Italics = thoughts
'Italics' = another persons thoughts
~Chapter III – Mixed
"So how was the party Squall? Did you have fun?" Selphie smiled and giggled at his expression.
"It was fine." Squall replied. He then leaned on a wall, arms crossed, and watched everyone in the room interact with each other. Selphie walked by him and sighed.
"You know, one day you'll stop being so distant."
Squall gave her a questionable look and she smiled in return. She then left and Squall stood there, alone. He then decided to head just outside of Balamb Garden. No one was around and so Squall decided to sit down on a bench and tried to relax. Everything in his surroundings seemed very calm. The silence certainly gave him a sense that he was able to talk to himself since no one was in sight. He then stretched his back and laid down on the bench staring blankly at the slow moving clouds. Seconds later, a sharp unexplainable pain went through his forehead unexpectedly. He quickly sat up and placed his palm on his forehead.
"My head...feels like it's splitting." Squall then closed his eyes, concentrating on getting rid of the pain.
"Squall." said a familiar voice.
"What?" He looked around and no one was in sight. 'Squall...' "Who's there?" Squall stood up but sat back down because of a searing pain on his forehead. "Ugh!"
'Squall, I am currently speaking to you through your thoughts.'
"My thoughts?" he said aloud. Can you hear me? He thought.
'Yes, I can. Squall I just wanted to tell you that soon you'll be in danger. I don't know exactly yet but right now you need to protect a young woman and your ring is the key.'
Ring...? Squall took a second to examine his ring, he couldn't recall what it was called at the moment considering the searing pain was distracting him.
'I don't have much time. This is only the beginning. Good bye, Squall.'
"Wait!" Squall shook his head and the pain was gone. He then looked at the sky and watched the clouds moving at the same pace it was moving before. That voice...Sis? Squall headed inside the Garden. Once Squall was about to push the door open with such force, he knocked someone over since the door was already opened before him. Squall began to feel a headache coming. The other person groaned in pain. As soon as he was getting up, he was slapped and fell to the side and his face landed on a part that was extremely warm.
"A-Ah!" She felt herself being red and quickly kicked him away. Squall sat up in silence and looked at the person. He sighed, rolled his eyes and looked up at the ceiling, avoiding eye contact with that person.
"Pervert! Aren't you going to help me up? I am a princess you know." Rinoa remarked while shaking the stinging sensation off of her hand. She then told herself it was an accident after all.
"Thought you had the ability to get up yourself, but apparently you are disabled. I apologize." He said sarcastically. He lent out a hand and she took it. To his surprise he pulled her up and the two are standing. Rinoa looked at Squall and smiled. Squall noticed and turned away. "What?"
"Oh nothing! You just have a wonderful red mark on your cheek." She smiled.
"Whatever." They said at the same time. He wanted to comment something about her scent but that would be going too far. Squall smiled to himself and walked forward, Rinoa laughed a bit. She then followed him.
"What do you want?" He asked.
"Nothing...you know, after five minutes of meeting you, I already know your personality. Funny how we keep running into each other huh?" She giggled to herself and her mind kept on wondering. When she decided to check where Squall was going, she couldn't spot him out anymore. "I lost him?"
Meanwhile, in Squall's dorm room. Quistis walked towards Seifer, questioning his motives.
"Look, I am just here to leave Squall a nice present, why can't you believe that?"
"I may be blonde, but I am not dumb. I know you and Squall have this rivalry going on. To be honest, it kind of makes you hot." Quistis replied. Seifer ignored the woman and left the room and so did she.
"Hey could you stop following me around, you're ruining my rep here."
"What rep?" With that she turned to head for the cafeteria. Seifer took out the phone from his pocket and examined the details of the phone.
"Most girly phone I'd ever seen." He commented. He then put it away and saw Rinoa and Selphie talking to the headmaster. He headed towards them and gave Rinoa a surprising greeting, a kiss to the hand.
"Oh my." Selphie gasped.
"Um..Seifer. H-Hello." Rinoa felt the blood rush to her cheeks and she knew she was blushing, a lot.
"My, Seifer. You've become such a gentlemen. No doubt in my mind how you are able to swoon a lot of the ladies here in Balamb." The headmaster commented.
