Chapter 4 – A Chance Encounter


The sun was bright, the birds sang merrily in the blue sky and children ran and laughed in the streets, just glad not to be in school anymore. It was a warm day and not one of the children wanted to be kept inside, instead they ran wild in the streets playing and giggling with such energy and joy that anyone who watched them couldn't help but smile and remember when they were younger and did the same thing. Parents tried to get children to behave, but eventually gave in and saw a new resemblance to their children. Nobody was inside if they could help it. But Rinoa was.

She sat on a soft cushion in the bay window in the music room and gazed out. She watched the other children running around and having fun. Although she had never really had friends to do that sort of thing with, she wished she could go out and enjoy the summer holidays. She had broken up 4 days ago, or was it 3? To Rinoa, time seemed to be moving so slowly and her father barely let her leave the house, telling her to get her schoolwork out the way and giving her things to do indoors. Or when he couldn't do that he ordered Elena to, but she was much kinder about it.

At the moment Rinoa was supposed to be doing Piano practise. But all she wanted to do was have fun, the sort of fun any girl her age should have. Rinoa sighed heavily.

"Rinoa? Why aren't you practising? I can't hear the piano." Her father called from his study upstairs

"I'm just taking a break Dad." Rinoa called back

"You won't get anywhere by taking breaks all the time. Back to work!"

"Yes Dad" Rinoa called, sighing deeply again

She got of the soft cushion and sat down at the piano in the middle of the room. This was where her mother had written all her songs when she was alive. Rinoa gazed at the polished black and white keys, the way they reflected the light like tiny stars. Rinoa hesitated a moment, it didn't feel right. Playing her mothers piano. It had never felt right and every time she played it, it didn't feel right. Rinoa placed her fingers over the keys and struck the opening chord.

Rinoa moved her fingers left and right over the keys. The acoustics in the music room where just right, and the sound echoed all around her. Rinoa let herself get lost in the music; let it wash all over her. She closed her eyes and let her fingers wander naturally over the keys, as if they were destined too.

She blocked everything else out. The few cars in the street, the children shouting and laughing, the sound of Elena cooking in the kitchen, the dogs in the park over the road, the sound of her father moving around upstairs. Everything.

Rinoa felt as if she breathed the music. Her skin felt hot and moist, yet she played. The music began to speed up to the point of over-exertion. If she kept going at this pace, a small voice in the back of her head told her something bad would happen. The faster the music went, the faster she breathed.

It wasn't long before the music became too fast for her and her fingers finally stumbled. She just sat there in front of the piano, panting with her skin hot and moist. Once her breathing and skin returned to normal she stood up on shaky legs. She wasn't sure why the music had made her feel this way but she was in an even worse mood to practise now. She went upstairs and lay down on her bed. The cool breeze blew through the curtains as she drifted off to sleep.


It was a few days later before Rinoa could even go back inside the music room, much to her father's annoyance. The incident didn't re-occur again and Rinoa couldn't understand why it did in the first place. She forgot about it and focused on playing on her piano. As she played she became continually annoyed that her father wouldn't let her go out and enjoy the summer holidays.

Rinoa sat in the kitchen and ate her lunch quietly and sulkily. Her fork played with her salad as she chewed.

"What's wrong Miss Rinoa?" Elena asked, drying a plate with a tea towel.

"Nothing…" Rinoa said moodily

"Come on Miss, ya know you can tell me."

"I'm just very, very bored. He won't let me go anywhere! Not even outside for a little fresh. Instead he forces me to stay inside and do homework and play piano." Rinoa explained

Elena didn't have to ask who 'he' was.

"I'm sure he jus' wants to protect you Miss Rinoa." Elena said comfortingly

"There's protecting and then there's just plain insane!" Rinoa said angrily

"He doesn't want anythin' to happen to you. You mothers death hurt him a lot. I don't think he ever really got over it. He doesn't want to lose the only reminder of her." Elena said

Rinoa looked up from her food and at Elena, a light of undestanding dawning upon her.

"I miss her too. But that doesn't mean he can stop me from having fun, from having a life!" Rinoa exclaimed.

Elena thought about this for a moment, then leaned over the marble counter-top and towards Rinoa.

"Go on Rinoa. Go and have fun outside, I'll cover for you. Just don't be too late coming home." Elena said and winked at her.

It took Rinoa a minute to actually absorb Elena's words. Once she had she leapt off her stool and gave Elena a giant hug, saying "Thank you" over and over. Then she turned and ran out of the house as fast, and as quietly, as she could.


