Chapter 3
Rinoa arrived at Balamb Garden within a few days. She talked to the headmaster, Cid, who seemed like a nice enough character, but definitely deeply troubled. (Oh well,) she thought, (it's not my problem). She winced a little at her attitude. Cid told her she would be welcome to train to become SeeD, and even gave a quick tour of the garden. (Wow, so this is what it's like to be a mercenary, to train to fight, to know that you're fighting with the best.) Rinoa was shown her dormitory and given a class schedule. (Geez, they don't lose any time do they.) She was dressed casually in a white shirt, black skirt, and a blue cape to complete the outfit, but she knew, from experience, it didn't matter how she dressed, Rinoa could still turn heads. Rinoa headed to the library to pick the books and materials she needed for class. That's when a tall, and slightly brooding stranger bumped into her, hard, causing her to fall to the ground.
"Oomph," a sound escaped from Rinoa's lips just slightly. She looked up to see who the clumsy stranger was, when she saw one of the most gorgeous guys in her life. His very pale, deep blue eyes mesmerized her for a second. He was none other than…
"SQUALL!" a voice yelled from far off. "Come back here! We didn't mean it in a bad way!" It was Selphie calling after one of her closest friends. Squall finally noticed the girl he'd knocked to the ground. Seeing how beautiful and seemingly perfectly angelic she was, Squall gasped a little but then recovered. He flashed a charming smile, and offered to help her up.
"No thanks. You've done quite enough for me already …." She waited for him to say his name.
"Squall. The name is Squall Leonhart." He retracted his hand but not his eyes from this very touchy girl. He admitted that he was slightly impressed; she was the first girl to decline his help.
"Squall …" She paused on saying his name. It was an almost comforting sound. Almost. "Try not to let it happen next time," she called out, glancing back at him once, after getting up and walking towards the library again.
(Whoa Squall, what was that? You let a girl phase you. What's coming over you?!) thought Squall to himself. He followed the fleeing girl with his eyes. (Quite a beauty.) Then he spotted Selphie coming towards him again. He hurried back to his room to think about how to get to this new girl.
***A few weeks later***
Riona was invading his system. He couldn't breathe easily around her. Squall could merely enjoy her presence, and the faint scent of vanilla as she passed by him with a cold remark occasional when he tried to make conversation. (How can she be so beautiful and cold at the same time?) Squall was deep in thought and barely touched his food.
"Squallie!" Selphie yelled to startle him. "What's wrong with you?! You won't play with us or even eat with us like you use to! What's happened these past few weeks?" Zell and Irvine also looked at Squall. They had noticed the unusual changes in their usual optimistic and charming friend. (He broods now,) thought Selphie. (Since when does he brood?)
Squall snapped back to reality. He shrugged. "Sorry Selphie, got a lot of things on my mind." He stood up and left to go to the Training room. Hopefully, killing things would clear his mind a little of the girl that haunted him. He would pass so close to her, within fingers length, but he couldn't touch her. The need for contact with Rinoa almost possessed him. Squall made sure he equipped a few magic spells, and his two GFs, Quetzalcoatl and Shiva. Those monsters could be tough to defeat sometimes. He whipped out his gunblade from its holster and held it in his hands with a dangerously calm look in his eyes. He was now the hunter, the lone wolf. He walked into the areas with the monsters. A mutated and evolved version of the prehistoric tyrannosaurus-rex was heading towards him, but he was distracted when he saw a woman's form trying to break into the weapons shed behind the t-rex. Squall would deal with that in a minute; right now he concentrated on the huge dinosaur in front of him.
"ROAAAAR!!!" The deafening sound of thunder escaped from the animal's mouth, as if to greet Squall. It quickly turned and swung its powerful tail at Squall, causing him to stumble for a few seconds. Then he concentrated on summoning.
"Shiva!" Squall answered to the monster's challenge, as a dazzling ancient goddess frozen in ice appeared. Bursting out of her ice cube of slumber, she blasted the monster with freezing ice, surrounding the poor creature on all sides, her Diamond Dust technique. The t-rexaur was badly hurt but managed to bite Squall once before the lone wolf finished it off. Squall didn't pay too much attention to his bleeding shoulder as he hurried over to none other than…Rinoa.
"Rinoa!" Squall said with a half worried and curious tone. She turned to look at him but continued to lock pick the lock on the shed. "What are you doing here? Don't you know it's dangerous!" He scolded her gently.
She gave him an icy, dirty look. "What do you care? I can handle myself!" She said defiantly.
He admired her for her self-confidence, but wasn't sure of her awareness of the great danger around her. Even for him, taking on monsters in the Training room was tough…but for a new cadet with no previous experience, it was overwhelming. He debated whether to drag her out of here, or be an accomplice.
He saw an instructor come into the training room. "Rinoa!" he harshly whispered, "we need to get out of here. The instructor will call the Discipline Committee if he sees you." Squall still held his gunblade up in a defensive position; his body was shielding Rinoa's.
Ever the rebel, the defiance in her voice could be heard: "I'm almost done! We're only going to get caught if he sees …
A harsh voice interrupted: "What are you doing down there?!"
Squall could only think of one thing, and he hoped that the man didn't see Rinoa. She didn't manage to open the lock and sighed, frustrated. Squall whispered at her, "Pretend to be injured, fall down! I'll get you out of here. It's the only way to get out of trouble!" He hoped she would heed the voice of reason for once. Thankfully, she obeyed and collapsed to the floor. The instructor ran towards Squall, but it was just his luck and another t-rex appeared from behind the trees. "Great," he muttered under his breath.
The t-rex attacked first, aiming to bit his head, but Squall jumped out the way, only to be bitten in the shoulder. (Ouch, why do they have to keep going for the shoulder!) he thought to himself, wincing in pain. "Blizaraga!" he yelled as ice magic enveloped the monster. Squall finished it off with a few more swings of his gunblade, and his limit break. "Fated circle!" he leaped and cast a deadly ring of magic from his blade. The t-rex roared one last time and collapsed. Squall turned to the small form behind him as the instructor came to them.
"What were you doing down here by yourself?!" he yelled at Squall, obviously missing Rinoa's form. Squall pointed to her seemingly unconscious figure.
"Sorry sir, I saw her injured so I went into battle. She's new here and I doubt she knows the dangers of this room." He went over to pick her gently up, his back to the instructor. Rinoa opened one eye while Squall was lifting her and melted at his handsome, chiseled features. (No…I won't, I can't! I can't fall in love with a man. I'm suppose to become independent!) Rinoa yelled at herself in her head.
The instructor calmed down immediately. "Oh! Let's get her into the emergency ward right away!" Squall followed him, carrying the woman of his heart in his arms. He looked down and could see only beauty, pain, and her desperate need for someone…or was that his heart's longing… They reached the infirmary, and Squall left her in charge of the doctor, who said, "she'll be fine, she must have fainted." He neglected his own wounds because he was bathing in the fact he just touched her ….