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 Eight ll Little Day Out
"WAKE UP!"
Quistis groaned and blearily lifted her head. It was much too early to be woken up. Much too early... They hadn't gotten to sleep until like two o'clock in the morning. Beside her, Selphie was mumbling.
"Light... is cruel..."
"C'mon, big people, wake up!" an impatient voice commanded. As the sleep cleared from her head, Quistis noticed that there were two little girls standing in the room, one of them jumping on their mattress.
"Oh, hello," she said blankly.
"Ellie told us to wake yoo!" the jumping one insisted earnestly.
Feeling distinctly more awake, Quistis smiled warmly and said, "My name's Quistis. You can call me Quisty, I suppose. What are your names?"
"Cathy!" the little blonde one answered.
"Aerith," the girl with a long brown braid replied cheerfully, formally sticking out her hand, "I am four and three-quarters years old and I like the colour pink, flowers and ribbons."
Quistis chuckled as she shook her hand, "Very nice to meet you, Aerith. You too, Cathy."
There was a loud thump in the next room and the unmistakable yelp of Zell, succeeded by the other guys all yelling in alarm.
Rinoa lifted her head groggily from the mess of blankets and clothes, "Wazzat Zell?"
"Yup..."
Half an hour later, once everybody was dressed and had breakfasted quickly, the nine children and eight teenagers were putting on their name tags, the older ones assisting the younger ones, and Ellone and Noah overlooking it all.
"This is stupid, everyone knows who I am," Seifer mumbled crossly, then suddenly flung out his arm to stop a dark-haired boy run into him, "Oi, watch it!"
"Seifer, don't be so cruel."
"But they're so small..."
"Guys!" Noah was calling for everybody's attention. They were all standing in the children's playroom, which had doors leading off to the kitchen, dining room, bedrooms and outdoors. "Zack, stop pulling Aerith's hair. Alright, everybody! Today's the big day we told you about. We're going to have fun!" he grinned as the kids exchanged looks of sceptism and glee, "Follow me to collect your necklaces while Elle talks to the big kids..."
They trotted after Noah obediently while Ellone addressed the teenagers. She smiled frankly at their lack of energy as they sat like grey lumps staring up at her.
"C'mon, show some spirit," Ellone said bracingly, "Today's challenge will be a nice, relaxing one. Well, I think so, since you'll be staying at the orphanage the whole day."
"Oh, good, I don't want to walk anymore..." Rinoa breathed, relieved. She leant her head back on Squall's shoulder, who was looking equally tired.
Smiling mysteriously, Ellone walked forward and handed one member on every team a white envelope, "Here is today's challenge."
Seifer placed his chin on Quistis' shoulder to read their envelope.
You will be allocated a group of children. Take care of them for the whole day as you are given additional tasks that you must complete with them. Bonus points if they're happy by the end of the day; deductions if they are unsatisfied.
"Baby-sitting?"
"Hyne... children..."
"A nice, relaxing day, huh?"
Ellone chortled at the boys' reactions, as she had expected no better. Taking the envelopes back she said, "Yup, you're all baby-sitters for the day. You'll pass the challenge if they're safe and happy after being in your care. Oh, here they come back now!"
Seifer lifted his gaze to the little monsters he must resign his fate to. They were all sporting homemade necklaces that had been made out of pasta and then coated in paint. With a grin Ellone explained, "Children, find your baby-sitters. Look for your colour!"
Squall immediately looked at his bandana, then turned fearsomely to three kids that were wearing blue pasta-necklaces.
"Hey," he said, confused, "Why do we have three of them when the others only have two?" Indeed all the other teams only had a pair of charges for the day.
"Oh, right," Ellone said casually, hiding a smile, "There are nine children, so we decided you and Rinoa would be capable of taking care of an extra child. We separated Tidus and Zack for you... and look, you have Aerith. She's very helpful."
The little girl with a pink ribbon in her hair trotted up blithely, holding the hand of the small Cathy.
Meanwhile, Zell was staring in plain horror at his charge.
"HUAH!" Tidus yelled, flinging his arm out and marginally missing Zell's knee, "Hey! You're the crybaby."
Zell groaned, and as he did the other dark-haired boy named Vincent commented in an unnaturally blunt voice, "You sound like a lion."
