"'Bout time you showed up," muttered Seifer as a certain white-haired girl walked into the sandlot, "Where've you been? You've ditched us for the past week."

Fuu didn't answer, but instead continued walking towards her three friends and sat down with them on the bench.

Rai said to Seifer loudly, "I heard that she almost got knocked out last week, on the rainy day, y'know?"

Seifer suddenly stood up from the bench in surprise, "What?"

Rai kept chattering, "Yeah, y'know, she took a dodgeball to the dome from Hayner! Didn't hear?"

Seifer looked to Fuu, glaring, "Is this true? You really let that tool Hayner do that to you?"

Fuu didn't answer, but instead glanced at Seifer for a moment, then continued looking straight, stoic as ever. At least her face had gotten better since the incident. She remembered how much her left cheek had swollen up when she woke up the morning after. She hadn't gone to school the whole last week because she refused to let her friends and classmates see her so dumb-looking.

Seifer, understanding Fuu's silence, answered roughly, "I thought you were supposed to be tougher than that! What're people gonna think of you now? That you're a wimp?"

As usual, no matter the situation, Seifer was always ready to chew someone out. Whether it was a friend of Hayner or one of his own comrades, he was still quick to snap and scold at whoever he saw fit. Still, Fuu thought Seifer was an understanding friend after the scolding, toning down his voice and seeming twice as patient and helpful as beforehand.

Fuu rarely answered her friend's questions, but today, she opened her mouth and replied calmly, "Off guard."

"You were caught off guard?" asked Seifer, "Bull, this is Hayner we're talking about! Stupid ass loudmouth Hayner! You can see his swings and punches coming from a mile away!"

Seeing that Seifer was heating up a bit too much, Rai intervened, stammering, "Y-y'know, boss, it's not entirely her fault! She was just tired from the game cuz she performed so well a-and Hayner cheated her, y'know?"

Vivi, who was standing mostly behind Rai the whole time, decided to hide himself behind the bench to be safe from the whole clash until it was over.

Seifer scoffed at Rai's excuse, saying, "Whatever. It still pisses me off Hayner was able to get a shot off on one of my friends."

That was strange. Seifer rarely used the word "friend" to describe Fuu, Rai, or Vivi. Mostly he just called them his "comrades", or "allies", or his "gang". Fuu guessed that Seifer thought the word "friend" was too mushy to describe his bond with them. She could feel the scolding Seifer melting away and the understanding Seifer appearing.

After a short silence, Seifer said to Fuu in a calmed tone, "Look, maybe it's not your fault entirely. Even I can admit that when the idiot Hayner's really trying, he has a hell of an arm. But make sure you're more…aware next time."

Yeah, that was understanding Seifer, all right. Fuu nodded and mumbled, "'Kay."

To this, Seifer added, "And don't forget what I'll be doing to that moron in a couple days. On Sunday, me and him are having our match, and I need to train as much as possible 'til then!"

"Yeah, boss, you need to train!" replied Rai, pumped for the upcoming match, "Cuz you need to redeem yerself fer last time fer when he beat you, y'know?"

Seifer sighed in exasperation, "He didn't beat me, I just showed him a little more mercy than I should've! Now Vivi, did you bring my Struggle bat?"

Vivi popped up from behind the bench and as if by magic, pulled a sky blue Struggle bat from behind him and handed it to Seifer.

"Thanks, Vi," thanked Seifer, "Now, Rai, last time we went for 1,000 swings, but this time, we're crankin' it up to 2K!"

Rai laughed and replied, "Don't worry, boss, cuz y'know, I got those counting skills you can depend on!"

Fuu laughed internally, remembering how pathetically Rai had tried to count the steps at the train station last summer. She could still hear Rai mumbling to himself, "12, 13, 16, 31...12...".

She watched Seifer get up from the bench and walk to the center of the sandlot with Rai and Vivi. He started swinging the Struggle bat viciously, Rai counting his swings as badly as he did last time (By the time Rai finally got from 1 to 1,000, Seifer had swung the bat at least quadruple that amount).

Still, she had to ask herself. Why was Hayner able to get that shot off on her in dodgeball?

Was it because she was off guard? No, she had been most diligent in keeping her guard up until that very moment he threw the ball.

