A **Squalphie** Fan: That is really cool! We are just humble Americans…but one day we want to go to Japan. That would be awesome. We're saving up money to go on a trip there after we graduate our senior year. ::Drops a few pennies into a jar that says 'Japan Trip Fund':: We aren't very good at earning money.
Taming the Lion: Chapter Four
Now back at Garden, the extremely angry Squall pulled the keys viciously from the Garden Car's ignition, stormed from the Parking Lot and headed toward the dormitories. As he was nearing where it split into the boys' and girls' sections, he nearly ran head on into Quistis. The instructor dropped all of the papers she had been carrying and exasperatedly collapsed onto the floor to start clearing them up.
"Sorry Quistis…" Squall mumbled as he bent down to help her.
"Where were you going in such a hurry?" she asked.
"My dorm. Where else?" he said facetiously, then gathered the last of the papers into a pile and handed them to her.
"Is something the matter?" Then dropping her voice she continued, "I talked to Rinoa…"
"Oh, really?" he sneered. "What did she say? That I slept with Selphie!?" He stood up straight and stomped off into the boys' dorms.
"I never said that!!" Quistis yelled after him. She listened for a response but all she got was the sound of a door slamming shut. The sudden sound made her flinch. Eyes now cold, she hugged the papers to her chest and started the walk to the 2F classroom.
"What's happened to us?" she whispered to herself, shaking her head. In just a few days three of her best friends were torn from the person they thought they loved, and now it seemed everyone was fighting. And it was always her, goody Quisty, that remained mutual.
Back in his dorm, Squall took of his black leather jacket and threw it on the floor. Then, clenching his fists, he sat on his bed and turned on the radio. Just as he was starting to relax someone knocked on the door. Rolling his eyes, he got up and looked through the peephole. He saw a dark brown cowboy hat and a flash of green eyes. He knew who it was.
Sighing, he opened the door and stepped out. "What do you want, Irvine?"
"You aint nuthin' but a damn hypocrite!" the cowboy yelled. Squall looked at him confusedly, until he started talking again. "You call me a two-timing jerk!!"
"Because you are," Squall said coolly without raising his voice. "You cheated on Selphie with that stranger."
"Yeah, and you slept with Selphie while you were going out with Rinoa!"
"I did not!" he countered venomously.
"Oh yeah? Then what happened!?"
"I-I…" Anxiously he started thinking of how he could respond. No one was supposed to know that Selphie was back in Garden, except for her friends. "I…was taking care of her…" he finished bluntly.
"Yeah, you took care of her alright," Irvine said, narrowing his eyes.
"That's it!" Squall roared. Rage overtook him and without thinking he punched Irvine in the face. The force of the blow knocked him back, and with a loud thud he hit the door across the hall from Squall's dorm. The person who obviously inhabited it opened the door and looked around confusedly before his eyes eventually landed on the Irvine. The cowboy's nose was bleeding, but with the back of his sleeve he wiped it and stood back up to face his opponent.
The spectator watched as Irvine started running for Squall. "Oh my Hyne! FIGHT!" he announced very loudly. Suddenly several doors opened up and a small crowd had gathered around the two rivals, chanting 'Fight! Fight! Fight!'.
Nose still dripping blood, Irvine ran at Squall and punched his gut. Squall felt the air escape him, and slightly dizzy for a split second. But, recovered in time to get Irvine in a headlock.
More people began making their ways from their dormitories to watch their commander duke it out.
Now trapped, Irvine couldn't manage to get out of Squall's headlock. Desperately he tried pulling down on his captor's arms, but didn't succeed in loosening the grasp. Then, Squall began punching him repeatedly in the stomach.
The next boy to come out of the dorms just so happened to be Nida. Eyes wide with horror, he ran away from the fight to get help.
The chants of 'Fight! Fight!' began turning into 'Squall! Squall!'.
"Squall! What are you doing!?" Zell's voice yelled over all the commotion. Squall looked up, his eyes looked cold and emotionless. "Let him go!" the martial artist pleaded.
Reluctantly, Squall let Irvine out of the headlock. The cowboy lay on the ground, breathing hard and bleeding heavily out of his nose.
"What's this all about?" the blond demanded.
"He pissed me off," Squall said through gritted teeth.
