Disclaimer: I do not own FFVIII or any of its characters...

FFVIII: Forging a Lionheart

Chapter Two: Memories going to Tango, Step One

By Traingham

To make the conscious choice of placing your trust in Xu's hands was the very equivalent of allowing her to attach strings to your body with which she could direct your every waking action. This Squall Leonhart would argue with the outmost confidence and he would put down any counterpoints that would be waged against that statement with the rightful conviction of one who knew the truth through personal experience because the young lion possessed exactly that. Not many people could claim to truly know the elite instructor because she was not the sort of individual to personally associate herself with a group, but rather a select few, and even then of the very few that Xu cared to come into contact with on a non professional basis even less had the sort of nerve required to be actual friends with her, which meant that she did not have many to speak of. The only two people that Xu graced with the affectionate title of 'friend' were Quistis Trepe and the aforementioned Squall Leonhart, which the two might quietly argue amongst themselves–when the sun had drifted low into the horizon, and the crickets went into their evening chorus, and they were ever so confident that no one was around to hear–was more a curse than a blessing–not realizing that Xu was present behind the wall listening, because Xu always knew. She was Xu, after all.

So when Xu pulled Squall away from his conversation with Fuujin on the balcony to lead him off onto the dance floor with her in order to reclaim recognition from his peers, whom had all been undoubtedly enchanted by Seifer and Rinoa's dancing earlier, he had every right to think it was part of some grander scheme, and when the bandoneon began to play and the violin accompanied it not a moment later there was no longer any room to disprove that what Xu had lead him into was meant to be more than it seemed because what the elite instructor intended for them to dance together in front of everyone was a tango. You would be forgiven for not understanding why this was so, for you see tango played a large part in Squall and Xu's relationship, as is about to be detailed for your reading pleasure.

Nowadays Squall Leonhart is referred to as the lone wolf, the brooder, or that smug bastard, but there was a time when all chose to refer him as that cute kid, the quiet cub, and I wanna take him home, though most of the garden students went with calling him that kid that Xu and Quistis kept around with them because the trio comprised a three man clique when they were younger, which made things rather interesting for Squall's earlier garden life because being the kid that two of the most popular girls always kept close either made you a point of extreme interest, or the absolute opposite, a point of absolute disinterest. This was, of course, the sort of disinterest as in "I'm not interested in your happiness so much as I'm interested in how you squeal, kid"; One assumes you know what course that sort of social life would take, but to show is better than to tell.

"Who are you glaring at, runt?" Claudio Humbaba's roguishly handsome face contorted into a nasty scowl that should have, by all accounts, turned the boy he shoved down to the ground into a quivering, blubbering mess desperately begging for him to overlook whatever act of disrespect he might have paid him. Claudio was a promising SeeD, you could say he was a role model for the cadets in fact, and he was admired by all because of his leadership qualities. He knew how to talk, how to wield a gunblade, and most girls would tell you that he knew how to wear a uniform and strip it off just as well, so he was your stereotypical jock and wolf pack leader in a nutshell. Being a blip on his radar was good reason to disassociate yourself with the rest of the student body lest you wanted trouble to fall upon your acquaintances. That was, assuming that there were souls brave enough to acquaint themselves with you when it could immediately result in a case of social ostracization by association.

The boy lying on the ground, however, did not shrink away in fear of the older student, nor did he break into tears. The smarting cut over his eye was not a mark of disgrace to him nor a reason to back away, but a reminder to him now and in the future that the young man looking down on him was an enemy that would only prey further if he have into his demand to submit to weakness. Squall did the only thing he could do at that moment, meat tender and bruised, and continued to glare up at Claudio like an injured dog waiting for the opportune moment to snap at the hand that dared to strike it again.

Claudio responded to the stubborn act of defiance by bringing his left foot back with a sharp swing and kicking the younger boy in the stomach with the wrath of a riled chimera. The boy's body curled and twisted from the blow like a mortally wounded caterchipillar.

"Who do you think you are, kid?!" He pulled his foot back for another kick, but he let it come to ease on the ground when he saw what an impression that last kick left. The younger garden student curled into a tight ball with a trembling hand grasping his struck side.

