Once Again

Once Again

Chapter Twenty-Four

‘Aftermath’

Quistis quickly stepped into the doctor's office and, hearing the doctor conversing with a patient in a room some distance away down the hallway, she entered the clinic room Squall was occupying. She immediately perceived he was sleeping and felt slightly guilty awakening him, after all he had been through. She realized she only had until Rinoa was finished tending to the slightly hysterical Akane to speak to Squall in privacy, because Rinoa would certainly come directly to the clinic.

Quistis quietly approached the bed and gently touched Squall's shoulder. "Squall," she spoke softly.

Squall's eyes flew open and, after a second of disorientation, he distinguished Quistis and offered a halfway smile. "Hey Quisty."

"I'm sorry to bother you," she began, "but I can't rest, until I talk with you."

"What's wrong?" he wondered.

Quistis flushed slightly and admitted, "This is very difficult for me. I want to talk about what happened in the prison."

"Quistis, don't!" Squall pleaded. "Just let it go."

Quistis angrily stamped her foot. "No, Squall! We can't just let it go. If we do, it will color our relationship for the rest of our lives. Every time we see each other, we'll think of it. I don't know about you, but I'm unhappy with that. I need our friendship back."

Squall responded softly, "I'm still your friend, Quisty."

"Fine," she replied. "But until I talk this out, I don't know if I'm yours. When I first returned to the Garden from the prison, I was very angry at you. I blamed you for what happened to me."

"I do, too," Squall confessed.

"Well, that's wrong!" Quistis declared. "The person I should have been angry with was Mamoru, not you - but anger was not the real issue."

Perceiving the momentary puzzlement appearing on Squall's face, Quistis elaborated, "I was using anger to hide my true feelings from myself. I wasn't angry at you or anyone else, I was embarrassed."

Again Squall attempted to sabotage Quistis by appealing, "You don't have to do this; it doesn't matter to me."

Quistis silenced Squall by replying, "It matters to me. I initially thought I was embarrassed, because you had seen me naked, but that wasn't it. You can see me naked any time you wish, you only have to ask."

"Quistis," Squall protested, blushing deeply.

Quistis explained, "I was embarrassed, because I was publicly humiliated by being stripped stark naked by strangers and you were there to witness it. I just wanted the entire situation to disappear and it wouldn't - not until I allow it to."

Quistis drew a deep breath and declared, "There I said it, and I do feel better. Now it's your turn."

Squall began to shake his head and Quistis responded, "You do know Rinoa will be here anytime and I'm not leaving the room, until you talk to me. This could get very sticky," she threatened.

"Okay," Squall surrendered. "I felt totally inadequate, because I wasn't able to protect you, and." Squall paused for a long second and then spoke in a rush, "I feel horribly guilty that I didn't speak, when you called out to me and, yet, at the same time, I realized I acted in the proper manner to keep us both alive."

"Of course you did," Quistis agreed.

Squall fell silent and then finally glanced away from the intent gaze of Quistis. Perceiving Squall had more to relate and hearing the doctor moving down the hallway and someone entering the clinic, Quistis implored, "We haven't much time. Just say it."

"The thing is," he began. "Squall," Quistis interrupted, "It doesn't count, if you're not looking at me."

Squall looked up at Quistis's, now sympathetic, face and confessed, "I'm ashamed, because despite the horror of the situation and the uncertainty of whether we were going to live or die at any minute, underneath it all I really enjoyed seeing you naked."

"Oh, Squall," Quistis responded. "I should hope so. You're only human after all, aren't you?"

Quistis heard the sound of Rinoa's voice speaking to the doctor in the office and she leaned down and gave Squall a quick hug saying, "Thank you so much for everything." And she quickly left the clinic room.

Stepping into the clinic, Rinoa recognized the doctor strolling into her office from the hallway leading to the patient rooms.

"How's he doing?" Rinoa asked breathlessly.

"He's doing fine," Doctor Kadowaki reassured her. "I'm going to keep him for another hour just to be on the safe side, but you should be able to come get him then."

"Thank Hyne," Rinoa whispered and turned to enter the hallway leading to his room.

"How's Akane holding up?" asked the doctor.

Turning back to the doctor, Rinoa answered, "As well as can be expected with everything she has been through. She's had one hell of a twenty-four hours, pardon my Galbadian."

Rinoa continued, "She's sleeping in my bed right now, the poor thing."

"I'll try to check in on her later, if I get the opportunity," the doctor volunteered.

