A/N: *sniff* So many good reviews. Notes to some people:
Julia Minuit: Spell check? I don't have spell check. I am the spell checker. Arrogant? I wouldn't call Squall arrogant. Just confidant. He doesn't brag, at least. Hai, watashi wa Amerika-jin desu. Anata wa Amerika-jin desu ka?
Exhile87: Squall's voice? Did I like it? Hell yeah! David Boreanaz was a good choice for him. Mandy Moore did the voice of Aerith, and Lance Bass (believe it or not) was Sephiroth I have a whole cast listing on my KH review on my website.
Redrum: Wow, I have yaoi fans reading this. Didn't expect that, but I'm grateful for all the readers I have. Nice to know I write interesting summaries, too. I hope you enjoy the story, even if you don't like Squinoas.
Chapter 6
Morning fell on the quiet hotel room, the blonde haired prophetess was the first to rise, her limbs stiff and sore from the odd position she'd fallen asleep in, in the living room. Slowly, careful not to wake the others, who had also fallen asleep in the living room, she climbed to her feet and made her way to the smaller bedroom, where she was supposed to have slept last night. Yawning, she opened the door, and stepped in, intending to finish her slumber on a nice, soft bed. That was, until she noticed the strange man asleep beneath the covers.
Zell lay asleep, sprawled carelessly over a chair in a deep dream centered around Quistis and hotdogs. Shiva slept propped up against a cushion, snoring lightly and even drooling a little. Ifrit was stretched out across the cold tile floor, oblivious to anything around him. That is, until they heard Quistis' blood curtling scream from the other bed room.
Ifrit and Shiva leaped up from their sleeping spots and ran after the source of the scream. Zell stood from his chair, tripped over his own feet, picked himself up from the floor and half ran, half stumbled behind Shiva and Ifrit.
They walked into the room to find Quistis cowering against the wall while a tall, long-haired man in a pair of smiley face boxers smiled sheepishly, holding a black cowboy hat in front of him.
"Who the hell are you?!" Quistis finally managed to get out.
"Name's Irvine," he smiled, extending his free hand. "Pleased to meet a lovely lady such as yourself. Are you Rinoa?"
She shook her head. "No. Did Seifer send you?"
"No! I came back with uh... what's his name? Oh yeah, Squall. I'm a profesional demon hunter. Irvine Kinnease is the name... haven't you heard of me?"
"I believe so," Shiva answered. "Irvine Kinnease... master demon slayer, profesional jackass."
"Ah, Shiva. I don't recognise you when you're not biting some poor man's head off. How are you these days?"
Before Shiva answered, Zell said, "Hey, you know, Quistis screamed pretty loudly, but neither Squall nor Rinoa came out. Do you think something's wrong with them? Maybe we should go check?"
Quistis laughed. "They're fine, trust me. Let's leave them be."
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Rinoa slowly opened her eyes and found herself staring at a solid wall of black. A loud noise had woken her, though she was in too deep a sleep to identify it. She lifted her hand up to rub her eyes, and found a heavy, but warm black coat covering her. She searched her memory of the night before, and vaguely remembered Squall carrying her to the room. Propping herself up on her elbow, she glanced over to find Squall, still in his boots, gloves, and sunglasses, sleeping next to her in his usual black attire. She smiled slightly, then realized this was the perfect opurtunity to steal his glasses. Rinoa carefully slid them off his face and folded them before hiding them in the nearby dresser.
Now, for the first time, she could see his entire face, though his eyes were closed at the moment. She gently traced the faint scar down the center of his forehead with her fingertips, before drawing her finger down the bridge of his nose, and softly over his lips. Blushing, she dared to give him a quick kiss before snuggling up into his chest, hoping he was really asleep.
Just then, she felt him stir slightly, and lift his hand to run over his eyes. As the cloud of sleep slowly drifted away, his hand paused in place over his eyes and he suddenly sat up. "My glasses!" he exclaimed looking around for them.
