Twisted Destinies: Part Two
Authoress: Tsutae Kouken
~Kitchen~
"Wow…. that's a lotta lunches." Selphie let her eyes move across the rows of brown
bags, each with a sandwich in it. "How are we going to tell which sandwich is which?"
She wondered aloud.
"Well…if the kids don't like what they got then they can trade with each other." Rinoa
said, wrinkling her brow and then laughing. She was almost as bubbly as Selphie at
times. Her brown eyes took on a weary look as she viewed the many bags.
"Do we REALLY have this many junior classmen?" Rinoa asked, brushing a strand of
black hair out of her eyes. She glanced at Quistis, who was leaning against the fridge, that
was now nearly out of supplies.
"I think so…. Unless dear Nida-kun has made a mistake in his calculating again." Quistis
started picking up several of the empty bread bags and began throwing them away, her
blonde hair falling over her shoulders.
"What a mess. Let's get cracking or else Cid will crack our skulls." Selphie giggled at the
thought of Cid, the headmaster, actually hurting one of the SeeDs. Joining in with the
other girls, Selphie finished the trash clean up quickly.
"I vote Quisty does the dishes. I vote that Selphie does the drying. I'll put them away.
Sound fair?" Rinoa said, frowning at the pile of dishes they had used.
"Oi! You can't do that!" Quistis laughed as Selphie and Rinoa pushed her towards the
mountain of dishes.
"Yes we can, oh wonderful instructor!" Rinoa laughed back. But then, a group of Trepies
came in to help their blue-eyed goddess.
"We'll finish for you, Instructor Trepe!" One of the girls said, her eyes wide with
adoration. The others, mainly boys, all gave her puppy dogfaces.
"Oi…. okay. You can do it if you want. I don't care." Quistis made a careless gesture
with her hand and the Trepies rushed past her and began attacking the dishes with great
vim.
"Well…I guess we're spared for now. It's nice to have a fan club, huh??" Rinoa asked, a
teensy bit jealous. "You don't have to finish your work all the time."
"Seifer doesn't appreciate it, though. They follow her around EVERYWHERE!" Selphie
teased the older girl. Quistis bopped the brunette on the head. Selphie pretended to be
hurt.
"Whatever! He just doesn't like being…uh…. interrupted." Quistis turned pink as she
searched for the right word. Rinoa and Selphie exchanged looks, knowing exactly what
had to be "interrupted."
"Yeah…. sure, sure, Quisty. Let's get ready to go on that field trip with those little
classmen, ne?" Rinoa skipped ahead in the direction of Squall's dorm room. "See you
guys later!"
"Bye!" Selphie and Quistis headed off in the opposite direction.
Rinoa hummed to herself as she walked down the quiet halls to the dorm room where she
slept on a cot on the floor. Squall had been uncomfortable about it, but she knew he'd
feel better about it in time. She just wanted to be close to him.
Nearing the room, she could hear male voices talking. She giggled, thinking it would be
Zell asking Squall for "girl advice" again. She wondered why Zell never went to Irvine.
All the girls went for HIM.
"Oh okay…then you'll be here…and then if you just flip that switch I think I could do
the rest." She heard Irvine's voice, both eager and serious. Wrinkling her nose, she
wondered whether or not to interrupt.
"RINOA! HEY!!! I got some good news!" Nida's voice rang in her ears, very loud,
making her fall against Squall's dorm door. The impact from her body being thrown
against the door flung the door open, revealing Irvine and Squall sitting on chairs, with a
piece of paper that was scribbled on between them.
"What? Rinoa?" Squall jumped up, knocking his chair over. Irvine quickly hid the piece
of paper.
Rinoa turned pink. This wasn't the way it was supposed to happen, but she always
seemed to be getting into messes.
Nida just stared and then sighed and shook his head.
"There's a carnival coming to Balamb. I thought maybe Rinoa would want to go…it'd be
more like her home for her." Nida shrugged, handing the flyer to Squall, who had
reclaimed his cool.
"Starlight Carnival of Dreams?" Squall read. 'Please….this is so corny of them to name a
carnival. I hope Rinoa doesn't want to go….' Squall closed his eyes in thought. 'But
then…it would help her feel more at home.'
