In the Eye of the Squall
Chapter 3: A guy to dye for. . .
By Sephiroth 4000.
Squall awoke with a lodgy feeling in the general area of
where his brain used to be. Two
days. Two whole miserable days where he
had been deprived of the ambrosia of the gods. . . He couldn't take it anymore!!!!! Something had to break!!!!!!
In his
delerium, he had scarcely noticed that he had begun to glow a bright heady red,
that meant that even without his gunblade ready at hand he was about to launch
into Renzokuken. . .
"What do
you mean you couldn't find any dye!!!!! And why did you want any, anyway!!!!!????"
Tidus
winced. Having an angry Yuna screech
into his ear first thing in the morning was definitely not one of his favourite
pastimes. And yet, she was the only one
he knew well enough to go to in his times of need. . .He really wished all his
Blitzball buddies were here at the moment.
"Well," he
hazarded, "I thought if I dyed my hair brown, I might possibly pass as Squall
long enough to get close to all his little friends, and swipe all their GF's."
Yuna's brow
furrowed in thought for a moment, seeking in vain for a flaw in his perfect
plan. Abruptly she raised her head, and
smiled brilliantly at him. "Excellent
idea, my dear Tidus. Now let's see
about this dye. . ."
Tidus
sighed. They had been looking for
hours, since Yuna had insisted on taking him through all the Balamb shops,
which he had already visited. Honestly,
it was if she thought he was a moron, or something. So now, they were dispondently wandering the clean sunny streets
of Balamb, searching for another shop, while everybody else went on their way,
wrapped up in their own happy little lives. It was enough to make him grind his teeth.
Yuna
grabbed his arm. "Hey look over there,"
she whispered.
"What? Huh?" he couldn't see anyone except a street
performer who had coated her hair with hot melted chocolate, and was using it
to paint on a large sheet of foil. . .
"Look. At the girl who's painting! Her hair's gone brown. . ."
It took one
moment for that to penetrate through his bewildered thoughts. Then, as it managed to get through, his jaw
hit the ground, and he turned to her with panicked wide eyes. "Oh no. . .You can't mean me to. . .You
can't! It's not. . .My hair. . ."
In response
to his babbled protests, she simply smiled evilly. "I think milk chocolate ought to be the right shade for Squall's
hair, right?"
"Re-Renzokuken!!!!!!!" Squall exploded into action, overturning his
bed, smashing the table, throwing the chair against the window which shattered
in protest. With a single incredible
leap, he went through the window, twisting to avoid snagging the rich Galbadian
leather of his coat and jacket. The
other patients in rehab shrieked in shock, and one ran for a big red button
that stood out prominently by the door. . .
Rinoa
really and truly tried to concentrate on what Agent Doggin was saying, but for
some reason what ever the guy said washed straight over her head. He was just so. . .stupid. A typical stupid Galbadian guy.
"Let's go!"
he chirped. "I scheduled us for the
concert hall to see how you sound in there. It'll be a lot different from then in the studio. And your dancing lessons begin tomorrow,
right?"
"Yes," she
sighed. She couldn't help it, but she
felt like something terrible was happening to Squall at this very moment. .
.Maybe she would visit him later today. . .
A bunch of
white clad beefy men erupted from the doorway. Squall turned, snarling, but knew that he was hopelessly overmatched
without a weapon, and broke for the bushes. The medics followed, spreading out, and before long he was caught. He flailed around in their grip, but was
helpless to free himself. Oh, if only
he hadn't given his gunblade to the coat girl!!! He had known something was up when she hadn't taked his
coat. He could have smuggled in Lino
Heart as a mop; that was one thing that it could do, and Lion Heart hadn't been
able to.
One medic
prepared a huge needle to his horror, and smiled reassuringly. "It's all right Mr. Leonhart. Everything's going to be just fine. . ."
A sting of
pain in his left arm, and a moment of aghast shock. They had poked a hole in his leather jacket!!??? Then, blissfully nothing.
Tidus
stared in acute distaste and misery at the mess of melted, boiling hot
chocolate in front of him. They had
literally filled a tub of the gooey stuff. "Yuna. . ." he whined. "Do I
really have to do this?"
She simply
smiled, her expression positively angelic. "It was your idea."
With a sigh
of deepest regret, and with an apology to his poor belagred hair, Tidus bent
over and dipped his hair in. Gross! It was way too hot, his
scalp hurt, and now all that time he had spent combing in the conditioner that
annoying shop girl had sold him was wasted. Absolutely wasted. And he had
thought the ocean water on Spira had been bad for his hair. . .Well, that was
nothing to this. His hair was matted,
and he didn't know if he'd ever be able to get this stuff out. . .What if he
had to shave his head? He'd look like
he was prematurely bald! With a cry of
dismay, he slowly bought his head up, and let the excess chocolate drip back
into the basin. He hoped none of the
sticky brown stuff had gotten on his clothes.
"Perfect!"
Yuna squealed. "Absolutely perfect,
Tidus! I am a genius!"
He regarded
her with long suffering blue eyes.