"Thanks, I'd really appreciate it."

As Rinoa stepped into the hallway, she was surprised to observe Quistis leaving Squall's room. Quistis silently nodded at Rinoa and moved quickly around her and out of the clinic. Entering Squall's room, Rinoa was not surprised to see Squall laying flat on his back appearing totally bored. Leaning down, she embraced him in a big hug and noticed he winced. Stepping back quickly, she asked, "Are you still in pain?"

"No, just a little sore," Squall admitted, "When am I getting outta here?"

"The doctor said in about an hour," Rinoa explained. "What did Quistis want?"

Squall flushed and, glancing away, answered, "She just wanted to talk for a minute."

Rinoa immediately perceived, knowing Squall as well as she did, that he was lying and thought, ‘I'll worm this out of him later.’

Rinoa smiled and asked, "What do you think about us becoming parents?"

Squall suddenly sat bolt upright appearing completely panic stricken. "What are you talking about?! Are you - you know?"

"No, silly. I'm talking about Akane, although someday naturally I would love us to have a child together."

With a ghastly parody of a grin appearing on his face, Squall spoke, "Yes me too, many somedays from now."

"Oh you!" Rinoa responded, offering him her most wondrous smile.

"Did you hear?" Rinoa asked excitedly, "Xu returned to her room from the clinic a couple of days ago."

"Yeah, so?" Squall commented, totally disinterested.

"My father is still living there with her! He and Xu are a ‘couple’!"

This surprising statement managed to pique Squall's interest. "How do you feel about the possibility of having Xu as a step-mother?"

"I think it's wonderful and I'm so happy for my father. He's been so lonely, since my mother died so many years ago."

"This could mean Xu could become the ‘First Lady’ of Galbadia," Squall speculated.

Suddenly Seifer appeared looming in the doorway. "Squall," he said.

Squall responded, "Seifer," and nodded at him. Seifer nodded back and left the room as quickly as he had appeared.

Rinoa shook her head silently, completely perplexed at that interaction or rather lack of.

......

General Caraway, clad only in a short striped bathrobe, stepped back into Xu's room from the corridor. "Where have you been?" Xu asked from behind the door of her private bathroom. Rank does have its privileges.

"I just spoke with Rinoa out in the hall and informed her about us," he answered.

Xu opened the bathroom door and hobbled into the room on her crutches. She was completely nude except for the leg cast she was still forced to wear. Her huge breasts swayed as she made her way to where General Caraway was standing. "Oh Dark Bahamut!" Xu exclaimed, "What did she say?"

The General bestowed a large smile on Xu and responded, "She appeared to be delighted for both of us."

"Oh, thank Hyne," Xu sighed. "I've been so worried about what she was going to think and whether she was going to be able to accept me in a new role."

"What's not to accept?" murmured General Caraway as he reached out and gently pulled Xu to him. Balanced on her crutches, she reached down and pulled open the sash of his bathrobe liberating his straining erection. "I do love you so," she cried passionately.

......

As Seifer strode down the corridor from the infirmary following his ‘conversation’ with Squall, he was pleasantly surprised to observe Mishima quickly approaching him on her way to check on Squall's condition.

Treading up to him, she paused and greeted, "Seifer, you've been busy while I was gone. You know, you've always rocked my world, but you were always such a screw-up I could never tell you. And now you've gone and become a SeeD," Mishima continued, while leaning forward and rubbing his uniform shirt with her right hand.

"You've been busy yourself," Seifer responded, while cupping Mishima's right breast through her flimsy mid-riff white blouse with his left hand.

"Maybe we should take this to a less public place," Mishima suggested in a husky voice.

After walking silently together to his dorm room, Seifer unlocked the door and the two of them stepped inside. Seifer turned to close the door and lock it and, when he turned back, he was startled to observe Mishima slipping her suspenders off her shoulders and pulling her mid-riff white blouse over her enormous, beautifully shaped breasts and then over her head and off her body.

Seifer stood completely transfixed as Mishima lay her blouse on the floor and then pushed her extremely, short, black skirt down to her feet. She then stepped out of her sheer panties and stood nakedly before him clad only in her shoes.

"Oh, Hyperion. You're so beautiful," Seifer murmured.

Mishima blushed prettily and lowered herself to her knees in front of Seifer. She reached up and unbuckled his belt and pulled his uniform trousers down to the floor. Seifer never wore any underwear. Remaining on her knees, Mishima began to kiss him everywhere she could reach, and finally began to suckle his burgeoning erection.