"Headmaster Cid, you know it is in my policy to treat women how they deserved to be treated." He looks at Rinoa with a grin. Rinoa could not help but to smile a little. The headmaster then directed Rinoa to follow him to his office, leaving Selphie and Seifer alone. Selphie glared at Seifer. "Whats the matter Selphie? Are you jealous?" He laughed.
"No way in hell am I going to let you play Rinoa Seifer!" She gave him a harsh, cold look in her eyes. Seifer pulled on Selphie's arm and pulled her in an embrace.
"Don't worry, I won't leave her like I did when I left you after that night." He smirked. She gave out a bit of a hateful growl. He then caressed her back and gave out a slight snicker as he spoke. "You know Sefie, you have the nicest legs out of all the women in Balamb." Seifer pulled her closer. "Wanna do it again?" He whispered in her ear. Selphie broke out of the embrace and attempted to slap him but he caught her hand. He let her go and she walked away without saying a word. Seifer laughed and turned around to see Squall leaning on a wall watching him.
"Done playing with girls Seifer?"
"Who asked you to comment puberty boy?" Seifer laughed. Squall stood on his feet and walked away but Seifer stopped him. "You met Rinoa?"
"Why? You haven't?"
Squall's snide comment made Seifer tick and he grabbed Squall by his shirt pulling him roughly close.
"Listen here you piece of shit. If you get in my way again, you will be out of my way...permanently." Seifer snarled and breathed heavily on Squalls face. Squall grabbed Seifer's shirt,
"Out of my face." and shoved him far back.
"Remember that puberty boy." Seifer smirked and walked off.
Squall's eyes followed the reckless man and noticed something flashing in his pocket. The idiot doesn't even notice his cell phone ringing. Then he noticed the color of the light changes. Seifer doesn't even have that function on his cell phone. Squall kept on thinking about it. He just had this small suspicion but later decided Seifer just bought a new cell phone. Then, almost immediately his other cellphone he had rang.
"Hello?" He answered the call.
"Is this Squall Leonhart?"
"Yes."
"This is Xu calling on a request from the headmaster. He wants you to report to him immediately."
"Why couldn't you just call from the intercom?" Squall questioned.
"This is a private and personal matter that will remain classified to everyone except for certain personnel that require this knowledge. In other words, no one should know about you reporting to us for a reason."
"Alright, be there in two minutes." He hung up and headed to the third floor.
Squall entered a room and didn't feel comfortable with what he was seeing. The headmaster was smiling and there were two bodyguards and a familiar General. Squall gave a formal salute and greeting.
"I am Squall Leonhart. Currently a graduating student in Balamb Garden."
"I'm General Caraway. I have a...well personal request." Squall was rather feeling odd about the situation. Personal request? What does Galbadia's most important general want with me? He thought.
"You see Squall, I found that your academics and combat skills are skills to not be ignored." Said the headmaster.
"Have I failed?" Squall questioned as it showed how much of a pessimist he was.
"No no! It is far from that!" The headmaster chuckled. "Squall your grades are high and your combat skills are superb! Please make this a secret but you surpass the current top student."
"Thank you sir." Squall replied. Relieved and feeling a bit happy for himself, he let a little smile appear on his face. Currently better than Seifer I see, I can get use to this. "So what is the request you have for me?"
"Well, since headmaster Cid suggested you, the request is to guard my daughter as she is attending this school." The General examined the expression Squall had on his face. He notice it was went from being a little happy to being neutral again.
"So a bodyguard?" Squall didn't like the sound of that. The definition of bodyguard to him was babysitting.
"I know you haven't graduated yet as a SeeD but we thought this job is best suited for a person with your calibur." Said the headmaster.
So they thought I'd make a great babysitter... Squall tried to hide his usual irritated expression.
"I saw your courses and you are in need of an extracurricular you know."
"So you decided that baby- I mean body-guarding was the perfect extracurricular activity for me to have?"
"Think about it Squall. This will be way more interesting and less boring for you than a book club or something right? You also do need some sort of activity for you to graduate Squall." The headmaster suggested.
"I will pay you by the hour. I really want you to be my daughter's bodyguard. It her first time attending a public school and she needs protecting!" Said the General.
"Alright, alright I will bodyguard your daughter. So where is she?" Squall was now ever irritated at people. He then saw the headmaster gestured to Xu to bring in the General's daughter. Squall watched her closely as she opened the door to reveal a girl in blue. Squall's irritation level grew even more and he felt the extreme need to punch a gigantic hole in the wall. He watched her point at him in dismay.