"You know, Squall…violence isn't the answer," Zell continued, sounding much like a parent. "If you need to talk about anything, instead of beating the crap out of someone, I'm always available. I know you don't like to talk about things, but that's what friends are for. So if you need to talk…uh…didyousleepwithSelphie?"
"What!?" Squall yelled angrily.
"Well, if you need to talk…I'm always here…" Zell smiled nervously, and started inching his way away. Squall almost ran after him to punch him as well, when he felt his body hit the cold linoleum floor. Irvine had recovered some of his strength, and had tackled Squall.
The fist fight turned into a wrestling match, and only stopped when an agitated voice yelled, "THAT'S ENOUGH!" Immediately, the two recognized the voice and Squall immediately shoved Irvine off of his back. "What do you think you two are doing!?"
Squall looked up to see Cid peering at him over his long nose. "I would expect you to be more mature than this as Commander." Cid continued to stare at them disappointedly. Irvine now sported a black eye, bloody nose, and numerous bruised ribs. Squall's lip was bleeding, and he was holding his shoulder.
The Headmaster started making his way through the crowd of students. "Everyone get back to your dorms, or you'll be spending detention cleaning up after the Grats!" Slowly the crowd around the scene of the fight cleared up, and Cid walked to where to the two pitiful looking SeeDs sat. "You two, follow me."
Without giving each other so much as a glance, they followed Cid.
"I can't believe either of you. Especially you Squall. You're supposed to be a role model for all students in this facility. What if they decide 'Oh, since the Commander got in a fight, I guess it's okay that we do too…'?"
"Then they obviously can't think for themselves," Squall murmured under his breath.
"You've been acting very strange for the past couple of days. Not showing up to work, getting in a fight…"
"I was sick…"
"But you were well enough to beat Irvine to bloody pulp?"
"Hey!" Irvine shouted, "I stood my ground! I got some hits in!"
"Oh? Would you like a worse punishment then?" Cid asked.
Irvine looked wildly around, "I-I was the victim! He just attacked me out of nowhere!"
"Psh…whatever."
"You will both be disciplined for your actions, but first I'll have Kadowaki treat you."
The rest of the walk to the Infirmary was silent. Squall still held onto his left arm, it felt useless and the flow of blood from his lip was getting heavier and since he had nothing to wipe it with, it just trickled off his chin. Irvine had covered his nose with one of his hands, and the other arm was wrapped around his chest.
When they had finally arrived to the Infirmary doors, Renee was walking out. She seemed to be hiding something behind her, but whatever it was Squall couldn't tell because he got to witness Irvine lose his bladder control.
"What happened to ya?" she asked wide-eyed.
"Fight," they answered in unison. Renee nodded, and still eying them suspiciously, walked away.
"Hyne, you're queer," Squall said to Irvine after Renee was out of sight.
"You don't understand. You didn't see her in kindergarten!"
Before Squall could ask what happened, Kadowaki had seen their injuries. "What happened!?"
"Fist fight. Take care of their wounds and call me when they're doing better," Cid said as he bid the doctor goodbye.
"Again, Squall?" The SeeD Commander didn't say anything. The last time he had been in the Infirmary was when he and Seifer had gotten into that fight. "Okay, Squall to room 1, Irvine you go to room 2." They did as they were told.
"Mickayla! Please take care of Mr. Kinneas!" Kadowaki called to a girl with long curly strawberry blond hair who was sitting behind the desk. She nodded and walked into his room.
Shaking her head, Kadowaki went into the room where Squall sat on the bed.
"So, how'd you get into this fight?" she asked as she pulled up a chair so that she could sit in front of him.
"I've had a bad day…"
"So that gives you the right to fight?" This time he didn't answer, and instead looked away. "What's wrong with your arm?"
"Oh, nothing at all…" he muttered sarcastically.
Kadowaki rolled her eyes, "Look, I don't ask for much, but could you try to be at least a little pleasant?" Once again, he didn't answer. "Now, let me look at it."
Reluctantly, Squall took his hand off of his shoulder. "Can you move it at all?" He shook his head. "Hmm…" she put on her glasses, and looked closely at his arm. "It looks like you have a compound fracture, but it managed to stay inside the skin. That's a good thing. We'll have to set your bone though." She got up from her seat. "I'll get you some anesthesia so you don't feel anything."
