It was a beautiful night, and as always, the Disciplinary Committee chose to stand near the balcony and they watched the dances in utter silence. The music did little for them in the ways of ‘having fun’. They could find fun simply by arresting another student. But tonight, everyone was happy. No one seemed to go out of their way to disappoint anyone. Therefor, the ‘beloved’ committee had nothing to do. But stand. And stare. And maybe even marvel.

"This is boring, ya know."

"SEIFER GONE."

"Where’d he go?"

"…"

"Come on! I know you know, ya know!"

"…"

"Come on! Pleeeeeeeeeease?!"

"RINOA."

"Did he really?"

"AFFIRMATIVE."

"But, like, he’s never left us for…"

"…"

"…"

"RINOA."

"What’s gonna happen now?"

"DUNNO."

"Hey! It’s our song, ya know! Our song’s playin!"

"NEGATIVE."

"Whad’ya mean?"

"SEIFER’S SONG."

"But…he’s part of us too…"

"NO. SEIFER, RINOA. LISTEN."

"Nah. He’d never leave us for that-"

Kick.

"Ow! Whad’ya do that for?!"

"SILENCE."

****

Fujin sighed and blew a wisp or silver hair out of her face. Seifer wasn’t here. Seifer wasn’t outside. Seifer wasn’t in his room. Seifer wasn’t anywhere. According to Rinoa at least.

"So, do you guys know where he might have gone?"

"Like, you told us that he was goin’ to get ya something to eat, ya know."

"AFFIRMATIVE."

"Yeah, but I guess I got tired of waiting, so I went to play a game, and when I got back, he was gone."

"Well ya shouldn’t have gotten all bored and, like, left him, ya know."

"I couldn’t help in! I had been waiting more than a minute and a half!"

Fujin tried not to pay attention to Seifer’s girlfriend. Truly, it was her that deserved to be loved. Not Rinoa. Rinoa had millions of friends. Fujin had two. And sometimes they could be so distant that Fujin could even count them as none. She watched the dance-floor with wandering eyes. And out of nowhere, she saw him. Squall. Alone. Dressed up. This would be perfect.

"IDEA."

"What is it, Fujin?"

"RINOA. FIND SEIFER DANCE."

"Huh?"

"I believe she thinks that if you wait on the dance-floor, he will find ya, ya know."

Rinoa’s eyes lit up.

"WOW! FUJIN, YOU’RE AMAZING! NO, YOU’RE BRILIANT! For a Gothy anyway!"

A smug smirk crossed Fujin’s face as she watched Rinoa skip out to the dance-floor. Amazing, yes. Brilliant, yes. Gothic…never!

Raijin laughed as he watched Rinoa make a fool of herself by just standing there and giving a flirtatious look to every teenage boy that swept past her. He turned around to see Seifer unnoticed by Fujin. He stood behind her and when Raijin saw him, he made a gesturing head-cock towards Fujin and winked. Raijin nodded without letting Fujin see and left for his dorm.

Fujin felt a soft hand clamp down on her shoulder.

"So you got rid of her for me, eh?"

"Whatever you would call it…where did you come from?"

"I was stopped by Cid. Apparently, there are no drinks allowed in this area."

"…Oh."

"Hey, I have an idea."

"What is it?"

"Maybe you could pass SeeD for all three of us."

"No. You are the one who truly wanted to be in SeeD. Remember? We agreed that only one of us would make it. So that we didn’t get separated on missions."

"I know. I was only kidding."

Seifer turned her around and looked her in the eye. It was clear that he was tired, maybe even depressed about something. Normally, it would be normal for him to act this way after an exam. Fujin guessed that he was trying to hide it because they were at the Garden Festival. So she didn’t even try to make him feel anything but what he was feeling now. He would have to learn how to give self-confidence to himself instead of getting other people to admit that he was top-notch. And she would also normally stick to her word. But this time she didn’t.

"I’m really sorry you didn’t pass the SeeD test."

Seifer closed his eyes and shook his head. His golden hair shined in the well-lit area.

"No, Fuu. It’s not your fault."

Fujin was silent. This was one thing she couldn’t patch up.

****

"DIABLOS! GO FORTH!"

Fujin bit her lip hard, but bore the pain of the GF. Her own GF, Pandemona, had been taken during the battle in Balamb Hotel, leaving her only with her magic. But even though she was GF-less, had home or money, and had been suffering Hell on Earth for the past few months, she had to keep fighting. Once the spell was over, she looked over to a fallen Raijin. He was barely still breathing. She knew an Elixir would fix him, right up, but she had none. Oh well. She would still have plenty of healing magic once this was over.

She wiped the blood from her chin and continued fighting. She had one last Meteor spell which she would put to good use, or else she would be as good as dead.

"METEOR!"

She watched wearily as Squall and his two friends were sucked into the void as she could hear screams of pain and agony. Then the void spat them back out. One was still very well. Squall.

He walked up to her and raised his gunblade. She was but an injured bird, defenseless against it’s prey.

"Kill me," she whispered. "But please, don’t kill Seifer. He has so much to live for. He just doesn’t realize it they way we do."

Her head dropped low, but Squall managed to lift it so that she would look into his eyes.

"I intend on killing no one. But I will if I have to."

As Fujin glanced around the group, she saw that all of them had the same looks on their faces. Rinoa seemed more human than Fujin had ever seem her. In fact, she looked almost like she would reach out a hand of helping to her former lover’s friend. Even Zell looked as if he would give her a comforting hug and let her cry while she relaxed herself if she would only ask. But that wasn’t like her to accept such kindness. And besides, Fujin never cried. She was about to say something when she spit up a mouthful of black blood. Zell cringed as she collapsed to the hard rock ground.

