---Disclaimer: I own nothing of Final Fantasy VIII. Everything is © Square.
---Author's Notes: More delays! Apologies, apologies . . . but I think this chapter's pretty good! The beginnings of fluff, at least. Heh, one more complication that'll take at least two chapters, then for the end it's going to be a whole chapter of fluff just to make up for my short delays. Hope you're enjoying it so far ^^
~
"Pass the . . . salt," Zell said lamely, trying to find an excuse to get Rinoa to meet his eyes. The salt was conveniently right next to her elbow, and he knew that she wouldn't be able to refuse this plea, like she had for Irvine's ketchup, Selphie's napkins, or Quistis' fork. They hadn't bothered with Squall, already knowing what his answer would be ("Get it yourself"). But if this was the one way they were going to make the most stubborn lovers in the world stop avoiding each other's eyes over dinner in a cafeteria, then by Hyne they were going to take it.
Rinoa sighed and finally looked up at the blonde, handing him the salt with a bit of hesitation. The martial artist immediately swiveled his eyes Squall's way, giving her a thumbs-up partially hidden by his paper cup filled with soda. He felt his chest swell with pride when she cautiously chanced the Commander a look, but then turned away and shuddered. Both Sorceress and Knight were picking at their food, obviously uncomfortable with the dinner arrangements.
Zell shot Selphie a look, who nodded fervently and reached over to tap Squall's fist. He glared angrily up at her, but she didn't seem to take notice.
"Umm . . . Xu wants to ask you a question," She said, at a loss for excuses. Xu was sitting next to Rinoa, so his eyesight needed to travel past the Sorceress to get to the brunette on her other side.
"No she doesn't," Squall said in a listless voice, raising his drink and taking a sip. "If she did, I would have heard her ask you." Selphie bit her lip. He was right; it was so quiet at their table that even a whisper would have been heard.
There was silence at the table for a few more minutes, and then Irvine nudged the Commander's elbow and grinned, whispered something to him, and then let his eyes dart over to Rinoa. Squall angrily scraped back his chair and stormed out of the room, making everybody at the table jump. Rinoa put her head in her hands and Selphie started swatting at Irvine for ruining it, while Quistis massaged her temples and Zell got up to start punching at an imaginary opponent.
"Let's just face it - none of us can get them back together!" Quistis announced loudly, speaking as if Rinoa wasn't there. The Sorceress wailed loudly, and Selphie put a comforting arm around her shoulder while shooting Quistis the look of death. "What? It's true! And we're not doing any better a job than they could. I think that we should leave it up to them to resolve this."
"Hear, hear!" Zell said, grinning at the other blonde.
"But we do know that we're not giving up until they're back together, right?" She said in a lower voice, still pretending that Rinoa was nowhere to be found.
"Right!" Selphie and Irvine said together, determination written on their faces.
"Yeah? And how are you going to do that? He flat out hates me, you remember!" Rinoa trilled, taking away her hands and rubbing her arm across her eyes.
"Well, that's what we're going to change," Quistis stated matter-of-factly, peering over the table at her distraught friend. Everyone had taken their seats again, dragging the cheap chairs towards Rinoa and leaning their head closer. "Okay, everybody has to get this straight - especially you, Rinoa" - the Sorceress nodded jubilantly, still wiping away her tears - "and timing is of the essence, if we're going to make this work. You have that? We're SeeDs, and we never fail, especially for our friends. Now, excuse the cheesy lines and let's start planning a way to reverse the most stubborn mind in Garden."
~
"Yo, Squall!"
The Commander instantly recognized the martial artist's voice and his familiar thudding on his dormitory door.
"Go away, Zell! It's two o'clock in the morning," he shouted angrily, shoving the pillow over his head and turning onto his stomach. Griever was piled in a puddle on his desk, his jacket was flung over the chair back, and the sheets were tangled around his legs, giving him the impression of a fly tangled in a spider's web.
"Nah; you gotta come now! I can't sleep, and I wanna go to the training center for an hour or somethin'. You come with me?" Zell said in his most casual voice, and Selphie gave him a thumbs-up from around the corner.
"Not on your life, you dumb blonde. Last time I went with you I was under dormitory arrest for a week," the Commander said harshly, his voice muffled since his mouth was pressed to the mattress.
