heyz! wellz, first off, i wanna thank everyone who reviewed! i was so thrilled and surprised at how many reviews there were! it made me reallie happy, so thanks! words cannot express my gratitude towards you readers! now i'm halfway there to my goal!!

anyways...i was reading through the previous chapters of this fic, and i found that i have lots of unanswered questions and some mistakes! like the chapter about squall's mom dying during childbirth, and how irvine knows squall, why quistis is afraid of love, what happened to seifer...yea...you see, when i started writing this fic, i had different ideas on how the story would develope, but as the story progressed, i had a whole new different idea. so, i'm hoping that several questions will be answered in this chapter. ~Tenshi

***Black Rose***

**Chapter 8**

I frowned as I felt the elevator start going down. I caught Squall staring at

me, waiting for me to say something. The elevator was deathly silent as the both of

us stood on opposite sides.

"We need to talk, Rinoa," repeated Squall. He looked at me with his blue

eyes, looking into my eyes--just like the little boy from my forgotten past...Images of

Julia's murder flashed and more tears ran down my cheeks.

"I don't want to remember," I said coldly.

"...It's etched into your memory, isn't it?" asked Squall. More images of blood

and death appeared and I clutched my head.

"No! I don't want to remember! It never happened!"

"You can't change the past, Rinoa. No matter how hard you want it to change,

no matter how hard you try, it will never change," said Squall. I eyed him warily.

"Do you know what I saw?" asked Rinoa.

"...Yes. I also know that your the daughter of the Galbadian president,"

answered Squall.

"What? How?" asked Rinoa.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm the boy in your memories. The little boy who you met in

Esthar."

"You knew who I was and yet you never told me who you were!? How long

were you planning to keep my past away from me?"

"...You just said you wanted to forget what you've just seen," said Squall,

trying to calm me.

"And you said we needed to talk! So, answer my question!" He stood there,

looking at the elevator doors, waiting for it to open. I smirked. Selphie's apartment

was on the twentieth floor.

"I can wait," I said, grinning. The lights went off. Suddenly, the elevator

groaned and stopped. The abrupt stop made me lurch foward--right into Squall's

arms. As I tried to regain my balance, I half-expected Squall to just drop me, but

instead, he held onto me.

"Squall, wh-"

"We'll be fine," he interrupted. I blushed when I realized he was still holding

me, but I wanted to stay in his arms. I liked it this way--all I could think of was how

comforting his arms were, the warmth that spread throughout my body, leaning my

head against his chest to hear his steady heartbeat.

"Helloooo? Squall? Rinoa? Are you two alright!?" asked the intercom. I realized

that the voice belonged to Selphie.

"We were waiting for the elevator when we saw it stop! We rushed to the

security room as quick as we could! Help is on the way!" How did she know that

Squall and I were the ones stuck in the elevator? Well, the important thing is that

help is on the way...

"Um...Squall? You can let go of me now," I said.

"........" He released me and I realized that I missed the warmth of his arms. I

knew it was going to be awhile before help actually got to the elevator so I sat down

and leaned against the wall. I heard Squall doing the same, I felt him sit next to me.

"...So...Are you gonna answer my question?" I asked. Squall didn't answer.

"Ok. We can always 'enjoy' listening to the elevator music," I said

nonchalantly. Elevator music always drove me crazy, maybe it could annoy Squall...

"Driving me crazy! Driving me crazy! Driving me crazy!" sang the intercom. I

snickered, the song was intolerable and it was stuck saying the same three words

over and over. Finally, Squall gave up.

"Fine, fine! I'll talk! Anything to get that song out of my ears!" exclaimed

Squall. I smirked.

"Why didn't you tell me that you knew me before?" I asked again. Squall

sighed.

"I didn't want you to go through what I did when I recovered my memories.

Fortunately for you and me, we both have someone to talk about it to," said Squall. I

nodded my head, even though he probably couldn't tell I was.

"Hey! Didn't you tell me your mother died during childbirth?" He LIED to me!

How could he do that? Okay, so I make up lies everyday, but he LIED to ME!

"Ellone showed me the past after our meeting in the cemetary. Before that, I

was informed that my mother died during childbirth," explained Squall.

"Your last name is Leonhart...But the president of Esthar's last name is

Loire...Why-"

"My father sent me and Ellone to an orphanage, changing my last name to

Leonhart. Probably because he wanted my mother's name to live on," interrupted

Squall. How come he's always interrupting me!? How does he know what I was going

to say next? Does he know what I'm thinking about? Is he psychic like Ellone?