(I've got you now) Rinoa thought, grinning to herself as she sat up next to him. "Something wrong?" she asked innocently.
His body tensed upon hearing her voice, and Rinoa swore she could almost hear his mental curses. He kept his face turned away from her, but muttered, "You hid them didn't you? Give them back."
She giggled lightly and shook her head. "Not until you let me see your eyes."
"What's so damn special about my eyes, anyway?" he growled.
"I'm just curious," she replied, inching closer to him. "Why do you want to hide them?"
"I have a reason," he mumbled, still turned away.
"Not good enough. I want an answer," she replied. "It's not as if I'm going to discover your deepest, darkest secret by looking into your eyes."
"You're annoying, you know that?" he snapped. "Now give me back my glasses and leave me alone!"
She slumped against the wall, moving away from him. "They're in the dresser."
Ignoring the slight pang of guilt he felt upon hearing the pain and disapointment in her voice, he stood, careful to keep away from her, and began searching through the dresser for his precious shades. Once he found them, he unfolded them, and was about to slid them back on when he was sudenly tackled and pinned to the bed, his eyes wide open in surprise.
Rinoa laughed, enjoying the success of her surprise attack, then took the oppurtunity to stare into the eyes that had always been hiden from her. They were deathly, icy cold, and were the bluest of any blue she'd ever seen. They held an enigma of caged emotions, an ocean of depth, and she felt that with those eyes he could see right through her soul, and peirce her heart. She almost felt she could read her destiny within him. But there was something more that caught her attention, and startled her from the hypnotic state that his unearthly gaze pulled her in to. In the center of his eyes, where the black pupils should have been, was an unmistakable cloudiness, giving his eyes a distant, unseeing look.
"You're... you're blind?" she stammered, slowly sliding off to allow him to sit up.
He nodded stonily, glaring at her. "I was. A long time ago. But the physical traces still remain."
"Well, if you really can see now, then why do you try so hard to hide it?" she asked.
"The only reason I can see now is because I'm no longer human. But people that see me, when I allow them to... they don't know that. They see my eyes, and they immediately pity me. I don't want anyone's pity. I had to live with it all my life."
"When people pity you... it hurts your pride, doesn't it?" she said, more of an epiphany than a question. "But all your life? You were born that way?"
"I guess you could say that it does hurt my pride. If that's how you wanna word it. But I wasn't born that way."
"Then how did it happen?" she asked.
"None of your business!" he snapped and started to get up.
"Wait, Squall, please! Please tell me," she pleaded, taking hold of his hand.
"Why, so you can go telling everyone about it?" he asked coldly.
She shook her head, gazing into his eyes now that she finally could. "I wouldn't do that to you. If you don't want the others to know, then I promise I won't tell them. I just want to know more about you. I want to know what caused you so much pain."
"A lot of things did," he answered, more softly now. "Pain is all I know."
She stepped closer to him now, sliding her arms around his shoulders as she looked at him with shimmering eyes. "Squall..." she said, her voice trailing off as she fought for the right words to say. "If I could take it all away, I would. If I could do anything for you...."
"But you can't," he finished for her and backed away, putting his glasses back on. "You can't do anything," he repeated. "So don't speak of it."
She watched him, a defeated look on her face. "Fine. If that's how you want it," she said, trying her best to keep a calm voice. She wanted to cover her face with her hands, sit in the corner and have a good cry, but she too was a very proud person. So, instead, she blinked her tears away as best as she could, held her head high, and marched past him out the door.
He stood, rooted to the spot and watched her walk out. "Rinoa..." he sighed as she left, and shook his head. No one had ever been able to make him feel bad about his attitude before she came along. "How do you do this to me?" he asked, receiving no response from the empty room, before following suit and walking out into the living room.
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Rinoa walked away from the bitter words of one room, only to step into the chaos of another. Everyone sat in the living room, along with someone she didn't recognise, arguing loudly about something. She stood for a moment and listened.