Rinoa walked down Deling City's main shopping street. After leaving the house she realised she didn't really know what to do, so she made her way here. She wandered in and out of shops, looking at the items for sale then leaving. She browsed through clothes shops, occasionally trying on the odd top or skirt but left disappointed because she didn't have enough money with her to buy it. She tried on several pairs of boots and sandals, with the same result. She looked through bookshops for new books she might want to read.

After about 2 hours of this she bought a strawberry sorbet and sat eating it on a bench outside the Galbadia Hotel.

After finishing her ice-cream she went into a shop opposite the Hotel and looked through it. It was a music shop and in it were lots of different instruments. There was just about every kind of instrument ever made. There were Guitars, Flutes, Recorders, Violins, Violas, Keyboards, Saxophones, and many, many more. In the shop's basement, which Rinoa wouldn't have gone into if it didn't have air conditioning, there were lots of music books, CDs and Videos. Rinoa wandered into the Piano section and browsed. She saw several different books that had the scoring for some of her mother's songs. She bought one of the music books, which had some interesting looking new piano pieces, and left the shop.

Rinoa continued doing this sort of thing for another hour or so before looking down at her watch. It was 4:40pm. Her father would have noticed his daughters absence and would most likely be going ballistic. She hurried away from the shopping street and back towards her house. She took a short cut through the park, not really paying any attention to where she was going and was constantly being yelled at by others who told her to watch where she was going.

Rinoa bumped into yet another person, and landed on the ground. She automatically apologised and looked at the person who she had bumped into. She was staring into the face of a young boy, about her age, with slightly darker skin and jet-black hair. Beside him stood a boy, of a similar age again, with dark coloured hair that was hidden underneath by a blue bandana.

"You okay?" Asked the boy who she had bumped into, as he rose to his feet.

"Err…Yeah. Yeah I'm okay." Rinoa replied

"Good. Wouldn't want you to hurt yourself." Said the boy smiling, offering out his hand to help her up.

"Thanks." She said, taking his hand and rising to her feet.

"Where were you going in such a hurry?" He asked, picking up her dropped bag and giving it to her.

"…Err… Home. I didn't mean to bump into you, I wasn't paying attention." Rinoa apologised

"Hey, no problem. Oh, how rude of us. My name's Zone, and this is my friend Watts." The boy introduced, holding out his hand to shake hers.

"Nice to meet you. My name's Rinoa Ca-" She stopped. "Heartilly. Rinoa Heartilly." She answered, shaking hands with Zone then Watts.

"So, do you live near here?" Watts asked, this was the first thing he had said since Rinoa had met him and she was slightly surprised to hear him speak.

"Err… Yeah. Not very far about 15 minutes walk, how bout you guys?" Rinoa asked

"Umm… about 25 minutes walk I'd say. Not to sure though, we only moved her about a week or so ago from Timber." Zone replied

"Timber? I've always wanted to go there. Sounds so interesting and pretty." Rinoa mused

"It's not when you've lived there your whole life." Watts joked, and they all laughed.

Rinoa suddenly remembered she had to get home.

"Oh gosh, I've really got to get home. My Dad, is going to go ballistic!" She exclaimed, saying the word 'Dad' with pure hatred.

"No problem. Want us to walk you there?" Watts asked

"Su-…" Rinoa stopped herself, did she want them to know how rich she was and who her father was? It had stopped many people in the past from becoming her friends, and she couldn't imagine her father being happy after finding out she had snuck out and made friends with two boys. "Err… No. It's okay. Really."

"Okay then." Zone replied, "See ya later then."

"Bye" Rinoa said, and began rushing off towards her house. She had barely gone a few steps when she heard someone calling out to her.

"Hey! Rinoa!"

She turned and saw Zone shouting at her and waving his arms about, trying to get her attention.

"Wanna hang out again tomorrow? You can show us around the place and stuff" Zone called

"Err… Sure!" Rinoa shouted back happily

"Cool! See you here tomorrow at 12:30?" He asked

"Yeah, see you then!" Rinoa called back, then turned around and ran home.

It took quite some convincing to get Elena on her side to let her go out again tomorrow. And it took a LOT of arguing to get her father to agree to let her go and enjoy the summer holidays more. He reluctantly agreed after 2 and half hours of shouting and arguing between the 3 of them, but Rinoa could tell he still wasn't happy. But she didn't care. She was free now. She was elated because she had finally made some real friends, and she could care less what her father thought.


Another chapter. Sorry it took so long but I've had a lot of school work to do and I'm in my school's play. And the drama teacher is being insane with rehearsals, I have them almost every day. Including weekends. Then I have school work and stuff to do. But anyway, this chapter is here now. And that's what matters. Hope you enjoy! Reviewers Review!