Note: It's been nearly three years since I've updated this story, and though I've picked it up time and again, I always put it down. It is my hope, now, that I can really finish it, as it is on my mind often and is a great joy to me. If you made it this far, please review. It will be a great honor to me to know that someone, anyone, has bothered reading it again.Andrea

Just to Breathe

Fujin's Story

Chapter Fourteen

Wind Storm

"It's a comedy of errors, you see, it's about taking a fall. To vanish into oblivion is easy to do, and I try to be, but you know me, I come back when you want me to." –Elliot Smith; "Miss Misery"

Sunlight filtered through the clouds and shimmered on the smooth, velvety purple petals of an African violet. It was funny how something so delicate, so fragile, so beautiful, could survive in the middle of a field laden with green, constantly traipsed on by creatures. For a moment I admired it's strength.

I stomped on it out of sheer principle.

"Hey, why'd ya do that, ya know?" my friend's voice rang in my ears, and I turned to look at him, shrugging my shoulders innocently. He bent to pick up a dandelion, blowing its seeds into the breeze, like little snowflakes. The wind picked up, carrying the little parachutes off in different directions. Nature was like that. "Fly away, little buddies!" Raijin laughed as they scattered.

Two days. Two long, unbearable days had passed, and still, nothing. Even in such a short amount of time, Raijin and I had made it a habit to constantly pester other SeeDs for news. What had happened in Deling City that night? When we finally confronted the Headmaster, his answer was frank: a failed attempt to assassinate the sorceress; the same sorceress that Seifer had stood next to during the parade.

As we entered the gates of the Garden, a strange sense of unrest settled over me. More students were roaming the halls as usual, and an excited chatter echoed like a rainstorm. One SeeD in particular seemed to be doing a lot of talking, or questioning, rather, and when she turned to us, we waited patiently for an explanation.

"Raijin, Fujin," Xu addressed us. "Your presence is requested immediately in the Headmasters office. If you come across any other SeeDs on the way up, give them the same message. It's urgent."

Raijin looked at me quizzically before turning back to the Garden secretary. "What's the deal, ya know?"

"I don't have time to explain," she brushed dark locks out of her eyes, "Just go, please!" We obeyed without further questioning, though our minds were not at ease. For what purpose would a congregation of all SeeDs serve?

Most of the SeeDs in Kramer's office were adorned with their official uniforms, but others, like Raijin and myself, sported a less rigid look. After a brief wait, Xu and the headmaster himself entered the room. As a thick silence overcame us, and the dark haired secretary met several of the curious gazes of her comrades. "I'm sure you're all wondering why you've been asked to gather here," she announced. "Indeed, I would wonder, as well. Many of you have heard about a recent mission to Deling City that fell through. Four of Balamb Garden's SeeDs, as well as one SeeD candidate from Galbadia Garden, were involved in this failed mission. They are currently being held as prisoners at the D-District prison, in the Galbadian desert. There is a rumor that a client from a recent mission is with them. There are also rumors," she offered a gingerly sympathetic glance towards Raijin and myself, "That one of our fellow students is working closely with the sorceress."

A harmony of gasps and then a wave of whispers swept over the throng of SeeDs. At the head of the group, Xu closed her eyes and stepped back, making room for the Headmaster. He held up his hands, as if he could offer us peace of mind. "SeeDs," his old man's voice bellowed, "The true battle has not yet come! We need to stick together in this time of troubles, or else we will fail." He lowered his arms, taking a moment to meet the eyes of select students. "It has been said that the sorceress has taken offense to the recent mission, and is currently hunting for SeeDs, BUT," he asserted firmly, before panic could wrap its fine fingers around any necks, "If we stick together, there shall be no need for worry. Now, it is unclear whether or not…"

The sound of the door hissing open interrupted the Headmaster's speech. Two members of the Garden Faculty seemed to float in. "Cid Kramer," one of them spoke. "Your time has come. Please come with us silently, and no harm will come to you or your followers."