"Oh, Great Hyne!" Seifer exclaimed.

......

Later in the evening, Kasumi and Shinji were talking in his dormitory room. He lay in his bed with the sheets pulled up to his chin and Kasumi was standing on the floor beside him.

"You'd better go, Kasumi," Shinji cautioned. "It's getting late."

"Not until I check your bandages," Kasumi insisted.

"They're fine," Shinji protested, flushing heavily.

"What's with you this evening?" Kasumi wondered. "You've been acting weird since I got back from Deiling City," Kasumi accused and she suddenly reached down and pulled the sheets completely off the startled Shinji.

Shinji lay completely naked except for the bandages wrapped around his chest. "Oh, I get it now," Kasumi said, while leaning over and gently unwrapping his bandages to check his stitches for any leakage. "You've been ‘busy’ with yourself when I was gone," she giggled. "I hope it was me you were fantasizing about."

Rewrapping his bandages, Kasumi said, "They look fine, but what's this thing?" Kasumi gently brushed her hand on his suddenly extended protuberance.

Shinji audibly gasped, when Kasumi removed her uniform blouse and skirt and stood stark naked before him.

"Kasumi!" Shinji exclaimed. "You weren't wearing anything under your uniform."

"A good SeeD has to be ready for any contingency" Kasumi intoned while climbing up on top of Shinji. Lowering herself on to him, she murmured, "Oh, it's so good to be back in the saddle again."

......

After dutifully retrieving Squall from the clinic at the appointed time, Rinoa helped him back to his room in the men's dormitory. After they entered the room, Squall sat heavily on his bed in preparation of immediately laying down.

"Oh no, you don't," Rinoa protested, "You're not going to sleep in that torn up clothing." And she began to strip off his jacket before Squall could lodge a complaint. Tossing his jacket into the corner of the room, she commented, "You're going to have to get a new jacket. That one is totally ruined."

"I was planning on having you sew it," Squall retorted with a grin.

Continuing to undress him by removing his badly shredded shirt, Rinoa replied, "Is ‘that’ all you think I'm good for?"

Presently bare-chested, Squall answered, "That among other things."

"Like what?" Rinoa responded and then ordered him to stand up. Regaining his feet, Squall stood while Rinoa proceeded to remove his badly damaged pants. Squall stood clad incongruously in his blood stained jockey-shorts and heavy boots.

"Oh, I don't know. I'll probably think of something," he replied.

"Rinoa, don't!" Squall protested as she suddenly yanked his partially shredded underwear completely off his body.

"You're not wearing this bloody thing to bed," Rinoa explained, while throwing the jockey-shorts over with his ruined jacket.

"Sukooru," Rinoa spoke, using her pet name for Squall. "What did Quistis want?" Rinoa questioned and when Squall remained silent, she suddenly dropped to her knees and began to expertly apply her mouth to his lengthening penis.

"Oh Rinoa!" Squall exclaimed, a few minutes later.

A few moments later, a fully dressed Rinoa lay cuddled beside a totally nude Squall in his narrow dormitory bed while he related to her the events, which occurred when he and Quistis were imprisoned in the D-District Prison and the present aftermath of Quistis's feelings concerning this. When he had finished his recounting, Rinoa replied "Oh, the poor thing. No wonder she's been acting so strangely."

"Strangely?" Squall echoed, "What are you talking about?"

"Oh, Squall," Rinoa accused, "Sometimes I think the only thing you notice is yourself!"

Flushing at the implied criticism, Squall retorted, "Well, I have the wherewithal to notice that I'm laying in my bed nude with a beautiful woman!"

Squall leaned over and began to kiss Rinoa, gently at first and then more passionately as he thrust his tongue into her mouth while reaching down and removing her black shorts. Rinoa began to return his kisses in earnest while pulling him to her in a close embrace, while he grasped her underwear pulling it off as well.

As Squall and Rinoa continued to passionately kiss while twisting and turning the entire time on Squall's narrow bed, Squall managed to, with the touch of an expert, remove Rinoa's shirt and bra, leaving her only wearing her extremely short blue skirt. As Rinoa continued to hold Squall close to her, he felt her hardened nipples poking into his bare chest and she felt something hard stabbing her in the lower belly.

