The Order to Assassinate Irvine Kinneas

Chapter 2

Irene just stared at Irvine as he was introduced to her. She had absolutely no idea what to say. He was Irvine Kinneas, the guy she was supposed to assassinate, but right now he just looked so...... familiar. "Are you all right?" she heard him say.

Irene thought for a minute. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine."

Irvine tipped his hat back slightly. "Alrighty."

Rinoa walked up to the two and asked whether they were ready to go back to Garden. "Squall's getting a little impatient." She giggled. "So, Irene how was it in Delong before you came here?" Rinoa said grinning. Irene froze, 'what am I supposed to say?' she asked herself.

Squall groaned. "Rinoa."

Rinoa laughed and Irvine grinned. "Ok, Squall, we can go back to Garden now," Rinoa smiled. She walked over to Squall and grabbed his hand. She tugged at his arm for him to come. She let go of his hand a while after they started walking.... she knew how Squall was.

Irene looked up. "So this is Balamb Garden."

"Yep," Selphie replied. "My home... er... our home away from home." She grinned at Ervine and Irene. Irvine returned her a smile. Irene choose to remain silent. 'I guess her and.......Irvine.....got transferred here,' Irene thought following the others inside.

The group stopped at the lobby of the Garden by the directory. "I'm going to the Library, alright," Rinoa said and Squall nodded. She started to walk off but then stopped suddenly. "Oh, Squall." He looked back at her and she blew him a kiss. A smile crept on his features. He watched her walk off until there was a snicker heard from Irvine.

Letting go of the smile, Squall turned around and asked, "What's so funny, Kinneas?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all, Commander." Irvine replied grinning.

"Whatever." Squall turned to Irene. "You wait here. I'm going to ask the Headmaster for your dorm number." Irene nodded. Squall turned around and headed for the elevator followed by Irvine and Selphie, who ran ahead.

Irene looked around. "Are you new student here?" she heard a guys voice say. Looking to her left she saw a young blonde headed man coming towards her. His bangs were spiked up and he had a unique tattoo on the right side of his face. Irene looked at him for a moment, then nodded. "Your name is, Irene right?" She nodded again. "You don't talk much do you?"

Irene shook her head. "Not really." He glanced at his watch.

"I gotta go. I promised someone I'd meet them at the Library. See ya later." He started to walk off but stopped. "Oh, I completely forgot. My name is Zell." Irene nodded. Zell took it as though acknowledging his name, so he waved bye to her and started over to the Library.

Ding. Irene looked back to the elevator to see Squall walking towards her. "Here." Squall replied handing her a couple sheets of paper. "It has your dorm number and the Gardens rules. You should look over it."
"Alright, thanks." Irene said taking the papers. Squall turned and headed back up the elevator. Irene folded up the papers and picked up her belongings and headed for her dorm room.

"Squall!" Squall heard as he reached the navigational part of the garden. "You want to go with e to Trabia in the Ragnarok? Rinoa's coming too. Please, Squall."

Squall turned to Selpie. She was anxiously waiting for an answer. "Sure, I'll go."

"Whoo-Hoo! Thanks Squall," Selphie exclaimed. "Oh, you think you want to join the up coming Garden Festival?"

"No," he answered. He heard the elevator coming up.

"Meany." Squall heard a female voice say giggling. Rinoa walked up next to Squall and held his hand. She looked at him and smiled. "So, when are we going?"

"Let's go now!" Selpie said excitedly and ran on the elevator. She waited impatiently for the 'cute couple' to follow.

"Let's see.... here's the Cafeteria," Irene said reading the sign just outside of the Cafeteria. "Hmm.... no too loud, I'm sure." She kept walking. She stopped at the next area. "And this is the 'Quad'," Irene said mocking a tour guide. She looked down the hall. "Hmm.... oh yeah. That's the Infirmary. I don't need to ho there. Not yet anyway." 'Someone here might just have to go there more often.' She shuddered for no apparent reason.

Irene walked inside the Quad an found the silence she was looking for. There seemed to be some construction going on, but it looked like the break time because nobody was there. She started to walk over to the edge where you could look out off of the Garden but got stopped by a sudden jolt of the Garden.

Looking out of the Garden, Irene realized that they started moving. She sat down and looked out to the crashing waves of the ocean to the Garden. She sighed and pulled out the papers Squall gave her and started to look over the rules of the Garden again. Irene stopped as she heard footsteps coming up behind her. Looking back she realized that it was..... Irvine.
He walked over and sat down next to her. There was some deafening silence, until Irvine asked, "What's wrong?"

"Huh?" Irene asked not even looking up. 'Now's my chance, I can get the mission over with.'

"Well, I can tell something's bothering you. I'm just wondering what it is." He replied, watching the waves crash.

"Nothing's bothering me," she replied, folding up the papers and putting them back in her back-pocket. 'Come on, you have your weapon. All you have to do is shoot.'

Irvine watched her for a moment. "Then why did you freeze up when Rinoa asked you about your time in Delong?"

She glanced up at him, then looked back down at the waves mumbling, "It's none of your......"

"Business." Irvine finished. Irene looked at him. "Squall sometimes says that so it became predicable." He grinned. "So are you going to tell me what's bothering you?"

Irene stared at him for a minute. She looked away so he wouldn't see the smile that was forcing its way onto her features. "So, where's Selphie?" She asked changing the subject.

"She went to Trabia to see how everyone was doing there," he answered. "By the way, that doesn't answer my question."

Irene sighed. 'Come on, now's your chance. He's looking away do it. Shoot him.' She shook her head. There was silence until Irvine spook up. "You know, Selpie and I sometimes come down here when she's not working on the up coming Garden Festival." 'I'll save Selphie from asking,' he thought. "You think you might want to join?"

"What the Garden Festival?" Irvine nodded. "Hmm, probably not." He shrugged and looked back to the ocean. 'Shoot you have you're chance. 'Shut up! I can't........ not....now.'

Irvine turned to look at her and he now realized her dress style. An off-white shirt tucked into black pants, not baggy but not quite tight either. She wore a trench coat similar to his own except a slightly darker shade of brown. She's not wearing the cowboy hat, but he did see her wear one when she first arrived. Irvine let out a sigh as started to get up. Irene looked up at him as he stretched. "I guess I'll be going now." He replied. "Uh, we'll talk later about Delong." He grinned.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"What? Oh, you mean about Delong?"

"Yeah," Irene murmured.

"Alrighty." Irvine replied walking off.

Irene stared after him for a moment, then turned away. "Damn."