"You have girl's hair!" Yuffie was exclaiming in her loud, high-pitched to Irvine. Selphie giggled, then bent down to say hi to the brown-haired girl who had wandered up shyly, wearing a yellow-painted pasta-necklace.
Reno and Rufus, two goofy and cheeky-faced boys, were running in frenzied circles around a frazzled Seifer and Quistis; she attempting to stop them while he stared on, almost stunned.
"Quick, pass me some sleeping pills!"
Quistis shot him a glare, "You can't just drug them!"
Seifer screwed up his eyes as they started emitting unintelligible yelling, "Who says we can't? Oh for Hyne's - alright, you grab that one - I'll take this one - STOP MOVING!"
He had grabbed onto the collar of the blonde-haired boy while Quistis held tightly onto the arm of the redhead.
"Right, let's get a few things straight - Rufus - Reno," Seifer breathed heavily, reading their nametags as they looked up at him with wide eyes, "You will address me and Quistis as sir and ma'am at all times. Got it?" he asked forcefully, ignoring her "you-can't-do-that" look.
"Yes, ma'am!" they shouted, with muffled giggles at their wittiness.
Near them, Zell chuckled. It was short-lived, though, when a bored Tidus stamped hard on his foot and he leapt up, howling.
"What was that for?" he yelped through clenched teeth, hopping on the spot. Shizuka smothered a smile while the blonde boy with unruly hair grinned innocently, "I swear, that twerp's got something against me, he jumped on me this morning while I was sleeping..."
The ruckus carried on until Ellone and Noah led the pink, blue, yellow and red teams with their little additional members out down to the beach, and even then the babble didn't stop.
"WALLA, WALLA, WALLA! BANG, BANG, BANG! WE ARE THE KIDS FROM THE RED HOUSE GANG!" Reno and Rufus were screaming a chant Seifer had already taught them.
"We're gonna beat yoo, we're gonna beat yoo!" Yuffie was patronising Vincent and Tidus, while hanging safely onto Selphie's hand.
"Are not!"
"ZA-A-ACK!" Aerith screamed, running away from her fellow teammate who was pursuing her wickedly, "Don't pull my hair!"
"Pig-tail, pink-tail!"
"Stop saying that," Squall said awkwardly, prying Aerith and Zack apart carefully in case they bit him (children were so adept to do that), "Hey, you two, knock it off."
"You look like Batman!" the dark-haired boy exclaimed, staring at Squall.
"What?" Squall spluttered, quite shocked, "I do not!"
"KIDS! OLDER KIDS!" Noah had to holler to make himself heard over the noise, "...Hey, be nice to your baby-sitters. You want them to like you, don't you? This morning they'll be taking you for an exploring trip up in the forest," here the cluster of orphans let out a collective gasp, "And make sure you listen to them and behave!"
Turning to the baby-sitters Noah explained hastily, "Just let them have some fun in the forest, but keep an eye on them. They've wanted to visit for ages but there's just too many of them when there's only Elle and me. Oh, and if you could teach them some stuff about the wildlife and plants," he added gratefully.
They all stared at him in disbelief.
"Hey, you're SeeDs! You're supposed to know everything," Noah said defensively.
"I'm not," Rinoa, Irvine, Shizuka and Seifer chorused, raising their hands.
"Yeah, we're not!" the kids all joined in raptly, then dissolved in giggles. Ellone smiled impishly and shook her head at their easily amused minds.
"C'mon! Let's go!" Yuffie cried impatiently and several others went, "Yeah!" in agreement.
"We'll see you all in three hours," Ellone said quickly, "And take care not to get lost! Kids, stick with your leaders and behave. This especially means you; Zack, Tidus."
She and Noah watched interestedly as they all went off noisily in their groups, their bandanas and necklaces vividly bobbing away into the thick green trees. It was a funny sight. Between Selphie and Irvine were Yuffie and Yuna, the four of them forming a chain by holding hands and effectively blocking the way of the pink team, who were trying to sprint past, Tidus and Vincent leading. Rinoa was standing in between Aerith and Zack to keep them separate, but Zack kept darting around to yank hard on Aerith's braid. Cathy did not want to enter the "big bad forest" and was wailing as she hugged Squall's leg, making it difficult to walk. Seifer and Quistis were steadfastly ignoring Reno and Rufus as they continued to zoom around them in circles, chanting, "Yes ma'am, yes ma'am, yes ma'am!"