"That's more like it," Claudio crouched over Squall, grabbing at the hand that the boy held at his smarting side to forcibly wrench it away, "Don't think that just because Xu and Quistis keep you around as their little puppy that you get a free pass around here. You're a nobody all on your own and don't forget it! You treat me with respect, got that?" He let go of Squall's arm and reached down to grab a fistful of his brown hair, pulling his head upward to stare into his grimacing face. "Don't ever stand against me again, Leonhart. If I want to dance with Xu or Quistis, then I'll have my way and you're going to be a good puppy and stay seated without a peep. If I say that the sky is red–I don't give a grats ass if its blue–you nod your head like a good junior because it is I who says so! Can you process all of that, or did I scramble that piss poor brain of yours with that last knuckle to the head?"

Squall turned his head to glare at Claudio in response and the older boy's nostrils flared agitatedly. "Don't you glare at me again!" He warned Squall with a low growl, but the younger boy was unflinching.

"Stop assuming that I'm afraid." The beaten cadet spoke as though he truly believed this to be a fight far from over, too stubborn to pay heed to the pain in his body or the consequences his words may drop on his head. Squall's words came steadily after each gasp, betraying nothing. "I'm trained to deal with idiots like you, remember?" It was enough to take Claudio aback. The kid refused to bend and for a moment he was at a loss for how to respond in kind to such recklessness, though that did not deter him for much longer than a passing thought; he figured another ass whooping would extinguish any stubborn embers from the dying fire.

Claudio's free hand clenched tightly, almost trembling. It could have been that he was so angry that it became difficult for him to maintain a steady fist or perhaps his emotions ran deeper than that. "Little freak." All the same, he wound it back to let it fly square at Squall's irritating face–

"Ahem." Someone crept up unnoticed.

Claudio froze in mid swing when the purposeful sound came from behind him. He released Squall and stood upright to turn and face the third party, patting down his jacket of any obvious wrinkles before speaking, "Xu..." And there stood the young woman whose name left his lips, her expression remarkably bright despite the violent scene before her eyes. If she had any idea what had been going on her expression made it unsettlingly difficult to know just how she felt about it, though her timing was too perfect to pass off her arrival as the result of mere chance.

"This being the training center, it would be safe for me to assume that what I see here is the result of great dedication on the part of two promising Garden students." Her calculating eyes fell upon Squall briefly before settling upon Claudio, a bewitching smile taking form across her lips. "I'll admit, I was worried at first, but it would seem that you two are getting along well in spite of first impressions. Nice of you to take Squall under your wing, Humbaba. I'm sure you have a thing or two that you'd be willing to pass on to him."

Claudio swallowed like a duck staring down the double barrel of a cocked shotgun. Xu was purposely overlooking what was so obviously the resulting scene of a harsh browbeating, but he could not think of any likely reason why she would turn a blind eye to her little pet. Being the exemplary model student and SeeD cadet that she was, he had fully expected her to report him to the disciplinary members of the faculty without hesitation the moment she witnessed such a dishonorable act. Her approach could not have been more suspicious given the particular image she was well known to uphold around the garden.

Claudio decided to go along with the ruse while Xu still had it laid out on the table in front of him. "Coming from you, that's high praise." He told her, sounding convincingly flattered. He looked to Squall briefly and chuckled as he turned to look at Xu again. "He definitely has the spirit for it. I should think that if he took his combat training as seriously as he did his dance lessons he would be one of the garden's best."

Xu's laugh was without any real humor, but she did appear amused by something in particular when she did. Looking past Claudio's lean frame, it was Squall Leonhart that truly held her attention, picking himself off the ground with the sort of nonchalance that contrasted sharply from his beaten state, and that in itself inspired such dread that could only be understood by one who knew the way her mind ticked.

"Indeed," She folded her arms, "His potential is inspirational. I'm sure the thought of what he could grow to become might inspire its share of fascination..." Her eyes passed over Claudio. "...perhaps fear in some..." They fell upon Squall once more as he just got done wiping the cut over his left eye. "And above all, jealousy."

Claudio's expression faltered somewhat at the exemplary student's provocative words. "Excuse me?" He could not help but feel as though she was poking at his nose with a knife. The ambiguity of Xu's stance on the situation made it all the harder for him to bear with a straight face.

