A/N: Guess what, I stumbled upon a rather old piece of mine that I hadn't uploaded yet. I wasn't sure whether to add this to my 100 one-shots collection that I still had to write or not. Well, I decided differently. XD I've always believed that Zack actually lived in Radiant Garden before he went to the Olympus Coliseum, but that story is for another time. Hope you enjoy this, I had a lot of fun writing it.

Thanks: M. L. Ayala, for betaing this one-shot.

~ "Uh… what are you doing?" ~

Squall sighed grumpily for what seemed to be the umpteenth time that day, recalling the events that had just taken place. It made his frown automatically grow deeper. Really, his father was an idiot. No matter what Laguna did, he always managed to tick his son off. Needless to say, the fifteen-year-old's temper was still rising, so he'd chosen a nice place against a brick wall to sulk. And anyone who dared to come near him was sure to get roasted under his famous, poisonous glare.

His brown bangs fell in front of his stormy blue eyes, but he didn't brush them out of his face. This way, he looked even more dangerous for outsiders, almost as though he could (and definitely would if he got the chance) bite anyone's head off if they started asking questions.

It was only then that he noticed how a little girl was watching him quietly. She was probably around the age of four. Her short, smooth, auburn red hair framed her rather pale face. What caught the brunet's attention was how she was rubbing her eye with her free hand, almost as though she could cry any moment. Her other hand was closed around a few red and white flowers. The toddler's cute white and purple summer dress swayed gently in the wind with every move she made. Confused and surprised, the male tilted his head slightly to the side, wondering why she was looking at him all the time.

However, when she started approaching him, too, Squall started to feel a bit panicked. No, stay there, stay away from me! he chanted in his head, but it didn't help one bit. On the contrary, it seemed as though the redhead started walking faster.

The little girl stood still right in front of him and looked up at the silent teen with a questioning gaze. From this close, he noticed that her big curious eyes were of the bluest shade that he'd ever seen. It almost looked as if she was a little scared of him. But then again, which kid wasn't?

"What?" Squall finally snapped, irritably, having enough of the fact that she wouldn't look away from him.

The girl hesitated visibly. She nervously played with the hem of her dress, while asking quietly "Have you seen my grandma? I lost her…" She gulped, before admitting, "I'm lost…"

Her grandma? Who did she think he was, the gatekeeper of the world?

"No," was the curt response, followed by a stark, 'Now-Leave-Me-The-Hell-Alone' kind of stare.

Unfortunately for him, the little girl didn't catch the hint. What was even worse, was that she didn't intend to leave him alone. Honestly, couldn't one just sulk by himself without getting bothered by everyone all the time? He looked at her from the corner of his eyes. There was something about her that made him feel bad for her. Perhaps it was the pure innocence that practically radiated off her. Or maybe it was because he could remember what it felt like to be lost in a place one didn't know that well to find the way back home again.

"What?" the brunet repeated, more impatiently now. His annoyance was clearly showing through his voice this time.

The girl's lower lip started to tremble slightly. "Please bring me back to my Granny, Sir… I'm scared."

Sir? he thought, baffled.

Nobody had called him 'Sir' before. For an annoying, whining kid, she had some manners, he had to give her that. Her way of speaking almost made him feel... flattered.

"Where was the last time you've seen her?" he asked, before he could stop himself.

"At the Market Place. She was buying some groceries to make the most delicious soup ever!"

Squall then sighed, getting pretty tired of all the unwanted details that this little girl added to everything she said. It reminded him of Yuffie, the hyper kid who lived across from him. Unfortunately, his dad was best friends with her father, so he got to see her a lot. What he wouldn't give to change that.

As for this child, he'd made up his mind. Those big puppy-eyes did it all.

"Might as well. C'mon."

The silent teen started walking away, knowing that the girl would follow him. The only reason she'd asked him to help her was either because she really trusted him (which was weird), or because he was the only one around who was at least a little close to her age. It was probably the latter. Meanwhile, the toddler had caught up to him and took his gloved hand. Tilting an eyebrow at her unexpected action, he looked down at her. She didn't seem to notice anything, though. Her tiny hand felt incredibly soft, even through the fabric of his leather glove. It made him think that if he would squeeze hard enough, he could break all her bones...

Not that he would do that, of course. He was only a little grumpy, not a heartless bastard.

In the mean time, the girl was sure to chat his ears off. "Oh, before I forget to tell you, I'm Kairi."

"…Congratulations."

"What's your name?"

"…Squall."

"Squall… That's a difficult name. I'm not sure if I like it, but I guess it's okay."

