Disclaimer: I do not own FF8 or any of the charactors despite the fact I am much better at telling a compelling story than the real owners, so there.
He walked fast, his mind reeling. The most important question being "why oh why did I look?" that was the most provocative display he had seen. Well... almost. Anyway it was quite a show…. No there was no way that was not planned. However that led to an even more startling though…. She knew he was looking. Well. There was no way this would end well. He was not sure whether to be angry she was toying with him or angrier that he had been caught. Well it was hardly worth fighting himself over he would have to just assume that she was until he could prove to himself she wasn't just sexy as hell by nature……. He stopped dead in his tracks, much to the oblivious displeasure as a pair of girls who were far more focused on their conversation than on where they were going slammed right into the back of him, toppling all three of them. After he rose and brushed himself off and paused to apologize to the girls, who were to their credit not completely indignant. He felt a little swell of pride, at least he was helping to produce students who had some measure of perspective… his mind however wandered back to the problem at hand, or should he say the person.
&8&
Fujin sat and resumed a normal posture, that little show of force had taken her mind off the book, and her mind wandered back her eyes moving to the page but her mind refusing to follow as she thought about what she had just done. Her mind picked apart the situation from every conceivable angle, and analyzed in a way she had trained her mind to, to the point where it did that even when she definitely didn't want to. She shook her head to free herself from that thought train and finally stood and closed her book, walking away and to somewhere quiet. The "secret" area at the back of the Training Center was usually a good spot, almost no one went there during the day. She wandered back there, her Pinwheel at hand, just in case. It would be decidedly bad if Rex came after her and she was walking around, what did she expect the words to defend her this time?…. This time… last time… when Squall had put a lot on the line, and taken in an admitted fugitive, on her word alone. He had trusted her. Like no one else had, save two…. That thought gave her pause in the hall leading to the center. She paused standing in the tunnel and her arm moved up to the back of her arms and she shifted foot to foot as she thought about it more and more. And finally with a sigh of defeat she turned around and marched her blue clad butt right up to the impromptu office and right past the garden officials who by now had learned better. She marched in to a Squall sitting his hands interlaced and propped on his elbows his forehead on his fists and sighed and then sat bolt upright his hands dropping in very short order as he Tried his best to compose himself in an instant.
"F-Fujin. I…" he stuttered just a bit and then she broke in "Sir. Apo…" she was cut off as he raised a hand.
"No. I want to apologize for my misconduct. I will not deny anything if you lodge a complaint." He looked at her bewildered expression with a collected strategic lack of emotion, and she realized she was staring and saluted and turned on her heel and walked from the room. Indeed, more confused now than ever, indeed with more conflicting thoughts as the door slid closed, what she didn't know was that her commander was having exactly the same reaction on the other side. Both of them it seemed, had something happen right there in that intense look of uncertainty. Who knew one little moment of playing around could lead to such a thing. However, both dismissed it just as quickly. Believing as best they could that the other thought nothing of it and neither should they. The Irony of a single moment of weakness.
&8&
Lodge a complaint, Ha! That's a laugh, then I would have to explain myself anyway and sexual harassment would not look good. The last thing she wanted was some tenth year student thinking of her as less that the one of the strongest people on two feet. Odly enough she got the view that although everything could not have possibly turned out any more awkward.
"sir. Permission to speak?" she inquired softly. Or at least softly by her standers putting her right around a normal speaking voice.
"Permission granted Fujin." Squall stated as he carefully withheld emotion until he heard what she would say. It weighted rather heavily on his mind for a few moments before he fiercely squashed the barely forming ideas as they rose and he just sat still as he could masking his inner turmoil.
"Never angry. Just as Responsible, Sir." He noticed that rather odd note, when she lowered her voice the words came more easily to her. And with her voice lowered much of the gravely quality seemed to vanish spontaneously. Maybe it was just his ears but he could almost hear a certain sultry quality that never made itself known in her normal speech. That train of thought just continued along it's blissful track a few more moments before he noticed she was just looking at him. She looked as though she were expecting something. And he briefly paniced. Then recomposed himself and opened his mouth without thinking at all. And what came out was exactly what his mind was thinking.
"you have a very pleasant voice when you talk like that." Immediately he looked into her face and saw her eye WIDE and her mouth in a thin line and immediately he realized what he had said and gained much the same expression she had at that moment, and all they could do was look at one another in stunned silence. And two words just shot across his mind over and over. Bad Mouth. Bad Mouth. Bad Mouth. Bad mouth….
She was stunned had she heard what she thought she heard from the steely nerved and focused commander? There was no way her ears were working she wanted to ask, she wanted to say anything but she couldn't as thousands of questions buzzed her mind a second most of them resounding around one thought, "he thinks my voice is pleasant?" somehow those words coming from Squall simply did not register. It just simply did not compute, she knew the commander had long been head over heels for that Trollop of a Sorcress. Right? That was right, but then again he had not seen her yet. Which was extremely odd, when suddenly it hit her like a ton of Bricks. The sorceress was gone. That was the only explanation that he even noticed her at all. And somewhere deep down that thought shocked loose her mind.
