Alright so I have some time off and I might write a little more while I've got it but here's the next chapter. I like it. Hope you do to. Sorry it's been a while. Not making any promises. Reviews do help though.

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Chapter 8

Mentor

Seifer sat down heavily on a rock at the edge of the water. Leon had led them in silence to his training alcove. Seifer had kept his eyes intently on the ground as they walked and he realized now that he had no idea how to get out or return when he did leave. The training cavern, as Leon had called it, was spacious. It was lit with candles for the most part and although they cast vaporous shadows across the walls, something about the place seemed very safe.

He heard footsteps behind him but didn't turn around. Kairi's shoes came to a stop next to him and she sat down on a nearby stone. The silence in the cavern grew as the two sat together, neither saying a word. Seifer noticed, with annoyance, that the tips of his ears had begun to prickle with embarrassment. If she was gonna come sit with him, why not say something? He thought he could feel his face turning red.

"So how're you feeling?"

Finally the silence broke and it felt to Seifer like he could breathe once again, as though he had been underwater.

"I'm ok," he said gruffly. Then, after a moment, "You alright?"

Kairi smiled. "I'm fine." She leaned back on her elbows. "It's a good thing Leon was nearby."

Seifer felt something wrench in his gut. "Yeah?" his voice sounded strange.

"Yeah!" Kairi said emphatically. "If it weren't for him, you would have drowned. And he took care of all those heartless too."

The twisting sensation intensified in Seifer's stomach, hardening his insides into a large undoable knot. "Yeah…it's good Leon was there then." What was that sound in his voice? It wasn't quite bitterness. It was something beyond that. God…he sounded pathetic.

Kairi sat up and leaned in toward Seifer. Something was weird. As much as she appreciated the change, by now he would have made some kind of wisecrack or something. He wasn't looking at her; just staring down at the flowing water. His eyes looked distant.

"You sure you're ok?" she asked again, laying a hand on his arm.

Seifer felt her soft touch on his forearm and felt a tingle of electricity there. Gently, he shrugged her off. "I said I was fine, ok?" He sounded like he was pleading with her. He hated that. Why didn't she back off? Normally, when he was feeling like this, Rai and Fuu would give him his space, let him brood and recover. They never got up in his face trying to ask him questions and everything. They just let him be. Why couldn't Kairi do that?

Kairi wasn't convinced. She knew that face. Riku had looked like that from time to time; brooding over something. But if she kept at it, Riku would always tell her what was going on. Why wouldn't Seifer? She knew it would do him good to get whatever was bothering him out in the open. What could have gotten him to be this morose? Well…he had nearly died just a short while ago. Kairi reached up and placed a hand on top of his. This time he didn't push her away.

"Seifer," she said gently. He didn't move. "I know that…well I know that you must have been pretty scared when you were in the water. That's natural. You were in a pretty dangerous situation." She paused, trying to gauge some kind of reaction but got nothing. "I mean, back where I came from, before I came to Twilight Town, we lived on islands, and obviously, everyone would swim a lot…"

Seifer listened but what she was saying made no sense. It all sounded like random crap to him.

"And so the very first time we all decided to go out for a ride in a boat, we didn't know that Sora couldn't swim."

It felt like someone had just punched the knot in Seifer's stomach. He looked up at Kairi. Her hand was still on top of his own, but she wasn't looking at him anymore, she was looking at the water like he had just been. Her eyes were distant but there was a glint of happiness in them. She was remembering times and people that she missed dearly.

"So, Sora fell off the boat, and Riku was just laughing and laughing until we realized that Sora never learned how to swim. Well, Riku jumped in after him and dragged him out. Sora was crying and screaming. He thought he was going to die."

Every time she said Sora's name, Seifer could feel someone twisting the knot harder and harder until it felt like he was about to break.

"Anyway," Kairi looked up from the water. "I'm just saying that when you think you're going to die, of course you're gonna be upset. That's natural. So don't worry about it, ok?" She smiled cheerfully.

Seifer was quiet for a while. He looked blankly back at Kairi until she turned away, embarrassed. She couldn't tell what he was thinking. She didn't like that. With Sora, you could always tell how he felt; he wore his emotions right on his sleeve. With Riku it was different, but she could always tell when something was up. Seifer wasn't like any of them. He could be thinking anything.

With a sigh, Seifer slipped his hand out from under Kairi's and stood up. Without a word, he shook out his trench coat and stretched. Kairi watched him, trying to figure out what might be going through his head. Seifer turned and began walking away from Kairi. He didn't look back, but instead raised a hand and waved it over his shoulder.

"Sure thing, whatever you say."

And then he was gone, heading up the stairs into Merlin's house. Kairi watched him go. One thing was certain, something was still upsetting him. Kairi turned back to her reflection in the water and shook her head. Why couldn't she figure out what it was though?

Seifer stepped onto the elevator and rose slowly up into Merlin's small home. The wizard had introduced himself earlier but now was nowhere to be seen. Come to think of it, the entire room was completely empty. The furniture was gone, the papers that littered the walls and floor had disappeared; the room was completely bare.

There was a rustling across the room and Seifer watched as Leon pushed aside the cloth that covered the entrance and stepped inside. He glanced at Seifer and then turned away and began walking around the raised platform. Seifer watched him without much interest. The older man seemed very stiff, rather morose. He hated people like that. He wanted to tell them to stop brooding and do something about whatever had them so damn unhappy.

