mask. 'It's really sad that many people don't know the real me…not the slutty Instructor that I come off. But I don't even give myself that chance…how can I expect other people to?' She thought before walking back into her classroom, smiling at the students as she walked to her front work panel, "Good morning class."

Two deep blue eyes stared at the mahogany door of the Commander's office as Seifer brought his fist to knock on it curtly, getting rather impatient. He had been told to come to his office at nine o'clock sharp when Xu, Squall's secretary and one of the head SeeD's had caught him at the stairs waiting for the elevator. He was told to wait down in the atrium until the Commander had an opening. It had really pissed Seifer off.

"Come in," A monotone voice called and he opened one of the doors widely, walking in to see the brunette haired officer sitting against his desk, his arms crossed promptly and two cold stormy eyes glaring back at Seifer's softly but sickly sky blue orbs.

They stared at each other and time seemed to freeze, two men who had both suffered and had grown from the pain experienced in the wars. They were so alike but so different at the same moment.

Squall raised an eyebrow; speaking curtly, "Sit down."

The blond gunblade user did as he was told, sitting in the chair in front of the Commander. Squall Leonhart shut his eyes rather irritably as Xu walked in unannounced, her arms full of paper and look of accomplishment on her face, "Here you are Squall. I got all the papers you asked and those reports for your fath…"

Her dark eyes gazed between the two and her attitude changed, getting quite snippety as she dumped the papers on his desk and ripped out a small packet from the stack, waving in front of Squall's face rudely until he grabbed it with his hand. She curtsied in a mock fashion and glared daggers at him, "Here you- your majesty. I'm so sorry to interrupt your royal obligations."

Spinning on her heel, the fiery dark haired female stomped out of the room and slammed the double doors shut. Both men blinked several times before Squall sighed, "Damn woman…I swear she's on her period all month, every month, all year round.."

Seifer rolled his eyes, "Aren't they all…so…what's this all about?"

The brunette-haired SeeD nodded and went behind his desk, sitting down and grabbed a pen, extending it and the packet towards the person sitting opposite of him, "You need to fill this out. It's all of the information you need to be registered as a…student again at the garden."

Bored already, the response was a slight nod and began to go along and fill out the forms. The next 20 minutes were filled with him growling in frustration, pondering over what exactly he would put down to explain and scratch out what he had written several times. It was when he finished the first two pages that he glanced towards to look at Squall, his voice deadly still, "How many more of these do I need to fill out?"

Squall gave a grin and brought out two more packets twice of the size of the one Seifer was writing in. He responded with a glare, "You're shittin' me, right?"

The Commander shook his head and with a slightly amused face, he turned to his phone and dialed a number, placing the corresponding headset in his ear. He spoke out loud and in his regular stern tone, "Hello Bernice. Can you please patch me through to Laguna? Yes, this me Bernice. No, I've been doing just fine. Thank you, but I'm running short on time. Could you please patch me through to my father?"

Seifer glanced up to look at him, laughing slightly to himself. He also received a death glare too as the SeeD began to work on some paperwork, his pen scratched noisily against the paper. He paused though when the voice on the other line began to speak to him. He responded, "Hello Laguna."

….

"No…I don't feel comfortable calling you Dad but if you honestly insist."

….

"No, no, I'm fine Dad. I was calling cause I need to ask some favors of you."

Seifer sighed and went back to his filling out. H is residence? 'Living in the guest room of Quistis Trepe's dorm who I almost lost my life to because somehow she woke up in MY bed this morning…He thought, Most likely we'll both be so sick of each other by the end of the week that she'll send word to puberty boy here and make me stay with that stupid gunslinger or chicken-wuss.'

"I know that I spoke to you about Almasy a week or so ago, right? Yes, well I need you to completely clear his file if that's possible. His record, his slate, whatever the hell you want to call it Laguna, it needs to be as clean as possible."