Squall looked at the mirror across the room, his lip was still bleeding badly. Kadowaki returned with a towel, and a tank of the anesthetics. "Lay back," she instructed. He did as he was told.
Calmly, she put the anesthesia mask over his face. "I want you to count back from one hundred aloud."
"One hundred, ninety-nine," he was starting to feel drowsy, "ninety-eigh…" his eyes slowly closed. Kadowaki smiled, and put the towel over his face, and began the nerve-racking task of bone setting.
* * *
"Selphie! Open the door!"
"We know you're awake!"
Selphie moaned, and pulled her pillow tight over her head. She didn't want to leave the safety of the hotel room. In there nothing could happen to her. She had already ignored the maids' pleads of her to leave so that she could clean the room. It was now midday and she hadn't even eaten.
"Open up!" Still, she refused to budge.
"We'll break down the door!" Sae yelled.
"But what if we have to pay for it?" Arisu asked.
"We won't, they'd never know it was us!"
"Haha! Yes!"
"Okay, on the count of three." They both back up a few feet, and assumed the position. "One, two….three!"
Just as they were inches away from the door, in opened and Selphie stood there. However, they couldn't stop, and instead took her down with them. "Get off me!" Selphie yelled impatiently.
"Sorry," Arisu said looking at her feet. "We just came to visit you like we promised."
"Where's Renee?" Selphie asked, noticing that only two of them had come.
"She said she had some business to take care of at Garden."
"Oh…"
It was eerily silent, as Selphie went back to her bed. "Come on Selph! Let's go do something fun! How much money do you have?"
"Squall gave me 1,000 gil. I only have seven hundred left."
"ONLY!?" Sae exclaimed. "Let's go shopping! You said that you don't have any clothes left because you left them all on that truck, so we'll buy you an entire wardrobe!"
"And since it's his money, it would be like him buying it for you!"
Selphie's lip started to tremble. "I've ruined his life! He probably hates me now, he probably never wants to see me again!" she said through her tears.
"Good one," Sae said.
"I didn't do it!" Arisu whispered.
"I'm sorry you guys have to see me this way. Why don't you just go back, and do something useful with your time."
"That's it!" Sae yelled.
"Yeah! We're sick of you being so depressing! Let's just go have some fun, kay?"
Selphie just looked at them. She was still wearing the same clothes she had been the day before. Squall's pants, shirt, and hoodie. "I really don't want to go clothes shopping."
"Well, the least you can do is get those washed!" Sae laughed.
"But…they smell like him."
The friends smiled. "Okay, will you at least get something to eat?"
"I'm not hun-"
"That's it! WE'RE TAKING YOU BY FORCE!!" Arisu yelled and grabbed onto one of her arms, and Sae grabbed the other one. With their combined strength, they were just able to drag her out of the room.
* * *
"Hey, doc…is he alright? I heard he was brought here…" Zell was asking a rather tired looking Kadowaki.
"He's sleeping now, the anesthetics are just now wearing off…"
Zell beamed, "Can I wake him up?"
"No! Okay…um…I'm going to pack my bags, go to Balamb and call you from there. Then you can wake him," she said nervously.
"What happened?"
"His left arm is broken, the only casts we had were…pink."
"WHAT!?" Zell covered up his mouth in mock horror, and tried to hold back the laughter that was threatening to escape.
"Yeah…I decided I might as well put it on him while he was still out of it…that way I wouldn't have to fight with him to get him to wear it."
"This is too great. Oh, I wish I had a camera!" Zell snickered as he peeked into the room that Squall inhabited. Sure enough he was sleeping, with a bright pink cast on. "Okay, I won't wake him up. But can I have a Sharpie marker?"
Without thinking, she handed him a black permanent marker, and he disappeared into the room. Trying as hard as he could not to laugh, he began writing random things on Squall's new cast.
'I love hotdogs…' he wrote in big capital letters, then signed it. Next, just for laughs, he began drawing flowers, hearts and other feminine stuff all over it, thus making the already pink cast more girlie. Then, he faced the most difficult task of all. Waiting for Squall to wake up.
