Lifes.Lover: Thank you for your review. And don't worry, I don't see it as insult. I see it as an advice :)

looks in the money bag Nope, not enough money and so I don't own KH

Squall's Past

Everyone looked at Rinoa with a wide opened mouth, save for Yuffie, Sora, Donald and Goofy. Those four people did not understand, what was going on. Why was everyone acting so strange?

"Can someone explain me what's up?", Sora and Yuffie asked both at the same time. Aerith hinted those two and Donald and Goofy to follow her and she led them to the other site of the room. Then she looked at Yuffie.

"Do you remember that you always, when you were a little girl, played with a girl who was in Leon's age at that time?", Aerith asked. Yuffie had to think really hard before she gave a reply:

"Yeah, I guess..."

"Rinoa was the one."

"What?", they all cried together.

"Rinoa was our good friend. She was always nice to her friends and helped those who need help. Furthermore she often played with Yuffie, who was the youngest", a voice behind them replied. It was Tifa who just joined them.

"You mean... this is Rinny? The one with whom I got along so well?", a surprised Yuffie asked. The black clad woman nodded and the ninja approached Rinoa.

Sora kept looking at Aerith and Tifa and asked the question, he wanted to ask all the time:

"Can you explain it to me, please?"

"You see, before the Heartless destroyed this world, we, the whole Restoration Committee, except for Merlin, and Rinoa were best friends. We all called her Rin or Rinny. But she and Squall were really close, you could say that they were in love. Then the Heartless destroyed the world, we all could save ourselves but no one knew what happened to Rinoa. Squall was completely devastated. He thought she was dead and so he called himself Leon, to forget that he couldn't save the one, who was most important to him", Aerith explained.

"Wait, I thought he called himself Leon because he couldn't save his home", Sora responsed.

"That is his other reason", Tifa replied. Sora, Donald and Goofy formed a 'o' with their mouths to hint that they have understood that.

Later they found Rinoa fast asleep. Squall told them that she should rest since so much had happened to her. So Sora decided to ask her the question, he wants to ask, tomorrow. Together with his two friends he left the house and went to the Market Place.

"Do you think that Rinoa will feel better soon?", Sora asked.

"I hope, she really looked exhausted after she defeated those Heartless", Goofy said.

"Yeah, that was a powerful attack. No surprise that she was exhausted."

The threesome kept going until they meet another duck. This duck showed great similarties with Donald, except that he wore a blue dress coat, a pince-nez on his beak and he had whiskers.

"Hey, uncle Scrooge", Donald greeted him.

"Ah, Donald, right the one I need", Scrooge said with his Scottish accent.

"Why do you need me?", the confused mage asked.

"You should test my newest products", Scrooge explained. After that, Donald's nephews Huey, Duey and Louie have arrived. Everyone carried a plateful of food. Donald took that what was on Huey's plate, which was ice cream. After Donald took a bite, he had a weird expression on his face. It was mix between squeamishness and confusion.

"What's that?", the duck asked after he gulped the bite down.

"Garlic Ice Cream", his uncle replied. "Did it pass?"

"No", Donald said while taking the cake from Duey's plate. Unlike the ice cream, he had a thoughtful expression after he took a bite.

"Tastes like chicken", he said after a minute.

"That's Chicken Cake", his nephew explained. Donald looked at him in a weird way and he took the cake from Louie's plate. He smiled after a ate a piece of that. Donald looked like he's seeing the most wonderful thing in the world.

"Well, I suggest that your facial expression means that this cake has passed", Scrooge said while Donald was still looking smiling in space. His uncle told the three chicks to go, to produce more cakes. He wanted to go too, but Sora stopped him:

"Stop! What kind of cake was that?"

Before Scrooge replied to Sora's question, he pulled him down with his staff. Then he whispered quietly into Sora's ear:

"That was Fly Cake."

Without saying another word followed the rich duck his grandnephews.

Squall looked after the threesome after they left. Everyone was doing this, what they did before Sora, Donald, Goofy and Rinoa have arrived. He sat next to Rinoa and thought. Then he looked at her and stroked her hair.

"Rinoa...", he whispered barely audible. "All the years I thought you were dead. What happened to you during that time? How did you manage to defeat countless Heartless with a single strike?"

He noticed that someone was standing next to him and he looked up. Aerith stood next to him, holding a sandwich.

"Here", she gave him that very sandwich with this word. Squall thanked her when he took the sandwich and looked again to Rinoa, while eating the sandwich.

"What, do you think, happened to her all these years", he asked.

"I don't know, but maybe something terrible like with us. But whatever happened to her, I'm sure it was something extraordinary."

She relapsed into silence and looked at Rinoa, too. But Squall looked confused at Aerith. She seemed to have noticed the look, because she continued to speak:

"Well, she could defeat thousands of Shadows with a single strike. Those Heartless might be weak but dangerous in groups. Rinoa defeated them with just one strike. No one could do this. Not even with a long lasting training."

"You're right", Squall agreed. Shortly after that he heard steps. Now he was the only one at Rinoa's site. Always when something was bothering him or something was risky, he disappeared into his own world to think.

He thought about that what might have happened to Rinoa. What was it? Torture? Maybe something even worse. Where had she been all those years? Was she a Heartless?

"No", Squall thought. "She is definitely not a Heartless, otherwise she wouldn't be here..."

A sound brought him back to reality. When he looked, he saw that Rinoa has awaken. She had a little smile on her face. The very smile that had made Squall happy and he was happy now.