Just One More kiss

Chapter 1
Distorted Reflection

Seifer was beginning to question his state of mind at the time he had made this decision. Whatever was going through his head when the plan formulated had more than certainly vanished and he could no longer figure any conceivable explanation as to why he had thrown himself in to this situation.

He had never been so afraid of something so trivial before in his whole life.

He closed his eyes to the setting sun and inhaled deeply as if the extra oxygen would jump start his brain. He knew one thing for sure: excess drinking had terrible effects on his judgment and reasoning. Then again being anything other than stone cold sober at this point in time seemed like the best idea in the world. He knew he would have to face it eventually, but was it too soon? Or too late? He shook away the battle going on in side his head and bravely stepped forward. Deep down he knew this was the right thing to do.

It was time to go home.

***


She tapped her nails on the arm of the chair impatiently, she had never been good at having to wait for anything and today was no exception. The anticipation waiting brought always made her nervous and being nervous often made her feel queasy. Right now she was trying her hardest to keep herself from throwing up everywhere.

She fixed her gaze upon the large oak doors, which she was beginning to believe, had been sealed by some unseen force. She wondered if the length of time the doors had remained shut for was a good or a bad sign. Could she have said more? Did she say too much? It didn't matter anymore; she couldn't change anything now.

"Rinoa Heartilly?" A tall dark haired woman spoke as she stepped out from behind the door.

Rinoa stood up, and waited.

"Could you step back in the room please?" The women moved across and gestured for the younger girl to proceed inside.

She walked back into the large conference room and looked at the faces of the twelve middle-aged men who sat around the dominating rectangular table, and waited.

"Please take a seat," said the youngest member of the room who was sat at the top of the table.

Rinoa sat at the opposite end of the table remaining silent.

"Miss Heartilly we apologise for keeping you waiting for such a length of time," he said void of emotion. "We are pleased to tell you, however that we have reached a decision."

Rinoa continued to stare at the man in front of her, her hands clasped tightly together on her lap. She held her breath and waited.

"Now you must appreciate that this decision has been far from easy for us. Not just this government but the entire world has been in terrible disarray for the past ten months and you must realise that other more pressing matters have been given priority in this time. You should be thankful that your appeal has been dealt with at all."

"Oh I am Mr. President, but surely-" he held his hand up to silence her.

"I admire your persistence with the case in hand and have taken special consideration into it due to your personal involvement in relation to the Sorceress's war but am afraid to conclude that immediate action upon your request is impossible." The newly appointed president remained emotionless but maintained eye contact with the girl in front him.

Rinoa's face fell. "But why? I-It's not like this issue hasn't been brought up before," she felt hot rage begin to race through her body, "There isn't a logical reason for this oppression to continue! No one is at war anymore the people of Timber deserve to be free!" She felt her nails dig in to the table in front of her.

"I understand that, Miss Heartilly but as I said immediate action is impossible," he smiled at her. Rinoa glared back, she was in no mood to be patronised and at this moment in time she wanted nothing more to get out of this room. "Due to the large number of troops within the village it would be impossible to relocate them all immediately. We fear that the backlash from the townspeople would put many of our young soldiers lives in danger once the withdrawal notice had been issued-"

"Bullshit" Rinoa got up from her seat and headed for the door.

"Therefore, Miss Heartilly I felt it best to spend my vacation weekend organising a covert dispatch operation in order to remove the troops from Timber on Monday morning." He smiled smugly and waited for her response.

Rinoa felt her heart leap in her chest. For the first time since she could remember she was speechless. She nodded and smiled in gratitude before pulling the heavy oak doors open.

***

It had been an uneventful day in Balamb Garden and that meant only one thing, thought the blonde martial artist: It was going to be a doubly boring day tomorrow. He yawned sluggishly and stretched in his chair before looking at his watch. 5:45 it read. He was never early for anything but on this occasion waiting in the cafeteria was marginally more exciting than waiting in his room.

His attention was finally sparked by a group of girls giggling at a table a short distance away from his own. He discreetly honed into their conversation. It didn't take him long to realise they were having an in depth discussion about their menstrual cycles, he prayed the others would be there soon.

"Hey there, Zelly!" A cheery voice came in answer to his prayers.

"Hey Selphie! How are you? What you been up to? Tell me about your day, I want to know everything! No, wait, maybe I don't...."

"Whoa there, Mr eager beaver! Have you been drinking too much caffeine again?" Selphie sat down looking concerned.

"No, I'm fine." Zell replied. "Hey, where's Irvine?"

"What? He's just behi-" Selphie got up again and looked around the room search of her stray boyfriend.

She spotted him talking to a voluptuous blonde standing next to the vending machine.

"Irvine Kinneas!" She yelled while marching up to the tall cowboy causing the majority of the room to stop mid sentence and observe the scene.

