Silver Seashell

By Piiko

 

 

 

         'It's dark…' the tiny brunette girl thought to herself. 'Too dark…' her lower lip trembled as she held her bear, Booyaka, close to her shaking body. The monster was right at the foot of her bed. His massive purple body blocked the doorway, as saliva dripped from his gruesome mouth full of razor sharp teeth that could chop her to bits. The patch of green hair on top of his head was greasy and his skin looked scaly. Claws grew out of little stumps that ended at the wrist, and the foul stench of his breath filled the air around her. But the eyes were most disturbing. The neon orbs glowed green and held malice in them. She whimpered and shut her emerald eyes tightly. 'Why don't any nice monsters visit me?' she contemplated to herself.

         A tiny 'eek' escaped from her mouth as she heard the monster creeping towards her bed. Hands sprung up from under the bed and grabbed her ankles and arms. Her eyes snapped open.

         "I…I can't…move!" she whispered hoarsely to herself, too terrified for her voice to work properly. The yucky thing was getting closer! Finding strength she didn't know she had, she pried herself from the grips of the hands, and started running to the door. Quickly, she turned around, ran back to the bed, and grabbed Booyaka. Hastily, she ran to the only place she knew was safe.

 

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         Irvine grumbled, as he was disturbed from his sleep. He opened his brilliant blue eyes half way and nearly fell off of his bed when he stared into two green eyes that were only about an inch from his own.

         "Oh good, you're awake, Irvy!" his best friend cried and threw her arms around him. She clutched him tightly. His eyes widened as he shook off sleepiness and realized whose arms were around him.

         "Selphie?!" he was a tad peeved at her lack of concern for his sleep, "Exactly WHY--Uh…Annou…" For she had looked up at him, just as he was about to scold her. Inside, he was pleased to see her, really. He didn't know exactly what his feelings for her were. 'I feel all fuzzy and happy when I see her…' he noted to himself. Her face was streaked twice on either side with tears, and more were building up in her eyes. She sniffled. He hugged her back lightly as she still clung to him, not wanting her to cry. He felt the strange urge to protect her.

         "What's the matter?" he asked, "'Nother nightmare?" She nodded and surprised him when she jumped off of the bed. She raised her arms as high as she could and started her description.

         "He was thiiiiiiiiiiis big! And his claws," she put her hands by her mouth and stuck out her fingers to mimick teeth, "Were like this and he went 'RooooaaAAAAARR!!!' and then he came at me with his claws and the weird people from under the bed got me an' an' an…" she stopped as she felt Irvine just staring at her. He grinned. Selphie stuck out her lower lip in a pout.

         "What's so funny?!" she grumbled and stomped her foot. His grin turned into a cute smile, his eyes no longer visible, only slits.

         "You're cute," he replied. She stopped and her eyes went big, losing their anger and being replaced by innocence.

         "M-me…? Eh…" Selphie couldn't even speak. She looked into his eyes and felt a warm blush creep into her cheeks. She sat on the foot of his bed to steady herself. She didn't notice anything around her except her fingers, which she was busily twiddling. Unexpectedly, she heard a voice very close to her.

         "Selphie…? Have you…ever wondered…what…well…" Irvine trailed off and looked down. She looked over at him, still clueless as to what he was trying to get at. Irvine looked up again, his face determined, yet soft.

         "Have you ever wondered what…it was like to…kiss?" his question caught her off her guard once again. She blinked twice and paused, considering her words.

         "K-kiss?"

         "Well…why not? I am an six-year-old," he stated with a wink, his voice portraying what he thought was the wisdom of his years.

         "You mean a kiss on the cheek, right? I remember my mommy giving me one of those the day she left me here…" Selphie went quiet at the remembrance of her family who had disappeared. Irvine smiled inwardly at how naïve she was. It gave her a sweet kind of innocence.

         "Not exactly…Here. I'll show you. Close your eyes." Blindly, for she did not know what he intended, she closed her eyes. Irvine shifted his weight and sat close to her and stared for a moment. Her brows were drawn down into a tiny frown of confusion. Irvine leaned closer, then closed his eyes and quickly kissed her lips for a moment, and pulled away almost as fast.