Brief, confused looks jumped between the SeeDs, but it was Xu who set the prime example. "The Headmaster won't go anywhere with you!" she stepped forward with indignation.

"Young lady, we don't have time for this," the second faculty member stepped forward. "The Garden belongs to NORG! The true Garden Master's time has come!"

As if on cue, nearly every SeeD in the room drew a weapon. "Go back to NORG and tell him we're not interested in handing over Cid!"

The faculty took a few steps backwards. "You'll regret this. Your true allegiance belongs to NORG!" And then they were gone.

As men and women alike put away his or her weapons, Xu climbed on a chair and shouted, "Listen up, everyone! We can't fall apart, now! This Garden needs us! Cid needs us! The Garden Faculty has probably brainwashed some of the students already, they will be ready to fight you! Let's try to keep the violence to a minimum! Here's the plan…"

We sat on the steps to the elevator like lost sheep, watching as all around us former comrades fought. "We couldn't keep up with them if we tried, ya know?" Raijin mused. For the first few hours, the two remaining remembers of the Disciplinary Committee had tried to break up most of the fights. Now, as even as we watched, students everywhere were dropping everything to defend either the Headmaster or the Garden Master.

I sighed deeply. It was disappointing, really. After years of getting the students to respect our rules, suddenly all of our authority was being disobeyed.

"Fujin! Raijin! Why don't you help us out?" a mousy haired boy yelled up to us, "You're SeeDs, aren't you? Why aren't you defending the Headmaster?"

I sighed once again, as if I could push all of my thoughts out through my lungs. Raijin called down to him. "We're staying neutral, ya know? It's our rule. We're with Seifer."

The boy offered somewhat of a snarl, if it could even be considered that, and turned his back. Another kid, with darker hair, consoled him. "Come on, Nida, we don't need their help."

It made me roll my eye. They acted like we were the ones out of line. Really now! Where Raijin and I the ones starting fights all over garden? "Just when I thought we could enjoy some peace and quiet, ya know?" my friend commented.

As Nida and the other boy ran off in another direction, I spotted three vaguely familiar faces coming towards us. "LOOK!" I nodded, and Raijin followed my gaze.

We stood in unison, "Hey, you're back!" my friend cried out. I could see him thinking about Xu's earlier announcement about the D-District prison. I, myself, was wondering where the other three members of their party were.

"What's going on here?" Squall Leonhart looked around at the confusion of the Garden, more miffed than truly confused. To his right Instructor Trepe crossed her arms over her stomach, and beside her Rinoa sheepishly avoided our gaze.

"I dunno." Raijin began, "At first, they were sayin' somethin' 'bout roundin' up the SeeDs, ya know? Now everyone's either sidin' with the Garden Master or the Headmaster and fightin' everywhere, ya know?"

"DISTURBING," I put in.

Raijin shook his head, "Disappointin' for the disciplinary committee. All our work for nothin' ya know?"

"Why are SeeDs being targeted?" he questioned, "And where's the headmaster? Is he safe?"

"We got no clue," Raijin tried to be frank. Of course, we knew that Cid was safely hidden in his office, but we had been directly ordered by Xu not to give that information to anyone.

Squall looked perplexed, "We need to see him right away. It's important. Galbadian missiles may be heading this way!" Rinoa visibly winced, and a slight shudder skittered along Quistis's spine, while Squall simply remained emotionless.

"WHAT? We gotta get outta here!" I'd never heard him sound so pitiful, so I turned and quickly kicked my friend. "OOOUUCH! Geez, alright!" He read my face for a quick plan, "We'll warn everyone about the missiles! Man, this is not a good time to be fightin', ya know?"

"We'll go look for the headmaster," Squall decided.

"CAUTION!" I warned, feeling slightly guilty about not revealing his location.

"Yeah, the fightin' is intense everywhere! And watch out for those Garden Master goons, ya know!" Raijin backed up my call of worry.

"And you two?" Quistis spoke up for the first time.