"I feel perfectly at home here….but I would like to go." Rinoa put her hands on her hips
in a very childish gesture.
"Well…..Selphie and I could go too, Squall. It sounds pretty good." Irvine spoke up,
calmly folding the piece of paper and putting it on Squall's desk where he could see it.
Squall nodded slightly. Rinoa frowned and dived for the folded paper.
"I want to see!" Rinoa reached for the paper, but Irvine snatched it up, and put it in his
pocket.
"Nope. Top secret Irvine info. See you guys later. And I'll ask Selphie about the
Carnival, Squall. She'll probably want to go. Bye." Irvine walked out, giving Nida a look
as he walked out the door.
"Guess I'll be going too." Nida followed Irvine, looking disgusted at the cowboy.
"Squall, what was that about?" Rinoa demanded. Squall cracked a slight grin, and shook
his head.
"Like he said, top secret Irvine info. You'll know later." Squall sat back down on the
chair Irvine had sat on. Rinoa turned the other chair right side up.
"Well….fine. You got to get out cause I need to change cause I'm going on that field trip
with the junior classmen." Rinoa pouted at her boyfriend.
"Okay. I will. But you'd better stay out of my stuff, girl…..last time you did that I almost
wanted to kill you." Squall smiled and set the flyer for the Carnival on the desk, exactly
where Irvine had set his piece of paper. She looked at his profile and sighed in a dreamy
way.
Tall, that thick brown hair, the handsome features, and those piercing blue eyes. She kept
staring at him until she realized he was saying her name.
"Rinoa?! Hello…anyone in there?" Squall waved his hands in front of her eyes. Rinoa
blinked a couple of times and turned pink again.
"You going to change or what?" Squall walked towards the door, pulling on his ever-
present leather jacket. "Later, Rin-rin." He left the room.
Rinoa sighed and got up, walked over to her box of clothing on the floor next to her cot.
Picking out a pair of jean shorts and a blue t-shirt, she changed quickly. Making sure she
had her smallest weapon, her Pinwheel, with her, she headed for the front gate.
~2nd Floor Classroom~
Squall walked down the quiet hall, aiming for the observation deck. Humming in his
mind, the thought about Irvine and his plan. Irvine wanted to take Selphie up to the deck
and have dinner with her there. Then Squall was supposed to lock them out there and turn
off the lights.
'Simple enough. I just hope Selphie doesn't blow him up for planning something like that
if she ever found out!' Squall neared the door, and found it was halfway open. Seeing
someone heading up the deck, Squall called out.
"Hey!" Squall rushed up the stairs, thinking it might be Zell, for this was one of Zell's
favorite hangouts. He found himself looking at a long cascade of double colored hair.
"Hey, yourself. What's wrong?" She asked, turning, her violet and blue hair making a
bizarre effect of twisting around as she turned.
"Nothing. I thought you might be someone else." Squall said, his brow darkening. He
hadn't seen her here before.
"Oh….does anyone else here have hair like this?" She tugged on a few strands of her
violet and blue hair. "I didn't see anyone." She smiled down at Squall.
"No...no one else does. It's just this is one of my friend's hang outs." Squall said, starting
up the stairs again. He passes her and looked back into her eyes. He was startled to see
they were violet and blue as well.
"Well…I'll see you around……." Squall turned and went up to the deck. She followed
him.
"I'm Tari Ihiri. Are you….Squall? The one that Headmaster Cid mentioned? One of the
ones who are called 'Saviors of the World'?" She asked him, pulling out a small camera
and snapping away at the view of scenery from the deck.
"I am Squall." The wind blew Squall's brown hair away from his face, letting her see his
scar.
"That scar…where'd you get it?" Tari pointed at his face, putting her camera down for a
moment.
"It was in a fight. I got hit, so I hit my opponent back in the same place." Squall said,
getting slightly annoyed. She was asking too many questions.
"Ah. I wish I had done the same for mine." She looked back out at the vast field as Squall
turned and looked at her. His eyes moved over her pretty face, but they didn't see any
scars.
