Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy 8....
~*Where Life Begins*~
~*Chapter 11: Losing Sight of Your Goals*~
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Day 18: Beautiful Leather Jacket
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Squall and Rinoa sat atop Garden as the sun set for off in the distance. A hue of orange spread through the town of Balamb. A light breeze ran through the two, causing their hair and clothes to sway about. Rinoa shivered lightly and clasped her hands to her arms. Squall took notice of her shivering and did something he did not expect of himself, he put her arm around her shoulders. Rinoa, also shocked from the movement, inched away a bit. However, Squall's arm kept its ground. Seeing no movement in Squall arm, she nestled into it.
"Pretty cool, huh?" She asked him as she looked to him out of the corner of her eye.
"What is?" Squall asked, his eyes kept on the city below.
"This city." Rinoa said with a smile as she slightly nodded in the direction of the city.
"Why is it so cool?" He asked her, squinting in an attempt to see what was so cool about this place.
"Because you saved it." She told him with a light smile as she leaned her head against his chest. She breathed deeply and sighed loudly. After a few moments of silence, Rinoa finally began to engage in talking. "Your leather is so comfortable, where did you get it?" She asked as she nuzzled deeper into it, almost falling asleep.
"Around." He quickly responded. She sighed heavily. He wasn't going to let her get to close to his heart anytime soon.
"Ahem." Someone slightly coughed behind them. They both turned and found Quistis with a small smile on her face as she hesitantly stepped out onto the roof.
"Oh Quistis! We were just-" Rinoa was going to finish but Squall cut her off.
"Going to say good bye." He finished for her as he stood up, ripping his arm from her shoulder. He walked with large strides towards the exit of the roof. Quistis giggled lightly after he had left.
"What?" Rinoa asked with a small smile on her face. Quistis flopped down where Squall was just a second ago.
"He was blushing." Quistis told her friend.
"You think he likes me?" Rinoa asked with a smile. Quistis's happy smile quickly turned into a serious frown. Rinoa, noticing this, asked: "What?"
"You're still trying to get back at Irvine?" Quistis asked a bit in disgust. Rinoa turned from her friend's eyes and turned them to the setting sun.
"I'm not sure, anymore." Rinoa told her friend quietly. "Irvine doesn't seem that much effected by it. I'm not sure if I'm doing this because I like him or to get back at Irvine." Rinoa said in a quiet voice.
"Keep this in mind." Quistis began as she leaned to close to Rinoa's ear. "He's cute." She whispered with a little giggle. Rinoa began to laugh herself....
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Day 19: Standing High
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"YOU DID WHAT, SELPHIE!?!?!?!?!" Rinoa screamed in her friends face.
"Hey calm down." Selphie commanded, backing away a bit scared of her friend at the moment. "He doesn't know he is going on a date with you." She reassured.
"But when he finds out that I'm his blind date... it's going to ruin our friendship." Rinoa said solemnly. "And I worked so hard to get it to where I am in his heart." She said quietly.
"Just take a chance... it's not your fault that you paired up with him, it was mine!" Selphie squealed in delight. Rinoa sighed in defeat.
"Fine." Rinoa said in disappointment.
Rinoa sat on the bus bench, waiting for Squall to show himself. While Rinoa waited for him, she wondered how Selphie got him to go on a blind date. She hoped it was some sort of civil way. Rinoa wore a tight black skirt that went to about to mid thigh length and a tank top. It was sun set and the weather was starting to turn for the worse.
"Squall, please show." She mumbled to herself quietly.
'Why did I let Selphie talk me into this?' Squall asked himself as he shoved his hands in his pockets. 'Oh right, because she said it will help me do better around Rinoa.' He reminded himself. 'Rinoa.' He thought to himself as a small smile appeared on his lips. He turned a corner which lead to the bus bench where he was supposed to meet the girl he was to go out with. He saw Rinoa sitting on the bench, cold as ever. His heart throbbed and ached. He couldn't see her, he was so tense and nervous.
It had been well after 20 minutes, and Rinoa was still sitting there, waiting for him to show up. She sighed in a slight whimper. She had never been stood up. It hurt, it hurt so much.... She stood from the bench but as she stood a tall figure stepped into her eye line from the left of her. She looked to the person.
"Irvine?" She questioned, squinting a bit.
"Yah." He greeted as he stepped closer to her. Wasting no time at all, he wanted to ask the question that had been on his mind for weeks. "Why are ya hanging out with dat loser?" He quickly asked, a bit scared of her reaction.
"He isn't a loser, Irvine!" Rinoa almost screamed.
"Then why did he stand you up on a date?" Irvine asked. It was obvious he had the better hand in the argument between them.
"He... he..." Rinoa had absolutely good answer to give, in fact, no answer at all. She couldn't figure it out. "Because he probably thought it would be some ugly girl, Selphie did tell him it was a blind date." Rinoa reminded him with a small smile.
"I saw him look at ya. I saw him turn away." Irvine told her as he stepped a bit closer to her. Rinoa looked to the ground solemnly, avoiding eye contact at all costs. "Rinoa, he doesn't look ya the way you like him." Irvine told her, a small scowl forming on his lips as he pressed his chest into her shoulder, lightly. Rinoa turned from him completely.
"He really doesn't like me." Rinoa repeated to herself, her eyes remained closed. 'That means... I'm such a bitch.' Rinoa thought to herself in disgust.
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Day 20: Like That In A Dream. Part 1
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"We have target on visual." An operator told Xu. In a matter of seconds a screen flashed, revealing a large hunched over beast. A horn protruded from its head and its hands were close to its knees in its hunched over position and a large hump surrounded its back.
Suddenly the beast turned towards the helicopter, which held the camera from which they were viewing. A small sparkle shown in on of its eyes, almost like a tear. But it was not, the 'tear' shot for the camera causing it become scrambled, or most likely, destroyed.
"It seems to be updating its own abilities." Nida noted.
"And its also getting smarter." Cid said with a scowl.
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A/N: Well... there is that chapter for ya! ^__^
Preview of next chapter: Squall and Seifer are ordered to deal with the beast before it reaches Garden's territory. But 'dealing' with it doesn't seem so easy as the two protectors fall unconscious and are forced to relive dark memories from long ago. As Rinoa struggles to see and understand Squall, she falls prey to the beast's power of 'Mind Rape'. As the three plummet deeper into their thoughts, the chance for their sanity and lives are slim. In the next chapter of Where Life Begins, "EATEN ALIVE!!!"
REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