"It's nice of you to play big brother, Humbaba. It's a touching gesture, whatever it may be." Xu took slow steps toward her fellow SeeD, stopping just a couple of paces away; close enough for her to see the uncertainty in his green eyes. Claudio in turn could see nothing more than himself staring back in the cool reflection of her stare. "I, however, am a jealous person, so I'd appreciate it if you ended this here."

"Ended what?" Claudio's question challenged her to accuse him of something.

Xu's pleasant smile could not be tried. "Your interference, of course." She tossed her head in the direction of the way out. "Starting right now, this moment. Be on your way." She caught him as he was about to open his mouth. "I appear before you now as a politician because I have faith in your sense for reason, Humbaba, but you look ready to test that."

Claudio's Adam's apple bobbed in response, the skin against his knuckles taut. She spoke to him like she would a person she could crush beneath her boot, like an easily disposable pest that she was willing to overlook as long as it did not draw unnecessary attention to itself. Here he was earlier putting on an air of superiority to show the boy behind him his place and now she was looking down on him without a show of force or enmity, as though her place above him was the natural order that he could never hope to change.

Not in the mood to have a fencing match, Xu delivered the deciding stroke with a crisp, "Don't." She leveled him with a cool stare until Claudio eventually relented, crossing his arms with a reluctant shrug. He sighed, sparing Squall a final look back before walking on past Xu without another word or glance at her back. It wasn't until she was sure that he had left the training center that Xu finally spoke to the beaten, younger SeeD cadet.

"Look at you!" Xu exclaimed with an immediate new air of mischief, clasping her hands together with the kind of pride one would grace upon a favored younger sibling. She approached Squall to lean over and examine his scowling face, a contrasting smile on her own that was like a ray of light against his permeating darkness. "You certainly approached this with more enthusiasm than I'd anticipated."

Squall's brows furrowed and he glowered at the older girl with an icy chill that would have prompted Shiva to start practicing in the mirror in fear of losing her edge. "Enthusiasm?" He asked Xu, unaware that his hands were nearly shaking as though shackles were holding them back from reaching out and doing something regrettable. "You brought this down on my head, Xu." His voice picked up slightly in volume, but he didn't raise it against her despite himself. One had to take the methodical approach when dealing with a girl of her cunning wit. "You're the only one enjoying this little social experiment."

Squall, of course, was accusing Xu of having the confrontation between him and Claudio Humbaba premeditated from the time she strung him and Quistis along into her decision to join the tango classes that had recently opened up in the port town of Balamb; She had them take the same time slot that Claudio had signed up for. In a normal friendship that sort of accusation would have been the deal breaker to end further contact between any two people, but this thing that the hapless SeeD cadet had with Xu was anything but normal, something that this particular incident certainly attested to. That the lovely SeeD cadet had taken no offense at all to the serious accusation only reinforced that.

The aforementioned Quistis Trepe, childhood friend of Squall Leonhart and exclusive best friend to Xu, had originally been against the whole idea of joining the dance class. Seeing Claudio's name on the attendance list for their scheduled session had been one of the warning signals that it would be a bad idea (Lad had a superiority complex that could rival that of the world renown, Doctor Odine of Esthar), though it certainly had not been the first. The fact that Xu had specifically proposed the idea with Squall's betterment in mind was already reason enough for her to stand against it.

Xu was a schemer; had been since the day they became acquainted and the lovely Trepe would not have put her past being born with a talent for it. On that note, Quistis had entertained the notion on more than one occasion that their initial meeting with one another had been part of a plan set into motion by Xu from the onset; a gambit to lure Squall within her clutches.

The idea sounded absurd, sure, but too many things pointed to it being just the opposite. In the beginning (The first few weeks, you might say) Xu had the good sense to bother concealing her questionable fascination for the boy, keeping a respectable distance from him and inquiring about him from Quistis in offhanded tones during casual conversations, however, it wasn't long before she dispensed with the facade and acted on the many designs that she had for him. Even now Quistis spent the occasional long night staring out the window of her dorm room wondering just what Xu's agenda was, but enough of how Quistis felt...

Xu posed coyly at Squall's accusal and the younger cadet began to wonder why he even bothered trying to get her to admit to her wicked ways. Why did he have to be the one that suffered her company anyway?

"Don't look at me that way." Xu pouted at him, slinking closer until she had an arm around his shoulder. The young man felt her cheek press up against his until their faces were squished together comically. "I mean well, I really do!"