Zell was not a patient guy…
Before long it became painful for him to sit still. He had to wake him up! No! He couldn't! He'd just have to wait…waiting sucked…so he began pacing. After the pacing, he started (as Seifer would call it) swatting flies, accidentally knocking over a lamp in the process. Half hoping that this would wake Squall up, he glanced behind him, however the Commander was still fast asleep.
"Damn! I didn't do it!" he whispered loudly. Finally giving up all attempts to be patient, he bounded onto the foot of the bed and jumped. "WAKE UP!!"
Squall's eyelids slowly lifted and his eyes went in and out of focus. "YAY! HE'S ALIVE!!!" Zell leapt off of the bed. "How ya feelin'?" he was within inches it seemed of Squall's face.
The Commander sat up and held his head with his right hand. "Fine…I guess."
"Notice anything…different?"
Still dazed from the anesthesia, he shook his head. "Well, you aren't much fun." Zell concluded. "Alright. Let's get you back to your dorm, you've been taking up the infirmary bed for about two hours now."
As they were walking out of the Infirmary they heard some giggling coming from Irvine's room. Curiously, Zell opened the door. Irvine was lying on his bed without his shirt on and his chest was heavily bandaged. The nurse was bright red, and giggling madly.
"So cutie, how long have you worked here?"
"Oh, this is just sickening…" Zell muttered, but before he shut the door, Irvine noticed them both standing in the doorway. His eyes scanned them before landing on Squall's cast, then he started laughing hysterically. Zell turned around, looked at all of his beautiful artwork then laughed along with him.
"Oh! It's so cute!" Mickayla chuckled. Squall was still oblivious as to everything that was going. Oh boy, Zell couldn't wait until he came to.
"What's so funny?" Kadowaki asked. Zell turned around and beamed at her, that's when she noticed he wasn't alone. "Oh Squall! You're awake!" she exclaimed nervously.
"I was just taking him back to his dorm," Zell announced.
"Sorry, but he should stay here until the anesthetics wear off completely. Besides, I still need to decide what I should do about his lip. When he talks it starts bleeding all over again."
"How long do you think he'll be here then?"
"Two or three more hours," Kadowaki sighed. "If it's really that important to you then I'll sure you know when he's back in his dormitory. Alright?"
Zell nodded then he left the Infirmary, still laughing at the image of Squall.
"Come on, back to your room, Squall…" the doctor said as she ushered him back to the bed. "Get as much rest as you can. Cid's already started planning your detention…"
"Mmm…okay…" he said groggily, collapsing back into the white sheets.
* * *
"So…you really like him, huh?" Arisu asked as she tried for the millionth time to pick up her food with the chopsticks the restaurant had provided. Selphie didn't answer, but instead turned red. The answer was obvious.
"Everything has gone wrong though…"
"Don't blame yourself!" Sae reassured, "Rinoa was just upset. She'll get over it eventually."
"I hate it when we fight…" Selphie said softly as she poked at her steamed rice. "I just hate it when anyone fights."
"I don't blame you," Arisu smiled. "But I guess that's the benefit of not being in Garden at the moment. Something's always happening there!"
Selphie lowered her head and appeared to look more upset. "I still miss it. I wish I could talk to Quisty…"
"Tell ya what, we'll tell her to visit you when she gets the chance. She's been wanting to talk to you anyway," Sae offered happily.
"If it isn't too much trou-" the SeeD was interrupted by a ringing. Sae and Arisu looked at each other.
"Is it me or you?" they asked simultaneously. They then switched their gazes to their cell phones.
"It's me!" Arisu concluded. "I'll be back in a second!"
"Alright. Hurry or your food'll get cold!" Sae yelled after her. The blond waved a hand over her shoulder as she walked off as if to say, 'okay'.
"Hello?" she asked into the receiver once she was in the bathroom.
"Hey, Arisu?"
"Renee!?"
"Uh…yeah…"
"What's up?"
"You and Sae completely missed it! The entire Garden is in an uproar!" she sounded very excited. "What happened!?"
"Squall and Irvine had a fist fight! It was in the boy's dorms, so I didn't exactly see it. But I've heard the stories!"
Arisu gasped, "Oh my Hyne! Are they okay? Who won!?"
"Neither of 'em."
"Huh?"
"Cid stopped 'em b'fore a winner could be determined. But according to the witnesses, Irvine didn't have much of a chance winning against Squall."
"Are they hurt?"
