SBQ: You can find replies to the reviews of Chapter 2 in my bio. Sorry about the long wait. It's just that I've had so many coursework's to hand in.
Squall: (Still moaning) I'm so….
Seifer: Sexy.
Squall: Yeah…but I was going to say weird.
Reflex
His mind was continuously pondering on how he had managed to get himself into the position. His jaw was tightly locked, while his eyes focused in on his environment. The habitant was familiar to him except for the lack of privacy, of course. He was privileged to have his own indoor court at home. However, this court felt strange to him. It had a distinct smell of polished wood mixed with human sweat. Squeaks from the trainer's of the players currently residing on the court, could be heard echoing throughout the court.
Memories flooded back into the young brunettes mind. There was mixture of good and bad memories but strangely at that present time, it seemed that the good ones were prevailing over the bad ones. There was one particular memory that was more distinct than any other.
"Daddy, will I able be to fly like you one day?" a three-year-old Squall asked. The innocent curiosity sparkled through his lucid blue eyes.
Laguna couldn't help but to let out a little chuckle. "Your unbelievably adorable, Squall. Do you know that?" The older brunette then ran his right hand through the silky locks of his son.
Laguna was wearing his sky blue basketball uniform with white rims on the sides and the number '1' imprinted on the front and back of the vest. The word "LOIRE" was written on the back and the words "Balamb T-Rexaurs" written on the front with a picture of T-Rexaur in the centre of those words.
Squall happened to wearing the same outfit except "LEONHEART-LOIRE" was written on the back and instead of the number "1" imprinted on the vest, the number "2" was there.
"I know. Mommy always tells me that," Squall's big eyes drooped down to the ground for a moment and then they suddenly were boldly looking into Laguna's eyes. "You didn't answer my question!"
"Squall, no one can fly," Laguna tried to inform his son until he noticed the little brunette's eyes start to water up at his answer. "Oh, Squally," he sighed as he knelt down towards him.
"I'm going to fly," Squall rubbed his eyes trying to wipe away the downpour of tears that emerged.
"I'm sure you will," Laguna smiled. He then planted a soft kiss on the little boy's forehead. "Forget what daddy said. Daddy's a big dog with a little brain."
Those words seemed to comfort the child, as a devilish smile appeared on his lips. "You smell like one too." This caused the younger brunette to fall into a fit of giggles.
"What?" Laguna exclaimed at this statement.
"Mommy says you do," Squall continued to giggle as he glanced over at his mother who was seated on the stalls smiling.
"She did?" Laguna raised his left eyebrow wickedly in Raine's direction. Squall nodded immediately. "Well, I do work out everyday so I guess I shouldn't be surprised."
Laguna then realised his son had no idea what he was talking about as the little brunette expressed a confused look. He then picked up one the basketballs that were spread across the floor. "I know, Squally; let's play, throwing the ball into that hoop up there."
Squall instantly looked up to the whereabouts of the hoop and responded with a gasp. His dad was always trying to get him to throw the ball into the hoop, that hoop was so high up.
"Daddy, we always play that game and when we do play it, I can never get the ball to go into the hoop."
"But Squall the more you play the more likely you'll get it in there." Laguna told him as he handed the smaller basketball over to his son.
Squall's facial expression showed signs of nervousness and his palms were sweating uncontrollably. His bottom lip quivered slightly as he took the ball from his father's hands.
"Watch daddy, Squall," Laguna instructed his son. He then gave an example as he picked another ball from the sides, which was bigger than the one Squall had. With simplicity, Laguna stretched his arms out foreword in perfect union whist raising his feet with his toes and threw the ball beautifully into the hole. The motion was exquisite and on the mark that no matter how many times Squall had seen this motion, his mouth would gape in amazement.
"Easy as that," Laguna stated as he ushered his son to do the same. Squall replied with a frown but still proceeded to his spot. He turned his head around to look at his father who was giving him a reassuring look. "Just relax, Squall."
Squall's knees started to tremble and when Laguna noticed this, he realised he had to intervene. "Look baby, don't worry about it. It's not the end of the world, okay."
The little boy nodded and smiled. Squall took a deep breath and closed his eye for a moment and with that, Squall threw the ball into the air. The motion was off the mark and the ball hit the right side of the net.
Squall stomped his little feet repeatedly on the spot and pouted. "I don't like this game."
"Oh," The older brunette winced. "You forced that, Squally."
"Huh?" the confused little boy scratched his head misplacing strands of his silky hair.
"You tried too hard, it's got to come out naturally, like a reflex," Laguna tried to explain.
"Na..Natrilly" Squall mispronounced the word "Naturally", as his father handed him another small basketball. "Okay."
The little brunette took in another deep breath and in the process he lifted himself up with his toes and stretched his arms out foreword and in one quick motion; the ball was out of hands. It sailed through the air and came down straight through the hoop with out touching any of the sides.
