Harmony of Wind and Ice~
By: Renoa Heartilly
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Overture~

It was a cold day of fall when the annoying sound of the dorm room intercom started beeping. 

*click* Squall, commander Squall Leonhart, are you awake? *click* come in Squall, are you awake? *click* 

A sleepy head dipped between the covers trying to ignore the call, but a few moments later the brown head poked out and one long thin finger pressed the button.
“Yeah, I’m awake” Squall rubbed his eyes and brushed back bed hair out of his eyes.  
“Oh good” came Cid Kramer’s voice “come to the bridge ASAP”
“Yes sir” *beep* finally, I can get some sleep.. Thought the brunet before pulling the blankets over his head again. 

….
…….
………….!!!

“COME TO THE BRIDGE?” he shot up from his bed and stumbled into the bathroom to take a shower, through the cold water he brushed his teeth quickly to save more time. 
Squall cursed quietly when his belt refused to close properly and groaned loudly when he realized that his shirt was completely backwards. After fifteen minutes he was out of the dorms and into the elevator, squeezing his eyes and trying to brush away wet hair from dipping into his eyes. 

“Ah, Leonhart” greeted Cid, he looked exhausted himself. 
“Sir” the commander nodded. 
“You have a top secret mission” he rubbed his forehead tiredly then asked “did any body see you?” 
“I don’t think so” the young commander answered, cursing the day he became a hero, ever since the time compression mission, he became Cid’s favorite SeeD. 
“good, you have decided to take a vacation to Centra, you went out camping and spending sometime with your self” he lectured, partly expecting the look on Squall’s face “this is where you are supposed to be, your mission is written here” then he handed a paper to the sleepy commander. 

~Project GF~

     SeeD cadet ‘Commander Squall Leonhart’ you are to go on a secret mission to the Fredrick’s mansion located on the outskirts of Dollet City. You are to inform Sir Gregory Fredrick of your mission and return him back to headquarters unseen. 

             End of mission briefing. ~  

“GF?” 
“Yes, Gregory Fredrick, do you have any questions?” Cid fixed his glasses. 
“Questions? I don’t have any say in whether or not I wanted this mission?”
“No, you are the only one who can do it, now are there any questions?” 
“Yes” he gave up hope on a quiet night for once “when do I leave?” 
“You leave right now” 
“Now? It’s three in the morning!” 
“You will be back before sunrise, mind you” 
“Yes sir.” 
“Take one of Garden’s cars, it will be much easier, you do have a license don’t you commander?” thin brown brows knotted in dignity. 
“I’m twenty; of course I have a driver’s license” 
“Good luck, you are dismissed” 

And so, our favorite brunet was left alone to kick on the wall in frustration. 

“friggin’ missions, frickin’ Garden, cant have one quiet night alone, stupid crappy Rinoa, couldn’t keep the radio down, dim-witted Zell-wuss birthday boy.. So what if you’re twenty? Its not like you’re the king of the world.. GF my foot..” the car’s door slammed close and the hissing sound of engine overcame the cursing and groaning. Luckily, through the past two years, Balamb had built a driving passageway along with the underwater tube of the train, now people can drive to Dollet. 

“Couldn’t he just wait until I’ve had enough sleep? What if I have an accident and die? No wait, I’m alone in an underwater road, I can *never* have an accident here!” then he thought about the mission again “why on earth am I going to wake a man just to tell him about my mission? And why on earth would I bring him to Garden? Cant he just go there on his own?” halfway to the city “this mission thing sucks, why can’t we just go and kill a sorceress or two and come back home safe and sound?” why is he going to this mission alone? Why *him*? Why not Seifer? Why not Nida? Why not Xu? 

Speaking about Seifer, he had been allowed back into Garden, because of Edea of course, she kept nagging on Cid that Seifer was always a good boy and that what happened was none of his fault. It wasn’t true and we all knew it, but Cid always had a soft spot for his beautiful wife, who would say no anyway? None of us wanted to get his ass fried. Of course, his two and only friends tagged along, Raijin Hefty is bigger and more stupid, though he’s twenty-one and was supposed to mature, but who’s keeping track? Fujin Kazeno is as old as any of other guys, she was twenty and the three of them made a strong patch of SeeD cadets. 

Squall was at Dollet by the time his thoughts had trailed away. He drove to a coffee shop but then remembered the word ‘unseen’ at the mission description so he decided that the day couldn’t get any worse. No sleep, No coffee, and no aspirin either.. 

Life sucks.. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter one: 
     Prelude to insanity~ 
A/N: wee~ I started another new fic that I don’t know where it’s going! *pout* is that god or bad? 
Disclaimer: if I owned FF8, not square soft, would I be sitting on this normal chair in front of my normal computer writing normal fanfiction? Hell no! I’d be going out with Nomura and Squall to the amusement park!

~~~~~~~~

The mansion was as big as Garden it self. I can’t believe that only one man lives here, I wonder is he’s married, I mean, I’ve never heard of the guy before, what's so important about him anyway? 

I sneaked through the gates quietly and I must say that I was shocked, the dogs were asleep! Bah, what kind of watch dogs are these? I walked slowly hoping that the soft sound of crunching grass beneath my shoes wouldn’t wake them up, after all, I love my pants and I treasure what's inside it and I don’t think getting teeth marks there will be nice. 

Now for the real mission, how am I going to get there? I should have asked Cid for a map.. Hmm.. I lift my head up and watched the windows; one particular window got my attention, it had this weak light on, like a reading lamp or something, so I decided to check it out. It was on the ground floor so no trouble there, for my surprise, the windows were open! Just as easy as that? Are they expecting me or is it just coincidences? 

I pressed my self to the wall and sharpened my hearing, I heard soft voices, but they weren’t saying anything understandable, I took a risk and peered in. 

The room was big and lush with silken curtains and a big velvety-like sofa. The lamps were classy too; the bed was covered in satin and silk all over and when I really looked, someone was moving underneath the covers. I crossed my fingers and prayed real hard that I wasn’t interrupting something, the last thing I wanted was to find out that he was married, doing what married people do..  

I placed my gloved hands over the window frame and quietly pulled my body through. I went closer, the light was dim in that part of the room, but I was able to see what I needed to, two bodies trying to keep warm in a familiar embrace, one large and rigid, and the other fragile and small. I waited for a moment for any kind of response to my presence, but I guess they were asleep after all.  

Slowly, I slid my fingers under the covers and gently but firmly placed my hand over the man’s mouth, he started sobering up and I kept a good hold over him. 

He gradually came over and his eyes slowly opened, sleepy and none-expectant at first, but a few brilliant second later, his eyes shot open when he saw me, as if he was splashed with cold water. He tried to speak but then acknowledged my hand preventing him from calling for any help. Before he tried anything, I spoke. 

“Shh, I won’t hurt you; I’m a messenger from Balamb Garden” he blinked unbelievingly but then nodded, I took my hand off his mouth and continued “my name is Squall Leonhart and I have orders from Balamb Garden” 
He partly got up and joined his brows then slowly got off of bed, he motioned for me to move away and I did, he led me out a door to another room, which looked like a guest room, when I turned around and took a good look at him, my heart gave a hard lurch into my throat, and then pondered loudly in my ears, I thought that I was looking into a mirror, the guy looked just like me, just as tall too, a little differences in the face wrinkles and age, but it was just like staring into a mirror after twenty more years from now, Unbelievable! 

“You- what did you say your name was?” he asked, his own eyes wide with surprise.  
“S- Squall Leonhart, Sir” I saluted, separating my emotions from my work as usual.  
“Leonhart?” he looked at me for a moment before sitting down on a chair, a classy one might I add. “Why is Balamb Garden asking for me?” 
“It’s my orders Sir” then I gave him the paper with the mission description. He took a moment just staring at it. Then gave it back to me “I cant read without my glasses”  ^,^;; 

- _\-;; hmm..  

“Would you read it to me son?” he smiled, dignified wrinkles showed and the tiniest peek of white teeth shining through relaxed lips. 
Erm.. “Yes sir” just as I took a breath to read he chuckled and declared ‘at ease’ I sighed my disturbance and frustration then started reading.

“Project GF-“
“GF?” he asked “Guardian force?” 
“No, sir, Gregory Fredrick”
“Oh” he smiled again “go on” 
“SeeD cadet ‘Commander Squall Leonhart’ you are-“
“You?” 
“Hmm?” 
“You are a commander?” 
“Yes sir” and I got back to the paper wanting to just finish the job and go back to bed. 
“How old are you?” he asked, before I even started reading again. 
I bit back a sigh of annoyance “twenty years old, sir” 
“Ahh, how long have you been a commander?” he joined his fingers and kept a smile on his face, I hope he’s not expecting me to smile back, If he was, then he’s in for a lot of disappointment'
“Three years, sir” maybe he doesn't want to hear about the mission.. Who cares if I was awaken at three in the morning for this crappy mission, all he cares about is how long I have been a commander. 
“Why haven’t we met before? Although I am sure I’ve heard about you before” he remarked, rubbing his chin. 
God, why don’t he just stop, he’s more annoying than Laguna can ever be.. 
“Oh! Now I remember! You’re the commander who saved the world from the sorceress!” he stood up and grinned. 
“Yes, perhaps I am” I fooled around with the paper, trying to remind him of the mission, oh yes, unseen! “Sir, this mission is top secret and I would appreciate it if you listen” 
He pouted then sat back down “you’re no fun, but carry on..” 
I read the mission briefing and then folded the paper into my pocket, then tossed back long bangs from my eyes. 
“Let me get changed.” He got up and I started having doubts. 
“You will return wont you?” I asked. 
“Of course,” he smiled and then went into his bedroom. Two minutes later he walked back in and we rode my car back to Garden. 

“So, how come we look like each other?” 
“I don’t know sir” he shouldn’t speak with the driver. I looked at the clock and it read 3: 54 a.m. people will start waking up at Garden, this is not good. 
“I wonder.. So do you know my name?” 
“Sir Gregory Fredrick” I answered, what does it take to shut this guy up?
“Yes, I’m the general of Dollet military” he looked around the car but didn’t touch anything.
“Sir” I nodded. What is the point? Cid is a military General but he doesn't act like it, Laguna Loire is a military general but doesn't act like it either, General Caraway is no better. 
“Did you see my wife?” he smiled wickedly. 
“No sir, your wife is not any of my business” 
“Smart” he leaned back and sighed, for a moment, he didn’t say anything and my head sighed in relief, but then he spoke again “she’s an albino”
“Excuse me?” listen, mister, I don’t care whether your wife was an albino or a cow, just let me drive in peace.  
“Do you know what an albino is?” he asked. God, God, God.. Please give me patience; smacking a general upside the head isn’t promising.    
“it’s -with all my respect- a mammal that has no skin color or rather, lack of melanin, and has red eye color, sir” 
“You’re a smart one” he smirked and at last, quieted down, the rest of the trip went by quickly and soon we were at Headmaster Cid’s office before anybody was able to see us. I still do not understand all this hush-hush but I hope it will be none of my business.

“Good job, commander” the elder general smiled then took the younger one to sit by his desk. 
“I ask for permission to be dismissed, sir” 
“You are dismissed” Fredrick declared but I didn’t move, who does he think he is to dismiss me? “Why aren’t you leaving? Shoo, go away” he smiled.
“With all my respect, Sir Fredrick, I only take orders from headmaster Cid Kramer until told otherwise.” 
They both smiled and then Gregory-guy spoke “that’s the best SeeD you’ve ever sent me!” 
“Yeah, he is the best” commented Cid then returned to me “sit down Squall, you went camping, remember? We need to speak, the three of us.” 
“Yes sir” I saluted then sat down on the leather sofa in front of the other General.      

I guess life isn’t as easy as you wish it would be..   


~~~~~~~~~

When all the greeting and happy-go-lucky chat was over, the two generals started talking business, I understood that Cid was informed about a mysterious force planning to abduct General *smirk* GF, I was supposed to take his place to as long as needed until the threat is no longer there. I look just like him so there was no one else to fill in. I guess they will have to replace his wife too, but I’m not sure. Cid says that the kidnapers would probably use force and weapons so they needed my skills as well, darn, if only big people didn’t have to sign important treaties, I would have been safe and warm in bed. 

