Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction / Other Fan Fiction ❯ Protecting the Lion ❯ Behind the Scenes ( Chapter 21 )

Chapter Twenty-One

Behind the Scenes

 

Even without the curious eyes of cadets and staff alike, Squall walked without any helping hands back to his apartment.

 

“Is it true you stopped a huge tsunami just by casting a spell?” Rui asked blithely as he walked along with the two older boys.

 

Pausing mid step, Squall looked down to the raven haired boy and answered, “No.”

 

“Oh….” Rui commented, trailing off with uncertainty. “Then what happened?” He was far from deterred by the commander's lack of enthusiasm.

 

Seifer could tell that Kadowaki's pills hadn't begun to work yet. The brunet seemed to be working to keep an impassive expression on that pretty face. For whatever insane reason, Squall seemed to like Rui to some extent. Out of the goodness of his heart, or simply because he didn't want to hear the kid's voice, he answered in the commander's stead before the boy continued asking questions. “It was Shiva,” he muttered, glaring balefully.

 

“Shiva?” Rui questioned, still regarding the commander as though the blond's words had come from him.

 

“Shiva is a guardian force,” Seifer explained. Fists clenching, he forced himself not to attack the thief when he saw dark brown eyes gazing at Squall's profile intently, as though still waiting for the brunet to answer. What did Squall see in the kid anyway? “Hey kid, I'm over here.” He motioned with his hand to catch the impudent boy's attention.

 

Glaring, Rui's steps faltered a bit under the returned malevolence in the knight's eyes. Shifting subtly closer to the commander, he turned his attention to the boy with kind eyes.

 

Growling, Seifer very nearly walloped the brat. “Impudent, little, thieving, half-pint,” he grumbled under his breath, knowing he shouldn't start something when his main concern was to put Leonhart in bed. While the kid seemed deathly afraid of him, it was all okay so long as the commander was near by, which implied the boy was under the impression that he was weaker than his rival. He was quite insulted.

 

The tension was evident between Seifer and Rui, but Squall ignored it. They were nearly to his apartment. It was almost a relief to finally make it. Inside the quiet apartment, the silence was short lived when the knight and thief came to the entrance.

 

“Stay out brat,” Seifer ordered before pressing the button to quickly shut the door.

 

Rui was too fast, quickly sliding past the narrowing space and into the commander's apartment. “It's not your apartment,” he grumbled loud enough for the knight to hear.

 

Groaning, Seifer reached into his pocket. Not finding what he was looking for there, he turned around and looked along the wall behind him. Tilmitt had kindly taken a moment to retrieve not only the gunblades from Ragnarok, but also his coat from the infirmary. She had only spared a moment to visit Squall, before he had ushered the bouncy woman out with their unnecessary garments and weapons. Now the coat hung along the entryway wall.

 

Reaching inside his coat pocket, Seifer pulled his cell phone out. Flipping it open, he dialed a long stream of numbers before placing the phone to his ear. “It's me…” he spoke quietly, not loud enough for the thief or commander to hear. “Naw, the princess is fine…” He smirked while listening. “It's a new nickname I got for him… Yeah, try that and he'd kill you… Listen, I need you to come by for a minute. I got a kid here who needs to start learning the basics and some respect.”

 

Expecting his bidding to be done, Seifer hung up. Raijin was on the way over. If Rui had a problem with his physique, he couldn't wait until the brat got a look at Raijin. Conveniently, he could ask his trusted friend what happened with the follow up on the reporter from the conference. Grinning to himself, he walked farther into the apartment.

 

The pale form of the brunet stood before the small seating area that viewed into the kitchen. Squall held a hand to his temple, massaging it. Grimacing, he tried his best to keep all anger and annoyance from his voice. It was more difficult to deal with the younger boy since he had no patience, but felt obligated to some level of amicability. “Rui, it's not necessary,” he tried to reason with the determined boy.

 

From where Seifer stood behind the commander, he could see the raven-haired brat messing with a pan on the stove. Grumbling, he set his hands on the shorter man's shoulders and forcefully directed him to the couch. “Sit and rest like a good kitten,” he ordered.

 

With his last threads of patience wearing thin, Squall cringed and growled out, “Almasy.” He sat down regardless, as his head still throbbed and his limbs felt ready to cramp up on him. “I'm resting my eyes until my headache is gone, then I'm going to my office.” He defended his compliance with the knight's command by masking it as his own actions. Before he lie down completely he stopped and added, “Don't let Rui make me breakfast.”

 

Chuckling slightly at the brunet's inability to deal with the thieving brat, Seifer easily forgave Squall for the favor previously bestowed upon the kid. It would seem he'd misjudged the situation. What he'd seen as uncommon affection had just been the commander's social ineptitude.

 

Striding into the kitchen, Seifer stopped the brat right before the first egg was broken. “Out of the kitchen kid.”

 

Holding an egg aloft, Rui glared up at the knight. “I'm making breakfast,” he pointed out.

 

“And what right do you have to be here in the commander's apartment in the first place?” Seifer snapped.

