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Lightning.	By : KittyMeowMaxwell Category: Final Fantasy VIII > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 667 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VIII, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 10
- 11
- 12
Kitty: You should
all be grateful to Eoko! I am, because I never have
to do anything with these chapters except give her Author's Notes! Hmm... I love this fic! I love
Selphie! I suck at reverse parallel parking... But I'm getting better at
driving, although I did almost run over these two old people... Anyway! I don't
actually say much about the chapters, do I...? Heh.

Eoko: Nor does she edit the RP logs, or post
them on the site.� And no one can
parallel park when they�re learning, and most can�t for the rest of their
lives.� Uh, yea, this is Kit�s
chapter.� Odd, even,
odd, even, Kit, Eoko, Kit, Eoko.� Get it?�
I know I have to look sometimes.�
Anyway, let�s get this thing updated.

Chapter, The
Eleventh: In Which Selphie Figures Something Out.

Seifer went into a detailed explanation of various sexual
romps involving chains, whips, cream and various other toys, each of which was
more outrageous than the last until the end result was that they were both in
tears from laughing.

After that, it seemed as though everything was alright
between them again, though Seifer still felt a gnawing sensation in his stomach
every so often that he didn't understand.

They talked quietly, Zell detailing the actions and events
of "Rubedo"s encounters with Irvine. Seifer
had to grudgingly admit it seemed to be working better than his own ideas.

He made Zell swear to tell him next time he went on one of
his forays.

All seemed well in the world of the Blonde Brigade.

- - -

All was not so in Irvine Kinneas' world.

Three days after the incident in the Cafeteria, it occured to The Cadets they had not seen Irvine in a single
class since that day. The lot of them trouped down to Irvine's room and
knocked. When there was no answer, they looked at one another in great confusion
and worry. Where was he?

Harada flipped out her cell phone and dialled
Irvine's number. She wasn't surprised when it kicked over to the answering
machine.

"Irvy?
Irvine, let us in. We're worried about you. We know
you're there. You haven't been in class the last three days! Let us in, Irvine.
C'mon... Please? Irvine? Irvine!"

The phone lifted and was dropped back in the cradle,
hanging up on her.

"Irvine!" Illo shouted
through the door. "You can't hide away forever! You've got to eat!"

Silence.

"Come on, Irvy," Anasha called. "We just want to take you out for
something to eat. We'll be there. You don't have to worry about Seifer and
Zell.

"Yes I do!" His voice was a choked, broken
thing, utterly terrified. "I always do!"

They exchanged looks and Illo
darted off. Terry took a turn banging on the door.

"Why don't you tell someone?!"

Silence.

"Please," Harada said, almost in tears.
"Please, come out."

"No."

"Can't we just go and kill Seifer and Zell?
That'd solve the problem," Hiro muttered.

"Oh, yeah, right. Like we could," Terry muttered
back.

"Like I'd let'cha!"
piped Selphie's voice. Illo had returned with her.

"Selphie!" Anasha cried. "Oh, thank goodness. He sounds
terrible!"

Selphie nodded a little.

"Okay, guys, leave this to me. Go on. Off you go. I
mean it! Scram!"

They went with varying degrees of reluctance, Rikan the most reluctant of them all. He kept moving to say
something to Selphie, but she would "Shhp!"
him every time. When she gave him a bodily shove, proving to him she was
stronger than she looked, and threatened to go and get her nunchaku,
he finally left.

"Irvy...?" she called
softly through the door.

"Go away, Selphie," he said blankly, voice just
a whole lot of nothingness. "I don't want to talk to anyone. I'm never comin' out."

He was sitting with his back against the door, she
guessed, so she crouched, a hand flat to the cool metal, and pressed the side
of her face to the area where his head must roughly be.

"What about classes?"

"Don't matter."

"And your friends?"

"They won't miss me for long."

"Food?"

"Ain't
hungry."

"Irvine, you're being an idiot."