The noise slowly died away as they entreated further into the forest. Finally, there was no sign of them left.
"Do you think they'll be alright?" Noah asked with some concern, still looking at the spot where they had all disappeared.
Ellone had a few misgivings herself, but had faith that her own orphanage gang would do their best in taking care of the little ones.
"Let's hope so."
"Quisty..."
"What?"
"Kill me."
Quistis rolled her eyes but they betrayed impatience as well while the little boys incessantly questioned every single living thing in the forest, rounding this off with a gleeful, "Ma'am!" They'd been walking for an hour already. The boys were happy. Their baby-sitters not exactly.
"If you don't... I might not be able to control myself," Seifer muttered in a hoarse voice.
"From doing what?" she asked uneasily.
He appeared to be thinking of a threat with some difficulty, "From... not... giving them dessert tonight. ARGH!" He threw his hands up to his face, "Is that the best thing I can come up with?"
Quistis couldn't help smiling, "So you do have a soft spot."
"Of course I do. I have one for you, don't I?" he asked unabashedly, while Reno pulled hard on his sleeve, "What you - sweet little child of mine."
"YOU'RE NOT MY FATHER!" Reno screamed, his expression now one of terror.
"He's a woman," Rufus input with a grin. He and Reno were the same height, but instead of bright red hair he had a sandy blonde head and a face less chubby and more defined and chiselled out. He looked like a young Seifer.
"I am not. You take that back at once!"
"Yes, ma'am."
Reno cracked up laughing, forgetting Seifer's awful implication at once. He and Rufus started running around like Red Indians, making warrior noises as they went tearing up ahead the bracken and ferns.
"OI! COME BACK... you little runts..." Seifer trailed off with a frustrated sigh. He turned tiresomely to Quistis, "Make them come back. Where on earth is your motherly instinct?"
"I never said I was going to be a mother," she said loftily.
"Well, you are when we get married," he told her as casually as though they were discussing the weather, resuming their slow-pace walk.
Quistis froze in mid-step, "When we - when we - when we get married?"
"Yeah," he replied oddly, as though he didn't understand why she was so surprised, "Why are you looking so shocked for? Just because I haven't asked you yet - "
" - and that we've never been near enough to even consider anything beyond a forced team," she added sarcastically.
"The other night, you slept next to me."
"In a separate bed!" Quistis exclaimed indignantly.
"We had a romantic dinner by candlelight," Seifer continued with no sign of hearing her.
"Oh yes, because tempura is so romantic."
"Let's include it at our wedding reception."
"We're not getting married, Seifer!"
"You keep saying that..."
Rolling her eyes, Quistis put her hands to her mouth and called for the boys to wait. Miraculously they came stampeding back again, gigantic grins still glued onto their faces. She smiled indulgently at their constant liveliness, at the same time wondering how they did it.
"Ma'am, ma'am!" they shrieked, tugging at her skirt and immediately making her feel dizzy. Somehow, she got the impression they were doing this on purpose to annoy them.
"MA'AM, MA'AM!"
Seifer gritted his teeth, then burst out temperamentally, "You two, be quiet!"
That effectively shut them up. Rendered mute, Reno and Rufus stared up at him with wide eyes, frozen in place and still holding a bit of Quistis' skirt.
"Um, yeah," Seifer stammered, unsure what to say now that he had succeeded in quieting them, "Right... so, what do guys wanna be when you grow up?"
"A painter!"
"An astronaut!"
"No you don't, you want to be soldiers," Seifer told them swiftly, paying no heed to their confused faces, "And do you know what soldiers have to be?"
They shook their heads, staring up at him almost appraisingly.
"Quiet!" he said sternly, "They are silent, orderly men who don't shriek like girls and run around in circles. And now I'm going to teach you how to be soldiers. Stand up straight!" he suddenly barked so that they both scrambled up, erect figures. Quistis watched in amusement as he paced around them with a scrutinising gaze.
"Good... you will stand like this whenever Quisty or I call you."
"Ma'am, yes, ma'am!" they saluted him.
Ergh... good enough.