Squall sighed wearily. What, so now she was making comments about his name, too? Could this day possibly get any worse? He highly doubted it. However, that was the first mistake he made…

The moment that they'd rounded the corner, he stood face to face with the people he'd wanted to avoid the most; the people he called his best friends. Cloud, Zack, Aerith, Tifa… even Rinoa was there. At once, he felt his heartbeat speeding up. The blonde male teen was the first one who noticed him, quickly followed by the rest of the group. By the way that they were gaping at him, they seemed to be just as surprised to see him there as he was.

"Oh, hey, Squall," Zack greeted, until he noticed the little girl next to him. He frowned now, and looked back at the silent brunet again. "Uh… what are you doing?"

Squall quickly let go of Kairi's hand, but something told him that it was a little too late. "I-"

"Oh, these are your friends, right?" little Kairi asked, sounding rather excited for some reason or another. Squall figured that that could never be a good thing. Still, he didn't reply, starting to feel quite uncomfortable now. "Hi. I'm Kairi. Mr. Squall is taking me back to Grandma. He's so sweet!"

Cloud blinked at that, giving Zack a funny, albeit confused look. "Mister Squall?"

"Wow, I can't believe this. This pretty much explains why you didn't want to hang out with us today. You already had a date for the day!" Zack said teasingly, making even Cloud laugh.

Kairi blinked, confused. "What's a...date?"

The brunet teen narrowed his striking blue eyes. "She was lost. I'm only bringing her back to her grandmother," he said, trying not to shiver from anger because of the fact that they were all laughing at him.

"What a gentleman," Cloud muttered, a small smirk dancing on his lips.

"Oh, and I bet that you didn't dare to say no to such a sweet little girl. Wow, seems like she really knows how to play you…like a fiddle!" Zack cried, his mischievous grin widening instantly.

This time, Aerith prodded his side, hard, giving him a disapproving look that clearly said that he had to quit the teasing.

"Oh, quiet you two. I think it's kinda cute how he's helping her!" Rinoa noted, smiling sweetly at him, as if to encourage the taciturn teenager.

This made Squall's cheeks, ears and even the back of his neck turn slightly red, which, again, made the two boys snicker. After all, a blushing Squall wasn't something one would see that often, so they should enjoy every moment of it. It was funny, because Rinoa seemed to be the only person who could do this to him and everyone knew that already, except for the ebony-haired girl herself. And for someone who was so observant, this was really strange.

"Oh, cut it out, guys. Come on, we need to get going," Tifa then spoke.

She grabbed Cloud's arm and dragged him along with her. Aerith did the same with Zack. For once, Squall was glad that the raven-haired girl didn't push the subject any further. At least Tifa always knew when to stop. She respected his privacy and that made Squall appreciate her way of acting even more. God knew that Cloud needed a girl like her around him. The idiot would be hopeless without her.

"See you, Squall," Tifa merely said, before leaving.

"Good luck," Aerith added with a smile of her own.

"Tell us how it was," Zack called.

The brunet male glared hard at him, but didn't say anything. He didn't have to, because Zack's words earned him another smack on the shoulders from Aerith.

"Ow, that actually hurt!" the spiky-haired teen cried.

"Good for you."

When all of them had finally left, Kairi dared to mutter, "You have nice but weird friends."

Yeah… and I'm really starting to wonder why I'm still hanging out with them, he thought, before they started walking again.

Soon after that, they arrived at their destination: the vegetable stall.

Squall crouched to be on eye level with the toddler. "Do you see your grandmother here somewhere?" the teen asked.

Kairi looked around for any signs for the old woman. "Uhm... Yes, she's there!" she pointed, before crying "Grandma!" to get the woman's attention. Turning back to Squall again, she smiled widely. "Thanks a ton for finding Grandma!"

"Uh, don't mention-" He stopped mid-sentence when the little girl hugged him and gave him a quick peck on the cheek, before running away. "…it."

Kairi had barely set three steps, when she stopped again, turned around and went back to him. "Oh! And this is for you, for helping me," she said, handing him most of the flowers that she held in her hand. "I can't give you all of them, because the rest is for Grandma."

Squall took the flowers from her and looked at them. "Uh… Thanks."

"You're welcome, Mr. Squall. Bye bye, see you next time!"

He watched her retreating back, until he was sure that her grandmother had seen her and it was safe to leave her. Squall didn't know what it was about her, but thanks to her, he had completely forgotten that he was supposed to be angry at his dad for some reason. The only problem was now that his friends wouldn't drop this subject that soon. Well, he had to face them sometime...unfortunately.