"If you don't shut your mouth Kinnease, I'm gonna break your face!" Shiva yelled standing from her spot and glaring down at the cowboy wanna- be.
He raised his hands in a sign of surrender. "Don't get mad at me. They wanted to know."
"You didn't have to tell them in detail!" Shiva yelled back.
She was interrupted when Ifrit started laughing, "I can't believe Shiva ever even had a boyfriend. I thought she was completely void of emotion."
"What are you guys talking about?" Rinoa interrupted, walking further into the room.
"Shiva and Irvine used to date," Quistis announced. "And we were just going to breakfast at the cafe downstairs."
"Who the hell's Irvine?" Rinoa asked exasperatedly. It had already been a long morning.
Everyone pointed a finger to the loud-mouthed cowboy who was sitting on the couch. He grinned and extended a hand toward her. "Name's Irvine Kinnease. I'll be your demon hunter for the rest of this mission. You must be Rinoa. Pleased to meet you."
"Yeah, you too," Rinoa replied, intending on shaking his hand, but being startled when he chose to kiss it instead.
The loud clearing of a throat behind them sent Irvine jumping back and letting go of Rinoa's hand. Rinoa turned around to see Squall, seemingly glaring at Irvine and looking none too pleased.
"Whatever we're going to do, we better do it now," he said. "We've got to get moving today. This isn't some vacation."
Everyone nodded quietly, seeming to sense something dangerous in Squall's mood this morning. They quickly grabbed their things and headed out the door and to the elevator.
"What did you do to him?" Zell whispered to Rinoa in the elevator.
"Don't blame me," she snapped. "He brought it on himself."
Once in the cafe, they were seated at a table for eight. Rinoa, unfortunately, had been traveling in the back of the group and was the last to be seated. There were two seats left open, one next to a grinning Irvine, and one next to a scowling Squall. Creepy as she thought Irvine was, she was in no mood to be anywhere near Squall, so she took the other option. Irvine's smile grew wider, and he scooted his chair closer to her's, attempting to put his arm over the back of the chair. Squall scowl deepened as he examined the scene before him. He cleared his throat again to get Irvine's attention, then cracked his fists ludly, sending a clear message. Irvine decided to stay over on his side of the table then.
Quistis, who was seated next to Squall, leaned over to him and asked, "Jealous?"
"Like hell," he replied through gritted teeth.
Quistis sighed. "You're such a bad liar, Squall."
"Shut up, Quistis," he replied.
"What was that, Squall?" Quistis asked loudly. "You said something about Rinoa?" Everyone stared at Squall, Rinoa included.
"Don't, Quistis," he growled under his breath.
"You said you wished Rinoa had sat next to you?" she asked, being loud once again. "Is that what you said, Squall? I can't hear you when you mutter like that."
"Quistis shut up, or you will be next in my 'little black book'" he hissed.
There was an uncomfortable silence aft that. Zell was studying the menu intently, Shiva and Ifrit were having an unofficial staring contest, Quistis was counting her blessing that Squall was merciful, Irvine was taking extra care to make sure he stayed away from Rinoa, and Rinoa herself was deep in thought.
Finally, she broke the silence by saying, "I need to use the rest room. I suppose I'll need an escort," she said, looking pointedly at Squall. Grudgingly he stood and followed her.
He followed her towards the bathroom until she came to a stop, just out of sight of everyone in the cafe. She turned to him then, a serious look on her face.
"Are you going to be like this the rest of the day?" she asked, annoyance in her voice.
"If I feel like it," he replied.
She shook her head. "I don't think so. If you have a problem with me, fine, but don't take it out on them, too."
"I wouldn't have a problem if you weren't so damn nosy!" he said, his voice raising.
"Shhh," she said. "You don't want everyone knowing about your 'girl problems' do you?" she asked with a slight giggle.
He rolled his eyes. "Not funny."
"Lighten up. Look, we've got to resolve this somehow. You have your points, but so do I," she said. "So now what?"