"Aw, c'mon! You're such an old stick in the mud; you know that curfew doesn't apply to the Commander, and certainly not to one of the SeeDs who saved the world," Zell said, not the slightest bit fazed.
"It's not curfew I'm worried about," Squall muttered, kicking the sheets onto the floor and cursing blackly at them. The heat was driving him insane; he was built for Trabia, not hot-summered Balamb.
"Then come on out with me. It'll be fun, something you really need to experience more!" The martial artist persisted, banging on the door again. Squall grabbed a stapler and chucked it at the door, clearly frustrated. Finally, still muttering under his breath, he grabbed Lionheart, kicked open the door, and stalked out to the training center with Zell in tow.
~
"See? What did I tell you?" Zell said, trying to sound cheerful as they fought off a couple of Grats. Squall sliced easily through the monsters and turned away, peering around bushes and rocks for the T-Rexaur.
Behind him, Irvine appeared from behind a short shrub, giving Zell a pleading look. The blonde made a motion with his hand that would have said 'things are under control'. Irvine nodded, still looking fearful, but ducked out of sight and left the martial artist to jog and catch up with his Commander.
Irvine slogged through a patch of murky water to reach Rinoa and Quistis, who were standing before the T-Rexaur, who was chained to a fence and looking angry. Selphie and Xu were doing their best to restrain it, although it didn't look like it was going too well: Mrs. Kinneas had marks where the chains dug into her skin up her shoulders, and Xu was disheveled and tugging fruitlessly on the restraints. The sharpshooter tapped Quistis hard on the shoulder.
"Everything's in position," He said grandly, grinning broadly over at Selphie, who shot daggers at him.
"Perfect," The Instructor breathed, peering around a rock. As Squall and Zell came into view, she told Rinoa, "Okay . . . start!" Xu and Selphie dropped the chains, darting behind bushes as the two men rounded a corner.
"You - stupid - beast! Can't a girl get - any - decent - training around her anymore with - out - you - sneaking up - on her?" Rinoa shouted angrily, feigning exhaustion as she shot minor spells at the enormous dinosaur. Glancing at the approaching SeeDs out of the corner of her eye, she fell to her knees, groaning angrily and still pretending to look distraught.
Squall's heart wrenched unwillingly out of his chest when he saw her, and Zell grinned at Selphie, hidden a clump of bushes, behind his friend's back. "Uh . . . I think she kinda needs help, Squall," Zell said, trying his best to sound innocent. The Commander whipped out Lionheart and grabbed Zell's wrist, pulling him over to where the T-Rexaur had Rinoa 'cornered'.
Lionheart, when in the hands of someone sober, made the dinosaur work, along with Zell's help. When the beast finally ran for terror and the two men lay gasping on the training center floor, Rinoa scrambled hastily to her feet and flung her arms around Squall's neck.
"Thanks! I'm sorry, I was just so upset from dinner tonight that I came here unprepared, and I just couldn't fight him off," Rinoa sobbed, pressing her head into the Commander's neck. Confusion filled his light blue eyes, and he patted her back awkwardly, as if he didn't remember that he used to kiss her as if life would end right there in front of him.
"Uh . . . sure," he said uncomfortably, but continued when Zell gave him a look of encouragement. "Listen . . . I'm going to go down to the infirmary and get these cuts cleaned up. Do you need to come down, too?" Uncertainty had taken a hold on his voice, but when Rinoa spoke, her expression was so bright that Quistis believed it radiated all the way to the moon, even if Squall couldn't see it.
"Yeah, I think I've got a really big one right here on my leg. It would be okay if I came, right?" She asked, already knowing the answer by the way his arms had unconsciously locked around her back.
"Sure!" he said defensively, and stood, offering her a hand up. She took it gracefully, then doubled over, clutching at an imaginary wound in her leg. He kept a firm lock on her arm as they walked out of the center together, and the conspirators came out of hiding.
"That was absolutely perfect! Now all we gotta do is hope that he doesn't get too hard-headed and she doesn't go all mushy," Selphie said, gazing after them.
"At least we got him to get out here; I thought that that would be the hardest part. He never passes up a chance to show off his skills nowadays, and with buried feelings for Rinoa, I figured that getting him to rescue her would be fairly easy. Nice work, Zell," Quistis added belatedly, clapping her fellow blonde on the shoulder.
