Teaching Respect.
By C S Sinclair.
Chapter Nine.
"WORLD… FULL OF PAIN AND SUFFERING."
"Miss, are you alright?"
Fujin looked up from where she had slumped over in despair, hands on her knees. An older man in overalls was peering down at her with some concern. A hammer and workbag hanging at his side, suggested he was aiding in the Garden renovations. She straightened up and gestured at the boarded up floristry.
"Ah, I see. Needed some flowers pronto, did you? Well, I'm afraid I saw him pack up early today. He didn't think there'd be much point, what with all this going on…"
The man indicated the chaos suffusing the general area of the Garden's entrance hall. Workmen carrying planks and panes of glass moved hither and thither. Some people who were evidently trying out for various roles in the upcoming play strode amongst them, standing out like sore thumbs in their knightly and minstrel style outfits. And the whole hall was dark and hot, due to large screens (eventually) destined for the auditorium, blocking the exits to the outside world.
"Just have to come back tomorrow, eh?" the man encouraged.
"GREATEST TRAGEDY EVER" lamented Fujin. "UNPRECEDENTED MISFORTUNE."
The man seemed a bit surprised at this, and Fujin knew full well she was overstating things. But still… she'd been so focused and ready. Now she had to wait – again. And typically, everywhere she looked – people with bunches of flowers. She pointed irritably at them, showing the man that her statement really wasn't so far off.
"Well, that's life for you, isn't it? You should have gotten down earlier… like that big friend of yours - Raijin is it? I saw him go past… oh, not two hours ago with a lovely bunch of roses. Had a spring in his step, that one…"
Fujin's eyes narrowed. But when she'd realized she couldn't afford roses, he'd said he hadn't got any money either until next week. And now he'd nipped off behind her back and bought himself some, the creeping snake!
"VENGEANCE. JUSTICE" she fumed aloud.
"Pardon me?" The man turned around from where he had been shouting up to a colleague and found Fujin gone.
A few minutes later, near the quadrangle, Fujin was spying from behind a pillar.
"Ah, there he is" she hissed to herself, resolved to fight his serpentlike duplicity with some of her own.
Raijin was busily showing off to a large group of people, flexing his muscles, simulating Frizbee throws and demonstrating his warm up techniques.
"Perfect", she thought to herself, slipping away quietly.
With a wince at the loud 'scrunch' it made as it slid in the lock, Fujin turned the key gently and softly, wondering if whispering 'Shhh!' at it would help. Finally it clicked, and she slithered quickly through.
The men's locker room: its familiar, hideous odor and dubious piles of discarded laundry… Raijin was in his element in places like this. If he was going to store those roses, he'd put them in here undoubtedly (in fact, he would sleep in here if he had his way). Fujin stealthily moved along the lockers, checking her staff notes. Row 5… there was row 3… a-ha!
A crash and a sound of boys laughing caused her to drop to the ground. She quickly ducked down one of the rows, as fast as her crouching position would allow. She held her breath and waited… silence. They must have been leaving. Standing up cautiously, she saw she was indeed alone.
Swiftly, she reached Raijin's locker. Grabbing the padlock, she was about to deliver a wind assisted chop, when she realized that this was Raijin – his combination would be incredibly easy to guess. All numbers 1's… no. All number 2's…no. Before long the padlock clicked open (all number 7's). Smiling to herself, she swung the locker door open.
She jumped back in surprise at a movement, but it was only a mirror on the shelf inside. She hadn't recognized herself at first… but looking at it now, she realized that the frightened, wretched creature of the past few months had vanished. The old girl still hadn't returned, but she wasn't sure she wanted her to now. This new girl seemed much nicer; more relaxed and at peace. They smiled at each other, and touched hands. Fujin thought they were going to get along just fine.
Remembering why she was here, she rummaged about, as carefully as she dared: (the prospect of touching any items in the men's locker room was not intrinsically appealing). But moving aside a few old baseball bats, she found her prize. Slightly crushed, stored in a completely unsuitable environment but otherwise intact, a bunch of beautiful red roses had been placed in the corner. Carefully, she liberated them.
"It's not really stealing," she told herself. "He should have come clean about having the money when I asked."
