Author's Notes: Hehe, it seems Redrum hit the nail on the head. Yes, he was in the wrong place at the wrong time...but SeeDs can vouch for him so it isn’t a huge deal ^-^; (why doesn‘t that ever happen to me. I‘m in the wrong place at the wrong time constantly)...Congrats though, you get a cookie!...If I had any cookies...I have frozen dinners...they’re all healthy though...how about a piece of bread? All right, onto the fic, please keep reviewing.

Enigmatic Hatred

Part 8

By Shade

If she began preaching one more time, Seifer was going to get his Hyperion and slice her in half! Rinoa hadn’t stopped talking since he had gotten to the infirmary. She seemed to think that talking to Squall would make him wake up. If Seifer was in his position he would keep the unconscious thing going.

Rinoa began talking again but instead of killing her Seifer just groaned and slid down in the tough chair below him. He had been in a holding cell since yesterday when one of the SeeDs finally came to and set the Headmaster straight. They were forced, though reluctantly to let Seifer go. That of course didn’t do much for his reputation. By now most of the school was sure that one way or the other it had been him. Seifer shook his head. It didn’t matter, at least Squall was alive.

Seifer raised his eyes level with the hospital bed in front of him. He hadn’t woken up yet but Dr. Kadowaki assured them that it was only because of...the pain medication...or something. Seifer hadn’t heard it that well, Rinoa wouldn’t shut her mouth. He glared at Rinoa then looked back to Squall. The katana hadn’t hit any vital organs and besides a bump on the head there was not much wrong with him. Seifer straightened and looked to his left. It seemed as though Zell and Selphie were about to go home. Zell had been one of the first to regain consciousness and one of the SeeDs who had cleared Seifer.

“C’mon,” Selphie stood from the chair she had dragged over and took Zell by the hand as she urged him to his feet.

Zell looked to the rest of the group and stood. He had made it away from the now infamous ordeal with only a few nasty bruises. Compared to most of the others he was lucky “Fine,” he took Selphies hand and shrugged apologetically. It was getting late and Irvine and Selphie had long since left. That just left-oh.

Seifer watched the two leave with remorse. He didn’t want to be alone with Rinoa! He lowered himself further down in the chair. Why couldn’t Squall just wake up already? Any other SeeDs who could had...and their guests had long since left the infirmary...

“Are you staying tonight?”

Seifer, straightened and looked behind his seat to find Ellone approaching them. He breathed a sigh of relief but waited for Rinoa to answer first. He didn’t want to prompt her into saying “yes”.

“No,” Rinoa sighed “I think I’ll be leaving now,” she stood, though cast a quizzical look at the blonde behind her who had just muttered something that sounded suspiciously like a cheer of victory.

Ellone nodded “I might stay here just a little longer,” smiling sweetly to the dark haired female nearing the door she sat in the opposite seat and-

“Not now,” Seifer lowered in his seat for a third time and came dangerously close to sliding onto the floor. It figured, now of all moments to regain consciousness, Squall was choosing the moment when Rinoa was finally leaving.

Inevitably Rinoa rushed back to the bedside “Squall,” Rinoa leaned over the moaning Squall.

“Will you give him some air,” Seifer snapped, leaning forward onto his knees.

It seemed that as soon as Squall’s eyes opened Dr. Kadowaki was there with a clipboard, eyes fixed on her patient. She was desperate to have another bed free. The patients were pouring in these days “Squall?” she asked in an emotionless voice. Squall said nothing, he looked quite disoriented. He did however move his head to look at her. “Good enough, she checked something on her clipboard and then smiled “So Squall, are you ready to go home with Ms. Heartilly,”

It took a moment to register and when it did the brunette groaned and closed his eyes “No.”

Rinoa gaped but Dr. Kadowaki simply smiled “It’s the medication I mentioned earlier.”

Seifer felt his lips twitch, he just might have to slip Squall this medication every day.

“Well you can’t stay here,” Rinoa said, her voice even though it sounded as though she was still a little hurt.

“You don’t have enough room in your apartment to sleep three people,” Seifer said simply, trying to look as if he really didn’t care either way “Ah...I’m assuming...”

Ellone almost laughed but instead nodded and then looked to Rinoa “Is that an offer.”

