Yay another chapter, and this one is longer and takes a look into how it all started with these two…In my eyes…Yeah…I don't own ffviii, square does…Anyway please review, and if you are one of the three people who did for the first chapter, thank you so much!

Chapter Two: Body Heat

It had all started in the past, as everything does, their epic love story…The story that was never told. It would be forgotten and faded by the winds of time, as everything eventually is. Its meaning construed and given a spin on whatever is popular at the time, just as Beowulf was given Christian connotation when it was really a Pagan story. That's what will happen here, the generalizations will stay in tact but details will be twisted and changed until the story is merely that…A story…Fiction…But still beautiful.

It had all started in the past…

She walked down the hall, confidence exuding from her like heat from a fire; a fire that nobody dared brave. Those who knew the flame sent it into legend, she was a tale in herself. Quistis Trepe had been down this hall before on many occasions, but this time it was special. Students had walked with her here in hopes of becoming a SeeD, but today her best student faced the challenge.

Just because he was one of her most apt pupils didn't mean she wasn't nervous for him…This boy wasn't particularly…A peach, he had a problem with authority, but he was still quite capable.

"Quistis," her friend and co-worker Xu nodded at her as she stood in front of the directory. "You look anxious."

"Wouldn't you be?" both girls laughed at this, knowing exactly why.

"Ladies, ladies, you wouldn't happen to be giggling over me would you?" ah that voice, you would know it anywhere even if you had never heard it before. "I know I'm irresistible, but please we have 'work' to do."

"Seifer, I see you're without your groupies have they found someone else to follow blindly?" Quistis knew she wasn't overstepping her bounds, they were used to this sort of communication.

"Hmm not that I know of," a quick smirk graced his future, "but you never know, they may have joined your fan club…Although I never really could see them as stalkers…" yes, that was how it went; she'd say something then he'd shoot back and in the end their scores would usually be even. It was a little game they played.

Headmaster Cid briskly walked down the steps from the elevator, seemingly in a rush. He gave the three people there a hardy smile before getting straight to business…He looked tired though, as if a lot was on his mind.

"Well now, this is rather exciting isn't it!" he clapped his hands together enthusiastically. "We haven't had a gunblade specialist in god knows how long, and that was when the models were new and frankly pieces of junk. Why, I remember this one boy named…Oh what was his name? Ah yes, Taylor Courtney, yes he was one of the first to try a gunblade on for size, but the damn thing backfired and well…To put it simply he did not continue with that particular weapon…Oh and this other time—" he was cut off.

"Ahem Headmaster…The mission?" Xu, his right hand man...err…Woman kept him focused when he went off on these tangents.

"Oh yes, THAT, well there had been a slight change of plans," everyone looked a little concerned, except for Seifer who looked rather bored.

"What kind of change?" asked Quistis.

"Ah, well you see, something has come up and it looks as if I need Xu to stay here this time…But this mission never really called for three people…And Quistis I have complete faith in you…Ah yes…heh heh," to those who knew the headmaster, it was safe to say that he had made a technical mistake in planning…Either that or had paperwork he didn't want to do.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, cut to the chase," Seifer folded his arms impatiently and gave the older man an annoyed glance.

"Yes well, you're mission is fairly simple, I need you two to go on a little trip to the Shumi Village up north, it seems that some sort of monster has been coming in at night and destroying the ground level…"

"Wait, so you want us to get rid of a little monster? Are you serious?" the cadet scoffed but was quickly stopped by a sharp elbow to the ribs by Quistis.

"You'll be traveling by vessel, but I'm afraid you'll have to go on foot once you to the shores…Anyway, you're transport leaves…Well, as soon as you get to Balamb really. Seifer, Quistis good luck," with that Cid and Xu retreated back to the elevator, undoubtedly to his office and the two blonds were left alone.

"Shall we Instructor?" he loved calling her that simply because she hated it so much. It wasn't what he said, but how he said it with such an audacity to it.

