Pins & Needles Chapter 3
Enemy
By Asyria
The young instructor had just changed out of her uniform into her normal comfortable attire when the phone rang. Weary from another long, exhausting day teaching future SeeDs, she could not imagine who would be calling her now. Groaning, she lifted the receiver.
"Quistis?" The voice on the other end of the line said.
"Yes?"
"This is Dr. Kadowaki."
Quistis' brow creased. Why would the doctor be calling her? Please, not another injured student! "Hello Doctor."
"I have a problem here, Quistis. I need your help." She told her, in a serious tone.
"What's wrong?"
A pause. "I'll explain when you get here. Come to my quarters please, as soon as you can."
Her quarters? What is going on? Quistis pondered. "Alright. I'll be there in a minute."
She heard Dr. Kadowaki let out a gasp of relief. "Thank you Quistis."
Quistis hung up her phone and left her dorm. Hearing only the light tapping of her boots on the hallway floor, she considered what kind of problem could the Garden's doctor be having? I would have been called to the infirmary if it were an injured student, she reasoned. Having reached no answer in her questioning mind, Quistis approached Dr. Kadowaki's door.
Raijin jumped at the light knocking on the door. On Dr. Kadowaki's cue, he ducked into the other room before she opened the door. From around the corner, he heard the footsteps of the posse's former instructor walk into the room.
"Thank you for coming." He heard the doctor say.
"Can you tell me what's going on, Tayle?" Quistis said, impatiently.
The doctor nodded. "Someone has come and alerted me of a life threatening situation. But, I will not be able to handle this on my own."
"What about your nurses?" She wondered.
"I can't trust them with this." Tayle claimed, watching Quistis' face form a shocked and puzzled expression. "It's a delicate situation."
"Who is this person that told you about it?"
Tayle Kadowaki turned her head toward the other room, where Raijin was hiding. This was his cue to come out. Raijin approached the two women slowly. He watched Instructor Trepe's face flood with expressions.
Raijin?
Recognition.
What is he doing here?
Astonishment.
How did he get in here?
Perplexity.
If he's here, that means…
Suspicion.
Seifer!?
As Fujin would put it, RAGE!
Quistis could feel her face flush red with anger. "What the hell…" She started loudly.
"Calm down!" Tayle demanded. "I can see you're angry, but please calm down."
She gazed at her former enemy again, her sapphire eyes narrowing. Angry could not begin to describe her feelings, and that anger certainly wasn't for Raijin. Quistis saw his face now. Fear? Does he fear me? Or what the others might do if they find him here? He fears for his life, she concluded. Why would he come here if he feared us? "Alright. Who is in danger, Raijin?"
She saw him swallow hard before his answer came. "Fujin…and Seifer."
The very mention of his name sparked her fury again, but she fought it down this time. She didn't want to take her animosity towards Seifer Almasy against Raijin. "What's happened?"
"From what Raijin has told me," Dr. Kadowaki stepped in, "they have been using drugs."
"Drugs?"
"Heroin."
"Why?" She questioned.
Tayle shook her head. "I'll explain later. But right now, I have to get over there and check on their conditions. One, or both, of them could be dying."
Quistis saw Raijin wince at those words. "What exactly do you want me to do?"
The doctor hesitated. "I need your help in transporting them here."
Raijin watched the same shocked look spring on the instructor's face.
"Here!?" Quistis had repeated his exclamation with the same stunned tone.
"Regardless of what they did, I am a doctor and I must help them if they're lives are in jeopardy." Dr. Kadowaki stated firmly.
"That's all good for you! But I have no obligation to them!" She protested venomously.
"Quistis…"
"They are the enemy for Hyne's sake!"
Raijin heard her words. Enemy. No, he thought. They knew what they had done was wrong. They admitted it. Well, maybe not Seifer. But Seifer didn't want to fight anymore. Neither did he.
Quistis saw Raijin take a small step forward. Her hand instinctively went to her side, grasping for her whip. When her hand grabbed nothing but air, she realized she'd left it in her room. Why would she have brought her weapon with her?
"No." Raijin spoke, his voice low but forceful. "We're not the enemy anymore. We don't wanna fight you guys anymore. We don't wanna fight anybody." He told her, desperation flooding his face. "But we knew you'd never forgive us. It's as much Edea's fault as it is Seifer's, but you forgave her! I know it's because you all hated Seifer before."
Quistis shook her head. "I didn't hate Seifer until he put my name on that Hyne-forsaken list of his! He got me fired, dammit!" She said harshly. She could feel the tears forming already. Fight them, Quisty! Don't start bawling like a child now!
Raijin winced at her enraged voice. He'd never seen her like this before.
"And why? Because I teased him by wishing him luck!" Quistis continued.
Raijin recalled that day with sadness. That's when it had all started. Seifer's third failure of the SeeD field exam. Their blonde leader had been sure he would pass that time. He was wrong. "He was wrong, Quistis." Raijin said softly, turning to her overwhelmed face again. "He hadn't planned to turn it in. But he was mad, ya know! He failed the exam again. He knew he couldn't blame Squall or Zell, cause they were under his command. So he blamed you. But he was wrong! I knew it, Fujin knew it, and he knew it too!"
Dr. Kadowaki had remained quiet for this battle, but time was running short. "Quistis, you and Raijin can talk about this later. Time is important here." She told her. "This is what I would like for you to do. I need you to help Raijin sneak out of this room. I will go get my van from the parking lot. We'll go to Balamb together and evaluate their condition. If it's not an emergency, then we will transport them here and isolate them for their withdrawal."
"That could take weeks!" Quistis exclaimed.
"I know. But there are two rooms in the infirmary that we can close off for both of them."
"You want to hide them from everybody for two weeks? That's impossible!" Quistis objected.
"No, it's not. This is where you will come in. I won't be able to watch over them all day and night. We'll need more help."
Raijin groaned loudly. More people would have to know they were here? That his friends were doing that heroin stuff? What else could I do? I had no choice, ya know. "How many people?" He asked.
"Obivilously Cid and Edea. Edea has medical knowledge, so she can watch them at night. She'll also be able to keep Seifer more comfortable." She said, getting a small 'hmph' from Quistis. "And Cid because he's the headmaster, and he'll be able to cover for all of us incase people start asking questions. We might be able to get him to send Squall on a mission, to make things easier."
"But…"
"No, Squall cannot know about this! That is a necessity." She told Quistis. "Now, people have been know to panic when going through withdrawal of heroin. I won't be able to handle it by myself if that happens. Raijin can do that, he'll be able to restrain Seifer in his weakened state. One more person for Fujin and the daytime will be covered. You could help Edea at night. But you both will need one more person, who should be male, incase Seifer goes beserk at night."
"I have classes. I can't possibly teach and watch over them at night as well!"
"I can take care of that." Dr. Kadowaki smiled for the first time the whole night. "You're sick Quistis, you need a couple weeks off to recover."
I can't believe this, Quistis' mind cried. "What about the other two people? Who else is going to go along with this?"
Raijin's eyes burst with exuberance. "Does this mean you'll help?"
Quistis rolled her eyes and pushed up her glasses. "Yes." She replied, and was taken by surprise when the massive hulk wrapped his arms around her in a hug.
"Thank you! Thanks, Instructor Trepe!" Raijin's muffled cry came from her shoulder. Seeing Raijin express such joy, she couldn't help but smile.
.