"And from now on, you will march! Now, forward - left - march," Seifer commanded, pointing forwards, and to his utter amazement his little soldiers marched off obediently, swinging their short arms proudly and stamping their feet hard on the dirt ground, chanting loudly, "Left right left, left, left right left!"
Quistis joined Seifer and they looked after their two boys.
"You weren't bad with them," she said fairly as he crumpled in relief and they followed them in a more relaxed walk.
He glanced at her sideways, "One of us has to be," he said smugly, taking her hand in his and pulling her along.
An hour before midday the explorers trooped back to the beach, where Ellone and Noah were waiting.
Zell came running out of the forest, Tidus and Vincent hanging off either of his strong arms, and they were both beaming as he swung them forward onto the sand. When they let go they sprang forward to join in hitting Squall gleefully, who for some reason was being chased by Rinoa, Shizuka, Aerith, Zack and Cathy, pelting conkers at him heartily.
"He - err - accidentally made a sexist remark," Zell smirked at Ellone's question, "Rin and Zee took offence. The little ones joined in because it looked fun."
Irvine took awhile to drag himself out of the forest, as he had Selphie and Yuna on his back, and Yuffie clinging onto his leg.
"Faster, faster, horsey!"
"They sure spoil them," Noah remarked uneasily, "I hope the kids don't expect me to piggy-back and dangle them off my arms after this..."
Bringing up the rear were the red team, Seifer proudly leading his small army, who were chanting their war cry again. Chuckling, he joined in boisterously.
The air was warm and smelt of vague salt, and the sky shone a brilliant blue, complimenting the yellow sand and smooth, rolling waves. While all the kids, little and big, sat on the soft, powdery surface, Ellone announced the next challenge to them.
"It's a sandcastle race!" she said brightly, "Whoever builds the highest sandcastle in the next hour gets the most points."
"Booyaka! Irvy and I always made the tallest ones!" Selphie cheered animatedly, punching a fist into the air.
"Yeah, that means we're gon' beat yoo!" Yuffie yelled happily, pointing a grubby finger at the closest person, which was a taken-aback Vincent. He looked faintly disgruntled.
"Winning's not everything," he said sensibly, staring at her with dark, serious eyes. The little girl with a tiny black ponytail looked shocked.
"Yeah it is!"
"Vince, c'mon!" Tidus called urgently, waving a yellow spade in the air, "Let's build a tre-e-ench!"
So on the fourth day of the Balamb Garden Amazing Race, the competitors spent the rest of the morning building sandcastles. This led out to an outbreak of foul play as the kids attempted to kick down each other's castle, while protecting their own. Shizuka was very amused to see that the boisterous and teasing Tidus had a more tender and gentle side, apparent when Yuna from the yellow team began tearing up when sand got into her eyes.
"Hey, everybody stop!" Irvine yelled in a panicked voice, "One of my teammates is down!"
"Everyone work faster!" Zell countered in good nature. The teams were all working at least five foot away to avoid sabotage, but close enough to hear and keep each other in sight.
"I can't see," Yuna whimpered, her eyes scrunched up tightly, pained tears sliding down her cheeks. Selphie hugged her but couldn't do anything else as her hands were covered in sand as well.
Yuffie looked stricken, "Yunie, do you wan' to go inside?" It was the mark of how much she cared for her friend that she didn't mind if their team was down a member in the sandcastle race.
"No, I wanna help build!"
"Here," Tidus had crept over cautiously, unnoticed by the yellow members, and was holding out a handkerchief. Yuna managed to blearily open one eye and peer through the tears to look at it. Selphie took it at once and began wiping her face.
Yuffie looked suspicious.
"Hey, why are you bein' so nice?" she demanded of Tidus, who blushed. At that moment, however, Zell lifted his head and yelled, "Oi, Tidus! Stop messing with the enemy team!"
"Aye, aye, sirrrrr!" the boy called back at once, and disappeared back to his own sandcastle.
Squall patted down the surface of the mountain as Zack poured water over it, to prevent it from cracking. Rinoa grinned at the sight of him, kneeling with his leather pants folded up tightly to his knees, without his jacket, barefoot and covered in sand. To cap it off, his face was screwed in determination as he pushed the sand up to form a larger base.
Right beside this was a slightly smaller lump that the girls were building up. Aerith and Cathy were working enthusiastically, Zack rotating between both castles to help.