"Forget about it!" he exclaimed again, his voice starting to rise once more.
She put a finger to his lips and shook her head. "To be so secretive, you can be so loud when you get angry." She looked around and, finding a supply closet nearby, she pulled him into and closed the door, backing him up against a wall. "Now listen to me, Mr. Leonhart! I'm tired of arguing with you all the time. Something's gotta give, and it's not going to be me!" she stated, her face only inches from his.
He back into the wall as far as he could, suddenly a little intimidated by her close proximity. "Can't we talk about this later?"
She shook her head. "No. It's going to be settled now."
"Well, hell Rinoa I don't know what you want for me!"
"More than I can have," she mumbled.
"What?" he asked, anger dropping from his tone.
She shook her head and laughed suddenly. "For some reason I can't seem to stay mad at you," she said. (Especially not when you're so close) she added silently. She slid his glasses off again, recieving only a slightly annoyed gaze from him as she did so. "How did you get the scar?" she asked.
"I got it at the same time I lost my eye sight," he answered.
"An accident?"
He nodded. "A car accident. I was only a little boy. It was raining and a car swerved off the road one night. Hit me and another boy."
"I saw it happen," she said, realization sinking in.
"Saw it happen?" he repeated.
"Yesterday. When I kind of... blacked out. I saw the same thing happen. Next to the church where my mom was burried."
He nodded. "Yeah. That stained glass window you were looking at was the last thing I ever saw as a human."
She gazed into his eyes again, her own filling with tears as she thought of all the pain he must have endured because of one little accident. She ran her fingers through her hair, stood up on her tip toes and kissed his scar, as if in an attempt to make it go away. Settling back on her feet, her lips brushed against his briefly, and she felt her heart begin to flutter rapidly in her chest. Acting on sheer impulse and desire, she closed the distance between them, pressing her lips to his. Even through the haze of pleasure this simple action brought her, however, she was surprised when she began to feel him kissing her back....
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A/N: Well, there's another chapter down. Pretty quickly, too. Hope you liked it!
Julia Minuit: Spell check? I don't have spell check. I am the spell checker. Arrogant? I wouldn't call Squall arrogant. Just confidant. He doesn't brag, at least. Hai, watashi wa Amerika-jin desu. Anata wa Amerika-jin desu ka?
Exhile87: Squall's voice? Did I like it? Hell yeah! David Boreanaz was a good choice for him. Mandy Moore did the voice of Aerith, and Lance Bass (believe it or not) was Sephiroth I have a whole cast listing on my KH review on my website.
Redrum: Wow, I have yaoi fans reading this. Didn't expect that, but I'm grateful for all the readers I have. Nice to know I write interesting summaries, too. I hope you enjoy the story, even if you don't like Squinoas.
Chapter 6
Morning fell on the quiet hotel room, the blonde haired prophetess was the first to rise, her limbs stiff and sore from the odd position she'd fallen asleep in, in the living room. Slowly, careful not to wake the others, who had also fallen asleep in the living room, she climbed to her feet and made her way to the smaller bedroom, where she was supposed to have slept last night. Yawning, she opened the door, and stepped in, intending to finish her slumber on a nice, soft bed. That was, until she noticed the strange man asleep beneath the covers.
Zell lay asleep, sprawled carelessly over a chair in a deep dream centered around Quistis and hotdogs. Shiva slept propped up against a cushion, snoring lightly and even drooling a little. Ifrit was stretched out across the cold tile floor, oblivious to anything around him. That is, until they heard Quistis' blood curtling scream from the other bed room.
Ifrit and Shiva leaped up from their sleeping spots and ran after the source of the scream. Zell stood from his chair, tripped over his own feet, picked himself up from the floor and half ran, half stumbled behind Shiva and Ifrit.
They walked into the room to find Quistis cowering against the wall while a tall, long-haired man in a pair of smiley face boxers smiled sheepishly, holding a black cowboy hat in front of him.
"Who the hell are you?!" Quistis finally managed to get out.
