Final Fantasy VIII 1. Chapter 1

One Night...One Lifetime

Note: I had a strange dream, so this is what it is inspired from. Warning, if you are a little sensitive to graphic sexual content...then I would advise you step away. My previous writing projects in have long intros that have yet to get to any of these forms of content. But this one is a one shot-three chapter thing between Squall and Quistis. Enjoy.

Squall leaned against the railing of Balamb garden, looking to the night skies as he gave a slight sigh. His eyes closing for a moment as he reflected over the passed few years.

There just seemed to be nothing to do anymore, between SeeD tests, sparring and trying to take on the task of teaching the new generation of members. Things have just become droll, uneventful and worse of all...predictable. He enjoyed it for the first two years, but then he realized that he had been going out into the wilds more often, he had been trying to fill a hole in himself. The hole he missed, surprisingly enough was the need for adventure and excitement.

'How strange.' Squall thought to himself.

"Instructor Lionhart." a soft voice proclaimed.

'Oh no.' He thought.

"What is it, Quistis?" He glanced over his shoulder.

She covered her lips lightly with the back of her hand, trying to hide a smile, he guessed that she was trying to be more professional.

"Why must you always scuttle away from any party that the garden has?" she wondered.

"Never shared an interest." he replied in a monotone manner.

"You're an instructor now though. Your students will want to see you." Quistis smiled.

"You convinced me to become one." Squall reminded. "Besides, I think the students have more things to do then pester their instructor on the night of a party." Squall frowned.

The night breeze was cold, causing the blonde instructor to rub her arms as she looked towards the direction of the breeze and then back to Squall, he seemed so lonely. She could not help but feel for him, that caused her to she give a small caring smile. Rinoa had been spending a lot of time at the Trabia garden, recently they had suffered an attack from a swarm of creatures that escaped their training facility and requested for aid. Rinoa, Selphie, Irvine and a few other SeeD's where sent to reinforce and reorganize the Garden. Unfortunately, Squall could not abandon his duties as an instructor and was forced to stay. That was eight days ago that they left and they still had not returned, but Cid reassured everyone that there have been no further casualties from the incident and that other troubles is delaying the team.

Quistis has been trying her best to reconcile the lonely instructor, while at the same time fighting her own feelings. Years ago she had convinced herself that her feelings for Squall were just that of an elder sister role, but recently, seeing the man that Squall had become today was stirring the pot and she found herself fascinated and enthralled once more. Squall was proving to be a siren that she could not escape, no matter how many meaningless relationships she tried to involve herself in.

"Oh come now, Squall." Quistis teased. "You cannot tell me that there aren't any feminine students that would absolutely die to share one dance with you." she gave a light giggle.

"Whatever." Squall sighed out, annoyed.

"Don't whatever me, Instructor Lionhart." Quistis poked. "When I was an Instructor, I was practically smitten by you. Though I have no idea why." Quistis jabbed playfully.

"We're all entitled to our own mistakes." he replied, somewhat coldly.

A huff came from the lips of the woman; which was quickly followed by a light jab into the side of the, seemingly, grumpy young man.

In a teasing tone, she responded, "Why so gloomy all of the sudden? This is not like you...this is like," she hesitated for a moment. "This is like the old you." she decided to just be forward.

The predictable silence dominated the air between the two instructors, Quistis let out an agitated sigh as she turned on her heel, tired of looking at his back, she walked back towards the party.

"Quistis." Squall inquired.

Her heart skipped a beat for a moment, would he open up to her now? She had to stay and at least find out what it was that he wished to say.

"What is it, Squall?" She asked, keeping her back turned.

"Why did you insist that I become an instructor, knowing how I am?"

Quistis blinked once as she turned around to face the man, his forearms were still on the side of the railing as he continued to look out to the night sky. She tugged lightly on her uniform as she closed the distance between herself and the gloomy man, standing beside him as she laced her fingers around the top of the railing and once more let out a soft sigh.

"I have faith in you, Squall. Headmaster Cid has the same faith in you. You ran this entire Garden at one time, during a time of war and utter chaos. You have shown what you are capable of and I want you to keep proving it. You're wonderful man, Squall...I just-" she started.

"Shut up." he uttered weakly.

The words cut through her like a razor as she let her blue eyes fall to her boots, tapping her foot very lightly, not making a sound at all...just mostly out of shame and fear that she had said too much.

"I don't want to be depended on anymore." Squall confessed.

"What do you want then, Squall." Quistis wondered.

"I...I don't know anymore." Squall sighed.

The image of Squall being so down actually physically hurt the blonde haired instructor as she slowly looked back up to him. This was one of the few times that the man was actually meaningfully confiding in her.

"What can I do for you?" she asked solemnly.

"What can you do?" Squall was quick to reply.

Quistis had to think about that one for a moment, she had offered the aid and had not expected to have it questioned as such. But she also had to remember who she was speaking to here. Squall was not the average man, proving to be far more mysterious, dark and seclusive. He had improved over the time that he had been with Rinoa and she had honestly opened up his dark world to the light. But not enough for her own liking, she wanted to know more about this man. The sides that only Rinoa would know. It was like she was given a teasing peak at how Squall could be like, but never a clear enough look.

"Anything I can?" Quistis replied in more of a question, uncertain.

"Forget it." Squall responded.

"I mean it." she insisted.

She saw the look on his face, or at least from the side that she could see of him, he was just about to give up and retire. She had spent many years getting to know his every expression, every sound, tone and even body language as she had demonstrated before.

She had to think fast.

He would not accept anything too personal, or even too invasive and she knew it. But she would not let him just walk off, it would weight on her mind too much. Things were bothering him and he needed something to distract him from that.

'Distraction.' she pondered.

Without another word, the bothered young man started to make his way out. Guess he would brave the party to get back to his dorm. Quistis' mind raced as she thought of that word over and over again in her mind.

'Distraction.'

"Squall wait!" Quistis suddenly exclaimed.

His boots stopped as he placed a hand on his hip and looked over his shoulder, a frown on his face as glanced over at her with his blue eye.

"What do you want now?" he asked coldly.

'That certainly sounds like the old Squall.' she quickly thought.

She felt her nerves get rattled by the cold tone.

A mind frozen, was forced to rush through her memories as quickly as possible before they rested on what he normally did with his free time. He spared with Zell and went to the training center, at least he used to before he got transferred to Galbadia to answer a call. It hit her then on what she could try and offer him, just to keep him close to her a little while longer.

"Training." she suddenly said, fearing he was losing interest in waiting for her to answer.

"What?" he asked confused.

"Tomorrow, we should train." she managed to calm herself.

"Why?" Squall wondered.

She did not want to say the real reason why she wanted him to come with he, nor did she want to say it was to keep his mind preoccupied or try to cheer up, thinking he might take it wrong from her and just leave.

"Well." she started, but she was losing it.

'Oh...if only I was his instructor. Then I could just order him or something!' she screamed at herself, seeing Squall turn his head again to start a walk forward. 'Shit...do something! QUISTIS!' she screamed from deep inside.

"Whatever." Squall remarked.

'WAKE UP!' her mind screamed.

"Squall. Stop." she finally got out.

She watched as his foot steps faltered and he half turned to look at her, one eye brow cocked in a form of confusion, as if making sure he heard correctly.

"What now?" Squall responded firmly.

A small fire built within her, a fire she never felt before in her years as an instructor. The fire of authority coursed through her body as she felt pent up aggression start to leak out, figuratively.

"Don't what me, Lionhart." Quistis firmed. She stepped forward, doing everything by pure instinct alone. She found her slender fingers grabbing the shoulder frames and pulling him closer to her in a more aggressive manner then even she expected. "Training center. Tomorrow. You got it?" she ordered.

"What the hell is-" Squall started.

"Got it?" she insisted firmly.

Her eyes locked with his as they had a moment of a stare down, his eyes searching hers. But she actually kind of liked how she was acting right now, like taking the lock off a caged beast. She tightened her grip around the shoulder decorations of his formal SeeD uniform.

"Here is where you say yes and walk away." she demanded.

Being this close to him, she could catch his scent, it was hard to discribe...but it did mix very well with the crisp ocean air of the night time. She could not let herself get distracted with that just yet. She focused on maintaining her stern and authoritative gazing blue orbs on the man. She felt her heart race under the calm exterior she produced, nervous how Squall might actually take this.

"Fine." Squall uttered.

'What?' Quistis asked herself in her head.

"Good. Then go back to your dorm and get some rest." she nodded, slowly releasing his uniform, sliding her fingers along the shoulder decorations to straighten out any bends she may have put in them.

"Quistis, what has come over you?" Squall confronted.

"Squall...Dorm." she insisted.

"I expect answers tomorrow."

Quistis gave a sly smirk, gesturing over the young man's shoulder. She wanted the man off the balcony and out of sight before the breath in her chest burst.

Squall hesitated, eying the young blonde before turning on his heel and leaving the demanding Quistis behind. She felt her legs start to turn to jelly, her body falling back against the railing and causing the nerve wrecked instructor to grip the railings.

"Squall is right...what was that?" she whispered.

It bewildered her at first, but the more she thought about it and let the scene replay in her mind, the more she liked this sudden unpredicted side to herself. She was in more control of the situation and feeling less like a helpless bystander like she had felt in the past. Maybe there was some hope for her yet as a reinstated instructor.

Quistis was quick to leave the party as well, heading back to her own dorm before she let it hit her completely on what she did and risk suffering a back lashing nervous break down. She slipped into her dorm and almost slamming the door behind her, placing her fingers along the lock and sliding it into place. Her body trembled as she leaned against the door, she still had to recall back on memory, she had to confirm that everything that she just did, actually happened. She just demanded that Squall meet her at the training center tomorrow and he actually complied with her. Maybe even after all these years, she still held that grip of being his instructor in his mind and she had always been able to command him, she just needed the courage to do so.

But that was not going to be something that she would think too deeply into, what mattered is he listened to her and she hoped that he would do as ordered and meet with her tomorrow. The very tension of the situation she created was enough to make the SeeD uniform unbearably warm. Did she leave the heat on in her room? It certainly felt that way as her hand came up to loosen the tie around her neck. She was burning up, boiling and even making breathing that much more difficult, where was all the air in her room? Why is it that even the subtle ticking of the clock, on her nightstand, sound like thundering bangs in the otherwise silent room? Pulling her tie off, she tossed it to the side and scampered over to her bathroom, shoving the glass door open to access her stand-in shower and twisting the knob to make the glass chamber produce clean, refreshing water. She did not even wait, she just stepped right in, uniform, boots, glasses and all became a target to the falling water. A gasp echoed in the bathroom as she let the cold water snap her world back to reality, she had done this a few times over her career as an instructor and it worked every time.