         Selphie eeked and reeled back a little. Irvine gave a little smirk as her face turned totally crimson this time.

         "I-I…I gotta' go back to my room 'afore mistress finds out I'm gone…" she stammered and headed for the door. Irvine didn't take it as rejection. He had seen in her eyes that she was shocked, but strangely happy. He waved as she neared the door.

         "Night, Selphie," he whispered so they weren't heard. She turned and gave him a small smile.

         "Night night, Irvy," she whispered back, then tip toed back to her room, Booyaka in tow.

 

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         The next morning, Selphie felt ecstatic. She brought her fingertips to her mouth and lightly touched her lips where Irvine's had been. 'My first kiss…!! And from a boy I like, too!!' she quickly dressed into her favorite outfit; a yellow dress and small brown boots and ran down to the play room happily.

         The Mistress was there scolding a young boy for pouring glue in another little girls hair. She ran up to her and tugged on her skirt.

         "Mistress? Mistress?" she tugged more insistently. The Mistress turned, impatience crossing her face.

         "Yes, Selphie? Can't you see I'm busy?" she asked.

         "Yes, ma'am…But have you seen Irvy?" Selphie asked, and gave her cutest you-know-you-can't-be-mad-at-me smile. She was surprised when the Mistress' expression turned serious and sad. Taking Selphie by the hand, she led her away from the playroom and into a hallway.

         "Selphie…This might be hard for you to hear…But…" she searched for words, "Irvine was adopted this morning. Very early this morning. The Galbadian Garden members came looking for young boys at about six today, and decided that Irvine would be trained as a warrior." Selphie went cold from shock. The Mistress kept talking, but Selphie only saw her lips move. She was deaf to the world. Her heart felt like it had been torn from her chest and that she was dying.

         "Ir…Irvy…?" she whispered to no one in particular. The Mistress shook her lightly.

         "Did you hear me? He wanted to leave you something," and with that, she pulled out a messily wrapped box from the pocket in her skirt, "He said it was very important and that he would trust nobody but you to have it. I'll let you open it in privacy," she stood up from her squatting position and made a 'tsk-tsk' sound as she heard a boy shriek out in pain and a girls joyful giggle come from the playroom.

         Selphie's tiny fingers shook as she opened the wrapping paper slowly. She giggled at how hard he must have worked at it, and it slowly fell away to show just a tiny white box. Opening it ever so delicately, she gasped as she saw what was inside.

         "Irvy's necklace…" it was the pretty silver one with the seashell on it. She remembered what he had told her when she had first met him…

 

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"Hey, what're those?!" Selphie asked the new kid. He looked rather lonely sitting by himself in the corner, so she decided to talk to him. He blanched and looked up. Selphie pointed insistently to his neck. He looked down at his two necklaces.

"These? Oh…they the only things that my mama 'n papa left me when they wented away…This one," he pointed to the bigger one with the jewels on it, "is from my papa. And this one," he pointed to the lighter and more delicate silver seashell one, "is from my mama…"

 

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         Selphie felt a tear roll down her face as she stared at it. It sparkled prettily in the light of the sun. She held it tightly in her hand for a moment and kissed it lightly.

         "I'll wear it always…Irvine…" she vowed and clasped the necklace around her neck. Just as she did so, she looked up at the Mistress who was behind her. She smiled kindly.

         "Wonderful news, Selphie! Some people are here to adopt you!"

 

 

 

 

 

THE END

 

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         *Puts up a hand and smiles* Domo! ^_^ This is my first attempt at a Final Fantasy fic… ^^; And since Irvine and Selphie are my absolute faves, I decided to write about them when they were little kids. I was contemplating continuing it to when they were teenagers, but figured that the sweetness of them being little kids would kind of fade out if I did that. So I stopped it where I stopped it.

         So lesse. Disclaimers. I do not own anything from Square Soft or FF8 and yeah. I just do this for fun! Your reviews are very much appreciated, especially 'cause this is my first try at a FF fic. ^^;;; Thank you so much! Ja ne! *Winks and blows a kiss* ^_~