I own nothing except an opinionated cat. Oh, and Instructor Snow. (YUMMY! Someday I'll get that drawing of him done…) Square owns the other characters in this chapter.

An Old Friend and a New Plan

Fujin went to the cafeteria for a cup of tea and a break. She'd spent the entire morning sorting through the things she'd kept after her parents' deaths. She'd learned a lot (her father was a soldier once?) and cried more. She'd also found something she wanted to ask an instructor about…

She got her tea and sat down, pulling the brass coin out and turning it over in her hands. The image on one side was vaguely familiar, but she couldn't read the writing on the other side. She hoped Instructor Snow would be in his office. She liked dealing with him because he made an effort to understand her so she didn't have to repeat herself a half dozen times.

The sign on his door said he was tutoring down in the gym. "Looks like I'll have to go watch and wait to talk to him. What a shame," Fujin smiled to herself. Watching him work was a treat – not only was he grace personified, but to her he was strikingly beautiful as well.

She ran into Seifer and Raijin in the hall. "Bug hunt, y'know… wanna come with us?" her cousin asked her. Seifer smiled and nodded, but Fujin shook her head.

"NEGATIVE" she told the young men. "SNOW. TALK"

"Ahh.." Seifer nodded knowingly. "Gonna go drool over the midget some more, huh?" he teased.

Blushing furiously, Fujin's repsonse through clenched teeth was "RAGE" and a really hard kick to Seifer's shin.

Knowing that was his last warning, the blonde backed off a little. "Okay, okay. I don't know anything, okay?" He leaned down and rubbed his shin. "But you have to admit, Fuj, he is awful short. I mean, what, he's not even up to my shoulders?"

She shot Seifer an evil look and smiled. Seifer ducked behind Raijin, laughing. "Alright, I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Please don't kick me again!" he pleaded, while still laughing. Raijin started laughing, too, so Fujin just walked away, dismissing them both with a wave of her hand. Maybe the 'bug hunt' would settle them down…

Entering the far side of the gym, away from the sparring mats, Fujin watched Instructor Snow working with a young man who was nearly as good as the teacher. She was mesmerized by the moves, almost like watching dancers, until the student wound up flat on his back suddenly. He stood slowly, shaking his head a little, then the two men bowed to each other and the match was over.

Fujin approached slowly, not wanting to interrupt their discussion. "Guard your ribs more, Dincht," Snow shook his head at the young man. "And for Hyne's sake, stop pulling your punches. I wouldn't be doing this if I couldn't take it. And if you don't learn to follow through, you're gonna get killed."

The young man bowed to the instructor again and turned to leave, smiling at Fujin as he walked past. She smiled back, a little confused, and then turned to her teacher. "DINCHT?" she asked him, hoping he'd give at least a little more information without revealing her interest.

"Yeah, Zell's one of my better students, if he can keep himself in check." Snow chuckled to himself, then turned to her. "You decide you need tutoring? You're not dressed for it."

"TALK" she said, shaking her head. "TIME?"

"Sure, I got a half hour. What did you need to talk about?"

She followed him over to the bench and pulled out the coin, watching his face as she handed it to him. He quickly covered a flash of surprise, and then he looked at her. "Where did you get this?"

"FATHER"

"Do you know what this is?" He held it up by the edges, like it was fragile. "This is a Guardian Force, Fujin. A captured one, which should just never happen…Where did your father get this? Was he military?" Fujin nodded. "Yeah, thought so. Only the military captured them like this. You should let it go. They tend to go a little nuts all alone like this." Snow handed the coin back to her.

Fujin took the coin back, shocked that her father kept a GF prisoner for at least 14 years. This had to be fixed. She stood and bowed to her instructor. "THANKS" Then she turned to go.

"Fujin," he stopped her. "I wouldn't tell anyone about this. They might try to talk you into giving it over." She turned and bowed again, then left.

She went to the Quad to think. She kept turning the coin over in her hand, trying to figure out where she could find information on freeing a GF without bonding with it. All the books she'd seen in the library didn't cover this. And she couldn't exactly ask without having to explain why she wanted to know. 'What am I going to do with you? What if you're crazy after 14 years of isolation?'

"Only 5 years, child," she head a voice. Looking around to see if anyone else had heard it, she turned her attention back to the coin.

"YOU?" she whispered hoarsely.

"Yes, but you don't have to speak, just think," the voice answered. It sounded amused by her surprise.

'So, what do I have to do to free you?' she thought carefully, mentally pronouncing ever word.

Now the voice was clearly chuckling. "Just think like normal. You'll figure it out."

'I don't want to get used to it! I'll go nuts!' she thought, slightly panicked. 'No, I already went nuts – now I'm talking to myself!' She pushed herself up to go see if Seifer and Raijin were back yet. If they didn't notice anything strange about her, maybe she wasn't nuts…

She found them just coming in the front gate, talking about the monsters they'd killed. And they'd had time to develop a new entertainment – Seifer liked to call it a "disciplinary committee". "See, we let them all think it's all official and that we're keeping a list. Different things can get you on 'the list'. We don't have to worry about how to tell anyone to get off 'the list' – they'll be too busy sucking up!" Seifer grinned evilly.

"Yeah!" Raijin chimed up. "Make 'em sweat, y'know? Whatcha think, Fuj?"

Fujin thought for a moment of everyone that had snubbed her or said things about her looks or her speech. Then she smiled, looking every bit as evil as some people thought she could be. "GOOD" she nodded. "COMMITTEE"