Final Fantasy--No more bloodshed
Squall sighed as he leaned back in his chair, laying his pen down. The sunshine streaming through the window behind him and the shouts of his peers out in the quad were tempting, but he had to finish his report. Squall hated being the Commander of Balamb Garden. At first it had been OK; all he had had to do was plan battles, which was not very hard because fighting was what he did best, but that had soon changed. After Ultemecia's defeat he and the gang had been allowed a break but as soon as his leave was over it was back to work again. Normally Squall wouldn't mind having to work (it would be good to keep him occupied) but that was when work involved getting out in the field not sitting behind a desk bored out of his mind all day.
The reason Squall was stuck doing such a boring job was simply that Cid Kramer was starting to struggle doing his own job, age it seemed was finally starting to catch up with him. When Cid had left to spend time with Edea things had been passed onto Squall without his say in the matter. Squall had put up with the job for a while thinking it was only until Cid came back, but nearly three weeks had passed with no word from Cid and Squall was beginning to get fed up. Filling out paper work was just not his thing (watching paint dry was probably more exciting). So he decided to confront Cid.
Just then a bell rang signaling the end of lunch and interrupting his feeling sorry for himself. Squall stood up, grabbed his jacket from the back of his chair and swept the remnants of his hurried lunch into the bin. Now that all of the students had started to head for lessons he would be able to have the training centre almost to himself, there were bound to be some classes using it. Squall swung his jacket over his shoulder and walked into the elevator pressing the button for the first floor. The lift beeped as it reached its destination and Squall stepped out. The corridors were empty apart from a group of four junior students. As they spotted Squall the four kids began to walk quickly in the other direction. Squall quickly caught up to them and asked,
"Aren't you supposed to be in class?"
The kids looked terrified of him and the looks on their faces caused a rare smile of amusement to creep onto Squall's face. Seeing the smile on his face the oldest boy plucked up the courage to speak,
"We don't know where to go, sir." he spoke timidly.
"What's your name?" Squall asked the boy.
"Toby Watkins, Sir."
"Which class are you supposed to be in Toby?" Squall asked kindly.
"Magic, level one, Sir" Toby replied, "With instructor Trepe."
"Well, come with me and I'll show you where you're meant to be." Squall told the four kids.
Reluctantly, the kids followed at a distance.
"I told you he wasn't mean." one of the two girls whispered.
"Yeah but John said..." Toby trailed off.
"Who's John?" Squall asked.
"My big brother, Sir." Toby muttered.
"And what did your brother say?
"He said if you caught us out of class..." He hesitated, "he said you'd make us fight a grat for punishment." The words tumbled out of Toby's mouth.
"Well that's one lesson learned isn't it, NEVER listen to older brothers, they're always tryng to scare you." Squall laughed, "And stop calling me 'sir', my name's Squall Leonhart."
The kids really brightened up upon hearing Squall's last sentence and began to chat and ask questions freely.
"Is it really true that you beat the sorceress, Sir?" Toby asked, then because of the look on Squall's face added, "I mean...Squall."
"Yes," Squall said," But it's not like I did anything special... and I had my friends with me." He continued awkwardly.
"Wow!"
"Cool!"
Squall stepped into the lift with the kids and told Toby to press the button for the 2nd floor. The lift ascended so quickly that only Squall was left standing, he laughed as he picked the kids up two at a time. The two girls were so surprised by Squall's strength that they nearly fell down again, they giggled and blushed and Squall felt the colour rising in his cheeks.
When they reached the classroom Squall knocked three times and entered to see Quistis standing in front of about twenty kids who looked no older than 9 at the most. In her hand she held a small ball of fire. She smiled as she looked up at Squall and asked,
"Yes, Commander?"
Squall glared at her, she knew how he hated people calling him by his title and she grinned at him mischievously. "I have something that belongs to you," he said pulling the kids out from behind him with the same mischievous grin as Quistis. "I found them near the cafeteria."
Quistis put out the fire by conjuring a water spell with her other hand and beckoned to the kids who shuffled past with their heads down.
"You must be the new students from Dollet," she said, "Let me take your names and then you can go and sit at the table by the window together."