"Actually, I should be getting down there as well. See, I've got this huge -"
"NO!" The all shouted angrily at him, hands on their hips. He held up his hands in defense, chuckling nervously.
"Kidding! I'm kidding, see the joking look on my face? Kidd - ing!" Zell said, trying to hide the fear in his voice.
~
"So . . . watcha been up to?" Rinoa asked uncertainly, swinging her legs as she sat on the bed next to Squall. Kadowaki had disappeared to fetch antiseptic, leaving the two of them alone.
"Paperwork," He responded dully, chancing a look up at her. "I . . . have a question."
"Shoot," the Sorceress said cheerfully, clasping her hands in front of her.
"Why did you choose Trabia, of all places? I mean, you could've gone to Edea's orphanage, or Winhill, or Esthar, or even back to Timber; I mean, why Trabia?" Squall asked, his brow creasing and making the scar between his eyes look like a ripple. Rinoa shrugged slowly, glancing down at her swinging feet.
"I guess it was because I could become a SeeD there without many complications. Cid knows the headmaster, and he put in a few words of request and bang, I had a dorm and I was SeeD. But they didn't treat me like normal SeeDs; I was never asked to go on a mission, which is partly why I started coming apart. They left me alone, so all I did was lie in my room all day and think about the life I gave up here. I even called Laguna a couple of times because I couldn't take it, and he invited me to Esthar with honors, but I continually turned him down. I told him that I had an obligation, which I really didn't; I just wanted to finally seem important," she concluded, finally looking back up again.
"Oh," he said simply, unsure of what else to say. Then, another question flared in his mind. "Rinoa . . . did you really leave because of all the stupid press and gossip? Or did you have a problem with me, or someone else here?" The Sorceress looked appalled.
"A problem with you? Squall, I love you, and I love my friends like family. I had no other problems except the over-attention, which I had never gotten before, and I couldn't handle it - especially for that reason. Why would I have a problem with you guys?" she asked uncertainly, looking him over. His hands were ungloved, Griever wasn't around his neck, his jacket wasn't present, and Lionheart was still in the training center. He didn't look like himself without those little things that made him Squall.
"I don't know," He said, shrugging. "I was just wondering if it wasn't for that stupid reason."
"Okay, what have we got here? Training center? Really, and I thought you had matured enough to escape from T-Rexaurs now," Kadowaki said, shaking her head as she walked in. She set down the bottles of antiseptic that she had retrieved and looked Rinoa over, a line forming between her eyebrows. "Nothing wrong with you, dear; just a little dusted up, I'd say. Take a bath and you'll be fine." Rinoa smiled nervously.
"Oh - oh really? Sorry for wasting your time, then; I'll get going. W - want me to wait for you, Squall?" She added tentatively, gesturing to the door.
"Uh . . . if you want to, I mean . . . you must be tired, and all . . ." He didn't seem to notice that she had no injures, and he rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably.
"Okay then, I'll just be out in the hall for when you come out." She smiled and waved at him, slipping through the door.
"So . . . you finally made up with her?" Kadowaki asked, a smile forming on her face.
"Not formally," He replied, wincing as she used Curaga on his wounds.
"Well, good enough. Go get 'er, Commander, Sir," Kadowaki said, giving him a mocking salute as he jumped off of the bed and exited the infirmary.
"Ha, ha, very funny," He called sarcastically over his shoulder, and Rinoa grinned as he came into the hallway. They walked aimlessly through the dormitories, coming first outside her own. Before she went in, Squall caught her arm, pulling back out to face him.
"Listen . . . can I . . . meet you tomorrow, somewhere? Like, in the Quad, or something? It would be really emotionless to say it right here," He said uncertainly, running a hand through his hair. Rinoa smiled.
"Sure. At night, though; Selphie and Quistis are taking me into town from ten to four. I can't wait to see what kind of day *that* winds up to be," the Sorceress said, giggling. He smiled as well, and didn't realize that he had kept his hold on her wrist.
"Good night," She said, tugging her arm away from him and disappearing inside her guest room.
"Good night," Squall muttered, walking away.
Inside her borrowed dormitory, Rinoa sank to the floor, leaning against the sliding door. She had brought the celebratory picture from Trabia and tacked it hastily on the wall, and it grinned across the room at her.