He, who was the subject of that conversation, glanced up to watch Squall. His eye flashed with a look of confusion mixed with that of seriousness and agitation. The voice on the other line spoke for quite a long period of time before his son responded, "Yes, I know it wouldn't be easy Laguna. I'm not stupid but he's been a victim of some rather malicious attacks. There had been civilians beating him wherever he shows his face in Deling, in Esthar. It really doesn't matter, they will physically harm him in anyway possible."

….

"If you really insi-"

….

"Fine. If that's what it takes, then that makes it a deal. Agreed?"

Seifer was quite curious at this point. They had agreed upon something? His removal? His banning from the country, to be banished into the forests of Trabia? Maybe they'd like to stick him in the Deep Sea Research Center and let him go completely insane before sending him to a mental institution.

'That'd be rather pleasant, wouldn't it?' He thought darkly, staring at the paper now. Glancing up when he heard the phone go down on the charger, he opened his mouth to speak aloud. Squall stopped him with a flick of his hand.

"Seifer," He spoke in a flustered and angered voice, "It seems my father has decided to pay SeeD."

"And what's so wrong with that?" He tilted his head rather arrogantly, in an almost tauntingly way, "What for is what I'm wondering of. I heard my name in that sentence and I don't know if I'm going to enjoy it."

Squall stood up now, flinging his pen down on the table and headed for the door. Seifer met him, "Whoa- hang on! You better fuckin explain before run off because you're dealing with my problems now, Leonhart."

The Commander twisted around, his stormy eyes raging with anger, "MY father has paid for SeeD to protect your sorry ass Almasy! You know what- since you're living with Trepe, why doesn't she become your personal bodyguard too!"

The blond took a step back, rather blown away by this sudden change of forces. He watched the son of the President slam through the doors and push past Xu, his furry white jacket collar disappearing as he stepped onto the airlift. Xu gave a angry huff, shouting down at him, "Thanks- thanks FOR NOTHING ASSHOLE!"

She then saw Seifer and smiled weakly, "Oh…hello, Seifer."

Smirking, he handed her the packet of forms he had been filling out, "Here, I'll get to this later."

The petite ball of spitting fire nodded rather tentatively and stepped into the office, closing the doors behind her. Seifer stood now in the entryway by himself until the airlift came up and he stepped on, disappearing down the shaft.

A yawn left Quistis's lips as she glanced around her dorm, searching for the source of her current troubles. His coat wasn't at the door and Hyperion was lying somewhere as she had expected to see. Walking to the guest bedroom, she slipped her head in to see the bed still unmade and looked like the man had twisted faster than tornado in it. She was reminded of the conversation they had that morning and cringed.

She then sighed and walked to her room, shutting her door and began to shed of her clothes. The SeeD uniform fell to the floor and she quickly changed into her civilian clothes, bringing her long sleeves onto her arm and snapped them onto her vest after placing the black gloves on her hands. She was walking to the kitchen when she glanced at the clock. It read four o'clock.

"Seifer…where are you?" She spoke aloud to no one, slipping her boots on. Realizing she was beginning to worry, she shook the thought away and decided to go to the Secret Area for a while, look over the Garden and ponder. She decided she enjoyed pondering on the impossible, it was better than having to stress over current predicaments.

Walking down the hall through the doors, into the hall connected that section of the building to the main part, and then down through the training center, Quistis's thoughts did what she hadn't wanted them to do. They were thinking about the blond that was living with her.

As she was stepping into the Secret Area, she saw Seifer standing there with his elbows resting against the railing, his eyes out and staring to the beyond. Glancing around, she saw no other couples and walked slowly towards him, coming up to stand next to him. He didn't look to her and didn't say anything, both keeping the silence and to themselves.

"You know…" He finally said after many moments, his voice soft but raspy at the same time, "there's only one person I ever had sympathy for in my entire life. It was when I was trying to hide away from everyone, so I wouldn't be attacked again…there was this girl…"

AN: Sorry it took awhile, life ish busy.Heh, heh….cliffhanger. No, it tis not a romantic girl. A young, kind, innocent girl. You know, the one that wears white and has a dove? No, no, I'm kidding. Thanks for those few who have reviewed. If I stay on schedule, I'll have a chapter or two up next weekend.