"What do you mean?" Squall asked, curious and puzzled even though he wouldn't admit
it.
"I was in a fight about 3 years ago. My ……opponent hit me in the side and wounded me
badly." Lifting the right side of her mid-drift shirt, he saw on the right side of her ribs
was a scar in the shape of a perfect crescent moon.
"What kind of weapon makes a mark like that so perfect?" Squall asked, looking away.
"A scythe. He had a scythe. All I had was my fists then." She put her camera in the
pocket of her khaki pants. "Now I have my Wild Claws."
"Wild Claws? That is something I've never heard of." Squall thought about his gun
blade. It was just what he wanted and needed. He was glad it was unlike any other.
"This is what they are." Tari pulled out two things that looked like flat black boxes.
Attaching them to her wrists with strong black leather straps, she held them before
herself.
Squall jumped back when she touched a button on each one and a clicking sound was
heard. Three blades, eight inches of retractable steel had shot out from each of the boxes,
jointed cleverly so that they could fold up into the boxes.
"That's very impressive." Squall thought about the damage she could do if she knew
martial arts.
"Thanks. I made them with the help of a friend from the desert." Tari took them off and
put them back in her pockets. She then went pale. Leaning against the edge of the wall,
she began to shake and shudder.
"Hey…is something wrong??" Squall asked, watching her twitch. She closed her eyes in
pain and began making sounds as if she was choking.
"I…I'm fine…." She said when she stopped twitching all of a sudden. She looked at him,
her eyes now cold as ice. Squall was startled, for it looked like the look he had given a lot
of people before.
"Are you sure? What happened?" Squall asked, looking her straight in the eyes, not
budging even thought the coldness was unbearable.
"It is not of your concern, Leonhart. Leave what is not your business alone, and nothing
will happen to you." Tari said, turning from his gaze, and climbing onto the edge of the
wall.
"HEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Squall yelled as she turned to the outside edge of
the wall. Spreading her arms, she leaned forward.
And she dived off.
"THE HELL? NOOOOOO!" Squall stretched over the edge of the wall, his hand
reaching in vain for the figure growing smaller as it sped towards the ground.
Something in him went sick as he saw her land…….on her feet.
~Front Gate~
"Okay kids…let's get going….each of you grab a sack." Quistis and Seifer had brought
out all the lunch sacks and now the junior classmen were all fighting to get one. Rinoa
and Selphie came jogging up, each wearing comfortable outfits.
"Wow….look at them go!" Selphie laughed as the kids finally got their lunches and in
line to leave.
"Yeah. It's great to see them all doing good once again. I'm sorry I wanted to destroy
this place once." Seifer said wistfully. Quistis hugged him tightly, bringing a soft gleam
to his blue eyes.
"It's okay, Seifer. It's all okay now." Quistis buried her face in his trench coat, savoring
his scent. He put an arm around her and the two stood there, watching Selphie and Rinoa
getting the kids in the right order.
"I know, Quisty. I know that now. What about Zell? Is he coming to help you guys?"
Seifer asked, the two pulling away from each other, following the lines of kids exiting the
Garden.
"I don't think so. He didn't tell me." Quistis said, turning to say good-bye to her
boyfriend.
"Later, babe. I've got to get to a disciplinary meeting. Fujin and Raijin are waiting."
Seifer kissed her brow in a rare show of affection for her. She smiled as he walked off
then ran to join her friends who were preparing to leave.
"Hey…have you seen Squall? He volunteered to drive one of the vehicles." Rinoa said as
Quistis joined her at the front gate.
"I don't know. The last time I saw him was yesterday." Quistis said, shading her eyes
from the sun with her hand. Turning back, she spotted Squall running out the front gate.
"Hey…wonder what's the matter with him?" Quistis remarked, noting that Squall had a
hard look on his face, as he always did if something important was on his mind. He sped
past the girls, his leather jacket flying straight out behind him.
"SQUALL?!" Rinoa called after him, worry clouding her eyes. "Quistis, you guys go
ahead. Get Zell to drive in Squall's place. I've got to find out what is wrong." With that,
Rinoa ran after Squall, taking a northern direction around the Garden.