After letting the chilling water hit her body for a few moments, she reached down to twist the other knob, now the hot water would start meshing with the cold and make it pleasantly warm. But that would take a minute or two. Stepping out of the shower, the young blonde slide the glasses from her face and looked at the wet lenses. Giving a small smile she placed the frames on the counter. Finding the buttons of her jacket always proved to be a minor hassle, the way the uniform was designed to hide the buttons made pictures more appealing, but putting the garments on and taking them off were needlessly taxing. Her nails were not helping the situation either as she fumbled with the buttons and their smooth, pearl like surface. Finally the jacket was allowed the hit the ground as she felt the sudden sensation of the air against her wet skin. Pulling down the zipper on the right side of her hip allowed the skirt to fall to the ground as she stepped out of them and walked over to sit on her toilet, lifting her right leg she unzipped the tall formal boots and kicked them off to the ground, repeating the action with her left boot so she would be freed of all formal wear, left with nothing but her form fitting black muscle shirt and faint pink shaded lingerie. Steam was the alarm clock to Quistis that her shower was ready and waiting for her to join the welcoming warmth.

The last two articles she wore finally joined the rest on the floor as she stepped into the shoulder and felt her heart beat, almost painfully, in her chest as the shock of such heated water hit her form. It was something she found herself desperately needing right now. It was times like this, that allowed her to reflect on her past.

Such a senseless life she had led since the fall of Ultimecia and the victory of Garden and it's SeeD's. Quistis had been spending months trying to find a place were she belonged and fought hard to reclaim her lost title of Instructor, given a second chance after convincing Cid that her experiences gave her the leadership traits that he looked for and since then she had tried to focus her life around proving herself capable, barely passing as acceptable. She had tried to enter many relationships and find that missing part of her, she could never commit herself to the ones she did date...it always ended up becoming just a professional couple then a budding relationship with the men. Many men tried to bed her though, none had been successful. Quistis just came to terms with the fact that maybe she was just that messed up, her life growing up as a SeeD, becoming the youngest woman to become a SeeD and the youngest Instructor ever in any Garden had ruined her ability to associate with anyone outside the system. She also realized only recently that everyone she was dating, she was comparing to Squall. Would they go through the same extremes that he went through to save Rinoa? Did they care about her the way he did about Rinoa? Can she even see herself being with this man for the rest of her life? Many other questions came to mind when she considered a man and if any of those questions flagged an answer of 'No', then she unintentionally set her own relationship to fail by pushing them away.

"God I am so messed up." Quistis uttered in a whisper as she breathed out.

Her life somehow, still revolved around that brown haired, blue eyed man and she did nothing to stop herself from letting it become so. Since she was a child she looked after him, during SeeD training, she wanted to protect him from harm and keep him close, her feelings meshed into a deranged sense of love for the man that she stubbornly tried to hide, but found herself leaking at the seams and letting it become known in subtle manners. She went out of her way to personally see to it, that Squall succeeded, even if it cost her everything. She was not too upset to losing her title as instructor, cause in her messed up mind, she thought maybe that meant she could go on missions with him.

"Squall...Squall...Squall..." she nagged to herself.

How did her entire existence become his to control? Without him, she probably would not know what to do. Now she managed to convince him some time ago to try and become an instructor with her, she encouraged and somewhat manipulated Cid to get him to accept Squall and had to basically twist Squall's arm to get the loner to accept. Once again, her twisted little mind wanted to keep the man close to her, even though he was with Rinoa.

One thing she had to look forward to, was that she managed to get him to agree to spend some quality time with her. Even though it was just training in the Garden, but it was more then he would have willingly accepted to spend with her. Not that Squall avoided her or anything, in fact he would actually come up to her and try to start casual conversation. It was her that was messed up, she would find half excuses to leave before her fluttering heart gave her a panic attack. But now she had it, Squall and herself, alone and without any chance of interruption from the others of the group. Maybe alone she would be able to find closure, something her heart needed right now to move on, or she might find herself in a worse situation.

"Oh what could be worse then this?" she shook her head, gliding her hands over her body to spread the foaming soap over her figure.

She gave a sigh, trying to forget her nagging thoughts. Just when she thought that she could put her racing mind behind her. The feel of firm masculine hands cupped her soapy breasts from behind as she gave a sudden gasp, her blue orbs shooting open so she could look over her shoulder. But her shock could not compare to the sight that had awaited her.

"Sq-Squall?" she uttered weakly, her face flushing instantly.

"Shh." he urged.

Her throat tightened, like it was obeying his commands. His strong hands squeezed her soaked breasts, earning him a whimper from her lips as she clenched her jaw. Never had such a touch sent her body on fire, her nerves trembling and her mind racing. He was here, in the shower with her and his hands were igniting a sensation in her body that she never thought possible. She never dreamed of feeling so wildly emotional...in all the right ways and no writer had ever been skilled enough to put into words, what was flushing through her body, mind and soul all at once. All the romance novels she had, tucked away in her nightstand, could not ever touch what she was feeling. A lust, born of a lifetime of sexual tension was exploding from her as she almost became limp in his firm grasp. Such a seemingly minor affectionate act was sending her down a whirlpool.

The water, it was searing her skin now. Not cause the water was too hot, her skin had become a slave and victim to his touch, becoming acutely sensitive as she gritted her teeth. She did not want to moan, she had to fight the urge. But such a powerful urge was too much to fight for long.

"My god." she whispered.

His hands slide along the soapy surface of her breasts, one hand sliding down her stomach slowly as the foam only added to the smooth caress of his touch as he leaned forward and breathed directly into her, causing her blood to jolt as she gasped in need. One moment she was commanding him to do what she wanted, now he was making her a slave from one simple touch. His touch tainted her body, but not in a way that she minded, just in a way that confirmed what she always thought...she was and forever would be his.

To do with what he pleased, when he needed.

His left hand slide down her stomach, spreading his fingers over the surface as he pulled her close to his body. Welcoming the soapy form to claim his own, slowly his body seemed to slide along the back of hers. She could not fight it anymore, this was too much...her shower echoed a lusty moan, the first one she ever let escape her lips at the hands of another man. At the sound of her moan, his hand pressed harder against her stomach, but not enough to cause discomfort.

"You want everyone to know?" he whispered.

Her blue eyes opened slowly as she looked over her shoulder, up to the devilishly handsome man while lifting a wet hand up towards him and placing it against his dry cheek, his head was above the level of her shower head. Her eyes were glazed over, she did not care if the entire Garden heard her right now. She was reacting in a way she could not, nor ever wanted to control...not with him.

"I don't care...I earned this moment." she replied.

Those eyes she saw, they were pained, lonely but also mixed with his own content at this moment. Such deep, meaningful and conflicted eyes only added to his dark charm as she pulled his cheek lightly towards her face, sealing his warm lips with her own. A shiver ran through her body as her lips touched, she never thought she would be able to kiss these lips ever. They previously belonged to Rinoa, she knew she should feel awful for stealing them from a friend, but for this moment...those lips and the person they belonged to were hers.

A tear trickled down her face, not that anyone would notice with the rain of water hitting her body, and for that she was grateful as she captured this moment of bliss.

The hand that rested on her stomach shifted lightly, as if hesitate. But Quistis was beyond that, the zone she was in, she wanted to feel him and in fact, needed him to explore his woman. She placed her hand over his, lacing her fingers into his as she nipped at his bottom lip. She slowly guided his hand lower on her body, slowly sliding it down along her skin as she felt her heart pound wildly the closer his fingers got. Her eyes shut tight as she whimpered, high pitched but somehow still weak sounding, pleading. Her breath held as she felt his index finger slide slowly along her skin, he was now guiding himself as well, which was good. Her wrecked nerves were rebelling against her as her muscles became weak, unable to guide him anymore. She bit down hard on his lower lip as he edged ever so closer. The seconds became eternity as she waited for him to complete his movements, so she could feel his fingers grace her once forbidden grounds. The water...was just so hot. Her heart, pounded so painfully in wait. Her breath stilled, suffocating her as she trembled against him. It was too much, her world was blackening, her body was losing strength.

She needed him...now.

A scream filled the air as Quistis fell to the shower floor, her breath wild as her eyes shot wide, almost scared as she tried to grasp what was happening. She looked above.

No Squall.

Her eyes darted around her surroundings, realizing that sometime during her shower. The warm water actually hypnotized her and placed her in a day dreaming trace.

"Oh...God." She uttered in a flustered tone.

Her heart still pounded hard, her blood was still rushing and the water was still too hot against her frustrated body as her mind played it's own games on her. It felt so real, she could swear she could still taste his lips, feel his hands on her body and his body against hers. It was all so real.

But she agitated herself, realizing it was just a extremely vivid dream.

One that only made her realize even more, how hopelessly lost she was and that in her dream, she had already handed herself over to Squall. Willing to be his completely. Now she would have to meet him tomorrow after a dramatic experience like that.

Her nerves jolted as she felt a sting of fear. She could not meet him now, not after the revelation she just had. She would need to stand him up. She had to.

She placed a hand to her forehead, pushing aside the soaked blonde bangs as she looked down at the drain. Her body still trembled, more out of the sensation she believed was real over the fear. The sensation was lingering, too powerful for the fear to overcome...yet.

"I'm...in serious trouble." she whimpered.

She continued to sit in the shower in thought, letting the water rain down on her.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The morning sun rose from the ocean line as Quistis' alarm sounded, disrupting her troubled sleep. Her left eye opened as her blue eye gazed on the clock. A groan leaving her lips as she realized that she did not have any classes today. There was always a small vacation for the instructors whenever a graduation happened. She knew it was to keep the instructors sane. But she forgot to click off her alarm and so it was now intruding on what was supposed to be her holiday.

Quistis pushed herself off the bed, with a surprising amount of struggle required as she turned her clock off and sat on the edge of her bed. She spent the previous night tossing and turning, the bed sheets were too enclosing, too warm for her body or just plain bothersome to her. She could not sleep, not with so much on her mind and she knew she would never gain any sleep after the very vivid day dream she had to endure.

Looking down at her body, her hand gently caressed the surface of her breast and her stomach. She would swear on her life that what happened was real. It felt too real and she could feel the lingering sensation of his hands on her body...the skin of the surface still burned. Even the loose silk pyjamas she wore made the nerves of her skin tingle from where he touched her.

The lock on her door rattled lightly as her head darted to the entrance. There was no way that Squall would come to her room. She did remember that she gave him a key; she called it a 'safety measure' between instructors. She actually was trying to give him the subtle hint to use it sometime, but now was not a time she wanted him to use it.

