by Haruka

"How long are we supposed to wait?" Zell complained, bouncing around on the balls of his feet, feigning punches at imaginary foes.
"Yeah, Selphie, I think we should put time limits on future dares," Rinoa said as she squatted in front of the bowl of chips. "Irvine could be carved into Pinwheel mincemeat by now or been blown away by an Aero attack. We could be sitting here all night waiting."
"I'm sure Irvine would be touched by your tender remarks over his passing," Squall said dryly.
Rinoa threw a chip at him. "Irvine is too lucky to die. He might be laying somewhere wounded, though."
"And you still sound brokenhearted."
"It _has_ been a long time." Selphie sighed.
The door opened and Irvine stumbled in. He turned to give Raijin a dirty look for shoving him but was booted in the rear by Fujin instead. He fell flat on his face.
Zell burst out laughing at the spectacle while Seifer entered behind his co-horts.
"I gather he got caught?" Squall said.
"Did you seriously think he wouldn't?" Seifer sneered. "He's just fortunate that he didn't kill her."
"RAGE!" Fujin yelled and aimed another kick at Irvine, who rolled out of reach and hid behind Selphie.
"I guess the game's over already," she said, sounding disappointed.
"Yeah, are we all on report now?" Rinoa brushed chips off her lap.
"Actually, no," Seifer said casually. "I've decided to join your little game instead."
"No way!" Zell protested. "There's gotta be a catch!"
"Only that if we _can't_ join you, then you'll all be in the Discipline Room from now until the end of the semester."
"That's a long time, ya know," Raijin added.
"I think it would be fun," Rinoa said.
"Me too!" Selphie bobbed her head. "The more the merrier!"
"I don't know," Zell grumbled. "The Discipline Room looks good by comparison."
"Be quiet, Chicken Wuss," Seifer replied.
"WHY, YOU-!!" Zell turned toward the taller boy, fists raised.
"Behave yourselves, both of you, or you can't play," Selphie warned. "Sit down, everyone."
Zell gave Seifer a final glare and dropped onto the floor cross-legged. Seifer lowered himself to the ground gracefully while Fujin and Raijin took seats on either side of him like the good sentries they were.
"Irvine, I guess you're out of the game, " Selphie said with regret. "You didn't succeed in your dare."
"Oh, but I did!" he answered, blue-green eyes dancing. He pulled out the eyepatch and presented it to her with a flourish.
"But ...." Selphie looked from the patch in her hand to the one that Fujin was wearing.
"SPARE," the white-haired girl said, touching the eyepatch on her face.
"Oh!" Selphie looked at the one she held and noticed the strap was cut. "How did this happen?"
"You don't want to know," Irvine said sheepishly. "But I got it, so it counts, right?"
"Sure!" she told him. "And that means it's your turn to ask a question now." She looked at the newcomers. "You guys all know how to play?"
"Irvine explained the rules on the way here, ya know?" Raijin answered.
"Okay, then go ahead, Irvine!" Selphie said. "But you can't ask Zell because he was the one who asked you last."
Seifer gave Zell a look. "YOU were the one who dared him to get Fujin's eyepatch? Why am I not surprised?"
"Hey, it was a good dare!" Zell said defensively. "They're not supposed to be easy!"
"Are they supposed to be stupid?"
"Seifer," Rinoa said in a warning tone.
"Okay, enough everybody, you heard the lady - it's my turn," Irvine said. He looked thoughtfully over at the heavily-muscled young man on Seifer's left. "Okay, I've got a question for Raijin."
"Me?"
"Yes, you." Irvine sat back and pulled his hat down slightly. "You're a big strong strapping guy - I just wondered if you ever had a girlfriend or boyfriend. Never seen you with anyone but Fujin."
"NOT!" Fujin said vehemently.
Raijin blushed slightly. "Yeah, she's right, we ain't a couple."
"Heck, I know that, man!" Irvine laughed. "I'm just asking if there ever _was_ someone you cared about that way."
"Well ...." Raijin's blush deepened and he smiled, looking down and adjusting his wristwrap, "there was a girl who sorta liked me, ya know? We were friends, but she wanted to be more, I could tell."
"So why didn't anything develop?" Rinoa asked.
"She was scared of Fujin." Raijin grinned.
"Fujin, did you frighten away Raijin's chance for romance?" Selphie asked.
"AIRHEAD," Fujin stated.
"Sounds like a perfect match to me," Zell murmured to Squall.
"I guess she sorta was a dim bulb," Raijin agreed. "And I wasn't as interested in her as she was me, ya know?"
"Does she go to this school?" Rinoa asked.
"That's another question, I don't gotta answer that one, ya know," Raijin said smugly. "My turn now, right?"
"Yep, you answered, so it's your turn, but you can't ask Irvine," Selphie instructed.
"Okay," Raijin said. "It's something I wanna ask Squall, anyway."
"Must you?" Squall said.
"It's my turn and I can ask you, ya know," Raijin told him firmly. "I wanna know if you hate Seifer."

End of Chapter 3

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

This fanfic is for your private reading enjoyment only. Do not repost it on the internet in any form or otherwise distribute it.