Winter had started dragging itself over fall and being outside before sunrise is not very smart. You’ll just freeze your ba- err.. Butt, yeah that’s it! - _\-;; 

When I woke up from my trance, Cid looked towards me.
“So are you ready?”
“Yes sir” I answered politely.
“What about my wife?” GF guy asked.
“She will be replaced as well” answered the headmaster “luckily we have an Albino SeeD she might look like your wife, do you mind seeing her?” 
“No, you don’t know how much I’m interested!” 
“Fine then” Cid pressed a button on the intercom then spoke “Xu, are you there?” 
*click* “yes sir, I’m right here” *click*
“Excellent, send me Fujin Kazeno please” 
*click* “yes sir, right away” *click* 

“She will be here soon” he smiled and the younger general leaned back in his seat. Then the headmaster turned towards me “Squall, have you met her before?” 
“Yes sir, I have, back in the sorceress war” I explained, but then Fredrick gasped.
“She was in the sorceress war too?” 
I answered when Cid didn’t respond “she was on the wrong side, but she turned right through the final battle” not the whole truth but not a whole lie.
“Oh, she was with the sorceress?” Gregory asked, looking at his watch.
“Something like that” just shut-up and lemme go sleep, my head is all fuzzy-like. 
“Oh” simple realization, then the door was knocked. 
“Come on in” called the fat guy.
“SIR” Fujin steps in and politely closes the door behind her, she salute and await orders. It’s been quite a while since I cared to look, ever since we met at the sorceress war, her hair had grown longer, and she came out from her dorm room fewer times than last. It seems that she was not part of the disciplinary community any longer, rumor says that she and Seifer had a major fight and this time the dark skinned guy, Raijin I suppose, yeah the ‘ya know’ guy, he was not able to fix it this time, I hated rumors but this particular one about Seifer caused me a small guilty feeling of happiness. Even when I look back at it, it didn’t seem like the two of them had any kind of chemistry between them, I was not a guy to brag but I still am a man of good observation. 

“Yes, sit down Miss Kazeno” Cid motioned for the seat next to mine. “Here is General Gregory Fredrick”
Fujin nodded once then sat down, when you take a really good look at her; the small seventeen year old body had been replaced by a more mature and curved one, a few times alone with a girl makes you notice these things. 
“Squall Leonhart” Cid nodded towards me, Fujin simply regarded me with a one-eyed glance then returned back to look at Cid. “You two have a mission to take and I will not take no for an answer” the old man grinned, peh, trying to make himself irresistible.
For my surprise, Fujin nodded for him to go on, she doesn't mind? Women SeeD are really easier to deal with than male ones, believe me, I know. 

Cid explained to her that this man’s wife is an albino, and that nobody else will take her place but Fujin. Fujin haven’t spoken a word ever since the meeting started and from what I can see, she wasn’t happy about waking up four in the morning either. 

When the mission was explained, Cid wondered if we had any questions.. 
“Yes sir, I have a question, won’t they recognize us? I mean, we are not twins, and then the age difference” 
“Yes, I have thought about it” grinned the headmaster “you- or rather, general Fredrick, will order the servants and those with direct contact to distant themselves because he thinks that he has a contagious sickness, influenza for example, and that he does not want anybody else to see him but his wife, which will need a little more effort from you Fujin” 

Suddenly, the real general spoke up “can you even speak?” the question was directed towards Fujin who just nodded. We waited for an awkward few moments then he spoke again “well, speak!” 
“AFFIRMATIVE” her voice was harsh and annoyed. 
Gregory must have not liked the answer, he squinted his eyes and made a disgusted face “no, no, no.. A wife’s voice is supposed to be feminine!”
Fujin gave an impression that she was not happy, of course, what female would she be if she was called none-feminine? 
“Say something more, more.. Hmmm” he rubbed his chin and made a face. Maybe it would be easier if I just act like Laguna and I will be fine at this guy’s house.
Cid looked embarrassed “Miss Kazeno is kind of shy, she speaks normally when she likes” 
“Well, like! Say some thing, dear, honey, dinner time, any thing!” Gregory shrugged. 
“DEAR, HONEY, DINNER TIME, ANYTHING” he said calmly, her voice monotone. 
I rubbed at my temple and tossed away long hairs from my brows “maybe we should get going, sir, she will do her job just fine” just get me out of here and give me something to sleep on, my head is going to explode. 

“No way, I won’t let you blow our cover!” the young general is getting cocky “I want to see her in action, my wife is simple and nice and I love her voice!” 
“With all my respect, sir, I, too, think that we should get going” she gave a no-face look at the shocked general, I must admit, her voice was really female and soft even through three years of shouting. 
“Now that’s wife-ish! Good luck on your mission, just go get my wife and make sure you convince every one that I was out on a ride” 
“A ride? Don’t you have a driver?” asked Cid, quite a good question.
“They know me; I love to drive alone at times, oh, by the way, my wife is pregnant, she is in her third month” he snapped his fingers. 

Both me and my companion roll our eyes, oh great, the last thing we wanted was a 24/7 PMSy lady.. Wait a minute, Fujin *is* a 24/7 PMSy lady, well, that’s what I remember anyway. 

15 minutes later, I drove off to the mansion, Fujin waited at Garden, learning more about the woman’s personality. 

Is a single suspicion of kidnapping a guy that scary? I mean, if they said that someone would kidnap, I’ll just beat the crap out of them, besides, who would *think* about kidnapping a guy who beat a sorceress? I guess it’s just another meaningless mission. 

Once I’ve reached the place and it seems like the place had woken up. 
I pulled my hair to the back and stepped out of the car. I walked with confidence to the entrance and a servant opened the huge door. A made came to take my jacket but I dismissed her, then she suddenly asks “sir, what happened to your forehead?” 
I glanced at her, thinking of a good explanation, when I didn’t come up with any, I simply walked away towards the bed room, I know where it is because the real general made me a simple map of the place and it was very easy to memorize. 

I heard some confused noises from behind me but ignored the nosy people talking; I entered the room and closed the door behind me, half the job is done, now to convince the lady. 

She was brushing her long silver hair when she heard the door close, she turned around with a longing smile, her lips were bloody red with that strange layer of wax, erm.. Gloss? Is it called gloss? Never knew, never cared. Anyway, I looked closely and realized that she had crystal crimson eyes, like those of Fujin’s

Once she noticed me, she dropped the hairbrush and ran towards me, I wasn’t able to say a word when she threw her arms around my neck and started kissing me. I pushed her away, a little but forceful, but still caring about her stomach. 

She looked at me with a surprised and partially hurt look “I was worried when you weren’t there next to me, you promised!” she pouted and brushed back the hair that tumbled into my eyes “you need a hair cut- oh!” she gasped “what happened to your forehead?” she made as to kiss my forehead but I moved away in rejection, I took a step backwards and gave her my blank face “we need to talk”
“From your actions and face, of course we need to talk!” she huffed, uh-oh, PMSy.. “Spill!” 
“Not here” I shook my head “let’s go to Balamb” 
She grinned “a vacation?” then forked her fingers through the soft silk of her hair “let me get ready” 
“No, we need to go, now” I ordered. 
She gave me a hurt face “what's the matter? Why are you angry at me? I thought you said it was okay to have babies!” tears trickled down her cheeks “why? Why- don’t do this, not again!” a sob built up in her chest but I didn’t react.
“Lets go” I grabbed her hand, not lovingly, and led her out, through the surprised gasps and questions of the house residents “bad news” I declared and took her into the squad car. 

“Whose car is this?” she asked before going in.  
I didn’t say anything, so she just sat in and became too quiet. 
Halfway to Balamb she asked “why were you so angry at me back home?” 
To make a long story short, I flashed out my Garden ID and she took it in her hands the same time I spoke “I have a mission from Balamb Garden, your husband, Gregory Fredrick, will fill you in on the details, please be patient until we are there. 

She read my name and stuff, and then peered up at me unbelievingly. 

“But- you look just like him!” 
“That’s why I’m on this mission” 
“So tell me-” she looked at the card again to read my name “Squall, how did you get the scar on your forehead?”  
“Sword fight” let me drive peacefully.. 
“Wait a minute, you killed the sorceress, right?” she grinned. 
“Along with the help of my other companions, yes” 
“Oh” she smiled and started studying the card.
“Can I have that back, ma’am?” she gave it back immediately then leaned in her seat, “so who will take *my* place?” 
“SeeD”
“Silver hair? There is not a *single* silver hair dye these days, I tell you..”
“She has silver hair” wait till you see her, just pray she doesn't kick your shins.
“Real? Silver white-ish hair?” 
“Yes”
“And her eyes?”
“Red” 
“An albino?” 
“Yes, ma’am”
 “Wow” she shook her head. 

We reached Balamb quickly and I headed to the privet garage, only VIP’s and Cid parked their cars there, but this was an important person too. 

Through the underground floor, the lady and I took the elevator directly to Cid’s office. Nobody saw us.

When the gates were open, she ran to her husband’s arms and started kissing him, just as passionate as when she thought I was him, quite passionate I must say.. 

“Mm-hmm.. You jerk” the woman murmured against her husband’s lips, it was like some reruns of a cheesy movie. 
“Hmm, but you love this jerk” he kissed her again then suggested “how about we go to Winhill? They say it’s beautiful in winter” 
“Have I ever said no?”   
The general lifted his head up and smiled to all of us “now your mission begins?”
“Yes sir” me and Fujin speak in the same time. 
“Oh!” the elderly albino gasped, she stepped closer to Kazeno and carefully touched the girl’s skin. “You are.. You’re going to take my place?” 
“YES, MA’AM” she nodded. 
“What’s wrong with your voice?” she pulled her hand away with a flinch. 
“Nah, she’s just fine” Fredrick shook a hand “stubborn children never give in” 
“Are you two relatives?” asked Cid.
“I do not know, are your grandparents still alive?” she asked.
Fujin shook her head then saluted “SIGN, OFF” 
“Good luck” nodded Cid then we left the office to the elevator and down to the VIP garage. I fastened my seatbelt and started driving back to the Mansion, this mission is going more slowly than I ever thought it would.  

“So what should I call you?” I asked.
“KAZENO” simple as that..
“I mean, what is the woman’s name?” 
“Alexia Fredrick” she tossed back shoulder-length hair away from her forehead. 
“You know, the eye patch will have to go off” I lectured, not wanting it to sound like an order.
“Yes sir” I was about to tell her that I wasn’t her boss, but she surprised me when her thin fingers reached up and swiftly took off the black cloth. 
I needed to concentrate on driving, and besides, whatever was hidden behind the black eye patch was not of my business.  
“LEONHART” she asked.
“Yes”
“I have two eye colors” 
I couldn’t understand what she was saying, so I made use of us just coming out of the tunnel and pulled over and the first chance “what do you mean?” 
She didn’t say anything, just looked me in the eyes. 

Colorless hair tumbled over thick white eyelashes. Pure innocent aqua peeked from behind one eyelid, flaring scarlet from behind the other. It was strange, and for a moment, I didn’t believe it.  

“Oh” so what am I supposed to do?
“Are there any red contacts?” she asked then looked out the window quietly; if I couldn’t say any better, I’d say she was shy, of what, me?
“It wont work if your eyes are too sensitive, we just have to improvise” I rubbed my forehead as she spoke.
“Then it wont work, then I’ll have to keep my eye closed” 
“Okay, I caught a cold, and you got some dirt in your eye, act angry, like it wasn’t your day”
“It isn’t”
“Believe me; I hate this just as much as you do” 
It was settled, I started driving again at I guess it needed less than ten minutes to reach our ‘home’. 
“I’m gonna have to wear skimpy so try not to indulge” she warned.
“Why?”
“Because Alexia is like that; and because all males are visual creatures”
I couldn’t stop my brow from twitching, she was ‘right’.. She didn’t try to communicate any more because we have reached the mansion, I pulled on a grumpy face *which was easy by the way* and held her arm, I thanked God that I wore gloves that day, even if she was wearing too-long cuffs. 

