A Sorceress' Knight

an FF8 fanfiction by Ayame-chan

DISCLAIMER: As always, FF8 does not belong to me. I just only own the plot ^^;;

Chapter One - Memories

He sat there against the window sill, forcing himself to not pay mind to the whispers and murmurs around him. Dressed in cadet uniform that violated almost every single dress code in the book -- navy blue blazer unzipped, white shirt untucked, no belt, navy blue pants that barely fit his form for they were made for someone a size larger -- his emerald eyes concentrated on the rain drops that hit the window and made its trail down to its resting place far beneath him. A scowl marked his young face, letting everyone in the classroom know to leave him alone. He knew what they were talking about; he would have been in the center of the room, joining in on their gossip mill and perhaps starting it all had it not been for his involvement in the whole affair.

The door slid open and all heads turned to their intruder. She was dressed just like them in a navy blue blazer zipped up all the way and a long, navy blue skirt that fell just above her ankles. Her midnight hair that fell just above her waist separated just enough for her dark eyes to meet the rest of them. Then she looked down and let her hair cover her oval, porcelain pale face and began to head towards her desk. The students in the classroom once again erupted in noise and gossip, talking loudly enough for her to hear.

He watched her. He watched her bravely make her way through the accusations and lies without so much of a sound.

"I can't believe she actually came today."

"Yeah, no kidding. Why isn't the headmaster doing anything?"

"It's because she's 'special'. Did you know that she took a completely different magic class than the rest of us?"

"Oh yeah, I heard about that! Instructor Weiss was her tutor, right?"

"I heard he was killed without even touching her! Isn't that weird?"

"Well, she doesn't like looking at the ocean...you think that could be part of it?"

He gritted his teeth in anger. They had no IDEA what happened last night. Getting off from his seating place at the window, the young blond strode over to her where she was quietly sitting with head bent down and listening to their words. She might have looked as if the words unfazed her, but he knew better. He knew that underneath that mass of hair that separated her from the rest of the world, she was crying.

Sliding on top of the unoccupied desk next to her, the blond slammed a fist down on the metal surface, causing her to look up and the rest to be silent. After all, nobody except for a certain ice blue eyed, brown haired boy would dare to challenge Seifer Almasy.

He glared at the rest of the room before he turned back to her startled form with a soft smile on his face.

"Morning, Sayako," Seifer greeted her. "You feeling better?"

She looked at him as if trying to understand his words before returning his smile with one of her own, although he could tell it was forced.

"O-ohayou gozaimasu, Seifer," she managed to say, mixing in her Esthari with her English without realizing. Her voice was soft as it always was, but he could hear a hint of a crack of sadness in it.

It was hard for him to watch her as she was trying her hardest not to cry.

"Is...is your head all right?" she continued on as if it was nothing, furiously blinking back tears. "You...you hit that edge really hard, so I was worried..."

He watched her body lose to the battle of her tears, but she continued to smile through them.

"But...it looks like it's all healed now, thank goodness..."

Without even thinking, he wrapped an arm around her, pulling her closer to him. She stiffened at his touch but slowly loosened up and buried her head into his chest and cried. The room continued to silently watch them as the scene unfolded, but he didn't care.

For right now, at this moment, all he could think of was to protect her from everyone in that room who was against her, including the shadow in the room who watched them...

He awoke with a start, lungs gasping for air. Seifer glanced at the digital clock on the nightstand next to him. Its red numbers blared back 4 AM. With a frustrated sigh, he fell back on the bed with a hand to cover his eyes. Not that he needed it since the small, dingy bedroom of the apartment he, Raijin and Fujin rented was already dark enough -- especially at this time of morning. But he needed some time to reflect and calm himself down.

It had been years since he had these dreams, no, these memories. They used to torture him for months without stopping. Nobody could help him, and nothing he was given worked to rid of them. All he could do was wonder about the what-ifs, what could have beens. Then Ultimecia came to him and promised to take those memories away in exchange for his loyalty to her until she was killed. Then the memories came coming back to him like a storm as if sending him a message to return to her somehow.

They had been together for as long as he could remember, but he didn't really know her until that fateful day three years ago. It changed everything for him.

It began his dream to become the perfect knight.

"Sayako Nakamura," he murmured in the darkness.

Being the ignorant sixteen year old he was then, Seifer had absolutely no idea what he had gotten himself into and neither did she. At first, after the death of Instructor Weiss, Seifer took on the role as her bodyguard. She was, after all, Fujin's cousin though the two looked completely different from each other. Since he was acquainted with the silent, silver-haired woman, he figured that he should get to know Sayako more as well. Her powers were what interested him at first, then her personality, then more.

She became his first and perhaps his only.

It just happened, he guessed. The more he spent time with her, the more he discovered what an interesting person she was. She accepted him more than he could accept himself, especially after he failed the SeeD examination for the first time. When he couldn't turn to anybody else, he turned to her, and she was fine with that. Something clicked inside both of them when they were together, and those times together were perhaps the only times he actually felt relaxed. Nobody, not even when he was with Rinoa for that short period of time, could get him back into that state except her.

Then one day, her brother arrived to take her away.

Sayako...

The young woman looked up from the script she was reading, looking around the room for the source of the voice. Her long, midnight hair was a stark contrast to the pale blue turtleneck and white long skirt she wore, her feet clad only in slippers. The only source of light came from her desk lamp at this time of day.

"Must be hearing things," she murmured and looked back at the script in her hands.

Even if she technically didn't have a role in the play, she was determined to be the back-up for the main character, so she needed to get this memorized.

---Why must I be revived if I am truly not alive? I cannot go outside for fear of the sun nor can I talk to anyone but to the beings who gave me a second chance.

---But I want to see him; I want to hear his voice. I want to melt into his arms and say that everything is all right. I want to tell him that I'm here, I'm here. I will never leave you again.

---I'll be waiting for you, my knight. So please...find me as fast as you can.

---I need you.