"Yes!"
~
---Author's Notes: More delays! Apologies, apologies . . . but I think this chapter's pretty good! The beginnings of fluff, at least. Heh, one more complication that'll take at least two chapters, then for the end it's going to be a whole chapter of fluff just to make up for my short delays. Hope you're enjoying it so far ^^
~
"Pass the . . . salt," Zell said lamely, trying to find an excuse to get Rinoa to meet his eyes. The salt was conveniently right next to her elbow, and he knew that she wouldn't be able to refuse this plea, like she had for Irvine's ketchup, Selphie's napkins, or Quistis' fork. They hadn't bothered with Squall, already knowing what his answer would be ("Get it yourself"). But if this was the one way they were going to make the most stubborn lovers in the world stop avoiding each other's eyes over dinner in a cafeteria, then by Hyne they were going to take it.
Rinoa sighed and finally looked up at the blonde, handing him the salt with a bit of hesitation. The martial artist immediately swiveled his eyes Squall's way, giving her a thumbs-up partially hidden by his paper cup filled with soda. He felt his chest swell with pride when she cautiously chanced the Commander a look, but then turned away and shuddered. Both Sorceress and Knight were picking at their food, obviously uncomfortable with the dinner arrangements.
Zell shot Selphie a look, who nodded fervently and reached over to tap Squall's fist. He glared angrily up at her, but she didn't seem to take notice.
"Umm . . . Xu wants to ask you a question," She said, at a loss for excuses. Xu was sitting next to Rinoa, so his eyesight needed to travel past the Sorceress to get to the brunette on her other side.
"No she doesn't," Squall said in a listless voice, raising his drink and taking a sip. "If she did, I would have heard her ask you." Selphie bit her lip. He was right; it was so quiet at their table that even a whisper would have been heard.
There was silence at the table for a few more minutes, and then Irvine nudged the Commander's elbow and grinned, whispered something to him, and then let his eyes dart over to Rinoa. Squall angrily scraped back his chair and stormed out of the room, making everybody at the table jump. Rinoa put her head in her hands and Selphie started swatting at Irvine for ruining it, while Quistis massaged her temples and Zell got up to start punching at an imaginary opponent.
"Let's just face it - none of us can get them back together!" Quistis announced loudly, speaking as if Rinoa wasn't there. The Sorceress wailed loudly, and Selphie put a comforting arm around her shoulder while shooting Quistis the look of death. "What? It's true! And we're not doing any better a job than they could. I think that we should leave it up to them to resolve this."
"Hear, hear!" Zell said, grinning at the other blonde.
"But we do know that we're not giving up until they're back together, right?" She said in a lower voice, still pretending that Rinoa was nowhere to be found.
"Right!" Selphie and Irvine said together, determination written on their faces.
"Yeah? And how are you going to do that? He flat out hates me, you remember!" Rinoa trilled, taking away her hands and rubbing her arm across her eyes.
"Well, that's what we're going to change," Quistis stated matter-of-factly, peering over the table at her distraught friend. Everyone had taken their seats again, dragging the cheap chairs towards Rinoa and leaning their head closer. "Okay, everybody has to get this straight - especially you, Rinoa" - the Sorceress nodded jubilantly, still wiping away her tears - "and timing is of the essence, if we're going to make this work. You have that? We're SeeDs, and we never fail, especially for our friends. Now, excuse the cheesy lines and let's start planning a way to reverse the most stubborn mind in Garden."
~
"Yo, Squall!"
The Commander instantly recognized the martial artist's voice and his familiar thudding on his dormitory door.
"Go away, Zell! It's two o'clock in the morning," he shouted angrily, shoving the pillow over his head and turning onto his stomach. Griever was piled in a puddle on his desk, his jacket was flung over the chair back, and the sheets were tangled around his legs, giving him the impression of a fly tangled in a spider's web.
"Nah; you gotta come now! I can't sleep, and I wanna go to the training center for an hour or somethin'. You come with me?" Zell said in his most casual voice, and Selphie gave him a thumbs-up from around the corner.
"Not on your life, you dumb blonde. Last time I went with you I was under dormitory arrest for a week," the Commander said harshly, his voice muffled since his mouth was pressed to the mattress.
