by Haruka

What was I thinking? Irvine wondered as he crept through the silent Balamb Garden hallways. How am I supposed to get hold of Fujin's eyepatch? She never takes it off in public. Besides, if I approach her now, she'll bust me for breaking curfew!
Still, a dare is a dare, and he wasn't going to cop out on the very first dare of the game. There was probably a very easy way to accomplish this task ....
Footsteps! Irvine ducked around a corner and listened as two people came down the corridor. He could hear heavy steps and lighter ones, both methodical and determined. They could only be Fujin and Raijin - Seifer's henchmen, members of the Disciplinary Committee.
"Here's my chance," Irvine murmured. A little nagging voice told him it would be his chance to die if he was unsuccessful. In fact, she'd kill him if he _was_ successful and she caught him. Irvine shrugged. Since he was going to die either way, he figured he'd at least be sure he completed the dare.
And he knew only one way to do that.
He flattened himself against the wall and watched them pass by, then drew out his rifle. His skill was as a sharpshooter, but even he had never tried anything _this_ precise. If he missed, he'd alert the pair and bring both their wrath down on him.
Or he'd kill Fujin.
Well, if that happened, someone in the Garden was bound to possess a Phoenix Down, right? He hoped so, anyway.
Pushing his hat back, Irvine raised the rifle. This was no time to doubt himself. This was the time to pull off his best shot ever. He eyed down the rifle sight and squeezed the trigger.
The eyepatch strap snapped as the bullet cut through it, leaving not a single hair disturbed. Irvine didn't have time to celebrate - Fujin was covering her eye with her hand, but Raijin had his weapon drawn and was looking for the one responsible.
Unfortunately, being the only sharpshooter in the Garden narrowed down the suspects somewhat.
"Irvine Kinneas, I'm gonna kill you!" the very large young man shouted, turning left and right.
"What's going on?" came a smooth male voice from around a corner. As soon as blonde, handsome, Seifer Almasy saw his second-in-command covering her eye, his own ice blue eyes glinted. "Raijin, who hurt her?"
"She ain't hurt, you know," his friend replied grimly. "But she coulda been."
Fujin produced another eyepatch and turned away to pull it on. When she turned back, she pulled out her weapon and pointed straight at Irvine's hiding place.
"THERE," she said dangerously.
Seifer raised his hand, which began to glow with orange flame. Irvine knew he'd be toast if he didn't do something. He stepped our into the open, holding up his hands. "Don't fry me, Seifer, I surrender!"
Seifer gave a short laugh. "You think _that_ will save you after you tried to kill Fujin?"
Irvine lowered his hands and put them on his hips. "Oh, _please_! I'm a skilled marksman - if I wanted her dead, she'd have been dead."
"So what were you doing then?!" Seifer yelled.
"I ... uh ... wanted that." He pointed at the eyepatch on the floor.
The three Disciplinary Committee members looked down at it, then back at him.
"NUT," Fujin snapped.
"Idiot," Raijin agreed.
"Moron," Seifer growled.
"Heh heh," Irvine played with his long ponytail, running his fingers through it over and over. "So, ah, can we forget this ever happened and get on with our lives?"
Okay, so it was a feeble hope.
Seifer crouched down and picked up the eyepatch. "What the hell did you want this for, anyway? Just to see what was underneath?"
"Not at all," Irvine said. "I sorta promised I'd get it ... on a dare."
The three of them exchanged looks and Seifer gave Irvine a smug smile, dangling the eyepatch in front of him. "Maybe you'd better give details, cowboy, and we'll see if we can cut a deal."

End of part 2

Story contents (c) 2000 Tenou Haruka No characters here are mine. Comments welcome at: [email protected]

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