"So your first field test, bravo Almasy who would have ever thought you'd get this far," she began walking to the parking lot with Seifer on her heels.

"And just what, pray tell do you mean by that?" she had hit a nerve and it was obvious.

"You were never what one would call an…Exemplary student," a small smile played on her lips.

"You were never an exemplary instructor either," he had regretted the words the moment they escaped his mouth. In front of him Quistis stopped and turn back to face him, smile gone.

"I was going to say that you were never exemplary, but you were the most talented," with that she entered the car. He hadn't even noticed that they had really arrived at the parking lot. Seifer couldn't help but feel a little tinge of guilt at his words…These words made the car ride a silent one.

Soon enough they were on the dock of Balamb and talking to one of the SeeD sailors who would be taking them up north.

"Shumi eh? Yeah never heard of it before, but I got the coordinates so we should be all good, won't take to long either so just sit back and enjoy the ride," he was a gruff fellow by the name of Jeff Davies…Something about the name Davies always annoyed Quistis, it just seemed so…Weird.

The two entered the ship and sat in silence foe the longest time, across from each other. Every now and then they would steal uncomfortable glances at the other, trying to think of something to say.

"Listen Instructor…About what I said before—"

"Don't…Its okay…I mean I understand that you're stressed out and nervous…Are you nervous?"

"Well…Nah…I figure that I'm good, I know I'm good…You don't train for years on end without getting somewhere. As long as my mind or mouth doesn't screw it up I should be fine," he gave a little shrug and started to absentmindedly play with his gunblade. She wasn't exactly sure why, but his comment made her smile.

"That could be a challenge," she gave little teasing laugh.

"Har, har, har you just keep on talking but we'll see who's talking the talk when I outrank you."

"Oh, yeah RIGHT," her tone was sarcastic and yet amused.

Overhead the intercom beeped twice and Jeff's voice came with it.

"Alright kiddies, we're here…Gotta love these new speedy ships eh? Over and out," it beeped twice again.

"Damn that was fast," Seifer was now looking a little nervous. If you were an ordinary person on the street you wouldn't be able to tell, but to Quistis it was obvious. He looked more concentrated than she had ever seen him before, it was a little surprising truth be told.

"Alright, what now hmm?" part of the field test was making sure he would know what to do in a leadership position.

"Instructor, I am not a simpleton, we go talk to whoever runs this place," he swung his gunblade over his shoulder and made his way off the vessel with Quistis following him.

"Its just routine," she pushed back her golden bangs behind her ears. He was walking quickly through the snow. "Hey wait up! Do you even know where you're going?"

"Again, not a simpleton," he pulled out a map.

"Ah…" she continued to follow him, cursing herself for not wearing a coat, she had forgotten just how cold it could get up here…Yeah snow will do that to you.

The two continued walking for about an hour, both concentrating on not losing their footing in the slippery snow. The could now see the compound that was the Shumi Village, at least the top level anyway.

"Hey Quistis," Seifer stopped yelled behind him.

"Yeah?" she asked as she caught up.

"Is it just me or is it a little unusual that we didn't run into any monsters at all on our way here?" he was looked directly at the village, not taking his eyes off of it.

"Now that you mention it…That does seem a little disconcerting…It feels weird up here…Do you feel it?" she was looking around now, on edge.

"Like something isn't quite--"

"Right," she finished his sentence for him, "lets just get this over with," much to her surprise he didn't say anything, just nodded and proceeded to the compound.

Once they entered, they saw just what the big fuss was all about; the place looked torn apart by a tornado. Rocks were crushed into pieces and the elevator doors looked like they had been scratched the hell out of. The smell of old blood stained the walls, but there was no trace…

"What could do this?" she whispered as if the thing would hear here, as if it were watching her at this very moment.

"Whatever it is, we're gonna kill it," he stepped into the elevator where the automated greeting hologram popped up. Both of them sat down and waited while they descended.

"Ow shit!" Seifer swore.

"What!"

"My god damn ears popped," he stretched out his jaw attempting to pop them back.

