Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VIII or its beautiful characters .. but I will one day ! x) It all belongs to SquareSoft. :salutes: -.-;;

Balamb Garden Amazing Race

Chapter Three ll Water's Always Clearer On The Other Side

"Here fishy, fishy... swim to the little worm... come closer to me..." Seifer Almasy was murmuring tunelessly as he stared into the clear, shallow water of Balamb harbour, his body slumped as he sat on the pier.

It was a golden, sunny day in the peaceful town of Balamb. Elderly couples tottered down the rickety, narrow streets, enjoying a stroll when the sun shone its brightest, and there was a beautiful, melodic lull over the town as its inhabitants went about their daily routine.

Out in the harbour square, more specifically at the end where a single platform jutted out over the ocean, however, was a young man in a grey trench coat, sitting with his chin in his hand and dully dangling a fishing rod into the water. He looked as though he found the process was rather tedious. He looked bored.

In a trice he was on his feet and all action was back into him as he yelled at the non-existent sea creatures below.

"HURRY UP, YOU STUPID FISH! DON'T MAKE ME COME DOWN THERE."

Standing behind him, Quistis put a hand to her forehead and said in a would-be consoling voice, "Seifer, calm down. The fish will come."

"Will come? Will come?" he yelped, "We've been here for the past half an hour!"

"Well, maybe you're doing something wrong," Quistis suggested slightly tensely.

"You do it then," Seifer growled, thrusting the fishing rod to the blonde, "I'm getting a drink."

"What? But I've never - " Quistis stared after him hopelessly as he stalked to the chain of restaurants along Balamb's harbour, " - been fishing before," she finished off with a sigh.

It was just her luck that Seifer, the problematic boy, just had to be on her team. The way he acted at times, she really found it hard to believe he was older than her.

"Ooooh, yeah!" Zell was yelling from across the harbour, waving his rod victoriously. Quistis' hopes were dashed when she saw him holding a plump orange fish he and Shizuka had just hauled up.

There goes our leading position.

With this depressing thought in mind, Quistis sat on the side, letting her legs dangle off above the water, and waited for the fish that didn't seem likely to ever come.

"I didn't know you could fish," Shizuka commented in a slightly awed voice as Zell enthusiastically dropped their third and final fish into their bucket.

"Ooh, yeah! Back at the orphanage we somehow came up with a way to catch some at the beach. I always caught the biggest ones," he said proudly, lugging the bucket up, "Selphie came second. Seifer was the worst. He was always angry about that."

Shizuka smiled at his thoughtful look, "It's amazing you've all kept in touch with each other. I barely even remember my childhood friends."

For some reason, Zell felt a bit guilty at this comment. Scratching the back of his head with his free hand, he said hesitantly, "Well... Lady Luck has been on our side a lot. It's a long story, but it's not thanks to our efforts we're still together."

"You've got to tell me that story sometime."

"I will," Zell promised sheepishly.

With a content and gentle smile, Shizuka took out her digital camera, a playful twinkle in her chocolate brown eyes.

"Alright, Zell, smile!"

"Wha - ?"

Snap.

"Hey!" the spiky blonde said rather indignantly, as she laughed and showed him the abrupt photo, "I wasn't ready for that."

The brunette grinned at him but before she could reply there was an unexpected, piercing cry from the other side of the harbour. Both of them immediately looked over to see Quistis on her feet, hunched over slightly and tugging fruitlessly on her quivering fishing rod.

"Seifer!" she was yelling, wobbling dangerously as though about to fall headfirst into the water, "Seifer, get out here this instant!"

"Um - should we help her?" Shizuka asked quizzically, staring as Quistis continued to struggle and shout fearfully for a certain blond-haired man. Zell, on the other hand, tore his eyes away and jumped in front of her suddenly, blocking her view.

"Nope!" he said hastily, "This is our chance to beat them! What's the next challenge?"

Taken-aback and with one last look of concern at the struggling instructor, Shizuka took out their manilla envelope. Zell friskily hopped about on the spot, still carrying the bucket with his rod slung over his shoulders.

B.G. Amazing Race
Challenge
3. Get a Dino Bone. Have someone identify it for you.

Shizuka grew pale.

"Dino Bone... don't we have to fight a T-Rexaur for that?" she said tentatively, lowering the pink challenge and turning to Zell with a look of worry on her face. The excited martial arts expert had froze on the spot.

"Ahh... yeah..." Zell suddenly pounded his fist into his own thigh, making her eyes widen, "That's so unfair! All the other groups have both people in combat, but you could get seriously hurt!"

A shy smile graced Shizuka's face as his turned a faint pink.

"Ah - that is to say - it's totally unbalanced - uh - let's just skip this challenge - " Zell fumbled uselessly, his face growing steadily red which contrasted sharply with his blonde hair.

"Hey, don't worry about me," Shizuka said complacently, and she took out a four-pointed, oversized boomerang which at first glance looked rather imposing.

"You have a shuriken?" he said in disbelief, his jaw almost dropping open.

She smiled at his awestruck expression, "I may not be as skilled as you and the other SeeDs are... but I went to Garden too, and I know how to take care of myself." As if to prove her point, she flicked the shuriken up and swiftly caught it again.

Whoa... sweet, smart and strong... who says girls don't come in whole packages?

"...Right," Zell said lamely, trying to overcome his shock, "Let's go find that T-Rexaur then, huh?"

