All of My Life

Updated: 2009.11.01

Summary: AU Rinoa and Squall have seen some hardships in their lives. Those hardships are what made them the people they are today. Can the two overcome one more hurtle to get a happy ending? My pointless and potentially never ending story. Songs end every chapter, feel free to leave ideas for future chapters and future songs.

Disclaimer: Don't own anything


All of My Life

All of my life
Where have you been
I wonder if I'll ever see you again
And if that day comes
I know we could win
I wonder if I'll ever see you again

–Lenny Kravitz


"Squall!"

The little girl flew through the flower field, black hair flowing behind her.

"Squall!"

She looked around the deserted field. Where was he? They had met each other every day for the past two years here. Why wasn't he here?

"Squall!"

The girl's large brown eyes began to tear up. Where was her playmate? Her mother took time out of her busy schedule to bring her here for one reason; to have fun, and she wasn't going to disappoint.

"Squall! Where are you?"

She ran to the edge near the forest, she swore she saw movement. As she neared the edge she noticed her friend, leaning against a tree trunk.

"There you are! I've been looking all over for you!"

Squall looked up at his energetic playmate.

"Rinoa…"

The little girl cut him off as she closed the gap between them with a giant leap, almost landing atop of the boy.

"What are you waiting for? Come on! We're going to have so much fun!"

Squall didn't budge.

"Rinoa…"

Rinoa grabbed the little boy's hand and tugged back towards the flower field. Why wasn't Squall coming already?

"Come on! Your mom made cookies! I thought she only did that on our birthdays!"

The boy still didn't move, he merely lowered his head, unable to look at the happy girl anymore.

"Rinoa…"

Rinoa looked at him before tugging more forcefully.

"Come on! You're my playmate! You have to come play with me!"

Squall didn't know how he was going to break it to her.

"Rinoa…"

Rinoa was getting impatient.

"Why aren't you excited to see me? Did your dad get mad because we threw his shirt in the river?"

Squall shook his head; he still didn't know how to tell her.

"Rinoa, I…"

Rinoa released Squall's hand and stuck her head underneath his gaze to look up at him.

"Good cause, my dad got so mad at me when we poured his tea in his soup last week!" Rinoa paused for a second then tapped Squall on his chest. "You're it!" The bubbly girl took off running in the opposite direction.

Squall sighed. Maybe his parent's could break it to her.


"Why hello there Rinoa! You look quite energetic today."

The kind lady looked down at the brown haired girl with a broad smile.

Rinoa bobbed her head up and down.

"Mommy said you made me cookies?"

The lady took a baking sheet out of the oven and placed it on the counter to cool off.

"Well of course, Rinoa. Did you find Squall?"

Rinoa nodded vigorously, "He's it! He couldn't catch me! I'm fast!"

"Oh I'm sure you're a speedster." The lady smiled even more while she handed Rinoa the first cookie cool enough to eat.

Rinoa took it with a smile, "Thank you Mrs. Loire!" Rinoa might have been quite spoiled and demanding, but her mother would seriously reprimand her if she forgot to say thank you.

Rinoa quietly munched on her cookie, chocolate chip, her favorite. Once Rinoa finished Mrs. Loire held another one out to her. To her surprise, Rinoa shook her head.

"Daddy said I'll be a balloon if I eat too much. He said it's bad to be a balloon. Why's it bad to be a balloon? I like blue ones!"

Despite Mrs. Loire's disapproval of Rinoa's father already placing social pressures upon his daughter, she couldn't help but laugh at Rinoa's childish curiosity.

"There's nothing wrong with balloons, your father just doesn't want you to have problems later in life."

Rinoa didn't seem to understand. "Oh, but Dr. Odine says I'm a big strong girl! I can beat up Squall!" Rinoa beamed.