Squall slipped out from under her arm and stepped away, turning to face her with folded arms. "Setting me up for trouble hardly means well." He pointed to the cut above his eye smeared with dried blood. "I'm not looking to make enemies, Xu. I already have my hands full with other morons." A particular blonde male came to mind.

"You honestly believe that this is all my doing?" Xu inquired deliberately with a slight cock of her head, leaning her body toward him with her hands held together behind her back. "Is your opinion of me so harsh in spite of all we've been through together?" She approached him with light steps, closing the distance between them gradually until he was within her arms reach again.

The young cadet made no attempt to get away from her, but his eyes locked on her form like two guns ready to shoot her down at the first sign of malicious intent, "It's because of all we've been through together that my opinion is harsh to begin with."

"That's an unfair assessment to make of me. How might I convince you to reconsider?" She asked with an accompanying hum at the end of her question. "You need to give yourself more credit for the things that happen to you." By now she had moved into his personal space again, walking around him to stop at his back. She poked her head just past his shoulder, craning her neck to give him a side stare. "Hilde, Russell, Elena, and Pavel." The fox-like cadet spoke a few names accusingly. "Could you honestly pin those on me as well?"

"What?" Squall's brows furrowed at the mention of those students. "How do you even know about those guys?" Now he stepped away from Xu a second time, giving her the look of someone who felt violated at the very thought of being near her. "I've never..."

"Getting that sort of Intel is a simple matter of talking to the right people." She said this with the casualness of one who made a hobby of such things. He could have inquired about her favorite color and her tone would have been no different. "But that alone says a lot about how popular you are, doesn't it? For you to go out of your way to be so inconspicuous only to inadvertently becomes a focal point in the garden-" Xu shrugged. "Well, I'm sure the irony hasn't escaped anyone."

Squall folded his arms, looking to the side. "Whatever."

Xu shook her head at the passiveness of his response. "You really shouldn't be so dismissive. Would you believe me if I told you that mister Humbaba had already been planning to have a heart to heart with you, even before I enrolled us in the dancing class?"

"That jock made his grievances fairly clear." The young man quipped. "You just gave him an excuse to act on them. That's my issue here."

At that moment she glanced aside as though just then recalling a private joke before replying pleasantly,"I'd like to think of it more as me giving you a little nudge in the proper direction."

Squall's expression fell neutral at her response. "You must be joking." He then broke into a scowl. "What gives you the right to decide what's proper for me?"

"Squall," The humor had left her voice when she addressed him this time, as did the curl in her lips when she continued, "I won't mince words here; I don't carry any decoder rings on hand either so I'll give it to you raw to spare some time. You're wretched as they come, which is no fault of anyone but your own." She held up a hand to hold back any riposte he may have wanted to make, saying, "Just let me finish. What you are is raw materials, which means you amount to nothing in your current state and will continue to amount to nothing until you make use of your own potential. Other students see that and they'll do whatever they can to make sure that you remain where you are."

"I'm not trying to become anything great." Squall argued. "Why can't anyone understand that?" He flinched when Xu's hand clapped upon his shoulder like a judge's gavel. The lovely SeeD candidates eyes regarded him with disappointment, and for a moment the young man felt himself become small under her cold stare.

"You are your own worst enemy, Leonhart." She brought her face close until he felt her lips brush the side of his ear. "But I can be your most valuable ally if you simply open up to me."

Squall pulled his head back, staring Xu eye to eye as she made no attempt to pull back this time at his aversion. "What do you want...Xu?"

"I want you to give yourself to me." She finally pulled back, her lips twisting away to form a most disarming grin that caused every thought in his head at that very moment to tumble into a nonsensical mess. "Do that and you won't have to worry about the others bothering you anymore. I'll raise you so high that they won't even be able to reach you with their grasping hands, and that is when you'll attain that quiet solitude that you desire, Squall; staring down on your throne from the top of the world."

Squall wasn't sure what was the reason for why his mouth would not open to deliver the sensible rejection to her absurd proposal. Xu spoke as though she could fashion him into a demi-god, as if that was a power she could bestow upon anyone she deemed worthy of the privilege and he was that one in a million that she'd been searching for, which would naturally incite one to ask, "If you truly possess that power then why not become one yourself?"

"I've lost my motivation." She answered mysteriously. "Luckily, you haven't."

To Be Continued...