Suddenly breaking contact with Rinoa's mouth, Squall pulled himself up to his knees with his erection sticking out in front of him and as he gazed down upon Rinoa's beautiful face, and her fulsome breasts and her extremely narrow waist above her beautiful brunette pubic haired vagina and her long exquisitely sculpted legs Squall realized once again why he allowed himself to be manipulated into every one of her harebrained schemes.

"You are so beautiful," Squall murmured while leaning over Rinoa.

"Oh, Squall! I love you so much!" Rinoa cried and drew him close again to her body.

......

Quistis, with Kazuya standing slightly behind her, knocked upon the door of Melissa Jenkins. Opening the door, Melissa stood stiffly recognizing Quistis and spoke flatly without a hint of emotion, "Quistis."

"I would like you to meet Kazuya," Quistis introduced, as he quickly stepped past her and into the room.

When Melissa spun around to angrily protest his uninvited intrusion into her room, Quistis followed him closing the door. After quickly bending over and removing her long brown boots, Quistis then straightened up and pulled off her brown gloves and long, detachable sleeves.

Watching as Kazuya began to relieve the stunned Melissa of her long cotton nightgown, Quistis explained, "I like all my friends to become acquainted with each other." And she pulled the zipper down on her orange blouse allowing it to fall to the floor exposing her abundant breasts and then unfastened her long skirt and removed it, leaving her standing totally naked.

Kazuya finished pulling Melissa's long nightgown over her head and completely off her body. Melissa stood with tears in her eyes, her long beautiful blonde hair falling to her shoulders, her copious breasts heaving with excitement and her blonde haired genital region opened in invitation as Kazuya removed his uniform shirt and trousers and, after kicking off his slippers, he stood as naked as on the day he was born.

As Kazuya quickly stepped around behind Melissa gripping her by the waist with his two large hands and pulling her to him while kissing her gently with the touch of a velvet glove all down her back, Quistis stepped forward and began to passionately kiss Melissa again and again.

"Oh, Quistis," Melissa moaned with happiness.

......

As it was nearing midnight, Zell had finally reached a point of exhaustion where he thought he could immediately drop off to sleep. Just as he was stepping out of his red and blue striped boxer shorts in preparation of climbing into bed, he was amazed to observe his dormitory room door open and the pigtail girl step inside his room and close the door.

"Holy shit!" Zell blurted out, while attempting to hide his genital area with his cupped hands. The pigtail girl stepped forward and pulled his hands away revealing his substantial erection.

Blushing furiously, Zell responded "What are you doing, Na-?"

"I promised you a surprise when you returned from Deiling City," the pigtail girl interrupted. And she proceeded to quickly remove her uniform blouse and skirt and then stripped off her bra and panties and stood stark naked in front of the astonished Zell.

"Oh Shiva," he moaned.

Taking Zell by the hand, the pigtail girl led Zell to the bed while saying, "I figured if I waited for you to make a move, I'd die a virgin."

"Oh Shiva," Zell moaned again. The pigtail girl giggled.

......

Selphie lay tossing and turning in her narrow bed for well over an hour, but was unable to find any solace in sleep from her feelings. In frustration she finally gave up and sat on the side of her bed.

Glancing over in the dim light at the figure of Akane, who was soundly sleeping in Rinoa's bed, Selphie thought, ‘Just like that wanton Rinoa to run off and spend the night with Squall doing Hyne knows what perversion and leaving me this child to take care of.’

Selphie had enough insight into herself to realize her current mean spiritness was coming from feelings of immense disquietude, which she had been unable to fathom. She suddenly decided she needed to talk to someone about her feelings.

Selphie arose from the side of the bed and crossed to her closet. She pulled out a robe and slipped it around her bare body making sure to conceal her private body parts by tying the sash tightly and then exited the room. Selphie had decided to search for Irvine and she strode with purpose in her bare feet down the women's corridor to the door that led to the men's dormitory.

......

Ellone also found herself unable to sleep and realizing that Laguna was known to be an inveterate insomniac himself, she decided to go and search for him. Dressing quietly so as to not awaken the female upper-classman that she was temporarily bunking with, she then let herself out of the room.

Ellone strode along the rotunda peering down the different corridors as she moved along, but only occasionally saw a random SeeD or upper-classman that was assigned midnight shift duty. Finally giving up in her hope of finding Laguna, she wandered down the halls aimlessly until she happened to find herself in front of Squall's room.