Quistis took a register from below her desk and ticked off Toby Watkins, Aleesha Trik, Kayline Gomer and Martin Lewsh. Once the kids were sitting down Squall approached Quistis' desk.
"Can I speak to you outside?" he asked her quietly.
"Sure, just let me get this lot sorted," she said turning to the class, "I want you to copy the information on the different types of magic and their uses and write what you think the most important type of spell is. I'll be back in a minute."
Squall and Quistis left and she shut the door behind them so they could have some privacy. She turned to Squall with a curious expression.
"I called Cid and asked him to come and sort out the issue of who's meant to be ruling Garden. He'll be here at 1100 hours. I'd appreciate it if you could come to the meeting, I think I'll ask the rest of the guys too. I'm sick of doing his job. What do you think?" He asked.
"I'll come although I'm not sure why you want me to." She said, puzzled, "What are you actually planning to achieve?"
"I don't really know but I'm definitely telling him I can't do his job. Filling out paperwork just isn't my thing." He replied.
Quistis sighed and turned back to her door. "I'll see you at 1100 hours." she said and returned to her class.
Squall left the training center an hour later. He had wracked up 20 grats, a handful of buels, a couple of mesmerizes and a t-rexaur. He headed to the cafeteria in desperate need of food. As he entered, Zell waved to him from a nearby table. He was about to wave back when a blue blur jumped on him. Squall staggered and regained his footing as Rinoa wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him all over his face. He set her down, his face turning red at the stares of the passers by, and managed to stutter,
"Hi."
Behind Rinoa, Zell snorted, then, at the sight of Rinoa dragging Squall to their table, he burst out laughing. He was soon silenced by the glare Squall gave him.
"Good training?" zell asked, nodding at Squall's bloodstained vest.
"Yeah." was Squall's reply.
"By the looks of it you must've slaughtered half of the training center's population!" Zell laughed.
"Just about." Squall agreed, he then recounted all the monsters he had killed.
"Woah!", Zell muttered when he had finished, "All that in one hour!"
Squall nodded and stood up to go ger his food.
"What do you want, man, I'll get it." Zell offered also getting out of his seat.
"Lasagne," Squall said, looking at the board opposite the entrance, "And an orange juice."
Zell went to get the food, not particularly bothered by Squall's lack of manners, but Rinoa was bothered.
"Will you PLEASE stop saying only what's neccessary?" she pleaded
Squall shrugged at Rinoa's question and examined a cut on the back of his hand. This annoyed Rinoa even more but she didn't say anything. Getting Squall to talk more was like trying to get blood out of a stone, he'd only talk when he wanted to. But Rinoa was confident he'd open up in his own time.
"So how was your day?" She asked him.
"Boring," Squall stated, "I'm going to quit. I called Cid, he'll be here at 11 o'clock tomorrow morning."
"Why?" Rinoa asked.
"So we can discuss who's going to take over permanantly. If I keep this job I'll go crazy." Squall answered.
"Who will take over?"
"I don't know, we'll have to find someone suitable."
Just then, Zell came bouncing back with the food,
"Lasagne and an orange juice." He said to Squall, plonking the tray down in front of him. Squall looked to see what Zell had got and, surprise, surprise it was laden with 5 hotdogs.
"How can you eat those all the time?" He asked.
"Easily!" Zell said, "And anyway, I only have hotdogs on Fridays now, I've cut back.
It was Squall's turn to laugh. He shook his head in amazement.
Rinoa raised her eyes pointedly at Squall indicating he should tell Zell about his plan. Squall shook his head, he just couldn't be bothered to explain again. Rinoa gave him a stern look and Squall rolled his eyes and took a deep breath.
Zell watched all this with a bemused look on his face. Only Squall and Rinoa understood the looks they gave eachother. Squall began to explain what he planned to do. Zell was silent until Squall finished.
"I'm with you whatever man." Zell told Squall.
Squall was taken aback by Zell's show of loyalty. He found himself at a loss for a reply.