"S-sir. Dismissed?" she said in as hard a voice as she could manage but even then tripped up a bit, her voice louder again as her question seemed to shock Squall from the Same place and he quickly did a double take and then nodded.
"Um, yes.. D-dismissed….. and Fujin?" she paused halfway through the turn and looked back pausing with just the edge of her heel on the ground looking back to him as he slowly regained his composure and spoke.
"Perhaps we should keep this little incident between us?" Fujin nodded in concurrence and stepped through the door and began walking own the hall her eyes still rather wide as she thought about that and jumped a bit when she heard a hard Thump from Squall's office, and continued walking not wanting to face the man yet.
Squall lifted his head from where it had impacted the desktop, having succeeded in regaining a measure of seriousness from the self inflicted head injury and took a deep breath. In as long he felt confused and couldn't stop the deluge of questions his own traitorous mind conjured. Most Disturbing of which was "I wonder if she's seeing anyone" and that thought immediately threw him into A state of deep thought. That did not cease even as he resumed his work his body on autopilot as the majority of his mind continued to throb with questions he simply could not dismiss.
&8&
It had been five hours. And yet still Fujin could not keep her mind from that momentary slip that had happened in his office, it lead her mind back along a long train of thoughts. But yet the internal argument continued.
You know he's Available, if he weren't then where is the sorceress? No! But you know he's a good person, you've seen it. No, it is not right, I refuse to be a Rebound! You are only saying that because you are afraid you'll like it too. No it's not that. It's just that I'm afraid I'll just be taking advantage of his feelings, she is Gone and now he's just lost. It would be wrong. Who are you trying to convince, you are talking to yourself. I know that, but If I cannot even convince myself I don't want anything to do with him, how can I convince him? You are afraid because they look so much alike.
She could not continue that internal battle and closed the book she had been blankly stareing at for at least an hour and set it on her nightstand. And sighed her head falling to her palms as she sat on the edge of her bed. Because she knew she had found the real issue. It was his face. They could have been brothers….. Seifer and Squall, if they stood beside each other it almost seemed a mirror had been placed beside one. Only she could not tell wich one was the original. It disturbed her deeply to think about the Blonde knight. For all his Bravado and bluster he was such a kid inside, afraid to lose, afraid to be proved the scared child he knew he was….. Hyperion. She had not thought about her promise in months. She groaned. She felt like such a moron, she had forgotten her promise in the routine, the monotony. It had been taken from her before the Trial… she would have to find out. It was Beyond important she find it, she had a mission to complete, and she was not going to go back on her word. But that would have to wait, Cerfew was already in effect. And she knew better than too go out now. She would immediately be suspected. She was not foolish enough to believe she had been assimilated that easily.
Squall too was having his own mental battle between the memory of Rinoa, and the images so fresh in his mind now of Fujin. He could not help but compare them, every minute detail came under scrutiny in his mind, as much as he tried not to it refused to stop. Rino'a raven locks were soft and flowing always soft to the touch and seeming to dance of their own accord as she walked, long and shimmering. Fujin though, her hair was neat and purposely fixed into it/'s own organized chaos, she was meticulous and he could tell she always looked good when she could help it, really they both did though he wondered if Fujin spent two hours daily caring for her hair like Rinoa did. No it was not likely, though Rinoa was definitely the more energetic of the two he had to ask, was she the more active. Rinoa was known to respond often with a giggle or a titter to anything even remotely embarrassing and more than willing to gossip about it. Frankly he could not See Fujin doing the same thing, she was tight lipped and controlled. Maybe she wasn't the spontaneous ball of energy the Sorcress had been but she knew how to act and how to make someone feel like either the king, or the fool. Having witnessed both, used on Seifer and Zell, respectively. And standing them beside one another Fujin always stood tall, strong and confident, her attitude and mind always open, she did not fear to tell exactly what she thought in exactly the terms she stated. Then to the other. She had a sort of Girlish, soft charm, always mobile and forever shifting in mood, it was almost impossible to read her if you didn't know her well, a constantly moving, eternally animate person. But yet Fujin was a Woman, Rinoa was more the Girl. He paused himself as he began to notice a trend beginning to form with his own mind. Rinoa was his opposite in so many ways. She spoke and acted freely, her heart on her sleeve. Fujin though, she was hardened, quiet and introspective. Much like himself, she was very much himself. And they shared much, if one cared to look at it correctly. Both had lost the one they…. Loved? Maybe. He could only guess on that front. Both had no family, no ties other than the friends they made. Both were serious and proffered a Book to a party almost any day…… he stopped himself sitting in his quarters his hands laying on his chest as he tried to sleep, but still it eluded him and again the voice in the back of his mind spoke. Ask the worst that happens is you are turned down, right? And he decided something there. That if for no other reason than to silence his own mind.
He would.
A/N: No Excuses, a lot of very bad mojo flying around. andsome very angery proffesors. don't hate me, I do enough of that for everybody. and thanks for no Flames yelling at me to speed up. I really hate those things. hope you enjoy this chapter a bit more, for all it's worth, the next is already in progress.