Deciding to leave before she was discovered or her conscience ordered her to put Raijin's (however ill gotten) flowers back, she moved to close the locker up… and saw an old photo taped to the inside of the door. It had been taken on the night of the SEED Graduation last year. Seifer had failed to graduate, but they'd crashed the party anyway.
The photo showed herself on one side (looking very annoyed and uncomfortable – she hated having her photo taken, especially by surprise), but the picture was mostly dominated by three others. Raijin and Seifer stood grinning drunkenly at the camera, holding Rinoa Heartilly, who was lying across them. Raijin was holding her by the legs, Seifer by her upper body. She was beaming with laughter and seemed to be tossing her hair into Seifer's face impishly.
Fujin stopped and opened her wallet. The same photo was displayed prominently. She stared down at it, wondering why out of all the times they had had, this was the only proper surviving photo of the three of them. Not long after this, everything had gotten so crazy… it seemed a long time ago now.
She looked at Seifer. He was smiling, but you could tell he was angry and upset at having failed his exam. He and Rinoa had had a blazing row later that night, and it had pretty much ended there. Like most memories from that time, Fujin felt she hadn't done enough, said enough. She and Raijin… they should have spoken out earlier. Their adventures in Galbadia had been fun at first, but after the attack on Balamb… nothing had been very fun after that.
Leaving him on the Pandora… that was perhaps her greatest regret. They'd hoped he would come to his senses without them, but instead he'd walked all the way over the edge. She remembered how later, before they were arrested, Seifer had seemed quite normal again. But he'd slowly gotten more and more depressed, until he could barely move. He didn't even resist when they finally got round to arresting them.
Hearing in court about what he'd done to Rinoa after they left… it still sickened her. He'd become truly evil, even if only for a few seconds. (Raijin still didn't believe it, and claimed he would never accept it unless Seifer told him it was true). But Seifer hadn't spoken one word to them or anyone during the trial - just pleaded 'Guilty' and that was all; not another word as the long list of awful crimes had been read out.
There were so many regrets she had about those times. So much she wished she had said or done. She wished she'd told Seifer that no matter what he'd done, even if she couldn't forgive him, he'd still been a better father than hers had ever been. At least he'd treated her with some respect now and again, she thought bitterly. But that was then, this was now. Seifer was behind bars for life and she'd have to get by without a father from now on.
She snapped the wallet shut, closed the locker, and slipped silently back to the staff area. It was the safest way to enter and leave, as it adjoined both the men's and women's locker rooms. However as she entered, she could hear the sound of people talking from one of the offices. Not wishing to be caught red (rosed) handed, she moved across and unlocked the door to the women's locker room.
Creeping along one of the rows, she suddenly realized – there was no need to sneak anymore! This was the women's area – she was a woman. Feeling more than a little silly, she stood up straight and started to walk with an undeniable swagger to the exit, sniffing the roses in triumph as she went.
"HEY!!!"
She froze, and barely registered a blur of motion, before she gathered that the roses had been snatched. A girl stood before her, with a look of utter fury on her face. She had evidently been crying recently, as her face was streaked with makeup that had run in black lines down her cheeks. She looked rather unstable, Fujin considered, backing up a step unconsciously. This was confirmed when she spotted the badge of the Trepeies on her lapel. Definitely not good – the Trepeies had a well deserved reputation for fanaticism.
"THESE ARE MINE! YOU STOLE THEM, YOU COW!!"
Fujin just stared dumbly, awestruck at this sudden verbal assault.
"YOU'RE A TEACHER!YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF!"
And with that, the girl turned and strode towards the entrance, a look of indignation on her face. Fujin fought her way back to conscious action. Okay, focus. Flowers needed to seduce Xu… flowers currently heading out of door with girl…girl must be stopped.
"HALT" Fujin called, breaking into a jog.
"What do you want now?" whimpered the girl, turning to face her, half out of the doorway already.
Fujin pulled up short at this sight. The girl was evidently very upset about something.
"FLOWERS. YOURS?"
The girl sobbed in anger: "As if you didn't know that! I'm going to tell Miss Trepe all about this. You won't get away with it, even if you are going out with the Headmistress!"