"Thanks." He grunted
Squall was sometimes frustrated by the way he found it hard to express his opinions. He was so used to not caring about others, blowing them off whenever they tried to get close to him or give him some help. But Squall was not so cruel that he would ignore the people he had been through so much with, the people who had helped him when he was ready to give in, had cared for him. Squall found it much easier to talk to his friends now. Friends. Something he could never remember having in his whole life. He had always been an outcast, he seemed to have the word tatooed to his forehead. The main reason was probably his lack of trust in other people. It had been so much easier to pretend he wasn't affected by the way people treated him and depending only on himself had its advantages. Squall was quite content to live his own life without others interfering in his business. If he accepted help he would be expected to return the favour and Squall hated having people relying on him, it was too easy to disappoint them.
Squall was brought back to reality as Zell waved his hand in front of his face.
"Earth to Squall, Earth to Squall." Zell laughed.
Squall blinked and looked up at Zell a deep frown on his face. "What?" Squall's tone was harsher than he had meant. He mentally kicked himself but Zell saw the look on his face and understood. Squall just didn't like being interrupted when he was thinking.
"Do you want to come to my place at the weekend?" Zell asked, a hopeful look on his face, "It's my mom's birthday, I thought you might like to come." He explained.
Zell had obviously been discussing the matter with Rinoa while Squall had been off in his own little world. Rinoa gave Squall a significnt glance from behind Zell, who was mow standing up and bouncing nervously on the balls of his feet.
"Sure." Squall said, in a faked cheerful tone. He didn't really want to go but he knew how much Zell cared for Mrs Dincht even if she wasn't his biological mother.
"Yes!" Zell cried happily, "You'll love it my mom's cooking, her food is the best!" He bounded off out of the cafeteria narrowly avoiding a colision with Irvine and Selphie who were holding hands.
Squall roled his eyes and greeted them with a grin as he noticed they had their hands locked together. Only yesterday Selphie had sworn never to talk to Irvine for the rest of her life because she had caught him eyeing amother cadet. Selphie tried to keep her promise but she was too nice a person to ignore anyone for more than a couple of hours at the most. The result was that her arguments with Irvine (which were rather frequent) always blew over quickly.
"We just came to tell you we'll be at the meeting with Cid tomorrow." Selphie said with a kind smile.
"Quistis told us," Irvine said "We saw her at the Quad a few minutes ago." He added at the confused look on Squall's face.
"See ya!" Selphie said with a wink and she and Irvine departed. Squall watched in disbelief as Irvine put his arm around Selphie's waist then slowly slid his his arm down to butt. Rinoa tutted this behaviour was typical of Irvine and everyone wondered how Selphie put up with it. But no matter how much they seemed to hate each other Selphie and Irvine really were in love.
Squall and Rinoa were left alone and a silence descended over the table. Squall opened his mouth to say something then shut it again because he had nothing in particular to say. Rinoa got up and sat down next to him. Squall tensed slightly as she cuddled up to him but he soon relaxed. Rinoa rested her head on Squall's chest and he put an arm round her shoulder. Rinoa felt comfortable just being close to Squall and was surprised at him allowing her to be so close in public. Normally Squall was only like this in when they were completely alone but it seemed he was finally getting used to being with someone else.
Squall's thoughts drifted to their first meeting when he had wanted to be alone and be with her at the same time. When Rinoa had approached him he had been totally captivated by her beauty and grace. She asked him to dance he had ignored her then, when she persisted he lied and said he couldn't dance so that he wouln't have to. Rinoa had dragged him to the floor anyway and although he could have easily stayed where he was, leaning on his wall but he thought it would have been mean. So Squall had allowed himself to be dragged on to the dancefloor where he had danced as bad as he could to try and get it over with as quickly as possible. But Rinoa had known what he was upto all along. Squall had bumped into her and other dancers and tried to leave the floor many times but she kept dragging him back.
As the tune became faster Rinoa whispered into his ear,"I know you can do better than this." She had a knowing grin on her face as she said this.
Squall realised she had figured him out and gave up his charade. He took her hand in a firm grip and assumed the correct stance. He started to dance without even thinking about it lost in the music and the beautiful girl in front of him. They broke apart and danced in a circle facing each other then turning away. They met and Squall twirled the girl away from him then back. Again she twirled then came back to him perfectly. Squall was distracted by a sudden burst of colour as many great fireworks exploded overhead and forgot his uneasy feeling at the girl in his arms. The girl watched his face with interest as he looked up at the beautiful display of colour and light. Then she spotted someone over his shoulder and hurried away towards them leaving Squall alone on the dancefloor. Squall was surprised by his dissappointment that she had left so quickly. This was stupid. Minutes ago he had wanted to be left alone and had tried to ignore her and now he wanted to be with her again.