Seifer shrugged “There’s a bed and a pull-out, there’s enough room at my place,” that was a straight out lie but Ellone was the only one who had a clue that his word wasn’t truthful.

Dr. Kadowaki looked back to Squall before Rinoa could respond “So Squall, stay at Almasys’?”

Again Squall didn’t answer for several moments but when the words registered he nodded.

“Well that settles it,” Dr. Kadowaki hurried off.

“-But”

“He’ll be fine,” Ellone assured Rinoa who now seemed to be offended.

Dr. Kadowaki appeared back at the bedside as Seifer had just stood “Here,” she handed the blonde a small medicine container “This is the pain medication. Give it to him if he needs it...ah...it might make him like he is now though. Hopefully that will wear away soon. There aren’t many in there though,” without pausing for a breath she continued “I’m out of wheel-chairs...surprise surprise...I’ll have to talk to Cid about this matter. I suppose I could get a-”

“It’s all right-” Seifer bent down to pick up the brunette. He was getting used to carrying him back to his own dorm by now.

Dr. Kadowaki looked as though she might object but didn’t. Perhaps it was because she truly needed a free bed about now. A bit reluctantly she nodded and then stepped away to deal with other business.

Seifer ignored the continued complaints of Rinoa and continued to scoop the younger male into his arms. Squall moaned slightly, but kept his eyes closed, letting his head fall onto Seifer’s chest.

“Mmm,” Squall opened his eyes slowly. He knew he had been drifting in and out of consciousness for hours now but nothing had made any sense. Now he was finally beginning to take in things and the first thing he took in was where he was. He almost immediately recognized the dorm and bed as Seifer’s. The second thing to come to him was the pain in his abdominan. Squall groaned, clenching his teeth and looked down. He was shirtless and for obvious reasons. Bandages were wrapped around his middle. Memories of the attack flooded into his mind “Seifer!”

“What!” the blonde sat up with a start, head hitting the nightstand “Ah,” Seifer seethed and rubbed his head.

Squall, who was regretting shouting as the pain in his abdominan worsened looked to the male on the floor by the bed, who had obviously been sleeping “What happened to the rest of the SeeDs!”

Seifer stopped rubbing his head and looked to Squall “Six are dead, half in comas,” he said honestly.

Squall swallowed and then desperately, “Zell!”

Seifer rose to his knees and put a hand at Squall’s shoulder to prevent him from panicking “He’s fine, better off then you as a matter of fact,” Squall relaxed under his grip again and sank back down onto the bed.

Slowly he looked around until his eyes came back to Seifer “What happened to you?” he asked a bit alarmed. The blonde had one black eye, a bruise on his jaw bone, and a split lip that was just healing over.

Seifer smiled weakly “Wrong place at the wrong time.”

“You were-I mean you came after the explosion didn’t you,” Squall spoke in a soft tone. He didn’t want to make his diaphragm move much, it seemed to cause more pain “They blamed you?”

“Some SeeDs set them straight. They still have their suspicions that it’s me though,” Seifer gave an annoyed sigh and leaned against the mattress.

“I don’t see how they could,” Squall tilted his head to the side but kept his back u[on the bedding “It wasn’t even human-it was-”

Seifer shook his head, cutting Squall off. He knew that if Squall went too deep into the story it would upset him “It’s all right, I know what it looks like.”

“Huh?” Squall gave Seifer a suprised look “What do you mean-you saw it before-”

“No,” Seifer said coolly “I think I saw it while I was unconscious.”

“What else did you see? Maybe-”

“Nothing that would help,” Seifer folded his arms over the mattress and put his chin on his hands “I thought it was all a dream until I heard one of the SeeDs describing what they saw to Cid.”

“Oh,” Squall sounded slightly disappointed. He had been hoping for more information then that.

After a long pause Seifer sighed “Well if you don’t mind, I’m going back to sleep-” his head disappeared once more.

“Ah,” Squall glanced over the side of the bed. Seifer had made a makeshift mattress on the floor composed of blankets and pillows “You can sleep with me if you want.”

Seifer smiled and opened his eyes, looking up “As tempting as that sounds the bed’s not big enough to sleep two...especially if one can’t get off his back...Besides, this is kinda comfortable-better beside the bed than under it anyway.”

