"Ha ha ha, really?" She snickers as she hops up the steps.
"Yup, the whole thing!" He triggers the door, but lets her walk through first.
She giggles again and smiles at Zell as they begin their walk up the corridor from the quad.
"Irvine and Squall tried it too..."
"Squall?" Torama stops mid-step.
"And you should've seen the look on Selph..."
Zell notices that Torama isn't walking next to him and spins around but continues to walk backwards.
"Tora, you okay?"
She recovers and catches up with him.
"I just... it's weird, Squall I mean, he's so serious!"
"Well, yeah, but not so much all the time. Ya know? I guess he has changed a lot... Anyway you should hang out with us more Tora."
"I'd like that;" Torama smiles "you guys are all full SeeDs and I'm still just a candidate..."
"You're still worried about the field exam, right?" He questions.
She nods.
"You wanna train some more?" Asked with raised eyebrows.
"I don't know;" she sighs "I think its just nerves. We've trained hard Zell, the T-rexaur?"
"That was great!" Zell grins, raising his fist in the air. "Poor thing didn't know what hit it."
"And the GF prerequisite I..."
"You passed with flying colors."
"I did, didn't I?"
"So then why are you so nervous?"
"Because..." she looks down, "I want this so badly."
Zell says nothing, but takes her hand in his, gently with the other he raises her chin and kisses her softly. Torama closes her eyes and wishes all of her fears about the exam would just melt away. This was what she wanted to be with Zell. The pig tailed girl pushes herself up onto her toes and puts her free arm around his neck deepening the kiss. Zell's hand move from her face; he wraps his arm around her waist and gently rubs the small of her back. Torama pulls away from the kiss and rests her head on his shoulder. Their embrace becomes a hug right as an Instructor walks up.
"Ahem."
Torama lets go of Zell and steps away, blushing softly.
"Ah, I was..." stammers Zell.
"Excuse me Mr. Dincht, Torama, I just needed to tell you that the committee meeting for tomorrow has to be pushed back, we can go over the schedule when you come in for you shift at... umm?"
"At fourteen hundred hours, sir."
"Right," he nods and turns to leave but looks back "and good evening," quietly "curfew."
Torama's eyes widen just a bit, but Zell comes to her rescue.
"I'll walk her straight to the dorm, sir, good evening!"
Instructor Blank nods then and leaves, and the whoosh of the auto-doors seems overloud.
Torama lets out the breath she was holding.
"I thought he would have reprimanded us for sure."
"Well we won't be so lucky if another Instructor catches us."
Zell nods and they continue through the hall in silence.
Out of the passage and past the cafeteria Torama speaks up again.
"Zell? Are you; are you one of the SeeDs that are going to be sent to the front line?" She demands.
"What? Where did you hear?" He stammers.
"Yesterday, Headmaster Cid was talking with Instructor..." she shakes her head, "'someone' and they said 'First ranks are headed to the front line' and the candidates will be given less dangerous missions!" Torama shouts, on the verge of tears.
"I'm sorry" she breathes, embarrassed by her outburst she turns away from Zell and runs the rest of the way to the dorm. At a loss for words, he hesitates only a moment before running after her.
Zell finds her leaning against the door to her room, he walks up to her and begins softly; "Torama, I..." she turns her head to look at him, her face is all red and she's biting her bottom lip. "I've been on the frontline before, why is it so bad now?"
She moves to him and wraps her arms around his waist burying her face shoulder.
"Because, I love you" she tells him then, looking into his eyes, "I love you, and I don't want to lose you."