Once again Squall's thoughts were interupted but this time it was in a pleasant way. Rinoa put her hand on the side of his face and kissed him gently on the lips. "What are you thinking?" she asked.
"I'm thinking about when we first met... Why'd you pick me to dance with when there was a whole room full of people?"
Rinoa paused for a minute to think before she answered. "You looked lonely.." She said, "And like I said you were the best looking guy there."
Squall shrugged at the answer, slightly dissappointed that Rinoa had only danced with him out of pity. He shook himself mentally. 'If she just pitied you she wouldn't still be with you stupid.' A voice in his head told him. 'Anyway she just complimented you; say something back.'
"You were the most beautiful girl there." He said, "But then again, you're the most beautiful girl in most places."
Rinoa grinned and blushed slightly at Squall's compliment. "Aww, you are SO sweeeet." Before Squall could react she had grabbed his face with both hands and was giving him a passionate kiss. Squall was stunned for a moment but then he returned the kiss. Rinoa broke away breathlessly and stood up. "I need to be in the infirmary," she said, "Doctor Kadowaki's expecting me."
"I'll walk you." Squall offered.
"OK." Rinoa replied, grabbing Squall's hand.
The couple left together with many jealous people watching. Most of the girls in Garden wished they were in Rinoa's shoes; they would love to go out with Squall. Most of the boys in Garden wished they were in Squall's shoes; they would love to go out with Rinoa. The kiss the two had just shared was more than enough to make many other cadets and SeeDs sulk for the day.
Squall walked Rinoa to the infirmary for her lesson with Doctor Kadowaki; she was learning medicine and if she got good enough she would be able to be her assistant. Rinoa said goodbye to him with a kiss on the cheek.
Squall had nothing better to do so he decided to go back to the training center before going to bed.
Squall sighed as he leaned back in his chair, laying his pen down. The sunshine streaming through the window behind him and the shouts of his peers out in the quad were tempting, but he had to finish his report. Squall hated being the Commander of Balamb Garden. At first it had been OK; all he had had to do was plan battles, which was not very hard because fighting was what he did best, but that had soon changed. After Ultemecia's defeat he and the gang had been allowed a break but as soon as his leave was over it was back to work again. Normally Squall wouldn't mind having to work (it would be good to keep him occupied) but that was when work involved getting out in the field not sitting behind a desk bored out of his mind all day.
The reason Squall was stuck doing such a boring job was simply that Cid Kramer was starting to struggle doing his own job, age it seemed was finally starting to catch up with him. When Cid had left to spend time with Edea things had been passed onto Squall without his say in the matter. Squall had put up with the job for a while thinking it was only until Cid came back, but nearly three weeks had passed with no word from Cid and Squall was beginning to get fed up. Filling out paper work was just not his thing (watching paint dry was probably more exciting). So he decided to confront Cid.
Just then a bell rang signaling the end of lunch and interrupting his feeling sorry for himself. Squall stood up, grabbed his jacket from the back of his chair and swept the remnants of his hurried lunch into the bin. Now that all of the students had started to head for lessons he would be able to have the training centre almost to himself, there were bound to be some classes using it. Squall swung his jacket over his shoulder and walked into the elevator pressing the button for the first floor. The lift beeped as it reached its destination and Squall stepped out. The corridors were empty apart from a group of four junior students. As they spotted Squall the four kids began to walk quickly in the other direction. Squall quickly caught up to them and asked,
"Aren't you supposed to be in class?"
The kids looked terrified of him and the looks on their faces caused a rare smile of amusement to creep onto Squall's face. Seeing the smile on his face the oldest boy plucked up the courage to speak,
"We don't know where to go, sir." he spoke timidly.
"What's your name?" Squall asked the boy.
"Toby Watkins, Sir."
"Which class are you supposed to be in Toby?" Squall asked kindly.
