Disclaimer: I only own Terra, Akira, Shiloh and Chloe (introduced in this chapter). Everyone else belongs to Squaresoft.

Akira stood in front of Balamb Garden, her heavy knapsack hanging over her already aching shoulder. Seifer came up behind her. He'd been saddened almost all day due to the fact that he wouldn't see his daughter until the weekend when everyone at Garden had their two-day vacation. She turned to face him as he forced a smile. "Well... this is it..." she told him. He nodded and shifted his gaze to the large dome building in front of them.

"This'll be like your second home soon," he said distantly. "I know you'll enjoy it here."

"I hope so," she replied with a laugh. "I just don't wanna flunk my first test or... or do something to humiliate myself." Seifer approached her and put his hands on her shoulders.

"Just do your best. That's all anyone can ever ask of you. No matter what, I'll be proud of you." She smiled and gave him a tight hug.

"Okay, well... I'd better go. I have to meet Headmaster Cid soon. He's assigning my dorm and stuff."

Seifer nodded. "All right. I'll see you in a few days then."

"Bye Dad. I love you."

I love you too 'Kira." They hugged one last time before Akira disappeared inside Garden.

"Okay... at least I can remember where his office is," Akira said to herself as she made her way towards the elevator. Just before she reached the small set of stairs, someone ran right into her, almost knocking her down. A girl with light brown hair and hazel eyes rubbed her sore arm and smiled.

"I'm sorry about that. I was kinda in a hurry. By the way, I'm Chloe Kinneas, who're you?"

Akira extended her hand and Chloe accepted it. "I'm Akira Almasy. I'm new here." Chloe's eyes widened and suddenly, Akira thought it had been stupid to blurt out her last name like that. She winced as she awaited Chloe's response, which was totally different than what she'd expected.

"You're new here? Then that means I get to skip classes today!" she shouted happily. Akira sighed quietly. "I'm in charge of making sure new students get settled in. I show them around and help them find stuff. It's great 'cause I get to get out of class when I do."

Akira nodded. "Sounds like a good deal. But first I have to go see the headmaster. He's giving me a dorm."

Chloe nodded. "Okay, well I'll meet you back here when you're done."

"Okay." Akira continued up the steps and got into the elevator. When she reached the third floor and entered Cid's office, she saw a man already standing in there with him. He looked almost exactly like Shiloh, except he was much older. Was he Shiloh's father? She could almost bet on it. He turned and glared at her as she stepped up to the desk. "Uh, sir?"

"Akira," Cid only acknowledged her by saying her first name. "Your dorm is room 18. The Dormitory goes in order so it won't be hard to find." She nodded and turned to leave, but before she did, she wanted to make a good impression on the man standing beside her. She smiled at him, but he only turned away and waited for Cid to talk with him once again. She sighed and left the office.

"That was Seifer's daughter," Squall said bluntly.

Cid nodded. "Yes... Yes she is."

"How is this Garden going to run properly when the child of an enemy is attending here?" Squall was almost being disrespectful and Cid was going to put a stop to it before he got carried away.

"Mr. Leonheart, I understand your opinion, but you know the rules. We cannot be prejudice against anyone willing to fight as a SeeD and protect Balamb Garden. Seifer was exiled, not Akira."

Squall didn't say anything to that. He just saluted and left.

"Where to first?" asked Chloe as she bounced along beside Akira.

"Hmm... I'm not sure..." Akira didn't have the heart to tell Chloe that she already knew how to get around Garden because of Shiloh, so she played dumb. "What about the Library?"

Chloe pondered the suggestion. "Okay! You can meet my mom and dad!" She grabbed Akira's hand and pulled her along to the corridor labeled 'Library'. It was much quieter inside than it was in the main area, which wasn't so loud to begin with. Chloe pointed to a pair of adults. The woman had short brown hair that flipped up on the ends. She wore a rust- colored blouse and a long denim skirt. The man had on a white t-shirt and a pair of khaki pants. His long brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail and he was holding a dark brown cowboy hat under his arm. "That's my mom Selphie and my dad Irvine. Just be careful though... They're sickening when they flirt." Chloe rolled her eyes and led Akira over to her parents. "Mom, Dad, this is Akira Almasy. She's new here."

Selphie and Irvine exchanged a nervous glance, but tried to be kind just the same. "Uh... hey there," Irvine said. Akira suddenly felt out of place. She knew by their looks that Selphie and Irvine must've known her father.

