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Enter the Night
Fujin was the one who hot-wired the car. Seifer had seen her perfect her performance over the years but there were still times when he wondered if there were more in her past than he’d ever know. He did however wish that she at some point in it had learned to drive properly. “Where?” Fujin asked as she put the pedal to the floor and the car jumped at the touch.“Cape Balamb,” Seifer said. *****Seifer listened to his friend abusing the engine in anyway she desired the whole way up to Cape Balamb. He noticed how much the landscape had changed since their last visit, a reminder of how long ago that was. It was their special place, their secret spot. It was really just a cliff towering over the blue ocean, not far from the town. Sentimentality stung in him, he had been so happy that mild summer evening about a year ago. Seeing the sun descend, coloring the water as if the glowing ball was melting. Feeling her lips press gently against his own, holding her, making her feel safe.Rinoa. Whatever he felt that night was still there but she was slipping away from him. Everything was changing, their time was over. He knew it, he just didn´t want to realize it. Hope stirred in him that it would be better after the ball, when he had fulfilled his promise to her. The promise to introduce her to Headmaster Cid. But thruth to tell he didn´t really feel like seeing the headmaster in the next couple of days.He knew he had failed again. But in retrospect nothing he had done in Dollet seemed wrong. Sure he broke his orders but the mission turned out to be even more succesfull because he had. They had gotten the real target, the one that made all the difference in the ongoing war. But it wouldn´t matter, Squall was the one who would walk out of this with his head up high. He was the one who would be a SeeD tomorrow. Seifer clenched his fist unconsciously at the thought of his rival. He sighed, no, he didn´t want to face Headmaster Cid tomorrow but he had promised Rinoa and he would not go back on his word. *****“Here!” Fujin pointed out the obvious as the vehicle stopped. They all got out of the car, none of them saying a word as they watched the sun sink into the ocean. They just stood there, inhaling the serenity. Seifer´s mind drifted once again to that night the summer before.“It´s beautiful ya know,” Raijin was the one who finally broke the silence. Seifer glanced at Fujin. The last rays of the sun playfully kissed her face, the light reflected in her eye, making the violet color shimmer. He resisted the temptation to touch her silver tresses, to let his fingers tangle in it. There was a saddness in her being that he could never quite understand, but he could see it in himself as well. He used to wonder if Fujin could ease the aching feeling inside of him and sometimes he even wished he was the one to ease hers.“Fuu,” he said, “I didn´t make it this time either.” She knew he was talking about the SeeD field exam.“No?” there was surprise in her voice but Seifer knew what he had just told her hadn´t come as a shock to her. “I screwed up again I... damnit.”She put her hand gently on his shoulder. “Next time,” she said softly, almost speaking normally. “There might not be a ‘next time’,” he sighed.“Will,” she said, returning to her usual voice. He placed a soft kiss on her lips. “Thanks Fuu,” he said, then turned and headed back to the car.***** Raijin was studying some shells that seagulls had dropped off as they flew over the cliff, he didn´t seem to have taken any notice of the scenario which had taken place just on the other side of the car.“There ya are ya know,” he said as his two friends approached him. “Know,” Fujin said and jumped in to the driverseat again.Seifer sighed, and prepared for the bumpy ride back. *****Balamb Garden lay silent in the moonlight. It was a truly magnificent building, Seifer noted, architecture such as this shouldn´t be wasted on a military academy, on people who could never appreciate the beauty in it´s shape and design. Then Fujin suddenly threw the car into a U-turn and her two fellow passengers slammed in to the doors of the vehicle.“Driveway. Missed,” she explained. “Almost,” she added as the car pulled into the parking lot.Seifer chuckled and she gave him one of her rare smiles. The sound made somtehing tingle inside her but she tried to push the feeling away. They left the dark parking area in silence. Seifer reached out for the thin glass door that led in to the Garden.“Home sweet home,” he said and held up the door for her. He followed her in and Raijin caught the door before it slammed in his face. He grunted something which never reached the two infront of him. *****“Good night, see you tomorrow ya know,” Raijin said as the party was about to split up to go their separate ways for the night. They were in the hall of the dormitory, only the flourescent night lights were on, leaving them in an indistinct shimmer. “I won´t see you before the ball actually. I´m leaving early tomorrow. Rinoa is coming in from Timber,” Seifer said, throwing a quick glance at Fujin´s face for some trace of a reaction. But none came.His pale friend managed a thin, forced smile. “Good night,” she said, the mentioning of Rinoa´s name had made something sting in her. Jealousy, but well masked, she was hardly able to tell herself.“Yeah, good night then,” Seifer said, kicking some imagined dust with his boot. Fujin and Raijin left, leaving him alone in the corridore, watching them disappeare into the darkness. He didn´t know then that it would be their last night together like this; like the innocent youths they were.But soon they would be trapped in mighty forces of evil. |