"Magic, level one, Sir" Toby replied, "With instructor Trepe."
"Well, come with me and I'll show you where you're meant to be." Squall told the four kids.
Reluctantly, the kids followed at a distance.
"I told you he wasn't mean." one of the two girls whispered.
"Yeah but John said..." Toby trailed off.
"Who's John?" Squall asked.
"My big brother, Sir." Toby muttered.
"And what did your brother say?
"He said if you caught us out of class..." He hesitated, "he said you'd make us fight a grat for punishment." The words tumbled out of Toby's mouth.
"Well that's one lesson learned isn't it, NEVER listen to older brothers, they're always tryng to scare you." Squall laughed, "And stop calling me 'sir', my name's Squall Leonhart."
The kids really brightened up upon hearing Squall's last sentence and began to chat and ask questions freely.
"Is it really true that you beat the sorceress, Sir?" Toby asked, then because of the look on Squall's face added, "I mean...Squall."
"Yes," Squall said," But it's not like I did anything special... and I had my friends with me." He continued awkwardly.
"Wow!"
"Cool!"
Squall stepped into the lift with the kids and told Toby to press the button for the 2nd floor. The lift ascended so quickly that only Squall was left standing, he laughed as he picked the kids up two at a time. The two girls were so surprised by Squall's strength that they nearly fell down again, they giggled and blushed and Squall felt the colour rising in his cheeks.
When they reached the classroom Squall knocked three times and entered to see Quistis standing in front of about twenty kids who looked no older than 9 at the most. In her hand she held a small ball of fire. She smiled as she looked up at Squall and asked,
"Yes, Commander?"
Squall glared at her, she knew how he hated people calling him by his title and she grinned at him mischievously. "I have something that belongs to you," he said pulling the kids out from behind him with the same mischievous grin as Quistis. "I found them near the cafeteria."
Quistis put out the fire by conjuring a water spell with her other hand and beckoned to the kids who shuffled past with their heads down.
"You must be the new students from Dollet," she said, "Let me take your names and then you can go and sit at the table by the window together."
Quistis took a register from below her desk and ticked off Toby Watkins, Aleesha Trik, Kayline Gomer and Martin Lewsh. Once the kids were sitting down Squall approached Quistis' desk.
"Can I speak to you outside?" he asked her quietly.
"Sure, just let me get this lot sorted," she said turning to the class, "I want you to copy the information on the different types of magic and their uses and write what you think the most important type of spell is. I'll be back in a minute."
Squall and Quistis left and she shut the door behind them so they could have some privacy. She turned to Squall with a curious expression.
"I called Cid and asked him to come and sort out the issue of who's meant to be ruling Garden. He'll be here at 1100 hours. I'd appreciate it if you could come to the meeting, I think I'll ask the rest of the guys too. I'm sick of doing his job. What do you think?" He asked.
"I'll come although I'm not sure why you want me to." She said, puzzled, "What are you actually planning to achieve?"
"I don't really know but I'm definitely telling him I can't do his job. Filling out paperwork just isn't my thing." He replied.
Quistis sighed and turned back to her door. "I'll see you at 1100 hours." she said and returned to her class.
Squall left the training center an hour later. He had wracked up 20 grats, a handful of buels, a couple of mesmerizes and a t-rexaur. He headed to the cafeteria in desperate need of food. As he entered, Zell waved to him from a nearby table. He was about to wave back when a blue blur jumped on him. Squall staggered and regained his footing as Rinoa wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him all over his face. He set her down, his face turning red at the stares of the passers by, and managed to stutter,
"Hi."
Behind Rinoa, Zell snorted, then, at the sight of Rinoa dragging Squall to their table, he burst out laughing. He was soon silenced by the glare Squall gave him.
"Good training?" zell asked, nodding at Squall's bloodstained vest.
"Yeah." was Squall's reply.
"By the looks of it you must've slaughtered half of the training center's population!" Zell laughed.
"Just about." Squall agreed, he then recounted all the monsters he had killed.
"Woah!", Zell muttered when he had finished, "All that in one hour!"
Squall nodded and stood up to go ger his food.
"What do you want, man, I'll get it." Zell offered also getting out of his seat.
