Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Legend of the Final Materia ❯ Chapter 28

Chapter 28

The next day Shukera woke up right before day break. Slowly she climbed out of bed and stretched. She felt tired as if the world was on her shoulders, so she decided to take a shower. After her shower, she dressed for the class. When she was done, she gazed at herself in the mirror. The confusion and frustration were beginning to take its toll on her. She decided to use make up under here eyes to hide the evidence. The last thing she wanted was anyone to see the stress on her face, especially Sephiroth. When she was done, she replied, "Time to see what this place is made of."

Shukera pulled her hair back in a braid and was bounding it with a rubber hair tie when she heard a knock on the door, which was followed by, "You hooo, Shukera!!" Shukera laughed and walked to the door as she thought, "That could only be one person." She opened the door to find Selphie standing there with a wide grin splashed across her face. It was a relief to see Selphie in her usual cheerful mood. She stepped aside and let her in.

"Hello! How are you??" Selphie bounced around excitedly. "I heard a rumor about you standing up to Seifer! I don't even have to ask if it's true! I wish I was there to see you let him have it!"

Shukera shook her head amazed at how fast that spread around. "I guess news travels fast here."

Selphie giggled as she looked at Shukera, "When it's good news, yeah!! So are you ready for class?? I sooo can't wait to see what's going to happen with Quistis today!!"

Shukera chuckled, "Yeah, I'm ready, but I'm waiting for Raijin. He's supposed to meet me and show me to the class." By the widened grin on Selphie's face, she knew there was more to come. "Ok, what is it??"

Selphie could hardly contain herself. She laughed as she replied excitedly, "That's the other rumor I heard!! Everyone thinks you are Raijin are a couple." She walked closer to Shukera and raised her eyebrows, "And there are four people who are not happy about it, to say the least."

Curiosity got the best of her. Shukera asked, "Who's upset??"

Selphie grinned, happy to be giving Shukera the news. "Seifer, big surprise there. Sephiroth and Quistis."

Shukera looked up at her surprise, "Quistis??" Then she grinned, "Of course, Sephiroth. He has no right to be upset!! Stupid bastard!!" She walked to the opposite side of the room and stared at the wall for a moment. "Good, let them think what they want." She turned to face Selphie. "Might be a good way to force someone to show their true feelings."

Selphie looked down at the floor for a moment, "Maybe…she is showing her true feelings." Within seconds she was happy again, "But we can always try to make her come to her senses and leave Seifer alone! He deserves it!!"

Shukera smiled, "Yeah, he does have it coming to him!"

Ten minutes later Raijin knocked on Shukera's door. Selphie teased Shukera as she walked to open the door, giving Selphie a look of embarrassment. "It's not what you think." She let him in. "Hey!"

Raijin waved as he entered, "Hey! Long time no see, ya know." Shukera laughed, "Right." He laughed, "You know, that little scuffle you had with Seifer…" Shukera nodded, "Yeah, Selphie told me, everyone is talking about it." Raijin faced Selphie with his hands on his hips. "You should have been there, ya know! I thought they were going to kill each other, ya know."

Before Selphie could reply, there was another knock on Shukera's door. Raijin shouted, "Grand Central Station, ya know!" He opened the door to see who it was to find Squall and Rinoa staring back at him knowingly. "Yeah, yeah, we heard it all, ya know."

Squall ignored his comment as Rinoa giggled slightly. He shook his head and became serious. "Quistis requested that you have a pretest later on today about mid class. She wants to see what level you are on."

Rinoa laughed and clasped her hands in front of her. "Squall, he's so serious all the time. We are going to class now if you want to go with us." Squall shook his head slightly red faced. Rinoa slipped her arm through his and they walked out the door.

Selphie giggled. "They are so funny!" She grabbed Shukera's arm and began pulling her out the room. "Come on, let's go!" She looked back at Raijin when Selphie tugged her along. He laughed as he followed behind them.

Down the hall a ways they ran into Irvine. He snickered when he spotted Shukera and Raijin together. "So I take it that you have heard the rumor going around?? I tell ya, people can be so trivial around here!"

Selphie elbowed him and laughed, "Look who's talking!! You probably started that rumor!!"

Irvine grinned almost innocently, "Who me?? Why would I do something like that??"

Selphie shook her head and laughed, "I should have known!!"

Raijin laughed, "It's alright, ya know. Let them think what they want, ya know. Might be a good way to make a certain person come to their senses."

Selphie giggled even more, "Hey! That's what Shukera said! You two are made for each other!"

Shukera blushed as she gently squeezed Raijin's shoulder. "Nah, I just know what's important to him."

Rinoa snickered a bit, "I think we all do!" She winked at Selphie who started giggling right away. Raijin turned a deeper shade of red as he scratched the back of his head. The expression on Raijin's face made Shukera start laughing. Despite of the laughter she was sharing with them, Shukera's heart still weighed heavy with concern about Shin Ra destroying this place.

Together they walked to the classroom. Shukera, in a way, couldn't wait to start the classes. It was a good way to get a feel of what they were capable of. She wanted to see where they stood when it came to battle tactics. With this in mind, she entered the classroom.

Tables scattered about in neat rows, all which of course, faced the front of the room. Each desk station had a computer monitor on it. The students sat talking quietly amongst themselves. When Shukera entered the room, they paused and looked up at her. Some of them snickered slightly when Raijin stood up behind her. They traded a glance before Raijin led her to his seat. She sat down next to him.

Quistis looked up and grinned, "I'm sorry Shukera, but Seifer is your training partner. You have to sit with him." Shukera showed no reaction as she quietly stood up and walked to the back of the room where Seifer sat. She took her seat next to him and faced the front of the room without even looking at him.

Fujin stood up from her seat and moved up next to Raijin. Selphie and Rinoa traded a nervous glance as they wondered what Quistis was up to. Squall took note of it, but said nothing at the moment. After the seating shuffle, Quistis began the class.

Quistis tried to embarrass Shukera any way she could, but no matter what Shukera was asked, she had an answer for it. Usually, a really good answer as well. She did very well on the pretest and was placed in the advance class. From that point on, every test she was given, she scored high on it. To Shukera the tests were pointless. There was no way to measure someone's combat skills outside of physically fighting face to face. These tests were nothing more than a waste of time. She made a point of letting Quistis know how she felt about them as well, which didn't go over too big with Quistis.

Seifer smiled to himself as he remembered what he told Quistis about trying to fail her. "You will not be able to fail Shukera. She may be a cold-hearted bitch, but she knows quite a bit about battle tactics and maneuvers. Come on, this is their top fighter we are talking about here, not to mention she was once the commander of Soldier. I'm sure she didn't get there just be reading the study manuals. She may even be able to teach you a few things." The look on Quistis' face was priceless. She turned beet red with anger after he told her that.

During break time, Shukera met Selphie in the hallway. She grinned as she approached Selphie. "That's alright; I can play her game too. That is, if I can stay awake long enough. She puts me to sleep!!"

Raijin joined them as he shook his head. "I don't know what she's doing, but there is no such rule about sitting with your training partner, ya know."

Shukera grinned, "It's alright. But I did notice who was sitting next to you." He looked at Shukera a bit surprised. "You've been around Selphie too long, ya know." They started laughing as they entered the room after break.