Fujin felt light headed. This girl knew about that. But… how? The Trepeies... of course… and Xu was very friendly with the object of their vastly overzealous worship - Senior Lecturer Quistis. She knew she should have finished her off that time last year…
Before they could go any further however, a familiar thundering voice blasted into the room from the corridor outside:
"HEY YOU! THEY'RE MY ROSES!!! THIEF! THIEF! SOMEONE CALL A TEACHER!"
The girl flew back into the locker room, followed by the lumbering form of Raijin, dressed only in a towel. Fujin buried her face in her hand. Things had managed to get completely out of hand somehow…
"But… but you're a teacher Mr Raijin" was all the girl could manage, cradling the flowers like a baby, and holding them away from either Raijin or Fujin.
"Don't give me that, Girly! You stole them from my locker, and I've got you cold. Now hand them ov… oh, hello Fu."
He finally noticed her, and calmed down immediately. Looking down, he also saw he was severely underdressed, and after a second or two of confusion, looked with horror at the 'LADIES LOCKER ROOM' sign on the wall.
"DEPTH OF IDIOCY, REMARKABLE. LEAVE" she ordered in the sharpest tone she could manage.
He half turned, before turning back with a look of renewed purpose.
"No hang on, hang on a minute! I'm not leaving until I get my roses back."
The girl backed away, spitting venom with every word:
"They're not yours! I bought these this morning for Miss Trepe! I put them down for 2 seconds to pay for my breakfast, and someone – you – stole them!"
Fujin held her breath. Any second now… here it came…
"No wait, hang on. It can't have been you. She had them, she stole them!"
She pointed to Fujin, who just wanted the earth to open up… and swallow these two.
Raijin also looked confused now: "But… those are definitely my roses. I found them lying on the counter this morning and…"
"So it was you, you pig!"
"Hey, I'm not a pig! I didn't see no name on them, and if you're going to leave them lying around… Besides, I was going to give them to Miss Trepe too, so she'd have gotten them any way you look at it…"
Fujin winced. That had not been the right thing to say…
"YOU WERE GIVING FLOWERS TO MISS TREPE?! YOU… YOU… YOU MAN!! YOU'RE DISGUSTING!"
Raijin looked uncertain how to answer this. He turned to Fujin for help. Fujin didn't even bother opening her mouth. Her chances of winning against two such lunatics were insurmountable. Better to just ride out the storm…
"Don't look at her for help! You two should be ashamed of yourselves, stealing other people's property." She turned towards Fujin: "And why did you want them, hmm? Probably taking them to that absolute…"
She shrank back in fear, as Fujin took a menacing step towards her. She felt no small blame in this matter, but she wasn't going to let this girl stand there and insult Xu! The girl cowered into the corner and curled up in a ball, hugging the flowers and crying.
Raijin shifted uncomfortably and looked as if he might move over to comfort her, before looking at his apparel and deciding it probably wouldn't look too good if someone came in. He turned to leave… and then the penny dropped.
"Wait… wait a minute. She said you had the flowers, Fu? Did you… it must have been you! Only you could have worked out the combination for my locker! Fu, you stole from me?!"
Fujin couldn't think of any answer to this. He was wrong on many counts, but right on the important ones. She'd had no right to steal from him, even if she had thought he'd cheated her. He didn't even look angry… just confused and betrayed, which was worse really.
"Of course she stole the roses. She wanted them for the Headmistress. Don't you know anything?" whimpered the girl in the corner.
"You took the roses to give to Headmistress Xu? Isn't that going a bit far, Fu? She's been nice and all, but roses? I mean some people might think…"
Fujin realized that this was it - it was time to come clean. She screwed up her courage and started to speak, her words echoing eerily around the locker room.
"ASHAMED OF THEFT. THOUGHT YOU HAD SWINDLED. ROSES… FOR XU. INTEND… TO COURT."
Raijin's jaw dropped open. You could practically hear his brain working.
"Court? You mean as in… you… with her… her being a woman… and you being one as well…?"
"FINALLY NOTICED. SOMETHING AT LEAST."