Hours
later, the chocolate having rendered his lovely sun kissed blonde hair a blah
shade of brown that nearly matched Squall's colour of hair, Tidus strode
purposefully to the elevator, anxious to reach to the Second Floor Classroom,
where Selphie Tilmitt and Irvine Kinneas apparently spent most of their
time. Playing on the computer. What nerds.
He tapped
his foot absently, humming "Suteki Da Ne" under his breath, despite the odd
looks the blonde girl who shared the elevator gave him. She looked eerily like Ryukku, except that
she was wearing glasses and a SeeD uniform. Wait a minute. . .
This was
Quistis Trepe! She would have Guardian
Forces as well!
And at that
precise moment, she turned to look at him curiously, and said with an odd gleam
of speculation in her eyes, "Squall? Weren't you supposed to be at the Rehab Centre?"
Uh oh. It looked he was in deep trouble.
Rinoa
frowned. "What do you mean, I can't see
him?"
"I'm sorry
Miss. Your boyfriend is at a. .
.difficult stage right now. I'm afraid
we just can't let you see him." The
grey clad woman smiled insipidly. "But
I'm sure he'll be just fine soon. We're
making excellent progress."
Rinoa
glared furiously at the woman. This was
wrong. This woman was an absolute twit,
and she wanted to see her Squally right now! With that, she turned on her heel sharply, and shoved past the two burly
guards much to their surprise. One laid
a hesitant arm on her shoulder, but without a second thought, she blasted all
within the area with Shooting Star. It
returned obediantly to her the part on her wrist, called back by
magnetics. She smiled grimly, and
continued on.
Many tried
to stop her, but she exercised her weapon and Sorceress power with
impunity. Who dared to challenge
the greatest Sorceress since the Great Hyne? They were all fools! And Squall.
. .oh, she was coming Squall!
Doors
opened, people flooded out, and all fell upon her. She went faster and faster, the coridoors blurring past, until
she came to the wide room where she knew he was. A single slash of the Shooting Star knocked out the medics, and
simultaneously freed her Squall from where he was tied up.
"Rinoa!" he
cried, and flung himself toward her, his eyes wide in terror, face pale, his
arms outstretched to her.
"Squall!"
she yelled, turning to face him, arms wide to catch him, eager to hold his own
dear self.
Later Rinoa
reflected that it would have all been so sweet and touching, and later they could
have laughed that it had been like a reversal of what had happened at the
Sorceress Memorial. However. . .due to
a terrible miscalculation on both their parts, they fell to the floor, knocking
their heads, leaving both equally dazed.
The medics
were on them in a heartbeat, dragging Squall away further into the complex,
roughly grabbing Rinoa, and finally tossing her out into the street firmly on
her butt.
Tidus could
feel the blood draining from his face. His cover was blown already, he hadn't had a chance to draw any GF's,
and Yuna would fling this as a sign of incompetence into his face again and
again.
Quistis
advanced, hands on hips. "You sneaked
out didn't you!? And that Centre was
supposed to be the finest one in Balamb! Well, I don't think much of their security!" She bent forward, and he hung his head. She took a deep breath, to calm herself, but then suddenly the
smell wafting from his hair registered. "You've been eating chocolate!!!! Squall, how could you!!!! After
you said!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
He winced
at her wails, and stammered a vague disclaimer, still hoping he had a remote
chance of escaping her. No such
luck. She took him by the ear, sent the
elevator back to the first floor, and hauled him off to her car.
Yuna was
going to be furious.
Rinoa
sighed, and rubbed her aching behind sourly. There as nothing to do. She
would go and rally the Garden, and those super-tough SeeDs. But come to think of it, those big strong
SeeDs hadn't been able to defeat mere Galbadian soldiers, which she had done
with ease. Never mind. She'd ask Quistis and Zell to help her. And maybe even Selphie and Irvine, though
they were so wrapped up in each other she wondered if they noticed anything
that happened anymore. Oh well.
Brushing
off a few stray pieces of gravel from her lovely blue coat (she had just washed
it yesterday too!) she strode determindly to her car. She would save her darling Squall. No matter what.
Quistis
ranted on and on, while Tidus clung deperately to the dashboard, wishing that
he had never even considered dying his hair. She drove like a madman. . .or madwoman, dodging from lane to lane,
screeching her brakes, amidst a sea of honking horns. He hated to see what would have happened if she got her hands on
the Ragnarok.
"And you
gotta stay this time! Stay! Promise me!"
"I promise," he agreed
tiredly, halfheartedly crossing his fingers behind his back.
"Well here
we are! And you better keep your
promise!"
Within a
trice, she had him bustled into the rehab centre, and entered into a room (more
like a cell) wondering how he had managed to land himself in this whole entire
mess.
Author's Note: Hope you liked, this one was a little harder to write. Chapter 4 should be a lot easier, I already have some evil things planned for poor old Tidus and Squall. No, I don't know if you can dye your hair with chocolate. Probably not. But still. . .Heh heh. Poor Tidus.