The most Rinoa has wanted to do, ever since she arrived at Garden and signed up for classes and began to study, was prove herself.
She wanted them to see that she was a warrior, too. She had fought alongside them. She had helped to defeat Ultimecia. It had been her magic and her words that had aided them in their journey; it had been her kindness that had helped them see the light in the dark. To her, that was all she had needed to do to find a place with them, to fit in.
But, sometimes, she felt left out They had something between them, a kind of bond that she could never duplicate, even if she tried. They had been through everything together - even Seifer shared this bond with them - and there was no place for her to step in. Sometimes they acted like they forgot she was there. They would slip into their thoughts of the past and their wishes and their duties, and they'd forget that she even existed.
It was those times that convinced her to sign up for Garden, despite Squall's obvious protests and Quistis' complaints and worries. They were just looking out for her, the both of them had told her. But she'd told them that she didn't need looking out for, because she wasn't a little girl any more, and she wasn't as spoiled and horrible as they sometimes made her out to be. And that was the end, and she was in class the next day, sitting behind a terminal and watching with a student's enthrallment as Quistis started her first lessons.
She wanted to make them see that she was like them in every way. The little looks they gave her, the glances of an adult scolding a child who had done something terribly wrong, fueled her, and her determination to be what they were, to reach their heights, drove her on, even when it felt like it was too hard for her to handle.
After time had passed, long hours of studying and hard battles and one failure put behind her, she was done. She wasn't the top of her class, and she wasn't the strongest of them all, but she was there. That was her goal, and she was happy.
And standing up there, dressed in the SeeD uniform she had seen worn by Quistis and Squall and everyone else so many times but had never dreamed of wearing, Squall smiling at her just a little bit, made her feel like she had finally made it.
