Disclaimer: I do not own FFVIII or its characters. Sadly…the things I would do…teehee.
Rating: M for language, violence, and sexuality (yes there will be sexuality^^).
Rinoa's eyes seemed to droop as she stared up at the endless sky with Squall, the stars reflecting in both their eyes.
"You're tired."
"Huh uh," she moaned, stretching her legs out, wriggling her naked toes, her high heels lying lazily in her lap.
"Uh huh, sure you're not," Squall muttered, getting to his feet, reaching down and scooping her up into his arms, her feet dangling over one arm, his other hand secure around her shoulders, her hands holding onto his neck, her shoes still safe in her lap. "I think it's time to go back to the Garden."
The fighter tightened his grip upon his beloved, taking slow steps back towards the direction of Garden, taking his sweet time in returning back to normality. Things had been so peaceful and right when it had just been him and Rinoa that the idea of heading back to their everyday life was a bit overwhelming.
"I don't want this to be over, please; can't we stay just a little longer?" Rinoa pleaded, snuggling her face into his formed chest, listening to the steady murmur of his heartbeat.
Squall sighed, wanting nothing more than to do as she asked but he knew that all that would happen is that she would fall asleep, and so would his arm. He couldn't let her sleep out in the cold like this. The right thing to do would be to say goodnight and see her in the morning. "No, not tonight Rinoa. We'll have another chance at this soon, I promise."
"Mmngh, ok," she whispered, her body growing limp as she began to doze off in his arms.
Her knight walked through Fisherman's Horizon slowly, taking in the sights of the peaceful town, loving the sound of the ocean and the laughter of everyone in the city. It was truly a magnificent town.
Before he knew it he was walking through the door of Rinoa's room, setting her down softly on her bed, slipping her high heels out of her lap and letting them fall quietly to the ground, "Goodnight, Rinoa."
Her mouth twitched into a smile as she turned onto her side, using her pillow to snuggle into instead of his chest. He watched her for a while longer before he left the room, shutting her door behind him.
************
Squall's eyes began to sink shut on his walk back to his own dorms and bedroom, the halls completely deserted until Irvine popped out from behind an overly large fern, "What the hell Irvine, what were you doing back there?"
Irvine's face turned red for a moment before he laughed, shoving a magazine back behind the fern, "That doesn't matter. Tell me, how far did you get? Home run right?"
Squall stared at him, completely unsurprised by his questions about his date with Rinoa. Irvine always did have a pervert perspective on everything. If Selphie sucked on a straw too long he would have to ask her to stop teasing him, although the poor girl had apparently been parched…or at least that was the way Squall had taken it. He wasn't the best at sighting flirting or innuendos.
"Irvine, even if I did do intimate things with Rinoa, do you think I would tell you?"
Irvine frowned, "Dude of course, that's what guys do, dish on sex with each other. Girls complain about how we're jerks and then we brag about sex. That's how the world works, duh!"
The SeeD leader rolled his eyes, scratching at the bridge of his nose, "Well I don't really think I want to take part in that stereotype."
"Ah turned you down did she?"
Anger shot through Squall like a bullet, his fingers numbing for a moment, "No she didn't, and I didn't try anything!"
"How could you not, Squall? She totally was dressed to kill. She was practically begging for it!"
This made Squall stop his retaliation for a moment; thinking back to the way Rinoa had been dressed. She had been rather seductive in her appearance but Squall found her to be beautiful in anything she wore, even sweats. "She was just trying to look nice."
"That's what chicks do; they try to look nice so they can snare a man for the night. I really think me and Zell need to have an intervention with you, man. This is kind of pathetic."
"You know what's pathetic?"
The cowboy hat wearing man shrugged, "What is?"
"How much of a girl you're going to sound like while I'm kicking your ass!" Squall growled, grabbing Irvine by the collar of his shirt.
************
The next morning, everyone met at their usual table for breakfast, Irvine sporting a royal blue shiner on his left eye. He sat quietly next to Selphie and Quistis, who couldn't help but stare at his swollen face, "What happened to you?" Zell asked, sitting down next to Squall and Rinoa.