Staggering to her feet, Quistis screamed out in dismay. "Just a minute!" the door rattling seemed to only get louder as the look turned. "I said just a minute!" she felt her cheeks flush as she looked to the corner of her bed, hanging off the bedpost was her silky midnight blue bathrobe. She pulled it off the bedpost and almost threw it in the air as she slipped into the robe gracefully.

The door opened, just as Quistis was trying to secure the belt.

"What the hell is your prob-" Quistis did not complete her sentences, seeing the smiling Xu at her door, closing it behind her.

Wake up cranky today?" she teased, placing the back of her hand to her lips as she gave a small silent giggle.

"You know...you could have said something." Quistis sighed, relaxing as she took the time to fasten her robe.

"Well...this is more fun." she looked around the place, as if inspecting it the way a police officer would. "Hiding someone are we?"

A twitch was felt in her eye as she frowned. "Absolutely not." she protested.

"Oh yes, that's right...that would require you to be spontaneous and exciting in your personal life." Xu replied with a teasing smile as she walked towards the waking instructor.

"What are you talking about?" Quistis frowned; she walked to her right so she could get to her nightstand and at least straighten her bed hair.

"Oh don't try to ignore it. You are one of the most predictable woman I know. Ever since you came to your Garden at the age of ten. You were the Garden prodigy and this place became your life." Xu smiled as she walked Quistis move about. "You need some fun."

"I got enough a few years back remember?" Quistis reminded her best friend of the Sorceress War.

"Quistis, that is not fun. Events like that are called excitement. There is a very noticeable difference." Xu wiggled her index finger at her. "So, I have been hearing some morning rumours." she changed the topic before Quistis could retort.

"What is it this time?" Quistis yawned softly, stroking her soft blonde hair with a brush.

"That you were getting pretty close to another Instructor on the balcony terrace, the night of the party." Xu said, giving a sly grin suddenly as she folded her arms.

The sound of her brush hitting the floor filled the room as Quistis turned around quickly. "Wh-what? What are you talking about? No such event happened." she exclaimed in a shaky tone.

"Such an awful liar you are, Quistis. You know the Trepies would never lie. Some of them are ever so heart broken." Xu gave a fake sympathetic tone as she placed both her hands together and rested them on the right side of her cheek.

Xu could not stay like that for long however as she smiled playfully.

"It was nothing, alright?" Quistis huffed as she looked to the side, she did not want to look into the mirror anymore, and Xu was looking right at the reflection of her face.

"If it was nothing, you would not try and hide it." Xu grinned.

Defeated, the instructor closed her eyes as she turned around to face her lifelong best friend and gave a weak smile. "Fine fine, I did meet with Squall. But nothing happened between us. We are just going to go to the training grounds tomorrow and get his mind off of everything." she confessed.

"Uh huh, sure. Are you going to take him to the secret spot again?" Xu questioned, tilting her head as she kept the sly little grin on her face.

"What? No." Quistis snapped quickly as she walked over to the closet, opening it up to access her wardrobe. She wondered for a moment what she should dress up in. Her usual SeeD uniform was a 'can't miss' when going out with Squall. But she also did not want to appear to be on duty either. She was on break between her classes. Her usual faint pink attire seemed to be a solid pick in her mind as she ran her fingers along the dark shaded arm warmers that were hung up with the rest of the attire.

"Considering what to wear." came the whisper like tone from behind her as Quistis jumped a little and looked over her shoulder from where the whisper came from, looking at her best friend.

"Would be easier if you were not right behind me." She frowned.

"Tsk tsks, not considering wearing your usual attire are you?" Xu sighed.

'_What is wrong with what people know you by_?' she thought to herself.

Xu reached over Quistis' shoulder as she started to flip through the wardrobe, seeing what the young blue eyed instructor had as option. Muttering under her breath, one word explanations of what is wrong with the attire.

"You have nothing casual that you just sort of kick back in the grass and read a book with?" Xu wondered, arching an eyebrow at her best friend.

"I am not going to be kicking back. I am going to be fighting, Xu." Quistis pointed out as she folded her arms over her chest. "Besides, isn't this the part where you tell me how wrong it is to be going out with Squall? Like a good friend and trying to guilt me?" she frowned slightly.

"Why? Have something in mind that I should be scolding you about?" her tone gave away her tease as she eyed the pale woman.

"Huh? When did I imply that? No!" Quistis got out in a flustered manner.

"Then there is no need." she replied casually.

'_Why do you have to make things so hard_?' she wondered.

-Scene change-

Squall walked about the Garden, unsure of what to even think about last night. Quistis was abnormally aggressive in her stance with him. But what confused him even more was why he was so ready to just comply with her and be on his way.

'_I am not cut out to be an Instructor if I cannot even hold my ground._' Squall thought as he stopped in place and placed a hand to the shadow over his eyes in deep thought. '_Why am I even doing this? This is pointless. She knows nothing of the training routine I go through. I don't even think she can keep up._' his thoughts continued to race. '_Rinoa, why can you not even send a message to let me know how things are going?_' Squall gave an irritated growl, the recently frequent thoughts of resigning as an Instructor so he could race over to Tribia and make sure Rinoa was alright, paced through his mind.

"Go ahead, ask him." came loud a whisper from a male.

"N...n...no. He won't go for it." came the flushed female response.

'_The hell?_' Squall felt his thoughts disrupted as he lowered his hand and glanced over to area from where the whispers came from.

"Shut up, look what you did!" the scolding whisper from the third of their party voiced.

"Ooooo...I...I can't now." the flustered girl panicked.

'_Great..._' Squall's thought's continued. '_Barta, Malinda and Wendy of the new Disciplinary Committee._' Squall turned to face them as he made his way over.

"Melinda, he is coming over." Barta whispered.

"Oh no no no...no no." Melinda panicked; her face was being drained of blood.

"Yes, keep repeating that to yourself...that will make this situation go away." Wendy patted her friends shoulder as she looked towards Squall with her green eyes, smiling in greeting.

"Instructor Leonhart, what a pleasure." Wendy smiled.

"A real honour, Master Leonhart." Barta nodded.

"Ah...uh..." Melinda flushed.

"She is honoured beyond words, I assure you." Barta smirked.

"Whatever." Squall started, shutting the three up. "What are you three doing here?" he placed a hand on his hip, resting his palm on his stubbed belt as the motion caused the chain to jingle lightly. He was in his more recognized casual wear.

"Oh, Melinda has something of importance to tell you." Wendy grinned.

"Well...what is it?" Squall frowned.

Melinda seemed to forget what breathing meant as she looked at the stunning handsome blue eyes staring right back at her. He looked at her with such intent that she was captured instantly. Even if no emotion could actually be registered in his gaze, it was more than enough for her.

"Melinda?" Barta blinked, looking to his female comrade. Jabbing her side somewhat violently cause the woman to breathe again as she brought a hand to her chest. "Melinda! Master Leonhart is speaking to you." he scolded.

"Sq...Squa...I mean...Instructor Li...no no. Master?" she was lost.

"Whatever you want. Does not make a difference." Squall stated in a flat manner.

"Well thiiiiissss really concerns her, right Barta?" Wendy smiled.

"Huh? Oh yes yes...Melinda, we are sorry for intruding. Forgive us Master Leonhart." Barta grinned as both of Melinda's comrades placed a hand on her shoulders.

"What? No...Don't you dare!" Melinda squealed in protest.

With a shove, both of the figures cut Melinda's distance from Squall, a comfortable five feet were dashed down to just barely over a foot. Melinda froze on the spot as she could do nothing but look up to Squall, his icy blue eyes locked onto hers.

"Well?" Squall demanded.

"Ah...ha...ha...ha..." Melinda's mind could only answer by giving a nervous, scared laughter.

-Scene Change-

"I...don't know if this is me." Quistis replied weakly from behind a closed door.

"Trust me, it's you. Come on out of there." Xu commanded.

"I cannot wear this." replied a protest.

"Why not? It is not like people are going to recognize it as mine, I have never worn it." Xu huffed as she sat on the edge of her bed. Grabbing a nearby teddy bear of hers and looking down at it.

Xu had insisted that Quistis wear something, what she considered to be, more human and more informal as well as an escape from herself. Quistis always had her mind on Garden and her mind on everything besides her own life. Xu wanted to at least do something about that.

"Xu." Quistis whined lightly.

Squeezing her bear as if she were losing patience, she tossed the stuffed animal back on the bed and stood up to her feet. "Quistis Trepe! You get out here!" Xu yelled.

"I don't think so." Quistis replied.

No way did she ever believe that she would come out into public with such little clothing on, she understood why Xu had never worn this around the Garden. Pictures would be taken and they would be circulating around the student hubs for years and she would never escape it. Quistis was not going to suffer that fate and she was not going to have her little merry band of stalker Trepies get bigger cause she decided the wear something that accented and showed a lot more of her body then she had ever let anyone gaze upon.

"Oh come on Quisy!" Xu pleaded, almost childlike. A side to her that only Quistis and other close friends got to see.

"These do not even count as clothing." Quistis growled, she looked into the mirror at what she was being reduced to wearing. "Give me something that is more Me." she demanded, shivering once.

Her eyes shifted away from the mirror, trying to put the image of how she looked out of her mind. It was so...corner street, there was no other way for her to be able to explain it.

A knock came to the door as Quistis turned around and placed her back against the cold wall and cracked the door open. She reached out with her arm, waiting to accept that was more to her standards as the feeling of cotton was placed in her hand. Shutting the door, Quistis almost feared to see what Xu had placed in her hand again.

'_God...knowing her, it is probably something realllllllyyy,_' her thoughts wandered, before actually looking down. The clothes she saw actually surprised her as she let out a small breath. '_Oh._' her thoughts completed.

Xu sat on the edge of the bed once more as she kicked both her feet up and let them drop back down, letting out a mild toned hum as she waited for Quistis to finish changing into her clothes. The door opened as Xu bounced to her feet and waited until Quistis stepped out from the bathroom as her best friend gave a pleasant gasp.

"Looking sharp, Instructor Trepe." Xu giggled.

Quistis gave a weak, embarrassed smile as she gave a nod and looked down at what she wore. "Too much blue?" she wondered.

"Oh Quistis, in this case...it is not enough." she nodded to herself, walking up to the uncertain sapphire eyed woman.

Quistis looked down at herself, wearing a faint, sky blue sleeveless thin cotton shirt with a loose turtleneck that concealed half her neck, the shirt accented her figure nicely enough without being too provocative and that is what Quistis like, a professional and yet casual look. The formal casual thing, water blue dress pants her wore was just a few shades lighter than the top she wore, but more than enough to show an obvious difference, completed at the bottom with a style that could best be compared to bell bottoms as the pants tightened over her legs to hug against the thighs and rear, displaying her curved hips very nicely...something that her other attires did not show off as boldly. High black boots would seem to complete this appearance as they gave a subtle shin to the low light of the room and yet displayed comfort with the very supportive and thick brown out sole.

