The story is mine, but everything else belongs to somebody else.

No Party Here

Fujin watched Seifer pace around the room, ranting about "incompetent rookies! No fire! No guts! And no fucking clue!" She cringed as Seifer's glass crashed into the wall between her and Raijin. He'd been much more explosive since the "difference of opinion" between him and Squall. They both walked away from that with similar scars, but opposite reactions – Squall got more distant and quiet, Seifer got volatile.

The members of 'the Posse' were almost never seen individually anymore. Fujin had drafted Raijin into protecting Seifer form himself – they acted as a buffer between him and everyone else so he wouldn't launch on some under classman and get bounced from Garden. Now, though, it didn't matter. This was Seifer's third time taking the field exam and failing. There were no more chances to be given. And she was scared to think what he might do now that he'd never be a SeeD.

"Who do you tell when your best friend is gonna break? And I don't think me and Raijin can hold him together … Headmaster Cid. He needs to know about this …" Looking at Seifer sitting with his face in his hands, Fujin looked back to the other man and raised her eyebrows. "WATCH?" she asked him uncertainly.

Raijin nodded once quickly and flashed her a sad smile. "Yeah, I got it. We'll be fine." But as soon as her hand touched the doorknob, Seifer's head snapped up.

"Where ya goin', Fuj?" his voice dripped venom. "Gonna desert me for one of the winners? Maybe the hyper little chickenwuss you used to like?"

She whirled on the blonde, inwardly raging. "He's drunk and depressed – now is not the time." She glared at him for a moment before shaking herself. With a sigh, she told him "WALK" and stepped out into the hallway, leaning on the door for a moment. "What do I do? This is bad! Oh, hell! Good luck, Rai." She headed for the Headmaster's office, unsure of where else to go.

But Cid wasn't in his office. No one had seen him for a couple hours, so they all assumed he was in the ballroom, overseeing last minute preparations for the graduation ball. "After all," Xu told the silver haired young woman, "he does love a good party!" So Fujin headed there, hoping to find the Headmaster soon.

"Finally!" She spotted the Headmaster talking to someone and crossed the room to where he was. She waited not-so-patiently for him to finish, arms folded over her chest. When he turned to go, she stepped in front of him. "TALK. NOW."

"I really don't have time, Miss …" He scratched his head, searching for her name. "…Kazeno. Yes, Miss Kazeno. Is it very important?"

She nodded. "SEIFER. PROBLEM."

"What kind of problem? Can't we handle it tomorrow?"

"NEGATIVE. COME. NOW" When the older man didn't follow, she repeated. "NOW"

The older man looked at her, shaking his head. "Miss Kazeno. Fujin. I really can't. This is just going to have to wait. I'm sure Seifer will be fine, once he gets over being angry. He didn't pass, but there are still things he can do here. I'm sorry."

Fujin snorted and glared at him. "FUCK!" she snapped and stalked out of the room, leaving several people slack-jawed from her explosion. "Okay, that went to hell quickly. What now?" She went back to Seifer's room, hoping she and Raijin could manage. "Maybe Leonhart is right – all you have really is yourself."

Seifer was sprawled on the bed, seemingly passed out when she arrived. Raijin gave her a tired grin. "Told ya we were good. So what's news?"

She leaned back against the wall and slid to the floor, shaking her head. "NOTHING" "Nothing I could think of, anyway." She twitched her head in the direction of the bed. "SLEEPING?"

The big man nodded. "Right after you left. If you wanna catch some sleep, I think we're done for the night. He was snoring before you came in. Loudly."

Fujin smiled, trying not to laugh. She'd never heard Seifer snore. It seemed so unlike him, and very uncool. "GO WALK" she told Raijin, picking up one of Seifer's weapon magazines and opening it.

"You sure?" Raijin asked her. "I can stay, no problem."

"GO" she nodded, glancing over at a sleeping Seifer, then back to Raijin. "He's sleeping. He won't make trouble for me as long as he's like that."

Raijin shrugged. "Okay. I'll be back later." He got up, stretched, and left. "This may not be so bad, keeping an eye on the unconscious guy. At least he's not out picking fights with anyone." She moved to Raijin's chair and went back to reading.

She woke later to the sound of the door closing. "RAIJIN?" she asked, rubbing her hands over her face. "I fell asleep on watch? How long have I been out?"

"Nah, it's me," she heard Seifer's voice and smelled the coffee at the same time. "Thought I'd get the 'thanks for staying' and 'sorry I'm such an ass' coffee and bagel for you." He held the cup and bag out to her with a smile. "You even have time to get to class, if you wanna go today. Raijin's skipping."

Frowning, she took Seifer's offering. "Where is Raijin? How long has Seifer been up?" "TIME? she asked slowly.

"Seven AM," he told her, leaning in the doorframe. "Listen, I'm not real clear on last night. Hell, I'm not real clear on lots of nights for the last couple months. Thanks for not letting me do anything stupid." She watched Seifer run his hand through his hair nervously. "Anyway," he sighed," Raijin caught me in the hall last night outside the party and brought me back here. We decided not to wake you up, but we did lots of talking in the hall. He pointed out to me what a dick I've been. To everybody – including the two of you. And well … you know, it's just … um …"

She decided to save him from his rambling. "FORGIVEN" she told him with a smile over her cup. "Wow, must've been some talk! Didn't realize Raijin thought that much!"

"So, we're good?" Seifer managed to look stressed and relieved at the same time. When she nodded, the relief won out. "Cool. Think I oughta talk to anyone else about this?"

Fujin shook her head with an evil grin and took another sip of coffee. "Fuck 'em. They don't really care about or care to know us anyway, so who cares? Why apologize to them?"