Irvine sighed, "I fell."
"You don't have to lie to us, Irvine. Selphie hits you doesn't she?" Zell teased, his eyebrows rising in a teasing expression. Irvine shot a quick look of pleading in Squall's direction.
"It's true, he and I went to the training facility last night and he fell over that large tree that's in the middle of the walk way. He hit his face against a huge rock. It looked like it hurt pretty badly, eh Irvine?"
The long haired man sniffled a little as he took a large bite out of his toast, "Yeah…hurt."
Rinoa prodded Squall in his side, her eyes eager, "So did you have fun last night?" She whispered.
He felt his mouth trying to tug into a smile, matching the whispering tone she had set, "I did. Did you?"
She nodded quickly, leaning her head against his shoulder.
Quistis felt her face turn red with jealousy as she cast a glare down at her food, stabbing at her sausage with a fierce growl. "Damn Quisty, you keep spearing your food like that and you'll stab straight through the plate," Zell murmured, his blue eyes wide as he watched her kill her already cooked meal.
Squall sighed, more than aware of what was causing his former instructor to act so aggressively, "I need to get up to the command center. You all have a good day. I'll see you later," he said, bending down to give Rinoa a kiss on the top of her head.
Her face instantly was set alight with admiration as she nodded, waving after him.
Selphie stared at Irvine's eye again, raising a hand and touching it slightly. She fell backwards when Irvine jumped to his feet, his eyes and face wild, "WHAT THE HELL SELPHIE DON'T TOUCH MY FUCKIN' BLACK EYE, THAT SHIT HURTS!"
Once again, the focus of the entire room was shifted their direction. As always.
************
Squall stared at the reports that Xu was shoving his direction, "We have received word from Esthar City about an uprising, claiming that the power of those past has been reawakened."
He sighed, "Another Ultemecia wanna be huh?"
Xu shrugged, "Perhaps, but the officials seemed rather anxious for us to check it out."
"Where do they expect us to go?"
"Centra Region."
"Well then, punch in the coordinates."
"Shall I alert the other SeeDs? Or perhaps summon for Master Laguna Loire to accompany you on this mission?" Xu offered, her finger headed towards the intercom button.
Squall immediately pictured Rinoa and her possession the last time they dealt with any sort of witchcraft and shook his head. And the mere mention of Laguna caused Squall to shake his head. Laguna although was not an older man, he was merely in his early forties, but he would not let the possibility of endangering his life come into play. He had only just realized that Laguna had been his long lost father…and they still had time to make up. He wasn't about to put that in danger, "I'll be going this one alone."
Xu raised an eyebrow, "Sir, I don't want to disobey your orders but isn't that a little dangerous? One SeeD is simply not enough, the report called for a team of SeeDs."
The SeeD leader smiled, his eyes twinkling with the thrill of danger yet again, "Just the way I like it…dangerous. Besides, I'm just going to scout things out. If I need backup I'll radio for it."
The woman sighed, her face slightly amused, "That's typical of you Squall, always taking the bullet, never shooting the gun. You are truly a man to be admired."
Squall shifted uneasily, the compliments falling hard against his unfamiliar skin, "Er well…never mind that. Estimated time of arrival?"
"Nearly three hours. Best take this time to rest. What are your orders for the other SeeDs?"
"They are to make their rounds about the Garden as usual, no one is permitted to leave Garden other than myself unless ordered by me to do so, understood?"
She nodded, saluting him, "Aye aye, sir."
Squall saluted her as well, heading back to his dorm to pack up any potions, to junction his magic and guardian forces that he may need, and to rest a little while longer.
Ok so there was chapter 3. Short chapter but I wanted to update so you all had something to read for a bit before I got chapter 4 done. It'll be up in a day or so, I'm usually pretty good about updating so you guys won't have to wait nearly as long as before. Review, I love to hear how this story is going for ya. =)
Much love,
~Nikki~