"Well?" Quistis finally inquired.

"Almost perfect, but there is something very wrong with this." Xu frowned as she gave Quistis a one over and then completed it with a twice over.

"What is it this time?" Quistis said in a near monotone manner, expecting Xu to try and 'spice' her up even more then she already had.

Xu gave a sigh, as if Quistis was hopeless while placing her hands on the blonde woman's shoulders and shook her head. Sliding her hands to the back of Quistis' head, ignoring the sharp gaze that her best friend gave her, she pulled the silver comb accessory loose.

"Xu!" Quistis protested as she grabbed the woman's forearms.

"Oh stop it." Xu replied firmly. She kept her hands on the silver comb accessory as she stared into Quistis' blue pleading eyes. But Xu was not going to give in as she shifted her hand very lightly. "You have beautiful hair, you need to let it down every once in a while...trust me." Xu urged.

She bit her lip very lightly before deciding to trust in her lifelong best friend and releasing her forearms. Allowing Xu to pull her arms away, holding Quistis' signature hair accessory. Quistis felt as her hair fell back, touching against her back as Quistis let out a deep sigh. Xu slipped the hair accessory to her own belt and once more found her hands behind Quistis' head as she carefully positioned her hair so it would really let the woman's beauty shine.

Satisfied with her work, she nodded to herself and folded her hands on her own lap, looking at the final image of Quistis.

"Why all the trouble?" Quistis asked curiously, ignoring her self-consciousness at the fact that she looks nothing like she normally would.

"Why didn't you protest earlier then?" Xu smiled playfully. "Besides!" she exclaimed before Quistis could even answer. "How many chances are you going to get to go out with _Instructor Leonhart?_" Xu smiled, putting and unneeded tone to his title and last name.

At least Quistis thought the playful tone was unneeded.

"This is not a date, it is a training session." Quistis frowned, as if she has had to explain it hundreds of times before.

"Oh come now, Quisy." Xu scolded, placing her hands on her hips. "You are not going to look me in the eyes, your best friend since you arrived in Garden," she waited a few moments and just smiled casually. "and be able to fool me." she wiggled her index finger now, keeping her left hand on her hip.

"Xu." Quistis sighed.

"Ah ah." Xu now opened her hand, giving her the hand gesture to stop. "We have spent many nights sitting on her balcony, staring up to the skies and talking. Don't think I do not read between the lines."

Quistis could only give her a defeated sigh as she glanced to the side and gave her a slight confirming nod, reaching up with her right hand to rub her left forearm.

"Good. Now go and enjoy yourself...have a good time." Xu nodded.

Quistis gave one nod as she turned on her heel and was about to exit.

"Oh! But not too much of a good time!" Xu blurted out, causing Quistis to stop as she looked over her shoulder, Xu only shrugged. "He is a taken man."

'_Thanks for the reminder._' Quistis thought as he gave her best friend a reassuring nod.

With a shut of the door, Quistis was out of the room of her best friend and starting her way down the hallway. She tried to keep her eyes anywhere, but on other people around her. She was growing so self-conscious about her new look and what others would be muttering around her. Maybe she would get lucky and no one would recognize her. Maybe mistake her for a student in training. She knew she was only kidding herself; luck was something she never had.

"Quistis!" Xu called after her.

Quistis felt a tingle flush up her spine, if no one had noticed it was her yet, and then they were sure to know now as her sapphire eyes darted around the area quickly. Sure enough, people were looking and even looking again as if to make sure what they saw was true. Quistis fought the urge to blush as she slowly turned around to face Xu.

"What?" she almost whispered, trying to sound annoyed.

Before she could even fully react, Xu was stroking the surface of Quistis' lips with the tip of her finger. Xu really seemed to be focused for the entire four seconds it took as she stepped back and smiled.

"Oh, even more perfect then before." Xu smiled, dropping the small container of lip gloss into her own breast pocket.

"What's the matter with you?" Quistis scolded in a whisper.

"What?" Xu blinked, not expecting the woman to get so upset.

"You call out my name in front of everyone and now you're touching my lips?" Quistis actually did something a little uncharacteristic of her and hit Xu in the arm, it was a weak slap and one normally to get the attention of the person or scolding them with a small hit.

"Oh Quisy, you are adorable." Xu teased as she turned around and stopped. "Enjoy your date with Instructor Leonhart!" Xu yelled back at Quistis, waving as she walked.

The blood was rushing through her body now and she could tell where it was going to be ending up. The blush would shade her pale, creamy features into a lovely crimson glow.

'_Oh No_.' Quistis felt herself whimper in her own mind.

-Scene Change-

Squall wandered along the plaza of Garden, trying to figure out what to do before he would be allowed to meet up with Quistis at the training facility. Now that he thought about it, he did not know when he was supposed to be there. For all he knew, she was already waiting there.

'_Too early._' Squall reassured himself.

But then his idle walking stopped as he blinked once and glanced to the side, looking at the direction of the ground as he buried himself in thought.

'_But how can I be sure?_' He frowned. '_She did not exactly give me a time._'

"Come here often, stranger?" inquired the voice that could only belong to Quistis Trepe.

Squall opened his eyes as he looked to the right side of him. A shock was sent through his system as he could only stare at the vision of a woman which he thought was Quistis, but her hair was done, allowed to show off the healthy beauty of her hair and the clothes accented her figure nicely. Then Squall felt the sting of guilt for even noticing something like that about the woman. But even he could not help it, with a change comes the need to observe the change that had happened. Quistis' change was so bold that he could not help but spend the next few moments in stunned silence as he stared at her.

He was blessed with a gift however of not ever giving off a dumbfounded expression when staring at something. He always managed to maintain a dispassionate, cold and unreadable facial expression as his blue eyes did all the searching he needed.

She sat on the edge of the railing, one of the small gardens that had been placed in the plaza. Her left leg crossed over her right as her foot moved in casual motion. She held a can in her left hand with her thumb and index finger, her other arm resting on her leg as she leaned forward with small, and surprisingly confident smile. Her hair was being toyed with in the gentle breeze of a moving Garden; Balamb was almost always hovering from one place to another, always mobile. The strands of golden hair actually managed to catch small, almost unnoticeable reflections of light off the sun.

Squall watched as Quistis slide off the railing of the small garden, picking up her whip that was coiled beside her and walking towards the young man. She kept her small, adorable smile on her glossy lips and gave him a gentle bat in the arm with her whip as if to snap him out of a trance and motioned her head for him to follow.

"Come on now, Squall. Don't fall behind." she smiled.

Squall stayed at his spot for a moment as Quistis walked away from him. Her footsteps came to a stop as she looked over her shoulder.

"Coming or not?" She winked.

Turning on his heel, Squall walked after the recently transformed Quistis.

-Scene Change-

Quistis could not explain what came over her, how she was able to act so calm, collected and even flirty to a degree, while still getting Squall to do what she wanted with him being too rebellious or even questioning her like he used to do when he was her student.

All she needed to do now was keep her advantage over the man and not second guess herself. That was something she could do…maybe.

They had entered the training grounds a little while ago and Quistis had stopped and let Squall walk his own path as it became her turn to follow him. She would let him lead her to a comfortable spot that he likely trained with Zell.

Quistis let out a warm breath, the forested training center was turning into a more humid jungle the deeper they got. But she focused on Squall as he walked through the thick brush, ducking the every odd branch or bush that threatened to hit her when Squall pushed them from his path. Quistis could not help but wonder where it was that he was taking her.

"You alright?" Squall asked, glancing over his shoulder for a moment.

"Don't worry about me, Squall. I am a lot more capable then you take me for." Quistis smiled as she moved her head to the right, a branch just missing her.

"Alright, just making sure. Would not want to get your clean clothes torn up." Squall commented, Quistis could swear she heard a hint of teasing in his tone.

"Don't mock me, Leonhart. Just lead us to a nice spot of your choosing." Quistis smirked.

Finally, after a lengthy walk through thick brush, they had come to a clearing in the jungle. Quistis stopped to observe her surroundings as she gave a small hint of a smile at the tranquil sight she was being introduced to. Lush green grass marked the borders of the clearing and flourished thickly around the edges of a sparkling stream of water that divided the clearing in half, jagged rocks marked a cliff side that was at least twenty feet high and a splashing waterfall only completed the scene fit to be painted. The blonde haired instructor brought her hand up to brush the light misting surface of sweat on her forehead as she looked to Squall.

"This is your training ground?" Quistis asked, looking at the back of the head of Squall.

"No." He replied.

"…No? Then why are we here?" Quistis wondered. "Not…that I am complaining or anything." She quickly added to her question. She did not wish for Squall to take her questioning the wrong way.

"This is just my spot." He replied.

"For?" Quistis tried to get the man to give her more than that. She could piece together that this was his spot by herself.

She watched as the man shrugged his shoulder. "Nothing." He responded to her flatly.

"Am I going to have to beat it out of you?" Quistis teased lightly.

The grass rustled under Squall's feet as he turned around to face her, the stern expression on his face actually surprised her as his sharp pale blue eyes locked onto hers.

"Are you going to confess why you wanted to train with me?" Squall confronted as he placed a hand on his hip and leaned his weight on the opposing foot, predictable stance and signature Squall look.

"No." Quistis replied, but she managed to keep a more teasing tone to her reply. Like she was trying to imply a subtle challenge to the man to make her.

"Fine." Squall replied as he grabbed the hilt of his gunblade, attached to his opposite hip and drew it, tossing it to the side as the blade javelined into the fresh grass. Quistis blinked once as her eyes went wide for a moment, considering if he was taking her up on her subtle challenge.

"Then I am just going to have to…beat it out of you." Squall replied, pulling back on his gloves as he kept his eyes on Quistis.

The statement alone was threatening, but his eyes actually betrayed the firm tone that he always used and she could tell that he was challenging her to do the same. This was going to be his training then, Squall was training in hand-to-hand combat with Zell.

"You might be pleasantly surprised that I am not a woman you can intimidate like your swoon little school girls in class." Quistis teased as she gracefully laced her whip around her hips, sliding the handle of the whip into a loop so it would not come loose during the session.

Quistis had taken hand-to-hand basics in the very beginning when she was first in Garden at the age of ten and her dedication and determination allowed her to learn the combat style easily. She had kept on top of fighting with her hands since then in private. She smiled as she believed herself to be more than a challenge for Squall.

"Object of the spar?" Quistis wondered.

"Basic sparing respect." Squall answered calmly. "Loser tells the other the answer to the question that we asked."