Wondering if he could possibly still be awake, she knocked gently upon the door. When she heard nothing from within the room, on a whim she attempted to turn the doorknob and was surprised to discover it unlocked. Stepping quietly into the room, Ellone was startled to observe the beautiful nude bodies of Squall and Rinoa sleeping intertwined with each other on Squall's bed.

‘Well, he certainly has changed. A year ago he hadn't even kissed a girl,’ Ellone thought to herself while exiting the room, closing the door behind her and heading back to her room.

......

On the following morning, Akane was speaking to Irvine, Selphie and the pigtail girl at the cafeteria table, where they just had finished eating their breakfast. "My mother was taking care of me, when my papa was at the Garden. And then she suddenly died from Trabia Fever and he decided he needed to disappear to take care of me. I guess he felt he wouldn't be welcomed at the Garden with a four year old child but, seeing the way it is here, I think he was mistaken."

As Selphie nodded her head in agreement of what Akane was saying from across the table, Akane continued, "Something bad happened to papa when my mother died. He became cold and distant and was totally aloof from me, unless it involved his teaching me how to use magic or martial arts training. That's practically the only time I saw him after my mother died. Of course, he always hired me the best tutors, but I grew up alone. I had no friends...you all are the first friends I've ever had."

As the pigtail girl wiped some some tears from her eyes, Selphie leaned across the table and offered Akane a big hug.

Always the one to be uncomfortable with any real emotion and realizing Akane was wearing a new upper-classman uniform, Irvine changed the subject by asking, "Where's your new outfit?"

Akane grinned across the table at him. "I retired that, Uncle Irvine."

‘Aw, hell,’ thought Irvine.

"Where's Rinoa?" Akane asked. "She didn't come back to the room last night."

"Uh," Irvine stammered, hard pressed to arrive at an appropriate response, as Selphie maliciously grinned at him. "There she is now," Irvine exclaimed, immediately grateful for the serendipitous arrival of Rinoa in the cafeteria.

Rinoa, dressed only in her slinky, short, yellow dress and yellow high heels, strutted toward their table. "Hi Rinoa!" Akane shouted out. Rinoa responded lovingly, "Good morning, Akane. It's great to see you out and about."

Irvine questioned, "What's going on, Rinoa? Why are you all dressed up?"

"I have an appointment with Cid in a couple of minutes" she explained. "I just stopped by to say hi."

As Rinoa was leaving, she suggested, "Meet me in front of the elevators on the first floor in a few minutes. I should be free by then."

After Rinoa had exited the cafeteria, Selphie asked the pigtail girl "Where's Zell this morning?"

The pigtail girl giggled and explained, "Zell was up extremely late in bed last night."

‘Oh Great Hyne!’ Selphie thought, ‘Her too! - I must be the last holdout.’

Selphie suddenly announced, "Guess what everybody? Irvine and I are getting married."

As the pigtail girl and Akane sat rooted in dumbfounded silence, Irvine protested, "Aw, Sefie. I just asked you to marry me. I didn't say when."

The pigtail girl finally managed to respond, "That's wonderful! Congratulations to the both of you."

Selphie answered, "Thank you uh - I'm sorry, what is your name again?"

The pigtail girl angrily blurted out, "My name is Nabiki! I think it's a very pretty name. What's so difficult about remembering it?"

Selphie was completely taken aback and, before she could respond in any manner, Irvine, hoping to defuse the situation, suggested, "We need to leave, you all. They're waiting to clean our table."

When Nabiki, Selphie, Irvine and Akane were arriving in front of the first floor elevators, they noticed Squall, Ellone, and Laguna ambling toward them.

Nabiki, stepping forward, spoke in an awe filled voice, "What a thrill this is to meet you, President Loire. My name is Nabiki," she continued, while holding out her right hand.

Laguna shook it and replied, "Honored, I'm sure, but please call me Laguna."

Glancing at the rest of the group, Laguna explained, while resting his right hand on Squall's shoulder, "I was just telling my son and Ellone that Galbadia has sued for peace. I have asked for no reparations - just that they vacate the territories they have overrun. They appear to be anxiously awaiting General Caraway's return to take over the reins of their government."

Squall commented with a slight grin, "They may have to wait a little while longer. I have a feeling he's a bit preoccupied."

Just then the elevator opened, and Rinoa came strutting down the staircase toward them. "Guess what, everybody?" she exclaimed. "Cid just made me an instructor! Isn't he just a sweetheart?"

"Oh Great Fiery Balls of Ifrit!" Selphie retorted.

The End?