"Aw, c'mon! You're such an old stick in the mud; you know that curfew doesn't apply to the Commander, and certainly not to one of the SeeDs who saved the world," Zell said, not the slightest bit fazed.
"It's not curfew I'm worried about," Squall muttered, kicking the sheets onto the floor and cursing blackly at them. The heat was driving him insane; he was built for Trabia, not hot-summered Balamb.
"Then come on out with me. It'll be fun, something you really need to experience more!" The martial artist persisted, banging on the door again. Squall grabbed a stapler and chucked it at the door, clearly frustrated. Finally, still muttering under his breath, he grabbed Lionheart, kicked open the door, and stalked out to the training center with Zell in tow.
~
"See? What did I tell you?" Zell said, trying to sound cheerful as they fought off a couple of Grats. Squall sliced easily through the monsters and turned away, peering around bushes and rocks for the T-Rexaur.
Behind him, Irvine appeared from behind a short shrub, giving Zell a pleading look. The blonde made a motion with his hand that would have said 'things are under control'. Irvine nodded, still looking fearful, but ducked out of sight and left the martial artist to jog and catch up with his Commander.
Irvine slogged through a patch of murky water to reach Rinoa and Quistis, who were standing before the T-Rexaur, who was chained to a fence and looking angry. Selphie and Xu were doing their best to restrain it, although it didn't look like it was going too well: Mrs. Kinneas had marks where the chains dug into her skin up her shoulders, and Xu was disheveled and tugging fruitlessly on the restraints. The sharpshooter tapped Quistis hard on the shoulder.
"Everything's in position," He said grandly, grinning broadly over at Selphie, who shot daggers at him.
"Perfect," The Instructor breathed, peering around a rock. As Squall and Zell came into view, she told Rinoa, "Okay . . . start!" Xu and Selphie dropped the chains, darting behind bushes as the two men rounded a corner.
"You - stupid - beast! Can't a girl get - any - decent - training around her anymore with - out - you - sneaking up - on her?" Rinoa shouted angrily, feigning exhaustion as she shot minor spells at the enormous dinosaur. Glancing at the approaching SeeDs out of the corner of her eye, she fell to her knees, groaning angrily and still pretending to look distraught.
Squall's heart wrenched unwillingly out of his chest when he saw her, and Zell grinned at Selphie, hidden a clump of bushes, behind his friend's back. "Uh . . . I think she kinda needs help, Squall," Zell said, trying his best to sound innocent. The Commander whipped out Lionheart and grabbed Zell's wrist, pulling him over to where the T-Rexaur had Rinoa 'cornered'.
Lionheart, when in the hands of someone sober, made the dinosaur work, along with Zell's help. When the beast finally ran for terror and the two men lay gasping on the training center floor, Rinoa scrambled hastily to her feet and flung her arms around Squall's neck.
"Thanks! I'm sorry, I was just so upset from dinner tonight that I came here unprepared, and I just couldn't fight him off," Rinoa sobbed, pressing her head into the Commander's neck. Confusion filled his light blue eyes, and he patted her back awkwardly, as if he didn't remember that he used to kiss her as if life would end right there in front of him.
"Uh . . . sure," he said uncomfortably, but continued when Zell gave him a look of encouragement. "Listen . . . I'm going to go down to the infirmary and get these cuts cleaned up. Do you need to come down, too?" Uncertainty had taken a hold on his voice, but when Rinoa spoke, her expression was so bright that Quistis believed it radiated all the way to the moon, even if Squall couldn't see it.
"Yeah, I think I've got a really big one right here on my leg. It would be okay if I came, right?" She asked, already knowing the answer by the way his arms had unconsciously locked around her back.
"Sure!" he said defensively, and stood, offering her a hand up. She took it gracefully, then doubled over, clutching at an imaginary wound in her leg. He kept a firm lock on her arm as they walked out of the center together, and the conspirators came out of hiding.
"That was absolutely perfect! Now all we gotta do is hope that he doesn't get too hard-headed and she doesn't go all mushy," Selphie said, gazing after them.
"At least we got him to get out here; I thought that that would be the hardest part. He never passes up a chance to show off his skills nowadays, and with buried feelings for Rinoa, I figured that getting him to rescue her would be fairly easy. Nice work, Zell," Quistis added belatedly, clapping her fellow blonde on the shoulder.