The little boy's eyes lit up dramatically as he turned to face his father who was already behind him, ready to scoop the boy into his arms. "I did it, daddy. Did you see? You saw, right? Wow!"
"Yes I saw," Laguna laughed as he raised his son to his face and planted a soft kiss on his son's left cheek. "Did you see that Raine? Our son's going to be just like his old man." With that Laguna twirled his son around in the air, as the little boy giggled away. "Squall, I really do believe that you're going to fly some day. I've got no doubt about it."
"Squall….Squall…" A voice spoke with a hint of concern. The chocolate haired youth raised his ice-blue eyes only to meet up with the intoxicating electric green eyes of Seifer Almasy. "Hey, where did you go?"
Squall just replied with a simple murmur. He didn't know why, but he knew he could have a conversation with Seifer that was if the two of them were on their own or if they were ignoring Zell's presence. But with the rest of the team there, who were eying him as they continued practising; he couldn't get out an audible sentence.
"Come on, I'll introduce you to the guys, you already know Zell so that's a plus," the golden haired youth waved his hand for him to follow him as he started to walk towards the court. Squall held his legs strictly on the spot, he could feel Zell's eye on him. Seifer turned around to find that Squall was not following him. "What's wrong?"
Seifer then noticed the tense structure of Squall's body, the blonde didn't understand as he swore he saw the brunette smiling earlier. "Umm…I'll let you hit the bench for a bit." Squall simply nodded and headed for the bench. Meanwhile Seifer went and had a word with the coach. The coach was tall and slightly chubby. He wore a white wife-beater and green army trousers with big brown boots and to finish of that look he had blue bandana wrapped around his head. Seifer than ran back to him.
"Coach Zabac said it's cool for you to hit the bench for a while but he says you've got to play today, eventually," the blonde told him. "I've got a lot of hope in you Squall."
Squall responded with a simple nod as he gaze went straight down to the floor. The blonde knitted his eyebrows at this response; something inside of Seifer indicated to him that there was something wrong with Squall. The brunette was withdrawing from him so rapidly when he had just felt that there was a connection between the two. Seifer believed that the two has a lot in common but right now, he felt very mistaken.
"I'll see you later on the court, right?" Seifer preceded the question with great caution. This time around, the brunette didn't make one sound. "I'll take that as a yes."
The tall green-eyed youth left Squall with great hesitation and made his way to the centre of the court.
The longhaired brunette eyed Seifer strangely. That smirk was cognisant to practically everyone on that court. "The Cowboy" as he was called was ready to pounce on the blonde but as usual he was making his move with his trademark style that nobody understood.
"Almasy, what is it with you and little lost puppies?" the cowboy grinned as they ran around the court together whilst the boys desperately strived to dunk the ball in their opposing hoops.
Coach Zabac or "Ward" as he liked to be known was renowned for his unorthodox approach in coaching. He liked the idea of his team practising one on one with each other, which presently Seifer and "the Cowboy" were engaging in.
"What's with you and that ridiculous hat, Irvine?" Seifer retorted as he emphasised the others name.
A disproving grunt was his response. "Your so called "wonder boy" hasn't even left the bench."
"He's just a little…shy," Seifer defended as he locked eyes with Zell who had been running back and forth off the court trying to coax Squall into actually joining in. He knew his answer was feeble one but he didn't know the real reason why Squall was refusing to play.
"You're just like the rest of your family, Almasy," Irvine grinned wickedly. "A bunch of wash ups."
The blonde's jaw was locked tightly, he knew if he retaliated it would just lead into another fist fight between Irvine and him and he couldn't risk that, at that moment especially with the team being in such a fragile state.
Irvine laughed in triumph. He had never gotten over the fact that Seifer was chosen to be the captain of the basketball team at not him. He had felt a great injustice had been served upon him. He never really dwelled into the reasons why Seifer was chosen rather than him because if he did he would have realised that Seifer was the better man.
The blonde was in a different league compared to "The Cowboy." His basketball skills were supreme; he had the right leadership qualities and he most of all, the blonde always put 100 into the game.
It was hard for the blonde to restrain himself from punching the living daylights out the longhaired brunette but somehow Seifer endured it. But then something happened.
A ball with tremendous speed came out of nowhere and hit Irvine in the stomach causing the longhaired brunette to cave onto the ground.
"Let's see what you're made of 'Cowboy,'" the voice was filled with so much rage, it was disturbing.
"Squall," Seifer whispered in shock. The brunette was different from all those previous times he had seen him. His eyes were cold and his lips were held in a wicked position.
Irvine choked and coughed rampantly as Seifer stood back surprised by Squall's sudden outburst of confidence and the fact Coach Ward wasn't doing anything to stop this.
"You're a waste of my breath," Irvine spat back.
"Didn't realise that I winded you," Squall replied with that malicious smile planted upon his face. "Come on. Don't keep me hanging." He then picked up the ball that caused Irvine so much grief and passed it to the taller brunette who had quickly recovered.
"Squall," Seifer cried out but Squall refused to hear his voice.