“Good morning, ma’am, sir, breakfast will be ready soon” he seemed like a butler, how I know? He has a big belly and always bows his whole body.
“Good morning ma’am, what do you- oh!” the female servant gasped, how could we miss it? How can lady Fredrick go out with an outfit then comes back in another? Oh silly me, don’t panic don’t panic! 
“Don’t ask” Fujin gave a soft giggle and hugged my arm, pressing her cheek to the fabric of my shirt, probably hiding her blue-colored eye..
The maid blushed and bowed her head in shyness. 
“Erm, I would appreciate it if we weren’t bothered today, please cancel all the appointments for the next three days” I managed a whole sentence without panicking. 
Both the butler and the servant bow and left us be, Fujin and I pulled the play for a little longer until I took Fujin to the bedroom. Just as the door clicked closed, she unlatched herself from my arm and dusted her shoulder where the material of our shirts met.
“Don’t mind the touching; we’re going to have to share the same bed, mind you” I reminded, trying to forget it myself. 
“Says who? You can always sleep on the couch or on the floor” she gave the impression that there was a smirk building inside her, but she didn’t give anything out. She’s more like me. 
“It’s not funny, you know, we’re here to do something and we’re going to do it right, without modesty, for your information, I do *not* care about you more than I care about a male comrade, so shut the crap” I fixed the collar of my shirt and sat on the bed, not expecting any response from her.. 

You know, ladies love me when I’m mysterious and shielded, but once they get to know me, they hate me just as simple. Rinoa for example, after more than five months of dating and kissing up, she ended up breaking up with me and marring what she called *the ladies’ man* and since then, things between her and Kenneas weren’t looking good, especially with the twin in the way of their own affairs.. Poor children.. On the other hand, Quistis had loved me silently, and I’m flattered, but she wasn’t meant for me, it proves by how good her life with Nida had became, one beautiful girl to fill the house with laughter, and crunching of broken glass, she just started to crawl. Zell and his girl haven’t got any babies yet, I think its Zell’s problem, said that he wasn’t ready for parenthood, but I know just as much as you do that when his wife starts puking in the morning he’ll be the first to open the champagne bottle, not that he was a drinker.. Selphie, oh sweet sister Selphie, she had gotten into a mental breakdown when she heard about Irvine’s wedding, but a few months later she got back to her vibrant, lovable self, she had started showing affection towards a certain student on the Festival community, he was the only! I think he went in just to win her..   

As for me, I’m quite happy right here, shielded and distant like supposedly, no communications and no one to ask about me when I skip classes, nobody to worry about me when I disappeared for more than weeks without a trace and definitely nobody to kiss goodnight, life was good at that. Especially the freaking silence at night where nobody breaths but you, where the telephone doesn't ring unless it’s for you, and the beautiful moments of heartache when you don’t receive anything for Xmas. 

I love all that, it kept me safe. 

Gregory.. 

Here I am in another man’s shoes, what was I thinking taking this job? Wait a minute, I didn’t! 

Gregory!

Just because we look a like doesn't mean that I will allow to get my self kidnapped and taken to a God-knows-where place until ransom is asked for, if that ever happens. 

“Squall dammit!” Fujin snapped her fingers in front of my face “I’ve been calling you for a whole hour, where were you?” she frowned, innocent fury shining through her relaxed eyelids. 
“You just called me once” I fought back.
“I called you, Gregory!” she pouted and moved away to the mirror. 
“Sorry, what were you saying?” 
“It’s breakfast time.” She plays around with the perfume and make-up bottles and creams.  
“I’m not hungry” 
“It’s not your choice! Your not the one who has to eat everything or the-baby won’t-come-out-healthy” she shook her head.
“Lucky you” I taunted, then moved next to her on the mirror “how do I get rid of the scar” 
“Don’t, a branch hit you in the face when we were taking a walk in Balamb forest” 
“Smart” why didn’t *I* think of that? 
“Gregory?”
“Yes” so I am Gregory now.. I hate this..
“I love you” she gave a bad imitation of a smile, stupid and cheery doesn't suit her. 
“Whatever” I turn around to walk away, but gets up and grabs by the collar “what-“
“I *love* you, dear!” she glares, she’s taking this seriously! 
“I heard you!” 
“And what are you supposed to say?” 
“Listen, Kazeno” I whisper her name because I didn’t want anybody to hear “do *not* use a mission for your own purposes, I do *not* love you” 
She sighs and lets my shirt go “I don’t love you either Leonhart, but Alexia loves Gregory, so let’s try and work this out!” there was desperation in her voice, am I that hard to work with? 
“Yes, let’s” I glare her but she doesn't react.
“Oh yeah, try not to frown, rub your forehead, pout, ignore, put your hands in your pockets, wear more than one belt and do not say ‘whatever’” she lectured, I can’t *not* do any of the above! I’ll die! 
“Yes sir” I mock “and you, don’t frown, kick my shins, shout ‘RAGE’ or wear that creepy eye patch” to tell the truth, all of that didn’t bother me, I just wanted to prove to her that nobody is perfect. 
She stares at me for a long uncomfortable moment and innocent look on her face “Squall, I haven’t done these things in two years, except for the eye patch part”
How long have I missed? People changed around me, the world revolving around me changed, only I stood the same.. What have I missed on the last three years? Except for the pleasure of seeing my own ‘first love’s wedding, and sticking my nose in paper work.. I was not one to listen to gossip, and I still am.. 
“Oh” 
“Yeah..” 
“I didn’t know” I brushed back my hair. 
“Well, lets go have breakfast, ‘dear’” she emphasizes the darn word, I hate pet names, even when Elle called me ‘Squally-san’ 
“Whatever” oww! She pinched my arm, damn, I said it again.. “I mean, sure ‘dear’” I cant believe I’m letting this petite woman tame me.. What am I, a dog?      

End of chapter one.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Project ‘GF’ 
By Renoa Heartilly
~~
A/N:  of course, most of you know ‘or don’t’ :P that English is only my second language and all.. *next to Arabic, some Italian, a little bit of German and Japanese ^^,* so don’t be mad when I write something wrong, (blames her spell check)! *sweat drop* but tell me about my mistakes any way ^^, I love that part where people tell me “you wrote dont instead of don’t” XD 
‘ny way, on with the fic, you probably want to slap me silly for the long A/N 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter two: what's in a bubble bath?    

“ma’am” the servant pulled back a chair form me at the table and I sat down slowly, after all, acting pregnant isn’t easy when you’re not! 
I tossed back silver hair off my eyes, but then remembered that I shouldn’t show the other eye, so pretended to scratch my forehead and brushed back the hair on my eye, enough to see but not be seen.

Squall played around with his fork then decided that he ‘wasn’t feeling well’ so he excused himself and left for the bedroom, I don’t think he knows any other room around here, well, that makes two of us. 

I tried to eat what was served but found my self feeling sick, meat loafs with God knows what kind of cheese, along with the driest bread on earth and a glass of orange juice. No wonder pregnant women puked at morning!   

I ate part of the cheese, and left the brownish meat alone, I ‘accidentally’ spilled the juice then made a run to the bathroom, where I stayed for a few minutes to give the impression of vomiting. 

When I came out, I headed to the bedroom and locked the door behind me; they had some kind of built-in keys. You can lock and unlock the door from the inside, but you’ll need a real key from the outside, neat.. 

I glanced at the figure resting on the bed and felt a small smile trying to maneuver itself over my lips, Squall was the thin type, not too thin, masculine enough for his age but not with big carved dragon-ballz muscles some men seem to favor. Raijin for example, the man thought that the only thing women thought about was how huge that guy’s muscles or how big that guy’s pockets.. 

The man in leather stirred and gave me his back, great, now I have to wait until he wakes. 

I got bored after a few minutes and decided to poke around the room, curiosity won over me and I picked up a book. It was about pregnancy and babies, I’m *glad* that this is Alexia’s first pregnancy, or else the matter would have been worse had there been children around the house. 

I picked up another book, it was about.. Hmm, marriage stuff..  

“hnnh..” I peered back at the commander in all his glory, stirring in his sleep like a child, why are men so noisy? When they eat, when they drink, when they sleep.. Can’t they just be quiet for one second in their lives? 

I got back to the book and examined it for a minute, all the crap that young people should avoid and what they should do to have a good marriage life, why do they bother printing such crap if some men are just too stubborn to care about the well-being of their wives? Some men just don’t care.. Suddenly a flash of Seifer passed my vision and I discarded that thought, never get hurt again, never.. 

‘the husband must understand that even females have needs and desires, and even times of constant depression, a lot of women have committed suicide because they had terrible husbands, either directly, or indirectly’ 

Yeah, understand women my foot.. The commander stirred again, just what is bothering him? It’s getting on my nerves. How can he sleep on the same bed they-- never mined.. 

I got back at the piles of books sprawling on the desk and started scanning the titles, it was all about women and babies, these books are probably newly bought, some are still bagged.

The commander sighed and stirred again, I frowned and pulled the blanket over him, and it seemed to calm him down, was he cold? How can he get cold in leather? I remember once sitting in a car with leather seats, I felt like my skin was burning alive, no wait, that was in summer.. 

As a last retire, I sat by the window and watched the few clouds crawl around slowly. The important paper signing is after three days.. maybe it would go quickly if I pretended I was at a high-class hotel? Nobody would notice, pregnant women crave and ‘Gregory’ will not complain *smirk* he wont be awake anyway.. 

I looked back at my supposedly ‘husband’, he looked like a child, cuddled to his blanket holding it like a teddy bear, he must have tumbled in with shoes, gloves and all.. No way ‘I’m’ going to help him with that, its his fault.. But God, I’m bored! 

I noticed a strange door at the side of the bedroom; I opened it and gawked for a whole hour! Inside was the biggest round bathtub you could imagine, not as big as a pool but, wow! I’ve never seen such a thing! The bathroom was bigger than even my Garden dorm room! I stepped in cautiously; the soft clicking of my sandals was the only thing audible in the quietness, I stepped out of them to not disturb the beautiful silence. The marble floor was mercilessly cold but I managed not to yelp. 
The place was like a kings sauna-room, maybe it was.. I wonder if they have hot springs around here. 

Suddenly I realized that this bathroom had another door, I realized that when it was knocked, before I was able to answer, a young servant -other than the one at the entrance- walked in and was surprised to see me here “oh, do you want your bath ready ma’am?” 
I was dumfounded, do I? 
She smiled and concluded “I know you too good” she quickly steps to the tub and taps the faucet to produce hot water, the steam was very warm through the cold atmosphere, it was friendly and inviting.. 

“Would you like a bubble bath or just a massage?” she smiled, bah, she knows me too good, and she doesn't even know who I am! Wait, A Massage? No, no I shouldn’t blow my cover, battle bruises are sure to appear.  

“Just the bubbles” I’ve never had a bubble bath, the bottle was too expensive back when I was interested, now it just sounds childish.. 
She grabs a shampoo-like bottle and pours a *huge* amount of it into the hot water, what a waste of clean crystal water.. Wait a minute “it *is* washed right?*   
“Of course ma’am, I washed it three times extra today” 
Three times extra? No wonder this place is so shiny, poor bastards, must be working to death.. 
“Enjoy your bath, would you like some juice or today’s paper with your bath?” 
“No thanks, I just want to relax with no disturbance” Ohh, fine hotel service! Heehee.. 
I quickly locked the door and stared at dreamland in front of me, almost too quickly, I stripped out of my shirt and baggy pants, hmm.. Am I supposed to do this? A cold breeze passed by and decided for me, I threw off whatever piece of garment I had on and threw my self away from the icy granite floor. 

It was indeed a pleasant feeling.. Warmth and steam all over.. Balamb never had baths, just showers, barely warm.. The bathtubs were limited to instructors and headmasters.. Err, headmaster. 

Why haven’t I became an instructor? Oh yeah, people hate me, you cant teach about GF history with two-word sentences..    

I snuggled closer to hot wall of the tiny pool and blew away some bubbles off my face. I haven’t had much time to rinse my hair this morning, no wonder it itched so badly. 

Just as I started to slip into a small nap, I heard footsteps against the floor, naturally, my arms shot to cover my foam-covered breasts and glared at whoever was violating my privacy. 