"Oh man! I saw them go into the Infirmary. It looked bad, but nothing too serious.
Arisu let out a sigh of relief, "That's good to hear. But…what about Selphie? She's upset enough as it is."
"You don't have to tell her, but she'll find out once she's back in Garden…"
"Okay, bye. Oh! Wait!
"Huh?"
"How did 'Operation Seifer' go?"
"I'm still working on it." Renee laughed, "You'll be able to see it once you're back."
"Sounds great! Bye!"
"Bye!"
Arisu shook her head and turned her cell phone off.
"Who was it?" Sae asked once her counterpart had sat back down.
"Renee."
"What, what did she say?"
"Uhm…" Arisu bit her lower lip as she thought. "Operation Seifer has been going according to plan!"
"That's great!" Selphie and Sae said together. Selphie now seemed a little cheerful, and Arisu didn't want to do anything that would damage it.
* * *
Zell sat in a slump in his room. Rinoa was sitting on the floor, hugging her knees to her chest. Zell, her new boyfriend, had described in detail the fight between Squall and Irvine. Though she did feel a little guilty, she didn't admit it.
"But, ya know, Rin…I don't think he slept with Selphie…" the blond said slowly. She looked up abruptly, her mouth agape.
"What makes you think he didn't?" she asked haughtily.
"What makes you think he did?" he replied softly.
Rinoa looked beyond angry after that remarked. As a matter of fact, for a second it seemed as if her face would explode, but it went away and she took a deep breath. "You're starting to sound a lot like Quistis…"
"Perhaps," he sighed. "But Squall is my best friend, I've known him longer than most people. He wouldn't say anything versus lying…" Rinoa's face remained stoic. "Besides, Squall and Selphie would be the most unlikely couple imaginable!" he finished with a little chuckle.
Rinoa was searching for something to say that would benefit her, but the telephone rang interrupting her thoughts. Zell put a finger to his mouth signaling Rinoa to be quiet, in case it was someone such as Cid.
"Hello?" he said as casually as he could.
"Zell!" an old voice exclaimed from the other line.
"Mom!?"
At this, Rinoa had to do everything in her power to suppress her giggling. Once again, Zell put a finger to his mouth. "Uh…what's up?"
"I just called to let ya know that I've seen one of your little friends around town."
"Oh…that's nice." Little? They're all at least seventeen! She's making me sound like a child molester.
"What a sweet girl! She dropped by to say hi to us earlier," mom continued.
"Do you know who it was?"
"Oh, what was her name? Sami? Snuffles…? Oh, I can't think of it!"
Suddenly, he knew who she was talking about and before he could stop himself, he blurted, "Selphie!?"
"That's it!" his mom exclaimed, sounding happy. Rinoa on the other hand looked appalled and on the verge of screaming.
"She seems so lonely, Zell. Why don't you come visit her?"
"I…uh…can't…"
"Why not?"
"I'm very busy studying. We have a BIG test on support magic in a few days," he lied.
"But, I thought you weren't taking support magic this semes-"
"You thought wrong, ma. I have to go now. I'm behind in studying. Bye!" As quickly as he could, he slammed the phone down.
"So, what's this about Selphie?" Rinoa asked, trying to stay calm.
"She's been hanging around Balamb, I guess." Still the brunette looked at him doubtfully. "Look, you can choose to believe me or not, but I'm not having an affair with her!" he said angrily.
For a second, they both stared at each other, then her eyes softened and she sighed, "I'm sorry."
Zell shrugged his shoulders, "It's alright. Just don't jump to conclusions next time."
"Yes, Instructor Trepe," she said and stuck her tongue out. Zell laughed and tickled her.
"Don't stick your tongue out at me again," he winked.
* * *
"KADOWAKI! WE NEED BACKUP!" the assistant cried from within one of the recovery rooms. The sudden shriek surprised the doctor and she spilled her hot coffee down the front of her white lab coat. She jumped up out of her seat and held the steaming hot fabric away from her skin.
"Yes, Mickayla? What is it?" she asked as she did her best to wipe the hot liquid off with a towel.
"It's Squall! The anesthesia has worn off!"
