Squall never was a social child. He never had been. So why would this little spiky blond change that?
Squall sat outside on the swings, reading a book about sword-play. Suddenly, he felt himself being pushed forward. He nearly fell out of the swing. Turning around angrily, he yelled, "Yuffie!" What Squall saw, however, was not who he had been expecting. A small blond child sheepishly looked up at him from under his long lashes. Definitely not Yuffie. Squall did a double take and hoped off the swing, book in hand. He looked into the most startling pair of eyes he had ever seen. They were the color of the sea and becoming just as watery, too.
"Humph. I don't know who you are, but don't push me again."
The blond looked up at him, tears in his eyes from the rough rebuttal. All he could do was softly nod in response and quietly whisper his explanation.
"I'm sorry. She told me you liked to be pushed on the swings…" The blond looked over at a young girl hanging upside down from the monkey bars, laughing. Then without warning, the small blond sucked in a big breath, tears falling freely now, and ran in the opposite direction of Squall.
Squall stared after the kid for a moment, then started in on Yuffie.
"Yuffie! Where do you get off telling people that it's alright for them to push me on the swings? You know I don't like that. Don't ever do that again." Squall fixed her with the best death-glare a small child could offer. Yuffie, who had been hanging upside down from the monkey bars, squeaked with the intensity of the glare shooting from the other child's grey eyes. She knew that Squall's death-glare was a serious thing and she shouldn't bring her spunky personality into the path of it. Getting down off of the monkey bars, Yuffie quickly nodded and left for home.
Squall sighed and hung his head. Sometimes that girl could be SO annoying. He would be glad when he was adopted. He would finally be able to get out of this cramped little house that sheltered too many children. Not to say that Ms. Tifa wasn't nice, it was just that he was tired of other children picking on him because he read books. Like that Seifer kid. The cocky little blond kid had so much bad karma coming for him that Squall wanted to be there when it all happened to him. Because it was bound to happen all at once. Squall and Seifer had been caught many times, fighting out back of the house at any given time of the day. And even though Squall was a bibliophile, he could hold his own in a fight.
Sighing once again, Squall headed back to the house, hoping that he'd be able to find some peace and quiet so he could read his book. As he walked, he thought about the small blond boy he had made cry, earlier. It had only happened a few times, but it was still a surprising thing for Squall to see. The first time it had happened, he was maybe five years old. A small black haired girl had cornered him in the house's sparse library.
"Do you want to be friends?"
"Why would I want to have friends? They've never helped me out before."
"But, I'll be there for you, Squall."
"No."
"But Squall…"
"I said: No."
And that was where she had burst into tears. To this day, Squall could not see why friends were all that important. As a small child, his "friends" had done nothing to help him, and had dumped him at this orphanage as soon as they got the chance. Because of his "friends" he would never see his real parents again.
Maybe that blond kid had just wanted to be friends, too. But Squall would have told him the exact same thing he had told the girl: No. Friends never lived up to their definition.
Squall stormed into the house, troubled by past memories. He hardly noticed the smell of dinner coming from the dainty kitchen.
"Squall, honey, dinner is ready," Ms. Tifa called after him.
"Don't want any." Squall trooped upstairs to his room that he shared with an annoying blond kid named Zell. Zell had a strange marking across his face and was constantly reminding people that it was a birthmark, not a defect.
Settling down onto his bed, Squall quietly took out a small notebook and pen. After writing the date he wrote:
It's been another long, fairly uneventful day. It started just
like any other day: getting up, washing, getting breakfast, a
book and searching desperately for some quiet. However, with
Yuffie around, that's not likely to happen. Not too long and I'll
be turning another year older. I know Ms. Tifa is going to start
asking soon what I want for my birthday. I've grown up a bit
from last year, and have come to realize that "to be adopted
and get away from here" is not the best answer to her question.
This year, I believe I'll simply ask for another book. Master Yen
Sid has another one coming out just in time and it looks interesting.
I'm sure Ms. Tifa will look at me strangely at first, wondering why
a child so small would possibly want to read a book as complicated
as one written by the famous Master Yen Sid. What can I say? I was
just born with smarts, I guess. I must have been born with my own as
well as Seifer's. I did well today and didn't get into any more fights
with him. It won't be too long though, before I sock him a good one
(again) for whatever it will be that he does to deserve it. Honestly,
everything I've hit him with, he's deserved in some fashion or another.
Today, I was out reading at the park just up the street from Ms. Tifa's.
Minding my own business, reading a book, sitting on the swing. No big
deal, right? It was just fine until a small blond boy came up and pushed
me. Now that I think about it, I might have been a bit harsh with him; he
started crying as soon as I told him to not ever push me again. This kid did,
however, happen to have the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen. They were
just the perfect combination of sky and sea. I do feel bad for making him cry.
I hope I can see him again…to apologize. Dinner must be over; I can hear Zell
climbing back up the stairs.
Squall quietly put his diary back into its hiding place. He got teased enough about reading; he didn't need to be teased for keeping a diary "like a girl," the words taking the tone Seifer would use when discussing something that disgusted him. Which, come to think of it, was almost everything that wasn't his own image.
Zell came into the room and immediately started to chatter.
"Dinner tonight was amazing! Guess what it was, Squall! Guess!"
"Hm…that's a tough one, seeing how excited you are. Could it possibly be hotdogs?" Squall droned in a bored tone.
"Wow! You're good at this game! Wanna play again?" Zell bounced excitedly up and down on the bed.
"Sure, why not?"
"There's some one here. For you, actually. Wanna guess who it is?" The bedsprings on Zell's bed were groaning in protest to the active boy atop them.
Squall thought about getting his hopes up. Thought that maybe a family was finally here to adopt him and take him away. Thought that maybe hope had finally come and he would find his parents. Thought that maybe he would be able to live in a large house with more books than he could see at one time. Thought that…well, he wouldn't get his hopes up. Irritated by the squeaking of the bedsprings, Squall let himself come back to Zell's game.
"I can't think of who it could be. Why don't you tell me, Zell?"
Zell practically shot across the room at Squall in his excitement. He managed, somehow, to stop himself just before he collided with Squall.
"It's a family, Squall. A real live family that wants to adopt you! I guess they saw you earlier and immediately knew that they wanted you as a son! Isn't it great? But it's still sad. We won't be roommates anymore." Zell visibly deflated and slinked back to his bed with the sudden realization that Squall wouldn't be his roommate at the small house anymore.
"When do they want to see me?"
"As soon as dinner is over, so probably now would be a good time. I had fun being friends, Squall."
The word shocked Squall and froze him on his journey to the door. There was that word again. Hadn't it haunted him enough for one day? Squall sighed and kept moving toward the door. He would figure it out later. He had a new family to meet.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
yeah. so my first fanfic. let me know what you liked and what you didn't. thanks!