“Hey!” I shouted unconsciously. 
The brown head turned to me and I saw tired eyes and bed hair, “oh!” the poor bastard couldn’t keep his eyes off me, I felt like biting somebody, but then again, I was completely covered wasn’t I? Let him dream..  
“What do you think your doing?” I asked and rubbed my arm, where bubbles popped off and left a scratchy feeling. 
“Me? I’m here to wash my face, what are *you* doing?” 
“Bathing!” normally people would bathe in a tub filled with water, what do you think? 
“You’re unbelievable!” finally his eyes started to roam, probably searching for the rest of me through the bubbles, damn pervert. 
“And you’re a bastard! Stop looking!” I shifted and part of my breast bone slithered out of the silky water. 
Almost right away a small trail of blood drew itself out of his nostril, and he turned away quickly, turning on the faucet and splashing water on his face. 

I felt kind of sorry for him; he’s only a helpless diminutive male, not worthy of seeing Fujin-sama in all her glory, or rather, nakedness.. Nakedness isn’t glory, is it? 

“You- uh..” *sniff* “wadt a tdowel?”
“Huh?”
He dried his face with a paper napkin and then started walking to a small wooden drawer “do you want a towel?” 
I realized then that he was serious, avoiding seeing me and trying to concentrate on the task at hand.. I guess I was the diminutive one, not he. 
“AFFIRMATIVE” 
He grabbed a towel from the cupboard and started walking shyly towards me, I felt my heart race as well.. I hope this fuzzy-foam-thingy covered me well, though his eyes never tried to lift from the floor; he had this angry-shy pout. 

He dropped the towel where I can reach it and turned around and left the place. I slunk in deeply but only left out enough to breath. 

Wow.. He never said anything to criticize me, unlike Sei- certain men who don’t care about anything but making fun of people. I want to get out and towel my self, but the water is so warm and.. *deep breath* with all the strength I could muster, I dipped my head down, few seconds later, almost drowned then poked my head out, rubbed my scalp clean and forced my self to jumps out of the friendly bath. I quickly gathered the towel around me and stepped into the bedroom, the warmer and furniture-filled bedroom, anything to keep the cold breezes away. 

I stood shaking in front of the door and wondered where the hell the clothes drawer is. Without warning, Squall spoke; he was facing away sitting on a desk “the clothes are over there” he pointed to a small curtain, and I gratefully went through it.  

I found my self in a small room, about 1x1, and drawers on my right and left, in front of me was a body-length mirror and nothing but a curtain behind me, he could be peeking in any minute, then again, he wouldn’t try, he wouldn’t want his nose to spring a leak again. Heehee.. 

As I tried to look for the best garment without indulging in clothing, the towel got un-tucked and wrinkled at my ankles, I froze for a moment, it was a normal thing to do to see your own body, but I haven’t seen my self for more than four years, I’ve broken every mirror in my dorm and haven’t really started to resent my self until two years ago, and now.. Do I deserve to see my self now? 
I swallowed and turned my head, looking into a mirror for the first time in four years.. I can believe how much I’ve matured, physically.. Like that kind of body they’d show off in magazines, I’m shorter but it’s the same idea, use the body of a woman.. I almost broke the glass but I hesitated when I remembered that it wasn’t mine, I closed my eyes and pulled out whatever garment fell into my hands and pulled it on, I don’t want to see my self, I hate my face, my body, everything.. 

Its all because of him.. 

I walked out furiously and grabbed Squall by the shirt “lets get out of here, I need a walk” 
He frowned at me and pulled his shirt away “go with the driver” 
“But I want to go out with my husband!” I glared. 
He sighed angrily and slammed shut the book he was reading “where do you want to go my princess?” 
I looked adown at my clothes and seen a spaghetti-strap dress with too much cleavage and tight waist, damn.. 

I went in and without looking at the cursed mirror, pulled out a warm dress that fit for medium bellies.

“Let’s go out.” I demanded. 
The commander only walked out and I followed. 

One servant came up to me just as I walked out “ma’am, have you cut your hair?” 
“Why, yes, do you like it?” 
“I love it!” she exclaimed then returned back where she came from. 
The driver was waiting in front of the car, but then, the maid that asked me about my hair ran up and whispered something to him, he just nodded then stood motionless in front of the car waiting for us, we decided that we should let him drive this time.  
“Where to, master?” 
“Anywhere” grumbled Squall, annoyance obvious in his voice. 
It took us a long while until Squall and I realized that we didn’t know where he was taking us. 
“Stop here” commanded Squall, preparing to open the door, suddenly, we heard the locks click and realized that we were trapped! 
“What’s going on here?” I squeezed the seat in front of me. 
“You’re not master and Mrs. Alexia are you?” 
*gulp* 
“Of course we are!” Squall reached out and clung to the man’s neck, threatening to choke him.    
“oh yeah?” the car stopped and the man struggled against the commander’s grip “the generals’ hair is longer and the lady’s silver one was much longer, she loved her hair, she would never cut it no matter what, the two almost got them selves killed because of such an argument”
“She changed her mind, she cant take care of her hair through pregnancy” retorted Squall, smart! I hope it works. 
“She’s got people to take care of her hair, and besides, her eyes aren’t blue.” 
I touched my eye and realized that it was not covered, oh, damn..     
“Her contacts fell” Squall took his hands off the man “she was trying to get a new look, pregnant women do that, take us back home” 
What are you thinking?
“S-so you are Master Gregory?” 
“Of course I am, who else would I be? Now take us home before I change my mind”
“Y-yes sir” 
Suddenly, the driver decides that his life is worth it and starts the car to take us home.  
“Then again” spoke the man next to me “step out of the car” 
“w-what?” 
“Do as I said, NOW!”
Stupid driver took off his seatbelt and stepped out, just as quick; Squall jumped in front of the steering wheel and started driving.  
“Where are you going?” I asked, still shocked from the previous minutes’ encounter.   
“We’re busted, should we get ourselves kidnapped or should we go back to Balamb?” he asked. 
“I- I…” for the first time in this mission “I don’t know” 
Suddenly the car stopped “what? You- don’t know?” 
“Let’s ask Cid, he’d know” 
Without another peep, Squall drove off to the closest phone booth. What's with him? I’m only human. 
The look on his face, the piercing gaze. What am I, some kind of monster? 

“So what if I dunno?” 
“Nothing, just.. Whatever” 
“I hate it when you do that” 
“Who said I care about what you hate or like?” he frowned and concentrated on the road. 
That hurt.. Even if it was the truth, I mean, shouldn’t you be nice with people you don’t know? We’ve only ‘really’ met each other less than six hours ago.. Was he angry because of the sorceress war? Because it’s me we’re busted? Because.. I’m me? 

The care came to a stop and he stepped out and dialed a number, I got out as well, but to climb in the passenger seat. A few moments later he slammed the receiver shut and huffed back into the car. 

“So?”
“Be quiet, we gotta get kidnapped, stupid, friggen, son of a fat shoopuf, milk-drinking-”  
“He doesn’t care if we died?” I asked, shocked, Cid isn’t like that! 
“Doesn’t give a damn” he growled and took a sharp turn to the mansion. 
“We can always dump both garden and the mission and look for a better life!” I considered, I wasn’t ready to give my life so cheaply. 
“Sure” he stopped “go ahead” 
“Not without you!” it sounded like some cheesy movie, but I don’t care about him, I just don’t want to be alone.  
“Not just me, you can’t let him push you around like that!” 
“That’s what SeeD’s are for, now are you in or out?” 
“I’m in, I just don’t like it” I pouted and he drove off, what's he so cranky about?  

===========================

Somehow, squall managed to find he correct path, and headed to the mansion. 
“So what did you want to talk about?” he asked. 
“Hmm?” me?
“You took us here to talk about something didn’t you?” 
“Oh” if I tell him it’s nothing and that I just needed some fresh air, he’d kill me! “Nothing much” 
“Oh, just that huh?” he’s angry.. “Well, I hate being dragged around you know?” 
“APOLOGY” 
“Whatever” 
“Don’t say that” 
“Whatever”
“Hmph..” 
Soon we were there and acted as if nothing happened. Squall decided to keep on the ‘I’m sick’ mask, and decided to spend the rest of the day slaking in the bedroom. As for me, I started poking around the house pretending that I was looking for something. 
The house had very wide rooms, dining room, guest room, even a library! I sat down and grabbed me a book, reading is the only thing I do when I’m free of class or at the weekend. After all, going out fishing with the dc was two years ago, and things between me and Seifer aren’t that good anymore. You want to know why? There is no reason for me to tell you, he was a bastard and I was drunk, does that make it clear? Good, do NOT mention any of this to anybody. 

Raijin, well, Raijin is a happy fellow, he took care of me at times, never minded if I have crept into his dorm and crawled asleep on his couch at night, never minded if I have kicked him in the shins, but you know.. That was two years ago, now I rarely see him, being in my room almost all day, going out just to eat -which is a rarity- or going to class. 

Startling me out of my memories, a maid walked in and served me a cup of tea. 
“I didn’t ask for this” 
“But you always have your tea at this time!” she reasoned, I looked at the clock ant realized that it was exactly twelve o’clock, maybe alexia ‘does’ have her tea at this time, who am I to disagree? 
“I forgot, thank you” I took the cup and took a sip and got back to the book, I never realized that I stopped at this page any way! 
The young woman stood watching me for a moment, until she looked a bit wavy, I rubbed my eyes, maybe I’ve been doing too much reading.. My eyes are very teary all of a sudden, and my head felt heavy.      

Oh my God! This is poison! In the tea, or is it drug? Or, maybe I’m just hallucinating or are there strange men coming into the room? Stupid cid, did he think they were going to kidnap somebody while awake? Or by force? Stupid, fighting sleep is hard, I hope Squall will come and help me.. Please.. 

Please.. Help..