"Name's Irvine," he smiled, extending his free hand. "Pleased to meet a lovely lady such as yourself. Are you Rinoa?"
She shook her head. "No. Did Seifer send you?"
"No! I came back with uh... what's his name? Oh yeah, Squall. I'm a profesional demon hunter. Irvine Kinnease is the name... haven't you heard of me?"
"I believe so," Shiva answered. "Irvine Kinnease... master demon slayer, profesional jackass."
"Ah, Shiva. I don't recognise you when you're not biting some poor man's head off. How are you these days?"
Before Shiva answered, Zell said, "Hey, you know, Quistis screamed pretty loudly, but neither Squall nor Rinoa came out. Do you think something's wrong with them? Maybe we should go check?"
Quistis laughed. "They're fine, trust me. Let's leave them be."
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Rinoa slowly opened her eyes and found herself staring at a solid wall of black. A loud noise had woken her, though she was in too deep a sleep to identify it. She lifted her hand up to rub her eyes, and found a heavy, but warm black coat covering her. She searched her memory of the night before, and vaguely remembered Squall carrying her to the room. Propping herself up on her elbow, she glanced over to find Squall, still in his boots, gloves, and sunglasses, sleeping next to her in his usual black attire. She smiled slightly, then realized this was the perfect opurtunity to steal his glasses. Rinoa carefully slid them off his face and folded them before hiding them in the nearby dresser.
Now, for the first time, she could see his entire face, though his eyes were closed at the moment. She gently traced the faint scar down the center of his forehead with her fingertips, before drawing her finger down the bridge of his nose, and softly over his lips. Blushing, she dared to give him a quick kiss before snuggling up into his chest, hoping he was really asleep.
Just then, she felt him stir slightly, and lift his hand to run over his eyes. As the cloud of sleep slowly drifted away, his hand paused in place over his eyes and he suddenly sat up. "My glasses!" he exclaimed looking around for them.
(I've got you now) Rinoa thought, grinning to herself as she sat up next to him. "Something wrong?" she asked innocently.
His body tensed upon hearing her voice, and Rinoa swore she could almost hear his mental curses. He kept his face turned away from her, but muttered, "You hid them didn't you? Give them back."
She giggled lightly and shook her head. "Not until you let me see your eyes."
"What's so damn special about my eyes, anyway?" he growled.
"I'm just curious," she replied, inching closer to him. "Why do you want to hide them?"
"I have a reason," he mumbled, still turned away.
"Not good enough. I want an answer," she replied. "It's not as if I'm going to discover your deepest, darkest secret by looking into your eyes."
"You're annoying, you know that?" he snapped. "Now give me back my glasses and leave me alone!"
She slumped against the wall, moving away from him. "They're in the dresser."
Ignoring the slight pang of guilt he felt upon hearing the pain and disapointment in her voice, he stood, careful to keep away from her, and began searching through the dresser for his precious shades. Once he found them, he unfolded them, and was about to slid them back on when he was sudenly tackled and pinned to the bed, his eyes wide open in surprise.
Rinoa laughed, enjoying the success of her surprise attack, then took the oppurtunity to stare into the eyes that had always been hiden from her. They were deathly, icy cold, and were the bluest of any blue she'd ever seen. They held an enigma of caged emotions, an ocean of depth, and she felt that with those eyes he could see right through her soul, and peirce her heart. She almost felt she could read her destiny within him. But there was something more that caught her attention, and startled her from the hypnotic state that his unearthly gaze pulled her in to. In the center of his eyes, where the black pupils should have been, was an unmistakable cloudiness, giving his eyes a distant, unseeing look.
"You're... you're blind?" she stammered, slowly sliding off to allow him to sit up.
He nodded stonily, glaring at her. "I was. A long time ago. But the physical traces still remain."
"Well, if you really can see now, then why do you try so hard to hide it?" she asked.