He was silent, but she heard him shift a little.

"You can't stay locked up in there forever. For one
thing, you'll die of starvation."

"I'd probably get up the guts to put Exeter in my
mouth before that..." he said with a calm detachment that scared the hell
out of her.

"Irvine!" she cried, slapping the door.
"Don't say shit like that! Let me in, dammit!"

"Naw... I ain't dressed for visitors."

"Like I care. I've seen you
naked!"

He snorted.

"Well I have!" She paused. "Gee, I never realized
what we had and did back then meant so little to you.
I thought it had ended with us as pretty good friends, since we realized we
just didn't have that fire a couple needs. I thought I meant as much to you as
you mean to me. I mean, you're like my brother, Irvine. Guess I went a bit far
assuming I'm like a sister to you. I'll just go and leave you to wallow in
self-pity, then."

She started to move.

"Selph..."

A grin flashed across her features. He was so damn easy to
play.

"What?" she huffed.

"Don't go..."

"I'm not bloody well sitting outside this door for
the rest of my life!"

There was a soft ping and the door slid open. It was dark
inside, sunlight showing only through a couple of small holes in the blinds.
She could see the curve of pale skin in the light from the open doorway, then
it slipped shut again, and she could see virtually nothing.

"Damn, Irvy! It's as dark
as the Black Hole of Calcutta in here!" (1)

"So?"

She rolled her eyes and went to pull open the blinds,
displaying the state Irvine was in. He sat on the bed now, in only a pair of
silk boxers, and his hair was pulled back into a braid that looked like it
hadn't been re-done in the three days he'd been hiding away. Tufts and tangles
stuck out all over it. The bed itself wasn't made, the covers and sheets in a
messy tangle. She went to sit by him, and her nose wrinkled.

"Hyne, Irvine! When did you shower
last?!"

He shrugged.

"This is pathetic," she informed him without
preamble. "Don't you get it? This means they've won. You won't be a SeeD, and you'll be kicked out of Garden when you turn 20!
Then where would you go?!"

He shrugged again.

"Will you get over it?!"

He looked sharply at her, blue eyes surprised.

"No, I'm not going to molly-coddle you! You're this
close to being an adult, Irvine, not a kid, and, let's face it,
we all had to grow up when we fought Ultimecia.
You're going backward! Listen, we'll go talk to Squall, okay? He'll make them
back off."

"No," Irvine said flatly, auburn brows drawing
together. "Everyone'll think I'm weak."

"Right, 'cause hiding in your room like a
three-year-old is so strong," she said sarcastically.

He looked away, flushing, then
grated out.

"It's easy for you to say. It ain't
you they're houndin'."

"No... I know. You're right. But, Irvine, you can't
let them get to you this much. They're cruel bastards, I know, but you
have to fight this."

He was silent a moment, then said suddenly; "Selph, d'you know anyone in Garden who rides a motorbike?"

Selphie blinked. That was abrupt.

"Er... a
few... why?"

He frowned, standing and walking through the bathroom. The
shower came on and she smiled a little.

"I met this weird guy..." his voice floated back
after a little time.

"Weird guy?"

"Yeah... He won't show me his face. He keeps his
motorbike helmet on all the time... He's given me a ride back to Garden a few
times. He won't talk either, but the day... when.... when Seifer bailed me up
in the caf, we'd talked... Or...
I talked. He wrote on a pad."

Selphie made a strange face. Irvine had a creepy
stalker... But he didn't seem worried about it...

"That seems kinda...
strange, Irvy."

"Yeah, I know... but he's real nice. He's a SeeD."

"A SeeD?
And he rides a motorbike?" She paused. "What kind?"

"Umm... a Sleipner, I
think..."

Selphie blinked. She only knew one SeeD who rode a bike that good.

"Did he tell you his name...?" she wondered
slowly.

"Yeah. Rubedo."