Kadowaki's eyes got huge and she scrambled into his room. He was pacing, and looked infuriated. Under his breath, she could make out, "I'm gonna kill Irvine…"
"Squall calm down!" she said, desperately holding him back. His cold eyes turned toward her, then she realized that she wasn't very high on his list of people he liked at the moment. After all, it had been her that actually put the pink cast on him. No matter how much both she and Mickayla struggled to keep him back, he made it into Irvine's room without much difficulty.
"Prepare to die, Kinneas!" he yelled angrily.
Irvine, who had been sleeping at this time, opened a single eye to look at his attacker. "Finally all there? Do you like your new pink cast?" he sniggered.
"This pink cast is going to beat the hell out of you!" Squall roared, and then ran forward. Kadowaki gasped and lunged forward as well, but wasn't able to grab Squall. Instead, she crashed to the ground with an unmistakable thud. Eagerly, Mickayla helped her up.
"Take…that…you…prick!" the Commander yelled as he beat Irvine over the head with his cast.
"Squall! Stop it!" Kadowaki yelled. However, he continued to beat the cowboy senseless. The doctor was running out of options, she knew that she probably wouldn't be able to pull them apart, especially while Squall's adrenaline was pumping. So, she pulled out a syringe filled with a tranquilizer from her lab coat and managed to inject it into Squall's right shoulder.
The shock of actually being stabbed with a needle alone made Squall stop hitting Irvine, but it took a while for the tranquilizer to actually kick in and he collapsed. Sighing, Kadowaki shook her head. The Commander lay in a heap on the floor, looking quite pitiful. Mickayla had automatically run to Irvine, who was once again, bleeding from his nose.
"I'm going to need help carrying him back to his room…" Kadowaki said as she looked at him. Because of all his yelling, his lip had begun bleeding. "Mickayla, help me carry him, and help me find something that will cover the cut on his lip."
Momentarily, the assistant looked upset about leaving Irvine, but did help the doctor. Kadowaki carried him by the shoulders, and Mickayla held on to his feet as they transported him from Irvine's room into his own bed. Mickayla wiped her brow, and then walked to the other side of the room. "How long will it take for the tranquilizer to wear off?" she sighed as she rummaged through some drawers, looking for some sort of bandage.
"I'd say at least an hour," the doctor said slowly. "If he keeps this behavior up, he won't have to serve detention tonight… Cid will think of a worse punishment."
The redhead sighed and walked back to the bed, handing Kadowaki a small butterfly bandage. "Will this work?" The older woman nodded and applied the bandage to his lip.
"That should help," she said, then stood up and walked to her desk.
"Um…what about Mr. Kinneas' nosebleed?" Mickayla inquired.
"It's just a nosebleed, it'll stop on its own. If you'd like, you can give him a towel to absorb some of the blood in."
Mickayla nodded and headed back to his recovery room. Kadowaki on the other hand picked up the phone and dialed Cid's number. "Cid? Yes, this is Dr. Kadowaki. I was calling to inform you that Commander Leonhart will not be able to serve his detention tonight. Irvine on the other hand is fine and ready to be released at anytime."
"Oh. What's the damage?" the Headmaster asked.
"Squall has a cut lip and a broken arm, Irvine has quite a few broken ribs and a bloody nose. So, don't be too harsh on them as far as punishment goes."
"That's unfortunate…" Cid admitted.
"Yes, Squall's arm shouldn't be too much of a burden, but Irvine's ribs will be sore for quite some time…"
"I understand. I'll send a representative from the disciplinary committee over to pick Irvine up as soon as I get the chance."
"Okay, I'll have him ready to leave then. Bye."
"Bye."
Dr. Kadowaki began tapping her lip in thought. Seifer was the only disciplinary committee member left, and he would be absolutely merciless. She wondered whether or not he deserved that kind of punishment. But then again, she trusted Cid's decision and would not go against orders.
She stood and walked through the doorway into Irvine's room. Once again, Mickayla was giggling as the cowboy flirted continuously. "Alright Mr. Kinneas, get up. Time for you to do your time."
"What? B-But…I'm still injured…"
"You'll live. You aren't hurt that badly, if you were then I wouldn't allow him to take you, now would I?"
Irvine continued to stutter and argue, but it was all in vain. Before long, he was sitting in one of the chairs in front of Kadowaki's desk, waiting for whoever was supposed to get him to get there. Time seemed to slow down tremendously. Finally, he heard someone approach. He looked up to see a swish of gray, and a scarred face peering down at him evilly.