Mrs. Loire broke out into laughter. Her son and Rinoa had been playing with each other for a couple years now. The two grew so close after the very first meeting. She couldn't remember a single real fight the two ever had. They preferred playing pranks on their respective fathers. Rinoa's being so strict, and Squall's being so easy. The two sometimes play fought; Squall never fought back. Mrs. Loire sometimes wondered if Rinoa's parents knew how much of a tomboy their daughter was.

The door opened as Squall finally caught up, apparently he hadn't chased after Rinoa at all.

"Eek!" Rinoa shrieked. "I'm not it!" She jumped up and ran to the opposite side of the kitchen table.

Squall didn't chase her.

"Squall, would you like a cookie?" Mrs. Loire held out a cookie for Squall to take.

"Okay." Squall took the cookie and walked over to Rinoa. "You want?"

Rinoa looked at it. Her father did tell her not to be a balloon. Of course he also told her not to be a baboon, Rinoa wasn't really sure what that was. Of course, this was a gift from her 'bestest friend in the whole wide world.' She couldn't refuse. Rinoa accepted the cookie from Squall. "Thank you Squall!"

Rinoa couldn't help stealing glances at her friend in between bites. Squall didn't take another cookie for himself. Rinoa thought he seemed sad.

Mrs. Loire glanced at her son. So he hadn't told her yet.

"Rinoa, I'm going to pack some cookies in a bag for you to take home with you. Give some to your mother and father."

Rinoa looked up at Squall's mother confused. "But I'm coming back here tomorrow."

Mrs. Loire frowned for an instant, he definitely hadn't broken the news to her yet.

"Squall…"

The little boy looked up into his mother's face. Pain was written all over it. Squall was never really good at hiding his emotions. Rinoa used to pick on him all the time because of it.

"I know. Rinoa…"

The door flew open again.

"Hey everyone! Is that cookies? For me?" Mr. Loire bounded into the kitchen and snatched up a few cookies, stuffing them all into his mouth at once. "Mmmm! Tas good Raine!"

Raine walked over to push her husband away from the baked goods. "Laguna! These are for the Caraways. You know they don't have time to bake, I thought it would be a nice present."

Laguna looked at his wife then at the two little children sitting at the table staring at him. "Oh… er… well… I'll just go… do… something…" He then bolted from the room.

Rinoa burst out laughing. Mr. Loire was always so funny. She envied Squall so much. His father was so fun to watch, he always seemed to do something random and it never failed to bring a smile to her face. Even after her father's stern lectures and discipline methods.

Squall shook his head with a frown before he turned back to Rinoa to finish what he started.

"Rinoa…"

The little girl popped the last piece of her second cookie into her mouth. She was feeling the affects of the sugar now. She jumped out of her seat and ran to Squall's.

"What? You ready to go play?"

Squall shook his head and placed both his hands on the smaller girl's shoulders to keep her from bouncing around the kitchen.

"My parents are moving."

Squall removed his hands from Rinoa's shoulders. That wasn't so hard was it?

"Oh," Rinoa looked around the kitchen. "How are you going to take care of everything?" Her eyes widened with an idea, "Oh! I know! I'll help you take care of it! It'll be just like my dollhouse at home!"

Raine wasn't trying to eavesdrop on the two little kids but she couldn't help but feel relieved that Rinoa had a normal girl life as well as her tomboy side with Squall. Too bad she didn't understand what Squall was telling her.

Squall looked at his shoes. His arms now at his side, shoulders slumped.

"I'm not staying either Rinoa, We're all moving."

Rinoa's eyes widened even more than when her brilliant idea popped into her head.

"What? You can't leave! Who will I play with? You're my bestest friend! I'm your bestest friend! Bestest friends can't leave each other!"

Squall merely sank into a dinning chair.

The front door opened again, this time a gorgeous woman entered. Her voice sounded like wind chimes, delicate yet beautiful.

"Hello? Raine? Laguna? You in here?"

Raine quickly exited the kitchen to greet her friend.

"Julia! It's so good to see you!"