'_Basic respect, which meant no serious punches or kicks to vital areas and no real intent to knock the other person out. Mostly it would be takedowns, pins and submission moves._' Quistis quickly refreshed over her mind as she nodded.

"Want to tie back your pretty hair? Before it gets in the way?" Squall boldly teased, directing it at how she looked and dressed. Quistis could not blame him too much though, she did not look like a woman who was ready for sparing or training and the only thing she looked ready for was a date.

"Don't worry Squall; I'll keep it a secret that you were beaten by a woman after we are done." Quistis smiled innocently.

The silence between them was classic, something that Quistis would read out of one of her novels. The climatic silence that happened before the conflict between two people began.

Squall nodded once before pushing off his foot and running, full sprint at the pale skinned instructor as his feet left the ground. Quistis' survival instinct kicked in as she felt the adrenaline suddenly pump through her heart and that effect caused everything around her to move slower than they actually were. She ducked just in time as Squall's leg lashed out to strike her while he was airborne. The young man landed on his feet perfectly after spinning around with his kick, actually he seemed to continue with the momentum he created in the air and dropped to his knees as he swooped his leg out to trip, Quistis was surprised but was not caught off guard as she jumped his trip attempt. She responded with a knee as she pushed her body weight forward, but Squall managed to put his hand up as he caught her knee in his palm and then grabbed her ankle with his free hand, pushing her knee to the right, while pulling her ankle to the left, Quistis felt her weight fold under her as she gave out a gasp and she hit the deceivingly soft grass. Before she could recover, he was on top of her, grabbing both her wrists and pinning her down as he straddled her waist and looked down at her. Quistis groaned as she struggled to break his grip, but it was just as she already knew, he had very firm and very strong hands. Bucking her hips she thought maybe throwing him off would work, but that gave her no results as she huffed out, pushing the blonde hair from her face with her breath so she could look up to him.

"I am waiting for the answer." He smirked in an amused manner.

"Best out of three." Quistis responded as she narrowed her eyes.

Squall leaned in, inspecting her closely for a moment as Quistis held her breath for a moment. Last thing she wanted swirling in her mind and senses was the scent of him sending her down a whirlpool. It was bad enough that she was feeling his body actually against hers, for real this time. Squall had almost never been this close to her and she had never dared to get this close to him either.

"Fine." Squall replied.

Quistis shifted to move, but she found herself still pinned at the wrists and his weight was still firmly against her body as she blinked once and then looked back up to him, his eyes had not moved from hers as he looked down at her intently. Her heart hammered for a moment before she could regain her composure and give Squall a semi-glare.

"If it would not be too much trouble, could you release me?" Quistis demanded, but then giving him a teasing smile. "Unless this was you plan the entire time."

Squall shook his head once as he released her wrists and then sat up, sliding off her body as he got to a stand.

"You continue to surprise me, Squall." Quistis confessed, dusting off her pants and then straightening her shirt. "Years ago you showed me you can dance, you can lead and you convinced me you were capable of anything. Now you only prove me right by showing me you can fight without your gunblade." She smiled as she looked up towards the brown haired man, pushing her own blonde bangs to the side.

Quistis looked to the side, turning on her heel to walk towards the stream that divided their playing field. But she was really trying to buy herself just a little more time as she let her heart settle and tried to shake off the image of his body almost perfectly up against her own, his warm breath actually touched against the skin of her exposed neck as she let out a shaky breath. Gathering up her strength, she gave a smile as she turned around and waved him forward.

"Best two out of three, Squall." She reminded him.

Squall nodded once more, his signal for the spar to start as he pounced off his foot once more, dashing closer to Quistis as she lifted her hands up, ready to defend herself.

'_Very aggressive._' Quistis noted quickly.

Squalled reached out with his arm, looking to grab Quistis by the forearm or shoulder, she did not know which and she was not about to find out as her foot kicked back, allowing her to evade the grab. Her own arm came up and she grabbed the man by his black leather jacket and yanked hard. Pulling him forward, she managed to bury her knee into his stomach as she felt solid connection. Pushing against him, he stumbled to the side and she knew that she could not allow the man even a second of recovery. Pushing off her left leg, she kicked Squall in the back of his knee, causing the young man to buckle to one knee. But he was not going down completely. Before she could respond though, he bent backwards, just enough to see her as his arm looped around her waist and Quistis felt another gasp of breath leave her chest as he held onto her tightly with that one arm and pushed himself to a stand, using the momentum to toss her over his hip as she hit the soft grass once more. Rolling over, knowing she was prone and he would try and pin her, she attempted to evade his follow up. But her hopes were dashed as she felt his fingers grip around her ankle and she was pulled along the grass towards him. Her world dazed for a moment as the weight of his body pressed so suddenly against her back and she knew he was trying to pin her once more. She had to react fast. Quistis bunched her knees to her stomach and actually pushed herself up off the ground, he had a hold on her arms as he held her from behind. He was not going to make escaping his grip easy as she twisted and turned in his arms. She fought hard to stay on her knees at the very least as he tried to pulled her back to the ground. His breathing, hard and heated in her ear did not exactly improve her concentration too much as she tried to ignore the icy shiver that slide down her spine. She only had one chance left, at least that was how her mind saw it, and she would need to get her arms above her head so she could move her body more. Continuing to struggle, Quistis finally pushed her arms over her breasts so she could get them above her head, feeling his grip on her body loosen; she felt that sting of hope. Rolling on her back, she shot a leg up high and the angling allowed her to connect across his collar as his grip faltered. She could have hit him in the head, but that would be disrespecting the rules of respect. Rolling to her side, she managed to get to her feet again as Squall recovered from the shot and stood to his feet. Quistis would not have much time to press her slight advantage as she reached forward with both hands, gripping his jacket tight as she twisted her body with as much force as she could muster and even she was surprised that she was able to throw him off his feet as she watched his body hit the ground. She was pleasantly surprised at her own speed and instinct, even before she knew it; she had straddled Squall's hips and pressed her hands firmly against his shoulders to keep his back to the ground.

Letting out a small victorious smile, she looked down at the surprised blue-eyed, brown-haired, young man. She shifted her body slightly, as if getting ready to make herself quite comfortable where she was. Her breath left her lips in deep sessions as she regained her composure.

She knew that look; he was looking for something, anything, to say. But one of the great hallmarks of Squall, that she remembered, was that he was not exactly a wordsmith in abnormal conditions. Him being pinned to the ground and mounted by Quistis was probably one of those situations and she knew it.

"Mm, one for one." Quistis almost purred.

"Never seen you fight unarmed before." Squall stated with the hinted tone of curiosity.

"Oh Squall, did you really think I was limited to one weapon?" Quistis tilted her head.

Quistis knew that all SeeD's were given, at the very least, basic hand-to-hand combat and it was up to the student to advance that. But she did not become the child prodigy of Garden by just accepting the minimum. She always needed to exceed the rest, in everything she did back then. Hand-to-hand proved to be one of those areas she was determined to be better than those around her. But she found herself out of practice, even a little slow then she last remembered.

"Best two out of three." Squall reminded.

With a nod, Quistis lifted her hands from his shoulders and sat up so he was freed from her pin. Squall gave her a small nod and started to lift himself from the grassy ground. However, a strange and unexplainable tingle coursed through her body as she felt that new side of her start to emerge. The urge was too powerful for her to fight as she bit down on her bottom lip while looking down at the recovering handsome man. She placed her hands back on his shoulders and shoved him back to the ground with an alarming thud, Squall's eyes went wide in the moment of sudden shock as he looked up to her.

"I like it here." She whispered in a sultry tone.

Quistis' mind screamed at her, telling her to back out while she still can and she knew that if she took any time to think about what she was doing, she would become a trembling woman who would be spending the rest of the night in tears of regret and shame.

"Quistis…What the hell is with you?" Squall demanded.

"Since when did you care what was with me?" she seductively purred, her body shifting closer as she lowered herself closer to him.

"What?" he blinked as his eyes frantically searched hers for answers.

"Hmmm." She grinned as she pressed her hands against his shoulders, roughly sliding them down his leather jacket, tracing both her index fingers along the fur lining of the coat. "Every time I wanted to tell you what was with me, you would tell me to go talk to a wall." She replied, keeping the low seductive tone as her water blue eyes watched her hands glide down his chest, feeling his chest raise and fall under her palms before looking back up to him with a small content smile.

"You got my attention now." Squall remarked.

Quistis let out a small purring hum when he said that as she slide her hands underneath his leather jacket, feeling the muscles tense and retract at her caressing touches as the breath in her chest caught for a moment, her courage faltered for a brief second as she was startled at how wonderful his body felt against her probing fingers. Her hands pressed hard against his shaped chest, squeezing the muscle that was hiding under his shirt. She had to be careful, or she would just melt into him and all her courage and strength would surely disappear.

"I bet I do." Quistis gave him a sly smirk.

She could feel it, his breath was ragged and not from their recent spar. His heart was quick under hands and his body gave tingles of sensation every time her fingers pressed into his body. He reacted with every bit of affection she had to offer and she had a deep seeded feeling that it was not all negative, he just needed time to register what was happening and she hoped that when he did, the results would favour her. She felt her nerves wreck the more she pushed herself and his eyes showed something that she had never seen in them before…Uncertainty.

'_God, how long I have waited for this…dreamed for this_.' She thought.

Maybe it would make her a horrible woman, knowing that Squall belonged to Rinoa and that she was just gone to another Garden on an assignment and now she was being that evil little mistress that she read about in her novels and trying to swoop in and take Rinoa's man while she was away. But Quistis found she did not care anymore, she wanted…needed and desperately craved Squall in a way that exceeded anything she had ever felt in her life. If Quistis always got what she wanted while she was the Garden prodigy, why can she not have what she wants now.

"Quistis." Squall uttered out, the tone was one of protest.

"Shh." She responded, leaning in closer so he was distracted by her almost pressed up against him.

She silently cursed her wandering hands now, for they were the only thing standing in the way from being able to feel his body pressed up the length of her own. But one thing she did enjoy, were the clothes that Xu had lent to her for this date was surprisingly thin, she could feel the heat from his body perfectly radiate into her own and it sent her stomach reeling. The faint, but very distinctive, scent of Squall rose from him and floated into her mind as she was sent whirling in a pool of undiscovered emotions. She had forgotten how to breathe out and it was going to kill her if she did not remember soon, but she found herself not caring about that. Her own life had no meaning in comparison to this moment she had given herself.

His heart thundered in his chest, pounding against the palm of her hand as she slide her fingers slowly to the side of his body, actually pushing the coat open to expose his torso to her, covered over by his white shirt as she looked down at the shape of his body, biting her lips she looked back to Squall's eyes. Squall wrapped his hands around the forearms of Quistis, feeling the light resistance of him trying to ease her travelling hands.