Squall put on the speed when he saw Tari's form standing alone on the flat plain.
Rinoa saw what he was heading for and she wondered how Tari got to be there. But
Squall knew something and it seemed out of place.
"Tari!?" Squall reached the girl standing alone. She didn't move.
"Tari?" Squall asked again, touching her shoulder.
"What? What do you want?" Tari answered, turning and looking at him. Squall felt
white-hot anger boiling inside of him.
"Do you take me for a fool? I saw you jump from the observation deck!" Squall felt like
yelling at her.
"I know you did. My grandfather taught me how to free-fall with Aero. That's what I
did." Tari said, grinning at the angry Squall.
"Free-falling? With AEROS? You know how scarce that magic is?" Squall said, his voice
not hiding his anger with this girl.
"When you have as much as I do, then you can spare some. It's not like another war is
coming, geez." Tari shrugged in an indifferent way. Rinoa had never seen anyone act like
that with Squall, unless it was Squall himself.
"BUT MAGIC IS STILL SCARCE!" Squall actually yelled this time. Tari's eyes seemed
to flash with an inhuman green glow.
"You wish to fight me?" Tari demanded of him. Squall felt something in his go numb.
'No…I don't want to fight you. I don't feel like I could win, if you can afford to use
magic so carelessly.' Squall thought. 'Besides….what is it that you have done wrong?'
"What is it that I have done wrong?" Tari asked, startling Squall. He was surprised she
had voiced what he just thought.
"Squall……." Rinoa said, something in her voice asking everything she wanted to know.
"It's okay, Rinoa. It's fine. A mistake, that's all. Let's go." Squall put his arm around
Rinoa's shoulders and led her away. Looking back, he saw Tari looking dejected and
alone, completely different from the defiant girl she had been earlier.
"Rhapha….you…you said I wouldn't be alone again. Why am I still by myself?" Tari
said aloud, asking the empty air, looking for a reply.
Silence.
A/N: This was kinda fun to write. I'm a very serious person normally so I guess writing
lets me let it out! Ja! Tsutae Kouken
Authoress: Tsutae Kouken
~Kitchen~
"Wow…. that's a lotta lunches." Selphie let her eyes move across the rows of brown
bags, each with a sandwich in it. "How are we going to tell which sandwich is which?"
She wondered aloud.
"Well…if the kids don't like what they got then they can trade with each other." Rinoa
said, wrinkling her brow and then laughing. She was almost as bubbly as Selphie at
times. Her brown eyes took on a weary look as she viewed the many bags.
"Do we REALLY have this many junior classmen?" Rinoa asked, brushing a strand of
black hair out of her eyes. She glanced at Quistis, who was leaning against the fridge, that
was now nearly out of supplies.
"I think so…. Unless dear Nida-kun has made a mistake in his calculating again." Quistis
started picking up several of the empty bread bags and began throwing them away, her
blonde hair falling over her shoulders.
"What a mess. Let's get cracking or else Cid will crack our skulls." Selphie giggled at the
thought of Cid, the headmaster, actually hurting one of the SeeDs. Joining in with the
other girls, Selphie finished the trash clean up quickly.
"I vote Quisty does the dishes. I vote that Selphie does the drying. I'll put them away.
Sound fair?" Rinoa said, frowning at the pile of dishes they had used.
"Oi! You can't do that!" Quistis laughed as Selphie and Rinoa pushed her towards the
mountain of dishes.
"Yes we can, oh wonderful instructor!" Rinoa laughed back. But then, a group of Trepies
came in to help their blue-eyed goddess.
"We'll finish for you, Instructor Trepe!" One of the girls said, her eyes wide with
adoration. The others, mainly boys, all gave her puppy dogfaces.
"Oi…. okay. You can do it if you want. I don't care." Quistis made a careless gesture
with her hand and the Trepies rushed past her and began attacking the dishes with great
vim.
"Well…I guess we're spared for now. It's nice to have a fan club, huh??" Rinoa asked, a
teensy bit jealous. "You don't have to finish your work all the time."