"Geez don't scare me like that!"

"Oh was the Instructor worried about me?" the oh so famous smirk returned again.

"Seifer, remind me to kick your ass later."

"Will do teach."

They finally reached the bottom of the shaft and the doors opened. This was a much different sight from the ground level. Birds were singing and oddly enough the sun was shining even though they were presumably underground. There was no sign of panic or horror here, just peace and tranquility.

Quite quickly a man…err…thing…err…Shumi tribe member rushed towards then looking quite stressed out.

"SeeDs! Oh thank goodness!" he bowed in a grateful manner.

"Umm yeah, listen can we talk to your leader, you know figure out what you want to do and all that," Seifer wasn't used to being bowed down to like that, sure he was used to MAKING people bow down, but this was just a little bizarre.

"Oh no, he cannot be disturbed right now…There is a death service going on right now, very sacred, in fact I can't believe I'm missing it," the aid explained.

"Well we're very sorry to keep you but understand we are on a mission," Quistis was a saint, Seifer already felt like punching this guy.

"Yes, yes of course and we're very grateful you've come all this way. I have been instructed to tell you that the monster in question supposedly lives in a cave about ten minutes south east of here. Its been horrible, people cant come or go outside anymore, not that they would want to, but we cant have our home guarded anymore either," his face looked grave.

"So we'll go and kill this thing for ya and then you can do whatever the hell you want, okay? Okay," with that Seifer turned on his heel and reborded the elevator, followed by Quistis who had to apologize.

"Seifer that was very rude…" she folded her arms and sat down. Seifer sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I just want to get this over with, fast, easy, simple."

"Are you alright?" this wasn't like him at all.

"Peachy."

"You should try to be a little more polite, it's how we keep our clients," she crossed her legs and gave him a hard look.

"Yes, as opposed to that other sorta military group, hmm right," sarcasm dripped off of his words.

"I'm just trying to help."

"Save it for someone who needs it," he looked away from her, thoroughly annoyed. Finally the doors opened again and the two exited the structure and went out into the snow. "Let's see, south east is…That way."

"Remind me never to move anywhere with snow," Quistis was trying to lighten the mood. In all honesty she could understand his mood swing, something just felt so…Out of place and it was bugging her now too.

"Shh I hear something," he pointed towards a cave. You could actually barely make it out, in fact if they weren't trained then they would have never seen it. The sound was also barely audible…It sounded almost like breathing…

Without a word they carefully approached the cave that was places just around where the snow broke up into icy waters on either side of them. There was a light coming from the inside, the dancing light of a fire.

"So what's your plan?" Quistis whispered into the ear of the focused Seifer.

"Well this is what I figure, this thing is—" however he couldn't finish, both of them were thrown back by some massive force. They landed harshly on the cold snow, Quistis found her glasses had been thrown askew.

For a moment both of them were a little stunned and struggled to regain their composure. The instant they did however, they deeply regretted it because they saw what they were up against…

"What the fuck is that!" Seifer jumped to his feat as fast as he could. Indeed, what the fuck was that?

It appeared to be some kind of Dragon…Only it wasn't like any dragon they had ever seen, it was more…Human? It reminded Quistis of Diablos, the devilish GF, but still had the features of a human. This creature was quite large and had shiny red scales and sea green scales all over its man like body except for it's wings; they were pitch black with red crosses on them. It had long talons where his fingers should be.

"How did it know we were here?" Quistis asked more to herself than to Seifer.

"Idiots…You can feel my presence thus I can feel yours," the thing laughed and flew a few feet off the ground, "pity for you."

"Why are talking monsters always so cocky?" Seifer got into fighting stance, ready to charge when he was stopped by Quistis's voice.

"Wait!" she shouted. "Look at its talons…" it had caught her eye, a liquid glinted at her from the sun, it was green and acidic. "Poison, be careful"

"I'm always careful," with that he cast double on himself, it was the only one he had, and proceeded to cast protect on both of them.