Squall frowned “I said I was-”

“I know, I know,” Seifer said quickly, chuckling and again closing his eyes.

Squall stayed at Seifer’s for at least a week. This did of course mean daily visits from Rinoa...though excuses were often made which forced her to leave early...Squall wasn’t in any mood to see her anyway.

By the next Monday Squall was almost completely healed...given of course he had sped things along with Cure spells...Finally the brunette was able to get around without too much pain. Currently Squall was sitting in the living room chair watching television and waiting for Seifer to wake up. It was still pretty early and there were no classes, at least scheduled until that menace the SeeDs had encountered earlier was taken care of.

Nothing on. Squall moaned and flipped through channels lazily. He wished Seifer would wake up already. How much sleep did the guy really need? It was past noon and Squall had just had Ramen for two meals. He didn’t want microwaved noodles for dinner as well. “Hmm,” taking a random video cassette tape from beside the television, Squall tossed it lightly into the nearby bedroom. With a loud ‘thud’ the VHS hit its mark.

“Ah!” Seifer sat up lazily with an annoyed grunt. Looking at the time on the digital clock he lowered himself back down.

“Uh!” Squall frowned “Seifer!” he whined. The boredom was really getting to him.

Reluctantly the blonde stood “Fine, I’m up,” sleepily he made his way into the living room, ritualistically taking a frozen dinner from the mini-fridge and popping it into the microwave.

“It’s about time,” Squall muttered, changing through channels once more,

“Rinoa make her rounds yet?” Seifer asked, talking the dinner from the microwave and pulling back the cellophane.

“No, I think she took Ellone out to the movies or something like that. Ellone mentioned something along those lines yesterday,”

“Good,” Seifer grumbled, taking a seat beside the chair Squall was seated in “-hey I’m not watching a soap opera!”

Squall frowned but changed the channel to a daytime movie. He hadn’t been paying attention to the television anyway. He had been thinking over how to tell Seifer about the phone call he had received earlier. Squall sat through a few minutes watching the program on television, waiting until Seifer was finished eating to speak “Ah, Cid called.”

Seifer went to her knees and leaned forward to toss the tray into the trash can “Yeah?”

“Uh, yeah, it was about the patrolling,”

Seifer sat back again and looked at the male in the chair curiously “And-” he didn’t like where this was going.

“Since I’m pretty much healed he wants me to join the other SeeDs tonight,” Squall said this in a rush but Seifer seemed to have picked up each word.

“What!” the blonde rose to his feet “Don’t they realize there’s not a fucking thing you can do!”

“They don’t want us to fight it!” Squall lifted his hands, attempting to calm him “They just want us to keep an eye out for the students who have yet to return home. You know, prevent more deaths. We’re to get out of the area if we do see it.”

Seifer calmed a bit though he still seemed a bit annoyed. Finally he nodded “Fine.”

Squall was shocked. He had caved this easily? “Really?” he could help but ask.

Seifer smiled and nodded “Yep, if Cid wants you to go patrolling you have no choice. I’ll just have to go with you.”

“This isn’t a good idea,” Squall had tried to convince Seifer to stay home for the last few hours now. It seemed futile now that they were leaving the house “What if someone sees you?” he asked, stepping into the hallway, soon followed by Seifer and his Hyperion.

“You said yourself there is no group structure. With all the SeeDs injured it seemed wiser to have them split up,” Seifer smirked, he had no intention of letting Squall go out alone tonight.

“Fine,” Squall grumbled, beginning to walk.

Squall closed the door and quickly caught up with the blonde. Honestly he wasn’t sure he was angry Seifer was coming along. Sure he didn’t want him to get caught but he was really starting to enjoy his company. “Ah,” Squall took a few quickened steps as he found himself falling behind Seifer’s pace.

“How long are you on patrol?”

Squall looked up to face Seifer as they continued walking “Three hours tonight.”

Seifer groaned “Great.”

“If you want to go back you can.”

“Nice try but not until you do.”

Squall felt a slight smile forming but kept silent, lowering his head as he walked. He was glad Seifer hadn’t taken his offer. He did enjoy his company, he had told himself that earlier, but was there something more? He had told Seifer that he needed to time to find out if he loved him or not. Did he? Would he even allow himself to fall in love with Seifer? Truth be told Squall was afraid that Seifer was right, deep down he was embarrassed. Squall tensed at the thought and grabbed Seifer’s arm with both hands, clinging tight as though something had frightened him.