‘Squall’ 

~~~    

*thud* 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

End of chapter two~ 
A/N: *evil grin* is this what they call, ‘cliff hanger’? Well, bare with it, this is where the actual plot turns, don’t expect a lot of chapters, other three or four maximum, if your lucky ^__^  I know I take my time, but its all for the sake of the story nee? Please review, it gives me a good idea about what you think :D

=====================================

Chapter three: hungry anyone? 
A/N: I know, I’m slow -_-;; 


The lights were dim, the air humid and not at all comfortable, two bodies cramped together in a small room, no furniture, not a single piece. 

“hnggh..” … “Oh..” 
 
The large build, the man, rolled over to his back, groaning softly. He tried to get up, but whenever he tried, he fell back to the floor, if he’d tried harder, he’d fall again, and the headache would get harder as well, trying to get up was obviously futile, so he wormed his way to the other person. 

“Fujin, Fujin!” no response, “Fujin! Wake up! Open your eyes!!” he demanded into her ear enthusiastically, trying to wake her from her slumber. The headache started to go away for a moment, so he supported himself on the wall behind him and rested his head backwards. 

“This sucks” once a proud commander, now wrapped up in cell with no other than Fujin Kazeno, and to make matters worse, a SLEEPING Fujin Kazeno. “What a great time to fall asleep” 

“Shut up in there!” a masked soldier rattled at the metallic bars with his machine gun, “you’re in no condition to speak! Ha!! Worried about your beloved wife?”   

Wife? Don’t they know? They still think she is my wife? Maybe this is going as planned! *sigh of partly relief* now what's the plan? Cid isn’t going to send a support team, because he caused this situation in the first place, and the real general must be on his Winhill vacation by now while we are cramped here..   

The brunet rested his head against the wall again and his tongue darted out to smooth away dried blood from the corner of his mouth. 

Squall never expected to see those faces when he woke up. strange, evil faces peering down at him. The first action he made was send a fist at the man’s face and break his jaw, got up and brushed away fairy dust from his eyes. He guessed that those were the kidnappers, and he must’ve felt it when another man came from behind him, but before he was able to react, the man caught his neck, and whispered into his ear “come with us quietly and your wife stays alive” Squall took one moment to think things through then decided that Fujin can take care of her self and sent an elbow to wherever it may hit. 

So that is how he came here with a large bump on the back of his head, a split lip and probably a dried line of blood starting from somewhere on his forehead and trailing down past his collar bone. The problem is, he was tied up without any trace of anything that can be used to free himself. And another thing, the petite ‘weak’ girl who was supposed to help him, why didn’t she fight? She looked quite clean and unscratched to him. Why was she sleeping? This is no time to sleep! They need to develop a plan to escape, together; they needed to obtain their weapons, or any weapons for that matter.

 They needed to free their hands first, though! 

“Hmm” he frowned, if he was able to untie the girl, then she’d wake up and she’d untie him back, that way they’d be free and able to find a good strategy to escape. But no~ she’s sound asleep and leaving *him* do all the thinking. Maybe -just maybe- if Cid had chosen somebody else other than him and Fujin, maybe if he had chosen Raijin and Fujin, things would have worked out, or have Seifer dye his hair and be with Fujin, things would have been easier, those people knew each other, they feel safe with each other. Damn Cid..  

Suddenly, the girl stirred. 

He dropped to the floor, face fist, and then winced. “Fujin!” he whispered as loud as he can “Fujin!!” 
“hnnn..” colorless eyelashes fluttered apart and crystalline orbs peered through, widening in surprise “where am I?”  
He sneered lazily “prison, or wherever they keep hostages” 
He expected a burst of tears, a large wave of tension, anger maybe; at least a tidal wave of cusswords, but nothing, all he received was a simple ‘oh’  
“Yeah, you gotta untie me” he demanded, still thinking. 
“And you are?” she glared “undo me first!” 
“sheesh! I’m not the one who was sleeping all day!” 
“RAGE! Erm.. They put sleeping drugs in my tea!” 
“What? Why’d they beat ‘me’ up then?” he frowned.
“I’m ‘supposed’ to be pregnant! They can’t beat me up!” she growled. 
“Crap” he growled back, and licked his lips again, spitting out blood. 
Fujin’s frown softened and she watched him for a moment “who chewed ‘you’ up?”
The thought sent a ticklish feeling to his stomach, one people might call a giggle, and a small smirk taunted his lips “same as who spit ‘you’ out” 
“That huh?” she looked away, trying to hide the corners of her mouth “so how do we get out?”
“Dunno, you tell me, miss ‘brains and no brawns’” he shrugged through the ropes. 
“I always had Raijin to fight for me, and I couldn’t fight them, I told you” she tried to explain. 
“Yeah yeah.. Whatever” he shook his head. 
Right then, two soldiers came to the metal door and opened it, both holding machine guns. 

“Quietly, now” one demanded harshly.
“Let us go!” Squall growled. 
Fujin pressed her lips together and spoke softly “please, do not hurt me! Take whatever you want!” she imitated a scared woman; it gave the impression that she was!
“Of course we will!” the other chuckled and held her arms firmly, but far away from painfully. The other soldier stepped closer to Squall, who was glaring him mercilessly, and then frowned, he quickly reversed the weapon and slammed the bottom of it to the brunet’s head, causing a pained grunt and loud thud on the floor “don’t glare at me, I don’t like it” the harsh voice demanded and dragged the man out of the cell. Fujin gasped and cried out for the solder to stop when she saw the body hit the floor, but they were soldiers, no way would they listen to a petite woman, and that’s why she needed to keep her act together, the man behind her, pushed her gently and ordered “lets go, or he gets it” 

Whatever this ‘it’ was, she didn’t want to know, the mission was not as important as this boy’s life. So she responded and started walking. 

They were taken to a large room with one big table and lots of wooden chairs. Fujin was told to sit on a certain chair, where the supposedly general was supposed to sit next to her, and he did ‘not’ look well.

“Excuse me” she asked politely, and one of the many men around gave her his attention. “These ropes are kind of hurting my arms, can you please untie them?” she gave a cute smile. 
“No way, sorry but my orders” at her request, the other men looked at her, enjoying the free argument. 
“But they hurt!” she gave that teary look and made those tiny squeaks in her voice that only woman are professional in doing. “At least loosen them up a bit!” kissing up for a man was not her. 
“Nope, sorry” 
“Its not like I would escape or anything!” she turned towards another man who looked of a higher rank. 
“What proves that you don’t?” the higher rank asked. 
“And loose the baby? Are you kidding?” she joined her brows and shook her head, very careful to not show her other eye. 
“Hmm” the two men looked at each other for one long moment, and then one of them stepped closer to undo her ropes. 
‘Gregory’ opened up his eyes and peered at the man behind the girl “what’re you doin’?” he slurred drunkenly, pain taking over again. 
“Shh, he’s helping me sweetheart” the silver haired woman soothed and when her hands were free, she worked her fingers and rubbed her wrists, the men around pointed their guns towards her incase she made any attempt at violence, but all they received was a yawn and a scratch on the head. 
The woman giggled unprofessionally and brushed back her husband’s hair “are you okay sweetie?” 
“Yeah, just free my arms” he muttered angrily, how come ‘she’ got untied? 
“Can I?” she turned to the men, who all shook their heads “oh.. Why not?” 
“Cause he’s bad” 
“Oh.. Sorry, but I can’t” she winked at her husband, a movement only she and him noticed. “Why are we here anyway?” she returned to the men questioningly. 
“The boss” one nodded, then pointed to the door. 

Four guards followed a tall man as he entered the room, earlobe-long blond hair, crystal grayish-blue eyes, and firm look on his face. 

“hmph, Gregory and alexia, how beautiful” he greeted happily.  
Fujin bowed her head down, with a look on her face that you’d get when you see a ghost, or a squashed cat in the street (author: O_O;; sorry!) 
When Fredrick blinked several times to clear his vision, and thought real hard to forget the surging pain in his forehead and the blood pooling down his neck, he finally looked at the man and garbled “damn you!” 
“Ah, cranky aren’t we?” the blonde smiled sweetly “want me to set the mood?” he nodded for one of the guards and that man saluted -the Galabadian way- then went to the brunet’s seat, took a handful of his silky hair and pulled it backwards, gaining a gasp and a grunt. 
“That better?” he asked, and the brunet gave a small smile and nodded through the pressure, he’s been through torture and interrogation lessons, Xu had done a good job. 
“Good, now milady; May I?” he stretched out a hand to support her, but then looked angry and shocked when he realized that she was untied. 
“Who did this?” he demanded angrily. None of the guards spoke. 
“I told them to!” alexia defended “just, what do you want? Let him go!” she placed a delicate hand on her husband’s shoulder. The angry man nodded and the guard let go of the bloodied strands of hair from his grasp. 
“Thank you” she brushed back dark hair with her fingertips “what do you want from us?”  
“feh, I want ‘you’ of course!” he smiled and held her arm “now come with me” 
“No!” she latched her self to the broad arm wrapped in harsh ropes “if you let him go, I’ll go with you! He’d had enough!” 
The blond smiled “yeah, I can let him go, I don’t need this phony anyway” he smirked. 
The faintest ‘huh’ escaped her lips and squeezed the arm tighter. 
“You think I’m an idiot?” He shook his head “I know he’s fake, so why don’t we go get something to eat?” he offered nicely. 
It was all too confusing for the poor woman and her exhausted man.

All the men who were standing around left the place and seconds later, walked in with silver plates in their hands along with bottles of drinks and wheeled tables (a/n: dunno what they’re called :P) full of covered platters. 

Lunch was served in no time and Alexia found her self in front of the world’s classiest table, caviar everywhere, and Italian spaghetti decorated with tomato flowers and the largest pizza she had ever seen in her life, not forgetting to mention blue-cheese salad and blood red drinks poured neatly into three crystalline chalices. 

“I don’t drink” she whined. 
“Oh yes.. Silly me” the blond grinned, and motioned with his hand to a servant. 
Gregory grunted and spoke harshly “I can’t believe you two! Untie me right now!”
“Oh, my apologies!” alexia covered her mouth with her fingers for a moment then stood up to stand behind her husband, she tugged weakly on the ropes and then sighed “I cant, they are too tight!” 
“Come ON! I know you can!” he hissed angrily. 
“No, I can’t!” she huffed then sat on the chair “darling I’m too tired, could you please untie him so he can eat?” she asked the blonde man sweetly. 
“Sure thing” he chuckled then nodded for one of his guards. 
When the brunet was untied, he attempted to rub his wrists but the guard behind him pressed the muzzle of the machine gun to his neck. 
“Hey, I just want to check my pulse!” he growled and rubbed his wrists and carefully brushed back his hair that stuck on his neck and face like a foreign creature “I need a bathroom” he muttered to himself more than to anyone else.  
“Very well, take him for less than five minutes and be back!” he knotted his brows to the guard assigned to this almost-impossible mission, taking this man to the bathroom and return him back..  
“I’ll go” Alexia volunteered “we wont take long” she gave a small smile and headed towards the door, but a strong hand caught her wrist.
“*you* are not going anywhere” sly grin “you are staying right here, and you are going to eat everything!”

But- but- “but I don’t like caviar!” she murmured sadly. 
“Who says that you have a choice?” elegant shoulders shrugged under blonde hair “now please sit back down, or maybe better, here” he pulled her into his lap and took a spoonful of salted fish eggs. 
mm.. mm .. no!! “no~” she whined childishly “I dun wanna!” 
“Eat it” anger, or plain annoyance, this was not a subject to discuss.. 
mm.. I’m not hungry! “What kind of torture is this?” she struggled to get off him, but his grip only got harder and firmer. 
“You- are not going anywhere!” he pulled her so tight she thought that they’d blend into each other. 
“you pervert! Stay away from me!” she slapped at his hands and pushed his face away “let-- go! I’m feeling nauseous and I don’t feel like eating dead fish eggs! So let go before I puke in your lap!” 
He let go of her immediately and she smoothed her dress “thank you!” she glared and tossed back silver hair from her eyes “just who are you?” 
“me?” he smirked “why I’m the-“

“DAMN YOU!” a loud shout echoed through the hallways, Gregory’s temper sure had changed in the past few hours “frigin son of a shoopuf.. Just try I DARE YOU! Just try and step-“ the now-clean brunet stepped into the room and glared the blond “your crap you know that? What do you want from us?” ooh~ general loosing his temper? 

“Excuse me?” looking offended and hurt the blond frowned “how barbaric!” then sat down on his chair. 
Alexia walked to her husband and brushed back his hair “are you okay?” 
The young general looked deeply into her eyes, then spoke softly “yeah, after having my head split apart and having my lips bleeding half my blood circulation and cutting the rest of it out of my arms, I’m just fine” 
“I’m glad” she smiled widely and held his hand to go back to the table, the man followed unbelievingly but silently. 

“So tell me what your name is” the blonde directed to the dark haired one. 