"You'll wish you were never born, short stuff," the longhaired brunette started to dribble the ball with a new air of confidence. It was good to have confidence but Irvine relished in it a little too much that he appeared rather narcissistic.
Irvine started to move with the ball dribbling, his attempts to show off, weren't impressing Squall, if anything they were just fuelling his anger.
"You'll regret this, shorty," Irvine smirked as he moved foreword ready to make his attack on the hoop.
"You are all talk, Cowboy. Let's cut a long story, short," With that Squall charged forward towards the boy and swiftly retrieved the ball from Irvine with no problem.
"You got lucky," Irvine said. "But there's no chance you'll get past me." He positioned himself in defence. Seifer watched on, his eyes glued to Squall as if he the brunette would disappear in that second.
Squall continued with his eerie smile, he then saw Zell in the left corner of his eye who was smiling right along with him. Zell was the only person who knew about his basketball talents and that strange bond that they had came alight. His eyes then briefly fell onto Seifer whose expression was unreadable to him.
'I better just shut him up' Squall thought as he dove in for his attack.
'What the hell is he doing, he's heading straight for Irvine,' Seifer pondered at Squall's choice of attack.
Squall continued straight on and then he did something strange he jumped in the air. This confused Irvine until he felt a foot stomp on his head and force him onto the ground. The boost of Irvine's head had allowed Squall to jump further. It almost looked like Squall was flying.
It was then what Squall did next that shocked Seifer. He spun around in the air so he was facing away from the hoop. He dunked the ball in and his hands simply held onto the hoop for a while before letting go. But what Seifer found strange was he swore he felt Squall's eye on him.
Squall landed on the ground gracefully, his attention then diverted to Irvine who was on the ground rubbing his head from the attack Squall had made on his head.
"How the hell did you do that?"" Raijin asked. He was another member of the team and Seifer's best friend.
There was short pause before the Squall decided to answer. "It's a reflex." They all watched him in amazement as he turned around and walked out of the building shortly followed by Zell.
"Seifer," a voice cried out. The blonde turned to see the coach walking towards him.
"Yes, Coach Ward" Seifer instantly replied.
"I want that boy on our team," Ward stated. "Any guy, who can shut Irvine up, has got to be someone special. It's strange but he reminds me of someone."
"Sure coach," Seifer answered without one single thought process running through his mind. The events that had just occurred had left Seifer baffled there were things that he started to notice about Squall. Little things, that no one else seemed to pick up. He was almost frightening in one sense and yet so alluring in another. Those pierce blue eyes were something that Seifer would have in his mind for the rest of that day.
'Stupid Irvine,' Squall scolded mentally. 'How dare he speak to Seifer in that way! Insignificant BRAT! I should have broken his legs.'
He then bashed his fist against the wall in fury. 'Poor Seifer, why didn't he defend himself to that FREAK.' He gritted his teeth in anguish. 'If that cowboy hurts Seifer in any way again… I'll make sure he wished he was never born.'
"I knew you had in you," a cheery Zell cried. "But man, I didn't expect dark Squall to come out."
Squall's mind started to recollect on what he had done. Seifer must have thought he was freak with that attitude he had shown.
"Man, what made you snap?" Zell asked grinning. "I mean it was kind of cool but scary. I mean, I am not complaining, it's nice to have someone shut Irvine up."
"I don't know," Squall murmured. He decided to let Zell to continue talking since that was what Zell was best at and it was great way to avoid the subject of what had just occurred.
"Irvine's always a jerk but he's particularly hard on Seifer since he became the captain of the team," Zell began to rant.
"Really?" Squall asked his left eyebrow rising in intrigue.
"Yeah," Zell gasped. "I think we should back to the gym."
"Nah, let's not," Squall slurred for a moment. "Why don't you tell me all about these mean things that Irvine's done instead?"
"Umm…okay," Zell said in a confused manner. However, Squall knew which buttons to press to change Zell's mood.
"I just want to know more about my team, bad things as well as the good," Squall said as he widened his eyes thirsty for knowledge.
"This means you're joining," Zell screeched in joy. "That's great."
"So come on share the details," Squall questioned subtly.
"Your right, you ought to know. Well it started like this…" Zell started, his train track of a mouth moving off at rocket speed fuelled into action. Boy did Zell like to talk but for once in Squall's life there was a lot of importance) in the words Zell spoke. Little did Zell know that the darkness that had spurned in Squall was about to grow, a hell of a lot more!
Seifer: Baby Squall is so cute but grown up Squall is a little….
Squall: NUTS! What the hell is up with me?
Seifer: I was going to say dark. It's sexy. The dark side is so cool no wonder Anakin Skywalker turned towards it. Thinks about a dark side Sith lord Squall clad in leather and black
SBQ: Ah, my Bishies a bunch of horny teenagers with issues. Sorry it's been long. Life sucks as you guys know. Can't handle any more coursework! Hope you guys enjoy! Please Review!