“Huh?” Seifer looked down. They were in the hall to the Training Center, no one was there “What’s wrong?”

Squall didn’t let go of his arm, in fact his grip only tightened. He didn’t want to be embarrassed of Seifer! “I’m sorry,” Squall let go of his arm only to embrace him completely.

“For what?” Seifer was slightly worried now. He awkwardly returned the hug as the brunette buried his face into his chest “Squall?” Slowly he pulled the shorter man back at arms length. He looked close to tears. Seifer was baffled “What is it?”

Squall shook his head, trying to calm himself “Nothing.”

Seifer breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn’t something terribly serious but it was clearly not nothing. Seifer offered a smile and leaned in so that his face was inches from Squall’s “You sure?”

“Yeah,” he lied, moving his eyes away.

“All right,” Seifer softly kissed Squall’s lips and pulled back. He began to started to continue along the hallway but paused as he only heard one set of footsteps “Do you need to take a break?”

“Ah,” Squall looked up, snapping out of his trance “I just need a minute,” he said sinking against the wall.

Seifer shrugged and lowered himself beside Squall, knees up in front of him. There was a long moment of silence before Squall broke in.

“Seifer, why do you love me?”

Seifer looked calmly over to Squall “Does there need to be a reason? I’m not sure anyone can tell you why they love someone.”

Squall looked ahead then tried a different approach “The when did you...think you loved me...”

Seifer laughed, surprising Squall “It’s not something that just comes up one day,” Seifer leaned back as though thinking of an answer “It just sorta happens over time...and there was a lot of time...hell we grew up together, came to the garden together. I guess there is that one day though where it hits you and you have that ‘what the hell was I just fantasizing about!’ moment.”

Squall couldn’t help but chuckle slightly “So when did that happen?”

“Well,” Seifer leaned towards Squall and reached out a gloved hand toward his face “Not long before I gave you that,” he said tracing the scar from Squall’s forehead and across the bridge of his nose “I guess you could say I blamed it on you in some weird way...and...was just a little pissed.”

Squall smiled reaching up to take Seifer’s hand “Just a little?” he repeated in an amused fashion.

“Okay, very but hey, I’m sorry.” Seifer returned the smile with an innocent shrug.

“No big deal,” Squall leaned forward, resting his lips on Seifer’s own scar before pulling away “I got you back.”

“Guess you did,” the blonde pulled Squall back towards him, meeting him in a kiss.

Squall released Seifer hand, wrapping his arms around the male and forcing him in closer without noticing.

Seifer was about to make the next move when a voice interrupted them “Hey guys!”

They both jumped in surprise, pulling away and looking towards the Training Center to find Zell bounding towards them.

“A group of SeeDs are headed this way. I don’t care if you, ya know, just get a room! Geez!” Zell came to a stop beside Squall and Seifer. Both were hurrying to leave “What’s Seifer doing out here anyway?”

“Trying not to get spotted chikenwuss, would you kindly go stall them while I try to get the hell outta here?”

Zell glared at Seifer “Will you stop calling me that?” they were almost on speaking terms after all.

Seifer shrugged, rushing alongside Squall towards the main hallway “Sorry, habit.”

“Agh,” Zell went off in the opposite direction “You owe me!” he hissed down the hallway. He couldn’t expect Seifer to be too kind. Besides, the world might actually stop spinning if he never again heard the word “chickenwuss”

A/N: Well this is the last chapter you’ll see for at least a week. ^-^; I’m going on vacation with Alexiel...in other words this will be the last chapter if I come back packed in a crate O.O...Pray for me. Anyway, I’m really thankful for all the reviews I’m getting. Lol, fine so there aren’t that many but it seems the opposite to me. Now-to Florida! ::Wearing bathing suit top and shorts skips to the car with Squall and Seifer.::

Squall: Is there a pool where we’re staying.

Shade: Yep, it’s a condo! Living in style...with eleven other very loud people...

Seifer: I don’t have a bathing suit-

Shade: Don’t need one, you two are going skinny-dippin’ ::S&S try to dive out but Shade locks the doors, waving goodbye to her readers.::

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