"Lasagne," Squall said, looking at the board opposite the entrance, "And an orange juice."
Zell went to get the food, not particularly bothered by Squall's lack of manners, but Rinoa was bothered.
"Will you PLEASE stop saying only what's neccessary?" she pleaded
Squall shrugged at Rinoa's question and examined a cut on the back of his hand. This annoyed Rinoa even more but she didn't say anything. Getting Squall to talk more was like trying to get blood out of a stone, he'd only talk when he wanted to. But Rinoa was confident he'd open up in his own time.
"So how was your day?" She asked him.
"Boring," Squall stated, "I'm going to quit. I called Cid, he'll be here at 11 o'clock tomorrow morning."
"Why?" Rinoa asked.
"So we can discuss who's going to take over permanantly. If I keep this job I'll go crazy." Squall answered.
"Who will take over?"
"I don't know, we'll have to find someone suitable."
Just then, Zell came bouncing back with the food,
"Lasagne and an orange juice." He said to Squall, plonking the tray down in front of him. Squall looked to see what Zell had got and, surprise, surprise it was laden with 5 hotdogs.
"How can you eat those all the time?" He asked.
"Easily!" Zell said, "And anyway, I only have hotdogs on Fridays now, I've cut back.
It was Squall's turn to laugh. He shook his head in amazement.
Rinoa raised her eyes pointedly at Squall indicating he should tell Zell about his plan. Squall shook his head, he just couldn't be bothered to explain again. Rinoa gave him a stern look and Squall rolled his eyes and took a deep breath.
Zell watched all this with a bemused look on his face. Only Squall and Rinoa understood the looks they gave eachother. Squall began to explain what he planned to do. Zell was silent until Squall finished.
"I'm with you whatever man." Zell told Squall.
Squall was taken aback by Zell's show of loyalty. He found himself at a loss for a reply.
"Thanks." He grunted
Squall was sometimes frustrated by the way he found it hard to express his opinions. He was so used to not caring about others, blowing them off whenever they tried to get close to him or give him some help. But Squall was not so cruel that he would ignore the people he had been through so much with, the people who had helped him when he was ready to give in, had cared for him. Squall found it much easier to talk to his friends now. Friends. Something he could never remember having in his whole life. He had always been an outcast, he seemed to have the word tatooed to his forehead. The main reason was probably his lack of trust in other people. It had been so much easier to pretend he wasn't affected by the way people treated him and depending only on himself had its advantages. Squall was quite content to live his own life without others interfering in his business. If he accepted help he would be expected to return the favour and Squall hated having people relying on him, it was too easy to disappoint them.
Squall was brought back to reality as Zell waved his hand in front of his face.
"Earth to Squall, Earth to Squall." Zell laughed.
Squall blinked and looked up at Zell a deep frown on his face. "What?" Squall's tone was harsher than he had meant. He mentally kicked himself but Zell saw the look on his face and understood. Squall just didn't like being interrupted when he was thinking.
"Do you want to come to my place at the weekend?" Zell asked, a hopeful look on his face, "It's my mom's birthday, I thought you might like to come." He explained.
Zell had obviously been discussing the matter with Rinoa while Squall had been off in his own little world. Rinoa gave Squall a significnt glance from behind Zell, who was mow standing up and bouncing nervously on the balls of his feet.
"Sure." Squall said, in a faked cheerful tone. He didn't really want to go but he knew how much Zell cared for Mrs Dincht even if she wasn't his biological mother.
"Yes!" Zell cried happily, "You'll love it my mom's cooking, her food is the best!" He bounded off out of the cafeteria narrowly avoiding a colision with Irvine and Selphie who were holding hands.
Squall roled his eyes and greeted them with a grin as he noticed they had their hands locked together. Only yesterday Selphie had sworn never to talk to Irvine for the rest of her life because she had caught him eyeing amother cadet. Selphie tried to keep her promise but she was too nice a person to ignore anyone for more than a couple of hours at the most. The result was that her arguments with Irvine (which were rather frequent) always blew over quickly.
"We just came to tell you we'll be at the meeting with Cid tomorrow." Selphie said with a kind smile.
"Quistis told us," Irvine said "We saw her at the Quad a few minutes ago." He added at the confused look on Squall's face.