"The only reason I can see now is because I'm no longer human. But people that see me, when I allow them to... they don't know that. They see my eyes, and they immediately pity me. I don't want anyone's pity. I had to live with it all my life."
"When people pity you... it hurts your pride, doesn't it?" she said, more of an epiphany than a question. "But all your life? You were born that way?"
"I guess you could say that it does hurt my pride. If that's how you wanna word it. But I wasn't born that way."
"Then how did it happen?" she asked.
"None of your business!" he snapped and started to get up.
"Wait, Squall, please! Please tell me," she pleaded, taking hold of his hand.
"Why, so you can go telling everyone about it?" he asked coldly.
She shook her head, gazing into his eyes now that she finally could. "I wouldn't do that to you. If you don't want the others to know, then I promise I won't tell them. I just want to know more about you. I want to know what caused you so much pain."
"A lot of things did," he answered, more softly now. "Pain is all I know."
She stepped closer to him now, sliding her arms around his shoulders as she looked at him with shimmering eyes. "Squall..." she said, her voice trailing off as she fought for the right words to say. "If I could take it all away, I would. If I could do anything for you...."
"But you can't," he finished for her and backed away, putting his glasses back on. "You can't do anything," he repeated. "So don't speak of it."
She watched him, a defeated look on her face. "Fine. If that's how you want it," she said, trying her best to keep a calm voice. She wanted to cover her face with her hands, sit in the corner and have a good cry, but she too was a very proud person. So, instead, she blinked her tears away as best as she could, held her head high, and marched past him out the door.
He stood, rooted to the spot and watched her walk out. "Rinoa..." he sighed as she left, and shook his head. No one had ever been able to make him feel bad about his attitude before she came along. "How do you do this to me?" he asked, receiving no response from the empty room, before following suit and walking out into the living room.
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Rinoa walked away from the bitter words of one room, only to step into the chaos of another. Everyone sat in the living room, along with someone she didn't recognise, arguing loudly about something. She stood for a moment and listened.
"If you don't shut your mouth Kinnease, I'm gonna break your face!" Shiva yelled standing from her spot and glaring down at the cowboy wanna- be.
He raised his hands in a sign of surrender. "Don't get mad at me. They wanted to know."
"You didn't have to tell them in detail!" Shiva yelled back.
She was interrupted when Ifrit started laughing, "I can't believe Shiva ever even had a boyfriend. I thought she was completely void of emotion."
"What are you guys talking about?" Rinoa interrupted, walking further into the room.
"Shiva and Irvine used to date," Quistis announced. "And we were just going to breakfast at the cafe downstairs."
"Who the hell's Irvine?" Rinoa asked exasperatedly. It had already been a long morning.
Everyone pointed a finger to the loud-mouthed cowboy who was sitting on the couch. He grinned and extended a hand toward her. "Name's Irvine Kinnease. I'll be your demon hunter for the rest of this mission. You must be Rinoa. Pleased to meet you."
"Yeah, you too," Rinoa replied, intending on shaking his hand, but being startled when he chose to kiss it instead.
The loud clearing of a throat behind them sent Irvine jumping back and letting go of Rinoa's hand. Rinoa turned around to see Squall, seemingly glaring at Irvine and looking none too pleased.
"Whatever we're going to do, we better do it now," he said. "We've got to get moving today. This isn't some vacation."
Everyone nodded quietly, seeming to sense something dangerous in Squall's mood this morning. They quickly grabbed their things and headed out the door and to the elevator.
"What did you do to him?" Zell whispered to Rinoa in the elevator.
"Don't blame me," she snapped. "He brought it on himself."
Once in the cafe, they were seated at a table for eight. Rinoa, unfortunately, had been traveling in the back of the group and was the last to be seated. There were two seats left open, one next to a grinning Irvine, and one next to a scowling Squall. Creepy as she thought Irvine was, she was in no mood to be anywhere near Squall, so she took the other option. Irvine's smile grew wider, and he scooted his chair closer to her's, attempting to put his arm over the back of the chair. Squall scowl deepened as he examined the scene before him. He cleared his throat again to get Irvine's attention, then cracked his fists ludly, sending a clear message. Irvine decided to stay over on his side of the table then.