“You tell me” grabbing a fork and twirling in through the spaghetti “you’re the one who kidnapped us” 
“I need to inform you, I had no intention of abducting you, all I wanted was the woman and you just popped out of no where” evil-boss chewed carefully on his salad.
“I’m flattered!” the light colored woman squealed happily, like she was in some kind of party “so what do you want?” 
“Why, you, dear, of course!” he smiled. 

Despite how strange and confusing the whole thing was, the two odd people started eating like nothing is wrong with the world while the dizzy general decided to ditch everything and not miss a good meal, after all, in a prison, who would expect such hospitality?    

After the meal, drinks and lemonade were served, Fujin ordered the lemonade though, and all three of them drank quietly. 

“So what's your name?” asked the woman. 
“Who, me?” the blond asked, sincerely confused “you know”
“No, I don’t know” growled her husband; he had been into a lot of mood-changes lately. 
“Well, for your information, my name doesn't interest you”  
“It does” the brunet sipped a little of the red drink from the classy glass. “Really, it does” 
“Well, you’re supposed to be General Fredrick, but you aren’t, so who are *you*?” 
“This is going nowhere, what kind of interrogation here? Are you trying to feed us to death?”
“Honey, calm down” the woman said monotone, sipping coolly at her juice. 
“Well, shall we go?” the nobleman dabbed the corners of his mouth with the napkin and then stood up.   
“Go? Where?” it was only then that the woman panicked. 
The man grinned and walked towards her “haha, that’s so funny of you! You know!” 
“No I don’t know” she stood up and hid behind her husband, who stood up angrily, finally having a chance to defend SOME-thing!
“Just what do you want from us?” 
“I want my wife” the blond glared “hand her to me” 
“And that would be on a silver plate?” before anybody could say anything else, a gloved fist sent itself to the ashen chin. 

Grayish-blue eyes widened in surprise as a tiny train of blood streaked just a little lower than his chin. He touched the torn skin carefully, and then glared at the fighter. 

“How barbaric!” he scolded gently, but that only gave him another punch on his cheekbone. Patience wasted, he sent a fist to the other man’s face and soon a fight similar to a boxing match had started. 

Punches and kicks flying everywhere along with spit and blood and curses occasionally, the woman sighed and pulled a chair to sit down, when the two men were sprawling on the floor motionless, she chose that quiet moment to interfere “are you two done?” 

Both men nodded breathlessly. 

“Good, now, I’m not *your* wife, I’m *his* wife” and pointed to the general, who was quite beaten up himself and unable to replay or confirm to that. 
“No.. You are my wife, my love! We will have a child together! How can you forget?” the blond man pulled violently at his hair to the point where the woman thought it would rip off, oh my god! It was ripping off! 
She gasped loudly when the blond hair fell to the floor, and in its place was silken dark-brown hair that tumbled on the elder man’s forehead; obviously the blond hair was nothing more than a wig.  

“I thought we agreed to do this together! I thought you wanted this!” he looked sad, its strange what a blond wig can hide beneath it! The ‘real’ general was hiding under that hair all along! Then, why all this kidnapping confusion? 

“wait- wait!” the fake general, now only a commander got up on his elbows and spoke “so- then.. Why?” 

a sigh, “alexia was supposed to come here quickly, and take this woman’s place, so that we’d kidnap you both and then leave you alone, that way, only she will be kidnapped and nobody will ask for ransom or anything, so we can finally take sometime off and worry about each other like old times, its strange, but I guess generals aren’t meant to have vacations..” he slinked down and covered his face with his hands. 

Fujin must have felt sympathetic for him, for she had walked by his side and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. The commander sighed quietly, glad that its all over and they could go back home. 

Suddenly, General Fredrick pulled out a hand gun and pointed towards the fake. “It’s your entire fault! If it weren’t for you everything would have gone right!” almost pulling the trigger!

Damn! The commander is on a brink here! So he grabbed two white arms and pulled the woman in front of him “go ahead! Shoot!” he dared “you can’t kill her, can you?” 
“SQUALL! What the hell are you doing?” Fujin tried to free herself from his grip, *nobody* wanted to hear the bullet shoot out of the barrel.
“Shoot her! Come on I DARE you!” hysterical and probably scared, is he thinking? 
“NO~” in a split second, the trigger was pulled. 
	
--------------------------
End of chapter three  
A/N: wee~ *sings* cliffhangers, cliffhangers! I hate them too, but dun worry, the next chapter should be up soon, and you cant really say that the worst is behind them, the worst had passed but its not really the worst O_O;; review please ^_^ its getting kind of lonely here..    

=======================================

A/N: dun own’em, love’em n_n
Vick, man, he knows it’s his wife, isn’t it normal to flirt with his wife? You just got everything jumbled I had to read the chapter again!  O_o?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter four: Escape.  

Crazy? Yes, scary? Hell yes! I know I’m making a big mistake here, but Fujin is my only shield now, this man will not shoot her because she looks so much like his wife, will he even put that in thought?  

*kablam!* 
Damn! I pulled Fujin away and threw her to the side. That stupid geezer actually pulled the trigger, when I opened my eyes I could feel nothing else but my heart pumping in my ears. 

Fujin fell to my side, but didn’t make any other move, the general fell to the floor as well, I’m not hurt, so the bullet must have gotten one of them, I rushed to my comrade’s side. 

“Fujin! Are you okay?” I held her shoulders and pulled her into my chest, she was unconscious so I searched her with my eyes, and she had no bleeding or anything so I put her down and went to the general. 

He lifts his head with a scared look on his face “is she okay?” 
“She’s fine, what's gotten into you?” I scolded.
“I dunno, I pointed the gun to the floor, I didn’t want to hurt anyone, are you sure she’s okay?” he tugged at my shirt.
“Yes, she’s just fine”
“Thank god” he sighed “if alexia found out about this she’ll kill me”
“What’s your wife has to do with this?” 
“c’mon, you don’t see a resemblance?” 
I peered back at the girl and then wondered “they are relatives?” 
“I think so, alexia wants to find out, so I need to bring the girl” 
“If you needed her then why did you shoot her?” 
“I didn’t! You pulled her in front of you, you worthless chicken!” 
“Hey, I was just defending myself!” I retorted “I knew you wouldn’t kill her”
“Yeah right”
“Whatever” 
I looked back at Fujin, she hadn’t moved yet; maybe she needs help, water or anything. I got up and poured a glass of water from the table and leaned against her, tipping the glass just a bit so that a tiny stream of water would run between her lips, hmm, no response? 
“Is she okay?” the old man asked. 
That stupid question always pushed the wrong buttons “yes she’s fine, she’s going shopping in a few-- what do you think?” I snapped angrily, but then something started nagging at my brain “how come you thought she was still my wife, didn’t the driver tell you? I mean, I thought he blew our cover?” I glanced at the man. 
“Yeah, I know he told me, but as I said before it was our plan, you know, Alexia was supposed to take this girl’s place, but only God knows why she hadn’t taken her place by the time you were brought here, probably stopped by a candy store to buy more chocolate -feh.. But anyway, only me, the driver and other few knew, it wasn’t that important, we only needed the act until you were out of the mansion.” He explained with a small shrug. 
“Why are we going through all this again?” I garbled and tipped the glass a bit to help the poor girl snap back to life, no luck I guess.. 
“Its my wife’s idea, its stupid I know, but the things you do to people you love..” he scratched his head and got up “well, I bet she’s back home now..” 
“Wait a minute” I called “where are we?” 
He gave a small grin, wrinkles on his cheeks showing “in the basement!” and with that, he left the place.. 

The irony of it all.. 

Wrapping us up, cramping us in a cell, treating us like military hostages, feeding us caviar and shooting bullets at our feet, the things people do to trick the media.. 

“hnngh..” my head jerked involuntarily when the girl stirred, I gave her some water and she opened her eyes sleepily “where.. what- h-happened?” she murmured and pushed herself in a sitting position, still leaning slightly over my shoulder. 
“We’re still here, c’mon, mission is over” I gave her arm a small tug and she got up.
“Over? What happened?” 
“Nothing, just-“ its going to be a lot of explaining.. “Whatever” 
I rolled my eyes when she gave a sigh; I guess I’ll never know if it was of anger or just a headache, but girls are so weak! Fainting at the sound of a bullet, I mean, it never even went towards her! 
It was a little dark in the hallways so I tugged at her sleeve and guided her quickly through random corners and long stairways. If ‘this’ was just the basement, then where is the attic? 

“Squall?” she called my name like she was calling a child, she must be out of her mind to try to kiss up for me.. 
“Yeah?”
“Where are we going?” 
I stopped “anywhere! got any better idea?” 
“Yeah” he grabbed my arm and pulled at it, I sighed and followed quietly, lets see where her stubborn-nes will lead.. 
For my surprise, she led me to an open door which led to the kitchen! 
Glancing at her with a confused look, I pulled my arm away. 
“Haven’t you checked the map GF gave you?” she crossed her arms and then glared at the people crowding up to see the strange people coming out from the old store room.  
“Whatever” we both headed towards the closest door but for our surprise, we found out it led to the dining room, the general and his wife were quietly eating their meal as if nothing happened! 

The woman chewed slowly on her meat but then chocked when she saw the girl standing next to me. 

“*cough* you! *cough*” she got up quickly and half-ran half-stumbled to the girl “you! I wanted to ask you!” 
“Fujin” two colored eyes pierced through red ones. 
“Yes, Fujin, do you remember your childhood?” she asked eagerly, Gregory dabbed his lips with the classy napkin and got up to join the conversation. 
“Negative, I don’t” Fujin looked convincing, but shouldn’t she at least remember the few happy times? If she had any, not that I care.. 
“You- don’t?” Alexia looked disappointed “oh. Well, don’t you remember having any sisters or brothers?” 
“No”
“Any family?”
“No”
“Friends? Toys?”
“No and no”
“Come on! How did you go to garden?” 
“I don’t remember” 
“You’re not being any help!” the pregnant woman snapped, uh-oh, mood changing, the other man and I stepped aside, exchanging a nervous glance.  
“Maybe I don’t want to be!” arrogantly replayed the wind element. 
“Why not?” 
“Because I don’t need brothers or sisters!” 
“Yes you do!”
“No I don’t”
“Yes you do!”
“No I don’t”
“You do!”
“I don- this is stupid!” out of habit, she clasped her hand firmly around the small of my wrist and practically started dragging me outside. 
“Wait!” the elderly woman called “call me!” 
Suddenly Fujin stopped, making me almost hit her “you have your husband, you have your baby, you have your ‘jakoozy’, you don’t need me even if we were related!” she sounded serene and kind of bitter, but then started dragging me out again.  
“Fu- Fujin!” I shouted and stopped, retrieving my poor detached wrist. 
“Get me a car” she demanded and I rolled my eyes “get me a car, NOW!” she stomped her foot to the ground and when I actually looked, her eyes looked- teary? She was sad? Hurt? Fujin, the great ice-wall Fujin Kazeno cries? “Did you hear me?”  
“I heard you” I growled, stupid Kazeno-girl bossing me around, twist my arm why don’t you? 
I started walking down the street and she followed “I told you to get a car!” 
“What do I look like, rent-a-car shop?” 
She huffed angrily and brushed back her hair, trying to hide the fact that she was drying away imaginary tears from her cheeks. 
“Don’t start weeping, it doesn't suit you” I added cruelly.
“I wasn’t weeping” her voice wavered, not weeping but sobbing. “Besides, why does it mater to you if I wept? I can weep if I want to!” she frowned. 
“Whatever” I frowned back
“I thought I told you not to say that!” she scolded and turned to a parked car. 
“I’m sorry I forgot mommy” I followed her and was surprised when she pressed her flat palms against the window “Fujin, what’re you doing?” isn’t this kinda, against the book or something?
“shut up” she growled and squeezed downwards until the window gave in and cracked a small gap, enough for the sleek arms to snake in and pull the safety off, she opened the door and bent under the steering wheel.
“Fujin, this is crazy! We can always catch a ride, or- or rent a car!” I explained, this is *not* my idea about ‘getting a car’ 
“Are you in or out?” 
“Out, I’m no criminal!” suddenly, the car gave a buzzing sound and then hissed alive “whoa!”  
“Well excuse me mister nobleman” she straightened up and held the steering wheel 2-10.
“How’d you learn to do that?” I asked, quite amazed.
“That’s why I’m a SeeD, not *just* because I’m a gunblade specialist and the pampered son of Esthar’s president” she mocked. 
“Hey, I never asked to be his son, and I’m not pampered!” 
“Anyway, Timber isn’t until three hours walk, or fifty minutes ride” she tried to convince.
“No way, I’m taking the train” I started walking. 
“Fine” she shrugged and closed the door then ‘vroomed’ across the road, I hope somebody tells on her, and get the police to catch her, and put her in jail.. 
I’m not pampered!        

About ten minutes later, I reached the train station and wondered why it was so empty, so I asked the ticket man. 
“When is the next train for timber?” 
“Sorry sir, but there are no trains for timber today, the next one is coming tomorrow morning” 