 

“Same right as you,” Rui snapped back, setting the egg in the bowl he had been about to crack it over.

 

Laughing, Seifer looked at the dark haired boy with false amusement. He could handle the situation in one of two ways. Either he could yell and physically throw the thief out, or he could reason calmly and make Squall happier for it. “I've known Squall since he was four years old,” he said in a tone that implied a challenge. He smirked at the attentive look Rui's dark eyes gave him.

 

True to the thief's word, it would seem the kid hadn't known anything about current world events. It wasn't uncommon knowledge that Commander Leonhart and Ultimecia's knight had a history. Most people didn't know the assorted details.

 

“I'm not doin' a lick of harm,” Rui defended, falling back into his city accent.

 

Sighing, Seifer ran a hand through his hair. Regarding the boy seriously, he said, “I know. But there are a lot of things you don't know yet. Right now, this Epson guy you came here for is a thorn in all our sides.” He shifted with annoyance when he saw a slightly guilty look overcome youthful features. “Aside from that, there are a million other problems he's got on his plate right now. It's my job to make sure nothing happens to him, so let me do it.”

 

Grumbling, Rui flipped the stove's burner off and stood with his arms crossed. “I don't like you,” he hissed.

 

“Not many people do,” Seifer replied. He grinned as he felt that for once he was getting under the kid's skin. “He's resting now, so don't disturb him. Just leave.”

 

Narrowing his dark eyes, Rui regarded the blond with caution. Mouth moving without consulting his brain, he muttered, “Why, so you can rape him?” He stiffened, cursing his inability to hold his tongue.

 

Slapping at hand to his forehead, Seifer fought the urge to kill the kid. “Smart ass,” he called, unable to keep his mouth in check.

 

“Pervert,” Rui quipped, loud enough for the commander to hear in the other room.

 

“Kid,” Seifer began holding his hands up and gesturing threateningly with tightening fists, “I'm going to kill you. I swear to Hyne, I'm gonna kill you.” He of course wasn't at his breaking point just yet, and refrained from laying a hand on the insolent brat, but he was close. Closing his eyes briefly, he calmed his annoyance. “I've got a friend coming by.” His mood lightened at the prospect of Rui seeing Raijin. “You won't be starting classes until next semester, but I'm a generous guy, so I thought I'd give you the chance to get ahead of the game.”

 

Rui shifted uncomfortably, wondering if the ex-knight were still going to kill him. Feigning indifference, he scoffed and intoned, “Ahead of the game?”

 

“An instructor to teach you the basics,” Seifer supplied, praying that Raijin got there before the world held one less deviant. “That is, if you were really serious about becoming a SeeD.”

 

“I am,” Rui defended.

 

There was a sharp knock on the door. Seifer fought to hide a mischievous smirk. “Then I'm sure you'll take this chance to make the dear commander proud.”

 

Raijin had been surprised upon meeting Rui, but not nearly as surprised as Rui was to meet him. He gave Seifer an odd look of question when the kid seemed to go rigid and just stared at him.

 

“He's a big fan of yours,” Seifer assured mockingly. “Before I send you two off, what's the word from Fu?”

 

“Oh, nothing dangerous, ya know? Just some nosy pencil pusher,” Raijin supplied, having figured that the mindful ex-knight would want to know about the gossiping journalist. The clipped papers in his hand were all the information that Fujin had collected. He handed these off to his blond friend before crossing his arms and waiting.

 

Flipping through the pages, Seifer nodded in approval. “Thanks. Now, young Valdez here is a promising lad.” He clapped an amicable hand to the stiff back of an aghast Rui. “He be eager to learn the ropes, as it were.”

 

It was the sarcastic pirate like speech that clued Raijin into some sort of ulterior motive of the arrogant. “Right,” he commented, eyeing the ex-knight with suspicion. The poor kid looked closer to fainting with each passing moment.

 

“He's just a little shy.” Seifer pushed Rui forward, forcing the boy to take an unwarranted step.

 

Rui suddenly snapped out of his shocked daze, breaking his dead stare from King Kong back to the vacant looking couch. Knowing the brunet was still there, he tried to run that way. “Commander!” he shouted.

 

Clamping a hand over Rui's mouth, Seifer lifted the boy into the air easily and stepped into the hall. The papers he carried became crumpled with each flailing limb of the thief's. “I don't care what you do with him,” he spoke to Raijin, who was quick to follow behind. “Just get him away from here. The princess needs some sleep, which is next to…” He paused mid sentence. With a huff, he released Rui a bit roughly as the boy stumbled a few steps away. “Which is next to impossible with this loud mouth fangirl around,” he finished.

 

Straightening up, Rui puffed out his chest. “I'm no fangirl you perverted brute!” If he were smart, he would make a run for it. Sadly, he had no safe place to go except for back inside the commander's apartment, and the entrance was blocked by the man he should be running from.

 

“Can't say I follow what's going on, ya know?” Raijin said, standing beside Seifer.

 

“Teach him something worthwhile for the day,” Seifer instructed. Leaning forward, he emphasized his next words, “Like respect!”