"YOU?" She exclaimed and rushed to her father's side.
"You are asking me, to bodyguard her? This really is babysitting." Squall groaned in agony.
"You two met?" General Caraway asked.
"Well at Selphie's party, we just ran into each other." Rinoa smiled then mumbled to herself. "Literally..."
"Oh Squall, I also request you tutor this young lady as well. She is very new to the school courses after all." The headmaster smiled feeling as if he started a new beautiful friendship. Little did he notice the obvious dislike they had for each other currently.
"Well I have things to do. I feel better knowing a guy like you can guard my daughter. I will give you more details later in a letter tomorrow." The General gave Squall a pat on the shoulder and waved good bye to Rinoa and left.
"Why do you have to be my bodyguard. It's just not right. If it was Seifer though..." She then smiled and giggled. Squall who was annoyed at the very mention of Seifer, went up to the headmaster.
"Can Seifer take my place. I really do not have the time or patience to babysit such a spoiled brat." Squall mumbled.
"Now now, you need this remember Squall? Besides General prefer it if it was you anyways." Headmaster patted Squall on the head and saw that he was having a don't touch me expression. With that Squall and Rinoa left and stood in the elevator alone.
"Why do you have to put it as babysitting anyways. I am not a child you know." Rinoa grumbled.
"You act like one." Squall replied. How the hell did I get into this?
"Look, I hate this as much as you do. So we can at least try to be nice to one another okay? Let's start over! My name is Rinoa Heartilly!" Rinoa stuck her hand out of him to shake. Squall looked at it in question. "Come on, it's just a hand."
Suddenly, the elevator came into a rough stop which cause major turbulence. Rinoa tripped on her blue duster and Squall caught her before she fell. The two looked around and the elevator wasn't moving at all.
"Looks like were stuck." Squall remarked. He then looked down to see Rinoa holding onto him tightly. "You can let go now." With that being said she did and she shook her head.
"Sorry about that...I was kind of scared." She then look down and point her fingers together avoiding to see the look on his face.
"Hey anyone in here?" A voice from the intercom scared them both. Squall went to press the button to talk.
"Yes, two people. Squall Leonhart and Rinoa Heartilly." He replied.
"Okay thanks for answering. So It'll take up to 30 minutes to get you guys moving alright? You won't fall or anything it's just that the door that is open in the first floor and won't make the elevator move. So we will have to fix that first."
"Alrighty then." Squall then stretch his back and laid on the floor next to Rinoa who is sitting.
"What are you doing?" She asked.
"Taking a nap. Tell me when they're done." Squall then closes his eyes.
"Hey! You can't just sleep! Your suppose to guard me!" Rinoa constantly poke Squall on the same spot hoping he'll get up. Suddenly she heard snoring. "Wow he's actually asleep. What a jerk." Rinoa then examined his face. "How...vulnerably cute looking." She giggled. Rinoa couldn't help but think her encounter with Seifer and how it made her feel. She sighed and kept on smiling to herself. She then placed her hand on her right hand, the hand that Seifer kissed. He is such a gentlemen. She then thought how it feel like if he kissed her. The thought just made her want to squeal and kind of unbearable to think about. Alright! I need practice before I kiss him! Hmm... She then eyed Squall's lips. Well he is asleep...and there's no harm in a tiny-not-meaningful kiss right? Slowly, Rinoa placed her finger tips on his lips, feeling how soft they were. She then shivered a bit. She really didn't want herself to be attracted to Squall. She just wanted to stick with a man that she thinks would be right for her persona, Seifer. Rinoa then leaned in ready to place her lips on his. She kept on thinking, Seifer...Seifer...Seifer... with that in mind she went for it and felt the warmth inside her growing. She then imagines herself kissing Seifer, romantically. She sees herself slowly opening her eyes who she kissed in her imagination. She envisioned Squall smiling at her. Having that in mind she pulled away and shook her head. No no no! Seifer not Squall! She opened her eyes to reality and saw Squall laying there, awake.
"What were you doing?"
Tomo: Wooot late update yeah? Sorry about that X.x had major writers block but I have tons of ideas now thanks to a bunch of friends! So many mysteries to unravel bwahaha. Please RnR! ^.^