"Are you sure you’ll be alright?"

Fujin nodded weakly.

"I’ll be fine. Just as long as I can find a way to heal myself."

She coughed some more and wheezed in a breath.

"You…better be going."

Squall nodded and turned to go, motioning for Rinoa and Zell to follow him. Fujin watched as they disappeared from sight.

As Squall walked, he though, ‘Who could believe in such a song and be hated?’

****

Where was Seifer? He had to be here! He had to at least be on his way. She was getting weak. There were cuts and gashes all over her body. She had taken every hit, and not given any in return. She was beginning to think that she wouldn’t last. She was all by herself, without Seifer or Raijin at her aid. As she looked around, she realized that she was surrounded by monsters. Mostly Hexadragons and Jelleyes. She spotted a Behemoth a few meters away. She also saw a Granaldo several dozen meters away.

She couldn’t take this much longer or she would for sure die.

She hated Centra. Due to the Lunar cry years ago, it had at least a few of every species of monster. But some of them liked to migrate to other parts of the world.

She felt another monster stab her leg. She hissed in pain, but took the blow. She knew it had always been Seifer’s dream to be strong. No, to be the strongest. That is why he had requested this favor that she might group together these monsters for him to kill. And so she did.

She was cut off when the Granaldo hit her hard across the jaw and she went flying. She hit the crumbling orphanage hard.

Suddenly, a voice was heard above the hissing of the monsters.

"FUJIN!"

Next there was the agonizing cry of the monsters. She knew someone was there.

"Fujin…no…please no…"

She recognized the voice as Seifer’s.

"Ughhhhh…"

She moaned in pain. Fresh blood dribbled out of her mouth. Seifer felt tears swell p in his eyes as he looked at her, more dead than alive. He ripped a corner off of his coat and began to wipe the blood from her lips. Soon he tore off another corner and began to wipe her face with it.

"Ohhhh…"

Seifer bit his lip. He could feel the tears coming. But he would not cry. Not in front of his two best friends. Not even when one of them was having a very close brush with death.

Fujin coughed and cringed as Seifer ran his warm fingers over a large cut that ran down her face.

"Seifer…?"

Seifer’s mouth dropped open.

"Fujin…you-"

"Don’t worry. I’ll be alright."

Seifer smiled widely and let the tears stream down his face as he threw his arms around her and hugged her tightly against his chest. She smiled.

"Oh Fujin…I am so glad. I though…when Raijin told me you were…I though I was gonna lose you."

He cried into her shoulder. And she let him. It was a rare occasion to see Seifer cry. In fact, she hadn’t seen him do that since his fourth birthday at her orphanage home, the White SeeD Ship.

"Lord, Fujin…why did you scare me like that…?"

Fujin sighed.

"Because you wanted to kill them yourself."

Seifer lifted his head and his wet, blue eyes gazed into her amber one.

"Oh god…please forgive me, Fujin."

She did not respond. She didn’t know how. Instead, she threw her arms around him and buried her face in his shoulder.

"I forgive you." She said after moments.

Tears hung in her voice as well. She wasn’t afraid to let him know. Because she truly did love him. It was an emotion she had been trying to release for quite some time now. But she had been too afraid. Afraid that he would reject her. Afraid that others might find out about it and she would be even more cast out than before.

He closed his eyes and he stroked her silver hair. This was what she wanted, he was sure of it. So he hugged her close. So close he could feel her heart beating against his chest. He loved it when she acted fragile like this. Although the only other time had been when she was wounded and couldn’t spare extra energy. He remembered her looking up at him from the Infirmary bed like that and nodding him off that she would be just fine. Reluctantly, he left and she went to sleep. She was back in class the next day. She needed someone to look after her. Like a knight. Like him. But he needed her too.

Fujin smiled through her pain. She loved this new side of him that he was exposing. If she had known he had this ever-so-soft hearted part in him, she would have told him her true feelings long ago. But she hadn’t. She wondered what he though about her. She felt so small compared to him. Almost like a small child. She relaxed in his arms and looked into his eyes.

She felt so small to him. Almost like a small child. She looked so vulnerable, so fragile. He had never seen this side of her before. If he had, he would have told her his true feelings long ago. But he hadn’t.

"Seifer…" she whispered.

"Yes?"

There was silence for a moment, before Fujin broke it.

"What are you feeling right now?"

Seifer lowered his head and looked into her eyes. He brushed some hair out of her face and wiped away her tears.

"Words cannot explain how I feel. But if you want to know, I feel much relief."

"Were you scared?"

"Very. I was very much afraid that you would die before I could get to you. I thought you would be gone forever. I felt as if your death would mean the end. I am so glad I found you."

"Please, tell me more…"

Seifer smiled softly and moved closer to her, so that the tip of his nose touched hers. He kissed her softly and slowly, as though trying to savor it. After a few moments, he drew back, waiting for a response.

And it came.

****

Raijin watched his two friends, soaked in the moonlight. Or maybe it was something else. Because as he looked closely, he could just make out a thin, gold layer or aura that surrounded them. The kind that would surround two lovers when they were forever united.

The End

How’d you like it? I think this was definitely one of my better works. I have never written a romance scene so well! ^_^ Btw, when Squall referred to that song, he was referring to Eyes On Me in case you didn’t know! Anyway, I hope you look forward to reading my next fanfics soon to come!

Catesith18