Irvine looking somewhat like a rabbit caught in the headlights of a car smiled sheepishly at the girl standing beside him. He opened his mouth in attempt to explain his innocence to his now fuming girlfriend as she approached him, but was cut short in surprise as she grabbed him by the ear and dragged him off to the table.

The three sat in complete silence and the rest of the room slowly began to return to their meals and pick up their individual conversations. Selphie sat sternly with her arms folded with a guilty looking Irvine beside her resting his head on his hand sulkily. Zell sat opposite looking increasingly uncomfortable.

The lull was suddenly interrupted by the heavy thud of papers being dropped on to the table.

"Quistis!" Zell exclaimed excitedly. "Quisty is here you guys, she'll have something interesting to say... won't you? He said turning to the slender blonde woman.

"Someone kill me." She whimpered flopping down in her seat glaring absently at the large stack of paper in front of her. She sighed. "I've got fourteen hours to grade one hundred and fifty nine and a half exam papers."

"A hundred and fifty nine and a half?" Selphie questioned.

"Yeah." The blonde responded and it seemed as though she had no intention of explaining. "One student had a nose bleed over half of his paper."

The others looked concerned.

"He asked if he could re-take the second half of the exam," she continued, "I said if he did I'd fail him."

The others looked shocked.

"What?" She asked looking round at their faces. "Knowing that I'm already half a paper down is the only thing keeping me going at the minute!"

The others remained silent for a short while glancing uncomfortably between one another.

"Quistis Trepe everyone!" Irvine exclaimed "Manic depressive of the year!"

Zell and Selphie smirked at one another while Quistis sat looking unimpressed staring sternly at Irvine. Just before he attempted to apologise Quistis burst into laughter.

"You know," she chuckled, "you guys are the only ones who keep me sane."

"Come on Quis, you know you love teaching really," Selphie said.

"Yeah the teaching bit it okay but grading papers is defiantly not my idea of fun!" She sat back in her chair "These past ten months have been so hectic, so much has happened I sometimes wonder if things will ever get back to normal. I mean dozens of cadets have dropped out after what happened but I swear, at least three times as many people have signed up. Sometimes I don't know if I can cope."

The others listened solemnly.

"It's just," she continued, "all this media hype is making us out to be super hero's but we're not... well I'm not, I'm just me and I think sometimes people forget that. Sometimes I wish everything would just go back to normal and people could accept me for who I am." She gazed off in to the distance sorrowfully.

"I agree," Zell said after a short pause. "Things have really changed, and it sucks! Any missions that have come up recently have been given to rookies 'cause Garden couldn't possibly impose on us anymore and if we do get work it's usually clean up missions!"

"Hey! Clean up jobs are just as important as any other!" Selphie said tetchily.

Zell looked over at his friend inwardly kicking himself for being so thoughtless. Selphie's old home in Trabia was still in ruins and volunteers were diminishing by the day.

"They're just really boring!" She finished winking at Zell cheekily.

"If you don't like it you can always leave." A voice said making them all jump.

"Squall!" Squealed Selphie, "Why'd you have to sneak up on us all the time!?"

Squall sat down and rested his arms on the table.

"I think we've hurt our commander's feelings," Quistis said after a while.

"No, not really," he said apathetically, "I agree as well, things have been depressingly quiet around here lately but what do you want? Another war?"

There was a silent pause.

"Well maybe just a little one." Irvine said quietly.

Selphie slapped him round the head knocking his trademark Stetson off.

"Hey!" he exclaimed pouting moodily.

"So, Squall, bud! Got any new missions lined up for us? Please?" Zell questioned desperately.

"Nope. Well, not unless you want to go to FH and help fix the sewerage system," he said with a slight smile.

Zell made a disgusted face. "Euugh, no way!"

"Really?" Squall said, "not even if I told you that I'm putting Selena in charge of the squad?"

"Where do I sign up?" Zell said without hesitation.

"Come on Zell we all know that if you did go you'd spend all the time moping round like a love sick puppy and if you did manage to catch her eye you'd promptly run away in the opposite direction!" Irvine teased.

"Aww don't be so mean to poor Zelly," Quistis interjected, "it's not his fault he's a total failure with girls!"

"Hey!" Zell exclaimed defensively. "What is it? Pick on Zell day?" He slumped in his seat grumpily. "Anyways, where's Rinoa got to?" He said desperately trying to change the subject.

"I think she's in the library actually," Squall said.

"What's she doing there?" Zell questioned.

"I'm not sure. Maybe you should go get her?" Squall continued trying hard to keep a straight face.

Zell stood up. The others were doing their best to keep from laughing; winding Zell up was always so easy.

"Hey!" He cried out "I see what you're doing! You're trying to make me go to the library and bump in to Selena, aren't you!?"

"What? No! Would I ever do such a thing!?" Squall replied a small smile playing on his lips.

Zell sat back down. "You know I think I preferred you before you found a sense of humour." He said grumpily.

