VIII – Missions

Disclaimer: I don't own Seifer, Raijin or Fujin or any other FF8 character. They belong to Squaresoft. But I own Kyte Foda.

A.N.: Thanks for all your reviews and for your constructive criticism, especially the POV thing. Hope I did it better this time.

By the time they were standing in headmaster Cid's office, Fujin was sure there was no chance of talking Seifer into staying at Balamb Garden. They had been discussing it for more than half an hour and he still hadn't changed his mind. It was one of the things she admired about him.

"So you want to leave BG in the middle of the first term, do I get that right?" When Seifer nodded on response, Cid leaned back and gave them a deep sigh. "If you leave now, you'll miss necessary tests and you won't be allowed to take part in the final Seed exams."

"Who cares? Wouldn't be the first time we have to try again." He tried to make it sound like he was laughing about it, to cheer Fujin up, but the thought that he had to repeat years AGAIN really stung in his heart. Only this time it wasn't his arrogance that cost them the victory.

"You know…" Cid continued, "It's rather sad you're failing like that this year. Fujin was one of the top favourites for passing Seed exams this year." When he noticed her short wincing, Cid turned to her. "Are you sure you want to risk that, Miss Kazeno."

"Affirmative." She would certainly tell nobody, but se had almost choked of the word. One of the favourites.

"Well then, I can't force you to stay. Anyway, I may have some sort of attractive compromise for you: I give you one week for searching the north for Fujin's past and while you're at it, you relate whatever information you find about combat teacher Kyte Foda to me. His file is suspiciously short and clean."

For a few seconds the three of them just stared at their headmaster, trying to figure out what he had actually told them. "But this is Fujin's past you're talking about:" It infuriated him. Extremely. "We are trying to help find her and get over her past and you want to use this for clearing Foda? What do you think we are? Puppets in a new play?"

"You shouldn't take it too seriously, Seifer." From the elevator Kadowaki strolled in, looking quite as usual apart from the bandage around her head. "We have serious evidence indicating Mr. Foda isn't the innocent white sheep he pretends to be, but we need something solid." When she noticed Fujin was trying to look away in shame, she went over to her. "Hello, Fujin, Feeling better now? I hope you didn't catch a cold out there in the rain." As she kept looking away, a short giggle escaped Kadowaki's mouth. "Oh, come on, Fujin. It's not like I'm dying of that little head wound, you know. I'm not even angry. Don't know why, but I just can't blame you. Ah, anyway…" Noticing the impatient glances from Cid, she turned to Seifer again and handed him the file she had kept in her hands. He turned it around a few times, but couldn't find any names or numbers.

"Selphie just finished it for you." Kadowaki explained. "She had been searching the networks for towns that match the definition of what Fujin told us, so it's likely the one you're looking for is in there. Good luck."

>>>

"You too like… think they were a bit too friendly, ya know?" When both Seifer and Fujin nodded, he handed her the file again. "Selphie's really done a good job, ya know. Names, photos, descriptions, everything in there. You remember more than I do. Maybe you should take a look, ya know."

As she nodded again and tried to open the file, she found her hands trembling in what seemed to be fear indeed. She was afraid. Afraid of opening one damn single file. What would she find in there? What if she really came across their hometown? What if the memories all came back again and-?

"Don't rush things, Fuu. No matter what they say, we've got all the time you want."

She smiled, shortly, wearily, but it was a genuine smile. She was happy. Happy not to be alone when facing her past. Both of them were there. Her knight and her guardian. Hands still trembling, she opened the file and slipped through the pages.

"Here." The picture still clear in her head, she pointed at one of the pictures. The church, the mountain's slope in the back of the village, the lights under the snow. "Temera."

"Temera?" Immediately, Raijin's eyes darkened. "Sounds familiar somehow, ya know." But still he couldn't remember more about their past. He wasn't even sure if he wished he would.

"Okay, so now that we have the name, you wanna go and take a look? They said they would take us there."

"Must." Fujin replied in her usual manner, but he could feel it was much harder for her than she would ever admit.

"It's okay, Fuu, ya know. We'll stay with you. We'll protect ya, ya know."

"Thanks."

>>>

Only two hours later they had finally reached their destination. Fujin had told them it was a town where a lot of snow was falling throughout all of the year, but they hadn't expected "much snow" to mean "snowed under". Selphie had agreed on driving them there. If they had taken the Garden itself, which would have been the easier method, the secret mission hadn't been secret anymore.

"Well, theeeeeere we are. Hope to see ya all back soon. Byeeeeeeee!" As the little girl she had once described as "elfin" drove back, a relieved sigh left Seifer's mouth. "Wow, finally. You too think she's hell of a driver?" When the two of them nodded, he turned to the town in their back. It was only about 200 metres away now. No wonder no one had ever heard about it. He could only count twelve houses, the church included. Besides, the place looked like a whole crater. A perfect shield against the rest of the world. Under the snow, a few lights glimmered. Life.

"Church." Fujin answered his unasked question. If they spent the night outdoors, they would probably freeze to death. Trying to recall more of what she knew about the village, she made her way down the slope to the church. They would have to cross the rest of the town to get there and would end up getting glares from the villagers. Most of them would glare because of her. She knew the procedure.

"Hey, you could wait for us, ya know!" Shivering like mad, Raijin stumbled behind her, while Seifer stayed next to her. He knew she hated to be glared at and he was tall enough to shelter her, at least from one side. He had forgotten about that habit for a long time. He had behaved like an arrogant bastard then, treating her like a slave. And she still followed his orders. He owed her.

By the time they had reached the church, most doors and windows had been firmly looked. It was always the same story. Strangers.

She didn't wear any gloves, so he knocked at the wide ebony doors of the church. Unless her fingers weren't totally dead due to the cold by now, it would at least hurt if she knocked. Besides he didn't know what memories would pop up inside her head, if she did. Slowly, the doors slipped open.

"Blessed be, wanders of the night. You're looking for shelter in these cold days? Please come in and-" The priest's eyes widened immediately as he saw Fujin and Raijin. He wasn't sure if he knew the man, but the woman… He looked pretty much, she decided, like he had just seen a ghost. Or maybe even two. Nevertheless, he seemed to recover quickly from the first shock. "I must apologize. So rude of me. Come in, please. We can also talk after a cup of tea for all of you."

Exchanging some confused glances, they stepped into the church and felt its warmth climb up their bodies. "You think we can trust him, ya know?" Raijin asked shyly. "I mean, he seems to know something, ya know."

"He sure as hell does. And whatever it is, we'll get it out of him. I don't even think we'll have to ask him, the way he glared at you two. Sorry Fuu." Seifer added, as he felt her wincing next to him.

"Alright. Don't worry." But the strange feeling in her stomach didn't stop. It wasn't unpleasant at all. Indeed, she was feeling more than just safe and good at the moment. Again, her eyes roamed the church. It had been bigger then. Or at least it had seemed so. Bigger, huge. She had been to that place many times before.

"One word method, Fujin." Seifer advised. "What do ya think?"

"Shelter." It was the only word that fit the building. Sanctuary would have worked, too, usually, but still she felt it did not fit. Something must have happened so it only was "shelter" to her. Only now, her guardian and her knight at her side, it felt like more.

A.N.: Read and review? Next chapter will be something I call "key chapter", so you'd better watch out