"Let's do this Seifer, together!" he nodded and watched her take out her Save the Queen.

She charged at the monster fearlessly, dodging its swipes, and let her whip crack through the morning air. She had somehow maneuvered it to wrap around both of the things hands, cutting into them and drawing blood, thick green blood.

Seifer knew this was his cue, he didn't have too much time, this thing was damn strong and Quistis couldn't keep a hold of him for long. He ran towards the monster, his trusty Hyperion thirsty for blood, thirsty for the victory of a knight. The blade found his way to the monsters shoulder, but it was like metal on metal. The thick scales protected this thing, but the gunblade was still able to cut into him enough to do damage….Except it got stuck…Not a good thing to happen while in battle, not a good thing at all.

The monster saw the fear in Seifer's face and laughed, knowing that he could counter now. In desperation the SeeD cadet fired as many rounds as he could into the beast, causing a loud cry to erupt from it. Finally it was able to escape Quistis, hitting her hard across the face leaving a deep cut and sending her flying, all the while Seifer was trying to retrieve his gunblade from the monster's body.

The dragon beast grabbed him by the throat and lifted him three feet into the air, poison smelling claws stinging his eyes and nostrils. Was it just his imagination or was this thing toying with him? Making his "victory" long and drawn out, or else he would have just snapped his neck like a twig. This fiend's ego was much to Seifer's benefit because it gave him time to do the only thing he could think of…

Hell Fire. Ifrit came down upon the beast with fury in his eyes, angry at his position. Seifer knew that he would suffer from this too, being in the line of fire so to speak, but it was the only way to get free. He had fire junctioned so the damage should be minimal…He hoped.

The blaze blinded his eyes for a moment, and ate at his skin, but not too terribly. If there was one thing you could say about Seifer Almasy it was that he was a lucky bastard. The monster released him and was sent down to the earth, greatly damaged by the fire GF…There was a reason this thing lived in the snow after all.

"Not so tough now are you huh!" Seifer shouted as he slowly got back to his feat. He could see Quistis slowly getting back up from when she was knocked down, she must have been unconscious for a moment.

"Fools…You haven't seen power…You haven't seen it just like you can't see time…" he gave a loud cry and lunged towards Seifer in a final desperation move. Except he didn't have the power to crush him or tear at him…So he threw the knight…Not far, but far enough to crash through thin ice and into the iciest of waters.

"Seifer!"

"You haven't seen the last of me…you haven't seen…." With that the monster disappeared in a flash of light that knocked Quistis down again, but only for a moment. She picked herself back up and ran to the ice where Seifer had fallen. He was flailing in the water, which would be a comical sight if it weren't such bad circumstances

"Seifer grab my hand!" she reached out to her student and gripped his hand for all it was worth. Damn he was heavy! It took her longer than she thought to drag him out of there, but she did and dragged him away from the thin ice.

Quistis pulled out a small communicator from her belt and pressed a button.

"Jeff! I need a transport here ASAP! Code four eight, I repeat code four eight, I'm putting in the coordinates," it was times like these she thanked god those big ships had room for small transports.

"Alright chief I'll be there in five minutes guaranteed!"

"Shit, Seifer can you say something?" he was shivering too badly to reply, the cold coursing through his body and slowing the blood flow. Damn, he was going to catch hypothermia…Quistis was a full fledged SeeD and an Instructor, she had taken survival courses and knew what to do in these circumstances, she just hoped he'd let her live it down.

She removed her gloves and with a sigh of frustration she grabbed his shirt and tore it down the middle. Then she proceeded to quickly take her own shirt off revealing a black lacey bra, which in any other circumstances he would have loved, but at this moment he was just confused as hell. Quistis lay down on top of him, bare body pressing against his. She grimaced at the cold skin, her cheek pressed against his.

"If you don't get heat to your body then you'll catch hypothermia and die, and that will NOT happen!" it would be so much easier if there was a piece of wood close by or anything she could use fire on…Oh wait she was the smart one who didn't have any fire magic on her, IN A FREAKING SNOW RIDDEN PLACE. Smart Quistis, reeeeal smart.

