Chapter 2

What the hell is going on?

"Oh! Squall… you're already here?" the new Headmistress of Balamb Garden smiled at her SeeD Commander as he walked inside her office quietly.

Xu had accepted the position of Headmistress after Cid's retirement. Squall had strictly refused to take the job as he still desired to work on missions; his place was on the battlefield and not behind a desk doing paper work, yelling at turbulent students and faking proud smiles at new SeeD candidates.

It had been a few weeks now since Rinoa had taken her leave for Timber and surprisingly all their friends had not been too surprised when the couple had announced their separation. He had been feeling much less pressured ever since.

His gloved hand brushed his forehead as he saluted the Headmistress.

"No, no… there's no need for that Squall, please!" Xu insisted motioning for him to remove his salute. Slowly, the brown haired young man obeyed. Headmistress and Commander stared at each other quietly. This was making Squall awfully awkward.

Why does she always become this silent around me? Squall shifted the weight on his feet, lying a hand on his hip. "So, what's the new mission?" Squall suddenly asked after several silent minutes.

"Actually, I didn't call you here to tell you about a new mission."

A wave of disappointment washed over Squall's body. His last mission had been almost a month ago and he was beginning to miss the action dearly.

"Oh… what is it you wanted to discuss with me, then?"

Xu opened her mouth to reply, but before she had the chance to do so a loud bang erupted in the office as a group of people stormed through the door, filling the room with loud shouts as they argued loudly.

"Get the fuck off me!" a voice suddenly boomed louder than all the others as the tallest man in lead of the group tried to push the men off him as they, tried to drag him out of the room, grabbing harshly on every part of his body they could hold on to. "I have every right to be here! You security bastards have kept me from coming inside every God damn time!" the tall prominent blond man threw one of the Security Guards to the floor, making the many other guards hurl themselves at him.

"What the hell is going on here?!" Xu barked furiously, causing everyone fall silent instantly as they glanced towards her almost fearfully.

The broad shouldered blond man took advantage of the Guards' stillness to shake their grips off of him violently, causing others to fall to the floor. He spun around slowly, brushing a gloved hand through his short golden locks cockily.

Xu gasped recognizing who was now standing before her, smirking as he walked closer to her desk.

"Seifer?" it was Squall who suddenly broke the heavy silence, gasping the name in shock, his eyes widening slightly.

Silence fell in the room when finally… "Security, you can dispose… we have this under control."

The Security men stood up swiftly and rushed out of the office at the Headmistress' words, leaving Xu and Squall to stare at the once arrogant man whom now stood before them.

"Well… it's great to you guys too! Please, don't show more enthusiasm, I'm dyin' here!" Seifer exclaimed sarcastically breaking the awkward silence.

Squall's stare was instantly changed into a glare as he crossed his arms over his chest. What the hell are you doing here, Almasy…? Squall's stomach churned nauseously as images of their last meeting filled his mind; how he had coldly battled them with psychotic gleam in his eyes, forced Rinoa to merge with the insane Sorceress Adel. He nearly cringed, remembering what the taller man had heartlessly done to him in D-District prison, could still vividly feel the rush of electricity painfully stabbing his every nerve… had Seifer come back to haunt them of his evil doings? Show them what he was capable of once more?

"What are you doing here, Seifer Almasy?" Xu snapped harshly, eyes narrowing in distaste as she glared at him.

"Hey! I had enough trouble swallowing my own damn pride before deciding to walk up here, so hear me out before goin' all bitchy on me!" Seifer snapped back rudely.

Xu rammed her palms on the top of her desk forcefully. If looks could kill, the blond haired man would be a pile of dust by now, from the glare the Asian woman was sending at him, but even if she hated the man, she fell silent, waiting for Seifer explanation.

"So you're the new Headmistress, huh?" Seifer let himself fall on the armchair, swinging his feet on top of Xu's desk lazily and folding his arms behind his head. "So this means Leonhart, here, is probably your little Puppet Commander?" he smirked glancing at Squall, who he, was giving him one of his nastiest death glares.

"I'm warning you, Almasy, get to the point or else!!" Xu hissed through clenched teeth.

Seifer's expression surprisingly became solemn as he glanced back to the new Headmistress of Balamb Garden.

"Alright, alright, sorry… just old habits kickin' in, y'know…" The tall blond haired man almost seemed genuinely apologetic… almost… What kind of twisted game are you playing with us this time, Seifer? Squall thought, watching his former rival's every move closely, feeling every muscle of his body tense at the sight of the Ex-Knight every slight movement.

Seifer swept his feet off Xu's large desk, straightening himself on the armchair as he folded his arms over his chest. "I've been thinking a lot during the last five months… a lot… and…" he took a shaky breath "… I want to come back to Garden…"

Squall's eyes widened slightly at Seifer's revelation, feeling his stomach cringe even more. This can't be happening…

"And what makes you think I'll actually accept you back in, Almasy, after all you've done? Garden has a good image to keep up with and having you back is certainly not going to help." Xu sat on the edge of her desk, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow at Seifer.

The former Sorceress' Knight's expression suddenly fell, becoming dark… pained… almost… remorseful…?

"Hey, I know what I've done, alright? No need to rub it in!" he yelled angrily, standing up abruptly from his chair.

Squall frowned in confusion at the green eyed man's response. Are those feelings simply an act, Seifer? Do you really feel guilt for all the things you have done to this world… to your childhood friends… to me?