"Seifer doesn't appreciate it, though. They follow her around EVERYWHERE!" Selphie
teased the older girl. Quistis bopped the brunette on the head. Selphie pretended to be
hurt.
"Whatever! He just doesn't like being…uh…. interrupted." Quistis turned pink as she
searched for the right word. Rinoa and Selphie exchanged looks, knowing exactly what
had to be "interrupted."
"Yeah…. sure, sure, Quisty. Let's get ready to go on that field trip with those little
classmen, ne?" Rinoa skipped ahead in the direction of Squall's dorm room. "See you
guys later!"
"Bye!" Selphie and Quistis headed off in the opposite direction.
Rinoa hummed to herself as she walked down the quiet halls to the dorm room where she
slept on a cot on the floor. Squall had been uncomfortable about it, but she knew he'd
feel better about it in time. She just wanted to be close to him.
Nearing the room, she could hear male voices talking. She giggled, thinking it would be
Zell asking Squall for "girl advice" again. She wondered why Zell never went to Irvine.
All the girls went for HIM.
"Oh okay…then you'll be here…and then if you just flip that switch I think I could do
the rest." She heard Irvine's voice, both eager and serious. Wrinkling her nose, she
wondered whether or not to interrupt.
"RINOA! HEY!!! I got some good news!" Nida's voice rang in her ears, very loud,
making her fall against Squall's dorm door. The impact from her body being thrown
against the door flung the door open, revealing Irvine and Squall sitting on chairs, with a
piece of paper that was scribbled on between them.
"What? Rinoa?" Squall jumped up, knocking his chair over. Irvine quickly hid the piece
of paper.
Rinoa turned pink. This wasn't the way it was supposed to happen, but she always
seemed to be getting into messes.
Nida just stared and then sighed and shook his head.
"There's a carnival coming to Balamb. I thought maybe Rinoa would want to go…it'd be
more like her home for her." Nida shrugged, handing the flyer to Squall, who had
reclaimed his cool.
"Starlight Carnival of Dreams?" Squall read. 'Please….this is so corny of them to name a
carnival. I hope Rinoa doesn't want to go….' Squall closed his eyes in thought. 'But
then…it would help her feel more at home.'
"I feel perfectly at home here….but I would like to go." Rinoa put her hands on her hips
in a very childish gesture.
"Well…..Selphie and I could go too, Squall. It sounds pretty good." Irvine spoke up,
calmly folding the piece of paper and putting it on Squall's desk where he could see it.
Squall nodded slightly. Rinoa frowned and dived for the folded paper.
"I want to see!" Rinoa reached for the paper, but Irvine snatched it up, and put it in his
pocket.
"Nope. Top secret Irvine info. See you guys later. And I'll ask Selphie about the
Carnival, Squall. She'll probably want to go. Bye." Irvine walked out, giving Nida a look
as he walked out the door.
"Guess I'll be going too." Nida followed Irvine, looking disgusted at the cowboy.
"Squall, what was that about?" Rinoa demanded. Squall cracked a slight grin, and shook
his head.
"Like he said, top secret Irvine info. You'll know later." Squall sat back down on the
chair Irvine had sat on. Rinoa turned the other chair right side up.
"Well….fine. You got to get out cause I need to change cause I'm going on that field trip
with the junior classmen." Rinoa pouted at her boyfriend.
"Okay. I will. But you'd better stay out of my stuff, girl…..last time you did that I almost
wanted to kill you." Squall smiled and set the flyer for the Carnival on the desk, exactly
where Irvine had set his piece of paper. She looked at his profile and sighed in a dreamy
way.
Tall, that thick brown hair, the handsome features, and those piercing blue eyes. She kept
staring at him until she realized he was saying her name.
"Rinoa?! Hello…anyone in there?" Squall waved his hands in front of her eyes. Rinoa
blinked a couple of times and turned pink again.
"You going to change or what?" Squall walked towards the door, pulling on his ever-
present leather jacket. "Later, Rin-rin." He left the room.
Rinoa sighed and got up, walked over to her box of clothing on the floor next to her cot.
Picking out a pair of jean shorts and a blue t-shirt, she changed quickly. Making sure she
had her smallest weapon, her Pinwheel, with her, she headed for the front gate.