“What?” 
“Train malfunctioning lately, sorry for the inconvenience sir” 
“No problem” of course it’s a problem! Either I wait for the train coming tomorrow or walk the whole way, whish I went with the albino.. 

I walked for a long hour, feeling like its time compression again, except for the plants and clouds decorating the place.. What is this, a main road with not a single car driving? I must be the luckiest man on earth.. 

About fifteen minutes later I heard a car coming from where timber was supposed to be, maybe I can get the guy to take me back to Dollet and I can stay the night there and go by train to- what the hell! Its Fujin’s car! 

She quietly opened the door for me and I climbed in shamefully.. 
“I don’t see any trains” she teased.
“Shut up” I growled and slammed the door.  

The ride to timber was quiet, until something itched in the back of my brain “why’d you come back?” 
“I dunno” her honesty surprised me. 
“You don’t know?”
“Nope” she stretched her arm a little then continued “I guess I couldn’t just leave you behind” 
“I told you I was taking the train” 
“That’s what got me suspicious, I didn’t see any train” 
“Thanks anyway” I leaned back and glanced outside. 
“No problem” there was another car than drove past up on its way to Dollet “uh-oh” she panicked. 
“Uh-oh what?” 
“That was a police car” Fujin pressed the pad and we went faster. 
Two seconds later we heard the sirens of the police behind us and Fujin cursed then went faster. “Are you crazy? Your going to kill us!” I shouted. 
“You’re right” she slowed down and stopped “fasten your seat belt” 
“Huh?” I did what she asked in total confusion and watched as the car stopped behind us and one officer came down, when he was two steps away from our stolen car, Fujin stomped the peddle suddenly and the car darted away. 
“Dammit!” I cursed her “stop! Just stop right here!”
She didn’t say anything, just gave a devilish chuckle which was not her at all. I guess we lost the police because we haven’t heard them anywhere near, suddenly Fujin stopped the car and I sent a small thank-you prayer above that I kept my seat belt on. 

“Get down” she left the car on and climbed down quickly and started running. 
“Dammit, this is *not* what I asked for! They are supposed to catch you only!” I ran after her. After an exhausting run, we were at timber’s gates. 

We signed in for a room in the hotel, two beds and a bathroom; it was half the money that I brought with me. It was in my wallet all the time and I thanked God that I kept it for such emergencies. 

Fujin dropped on the bed and sighed deeply. 

“That whole chase thing, it was unnecessary, you were wrong and you know it” I scolded.
“What did you want me to do, walk three miles?” 
“No-“
“You wanted me to go back to alexia and beg her for a ride? She’d take me in to live with her!” 
“You talk about her like you know who she is!” 
“I do, she’s my sister” she got up on her elbows and I sat down on my bed next to her own. 
“she’ your what? Why didn’t you tell her?” 
“I don’t need her” she shrugged.
“Wait, how do you know?” 
“It’s a long story, tell you about it later” she got up and stepped into the bathroom. 
I lay back on my bed, I need to clear my thoughts, but before I could think of a single thought, I heard the shower running. 
“Taking a shower?” I questioned. “You just had a bath!” 
“That was a bath, this is a shower” her voice echoing through the bathroom half-opened door. 
“What’s the difference?” I was talking to myself more than to her. 
“You don’t wash your body in the correct order” 
That was something I needed to know very badly, thank you for that information miss know-it-all.. 

*knock knock* 
Damn.. 
I opened the door and my heart gave a huge lurch when two officers stood in the doorway. 
They showed me their badges and one of them spoke “excuse me sir, can we ask you some questions?”  
“Yes” I answered, trying not to stutter.
“may we come in?” the other officer spoke, she was a woman. 
“um-“ Fujin is taking a shower.. “my-“ wife.. “Wife, is taking a shower, she always comes out naked” I tried to explain. 
“Fine” the male police officer shrugged and turned away to another door, the female stepped in. 
“Hey!”
“Have you been driving this afternoon?” she asked, she doesn't care about my wife naked? I care about seeing Fujin naked, why shouldn’t she? Crap..  
“No, I haven’t been driving” on the contrary, Fujin was.. But I’d pay to not say that. 
“How did you get here? You just signed in minutes ago” she questions, suspicion in her voice. 
Umm.. “We were camping at Obel’s lake, and” uhh “we came here by foot” 
She gave a nod then thought for a moment “how did you start that car?” 
Easy, Fujin bent under the- whoa! “What car?” 
“The car you were in!” she reasoned, geesh, she just needs proof! They know who we are!
“We came here by foot! Mind you” 
“Then where are your camping stuff?” she gave a sly smirk.. Damn.. Fujin, it’s your fault. 

“Honey!” Fujin finally spoke and stepped in, wrapped only in a towel “we better hurry, we don’t want our camping stuff to rot at the lake like last time!” she lift her head up and brushed away hair that stuck to her cheeks “oh! Hello?” 
The officer woman got up and stood in front of Fujin “you look familiar” 
“Seen me on cereal boxes?” the albino smirked. 
“Well, we’ll be back later” with that, she exited herself. 
“Phew, what did she ask?” the albino rushed to me. 
“Um” I tried not to look directly between her small breasts “she, um, asked if the car was ours” 
“Oh” she thought for a while then gave a small smile “thanks you for covering it up” 
“No problem” I scratched the back of my neck and my eyes wandered. 
“You might want to wash your face” she turned around and motioned with her hand in the air. 
“Huh” I touched my face and realized a thin line of blood down my nose. Damn, I hate it when that happens.. 
The bathroom was warm with fog when I entered, and as I splashed water on my face, I wondered, when did this start? My nose had never bled around a naked woman before, not Rinoa, not any other woman, then why? 
My hair started to cling to my cheeks in the dampness of the air, so I left the small room quickly and grabbed a towel to dry my face.
“Are you okay?” she asked while brushing her hair, which obviously had a lot of knots, but she was still in a towel. 
“Yeah” just get dressed and I’ll be fine “where are your clothes?” 
“Haven’t got any” she shrugged, and I tried to not complement her marble-colored shoulders. 
“Just great” I huffed and then turned around to leave. 

She never called me or anything, so I supposed it was okay to go out of the room for a while, luckily, the hotel had small clothing shops so I took a minute to buy a shirt and some pants. 

When I opened the door to our room, I expected the worst, but what I saw surprised me, Fujin was wrapped in the blanket in a sitting position and watching something in the television. She looked at me with a small smile, what's so funny? 

I threw her the clothes and sat on the bed next to her. For my surprise, General Fredrick was on TV! 

“As I said earlier, everything went as planned and we are both safe” he declared through the blinding flash lights “SeeD had helped us very much, I would like the thank Balamb Garden for all its help and specifically thank Headmaster Cid Kramer, thank you all” with that the scene got back to the news studio. 

“Not even a single mention of our help” she muttered and grabbed the bagged clothes “don’t you think this is a little bit too- tight on you?” holding up the blue jeans. 
“They are for you” I arched a brow. 
“They are?” she studied them for a moment “oh- uh, th-thank you!” she unwrapped herself from the blanket and I realized that she was in a bath robe, better than the towel I guess! 
Ten minutes later she walked in from the bathroom dressed in the purple shirt and jeans that I bought, they fit her perfectly. 
“Although I hate purple, thank you” 
“Whatever, stop thanking me already” it’s too much, I think my cheeks are heating up.
She sat on the edge of the bed swinging her legs just a little. “so now what?” 
“Dunno”
“You don’t know?” she asked, why does this sound familiar?
“No I don’t know” 
“Fine” she shrugged and gave a small giggle which was NOT her.. Or maybe it IS her, and I’m just too blind to see that she had changed. 
“What’s so funny?” 
“Nothing” her smile faded “just turning the tables” 
“Whatever” 
“Would you stop that?” she snapped, making me mentally jump out of my shoes. 
“whatev-“
“Bah!” 
Suddenly the door was knocked. 
“Uh oh” she whispered “its *her* again!” 
I got up and opened the door, it was room service “here is tonight’s menu sir” with that, the man left. 
“We need to get out of here!” Fujin got up and turned off the TV.
“Oh- no! The last time you said that, we ended up being chased by the police!” I backed away playfully. 
“Come on!” she frowned but she didn’t seem angry at all.
“Where are we supposed to go?” I asked and placed my hands on my hips. 
“I dunno anywhere other than here!” with that she grabbed the bag that her clothes were in -when I bought them- and stuffed her own. Then took a minute to go to the bathroom and grab the soap bar. 
“Thief” I scolded.
“Call it what you want, this stuff is great” she shrugged and looked at me “they make us pay for this anyway” 
“They do?” I asked as she opened the door and left.  
“Yup” we signed out and rented a car with what's left of my money, now we are completely broke until we go back for Garden. 
“So now where?” I watched the road carefully as I drove. 
“Dunno-“
“You don’t know?” I mocked for the irony of it!
“Stop it!” she slapped my arm playfully “we’ve had that conversation over and over in every chapter!” 
“Whatever” I chuckled. 
“Let’s go to Balamb.” She suggested. 
Something told me to call; it itched at me to call, so I stopped at a phone-booth and searched my pockets for any change. I cursed when I couldn’t fine any metallic objects, so I tried my luck and searched the slot, lucky me! I found a coin and slit it into the machine and dialed Cid’s number. 

“Hello?” came his old voice, sounds like home n _\n 
“Headmaster, mission complete” 
“Who is this?”
“Commander Leonhart, sir”
“o-oh, S-Squall..” he stuttered, what's wrong? “You are- under arrest” 
“What?” 
“*sigh* I’m sorry, but I got a call from Dollet police that you and miss Kazeno have stolen a car from General Fredrick’s mansion”
“But we-“
“I’m sorry, but I will not have SeeD’s reputations jeopardized because of a personal act, you will be banned from Garden until further notice” *click* 

After a single moment to sink in the realization, I slammed the receiver a lot of times until I felt it give in and almost break in my hand, why the hell did I call? Why the hell did I ride with air-girl? Why the hell did I take this mission in the first place? Oh no, wait a minute, I didn’t, for the second time.. 

I slammed the door shut when I got into the car and sighed angrily.  
“Frell” I cursed.  
“What happened?” she asked calmly. 
“It’s your fault you know that?” I snapped at her “if you haven’t stolen the damn car nothing would have went wrong!” 
“What?” she arched her brows. 
“We’re banned from Garden, thanks to you ‘master thief’ lady”  
“Oh, so now it’s my fault? Wasn’t I the one who saved you from a three-mile walk?” 
“I was doing fine thank you very much” 
“Well I didn’t force you!” she growled “you ungrateful chicken!”  
“Chicken? What the hell-“
“Hey, I didn’t pull you in front of me when a gun was pointed to my forehead!” 

Damn.. Stab me in the pride.. This is *not* my day.. 

“Whatever” 
“Whatever” we said it in the same time. She studied me better than I thought. 

I started driving around aimlessly until she spoke “you’re going to use up all the fuel”
“You can always steal others” I mocked irritably. 
She pressed her lips together in annoyance and just leaned backwards in her seat. 
“Sorry” and started driving on the main road. 
“Where to?” she shifted restlessly in her seat. 
“Winhill” it’s the only quiet place here, I would have driven to FH but it will only be annoying, people never mind their own business there.

We reached the valley where the mountains meet and found a large sign telling us to leave our vehicles here and continue on foot as if to not ‘disturb the quiet village’  
“What do you think?” I asked. 
Fujin shrugged “you’re the boss; I’m only a master thief”
That hurt her so much? I never knew, I mean- who cares! 
I parked the car then stepped out and she followed me through the poorly lit valley. Two minutes later we were greeted by the setting sun and Winhill ever so small and quiet. We walked a little until we saw the faint lights of the few houses declaring it a day done. 
“Let’s hurry” 
“I’ve heard that Winhill residents are all old people” she looked around at the miserable-looking shabby houses. 
“I guess” I entered the hotel and rang the tiny bell. 
“How may I help you?” the woman at the desk smiled “we rarely get any visitors!” 
“We’d like a room please” I asked, begging to God that they haven’t decided to charge for money. 
“Well, you can just use the room upstairs” 
“For free?” asked the girl, couldn’t she just shut-up?
“Yes, for free” ^__^
“Thank you” Fujin smiled and hustled upstairs.
“Thank you so much” I nodded.
“Can I please have your names?” 
Umm.. “Mister and Misses Fredrick” 
“Yes, have a nice stay” 
“Mhmm” I climbed the stairs and closed the door behind me, when I turned around I saw Fujin bending over to smell the flowers. She lift her head up and turned around to face me, her hair flying beautifully and falling against her cheeks like a goddess. 

“Which bed?” I asked, trying to change the subject before my nose started to bleed again, I hate that. 
“That one” she pointed to the one on the right, so I sat on the left, what's gotten into me? I agree, it’s been a while since I’ve last been with a woman, but that doesn't explain my constant staring at the albino, I’m a man, I can stare whenever and wherever I want to, but still, it nags at me.. She’s not beautiful in the common way, she’s not extra nice at all, on the contrary, she’s really terrible when in a fight, I admit, her eyes are beautiful and mystical somehow, but that’s all.. 

Other than the way she keeps saying ‘I dunno’ *smile*
 
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End of chapter four~    