Xu, seeing Seifer's strange reaction when mentioning his past actions, softened the glare she had been sending at him.

"Just give me one good reason why I should let you come back to Garden, just one… and I'll let you join."

Seifer looked in her dark eyes intently. "I want to prove all of you that I'm not what you think I am…"

The Asian woman fell silent, deep in thought.

"…let him in…" Xu and Seifer both whirled around towards Squall, shocked.

"…huh?" Xu seemed very confused.

The tall blond could only stare deeply into his former rival's stormy blue eyes as Squall mirrored his stare.

"Well, we do need another good Gunblade user…" Squall shrugged, unable to find any other answer to explain his previous words. Fighting against Seifer during the Sorceress War had been painful. Squall had always wished they had fought beside each other and not the opposite. Even though the man fought dirty, Squall had always trusted Seifer with his life, in a strange twisted way; they shared a strange passion through their Gunblades. He was probably one of the few who understood Seifer's thirst for battle - for action - simply because his own heart craved for it… and after six months, after all that had happened between them, Squall suddenly felt all his respect for the man engulfing him, soothing away his insecurities towards him. Seifer had strength and ferocious energy that in the end always drove Squall's well concealed emotions to their limits. It was only now, after being separated from him for such a long time that he realized he missed it all… the carnal fights, the raw thrill of power clashing together as they battled; no one could quite give Squall the rush of satisfaction that their violent duels filled his body with.

Besides… Seifer would have made an excellent SeeD, one of the best, if he had only been able to follow orders… Squall thought, attempting to convince himself that his own, twisted desire for rivalry was not the only reason he wished Seifer to come back.

"Hmm…" Xu was obviously unconvinced that allowing the tall blond man to come back would be a wise decision.

"We can try it out; you can attend to classes for a few weeks until the next SeeD exams… but I'm warning you; you'll be under serious watch and any sign of uncooperative attitude from your part and you're out!" Xu warned, keeping her tone harsh and stern as reminder of her authority.

Seifer grinned, one of his rare genuine smiles as he realised the Headmistress had accepted his request.

"That means wearing the school uniform," Seifer's smile shrunk weakly "being in time for classes, attending to all periods-"

"Alright, alright, I get the point, Xu!" Seifer cut in, waving his hand angrily.

The Asian woman grinned sadistically.

"Actually, that's Headmistress for you, Seifer…"

Squall attempted to hide a snicker by coughing softly seeing the annoyed expression on Seifer's face, but apparently failed as the blond man glared murderously at him.

Xu pulled the lowest drawer of her desk, taking a thin folder and throwing it in front of Seifer.

"Fill in these applications and you can leave. Come back tomorrow and we'll assign you to your new dorm and dorm partner."

"You wouldn't happen to have a pen, now, would you?" was Seifer's reply, his low voice falsely sweet and charming as he sat down on the arm chair once more.

Xu gave an exasperated sigh and threw him a pen.

"Sheesh, quite an aggressive Headmistress you are…" at Seifer's words, Xu seemed to the point of exploding into a fit of hysterical shouts when Squall decided to interfere, even though the sight was indeed amusing.

"Xu?" the furious Asian woman averted her eyes quickly towards him, widening as if she had forgotten of her SeeD Commander's presence.

"Would you tell me what is it you wanted to speak to me about, now?" the Headmistress looked confused for a second.

"You called me to your office, Xu…" Squall stated, failing to hide his burgeoning impatience.

Xu blinked in realisation.

"Forgetful, too?" Seifer asked mockingly, raising his head from the applications he had been filling.

"SHUT UP, ALMASY!!" Xu barked furiously.

Seifer simply smirked, going back to his previous occupation. Squall could not stop himself from smiling weakly… Good old Seifer Almasy; he would never change…

"Anyways, President Loire called this morning asking if it would be possible to talk to you in person," Xu finally explained.

Squall frowned; talking to Laguna Loire had never been one of his favorite activities.

"Why the hell would the President of Esthar want to speak to you, Leonhart?" Seifer asked, averting his eyes away from the applications once more, meeting the brown haired man's blue stormy eyes, gazing into them curiously.

The quiet young man shrugged in reply.

"Have monsters been able to break through the city again?" Squall asked looking away from the emerald pools of his former rival's eyes, towards Xu. The dark haired woman shook her head in dismissal.

"No, the SeeDs assigned to the Esthar area would have alerted us. Mr. Loire only requested the authorization to speak to you in person; he'll be expecting you tomorrow in the after noon."

'Great… she just had to accept his stupid request! That's really what I needed; speaking with a silly old goof!' Of course, Squall had not spoken his thoughts as he simply frowned, which only caused Seifer to smirk as he noticed the man's annoyance.

But in the end, Squall simply nodded at Xu.

"A group of Garden cadets are leaving on the Ragnarok for Esthar for a field trip tomorrow, so you can simply board as well." Xu instructed.

Squall nodded once more as he started turning around slowly to take his leave, giving one last side glance towards Seifer, their eyes meeting for a brief moment.

As the office's large oak doors closed behind Squall, Seifer stood up from his seat.

"Here are my applications, my dear Headmistress…"

----------

TBC…

-----------

Author's note: Good ol' Seifer Almasy!!! Don't you just all love him? I know I do!! I love writing stories with him… he's SOOOO entertaining!! Anyways… please DO tell me what your opinions on my fic so far… should I continue or not? Please tell me what you think!!