~2nd Floor Classroom~
Squall walked down the quiet hall, aiming for the observation deck. Humming in his
mind, the thought about Irvine and his plan. Irvine wanted to take Selphie up to the deck
and have dinner with her there. Then Squall was supposed to lock them out there and turn
off the lights.
'Simple enough. I just hope Selphie doesn't blow him up for planning something like that
if she ever found out!' Squall neared the door, and found it was halfway open. Seeing
someone heading up the deck, Squall called out.
"Hey!" Squall rushed up the stairs, thinking it might be Zell, for this was one of Zell's
favorite hangouts. He found himself looking at a long cascade of double colored hair.
"Hey, yourself. What's wrong?" She asked, turning, her violet and blue hair making a
bizarre effect of twisting around as she turned.
"Nothing. I thought you might be someone else." Squall said, his brow darkening. He
hadn't seen her here before.
"Oh….does anyone else here have hair like this?" She tugged on a few strands of her
violet and blue hair. "I didn't see anyone." She smiled down at Squall.
"No...no one else does. It's just this is one of my friend's hang outs." Squall said, starting
up the stairs again. He passes her and looked back into her eyes. He was startled to see
they were violet and blue as well.
"Well…I'll see you around……." Squall turned and went up to the deck. She followed
him.
"I'm Tari Ihiri. Are you….Squall? The one that Headmaster Cid mentioned? One of the
ones who are called 'Saviors of the World'?" She asked him, pulling out a small camera
and snapping away at the view of scenery from the deck.
"I am Squall." The wind blew Squall's brown hair away from his face, letting her see his
scar.
"That scar…where'd you get it?" Tari pointed at his face, putting her camera down for a
moment.
"It was in a fight. I got hit, so I hit my opponent back in the same place." Squall said,
getting slightly annoyed. She was asking too many questions.
"Ah. I wish I had done the same for mine." She looked back out at the vast field as Squall
turned and looked at her. His eyes moved over her pretty face, but they didn't see any
scars.
"What do you mean?" Squall asked, curious and puzzled even though he wouldn't admit
it.
"I was in a fight about 3 years ago. My ……opponent hit me in the side and wounded me
badly." Lifting the right side of her mid-drift shirt, he saw on the right side of her ribs
was a scar in the shape of a perfect crescent moon.
"What kind of weapon makes a mark like that so perfect?" Squall asked, looking away.
"A scythe. He had a scythe. All I had was my fists then." She put her camera in the
pocket of her khaki pants. "Now I have my Wild Claws."
"Wild Claws? That is something I've never heard of." Squall thought about his gun
blade. It was just what he wanted and needed. He was glad it was unlike any other.
"This is what they are." Tari pulled out two things that looked like flat black boxes.
Attaching them to her wrists with strong black leather straps, she held them before
herself.
Squall jumped back when she touched a button on each one and a clicking sound was
heard. Three blades, eight inches of retractable steel had shot out from each of the boxes,
jointed cleverly so that they could fold up into the boxes.
"That's very impressive." Squall thought about the damage she could do if she knew
martial arts.
"Thanks. I made them with the help of a friend from the desert." Tari took them off and
put them back in her pockets. She then went pale. Leaning against the edge of the wall,
she began to shake and shudder.
"Hey…is something wrong??" Squall asked, watching her twitch. She closed her eyes in
pain and began making sounds as if she was choking.
"I…I'm fine…." She said when she stopped twitching all of a sudden. She looked at him,
her eyes now cold as ice. Squall was startled, for it looked like the look he had given a lot
of people before.
"Are you sure? What happened?" Squall asked, looking her straight in the eyes, not
budging even thought the coldness was unbearable.
"It is not of your concern, Leonhart. Leave what is not your business alone, and nothing
will happen to you." Tari said, turning from his gaze, and climbing onto the edge of the
wall.
"HEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Squall yelled as she turned to the outside edge of
the wall. Spreading her arms, she leaned forward.
And she dived off.
"THE HELL? NOOOOOO!" Squall stretched over the edge of the wall, his hand
reaching in vain for the figure growing smaller as it sped towards the ground.