The others fell about laughing.

After a while Selphie spoke, "Zell's right, you know."

"What that Squall should go back to his grumpy old self?" Irvine questioned.

"No, about Rinoa she was meant to meet us here almost twenty minutes ago."

"Do you think its bad news?" Quistis offered.

"Well she said she'd come and meet us whatever the out come." Squall said. "So I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

***

Nothing seemed to have changed. The halls were the same, the tranquil sound of the running fountains was the same even the sweet fragrance of the flowers brought him nostalgia. The only thing that had changed were the faces. He didn't recognise anyone. Just a year ago he would have been making sarcastic comments to almost anyone that walked past, tripping up the odd geek or two for laughs and giving high fives to the few 'friends' he had. But no one called his name, no one even recognised him. Although that was probably a good thing he suddenly felt uncomfortably alone.

He walked around the perimeter of the school until he came to the dormitory wing. He hesitated before continuing in the direction of his old room. He walked along the path he had done countless times before in the past; he would never forget the way. He stopped at the door reading the silver numbers 307 in his head. He remembered the first day he moved in to this room. He was only ten years old when they had moved him from his original room. After a long running chain of practical jokes the end of the line came when he put worms in the bed of the boy next door and told him that they were there because he had wet the bed. The faculty found the poor boy sleeping on the floor a week later.

Seifer smiled at the memory. Winding up little Zell Dincht was always too easy.

He took the silver key card out of his wallet and swiped it through the slot next to the door. He was confronted by a dull beep and the door remained firmly shut. He sighed, slightly disappointed and dejected at the thought that someone else was now occupying his room. He turned and walked slowly away.

Not even a year had passed yet it felt like a lifetime. Events he had never thought conceivable had come to pass with him at the forefront, always the centre of attention. But there were consequences running along side the glory he had dreamt of since he was young. His mind had been twisted and manipulated. He had lost touch of reality. There was so much that he could not remember and so much he wished that he could take back. No matter how much he wished for it though, he knew that no power on earth could change the past. He never thought that he would be able to face it after everything that had happened but the silent solitude that he had endured over the past year was slowly sending him mad.

In the end he had nowhere else to go. No matter how hard he ran from the past some how Garden was destined to be the place he ran to. It was his home and the only place he felt that he would ever feel at peace. The irony was, however that it was also probably the one main establishment that would never welcome him back with open arms. He was a traitor, and no matter how much he tried to justify his actions he would probably always been perceived as one. But he had to try he had no other options.

It was going to be the hardest thing he had ever done in his life, he would have to confront all the people he had grown up with, the people who he had fought against time and again, he would have to face them and say sorry. Seifer had never been one to be any good at grovelling and as much as he despised the thought that he would have face his old rival and apologise he knew that it was going to be the only thing he could do.

As he climbed the flight of stairs leading to the central elevator his mind took him as far back as he could remember. To the last day at his old orphanage. A memory, which had been artificially repressed for so long by the influence of his Gf's. He could see all their faces, Squall sitting next to the wall silently with Zell trying his best to attract his attention by flinging himself across the room in attempt to do a back flip, Irvine wearing the oversized cowboy hat which his biological father had given to him, little Selphie dancing around twirling her hair on her finger and big sister Quistis engrossed in some really big book. Then he thought back to a more resent memory of his surrogate family when they confronted him for the final time in Lunatic Pandora. He thought of their faces then: hard and bitter in front of their enemy void of any emotion they might have once had for him. Deep down he knew that he only had himself to blame for the positions they were all put in to. Even before the sorceress manipulated his mind he created a barrier between the two sides and he knew that it was up to him to beak it down.

The shrill ring announcing the elevator's arrival shattered his thoughts. He moved aside partly in aid to let whoever might be occupying to lift to exit and partly because he wasn't ready to be faced with his past quite yet.

Almost in slow motion his past rushed back in to his present.

Rinoa.

It was like he had forgotten she had ever existed and as she ran out and down the stairs in front of him hundreds of memories came flooding back and he felt his stomach tighten. Why had he never thought of the possibility that she would be here? She was a part of it as well after all. Facing her was now the only thing in his mind everything now seemed subordinate. How would he ever be able to look her in the face after everything they went through together... and everything he tore apart?

He didn't care how all he knew was that he had to he had to see her again.

He needed to see her again.






Author's Note: After wanting to write a serious fic for a long time I started on one about a year ago called Dangerously in Love. After spending a LOT of time writing out the first three chapters before uploading I was seriously annoyed (to say the least) when my computer blew up and my story was destroyed. After about six months of moping about and feeling sorry for myself I decided to start afresh and produced this. I really hope you enjoyed it and I would really appreciate it if you could send in a review or e-mail me at rinoa_ffangel@yahoo.co.uk to tell me what you thought. Oh and a small tip from me to you: Always make a back up copy! ^_^