The two women embraced before walking to the kitchen.

"Has Rinoa been behaving?" Julia looked at Rinoa who was still staring at Squall with something like a look of horror on her face. "What's wrong Rinoa?"

The little girl looked up at her mother, brown eyes trembling as tears threatened to fall. "Squall's leaving me!" She finally managed to choke out. Rinoa ran to bury her face into her mother's pant leg.

"I know sweetie, the Loires need to move for Squall's daddy's job." Julie tried to comfort her now sobbing daughter.

"But he's my bestest friend! He can't leave me!" Rinoa sniffled. He couldn't leave her. He was HER playmate, nobody else's. Rinoa's crying stopped when she came up with another idea. "I know! Mommy! Buy him!"

Julia stared at her daughter. "Rinoa, Squall's not a toy at the store, he's not for sale."

Rinoa pouted up at her mother, "That's what that old man said about his collector's edition Barbie doll! You were able to buy it still!"

Julia looked uneasily at Raine who was holding back laughter. She turned back to her daughter, "Rinoa, this is different, Squall is a person, like you. He has a family that would dearly miss him if I took him away from them."

Rinoa looked like she was about to cry again but instead decided to try using her puppy dog eyes. "Then buy Squall's family too!"

Julia sighed, maybe it wasn't the wisest decision to buy Rinoa everything she wanted. Now the girl thought money could buy everything, or anyone. "Rinoa, that's just not going to happen. Tell you what; I'll take you to visit Squall sometimes. How does that sound?"

Rinoa nodded silently, she was still fuming that her puppy dog eyes hadn't worked. She thought she had mastered that tactic by the age of 2.

Julia turned towards Raine and Squall who had both taken seats at the dinning table, trying not to appear to be poking their noses in Julia and Rinoa's argument. "Sorry about that Raine."

"Oh don't worry about it Julia, Squall was just as angry when we told him yesterday." Raine looked at her son who was slouching farther into his seat. "Squall, sit up." The boy shot back up in his seat.

Julia turned back to her daughter. She bent down to wipe the remaining tears off her face. "Rinoa, go say goodbye to the Loires, we need to get back home for dinner. You know how your father is when we're late."

Rinoa nodded reluctantly. Why was she being punished by Squall's dad's job? Rinoa trudged over to Mrs. Loire. "Thank you for the cookies Mrs. Loire."

Raine smiled down at Rinoa as the girl turned to walk towards Squall.

Why wouldn't her mother buy Squall? She bought everything else she asked for. If Squall wanted to be with his parents then Rinoa was sure her mother could buy Squall's parents too. Rinoa looked at her 'bestest friend'. Fresh tears threatened to trickle from her large brown eyes. Rinoa threw her arms around the boy in a desperate hug. "Bye Squall. You'll always be my bestest friend in the whole wide world."

Rinoa didn't look up to see Squall also had tears in his blue eyes. Both mothers thought the moment was the cutest thing they had ever seen, if only they could stay like that forever.


Rinoa stared out of the backseat window as Squall stood with both his parents. Squall just stood there, not joining his parents waving at the retreating car.

'All of my life
Where have you been'

Rinoa thought about the past two years with Squall. The fun times, the reckless times, the times her father wanted to kill the two rascals. Rinoa's eyes never left Squall's.

'I wonder if I'll ever see you again'

Rinoa prayed her mother wasn't lying when she promised to take her to see Squall again. Of course she wouldn't lie to her, her mother was her second bestest friend ever. Rinoa noticed Squall fidget as his figure became smaller and smaller through the backseat window.

'And if that day comes
I know we could win'

Rinoa hoped the day would be soon. She had better prepare for that day. Rinoa was determined to be bigger, she'd show everyone that she was a strong girl; she'd be able to last until she saw him again. Rinoa swore she saw the speck that was Squall raise his arm to finally wave at her.

'I wonder if I'll ever see you again'