Quistis, who was seated next to Squall, leaned over to him and asked, "Jealous?"
"Like hell," he replied through gritted teeth.
Quistis sighed. "You're such a bad liar, Squall."
"Shut up, Quistis," he replied.
"What was that, Squall?" Quistis asked loudly. "You said something about Rinoa?" Everyone stared at Squall, Rinoa included.
"Don't, Quistis," he growled under his breath.
"You said you wished Rinoa had sat next to you?" she asked, being loud once again. "Is that what you said, Squall? I can't hear you when you mutter like that."
"Quistis shut up, or you will be next in my 'little black book'" he hissed.
There was an uncomfortable silence aft that. Zell was studying the menu intently, Shiva and Ifrit were having an unofficial staring contest, Quistis was counting her blessing that Squall was merciful, Irvine was taking extra care to make sure he stayed away from Rinoa, and Rinoa herself was deep in thought.
Finally, she broke the silence by saying, "I need to use the rest room. I suppose I'll need an escort," she said, looking pointedly at Squall. Grudgingly he stood and followed her.
He followed her towards the bathroom until she came to a stop, just out of sight of everyone in the cafe. She turned to him then, a serious look on her face.
"Are you going to be like this the rest of the day?" she asked, annoyance in her voice.
"If I feel like it," he replied.
She shook her head. "I don't think so. If you have a problem with me, fine, but don't take it out on them, too."
"I wouldn't have a problem if you weren't so damn nosy!" he said, his voice raising.
"Shhh," she said. "You don't want everyone knowing about your 'girl problems' do you?" she asked with a slight giggle.
He rolled his eyes. "Not funny."
"Lighten up. Look, we've got to resolve this somehow. You have your points, but so do I," she said. "So now what?"
"Forget about it!" he exclaimed again, his voice starting to rise once more.
She put a finger to his lips and shook her head. "To be so secretive, you can be so loud when you get angry." She looked around and, finding a supply closet nearby, she pulled him into and closed the door, backing him up against a wall. "Now listen to me, Mr. Leonhart! I'm tired of arguing with you all the time. Something's gotta give, and it's not going to be me!" she stated, her face only inches from his.
He back into the wall as far as he could, suddenly a little intimidated by her close proximity. "Can't we talk about this later?"
She shook her head. "No. It's going to be settled now."
"Well, hell Rinoa I don't know what you want for me!"
"More than I can have," she mumbled.
"What?" he asked, anger dropping from his tone.
She shook her head and laughed suddenly. "For some reason I can't seem to stay mad at you," she said. (Especially not when you're so close) she added silently. She slid his glasses off again, recieving only a slightly annoyed gaze from him as she did so. "How did you get the scar?" she asked.
"I got it at the same time I lost my eye sight," he answered.
"An accident?"
He nodded. "A car accident. I was only a little boy. It was raining and a car swerved off the road one night. Hit me and another boy."
"I saw it happen," she said, realization sinking in.
"Saw it happen?" he repeated.
"Yesterday. When I kind of... blacked out. I saw the same thing happen. Next to the church where my mom was burried."
He nodded. "Yeah. That stained glass window you were looking at was the last thing I ever saw as a human."
She gazed into his eyes again, her own filling with tears as she thought of all the pain he must have endured because of one little accident. She ran her fingers through her hair, stood up on her tip toes and kissed his scar, as if in an attempt to make it go away. Settling back on her feet, her lips brushed against his briefly, and she felt her heart begin to flutter rapidly in her chest. Acting on sheer impulse and desire, she closed the distance between them, pressing her lips to his. Even through the haze of pleasure this simple action brought her, however, she was surprised when she began to feel him kissing her back....
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A/N: Well, there's another chapter down. Pretty quickly, too. Hope you liked it!