His breath made misty ghosts in the air, tickling her nearby ear with a momentary heat. Now, Quistis knew what a bad situation this was, but when you're laying on top of a man for a good five to ten minutes, you really can't help but think about the position you're in. Hell, this was the closest she got to a guy in an incredibly long time, and come on, it wasn't like Seifer Almasy wasn't nice to look at…She could feel his muscles touching her bare stomach, being warmed a little bit by each other.

This was a life and death situation in a way and the mind starts to work overtime, but the problem with the brain moving fast is that it doesn't always tell you logical things. It makes memories rush back to you and feelings change into something, well unexpected, something that may or may not have been there before, but was definitely there now.

Quistis sat up a little bit so that she could look Seifer in the eyes, her face not even an inch away. He looked calm for the most part, but those emerald green eyes had a tone on confusion in them…The brain always plays tricks on you.

Without thinking, Quistis broke the separation between them and kissed his cold, icy lips, but she wouldn't have noticed; it was like fire, a spark, something that she never would have expected. She wasn't quite sure why she did it…Something just compelled her to kiss him…And she liked it.

"Ahem," they were so busy in their actions that they hadn't even noticed the arrival of Jeff in his mini transport. Immediately Quistis jumped off of Seifer, and despite the cold she blushed furiously. It was then she realized that her shirt was also thrown askew which made her blush even deeper. She got it on faster than you could say SeeD and continued to help Seifer to his feat. His joints were compelling him not to move at all, it was like he was frozen from the inside out. That monster must have done something more that thrown him into that damn water because he felt like he was hit by a freaking truck.

"Umm…Jeff, you've taken the survival courses, and you know that body heat is the only way to protect a person from hypothermia in this kind of situation," she struggled under Seifer's weight.

"Yeah I know that Chief, I just never heard of no kissing being a part of that technique," he gave a smirk before taking Seifer off her hands and helping him into the transport.

Quistis felt like an idiot, imagine what this would do for her reputation! Something caught her attention though, something glimmering in the snow a few feat away…Hyperion...He wouldn't want to lose that…She went over and grabbed it before also jumping in the back of the surprisingly warm vehicle.

She sat down and saw Seifer gulping down a Hi-Potion, and the look of grimace on his face made her want to laugh. Those things never did taste too great, but at least they made you feel a little better. He shook his hand through his hair, getting ice particles out of it all. It was a cute thing to do…God cute? What was she thinking? This was Seifer for crying out loud! Her student no less…

"Feeling better?" she handed him his Hyperion.

"Thanks," he took the weapon and practically threw it on the seat next to him. It was almost like he was angry at the gunblade; Quistis always had a sneaking suspicion that he thought that Hyperion was more of an entity, a thinking, feeling thing than an inanimate object, and today it had failed him.

He suddenly gave her an odd look, a frown…A deeper frown than before that is.

"You're bleeding," he nodded towards the cut on her head. She had almost completely forgot about it. The funny thing about injuries is that they start hurting like hell once you're reminded of them. She put her hand to her head and felt the hot liquid.

"Oh, its nothing."

"Don't go being so stupid and wannabe brave," he quickly took a seat next to her and tore off a piece of his already torn shirt. "Considering somebody had to go and ruin this shirt anyway…" he gently placed the wet piece of cloth to her forehead, cleaning the wound.

"Hey I only did that to save you're life…You don't have to—"

"Just shut up and let somebody help you for a change," he was trying with all his might not to look her in the eyes…Because he knew that she was looking into his. If he didn't look down then he wouldn't have to face what happened; if he kept himself focused then he it was like the whole thing never happened…But it had…And though he was kind of frozen at the moment, he didn't object…Just don't look her in the eyes…

Damn.

This time, he kissed her.

Heehee, tell me what you think! I know this was kinda long but I was on a roll so I just went with it…I like it personally, but I would love to hear what you guys think!