Before the conversation (such as it was) could continue, several screams from behind Raijin jolted the pair back to reality. Some girls had arrived and were somewhat excited by the sight of a near naked man in their midst. He was chased from the room, looking back in confusion at Fujin:
"TALK LATER. PROMISE" she called after him.
That was that then - he knew. She walked over and sat down on a nearby bench. This hadn't turned out quite how she'd planned. She was shaking, but she thought she was probably going to be alright.
She was vaguely aware of the girl walking over and sitting near her. She looked over, and saw she was still crying quietly. After a moment's hesitation, she reached and patted her lightly on the shoulder.
"She'll… never forgive me. I've broken the law of the Trepeies. I wasn't supposed to tell anyone about you and Headmistress Xu. I'll be thrown out… she'll never speak to me again."
Fujin moved closer and squeezed her shoulder. She looked up through tears, with a look of utter despair. The Trepeies were an odd lot, Fujin thought. But no-one should have to go through this. And now Raijin knew about her and Xu… she actually felt a bit less tense. This girl might have actually done her some good here.
"WILL FORGIVE."
The girl shook her head miserably. Fujin thought for a second, then produced her wallet. She opened it up, and slipped her hand under the photo of her, Seifer and Raijin. She produced a set of smaller photos. She'd taken these herself that night (after she'd snatched the camera, desperate to avoid being photographed again.) She passed them to the girl.
"What's this? Is that Squall Leonhart? Why is the Headmistress shouting at him?"
"YEAR AGO. GRADUATION" explained Fujin, showing the next photo.
This showed Xu comforting an obviously deeply distraught Quistis. Quistis had her head in her hands and was crying freely. Fujin heart swelled with pride when she saw Xu in these pictures - she was so righteous, but kind as well.
"This is when he turned her down, isn't it?" gasped the girl. "Oh… look at her. How could he do something like that to Miss Trepe?"
"BUT FORGAVE HIM. MISS TREPE, VERY KIND. WILL FORGIVE YOU."
"No… she loved…loves him. She doesn't love me" the girl finished sadly.
Fujin stood up: "WRONG. LOVES ALL HER TREPEIES. FAMILY… KEEP PHOTOS."
The girl sobbed in thanks, clutching them to her chest with a sad smile. As Fujin turned to go, she felt something bump into her leg. The girl was holding up the flowers. Fujin took them, feeling an odd sense of completetion as she did so. She felt better about herself, and realised the theft had been getting to her more than she realised.
She reached down and dried the girl's cheek of tears, before tenderly lifting her miserable face.
"LIFE NOT SO BAD. GETS BETTER. ALWAYS DOES."
She turned and made to leave. As she was passing through the exit, she heard the girl call after her:
"The easiest way out isn't to sneak out. Just run and kick the door down."
Momentarily confused, Fujin thought she understood.
"Hey, watch out!Watch where you're going!"
Barging and pushing with ironclad determination, Fujin strode through the crowd. Courage, all it takes is courage, she thought to herself One good kick, and you're out.
"HEADMISTRESS?"
Xu turned from where she had been discussing plans with the work crews. She looked surprised but delighted to see Fujin. It lifted Fujin to see her face light up so, which made the next phase slightly easier. Xu opened her mouth and words came out, but Fujin didn't hear them:
"FLOWERS… FOR YOU" she added unnecessarily, producing them from behind her back.
Xu held her hands over her mouth, before accepting them. Any other day, Fujin would have savoured that look of innocent joy on her face. But her task was not yet complete. Xu sniffed the roses and turned with a wide smile, which turned to fresh bewilderment as Fujin dropped to one knee and took Xu's free hand in both of hers. She looked up at her, determined not to show weakness.
Xu's smile had faded to be replaced with a serious look. In her hands, she could feel Xu's fingers flex slowly and lovingly against her skin. All around, everything was quiet. No hammering, no talking. Just the beating of her heart, in her chest and ears, along with the soft crackling of the paper the roses were wrapped in, as Xu's grip tightened on them.
"HEADMISTRESS XU. PERMISSION TO COURT, HUMBLY REQUESTED."
She looked up, hoping she had been clear enough. Xu now wore an expression that she was willing to hope was one of love and relief. She resolved to believe it was, anyway. Life didn't owe her much, but it could do her this one favour at least.