"Hey, jus' like Fujin said, ya know? We're with Seifer. Always have, always will."

I turned to look up at the elevator, hoping that Squall or one of his comrades would get the hint that the Headmaster was tucked safely in his office, but he simply started to run towards the Infirmary. Quistis provided us with a brief nod before following, and Rinoa offered what looked to be an apologetic stare.

"We gotta evacuate the students, ya know?" Raijin's voice sounded worried. "Maybe the junior classmen?"

I nodded; it was a good plan. We ran off in the opposite direction of Squall's party, where we knew a group of students was hidden in the Library.

It wasn't that we didn't get the message across to the junior classmen; it was just that we succeeded only in terrifying them more. When Raijin raced into the Library waving his arms and yelling, "There're bombs aimed at Balamb Garden! Everyone evacuate! We're all gonna die, ya know?" a sort of mass panic arose. I put one pale hand to my forehead in frustration, which was burning with fever, and rolled my eye.

I tried to calm everyone down, "SILENCE!" But mine was hardly better than Raijin's efforts. For a split second, about fifteen pairs of young eyes stared up at me, followed by high-pitched screams and panic. Sighing, I turned helplessly to Raijin. This was going nowhere.

It was just our luck that Xu showed up, then. In her usual professional, yet consoling, tone, she comforted the junior students, somehow convincing them to follow us. Only about ten were willing, the others refused to leave older brothers and sisters or swearing their allegiance and pledging to go down with the Garden (there was only one boy that swore the latter, who, with his blonde hair and bright eyes, reminded me vaguely of Seifer).

Xu, Raijin, the junior classmen, and I briefly wandered the school looking for other junior classmen. Only five more joined our evacuation squad. "Take them to Balamb," Xu informed us, "Most of them have parents there."

My heart raced as we lead them out of the Garden. We were forced to stay on the road, as many of them did not have weapons. It would have been nearly impossible for only Raijin and myself to protect all fifteen children. We were only halfway to Balamb when a high-pitched whistle alerted us that Squall's warning had been true. "DUCK!" I screamed as Raijin yelled, "Get down!" The students dived and covered their heads, and Raijin and I did our best to shield them.

As the missiles soared towards our beloved Garden, I stared in awe as the great structure began to lift. Barely managing to escape, it soared over Balamb and settled in the sea. I watched this, my mouth agape, but then was thrown forward by the force of the bombs. Several of the children screamed, and the smallest girl grabbed on to my arm.

"Miss Fujin, what do we do? The Garden's sailing away without us!"

I looked at Raijin, dumbfounded. What should we do, now that the Garden was floating away? "BALAMB," I started, then, looking down at the girl's terrified eyes, I controlled my voice, "We'll take you to Balamb… to be with your parents, until the Garden comes back."

As we walked towards the port town, the smallest girl still clinging to my arm, Garden floated further and further away until it was only a black spec on the horizon. I had the vaguest feeling that they had no control over which way the Garden sailed.

Most of the children were gladly accepted back to their homes when their parents learned the truth about Garden. Only the young girl who had earlier clung to me was without a home. She looked tearfully up at me, "Where will I go?"

Raijin and I exchanged a quick conversation with our eyes. We had already decided what road we would take, but what of this young thing?

"Miss Fujin, may I please come with you?" her jewelry-box voice rung in my ears.

I sighed deeply, flashing Raijin a troubled look. He stooped so that he was level with the child (quite an accomplishment for someone of his height and bulk). "Tell you what," he smiled at her, that pearly white smile he had first shared with me. "Why don't you tell me your name and were you're from, and we'll see about you taking you on our adventure."

I bit my lip, not wanting this girl to stick around. What would we do with her when we found Seifer? But she looked up at Raijin, her eyes full of hope. "Really, Mr. Raijin?"

"Yes, really."

"My name's Satori," she smiled at Raijin, one of her bottom teeth missing. "I came from an orphanage on the sea."