"Ooohhh…aren't we going to have fun," Seifer smiled deviously. Irvine's eyes grew to at least twice their original size as Seifer lifted him up from his seat by his collar and dragged him from the Infirmary. Kadowaki watched them go, hoping that Seifer wouldn't give him too hard of a time.
* * *
Tiredly, Selphie sat on a street curb. She had long since run out of things to do around the town. She had been to the Dincht's house to visit and that lasted a few hours. Then, she had gone to every shop in the city, just to browse. She even talked to the storeowners. At this point, she was so bored, she was contemplating whether or not she should leave the town to train.
"Bleh! Why would I want to train? I've never wanted to before," she said to herself. Absentmindedly, she picked up a rock and threw it down an alley. It ricocheted off of a trashcan and she heard the automatic cry of a cat. Hugging her legs to her chest, she began drawing in the dirt with a stick.
"I only have one more day I have to be here…" she said to herself optimistically. "Then I get to go back to Garden…where I'll eventually have to confront Squall again." Selphie sighed and threw the stick down. "It's so pathetic. I've started talking to myself. Wonder what the locals think of me…"
In response to this, she saw a woman walk past her, with a look of worry on her face. At this, Selphie couldn't help but smile. Wearily, she got up, "I should probably go back to the hotel. I have nothing else to do here. Maybe there's something on television…" she thought out loud to herself.
As she walked, she heard a man yell, "Get out of here ya flea-bitten mutt! We don't need ya in here slobberin' all over our meat!" She turned just in time to see a round man chase a dirty yellow dog out of the back of his butcher shop. The dog had its tail between its legs, and its ears were low as it ran from the shop. The man shook his fist at the dog a few more times, swearing loudly before slamming the door shut.
The dog stared longingly at the door for a few moments before walking off in the same direction as Selphie. The tiny brunette bent down and scratched his ears. "Ooh, you poor thing. Are you messing things up for other people too?" The dog looked back at her, his eyes full of the same sadness as hers had been. "You know what, you're going to come with me and keep me company."
At this, the dog seemed to brighten up, almost as if he understood her. He began wagging his tail, happily. "All I have to do is find a way to sneak you in to the hotel," she pondered. But how will I do that?"
The dog panted excitedly, and sat down next to her leg. " I have it!" she snapped her finger. "Follow me, boy!"
They both ran down the streets of Balamb until she was finally in front of the Dincht's house again. Politely, she knocked on the door. Mrs. Dincht slowly opened the door, when she saw it was Selphie she opened it all the way and exclaimed, "Sophie! So glad to see you again, dear!"
"Um…it's Selphie…" she smiled weakly as the woman brought her into a tight embrace. When she finally released her, Selphie was struggling for her breath. "Sorry to intrude on you, but I was hoping you could lend me a hand."
"Sure thing, hun. What do you need?"
"Can I borrow a suitcase? A REALLY big one? I'll bring it back as soon as I can!"
Looking slightly confused as to why she needed a suitcase, Mrs. Dincht nodded and stepped away from the door. "Come on in while I get it."
Selphie looked behind her at her new companion sitting on the step. "That's alright, I'm fine where I am." She didn't want to leave him out there all alone. It wasn't long before Zell's mom returned with a gigantic suitcase. Quickly, Selphie compared the suitcase's size to the size of the dog and estimated that the dog could most likely fit in there, though not very comfortably.
"Thank you so much, Mrs. Dincht!" she bowed deeply and walked back to the street. "Oh, and if you talk to Zell before I do, tell him I said hi!" The woman waved goodbye as she watched Selphie run down the street with the suitcase and the mangy dog following behind.
When they were outside the Balamb hotel, she unzipped the suitcase and patted the inside, motioning the dog to get into it. The dog did as it was signaled, "Okay…um…lay!" much to her surprise, the dog obeyed. Beaming, she knelt down so that she was at eye level. "And be as quiet as possible!" Hurriedly, she zipped the suitcase back up and started to try and carry it inside.
"Do you need help with you luggage miss?" the woman at the counter asked.
"Yes! That would be great!"
A bellhop stepped forward and took the suitcase from Selphie. As they were walking up the stairs to her room, he asked, "What do you have in here? It weighs a ton!"