"Actually, I should be getting down there as well. See, I've got this huge -"
"NO!" The all shouted angrily at him, hands on their hips. He held up his hands in defense, chuckling nervously.
"Kidding! I'm kidding, see the joking look on my face? Kidd - ing!" Zell said, trying to hide the fear in his voice.
~
"So . . . watcha been up to?" Rinoa asked uncertainly, swinging her legs as she sat on the bed next to Squall. Kadowaki had disappeared to fetch antiseptic, leaving the two of them alone.
"Paperwork," He responded dully, chancing a look up at her. "I . . . have a question."
"Shoot," the Sorceress said cheerfully, clasping her hands in front of her.
"Why did you choose Trabia, of all places? I mean, you could've gone to Edea's orphanage, or Winhill, or Esthar, or even back to Timber; I mean, why Trabia?" Squall asked, his brow creasing and making the scar between his eyes look like a ripple. Rinoa shrugged slowly, glancing down at her swinging feet.
"I guess it was because I could become a SeeD there without many complications. Cid knows the headmaster, and he put in a few words of request and bang, I had a dorm and I was SeeD. But they didn't treat me like normal SeeDs; I was never asked to go on a mission, which is partly why I started coming apart. They left me alone, so all I did was lie in my room all day and think about the life I gave up here. I even called Laguna a couple of times because I couldn't take it, and he invited me to Esthar with honors, but I continually turned him down. I told him that I had an obligation, which I really didn't; I just wanted to finally seem important," she concluded, finally looking back up again.
"Oh," he said simply, unsure of what else to say. Then, another question flared in his mind. "Rinoa . . . did you really leave because of all the stupid press and gossip? Or did you have a problem with me, or someone else here?" The Sorceress looked appalled.
"A problem with you? Squall, I love you, and I love my friends like family. I had no other problems except the over-attention, which I had never gotten before, and I couldn't handle it - especially for that reason. Why would I have a problem with you guys?" she asked uncertainly, looking him over. His hands were ungloved, Griever wasn't around his neck, his jacket wasn't present, and Lionheart was still in the training center. He didn't look like himself without those little things that made him Squall.
"I don't know," He said, shrugging. "I was just wondering if it wasn't for that stupid reason."
"Okay, what have we got here? Training center? Really, and I thought you had matured enough to escape from T-Rexaurs now," Kadowaki said, shaking her head as she walked in. She set down the bottles of antiseptic that she had retrieved and looked Rinoa over, a line forming between her eyebrows. "Nothing wrong with you, dear; just a little dusted up, I'd say. Take a bath and you'll be fine." Rinoa smiled nervously.
"Oh - oh really? Sorry for wasting your time, then; I'll get going. W - want me to wait for you, Squall?" She added tentatively, gesturing to the door.
"Uh . . . if you want to, I mean . . . you must be tired, and all . . ." He didn't seem to notice that she had no injures, and he rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably.
"Okay then, I'll just be out in the hall for when you come out." She smiled and waved at him, slipping through the door.
"So . . . you finally made up with her?" Kadowaki asked, a smile forming on her face.
"Not formally," He replied, wincing as she used Curaga on his wounds.
"Well, good enough. Go get 'er, Commander, Sir," Kadowaki said, giving him a mocking salute as he jumped off of the bed and exited the infirmary.
"Ha, ha, very funny," He called sarcastically over his shoulder, and Rinoa grinned as he came into the hallway. They walked aimlessly through the dormitories, coming first outside her own. Before she went in, Squall caught her arm, pulling back out to face him.
"Listen . . . can I . . . meet you tomorrow, somewhere? Like, in the Quad, or something? It would be really emotionless to say it right here," He said uncertainly, running a hand through his hair. Rinoa smiled.
"Sure. At night, though; Selphie and Quistis are taking me into town from ten to four. I can't wait to see what kind of day *that* winds up to be," the Sorceress said, giggling. He smiled as well, and didn't realize that he had kept his hold on her wrist.
"Good night," She said, tugging her arm away from him and disappearing inside her guest room.
"Good night," Squall muttered, walking away.
Inside her borrowed dormitory, Rinoa sank to the floor, leaning against the sliding door. She had brought the celebratory picture from Trabia and tacked it hastily on the wall, and it grinned across the room at her.
"Yes!"
~