A/N: I got something to say, I love all your reviewers out there n_n Vick, your reviews sting, but they help u_u *almost got me weeping* but what else am I supposed to do when I want things flowing? And Pendy, you finally reviewed! :O more thank-you’s will come leter on, don’t worry ^_^ BTW should I end it happily ever after *with a promise of a sequel later* or should I leave it blank, I just love the blank-ended ficcies ^__^ kind of squaresoft-ish! So please review, I love criticism, it makes me a better writer *bounces around*    

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Chapter five: at end~
A/N: nee! The final chappie, I hope you liked this, please review ! 

Finally, some time off.. So what if we were banned from garden? It could be the end of the world for him but it doesn't make a difference for me, I was thinking about leaving Garden anyway. 

“So, now what?” Squall sat on the bed and brushed back his silken hair. 
“I dunno, and before you even ask, yes I do NOT know” 
He gave a small chuckle but I was too late on turning around to see his smile. I wonder why he asks me that question a lot of times, I really cant think right now any way, I guess feeling refreshed means not thinking in my book! The flowers were such an uplift.. 

“That’s it, live our lives in a hotel room surrounded by flowers?” he murmured, obviously unhappy.
“I’d love to live like this for a while” I picked up a flower and sat on the old oak table. 
“Whatever” he shrugged, and lay on his back. 

A long pause hung between us, both thinking about our upcoming life, are we even going to be together? I bet he’d want to live alone. The money isn’t really a problem to me, I’ve always had money in my hands I never cared anymore, that’s why I’ve been so good in thievery, not having anything to do while having too much money can never be good to a teenager. Though I’ve never stolen big things, like cars before, it was always candy from Raijin or porn magazines from Seifer don’t get me wrong, I just steal them to see the annoyed look on Seifer’s face!               

“I need a job” he expressed rather dully, is he that bored?
“Get one” 
“The only thing I’m good at is fighting, and I don’t even have my gunblade here” 
“Work quietly for a change, like at a bar, or at the hotel” I suggested. 
“These two are the only available options anyway” 
“No, there is a shop at the entrance of the city I think” 
“Oh yeah, how do you know, have you been here before?” he got up on his elbows and watched me.
“Yeah, a year or two behind, it was winter vacation and Raijin and I had nowhere else to visit” I shrugged “we ended up working at the shop because Winhill had no banks!” I gave a small smile. 
“Why are you telling me this?” he gave a quizzed frown. 
“You asked!” 
“Well- whatever” 
“Hmm” I huffed “that’s what I get for being room-mates with Tilmit” it’s her fault I’m so cheery… 
“Tilmit?” he eyed me suspiciously “as in.. Selphie Tilmit?”  
“Yeah, Selphie Tilmit, curly hair, bouncy attitude” 
“Shock!” his eyes widened, what's so surprising? 
“It’s not like I asked her to be my roommate, there was no other room available and they had to take her out of the men’s dorms sometime” 
“Thank you for saving me from her” he nodded happily. 
“No prob, I don’t mind watching ‘Digi Charat’ with her every now and then”
“I hate that anime” 
“You hate everything that’s cute” I accused with a small shrug and a sniff at the beautiful white flower. 
“Whatever” he watched the flowers for a moment then got that faraway look on his face. 

There was a knock on the door and I got up to open it. I was surprised when two men attacked me and handcuffed me. When I really looked they were officers! 

“You are under arrest for car thievery and escape from police force” the man behind me growled. 
“What? I’ve never done anything!” I lied. 
“You have the right to remain silent” he added “I suggest you do” 
“You, come’ere” the other officer searched squall’s body and then cuffed him as well, squall looked surprisingly calm, but not happy..   
“What makes you so sure it’s us?” Squall asked, stupid move..
“We saw you on the radar, besides, we saw your rented car parked outside this place” he smirked “you might get off the hook if the car owner dropped the charges” 
“Nice system” huffed Squall, who would have thought the hotel would get our car number? I should note that the next time I steal a car and run away with Squall.. 

We were dragged from Winhill into the police car and taken to Timber police dept. 

Pictures were taken for me, I had a stupid number too.. Squall was held as well but in another cell.. so this is how my life would be, a convict with no job huh? I think I could live with *sniff* that.. Yeah, I’ll be just *sniff sniff* fine.. I will! NO! I will *sob* not cry! I’m gonna be just fine! Here, all alone, in this damp and small uncomfortable creepy- cell.. if only I can talk to Alexia, I’d tell her I’m sorry and that I still love her, maybe she’d drop the charges and leave me be.. No, that wont work.. She’ll humiliate me in front of her husband.. She always done that.. 

Not that I remember everything, stupid GF -Guardian force not Alexia’s husband- we always fought about everything, starting from toothbrushes, candy, pillows and ending with dresses, toys and even Guardian forces.. 
I remember last time I saw her -before my grand escape to Garden- we had a big fight about who gets the Guardian forces, my grandfather -or so I remember- died, or something, and left us four guardian forces, Valefore, Shiva, Carbuncle and Pandemonium. We couldn’t figure out how to summon Valefore because gramps got it from the ashes of a dead sorceress.. Sometime in the future I think, but I dunno how he got back!  The fight? Oh yeah, she was soo~ greedy she decided to take the first three and leave me with one! Just because she was seven years older doesn't mean that she gets it all.. the worst part -other than getting a faceless GF- she donated Shiva - who was supposed to be mine- for Balamb Garden and now the lucky commander has her.. How ironic is that? He got my other GF too.. He’s got my family crest for God’s sake! T_T! 
So I decided to runaway, it was a big party where all the classy people came, including Fredrick, I guess that’s where they first met, she was only seventeen and I was only ten, I hated parties, wasn’t allowed to get my clothes dirty there.. So I decided -since everybody was busy ignoring me- to escape, it wasn’t hard, but as a ten year old, it was the best plan I ever thought of through my whole life! To run out the front door and run as fast as I could, but just as I stepped outside I saw her talking with the brunet guy, she had a really hard crush on him; she saw me and gave a victorious grin. 
I ran up to her and kicked her shins angrily, she gasped and fell on her knees rubbing her sore leg, she started cursing and insulting me, I never knew what it meant back then but I shouted back at her, Rage and all.. I guess that’s where the kicking and impediment came from, I cried out that I hated her and ran away; I haven’t seen her ever since until this last mission, now because of her I’m cramped in this stupid room because of a stupider crime.. Why don’t *they* try to walk three miles? 

A woman walked up into the cell and smirked “charges dropped, out” she opened the door and I scuffled my feet out, not at all happy with the hospitality. 
“Who dropped the charges?” I asked. 
“General Fredrick” she slammed the door closed and guided me through the long maze of the hallways.      
Squall met me in the hall with a frown and a hand on his hip. Something bitter stirred in my chest and just now, I felt guilt, the look on his face and the silent accusation, it was unnerving.         

“Welcome back” 
I tried to smile to hide my uneasiness, I tried to frown, but nothing came out except for a single squeak of nervousness. 
“You were held responsible for it all” he explained “I’m back at Garden” 
“A-nd me?” I stuttered, I’ve never stuttered! Why is it so hard to look him in the eye? 
“you- *sigh* I’m sorry, but the charges were dropped, alexia related, but Garden refused to accept my reasoning, Cid was so stubborn, I promise to try again later but I -“ 
“Don’t” I gave a soft sob, I need to be strong. It was my fault we are here in the first place “I’ll find me a job” 
He walked me outside and the sunlight was comforting, although its been less than six hours but being trapped in there was really suffocating.. 

“I’m gonna look for a job at Winhill” I shoved my hands at my pockets. 
“Just like that? No regrets or anything?” he looked really quizzed. 
“Nah, it wont do me any good” I shrugged, feeling the bitterness in my chest rise tighter.
“Wont Raijin and- um, Seifer.. Miss you?” 
“They wouldn’t even notice” my voice wavered a bit, what's happening to me? 
“Fujin” he suddenly looked at me, I waited for some kind of question or lecture, but none came, he looked paranoid himself “need a -uhh.. Hug?” the offer was quick and shy.. Am I the only one feeling the strange lightness in my chest or is it.. 
“Umm” I pondered it for a moment, then carefully laid my head on his chest, he was warm and inviting and I couldn’t fail to notice the easiness that overwhelmed me.. It felt.. Like home.. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It’s been about two months since I’ve last seen the commander, my belongings were sent to me a week after I left garden -or so I like to tell everyone- and between them was a letter from Selphie and a video tape with the label “kodocha” I remember grinning at the sight of it, but there are no VCR’s in Winhill.. So I decided to keep it for a good memory, the letter was a goodbye letter saying that she’d miss me and she sends me her hugz and kisses.. 

The old lady at the flower shop agreed to take me in to live with her in the empty room at the attic, said that the house needed some living creatures! She always complemented my work with flowers as well, saying that only a woman -forgot her name- was known to deal with flowers so delicate, she also told me about the woman’s heart aching story with a Galabadian soldier who married her but then left her with a child and never came back.. I pity her, but she is just like me, neglected by who she loved most.. 

Last night, a visitor came to Winhill, but refused to stay long, he left just this morning, word says that he was blond, and he left me a letter at the pub! 
When I went there, and received the letter, it read:
“Dear Fujin, 
     I’m sorry if I ever hurt you, but that night, your 18th birthday, no wait, don’t throw the letter just yet, that night, you left me all alone, and I tried to speak with you, I needed to tell you something very important, I wanted to tell you that I loved you -even right now, you still have a special place in my heart- but the important thing I wanted to say, you didn’t speak to me after it at all, for two years Fujin, you haven’t spoken or met me in two years, Fuu, wind goddess.. You are as innocent as your birthday morning, its true, we never went anywhere, you were just so stubborn and furious you refused to even talk about it, well, anyway, this letter is just to tell you the news, and that I will be getting married soon, so sudden, I know, but I need to get up sometime.. Good luck in your own life, Fujin, please, forget about any bad times we shared, what matters is the good times.. 
                       
                                          Faithful knight, Seifer Almasy” 

I cried that night, cried with all my heart, cried for going out with him, cried for leaving him, cried for all the times he looked at me with his hurt eyes, cried for being so cold-hearted, cried for taking the mission with Alexia, cried for feeling sympathetic for the commander, cried for leaving Alexia behind, cried for hugging Squall, cried because I think I’m in love with him. Cried at all the failures in my life.. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was only five in the morning that there was a knock on my door, I scrambled out of bed and smoothed my sleeping pajama which crawled up my thighs. 
“wh- who is.. Ahem, there?” 
“It’s me darling, you’ve got a visitor” came her old motherly voice from behind the door. 
“Hmm? Wait, I’ll be-“
“he’s downstairs darlin’ take your time” 
I pulled up my pants and scuffled down the stairway, small and cramped but there was nothing creaky about it.. 

“I’m, here, who is it?” I tried to fix my hair but stopped when a familiar brunet turned around and gave a genuine smile which I grew to love, it was a rarity but I loved it “Squall, what’re you doing here? I thought-“
“You don’t know?” he asked with a growing grin..
I gave a shy chuckle at the thought of where this is going “no, I don’t *sniff* know”
“Well, let me tell you” huh? Change of conversation? He hugged me tightly and whispered into my ear “I missed you, you know, its embarrassing coming all the way here just to say that” he blushed..
“No its okay” I shifted in his arms and wrapped my arms around him “I wouldn’t mind, it’s so sweet of you”
“You said that you’d ‘tell me about it later’ is it later now?” he smiled and I laughed, tears blurring my vision, I’m so happy he remembered me, I’m so happy he’d stay for a while, and I cant really stop crying, so people cry when happy emotions are involved too? I sometimes cried when it was too pressure, but never too happy, I guess there is a first time for everything.. 


End, 
Ren-chan~             
A/N: I’d like to thank every body who reviewed this fic n_n and they are: 
anonymous  
HyDrA   
Demonic P-chan   
Ashbear and Wayward
Renegade Seraph  (yup, they were in the basement all along!)
Fujin: Wind Goddess  (I love her ^^,)
A Reveiwer (one of the best reviewers n_n
Vick330 (sigh) I’d take a whole book to explain why I love his reviews -_- forgive!
Person37
Agar   
CrystalineTears 




And anybody who will review after them, ^__^;; I only wish.. But anyway, I hope this story ended well, because I’m thinking of a sequel, or a one-shot about Fujin’s life with Selphie as a roommate, but I dunno.. Fuu and Squall are property of Squaresoft whohaddoneabigmistakebyinvolvingDisenyinKingdomeHearts *cough* I hope you loved it.. And yes I know it not as fluffy as you thought it would be, I never thought it would be so dry either O_o  ..Thank you so much for your time!