"Um, Squall, are you ps-"

"Psychic? No. I'm as average as you are," said Squall. Well...not quite...

"Then h-"

"How do I know what you're going to say next?" He shrugged his shoulders

before continuing, "I don't know...I think I feel a strong connection towards you...It's

strange how we got separated by our fathers, but now we're together again..."

It IS strange...Maybe I should rethink the whole 'murdering Squall' thing. We

have a lot in common and he understands what I'm going through right now. You

don't find a guy like him everyday.

"Squall, do you know Irvine? Like, before today?" I asked, remembering the day

I saw Irvine again. He said Squall's name sounded familiar to him.

"Yes. We went to the same orphanage. It was a small orphanage...There were

only about six or seven of us. I know for sure Ellone was there, Irvine, Selphie,

Zell...Who else was there?" Whoa, I didn't know Selphie was an orphan! Why did she

never told me? "Oh, yea, and Seifer."

My eyes practically bulged from their sockets. Seifer was an orphan too!? Why

didn't HE tell me he was an orphan? Oooh, when he wakes up, he has a lot of

questions to answer...

"Rinoa, you left your dad, right? Why?" asked Squall. I sighed. I never liked

talking about James.

"I have my reasons."

"At least he didn't ditch you in an orphanage. At least he didn't forget you..."

said Squall in a bitter tone.

"At least YOU didn't get mistaken for your dead mother! Do you know what's

it like to be with a father who's already dead? A father who insists that your mother

is still alive? A father who makes you have false hope with him?" I countered.

"...Still...I rather be in your position," said Squall.

"And I rather be in yours. At least I could've made friends at an orphanage.

James was too overprotective of me, he wouldn't let me go out or people come in," I

said. Maybe that's why it's easier for me to kill people. Friends make you feel

compassion, sympathy...I never experienced those feelings when I was younger.

"Squall, what was it like in the orphanage for you?" I asked. I think he smiling

at this point, while his childhood memories came into his mind.

"It was fun at the orphanage, probably so much fun that I forgot who my

father and mother was. I got along pretty well with the other kids. But even though I

had fun there, I always felt sad, like I lost something incredibly dear to me."

"Do you know who killed our mothers?" asked Rinoa.

"No...I only know that she had red eyes and hair," replied Squall.

"W-" started Squall. The elevator jolted and began a shaky descent.

Squall had managed to grab a firm hold on the metal bar. The lights turned back on

and I saw Squall offering his hand to help me up. I smiled and took his hand. It took

awhile for the pain in my legs to go away--we had been sitting in the elevator for

awhile. When the elevator finally reached the bottom floor, and elevator doors

opened and outside stood Selphie, Irvine, and Ellone, waiting for us.

"Are you alright? You had me worried sick!" said Irvine.

"It's a good thing the workers worked quickly," said Ellone. Selphie was giving

us a wide smile...Her match-making smile...That was when I realized I was still

holding onto Squall's hand. He quickly let go of my hand, but it was too late.

"What did you two did in there? I bet you two got really close..." said Selphie.

I blushed as I got out of the elevator.

"Selph! Erase everything in your head that involved me and Squall in the

elevator! All we did was talk!" I protested. Selphie giggled.

"That's what they all say!" claimed Selphie.

"Let's go to a restaurant; I bet you two want to get as far away as you can

from this elevator," said Irvine. I smiled, he was only saying that so he could get

closer to Selphie. As we were leaving the apartment building to go out and eat,

Squall stopped me.

"Rinoa, you know who murdered our mothers, don't you?" asked Squall. That

reminded me that I needed to something.

"Squall, I need to go someplace else. Can you tell the others not to wait for

me?" I asked, going the opposite direction of my friends. Squall walked in front of me

to stop me from walking any further.

"Where are you going?" asked Squall in a concerned voice.

"...Take care, Squall. Please, don't follow me," I said. I walked past him. He

turned around and looked at me with a worried face.

I had to see Seifer and Quistis before meeting HER. I wanted revenge, even if

it meant my death...

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

gasp! what is Rinoa gonna do? (It's pretty obvious, i think...) i thought this fic was gonna be a little longer, but i don't want my inspiration to run out on me, so i'd say this fic has only two or three chapters left. two or three more chapters isn't gonna get me to my goal, but...i want you guys to enjoy my fic, so yea...hey, look on the bright side! I think i have another fic in my head already! send your comments, i wanna know what people think of this fic! ~Tenshi