Chapter 8
Squall sat at his desk, trying to write a letter to Rinoa, explaining everything, including his short, meaningless relationship with a woman who didn't care for him, that he never slept with her or dumped her. It was the other way around. (For all my charm with women, I can't seem to get this down right,) Squall thought.
"Let it come to you. She doesn't want to believe it's true…" advised Shiva in his head. Squall learned how to communicate with his GF's. He had to open himself up to the GF's completely in order for them to talk to him. He knew Shiva was loyal to him, and liked him beyond the master-servant relationship that was required between GF's and their 'owners.' Squall never liked the notion that he 'owned' a GF. They were their own entity, choosing to help the human race, most of the time of their own free will, but since they were so powerful, the condition was that they must train to regain their former power. They were in a sense, reborn to the world. Fate played a role in determining who their master was, through luck or battle. Shiva was content with her master.
Squall looked down at the pathetic two lines he had written:
Dear Rinoa,
I don't know what you meant by dumping women after sleeping with them. Quistis dumped me after the second date for Seifer.
(Now how pathetic does that sound, a woman dumping him for Seifer. Wonder if I should reword that?) Squall sighed. It had been two hours, and he still had not gotten far.
"Thanks Shiva for the support," Squall said in his mind to his GF. "I think it's better if I talk to her, in person. Hopefully she'll be willing to this time."
Squall knew what he needed to do. He picked up his gunblade and sheathed it in its scabbard, hanging on his waist. He put on his jacket and left the room.
***Outside Garden***
Rinoa was still crying after two hours. (How could he do this to me? What does it hurt so much, you'd think I'd be use to this by now. Geez, do I have more than one heart to break or something?) She walked about a mile from Garden and sat by a rock. It was around noon. A sea breeze passed through Rinoa's hair. (Wow, it's actually nice out here…wonder why people from Garden don't come out here more.)
Something hit her with a ball of fire, rudely interrupting the peaceful moment.
Rinoa cried in pain, and stood up, facing her attacker…attackers. There were three bite bugs and a catherchipillar. She tried to remember their weakness. (Ice!) she thought triumphantly to herself, but just as she celebrated her memory, the caterchipillar cast Sticky Web on her, slowing her thought process and movements dramatically. (Damn!)
She cast ice on one of the bite bugs, with some success. It fluttered, seriously injured from her magic spell. Then the other two bite bugs attacked. One stung her, and the other cast another fire spell. Rinoa whimpered in pain, but she resolved to remain strong. Her health was rapidly deteriorating and the Sticky Web had its effect on her. (My life or my pride…) Rinoa knew she had two choices, she would have chosen the latter, except for one thing… (I still have to kick Seifer's ass). She ran.
Squall squinted out into the plains and saw a young woman running towards Garden from four attackers. (Please don't let me be to late…) He ran towards her, but there was a mile in between them, slowly closing as Squall raced as fast as he could towards her.
They were still coming. Rinoa could feel them behind her, but she was already too injured to outrun them for the whole mile. (Damn! Why did I have to go so far!) She turned around to look at her pursuers. That was her mistake. She tripped over a small rock that she didn't see while focusing behind her. They descended upon her, ravishing the thought of the hunt…the kill. The bite bugs cast another three fire spells on the poor girl, as she kneeled to the ground. Her health was dangerously low, as she countered with another ice spell on the injured bite bug. It fell dead. (Finally, one out of four. At least I didn't go down without killing one.) Her body was aching from the burns and the heat of the fire spells. She could have sworn the caterchipillar gave her an evil grin before jumping at her, ready to finish the kill. Rinoa closed her eyes, waiting for her death.
It never came. Squall leapt with a ferocious look in his eyes, angered by the monsters that threatened his beloved.
"I am ready Master," said Shiva telepathically.
"No, I want to kill them myself, my friend," replied Squall.