"Um…" she desperately racked her mind for anything heavy, "Rocks!"
"Rocks? Why rocks?"
"Um…souvenirs from my trip to Balamb?"
"I'm sure you could have found something much…lighter…and more interesting than rocks."
"Nah!" she said shaking her head.
Finally they reached her room and the bellhop dropped the suitcase and a yelp came from within. Crap! We'll be caught for sure! Selphie thought.
"What was that!?" the man asked, looking suspiciously at the baggage.
"Um…I have a rubber duckie in there too."
"Wh-?" But before he could say much more, she pressed a ten gil note into his palm.
"Thanks for your help!" she said happily. When the money touched his hand he seemed to have forgotten the fact that her suitcase was making suspicious noises and skipped merrily down the stairs. Once she was certain that he was out of hearing range, she unlocked the door and dragged, more than carried, the suitcase in. Quietly, she shut the door and unzipped the suitcase.
Immediately the dog leapt out and started running around wildly. "Shh! Quiet!" Selphie whispered harshly as she sat down on the bed. The dog walked over to where she sat and sat down in front of her, panting and wagging his tail. "Oh, you're so sweet!" she squealed. She bent forward and hugged the dog, then she became aware of just exactly how dirty he was.
"Wow! You smell!" the SeeD said, plugging her nose. "You need a bath!" Now feeling happier about her current situation, Selphie stood up and opened the bathroom door. The dog ran in, unaware of what the tiny girl had planned.
* * *
Irvine followed sulkily behind Seifer, feeling like a convict walking down death row to be executed. He had no idea what Seifer had planned for him, and he was too afraid to ask. Hell, he was too afraid to think of all the things that his elder could put him through.
It wasn't long before the two reached their destination. It was the Training Center. That's a relief, Irvine innerly sighed, if it's just training then it shouldn't be too bad. He looked around to examine the present situation. There were four other kids there for detention as well; all of them were junior classmen though. Irvine was the only SeeD.
"Alright, I brought our target holder!" Seifer yelled.
"What!?" Irvine yelled.
"These kids are in detention, they're punishment is that they have to practice their aim with magic."
"What kind of magic, because if it's support magic then…"
"Oh no, it's not support magic," Seifer smiled. Irvine stared back at him, his mouth agape in pure horror. Still smiling wickedly, Seifer shoved the target into the cowboy's stomach and motioned for him to back up. "Okay. Which one of you is going first?" he asked the group of friends.
Each and every one of the kids exchanged anxious glances. It was apparent none of them wanted to go. "Okay, fine. You," Seifer pointed to a short girl wearing a pink bandana, "You can go first."
Looking very timid, she glanced up at her tall superior. "I don't have any magic junctioned…" she admitted.
"I'll supply you with magic," he said to her, and then looking to the rest of them he stated, "Fire is one of the most basic forms of magic. You will be practicing with this spell tonight."
All the color seemed to drain from Irvine's face and he dropped the target, which landed precisely on his toe. "You might want to hold onto that," Seifer laughed, "Otherwise you definitely will be hit by a spell."
"Damn, I should have junctioned magic today. I didn't think I'd need it!" Irvine mumbled to himself, but it was loud enough for everyone to hear.
"Did you hear that kids?" Seifer cooed, "Let this be a lesson for everyone. You never know when you will need your magic, therefore you should always have support magic junctioned, as well as defensive magic."
The cowboy scowled at his rival and picked the target back up. The little girl stepped up to a line that had been made with red tape and grimaced as she concentrated. "Um…just a warning, sir; I have really bad aim."
Seifer smiled again, this would be a very fun night.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Guess what everyone? WE'RE FINALLY FINISHED WITH THIS CHAPTER! YAY! And we thought it couldn't be done! But, ah! Nonetheless, we managed it. ^o^ So, hopefully you are just as happy as we are. The next chapter should be up soon. (We don't mean soon as in immediate, if you've noticed we aren't very fast at updating ^o^;;) But it shouldn't take us as long as it took us to post this chapter.
P.S. Keep in mind that this isn't the only other story we're working on! We try to rotate between stories to work with!
And if there were spelling or grammar errors, we apologize. We couldn't remember if we fixed them all or not.