An orphanage on the sea? I'd never heard of such a thing! But Raijin swept our newest companion off of her feet and hoisted her onto his shoulders as she giggled. "Well, Satori, we'll take you as far as Galbadia. We're trying to find a friend of ours, too."

Satori was ecstatic to be the only junior student privileged to ride in an official SeeD train cabin, though a few minutes into the ride she was fast asleep in Raijin's lap. I paced about the cabin, my mind racing. Seifer would not put up with a child, even if Raijin seemed infatuated with how cute she was. And if Seifer was working for the sorceress… would he even want to see Raijin and me?

We spent the night in Timber, now that the trains were fully functioning again. The town seemed to be full of stray cats, which made Satori ecstatic, and Raijin, too ("Kittens, ya know?"). Over supper Satori wanted to know all about what it was like to be a SeeD. "Is it scary, Mr. Raijin?" she would ask, her bright eyes glittering, or "Do you get to travel, Miss Fujin?" Raijin would tell her long anecdotes. I would shake my head yes or no, though by the end of the night she'd grown on me.

Raijin and Satori sat up playing Triple Triad (Raijin let the eight-year-old win) until Satori could barely keep her eyes open, and then Raijin tucked her safely under her blankets before joining me on the balcony. "GOODNIGHT," I had called in to her.

"THANKS," she had shouted back, "MISS FUJIN."

Raijin and I looked down over the street, where Timber guards in their blue uniforms marched along the edge of town. So far, Timber had managed to keep Galbadia out. Word had spread quickly that Galbadia was under the rule of the sorceress. "SEIFER?" I asked Raijin. I knew that he would know what I meant.

"I can't help it, ya know?" Raijin let one of his large hands rest on my shoulder. "She's got such innocent eyes, ya know? She needs someone to look up to. Seifer could be her hero, ya know? Maybe he'll like her."

"DOUBTFUL," I informed.

"Yeah, yeah," Raijin shook his head, slowly. "But we can always try," he gave my shoulder a pat, "Ya know?" Looking up at him, I rolled my one eye with a smirk. We were really alone now, apart from Garden. If we didn't find Seifer, we would be lost. Raijin and I could take care of ourselves, but Seifer gave us a purpose. And I just needed to see his face.

Lieutenant Biggs was cheeky when we asked for Seifer. "He has forbidden visitors," the bulky man grunted at us. Immediately I thought that there was no way Seifer would ban us. Raijin looked defeated, like a kicked puppy. I stomped up to the red-clad soldier.

"LISTEN," I barked, leaning towards him, though he leered at least six inches over me. "TELL," I paused, cleared my throat. "Tell him that his posse –Fujin and Raijin—have arrived to assist him in any way possible."

Biggs glared at us for a moment longer before disappearing behind a door. We were at Galbadia Garden again, and the rumor was that Martine had been killed, though I wasn't sure I believed it. Satori was cowering behind Raijin, her tiny hands wrapped around his fingers.

It was fifteen minutes before Seifer himself came out. He eyed us for a long moment before his trademark smirk graced his lips. "Well, well, well," he cocked his head to one side. "Was starting to think you weren't coming after all."

Raijin puffed up proudly, "We knew you weren't dead," he gloated, "That Squall doesn't know his was out of a paper bag to believe that kind of lie." It was then that Seifer noticed Satori.

"What's that?" he nodded curtly in her direction. Raijin and I exchanged a glance.

"That's Satori, ya know?" Raijin put his hand behind the young girl's back, pushing her towards Seifer. "Satori, this is Seifer."

"Hi Mr. Seifer!" Satori smiled up at our friend.

Seifer did not smile back. Instead, he jerked his head at the girl, signaling to Wedge, who was behind him. "Get rid of it," he snapped. Wedge stepped forward and took the little girl's hand. As he lead her away, she looked back over her shoulder, her eyes fearful, but trusting. Raijin gave her a reassuring nod, certain we'd be reunited later.

We never saw or heard from Satori again.

End Chapter Fourteen