"FUTURE HAPPINESS CONTINGENT ON ACCEPTANCE" she added, and with that leaned her head forward and kissed Xu's hand.
She was presently aware that Xu had knelt down next to her. She looked up with the strongest expression she could still muster. But this evaporated instantly as she saw Xu smiling with intense happiness mere inches from her face. She was pulled gently to her feet, and felt Xu wrap her arms around her waist, as she touched her forehead to hers.
"Permission is given, Madame Lecturer" she breathed, holding back a happy sob.
"DINNER. WOULD BE HONOURED, COULD PICK YOU UP…"
Xu placed a finger on her lips, smiling:
"I'm free on Tuesday evening."
Fujin started to agree, but was cut off as Xu lunged forward and grabbed her by the back of the head, plunging them both into a wild, passionate kiss. She felt herself go limp in Xu's arms, and hung there helplessly, eyes closed, transported away gliding over the lake again. It was potent, satisfying, and much more… real than she'd thought. Warmth, the press of skin and the wetness of lips and tongues, hands sinking through soft folds of clothing.
And then finally they returned. Moving back to kiss her forehead, Xu leaned in once more to touch her head to hers, then moved around her, pulling her by the hand gently but letting go for now, slowly and sadly. They looked at other with longing, before allowing each other to let go.
"I'll… I'll meet you here at 7 o clock on Tuesday evening… I'll be here… Don't leave if I'm late! I… I've got to go… I love you!!!"
Backing away, but looking like she wanted to sprint back and gather Fujin up, she turned and hurried away, and already Fujin felt so alone. But it wasn't a sad loneliness - it was a joyous one, knowing that soon they would be together always.
"XU!" she called out: a call rewarded when Xu turned back to look at her with joy still on her face.
She motioned her hands to her heart, then flattened them out towards Xu. It was the world's soppiest gesture, but she didn't care.
She turned around taking in the scene. It was remarkable. Sunlight blazed through the entrance doors, revealing a hall of knights and wondrous creatures. They all stared through the sunlight glare, astonished at what they had seen. But she felt no hostility – maybe this had actually convinced them she was human after all, not some devil. In a daze, she made her way to the doors, and headed outside.
"What are you doing here? I'm not much of a follow-up after you got the girl, am I?"
Raijin was sitting on one of the benches, looking out over the sky. Fujin sat down lightly next to him. He didn't look up, just kept staring either down at his hands or out into space.
"DISAPPOINTED? UNHAPPY?" she asked nervously.
The area was still and clear, the only sound, the rhythmic grinding of the Garden's wheels below them. His reply was an attempt at cheerfulness, but she could tell he was still in shock.
"Are you kidding me, Fu? This is the greatest day of my life! No more having to beat up those deadbeat guys who come sniffing around you. I told you they weren't good enough for you… man, was I right."
She looked over at him, His face was a mask of worry and he'd evidently been thinking a lot – his hands were locked together, which he only did when adopting his 'thinking' posture. He turned to look at her:
"I just… why didn't you tell me, Fu? Since when don't we tell each other things? Did you think I wouldn't understand? It's you and me… that's never going to change, never."
He was wringing his hands so much, they looked angry and raw.
"I just feel like I've screwed up… more than usual, like. Like you were going through all this alone, and you felt like you couldn't tell me. Makes me feel sort of useless, that I didn't even notice…"
Fujin cocked her head in thought, then nodded:
"IDIOT… BUT LOVE YOU."
She smiled and cuffed him on the arm. His lip trembled into a relieved smile. He chuckled and then cuffed back gently. She got him again on the shoulder, whereupon he let out a roar and scooped her up into a gentle bear hug.
"Aaarrhhh, I got her now, I got her now! Only man in her life – unique that's what I am!"
Lifted off her feet and engulfed by his loving, brotherly, oafish presence, she hugged him back. The pair of them would always be together, brother and sister, best of friends - two broken dolls learning to put themselves back together.
Lost in their happiness, neither were able to appreciate the ill omens on the horizon. For the beautiful day that surrounded them, was fringed by a gathering darkness…