When Zack was sitting there, bugging Aerith and making Cathy giggle, Rinoa left to join Squall.
"Having fun?" she asked with a smile, helping him smooth down the sides.
Squall continued to work hard. After a moment's hesitation he replied, "Yeah... never really built one before."
"Somehow I don't think it's because the others left you out."
He smiled slightly at her comment, still keeping his eyes on the brownish yellow mound in front of him, "No... more because I left myself out."
For some reason his small, truthful voice made emotion surge up into her chest. Rinoa looked at him with a softening gaze, feeling sympathetic and sad as she thought of his lonely days as a child.
Squall looked at her oddly, "Rinoa? Are you... are you alright?"
She came back in tune and said softly, "Oh, Squall... you make me feel so sad sometimes."
Not knowing what to make of that, he tilted his head in confusion and said in a small voice, "I don't mean to..."
Rinoa caught a glimpse of his wounded countenance and giggled, "But you make me feel happier a lot more! Hey," she chucked a ball of wet sand at his shirt when he continued looking hurt, "It's not your fault. You've just had a hard life, Squall, and I wish you didn't..."
"Hmph... well, if you want to make it easier, you can not throw sand at me!" Squall retaliated slyly, throwing it back at her.
"Hey! Fine, if you want to lose to me again..."
The hour was full of fresh laughter and bright smiles for everyone. The four sandcastles rose to towering heights, even the red team's that had collapsed halfway and had to undergo serious repairs. Finally, the time was up and the castles were measured by Ellone and Noah. The yellow team, once again, claimed victory. The blue team and pink team succeeded respectively, with the red team coming in fourth place yet again.
"Good work, girls!" Irvine shouted as the females danced around him, rejoicing.
"Don't worry, boys, we'll get 'em next time," Seifer muttered to his disappointed team as they walked back up to the orphanage.
After a frenzied lunch of Ellone's homemade pizza (most of the kids needed their crusts off and some had to have theirs in bite-size pieces), the children were washed up and finally led to their little mats set up in their playroom.
"I wish I still got nap time in the afternoon," Shizuka murmured, holding Vincent and Tidus in either hand.
"Me too," Quistis replied resignedly, holding Reno and Rufus with either hand as well.
Some of the kids, like Cathy and Yuffie, were out like a light as soon as they were tucked in. Others needed to have somebody sit next to them and lull them to sleep with a rub on the back. And others refused to admit defeat.
"But Rinoa... I'm not tired," Zack mumbled through half-open eyes, as she shushed him soothingly, "Rinoa... I can stay up... I'm a big kid... I havta look after Aerith... and Cathy..."
"The girls are asleep," Rinoa whispered calmly, smiling at his little face as his eyes fluttered shut reluctantly, "Just go to sleep, Zack... you'll see them soon..."
"But Rinoa..."
The playroom was soon silent except for the quiet noises of deep, slow breathing, issuing from the little bodies lying on the mats on the floor. Stepping carefully around their slumbering forms, Rinoa stumbled and ran into Squall rather ungracefully.
"Just got Vincent to sleep..." he told her in a low voice as they walked to the kitchen, where all the others were having their lunch and talking merrily while the children napped.
"Vincent? Isn't he part of the pink team?"
"Yeah..." Squall looked a little embarrassed, "Well, Zell changed Cathy's nappy so I said I'd take care of one of his kids until they fell asleep. What a mistake," he took in a deep breath and let it slowly, "That boy sure knows how to fight sleep with every ounce of his body..."
Rinoa smiled ruefully, "That'll teach you to think twice about making deals concerning children. Oh, don't they look sweet? I want to be a mother."
His mind rapidly making connections, Squall's face grew hot. Hastily he drew out his hand to push her forward gently, "Yeah, let's just go eat lunch first..."
A/N: Hiiii all! (waves) How have you all been? xD I've been overrun with assignments, but I'm all good. Once again, thank you for all your feedback. I always can't wait to get back from school and check my email to see if there are any reviews. xD I'm sucha nerd hehe. So there you are, some Seifer/Quistis-ness for all you crazy seifitis-craving fairies! Bwahahaha, see you in the next chapter (or in a review? xD) Lol, feel free to criticise meee. xP And take care this week. :) - msq.