 

Rui stuck his tongue and huffed indignantly.

 

Raijin laughed with amusement. “He reminds me of you,” the big man commented.

 

Raijin's words brought both Rui and Seifer to an immediate standstill.

 

“I'm nothing like him!” the two chorused at the same time.

 

Slapping his knee, Raijin was doubled over with laughter. “T-too good, ya-ya know?” he choked out as tears formed in his eyes.

 

Cursing under his breath, Seifer clutched the pile of papers tightly and stalked back into the apartment. Trusting Raijin to take care of the thief, he sulked over the brief encounter. Grabbing a chilled bottle of water from the fridge, he made his way over to the couch.

 

The curled form of the brunet barely took up little more than a single cushion. Carefully sitting down on the other end, Seifer propped his feet on the coffee table and flipped the TV on. Papers in hand, he idly glanced at them while taking a sip of the water and muting the sound so as not to disturb the sleeping lion. His eyes skimmed the jotted notes. The reporter he had sent Fujin to tag was simply a common variety muckraker. Sure enough though, the guy would not be welcomed back to any press conferences.

 

The flashing images on the TV screen caught his attention. Looking up he watched as a pretty woman with honey blonde hair and a bit too much makeup anchored for a news station. Noticing the icon in the bottom right of the screen he knew he was watching a station airing from Timber. Oddly enough, Timber seemed to be at the forefront of broadcasting. With the sound off, he read the lips of the anchorwoman, finding the bright crimson tinge of lipstick rather distasteful compared to Squall's naturally roseate lips. Her mouth moved to spout off words about exclusive coverage from Dollet on the missile incident.

 

“They're fast,” Seifer commented. A year ago it would have taken a few days for any story to break publicly, mostly because telecasting was not a device used very often.

 

Since the war began, people had taken a greater interest in television and the immediate news such broadcasting brought. Considering the war was over, shows wholly unrelated to the news had flooded the *airwaves. Almost every channel was like going to the theatre.

 

What he saw on the screen was of little interest. He had seen it all up close earlier that morning. The news was now broadcasting images of the water with chunks of ice in it, which wasn't nearly as awing a sight as when the ice had still been shaped like a giant cresting wave.

 

Leaning back, Seifer flipped through a few channels looking for a station featured in Dollet. In his opinion, Dollet's news stations would have the most accurate and up to date information. Finding what he was looking for, he nearly upset the papers in his lap by standing quickly. Looking cautiously to the soundly sleeping commander, he quietly turned the television off and moved to the kitchen.

 

Flipping his phone open, Seifer cursed when he realized he didn't know Trepe's number. He opted to call Fujin instead. Keeping his voice lowered, he stood near the window while absently looking outside. He waited while the other end rang.

 

The other end picked up. “Hey Fu, it's me,” Seifer greeted in a tone that implied business, regardless of its familiarity.

 

“Seifer,” hissed the voice on the other end. “I'm in the middle of class.”

 

“So turn your phone off.” His remark was instinctive, but once he realized that the tightlipped woman might choose to hang up and take his advice, he quickly continued, “I need Trepe's number.”

 

“How's the Commander?” Fujin asked in a muffled voice.

 

Rolling his eyes, Seifer indulged his friend, “Sleeping like a baby. Do you want to put me on the speaker so I can tell your students personally?”

 

“I doubt they'd believe the words of Ultimecia's knight,” the unusually loquacious woman joked.

 

“The number?” Seifer pressed.

 

Fujin spouted off Quistis' cell number. Knowing Seifer well enough, she knew when the man was in a hurry.

 

“Thanks,” the blond muttered before hanging up and calling the head instructor.

 

“Trepe,” the strict instructor answered on the first ring.

 

“Hey sweetheart,” Seifer murmured, grinning at his salutation.

 

“Oh, it's you,” the head instructor replied lamely.

 

Mood sobering, Seifer gazed out at churning waves before stating, “I thought we might have a chat about the late Governor Fenrir.”

 

“I'm afraid I won't be much of a good conversationalist on that, I only just found out myself,” Quistis informed gravely.

 

Frowning, Seifer leaned against the wall beside the window and glanced into the living room to make sure Squall was still out of sight. “Well I'm sure we can brainstorm a few ideas here.”

 

“Give me a few minutes and I'll be right there,” the mature woman suggested, knowing the ex-knight had returned to the commander's apartment after leaving the infirmary with a prematurely discharged patient.

 

“No, we can talk like this. I just put our baby down for the night and I don't want to wake him.” There was silence for a moment, but Seifer heard stifled laughing in the background.

 

“Don't let Squall hear you talking like that, he's liable to run you through,” Quistis said with mirth. There was only one person in the entire world who ever talked about Squall in such a carefree manner. She hadn't heard such comments since before the war, it was oddly refreshing.

 

“Our baby thinks the missile was from Esthar and now Fenrir is dead. I'm no expert, but I'd say something is going on,” Seifer said solemnly.

 

“You have no idea,” Quistis replied, sighing heavily.

 

TBC… 0_o