"Quistis…stop this foolishness." He whispered to her.

"Then stop me." She boldly challenged his plea.

She knew it was a bold challenge to make and inside she cried for him not to take her up on it. Knowing she had to act before he gathered the means to do so, she slide her body down to press completely up against his and finally feeling his body against hers, nothing between them but thin clothing, almost caused her to give a low rumbling moan. She loved and hated how such simple things could make her react like a lusty young woman. But she could not help it nor did she want to stop it, she wanted to enjoy this every moment. The warmth of his body passed through her breasts, stomach and hips as she slide her body slowly along his, sliding up towards him to close the distance between their faces. His eyes closed for a moment when her body grinded against his, she let a small grin tug at the corners of her lips as she leaned in close to his ear.

"Why Leonhart…if I did not know any better, I would say you are enjoying this." She whispered heatedly into his ear as she breathed out slowly and suddenly, feeling the tingle register through his nerves.

He did not reply to her and she knew why, his own breath was catching and she knew what was happening. She was seducing him with her every motion to the point that she was taking away his ability to fight back. That only meant that there was something inside him that enjoyed this enough to the point of want. He wanted her and she was making him realize that. That thought alone drove her body to continue its suggestive tortures as she pressed her breasts against his body and her movements forced him to notice. She bit her bottom lip once more, still breathing quite heavily into his ear to keep his mind whirling and body to react to her…and his body did react to her, wither he wanted to or not. Her hands slide up the sides of his body slowly, exploring the surface of his body that was still concealed to her by the cursed white shirt. Her hands slide up until she could rest her hands on both sides of his face, moving her lips away from his ear she hovered above his face for an inch as she looked down at him. Squall's blue eyes opened slowly to look up at her, it was all too apparent that she was doing everything correctly, and Quistis robbed the fight from his eyes. He was now going to be at her mercy and she knew it, a mischievous smile tugged at her face once more. Pulling his head slowly off the ground, she found there was no resistance or fight to break her hold while the, seemingly long, inch was closed. She only dared to dream of this moment and now it was here. Her lips touched tenderly against his as she felt a soft moan escape her lips, the warmth of his lips washed through her body, like a surge of energy was released from Squall. Her fingers pressed lightly into the sides of his face as she surrendered herself to him and felt no more need to hold anything back.

Squall's fingers pressed hard into her forearms, even painfully, but she did not mind as she traced her tongue along the surface of his lips. Her body moving on nothing but pure need and instinct as she continued to grind her hips intimately into his, loving how he reacted to her body. She teasingly trailed her nails down the sides of his face, not enough to break the skin or even leave the red trail behind, just enough to tease the nerves. Her left leg slowly slide down the length of his right leg as she slipped her feet under his legs to entangle herself against Squall's body. She gave a small whimper as she traced her tongue along his lips, she wanted his hands on her, wanted to feel what it actually felt like to have his strong hands bless her skin.

'_Rinoa_.' Quistis felt that name stab into her mind like a dagger.

The courage she had…shattered.

The need she felt…faded.

Her burning desire…washed away.

Everything she felt was quickly replaced with awareness, guilt and throbbing pain that pulsed with her body, the same speed that her heart continued to pace.

She was Rinoa's friend and she trusted Rinoa, as Rinoa had trusted her and now she was here betraying that trust by seducing he man. Quistis was just like one of those women that she knows the reader cusses for getting between a destined couple. Her body trembled, of sorrow and fear this time as she became acutely aware of who she was kissing and what she was doing. Her head shot up as she pushed off the ground to a sitting position. She saw as Squall's bewildered eyes opened as he looked up to her.

Tears…a window of tears clouded her vision.

'_Wh-what am I doing? What have I become?_' Quistis scolded herself. _'…what…have I…ruined?_'

Quistis bit her lip hard while her eyes darted back and forth as if looking for anyone that was around to see this moment. It all sounded so forbidden, romantic and wonderful to seduce him. But now her reality was snapping into place and she had not only ruined two friendships with one act, but the rest of the group would learn of this and they would never see her the same ever again. Garden, the entire Garden would eventually find out as well, rumours spread fast and she would be exposed to their thoughts, eyes and judgement. She was finished…she had just destroyed everything she had for this moment.

"I…Ah…" Quistis stuttered as she glanced anywhere she could, but Squall.

She placed her hands to the top of her chest and brushed the shirt down as if trying to get any wrinkles out of her clothes; Followed up by reaching up to straighten her blonde hair. She could feel Squall's blue eyes on her still, she could not bring herself to meet his eyes…not now and a tear fell upon realizing that she probably could never meet his eyes ever again. "I…" she was becoming victim to her depression and it was choking her behind her welling tears. "…for…" she was trying to find something to say, her body continued to tremble in fear.

"…." Squall's silence was not helping her situation at all.

"Forgive…me…" she whimpered as she pushed herself up.

"Quistis." Squall replied, in an almost whisper like tone.

"I'm sorry!" Quistis screamed as tears fell, leaving her whip behind she could do nothing else but dash into the deep brush of the forest area. Covering her left eye with her hand to stop the tears from dropping, she knew it was a futile effort. Her sobs racked her body with chest pains as she did not pay attention to where she was going, she just had to get out of the area

She could not get Rinoa out of her mind now and it was tearing her up inside. Through the desperation and sorrow she felt, she know what she had to do next.

She had to leave Balamb Garden for good.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Quistis sat at her desk, looking over one of the written tests taken during the SeeD exam, nibbling on the edge of her pen she let out a sigh and glanced to the side of the Galbadia Garden walls, she was familiar with this garden at least so her transition went very smoothly.

Being a Garden prodigy also helped her standing quite a bit and it did not take long for her to gain a small following here either as word quickly flew through the air that Quistis should perhaps be the Headmaster of the Garden, claiming that her field experience during the Sorceress war more then made her qualified to be such. She had not followed up on her hype however, she knew she was not the one leading everyone during those times…it was Squall.

Her transfer came to a shock to both Xu and Headmaster Cid, but there was no changing her mind. She remembered that Squall attempted to approach her once, but she kept her distance and avoid him at every turn. She would safely guess that by now, the news of how she acted has spread like wildfire; it had been five months after all.

She got some messages from Xu now and then, keeping her up to date with events in Balamb garden, but even those updates slowly faded as Quistis made it more than clear on several occasions that she was not returning.

Sliding her glasses from her face, Quistis rubbed her temples lightly while letting out a soft groan that was caused by the headache that decided to emerge again; it always came whenever she thought about Balamb Garden.

Her blue eyes opened to her user interface embedded in her desk; biting her lip for a moment she had a strange stirring urge to check her mail once more. Tapping the glass surface with her finger she let the screen come to life before her. Clicking onto her account she opened to her front page where she saw that she had three new messages. She gave a slight smile; it was a minor uplift and might be the needed break from her test marking that she needed.

A new message from Headmaster Yegg, one of her fellow instructors and Xu waited for her viewing in her inbox. She knew she would take in pleasure before any Garden business and opened her new message from Xu, but nothing was going to prepare her for what she was about to read from her long time best friend.

_ Quisy,_

_ How are you doing in Galbadia Garden? The SeeD exams came out today didn't they? The field tests for Balamb were here and it still does not feel the same without you here. I do not have a lot of faith in these new recruits and they are so lost without you training them in the Garden. Speaking of Instructors, Squall Leonhart got involved in a very distressing situation that almost had him resign. Something to do with Rinoa, they had this huge argument about something that neither of them are even talking to others about. Rinoa left the Garden shortly after and now Squall has been lingering around the Garden and been riding his students harder. I personally think that his hardships on the students made them perform better in the field exam. But if what I have heard is correct, then he is resigning anyways. He won't talk to Cid, me or any of his comrades. Hey, you grew up with him both before and during the Garden, any pointers on cracking him open to at least get some answers? Reply back Quisy! Love you! ~Xu_

Quistis has to read the message twice before she realized what the message was implying. All the previous messages from Xu and her not mentioning how Quistis made a fool of herself with Squall was not cause Xu was trying to polite, she honestly did not know what happened. Squall had kept their incident to himself all this time and the argument that happened between the two, Quistis could only assume that it was dealing with his confession of that event and Rinoa taking it bad.

Quistis had to take a moment to consider what she would be doing next; all she could do was stare the message from Xu while lost in thought. Her eyes had dazed out and the letters on the screen had become a blur. She had to consider what to do next, what would be the right thing to do and what she wanted to do at this moment flashed but she also know one thing: reacting without thinking always got her into trouble.

A distressed sigh left her lips as she realized what the right thing to do was and that was to just refrain from contacting Squall and finally let hi m go. Focus and get lost in her work in Galbadia and maybe find a new love to fill her life; she had gone into senseless, dead-end relationships while in Balamb after all.

Lowering her head, Quistis pressed the log-off button as the computer powered down.

-Three Years Later-

Quistis continued to show the world why she was the Garden Prodigy by not only being accepted at a tender young age, becoming the youngest trainer, now she became the youngest Garden Headmaster—besides from the short time that Squall became a Garden Leader—and not to mention that she was the first dominate female commanding figure.

Little did the blonde haired Headmaster know; she still had Squall to thank for her progression in the ranks. It was her focus from years back that allowed her to strive to become the new headmaster of Galbadia but she had become so lost in her work that she did not remember her dive, just that she had it pushing her forward.

"Quistis?" called out a small voice.

"What is it, Xu?" Quistis asked, shuffling through her daily papers and request orders for SeeD deployment. She rested her small-frame glasses on the bridge of her nose. She did not even look up from her papers as she let out a huff.

"Too busy right now?" she asked peacefully; she always gave her cheerful tone when she felt that Quistis might be stressing it too much. The moment that Quistis became the new headmaster, she filed the correct paper to request Xu's transfer and was pleasantly surprised when Cid accepted it; Quistis did not expect Cid to let go of a powerful leader like Xu.

"Oh not at all," Quistis confessed as she looked up from her papers. "What do you need?" Quistis gave her a supportive smile to show Xu that she had her attention.

"You didn't forget that you had a meeting with the Balamb Garden representative did you?" Xu tilted her head playfully, as if giving Quistis a friendly tease.

"What? I don't remember any meetings today." Quistis blinked once, her sapphire eyes going wide as she instantly looked over to her database on her desk, opening her list of appointments.

"Oh it is not in your planner, Head Mistress." Xu informed while keeping her causal smile.

The reaction she got was a puzzled look from Quistis as she blinked once; arching an eyebrow she wordlessly asked how she was supposed to know about a meeting not even set up. Her stance said more than her words could.

"I set it just a few moments ago." She confessed.

