W A L T Z U P T O M E

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he's probably going to

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Dammit. Why did things like these always have to happen to me? I turned into a pile of unreciprocated emotions whenever he walked into the room. Walked around base. Asked me for help in his fine arts classes. Dangit.

I was never late for class. Right now, even as I sat writhing in boredom and praying to god to speed up time, I was obediently taking notes about pre and post-depression era photography. And he hadn't even bothered to show up.

*Probably going to waltz up to me and ask for copies of these notes. Jerk.*

I was seventeen this year. One more year of training hard in the Academy and if I did well enough I might be able to join Oz as a sergeant major or a warrant officer.

*And even then, he might be accepted as a Lieutenant and one-up me again*

"Private Noin?"

And what if he became a Captain before me? What then? He'd smile modestly and never once credit any help I had given him. Man that would bite my ass---

"PRIVATE NOIN!!!" Captain Katigiri stood next to me, pert, elegant features flustered and his EuroJapanese poise thrown to the wind.

"Yes, sir?"

He rubbed away the frown on his forehead with his right hand. "Private, what have you been doing all class period? You're the only student left in this classroom. Did you not hear me calling your name for the last two minutes?"

I must have looked like a boiled lobster as I picked up my textbooks and notes and stuffed them into my bookbag.

Captain Katigiri went back to his desk and scribbled some illegible message onto a pass, ushering me out of the class in a hurry. "If you're late for Lt. Colonel Khushrenada's class you're going to be punished." He leaned into his chair. "I would run, if I were you."

I ran towards the door. "Thanks. But it's not like he's ever there."

As I was running down the hall, regulation shoes polished and clomping noisily on the tile as I weaved my way through crowds of students, all I heard were conversations about Treize Khushrenada's return from Romefeller delegations.

*Oh shit.*

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First thing I see when I walk into the room.

Zechs Merquise sitting atop the usually empty professor or instructor's metal desk, knee-high boots polished expertly, white regulation breeches pressed and newly laundered. White, collared shirt also pressed and his completely non-regulation hair pulled back with a black hair tie.

*MY hair tie*

Not only did Zechs never attend Intelligence & Strategy class, but he NEVER bothered to tie back his hair and polish his boots and press his uniform as he was supposed to.

Just as I arrived at my seat, the bell rang and I was left a bit out of breath from having had to run across almost the entire base. Zechs smiled at my disheveled hair and pointed to my finger, indicating the missing black band.

He slid off the desk in a smooth gesture, practically waltzing to his own rarely occupied seat that rested beside mine.

As he brushed past me he said, "Guess you won't have to take notes for me now, Noin. Thanks for the band, by the way."

As was usual, everyone took out their notebooks and pens, fully expecting another day of study hall and talking to friends for ninety minutes.

Zechs just sat in his seat. No pen, no notebook, just his black-book bag, the twin of my own, resting on the back of his seat. Empty.

"Hey, you look flushed. Don't tell me you were late for class, Noin."

I probably blushed as I answered him. "Well, Katigiri actually yelled at me to get out of his room." I held my crumbled pass out to him. "But he wrote me an excuse just in case I didn't make it."

Zechs took the white slip of paper and looked it over, blue eyes amused. "Did you even bother to read this?" he laughed.

"Why? I can't even read his handwriting. He has a doctor's signature. Can't tell scribbles apart from anything else."

He gave me one of his wide smiles and threw the pass back at me. "It isn't an excuse, you moron. It says to have Lt. Colonel Khushrenada sign this and verify if you were late or not. Which means, that if you HAD been late and he'd actually been here to see it, you would have been deducted 10 points and I would be ahead of you by four."

I stared at him, open mouthed and probably looking like a newly gutted fish. "How can you read that?"

He rested his chin in his open palms, yawning. "Treize writes like that sometimes." He said simply.

*Great. Not only had he almost caught up with me as top of the class without trying but he's friends with Lt. Colonel Khushrenada? Wait a minute---*

"Treize? You call him Treize!?"

"My, what a break of proper military etiquette. I believe I should do something about this, shouldn't I?" A dry, aristocratic voice broke through all the talk, instantly silencing everyone and leaving my high-strung babbling extremely audible and easy to pick out. "Good afternoon class. As you probably know I am Lt. Colonel Khushrenada. I apologize for not having been here for the first three quarters..." the smile he'd acquired from hearing my outraged cry towards Zechs dropped and he turned to the whiteboard. "...but I believe that this class is a waste of your time, but even more importantly," he turned to face us again, "an utter waste of mine."

I turned back to Zechs as I fought internally to get rid of my full facial blush and to keep myself from gaping at Colonel Khushrenada. He holding his head up in his left hand, elbow propped on the table and staring out of the window.

*What the hell is he DOING?! He never comes to class and the day he does, he's staring outside the window and not even paying attention to what Colonel Treize is saying! Arrogant.*

"Strategy is not something that can be learned. Strategy has to do with your own intelligence, perception and elegance of thought." Colonel Khushrenada stood in front of the class, half-cape resting on the back of a chair, dark-blue uniform perfectly tailored and smoothed over his tall body.

*Why can't I be poised like that? And what the hell is that idiot doing? Zechs, you're going to be reprimanded and then I'll be sixteen points ahead of you.*

The rest of the class was spent with the Colonel eloquently discussing various ill-used tactics and famous strategies. As dismissal bell announced the end of the day, he gave us our only assignment for the rest of the year.

"I want you to express yourselves with eloquence, with poise. Don't come to class anymore. Spend this time conducting yourselves with dignity and the last day of class you'll turn into to me a paper dictating what you have discovered from behaving in such a manner. I assure you all that if you have conducted yourselves in the manner of gentlepersons, you will have learned everything you need to know about Strategy and Intelligence. Until then." He swept his cape into his arms and slipped out of the room before the class had a chance to ask questions or stampede after him.

*Oh shit. I'm SCREWED!*

I took my time, placing my notebook into my bag, waiting for Zechs to at least move from his slumped position on his desk.

"Zechs?"

No answer.

"Zechs?"

Again, no answer.

I circled around my desk and poked him.

*The first and only lecture we'll ever receive from Colonel Khushrenada and you fell ASLEEP?*

He made no motion to move and I sighed, resigned to forever be in second place behind a platinum-haired sloth.

I turned to the exit but as my hair fell into my face, I remembered that he'd taken my hair tie. I slipped his hair from beneath his arm and quickly yanked it out.

*Victory*

Turning once again to make my get-away, I felt a painfully cool hand gripping my book-bag.

"You woke me up."

"Well, the day is over Zechs." I sighed. "I thought you'd at least want to actually try doing something productive tonight."

He released my bag, standing up and rubbing the sleep away from his face. "Why would I want to do that?" he snorted, hair flailing around his face lovingly. "And become you?" He smirked. "I'm going out. Don't lock the door."

That stopped me in mid-walk. "You're going out?"

He pushed his hair behind his ear. "Yes. Is this a problem, Private Noin?"

"Curfew's at eleven, Zechs."

He snorted again and rolled his eyes at me, walking out the door ahead of me and leaving me standing stupidly in the hall, waist-length hair still loose and my coveted hair-tie left forgotten in my tightly fisted hand.

*Once again I've been left to be the responsible one. Damn.*

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