Was it because she was distracted? She could sort of remember thinking on something during the match, but she couldn't exactly remember what it was.

Those were the only reasons she could think of for why Hayner was able to get her out. The thought that she had been pondering on during the match could've slipped her up so she failed to pay attention, but it was highly unlikely.

But still. What was she pondering about back then?

She was snapped out of her thoughts when she heard Seifer call her name.

"Hey, Fuu!"

She looked up at him to signify she heard him call. He asked, "What number comes after 32?"

"33." she answered, forced to talk since a simple gesture wouldn't do.

She turned back to her thoughts, but in the background, she could hear Seifer yelling at Rai ("See, I told you 17 doesn't come after 32!")

Fuu could vaguely remember something related to her thought…the color yellow.

No, not really yellow, but a hair color...blonde. Yeah, it involved blonde hair. But what could she have been thinking of with blonde hair?

She looked over to Seifer, who was still swinging the Struggle bat, barely sweating after swinging for almost ten minutes. She probably wasn't thinking of Seifer. She had thought of someone with a full head of blonde hair, and Seifer wore a black beanie over most of his.

Besides, she had thought of spiky hair….

Was it Roxas? She had always admired Roxas slightly. His quiet tone when first confronted alone, but his confidence and boldness when his friends were involved. However, the hair she was thinking of was more slicked back than Roxas', and more bleached.

She tried to think of someone with these features, and only one person came to mind.

"Fuu!"

"Huh?" she snapped out of her thoughts and looked up at the voice, seeing Seifer, Rai, and Vivi in front of her.

The voice had been Seifer's, and Fuu herd him continue, "Fuu, what's wrong with you? You might be mute, but you're definitely not deaf."

Rai chimed in, "Maybe that dodgeball from Hayner ruined her hearing, y'know?"

Hayner! That's who she had been thinking of during the match! But why, why him? She had no reason to think of that boy. He was loud, obnoxious, smug-

"Fuu, listen to me, dammit!" Seifer practically roared at her, "Why're you spacing out?"

She didn't know how to respond. She was caught off guard here. There was no gesture or two bit sentence she could use to describe her confusion now. She instead continued staring off into the space to the left of Seifer, eye wide and deep in thought.

Seeing Fuu wasn't acknowledging him, Seifer scoffed, "You look like a deer caught in the headlights."

Rai said to Seifer, "Maybe we should just take her home, y'know? She's got that thousand yard stare goin' on."

Seifer was about to push Fuu toward her home when she blurted out, very out of character of her, "I-I'm fine."

She had never stuttered in her speech and she had never blurted out anything that wasn't a smug remark or below hearing level. What was happening to her?

Seifer could see his comrade was a bit out of it right now, so he said to her, "Look, just let me and the guys'll take you home. For your own sake."

At first, Fuu was unresponsive, but she finally collected herself enough to nod in approval. The three walked Fuu back to her house in silence then left her at her doorstep, calling goodbye as they left back toward the sandlot.

Fuu just stood there, thinking. Why was she thinking about Hayner back then? Sure she had thought about Hayner before, but those times, it wasn't his blonde hair she had thought of, it was his irritability, how annoying he was.

But last week, she had thought about his hair. As she started walking up the steps to her front door, she remembered other things she had pondered on. Like his goofy smile from when he had slipped and grabbed that pole, the strong, fierce eyes he had during their showdown, how his muscles had shown when he threw that dodgeball toward her…

By the time she returned to the real world, the once blue sky was now glowing orange as it hit evening. She had been standing at her front door for a good half hour. It was a wonder her mother hadn't discovered her standing there, lost in thought.

Lost in thought about Hayner.

Just the idea that a classy, serious girl like her could lose herself in a thought over a goofy loudmouth like him was so strange.

She decided for the night to just skip her homework, take a nice shower, and go to bed. She needed to end the day before she found herself staring off into space again. Besides, tomorrow was Saturday, and she was going to the beach with Seifer, Rai and Vivi.

Happy New Year, guys, I hope all of my wonderful, loyal fans enjoyed this Fuu chapter! :D I know I said I was doing the beach chapter, but I wanted to put in Fuu's point of view first and establish everybody's characters and blabbity blah :P

NOW we go to the beach xD

R&R