Selphie smiled brightly and extended her petite hand. Akira shook it. "Nice to meet you!" Irvine looked over at her, a little surprised that she was being so outgoing to this girl. "So you're new here?"

Akira nodded, glad that Selphie's reaction hadn't been as bad as her husband's. "Yes ma'am. I want to be a SeeD someday." Selphie and Irvine both nodded and smiled at her. She smiled back and suddenly didn't feel so bad.

Chloe tugged on her friend's arm. "C'mon. I wanna introduce you to more people!" Akira said goodbye to the couple and walked off with Chloe. Irvine turned to Selphie.

"You sure took that well," he commented as he put his hat on.

"Well Irvy, I think that it isn't as bad as you all think it is that Seifer's daughter's here. She's seems nice enough, and Chloe seems to like her a lot.

Irvine chuckled and planted a kiss on Selphie's cheek. "Only because she's helping her to get out of class today."

"This is the Cafeteria, where Uncle Zell spends all hours of the day eating the hot dogs." Chloe laughed and Akira did too, feeling butterflies in her stomach as she wondered if Zell knew Seifer too. "Hey Uncle Zell!" Chloe called across the room. Zell sat by himself at a far table. He smiled big and waved his hand in the air for them to join him.

"Hey Chloe," he said kindly. He looked over at Akira and his smile faded immediatly.

"Uncle Zell, this is Akira Almasy. She's new to Garden."

Zell didn't reply at first, then decided he'd better at least be civil for the sake of his free hot dog privledges. "Hi Akira. Nice to meet you." He extended his hand politely and she shook it. "Have a seat you two."

Chloe shook her head. "No that's okay. I have to finish giving Akira the grand tour!"

Zell chuckled. "All right. See you later." Chloe once again half-dragged Akira back out of the Cafeteria. "Man does she look like her father..." Zell thought out loud. "It's too bad..."

After exploring the other areas of Garden, Chloe finally announced that this would be the last stop. They stopped in front of the Quad. "This is my mom's absolute favorite place in all of Garden," Chloe told her as they went inside. "She sets up the Garden Festival and this is where it takes place. She gets really psyched about it every year."

"Garden Festival?" Akira echoed. "What's that?"

"Oh it's like a big party that takes place every year. There's different themes each time and my mom's in charge of setting it all up. She's been doing it ever since she was like, my age." Akira nodded. She looked ahead of her and her heartbeat quickened. Standing no more than thirty feet away were two people. One was a woman - a beautiful woman, with raven hair and brown eyes. She wore a long blue dress. The other person was Shiloh.

"Hey Mrs. Leonheart! Hey Shi!" Chloe called as she waved her arm in the air. The both of them turned. Rinoa smiled warmly, but Shiloh immediatly frowned. Chloe led her over to them and Akira wouldn't look Shiloh in the face.

"Hello Chloe. How are you today?" Rinoa asked kindly.

"I'm fine. Getting out of class at least." Rinoa chuckled. "This is Akira Almasy. Akira, this is Rinoa and Shiloh Leonheart. Shi's dad's the commander here, but I'm not exactly sure where he is now..."

Rinoa didn't want Squall to meet Akira quite yet, although she didn't know he'd sort of already did. "Hon, maybe that's not such a good idea. Squall is, um... Well he isn't feeling very well today and I think it would be best if we all let him be." Akira knew the real reason why Rinoa didn't want Chloe to take her to meet Squall. He'd hate her. He already did though, so what would it matter? Everyone hated her, though they'd tried to hide it, but she knew.

Chloe nodded. "Okay. Well maybe later then."

Rinoa glanced at Akira quickly. "Yeah, maybe..." Shiloh remained quiet up until Rinoa scolded him. No one knew that Akira and Shiloh had already met and had been quite close. Neither of them wanted anyone to know. "Shiloh, aren't you going to say hello?"

"Uh, yeah..." Shiloh said. "Hey," he muttered under his breath.

"Hi..."

Akira wanted to be alone with Shiloh, to tell him what exactly was going on and to apologize even. She didn't really have anything to be sorry for, but she still felt something needed to be done. Maybe she'd get the chance later...

Akira was very anxious about her first class of the day. She hoped that no one in there with her would recognize her or her last name. She took a deep breath and opened the door. No one seemed to notice as she walked in and sat in the first empty seat she saw available. She didn't bother looking around at first, but when she did, she saw that her instructor was indeed Quistis, and the person seated next to her was Shiloh.

Well there's the next chapter. Sorry if the character reactions weren't the best, but I figured everyone would at least try to be nice and not totally flip out, at least not in front of the poor girl.