Something in him went sick as he saw her land…….on her feet.
~Front Gate~
"Okay kids…let's get going….each of you grab a sack." Quistis and Seifer had brought
out all the lunch sacks and now the junior classmen were all fighting to get one. Rinoa
and Selphie came jogging up, each wearing comfortable outfits.
"Wow….look at them go!" Selphie laughed as the kids finally got their lunches and in
line to leave.
"Yeah. It's great to see them all doing good once again. I'm sorry I wanted to destroy
this place once." Seifer said wistfully. Quistis hugged him tightly, bringing a soft gleam
to his blue eyes.
"It's okay, Seifer. It's all okay now." Quistis buried her face in his trench coat, savoring
his scent. He put an arm around her and the two stood there, watching Selphie and Rinoa
getting the kids in the right order.
"I know, Quisty. I know that now. What about Zell? Is he coming to help you guys?"
Seifer asked, the two pulling away from each other, following the lines of kids exiting the
Garden.
"I don't think so. He didn't tell me." Quistis said, turning to say good-bye to her
boyfriend.
"Later, babe. I've got to get to a disciplinary meeting. Fujin and Raijin are waiting."
Seifer kissed her brow in a rare show of affection for her. She smiled as he walked off
then ran to join her friends who were preparing to leave.
"Hey…have you seen Squall? He volunteered to drive one of the vehicles." Rinoa said as
Quistis joined her at the front gate.
"I don't know. The last time I saw him was yesterday." Quistis said, shading her eyes
from the sun with her hand. Turning back, she spotted Squall running out the front gate.
"Hey…wonder what's the matter with him?" Quistis remarked, noting that Squall had a
hard look on his face, as he always did if something important was on his mind. He sped
past the girls, his leather jacket flying straight out behind him.
"SQUALL?!" Rinoa called after him, worry clouding her eyes. "Quistis, you guys go
ahead. Get Zell to drive in Squall's place. I've got to find out what is wrong." With that,
Rinoa ran after Squall, taking a northern direction around the Garden.
Squall put on the speed when he saw Tari's form standing alone on the flat plain.
Rinoa saw what he was heading for and she wondered how Tari got to be there. But
Squall knew something and it seemed out of place.
"Tari!?" Squall reached the girl standing alone. She didn't move.
"Tari?" Squall asked again, touching her shoulder.
"What? What do you want?" Tari answered, turning and looking at him. Squall felt
white-hot anger boiling inside of him.
"Do you take me for a fool? I saw you jump from the observation deck!" Squall felt like
yelling at her.
"I know you did. My grandfather taught me how to free-fall with Aero. That's what I
did." Tari said, grinning at the angry Squall.
"Free-falling? With AEROS? You know how scarce that magic is?" Squall said, his voice
not hiding his anger with this girl.
"When you have as much as I do, then you can spare some. It's not like another war is
coming, geez." Tari shrugged in an indifferent way. Rinoa had never seen anyone act like
that with Squall, unless it was Squall himself.
"BUT MAGIC IS STILL SCARCE!" Squall actually yelled this time. Tari's eyes seemed
to flash with an inhuman green glow.
"You wish to fight me?" Tari demanded of him. Squall felt something in his go numb.
'No…I don't want to fight you. I don't feel like I could win, if you can afford to use
magic so carelessly.' Squall thought. 'Besides….what is it that you have done wrong?'
"What is it that I have done wrong?" Tari asked, startling Squall. He was surprised she
had voiced what he just thought.
"Squall……." Rinoa said, something in her voice asking everything she wanted to know.
"It's okay, Rinoa. It's fine. A mistake, that's all. Let's go." Squall put his arm around
Rinoa's shoulders and led her away. Looking back, he saw Tari looking dejected and
alone, completely different from the defiant girl she had been earlier.
"Rhapha….you…you said I wouldn't be alone again. Why am I still by myself?" Tari
said aloud, asking the empty air, looking for a reply.
Silence.
A/N: This was kinda fun to write. I'm a very serious person normally so I guess writing
lets me let it out! Ja! Tsutae Kouken