"See ya!" Selphie said with a wink and she and Irvine departed. Squall watched in disbelief as Irvine put his arm around Selphie's waist then slowly slid his his arm down to butt. Rinoa tutted this behaviour was typical of Irvine and everyone wondered how Selphie put up with it. But no matter how much they seemed to hate each other Selphie and Irvine really were in love.
Squall and Rinoa were left alone and a silence descended over the table. Squall opened his mouth to say something then shut it again because he had nothing in particular to say. Rinoa got up and sat down next to him. Squall tensed slightly as she cuddled up to him but he soon relaxed. Rinoa rested her head on Squall's chest and he put an arm round her shoulder. Rinoa felt comfortable just being close to Squall and was surprised at him allowing her to be so close in public. Normally Squall was only like this in when they were completely alone but it seemed he was finally getting used to being with someone else.
Squall's thoughts drifted to their first meeting when he had wanted to be alone and be with her at the same time. When Rinoa had approached him he had been totally captivated by her beauty and grace. She asked him to dance he had ignored her then, when she persisted he lied and said he couldn't dance so that he wouln't have to. Rinoa had dragged him to the floor anyway and although he could have easily stayed where he was, leaning on his wall but he thought it would have been mean. So Squall had allowed himself to be dragged on to the dancefloor where he had danced as bad as he could to try and get it over with as quickly as possible. But Rinoa had known what he was upto all along. Squall had bumped into her and other dancers and tried to leave the floor many times but she kept dragging him back.
As the tune became faster Rinoa whispered into his ear,"I know you can do better than this." She had a knowing grin on her face as she said this.
Squall realised she had figured him out and gave up his charade. He took her hand in a firm grip and assumed the correct stance. He started to dance without even thinking about it lost in the music and the beautiful girl in front of him. They broke apart and danced in a circle facing each other then turning away. They met and Squall twirled the girl away from him then back. Again she twirled then came back to him perfectly. Squall was distracted by a sudden burst of colour as many great fireworks exploded overhead and forgot his uneasy feeling at the girl in his arms. The girl watched his face with interest as he looked up at the beautiful display of colour and light. Then she spotted someone over his shoulder and hurried away towards them leaving Squall alone on the dancefloor. Squall was surprised by his dissappointment that she had left so quickly. This was stupid. Minutes ago he had wanted to be left alone and had tried to ignore her and now he wanted to be with her again.
Once again Squall's thoughts were interupted but this time it was in a pleasant way. Rinoa put her hand on the side of his face and kissed him gently on the lips. "What are you thinking?" she asked.
"I'm thinking about when we first met... Why'd you pick me to dance with when there was a whole room full of people?"
Rinoa paused for a minute to think before she answered. "You looked lonely.." She said, "And like I said you were the best looking guy there."
Squall shrugged at the answer, slightly dissappointed that Rinoa had only danced with him out of pity. He shook himself mentally. 'If she just pitied you she wouldn't still be with you stupid.' A voice in his head told him. 'Anyway she just complimented you; say something back.'
"You were the most beautiful girl there." He said, "But then again, you're the most beautiful girl in most places."
Rinoa grinned and blushed slightly at Squall's compliment. "Aww, you are SO sweeeet." Before Squall could react she had grabbed his face with both hands and was giving him a passionate kiss. Squall was stunned for a moment but then he returned the kiss. Rinoa broke away breathlessly and stood up. "I need to be in the infirmary," she said, "Doctor Kadowaki's expecting me."
"I'll walk you." Squall offered.
"OK." Rinoa replied, grabbing Squall's hand.
The couple left together with many jealous people watching. Most of the girls in Garden wished they were in Rinoa's shoes; they would love to go out with Squall. Most of the boys in Garden wished they were in Squall's shoes; they would love to go out with Rinoa. The kiss the two had just shared was more than enough to make many other cadets and SeeDs sulk for the day.
Squall walked Rinoa to the infirmary for her lesson with Doctor Kadowaki; she was learning medicine and if she got good enough she would be able to be her assistant. Rinoa said goodbye to him with a kiss on the cheek.
Squall had nothing better to do so he decided to go back to the training center before going to bed.