That was too much coincidence to be coincidence. She only
knew one SeeD who rode a bike that good and
his middle name was Rubedo. How the hell did Irvine
not know that middle name? She did. She supposed it was because Zell and Irvine
hadn't really had a chance to say boo to one another when they were fighting Ultimecia and since then, all they had done was hate each
other. Supposedly.

"Are you sure?" she called.

"Yeah. He wrote it
down."

Selphie frowned, debating whether or not to tell Irvine
what she knew. She decided against it. It didn't seem as though whatever the
hell Zell was doing was upsetting him. On the contrary, he sounded happier
talking about... Rubedo. Buuut, maybe she would have to
have a word with the blonde martial artist.

"I don't know him," she said.

"Hmm... I wish I knew what he looked like."

The water switched off and after a few moments of drying
Irvine came back with a towel slung around his slim hips. He hunted out a pair
of jeans and a loose t-shirt that barely touched the waist-band of the jeans
when he put them on. No wonder Seifer and Zell insisted Irvine was gay, Selphie
thought ruefully. He really looked it in that outfit. Especially
when he perched his hat on his pony-tailed, wet hair. Even
the action of lifting his arm that far showed a sliver of stomach.

"I got class," he said, smiling hesitantly at
her.

"Good for you!" she replied, hugging him tight.
"But... change your bed when you get back, yeah? It smells kinda funky."

He laughed a little and shook his head, then asked;
"Can you spare the time to walk on over to class with me?"

"'Course I can! And after class, we'll have dinner
together, yeah? Seems like for-ev-er
since I last spent any time with you!"

"Okay, that sounds fun. Only...
I... can't afford to shout you..." he sighed.

"'Sokay!
I'll shout you! You can pay me back when you're a SeeD."

"If," he corrected as they left his room.

"When," she said again, smiling gently up
at him.

In that moment, he loved her so much it made his throat
tighten.

- - -

Hyne, Instructor Aki could ramble... Irvine thought
dazedly to himself as he kept his head from lowering to his computer only by
sheer force of will. Of course, it didn't help that he'd forgotten more about
the capabilities of Guardian Force than the Instructor would ever know.

Leviathan kept up a running commentary on every incorrect
fact Aki stated until Irvine was in a state of constant almost-laughter that
would get him in trouble if he let it go, because he knew he wouldn't stop
laughing.

"In conclusion..." Aki said and Irvine wasn't
the only one who breathed a sigh of relief as they started to pack away books
and pens while the Instructor summarized his lesson over for them.

"Before you all go," Aki called over the
shifting and slap-shut of text books. "I have a notice for you all."

They all settled back into silence.

"It has come to the attention of several of your
weapons masters of a deficiency in nearly all of you. You fight with amazing
skill - until you lose your weapon, at which time you either freeze up or find
yourself overwhelmed in a very short time. With this in mind, it is expected
that all of you will undertake a three-week hand-to-hand course."

There was a murmur through the class, then
Harada piped up.

"Which Instructor is going to teach us for
that?"

"None! I am!"

Irvine's stomach dropped into the vicinity of his black cowboy
boots and his eyes went round as saucers as the man to whom the voice belonged
stepped in the doorway.

"Instructor Dincht at your
service!" He grinned, sapphire eyes alight. "Well, actually,
I'm not an Instructor, I don't have a license. I'm just the single best
hand-to-hand fighter in Garden. So, you can call me Zell."

Instructor Aki rolled his eyes a little.

"These classes will run Monday, Wednesday and Friday
afternoons from sixteen hundred until eighteen hundred hours," Aki said.
"Attendance is mandatory. Mr. Dincht will be taking a roll at the
beginning of every class. Dismissed."

The class went into a buzz of excited conversation, and
The Cadets closed ranks around Irvine and glared at Zell as the sharpshooter
dropped his head on the desk several times.

Could his life get any
worse?!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

�(1) I'm not really sure if this is a saying
native to Australia or what. But anyway, it means really, really dark!
- 10
- 11
- 12
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Lightning.