"Xu, what are you thinking?" Quistis sighed out while placing her fingers against her forehead.

"Welllll…" Xu trailed off very lightly.

"And how could I forget a meeting I did not even know I had?" Quistis added, shuffling the paper off to the side so she could fold her hands onto her desk. "When is this meeting?" she got out in a flustered manner; she was not even waiting for the response from Xu.

"The representative from Balamb, Squall Leonhart will be up in a few moments, Head Mistress." Xu informed as she gave a polite nod of her head, hiding a playful smirk.

Quistis felt her heart hammer in her chest for that single moment as she focused on nothing else but Xu, like she was trying to make sure she heard that correctly.

Over three years have passed since she last saw the young man and over those three years she had managed to bury herself under enough work to forget about him. Now thanks to her best friend Xu—that title was being put into question right now—she had to know face Squall in a meeting. He probably dropped by the Galbadia during some SeeD assignment that extended into her territory. She knew the SeeD protocols and duty demanded that she house any SeeD in her area; not to mention that SeeD had to report to the Headmaster to inform them of their situation.

"I shall be on my way then, Head Mistress." Xu playfully called out while turning around to walk out of the office.

"W-what? Wait…no…" Quistis pleaded as she stood up from her desk, extending an arm outwards as if she could grab her and pull the retreating Xu back into the office; however, the woman had already stepped into the elevator and the doors came to a close, Xu was gone.

Letting out a shaken breath, Quistis lowered her head in solemn thought. She fought with herself that this was actually happening. She was being forced to see Squall after their encounter that happened over three years ago and their training session; she had secretly hoped that that would be the last she saw of Squall. It was an embarrassing and humiliating memory to have haunting her mind and now the man that was the focus of that moment was now coming to her for a meeting. All business, which was how she had to act and show nothing but a direct, cold and dispositional attitude and get this meeting over with as quick and painlessly as possible.

The elevator opened again, making the head mistress freeze in her spot; that moment she was at least thankful that she did not leave her desk. Her sapphire eyes looked towards the opened door, observing as the familiar figure of Squall Leonhart walked in; her heart gave a flutter of relief when she realized that he was also being accompanied by two other SeeD's that she never saw before but that just meant that he was not alone with her and Quistis had a barrier to use.

"Squall Leonhart; are you the leader of your group?" Quistis started out, the knowledge of knowing those two there actually allowed her to find her cold tone that she would need.

"Yes." Squall started with a causal nod, his blue eyes already locked on hers.

"Alright," Quistis breathed out, standing up from her desk as she walked around to observe her company; stunned for a moment when Squall actually gave her the SeeD salute, the other two SeeD's followed his example and gave her the salute. '_Right, head mistress._' Quistis reminded herself as she returned the salute and nodded once more. "At ease." She reassured.

Quistis walked over to the three of SeeD's, observing them as she did one brief circle around the group; none of them moved. Her sapphire eyes somehow always managed to stare at Squall; she noticed that he had made subtle changes to his attire. The changes were actually only to his pants, instead of his standard pants he had an added white fur lining along the top of his pants and a black sash that draped down his right leg; the sash ended just above his right knee. They were subtle changes but they actually looked pretty good, in her opinion.

"What brings you to Galbadia?" Quistis wondered, folding her hands behind her back. She had seen Cid take this stance many times as head master and she could not help but take the same stance at times.

Quistis stood there patiently as Squall informed her on the mission they were and what sidetrack actually brought them to come to Galbadia, she could not help but find it slightly ironic that their sidetracking once more brought them Galbadia. All Quistis would need to do now is send them on an additional mission that would put them and Garden in danger and it would complete the feeling of deja-vu that was unfolding before them. Squall ended his report and stood there, she was relieved that he was taking this professionally as well and did not add to the tension that was already present in the air between them. If Squall really wanted to speak with her alone then he was very good at hiding it behind his expressionless face.

"I shall contact Balamb garden on your behalf and inform them of your predicament. Please make yourselves at home and I shall call you back to inform you all of your orders from Garden. Dismissed." Quistis finished, turning around to face her desk as she started to walk towards her seat again.

"Head Mistress Trepe." Squall called out.

Her heart hammered in her chest for that moment when she heard him call her name. "What is it, Squall Leonhart?" Quistis managed to mutter out, keeping her head forward so none could see her shaken expression while she waited for him to respond.

"Our travels were long, if it would not be too much; would we be able to rest and recover first before you call us back. If you absolutely must then I shall come alone and relay what was said back to my men after they are rested." Squall stated with a formal yet commanding tone to his voice.

'_How respectful of his team mates,_' Quistis thought to herself, she could not see herself rejecting such a request when he was thinking of the others first. '_I just hope it does not come to meeting him alone._' Quistis thought. "Fine, I can respect your concern Leonhart." Quistis confessed as she gave a nod.

The sound of boots against her hard floors gave her beating heart some peace, leaving her to think of how to kill Xu for doing that to her and not even sticking around to help her shoulder the strain of meeting with Squall again; fates gave her mercy however when he showed up with his two team members. Quistis waited for the sound of the elevator doors closing before she felt comfortable enough to turn around…the sight that awaited her was not what she expected.

"Squall!" Quistis screamed in surprise, almost jumping out of her skin. She brought her hand up to her chest as if she was trying to catch her beating heart; breathing out in light gasps before she managed to straighten up her stance. "What the hell is wrong with you? Why are you still standing here?" Quistis scolded, giving into her reaction of irritation and not letting her mind grasp that what she feared was coming to the surface and she was now alone with Squall.

"Head Mistress, you have come far, Quistis." Squall confessed.

"Don't keep up with news? I have been Head Mistress for awhile now." Quistis responded while still managing to keep a biting tone.

"Why did you leave?" Squall suddenly asked, almost out of nowhere; it seemed that Squall was going to get right to the point.

"Oh, don't start this Squall…please." Quistis pleaded, her resolve broke the moment he asked that question. He was exposing old wounds that she thought would have healed over by now but hearing that question told her she was not ready to face it just yet.

"I really want to know, you just left without a word to anyone." Squall responded.

"Squall…don't." Quistis pleaded once more, turning her back to the man so she did not have to look at him. "Just leave…and do not return."

"I am not going anywhere without answers." Squall demanded.

"Just leave!" Quistis suddenly screamed while turning around to face the surprised SeeD, her arms were straight at her sides when she yelled. Quistis kept her stern blue eyes locked on his as her body trembled lightly from the surging emotion. "I will call you back…you will get your report…" her voice trembled while she fought hard to maintain her commanding tone. "And then…you will leave Galbadia and not return…please…" she watched as Squall's lips parted to respond, she would not be able to keep fighting for too much longer. Her sapphire eyes became itchy with the tears of strain and she did not have long before they became noticeable. "Please…" Quistis insisted softly.

The response surprised her when Squall's eyes went from her own to look over her as if assessing her condition and giving out a sigh before turning around and walking towards her elevator. She could not even watch him leave as she turned around, hugging her form in self-comfort and continuing her losing battle against her tears.

-Later that night-

Quistis stared out the window of her office towards the night time skies, breathing out once lightly as her breath created a light fog on the window. Her sapphire eyes fell from the skies to look down to oversee the Garden grounds. She had sent Xu out to fetch Squall and if possible, his fellow SeeD comrades, to come to her office to receive the news that she finally got from Headmaster Cid.

The conversation with the man lasted a lot longer then she would have liked, speaking to Cid and getting off track with how far she had come and needless for her to say, Cid could be a little absent minded at times; it made her wonder what gave Cid the right to ever deem her unworthy of being an Instructor due to lack of leadership.

With a small ding, the elevator sounded; making Quistis close her eyes for a moment as her heart started to pick up its pace and those scared emotions flushed back to the surface again. Her fears were only solidified when she heard the sound of one set of boots against her floors and they did not belong to Xu's high heels, they belonged to military grade boots.

"Orders, Head Mistress?" Squall's voice sounded.

"Cid and I have assessed your current situation in your mission and it has been agreed that you and your team can stay here for the night; however, when the morning comes then Cid has prepared a safe voyage for you back to Balamb Garden and there you can inform Headmaster Cid with a more in-depth report." Quistis managed to say; she just hoped that she would not have to say it again. She did not have enough strength for it.

"Understood, is that all?" Squall asked firmly.

One ray of hope eased her heart when she heard him reply back in all business; perhaps she had offended him so much that he just wanted to leave too; it hurt her to think that all he wanted to do was get away from her but she also knew it was for the best.

"Yes, you are dismissed." Quistis replied.

Quistis kept her eyes closed as she let out a shaken breath, bidding farewell to Squall in her mind one last time. She would later thank Xu however, because this moment was allowing Quistis the closure she would need to get over Squall and gain her own acceptance. A tear slipped down her cheek while she let her mind sit on the fact that this would be the last she would see of Squall ever again.

Little did she know, that Squall would not let throw him out of her life that easily and gave Quistis a shock to her body when she felt firm, strong yet warm arms slide around her form. A soft gasp escaped her lifts as her sapphire eyes shot open so she could look over her shoulder, seeing Squall behind her. Her lips parted to say something but words were captured in her throat and disabled her ability to speak to the man. His arms held her firmly, there was no escape for her and even if there was, she was not sure she had the strength to pull away.

"I do not want you to feel anymore pain." Squall whispered.

That scared her a little inside, Squall used to be very cold and apathetic to those around him but Rinoa had changed him so many years back and opened up his heart and she had to get used to it; however, when she heard that Squall and Rinoa had parted ways, she figured he would return back to being cold and distant again.

"Squall…please…let me go." Quistis weakly whispered, closing her eyes again as she lowered her head.

"I cannot…" he whispered in reply.

"I'm asking…pleading…begging you to let me go." Quistis responded back in a sorrow filled tone.

"I am sorry, Quistis...but I am not going to be able to do that."

"Just leave…I need to move on…I cannot take this anymore." She desperately fought.

"Shh." Squall reassured, robbing Quistis of her ability to formulate words.

Quistis's fate was sealed the moment he told him to stay silent and just absorb the moment, any fight she had left was being melted against the warmth of his body. The feeling of having someone's arms around her body, holding her without so much as a word between them allowed her to even forget how much time had passed between them. All the old wounds that had reopened from earlier were actually being sealed and replaced with soothing warmth.

"Let me go, Squall." Quistis whispered; he had managed to push her tears back and bring a peace to her being. Quistis knew however that this moment was only going to make the final separation between the two just that much more painful. "Please Squall…let's just say goodbye."

"Running away again?" Squall asked softly.

"I have to…I cannot bear to be hurt for the next few years for one night." Quistis whispered back; her voice told him to leave but her hands rose up to place themselves tenderly over his arms and betrayed her own words.