Leon finally came to a stop in front of Seifer. He looked down at him and then pointedly at the floor beneath his feet.

"I'm going down," he said simply. Seifer felt his face grow red and he hopped to the side, off of the invisible elevator. "Thanks," Leon said and tapped his foot on the stone. Slowly, he began to lower down to the ground below.

Seifer watched him disappear and then, after a moment's thought, jumped down after him, landing lightly beside the man. Leon didn't flinch, or really make any motion that would show he had noticed his arrival. Seifer frowned and straightened up. The elevator slowly descended back into the underground caves. They were both quiet. Seifer wondered why he had jumped down after Leon.

The platform finally reached the bottom and Leon stepped off onto the damp stone. Seifer watched him for a moment and then hopped off to follow him. They moved slowly down the tunnel until they reached the room he had been sitting in a short while ago. Kairi was still sitting by the water with her knees drawn up against her. She turned to look at them when she heard footsteps.

"Ah, Leon!" she said with surprise. Then she noticed Seifer. "Oh! Seifer." She paused, unsure of what to say. Something about him made her uncomfortable. He was upset about something but she couldn't figure out what it was. She didn't like that.

"Kairi," Leon said simply, passing her and stepping into the shallow water. Seifer stopped at the edge of the water next to Kairi. He couldn't figure out why he had followed Leon. It was completely against his nature to do this sort of thing, especially after he had just walked out on Kairi. He spared a quick glance at the girl beside him. She was watching Leon silently. Movement out of the corner of his eye caused Seifer to turn back to Leon.

He was taking off his jacket, muscular arms becoming visible as he peeled the heavy cloth away. He was wearing a white undershirt and Seifer could pretty easily see muscles rippling underneath it. With a flick of his wrist, Leon threw his jacket back onto the stony shore and began walking out deeper into the water. His jeans slowly began to saturate with the river water until they were completely submerged.

Seifer watched as Leon sank deeper into the water. He was out far enough now that the water rose to his chest and he could see that the current out there was stronger than it was near the shore. He looks ridiculous, Seifer thought to himself. What the hell is he even doing? Finally Leon stopped. There was a long silence as the man stood in the water, his back to Seifer and Kairi. Again, Seifer wondered just what the hell he was doing out there.

Without warning, Leon began to move. Seifer couldn't figure out what was happening but he could tell Leon was doing something. The man spun against the current and his shoulders dropped. Seifer could see his muscles tightening and his face contort with concentration. Leon stopped for a second and then spun again, moving slowly toward shore and then backing up again. He rose up in the water and then fell back down, his chin touching the water before his arms flew up and out of the water.

A stream of water exploded up and out of the water's surface. Something silver and metallic glinted in the midst of the spray. Seifer squinted to see what it was that had caught his eye. Leon stopped moving with his arms held above his head. The last of the water fell and Seifer saw what it was that he had been looking at. In his hands, Leon held a long sword. In a simple motion, Leon brought the blade back down into the water but this time there was no splash at all as the sword pierced the water.

He was practicing swordplay under water! Seifer felt his jaw drop. He had only just recently began to use a real sword and he already knew how heavy it was. He could use it certainly, but a sword of that size and with the water resistance to boot…

Leon swirled forward and lifted one hand above his head while the other extended forward. Seifer recognized it as a thrust.

He could do it with one hand as well. Seifer was in awe. Leon utilized his sword so deftly and the strength required for this kind of training was incredible. He couldn't remove his eyes from the man as he continued to move beneath the water, occasionally bringing the sword above the surface before plunging it gracefully back into the water.

He was good.

Seifer could feel his fingers twitching, his body aching to try and copy the man's movements, to duplicate and learn until he could maneuver his own blade as deftly as Leon did. He stood there watching for an hour as Leon continued to strike and spin in the flowing river. As time progressed, Seifer wasn't surprised to see that the man's ability did not diminish as he grew tired. If anything, his movements almost became sharper. Seifer could see beads of sweat form on Leon's brow before falling in tiny rivulets and mixing with the water from the river.

Finally, Leon let out a long breath and, with aching muscles, sheathed his gunblade and began walking to shore. His whole body felt tired and he was cold. Aerith would yell at him about being reckless like this. It would be ok though. Any cold he got now would be gone by the time he got back to Hollow Bastion anyway. Besides, it felt good to be able to do some training back in the cavern again. When he reached the shore, he nodded to Kairi and grabbed his jacket from the cold stones.

"Hey."

Leon turned. Seifer was standing between the elevator and himself. He held his sword loosely in front of him. Leon automatically noted that his legs were too far apart.

"Whaddya say you and me go a round," Seifer said, barely containing his excitement. "Just for fun?"

Leon looked at him for a minute, confused. After a moment he sighed and shook his head. Drops of water fell from his bangs. Without a word he began walking toward the boy. Seifer cocked his head to one side but otherwise didn't react. When Leon was only a few feet away from the tip of his blade, he stopped and put his hands on his hips.

"Maybe another time." In a simple motion, he deftly sidestepped Seifer and passed him before he could react. Before Seifer could turn around, he was standing on the elevator. "Close up that stance and you'll be able to turn faster." Then he was gone, up in Merlin's room.

Seifer stared down where he had been for a moment and then straightened up, looking down at his own feet. "Huh. Good advice," he mumbled. A smiled split across his face. This is what he'd been hoping for, a mentor. So what if he was mopey, he was good.