Squall's anger reflected in his blade. His gunblade was a reflection of its master, conveying his feelings through its glow. There was a fiery red light on the edge of the blade, sparkling ruby red in the hot sun. Squall jumped into the middle of the attackers and sliced them with great passion. He killed them in less than a minute, leaving their carcasses to rot in the sun. He sheathed Lionheart, the name of his gunblade, and walked over to Rinoa, who looked very pale. She was bleeding from the bite bug's sting, and the small stream of blood flowed from her leg, absorbing into her jeans and unnoticed by both Rinoa and Squall.
"Squall?" She asked meekly. She struggled to keep consciousness. "Yeah baby, I'm here…I'm here ok." He choked back his tears as he saw her serious condition. "Stay with me, you're going to be fine. You look better now than some girls ever do in their lifetime."
Rinoa laughed weakly, as Squall picked her up to take her back to Garden. She could hear the sound of his boots crunching the dry grass on the plains. Then she bitterly remembered why she had run to the plains in the first place. "Is that what you say to all the girls Squall? Is that how they all fall for you?" She almost spat the words.
He looked at her with slightly hurt eyes, making her feel guilty, then spoke softly, "I don't know where you heard I dumped Quistis after we slept together. Quistis left me for Seifer. He seduced her from me when he learned we were going out. And about other girls…I don't really like any of them. Except one."
Rinoa gazed into his azure eyes and knew he spoke the truth. She gently caressed his face with one hand. "…I'm sorry for not believing in you. I fell for Seifer's lies because it's habit to distrust people. It's so much easier to pretend everyone is unkind, and uncaring…because you…don't get hurt that way." A tear slid down her cheeks, which still were the color of the first rays of dawn. She turned into Squall's chest to hide her tears.
Squall held her tighter, and whispered softly, "I know Rinoa…I know too well. It's ok to cry you know. It's not against the SeeD code to cry." He grinned at her, trying to get her to smile. It worked, and she laughed a little.
"Since when do you study SeeD code? I thought you were too busy staring at me all day to even glance at the books." Rinoa looked accusingly at her protector.
Squall blushed. "You knew?"
Rinoa giggled. "I'm not that oblivious you know. And you Mr. Leonhart are not as good at being sly as you think you are." She added, "Red suits you," much to the further embarrassment of the already apple red cheeked cadet.
"You know, even though you're injured…I'm still going to punish you for the Mr. Leonhart and the red comment. I'll be nice though and save it for when you get better." He regretted not having any cure spells on him at the moment. They finally reached Balamb Garden and he carried her to the infirmary, setting her down on one of the hospital beds for the doctor to inspect.
Rinoa turned to Squall before he left, as the doctor went for bandages and salves. "Seems like you've carried women before MR. Leonhart," she mocked.
Squall raised an eyebrow at her challenge. "My gunblade is heavy. I'm use to it, plus, Miss Heartilly, I will be seeing you later for some…" he was interrupted by Rinoa, who fainted suddenly.
"DOCTOR!" Squall yelled as he rushed to Rinoa. The doctor ran and checked for Rinoa's pulse, which was very weak. She looked all over and saw the small hole in her jeans, and the darkened liquid that soaked into it, which had not stopped bleeding.
Squall looked panicked. "What's wrong with her?! What just happened?!"
The doctor reached for a pair of scissors and cut up the jeans, until she reached the hole. Both Squall and the doctor gasped as they saw the amount of Rinoa's life-blood flowing freely from her leg. The doctor immediately put a cotton pad on the wound, and instructed Squall to staunch the flow. She went for her medical records to research Rinoa's blood type. After finding what she was looking for she went to the blood supply, kept in the back of the infirmary room. She didn't find any packets, and remembered that they had been sent to the lab today for further testing. She returned to Squall and Rinoa. He had managed to stop the majority of the bleeding.
"What's your blood type Squall?" she asked with a seemingly calm voice.
"AB," he replied.
"That'll do. Rinoa's is also AB. Would you be willing to save her life yet again?"
"Yes." There was no hesitation in his voice and he took off his jacket, offering his arm. The doctor rubbed alcohol over the crook of Squall's arm and stuck the needle in. She did the same process with Rinoa. Squall watched his blood flow into his love. He could only hope she would be ok…