Everything she thought she knew about Squall was thrown out the window the moment he walked up and held her close. That very action was very uncharacteristic of him and whispering lightly into her ear only added to the list of things she never pictured him doing. Squall would only add to that list as she felt him gently squeeze body before slowly turning her around and then pressing her form to him; she could not fight it, all she could do was place her hands gently on his chest and lean her head on his shoulder while keeping her eyes shut. The only thing that existed for her in this moment was the warmth from his body, the faint aroma about him, the feel of his breathing against her, and finally she was calmed by the sound of his strong beating heart to her ear.

"You're going to shatter my heart." Quistis whispered lightly in confession while she relaxed against his body.

"I don't want to." Squall responded while rubbing her back very gently.

"You don't want to…but you will the longer you stay here." Quistis said while biting her bottom lip lightly, knowing that what she said would get him to leave even though she did not want him to; however, it was that urge for him to stay that made it very dangerous.

"What if I do not want to leave then?" Squall responded.

That whisper made Quistis's heart skip a beat and think over one more time, thinking if she heard him correctly or if her mind was playing with her sanity. Lifting her head lightly she looked up to his eyes, not that she had to tilt her head too much, Squall was taller than her but not by much.

"W-what?" Quistis blinked as she breathed out in an uneasy manner.

"You heard me." Squall called back as he looked down at her.

Before she could even respond, Quistis was surprised by the feel of his warm lips against hers. She could not figure out why Squall was acting this way; however, she did not find herself being able to argue or push him away. Instead her fingers gripped onto his white shirt as her eyes shut tight; the sensation of his warm lips caused her lungs to cease as her hands brushed along his white shirt and slid under his leather jacket.

Quistis's mind whirled trying to figure out what was happening and how this made any sense, she had dreamed of what this moment would be like, the moment that Squall would just take control and after exiling herself from even seeing him for over three years, this moment was actually happening. A tear slide down her cheek as she lifted herself onto her toes slowly so she could be closer to him and she knew at this point that she needed this moment; she would gladly suffer the rest of her life in pain if it meant granting her this one piece of bliss.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Quistis did not know how everything happened; it was like her mind blanked out from the bliss of the transition during the time it all started happening. The last thing she remembered was that she pulled the leather jacket off his body and he responded by pulling her tie from her SeeD uniform; however, now she was sitting on the edge of her desk with his body between her legs and her uniform jacket was parted open but not taken off just yet. Her arms looped around the back of his neck as she kissed the young man passionately, she was completely lost in him and she did not care anymore.

Never would Quistis have actually guessed that Squall was a very aggressive lover; he did not even waste a second as his hands pushed her skirt up to expose her legs to him and allowed Squall access to her violet lingerie she wore and wasted no time stroking her heated womanhood through the silky violet surface; the sensation threatened to make her close her legs as she groaned against his lips but she refused to deny him or her the pleasure; it also helped that her legs were spread apart by his hips, so when her body tensed in pleasured, all it did was squeeze him lightly.

Squall used his free hand to grab her matching silk, violet bra and yanked on the center front, forcing the front hooks to break open and making the blonde head mistress gasp in her lips, breaking the kiss while she opened her eyes to look at him. She could not ask for anything more than a man who just took command of her; it was a side to Squall she liked.

Matching his aggression, Quistis grabbed at his pants and yanked them open. She wanted him out of his pants and she even surprised herself by giving him what she hoped was a seductive glare followed by a low-toned growl; grabbing him by the shirt, she yanked him close and did not care that she heard the fabric tear…Squall wanted her tonight and that was exactly what he was going to get.

"This all you got?" Quistis challenged in a sultry tone.

Quistis was pleased to feel Squall step up to the plate; his hand grabbed her blonde hair and yanked back hard enough to make her gasp once more and before she could even adjust to what happened, Squall bit hard into her neck.

"Oh god," Quistis whimpered pleasantly.

One hand squeezed Quistis rear, pulling her hips so that the distance between her bodies was already being closed. He had her paralyzed, not willing to move as long as he kept his bite on her neck. She found it was best to just submit to him now and she loved every moment of it; none of her previous lovers were able to ignite any passion inside her like this moment was doing and it was inside her very own office. She felt his hand move from her rear and slide to her front, pushing her lingerie to the side to expose her moist opening to the slightly chilled air making Quistis tense for a moment as she leaned forward and pressed her fingers into his back. He did not keep her waiting at all and she found her grateful for that as he positioned him and made the blonde haired woman gasp out a silent scream when she felt him push deep inside her already, he was full, hard and inside her.

Her hips bucked lightly on the surface of the desk as she encouraged him to ravage her body and use her like he pleased, she did not care, and she just found herself desperately needing him. Squall let go of her neck and next thing she knew, she felt her back slam against the desk as he pressed his hands firmly against her shoulders.

"God…just take me!" Quistis demanded, now she was surprising herself again at how demanding and aggressive she could be when the right buttons were pushed.

Squall did not disappoint her either as he thrusted hard into her hips, hard enough to buck them off the desks surface and yet she could not move with them because he kept her pinned down. She felt a scream threaten to erupt from her mouth but she also did not want anyone to hear her screaming in such a lust passion from her office; so she covered her mouth with her hand and muffled her screams behind that. She was already so wet and the punishment of his hard thrusts was only making that condition worse as she shut her eyes tight.

One crazed thought that raced through her mind was that Rinoa must have been such a stupid little girl to let Squall go, he was an aggressive, rough and passionate lover and now he was her lover for at one night at least.

The hard shaft of Squall kept sliding into her vessel like it was meant for her, she felt her legs squeeze around his waist as the now soaked lips of her womanhood clasped around his member and encouraged him to thrust harder into her by making it tighter for him. Quistis's efforts were rewarded when he continued to thrust hard inside of her enough to rock her body against the desk, she felt her breasts bouncing from the force of which he slammed his manhood into her; she could not help but lift her arms to press them against her breasts to stop them from rocking around.

However, Squall seemed to have other plans; grabbing her arms by the wrists and then throwing them above her head as she shut her eyes and pressed her face against her arm and muffled her load moans. The fact that he wanted to watch her breasts bounce only excited her more as she bucked her hips wildly against his thrusts, encouraging him to push deeper inside of her.

"Squall…faster…god…faster." Quistis lustfully pleaded.

She groaned out softly once when she felt Squall actually stop his pleasurable penetrations and he removed his right hand from her wrist; a gasp sounded from her a second later when Squall wrapped his hands around her neck, choking her slightly and he breathlessly whispered into her ear.

"I…control how this…goes…you are my head mistress tonight." Squall aggressively whispered, making Quistis whimper in pleasure as he demonstrated his control over her. She could only nod in reply, being submissive to him for the time being. "Good girl."

Quistis dug her nails into Squall's arm that was choking her and she roughly dragged her nails along his arm; her scratches were hard enough to cause deep red welts over his arms. He responded by thrusting once as deep as her body would let him go, his energy was wild, primal and heated and she loved every moment of his passion and lust.

The size of Squall's hardened manhood massaged her silken walls inside her womb as she did her best to return the gesture by squeezing his member when he was inside her. She even felt as the sweat from his passion dripped down onto her also sweat glistened chest and his deep throated grunts only made her cry out his name finally; she had forgotten to cover her mouth and she knew that anyone one floor below her would be able to hear her, if Xu was at her desk then she would have heard her best friend screaming out Squall's name but Squall had had pushed her beyond her breaking point of self-control. He knew just how to make her scream and she had been finding the urge to do so for too long.

She did not know when it happened but it did; she found her back planted against her office window and she clung to Squall as he pounded her against her own window and she rested her forehead against his shoulder. She was reduced to lustfully gasping out Squall's name over and over again while her lips were turned towards her lover's ear. She did not even car anymore if people down on the Garden grounds might have possibly seen her pressed up against her office window, it actually added a little excitement, a thrill to this already animalistic sexual session.

One thing she knew she wanted to do was have Squall remove her jacket already, it was hot and now soaked from sweat, the same with her skirt and her lingerie panties soaked by a combination of substances. Squall was in control of her body right now however and if he did not remove her jacket, than she would not remove it. Squall was actually hotter than she was and she knew that because her body was pressed against hers and she felt their sweat blend together and his body heat coursed through into her. She could not help but think that if Squall was always like this than there were absolutely no flaws in the man that she could see. Quistis could not help but rake her nails down his sweat-covered back, underneath his white shirt and she made sure to scratch down his back as hard as possible; she was unaware that she was breaking any skin and the only he did was growl in an aggressive manner and respond by thrusting into her hard enough to make her think that she might actually go through her own office window…it would be a wonderful way to die though.

She thought she was going to die one moment and then the next moment her mind whirled as she tried to remember how she ended up bent over, holding onto the edges of her desk as Squall grabbed her by the hips and pulled her back into him while he thrusted into her. She could not stop her breasts from bouncing this time; she needed both her hands to stay firmly on the desk to make sure she did not get rammed into the hard surface. Squall's arm then wrapped around her waist; the other arm slipped over her chest as his forearm rested between her breasts. Pulling her up from the desk, Squall not stood Quistis up and thrusted deep inside of her and she found her head was actually whirling, she was feeling faint and the only thing she could think of was wishing to hold on just a little while longer.

Feeling his member start to throb, Quistis knew that he was coming close to his climax and she wanted to welcome his seed to fill her inside; she desired to feel that hot warmth invade her womb.

"God…my love…just go inside me…please…" Quistis pleaded; her mind had raced so much that she did not notice that she already confessed her love for the man.

Quistis grabbed Squall's forearm that parted her breasts and her other hand grabbed his arm embracing her waist; she was encouraging him to stay close to her and wanted to make pulling out her a little more difficult. She never moaned so loudly in her life and she didn't even think of who could possibly hear her.

For a woman who worried so much about what others thought of her; she did not even give second thought to who heard her moan and scream like she did. She was a woman and woman had needs, her need was Squall.

Quistis's sapphire eyes shot wide open the moment that she felt the burning hot seed of Squall spill deep inside her, filling her up quickly before it even started spilling out of the folds of her opening. She gasped and pressed her head against his shoulder, one arm leaving his as she reached up to slide her fingers through his wet brown locks and his weight pressed against her and she felt her frame pressed against the surface of the desk. His deep, lusty breathes sounded in her ear as she worked hard to regain her breath; because she knew her strength would not return anytime soon.

"I'll…need a…transfer." Squall breathlessly whispered into her ear.

"Good…" Quistis could only reply weakly, she could not help but give a sated smile. "Then I can be your Head Mistress…every night."

Squall certainly was the embodiment of a lion…and she would work the rest of her life to tame him.


End file.

Final Fantasy VIII, Hurt-Comfort, Romance