And so the pink team set off to their third challenge, their bandanas flying in the gentle breeze as they ran out of Balamb. Several people paused to stare after these funny Garden students spouting coloured bandanas.

As they left, Seifer emerged from a nearby restaurant, carrying two drinks.

"SEIFER ALMASY!"

It came quite as a shock to him to hear his instructor's usually composed voice to be screeching in such desperation and... anger. Blinking, Seifer looked over to behold Quistis yanking at their fishing rod with all her strength, her look of fury directed at him.

"Oh, Hyne..." he muttered, "I'M COMING, QUISTY!" He broke into a run and had just reached the pier when Quistis gave a stupendous tug and stumbled back as an overly large fish flew up and out of the water.

"AH!"

"Hey, I got you - argh!"

Quistis crashed into Seifer during his attempt to be "noble" and catch her before she fell back onto the ground, but he lost his balance at her sudden impact and they both went tumbling backwards.

She immediately climbed off him, dragging the suffering fish along with her, and hit him in the chest.

"OW!" he howled.

"Why leave for?" she raged, "We're supposed to be a team, but you just had to go and be a selfish prick and buy a stupid drink! And now look what happened!"

"What?" Seifer half-groaned, sitting back up, "You - you caught one, didn't you? See?" and then, "Geezalou, it's huge."

Quistis glared daggers at him, then turned around abruptly and dumped the heavy fish into their plastic bucket. Sensing that she was still upset, Seifer jumped up and held onto her arm.

"Let go of me."

"Hey, don't be mad," he said seriously, turning her around so that she was facing him. He was taller than her by a fair amount and she refused to meet his eyes as he spoke, "C'mon, Quisty - "

"Don't call me that."

" - Quistis. I was just taking a break," Seifer said a bit hopelessly, feeling like a moron. He added in a frustrated tone when she still did not reply, "Why are you so angry, anyway? I mean, it all came out for the better, didn't it?"

Quistis responded by grabbing the red bandana on his arm and yanking on it, hard, so that it came undone.

"You see this?" she demanded, holding it out in front of his face, "What is it?"

"Um," Seifer replied, feeling rather wrong-footed, "A piece of red material that the messenger girl calls a bandana?"

"No," she snapped, her blue eyes narrowed and resentful, like a teacher lecturing a student. She waved the bandana before holding it still in front of his eyes, "This is a symbol of our partnership, our teamwork, and a promise between two people that they will stick together and help each other out."

"No it's not, it's an old tablecloth - "

"This is why you keep failing your exams, Seifer!" Quistis burst out, "You think you're always right!"

"Hey, that's not true," he said reproachfully as she turned away.

"Yeah, and I'm a chocobo."

Figuring that she must be pretty upset to say something like that, Seifer grabbed onto her arm again, forcing her to turn back to him. As she was pulled towards him, he took his red bandana from her hand.

"What are you doing?" she said in an annoyed voice, "We have more fish to catch."

Seifer held his bandana in front of her, making her frown at him. Was he mocking her? Because if he was... Quistis stiffened slightly under his grip, ready to unleash another hit if need be.

"A symbol of our promise, right?" he repeated seriously, his green eyes fixed upon her in a very solemn manner, "You're right. I won't leave again. We're a team, after all."

Quistis just stared at him, a little taken-aback by his earnest look and words. He had never been this serious before. It was a little disconcerting. She gently chewed on her bottom lip.

"From now on, I'll keep the promise," Seifer extended his arm and held the bandana out to her, "Once you tie it back on, I'm bound by it. How about that?" he gave her a goofy, lopsided grin that looked both ridiculous and boyish on his usually cool face.

Quistis was speechless for a second, her heat beating a quick, queer yet pleasant rhythm. Then rolling her eyes, she snatched the bandana and began to tie it back on again.

"Fine, fine. I forgive you, you melodramatic jerk..."

Once she was done, a grinning Seifer dragged her closer towards him and put an arm around her, making her yelp and push him away in vain.

"How about that partnership then, eh?" he said with a wink, making Quistis blush and wish she had chosen her words more carefully, "Long or short term?"

"Depends on how quickly we're going to catch our next two fish," she said wisely.

Seifer immediately released her and picked up the forgotten fishing rod, "Did I ever tell you I'm the king of fishing?" He hooked a worm at the end and threw it into the water as if a pro.

"Oh, really?" Quistis smirked, coming up next to him, "Because I distinctly remember you crying when Zell pulled in the biggest perch."

Seifer scowled, "I was not crying!" Then his affronted expression changed to a one of joy as the line shook, "Hey, I've got another one - I mean, we've got another one. Reckon Hyne's with us now since we renewed our promise?" he wondered jovially.

"He might be," Quistis said airily, "Or maybe you just used a worm this time."

A/N: Yaay, third chapter. xD I was kinda stuck on this one. I had no idea what to write. Anywho, thanks for reading and reviewing! Aren't the couples sooo cute? Hehe. Oh, by the way, the second challenge was just to catch three fish. Sounds simple, but not for Seifer and Quistis hahaha. And a shiruken is a boomerang-like weapon. If you know FF7, it's Yuffie's one. I watched Advent Children the other day! xD It was so sweet. Anyway .. I shall stop my rambling now. Hope you enjoyed reading. (big smile) - msq.