Chapter 8
"Why would he do this? Why would he buy this for me?"
Rinoa held the beautiful night-dress up to the light, admiring it in all its glory. To her it was the perfect gift.
"Maybe that's it. Maybe it's not for me. It could be a present for someone else."
She sighed at her new realization, and placed the dress back into the bag, folding it immaculately so that Squall wouldn't know she had seen it.
"But for who? Who would Squall buy a gift for? He doesn't have a family, that means he must have bought it for a friend. A girlfriend? Does Squall have a girlfriend?"
Rinoa walked to the window and looked out onto the busy streets below, taking in the city air, lost in her own thoughts.
"He doesn't seem the type though. Not that I could really blame a woman for going after him, I mean, it's not like he's bad looking or anything. In fact, quite the opposite. Nice hair, nice smile, and seen as he's a SeeD, I bet he's got one hell of a body too."
She smiled, shaking her head slightly, ashamed at the direction her thoughts were taking.
"Wait, what am I thinking? Squall Leonhart? The most cold, uncaring person in the whole universe. I guess it's a shame about his personality. Still, I can't blame him for it, losing all his family like that. That'd turn anybody into a loner."
"I wonder who else knows about his past. He doesn't strike me as the sort of person that tells their entire family history to just anybody. He just seems so hostile towards people, especially Seifer. When they were talking before, I was almost shocked that they didn't get into a fight. You could just feel the tension between them, and I'm not even sure why it was there. I know Seifer isn't exactly a saint, but then again, I doubt Squall is either. Maybe it's just because Seifer always seems to provoke people and get into fights, the only reason he hasn't been killed by now is because he employs people to look after him. Usually, I hate them. They just suck up all the time, treat Seifer as if he's some kind of god. Squall's so different from all of them. I guess he only gets away with his attitude because he's the best, nobody like Seifer would tolerate him otherwise. To tell the truth, I like him, despite how cold he is. He tells the truth. He's always honest and I respect that. He might have his flaws but at least he's always himself. He's just so different from all the other men in my life, he cared about those who were close to him."
"I just wish that he's talk a bit more. I know it can't be easy given everything he's experienced, but I don't think he even gave me a chance. As soon as he found out about his mission he assumed that I was just some rich man's stuck up girlfriend. Those words he said to me. They stick so vividly in my mind, haunting me. I just can't forget them."
"I'm not somebody's babysitter."
"That's what he told me. He acted as if I wasn't even worth the money he was getting, acting all high and mighty because he usually did jobs for important people, presidents and the like. At least that's what I thought back then. Now, I think he just wanted something to stave off the boredom. He doesn't seem to lead much of a life outside his work. Anybody else who travelled to Deling, even if it was because of work, but still want to go out and have fun, especially if you came from a small town like Balamb. But not Squall. He just seems to focus on his mission, as if nothing else really matters to him. I suppose he prefers it if he actually has something to do when he's working. I'm guessing that he came here thinking it would be dull and nothing would happen. Fat chance with Seifer around. Something always seems to happen. It's almost as if trouble stalks him everywhere."
Rinoa's thoughts were interrupted by the bathroom door opening and Squall entering the room. She couldn't help but notice the way his dripping wet bangs hung over his eyes more than usual, and he couldn't help but notice the way she was staring at him.
"What?" he demanded.
"Oh…erm…nothing," she replied, startled by the fact that she had been openly staring at him. She turned away, embarrassed that he had caught her staring at him. "What did you find out by the way?"
"When?"
"You used my computer to check something, right? I was just wondering what you found."
"Nothing."
"Nothing?"
"That's what I said."
"So, what do we do then? We're back where we started," she sighed, disappointed that she knew nothing more.
"Do you know where Seifer keeps all the records of his staff?"
"His staff? What do you need their records for? You don't think there's someone on the inside do you?" she asked, apprehensively.
"It's a possibility. I'm looking for records dating from last year. Will he still have them?"
"I'm not sure. He keeps all of his records on his computer. I've never been allowed access."
"So there's no way of getting them then. You don't know of anybody else that would have any copies of the data do you?"
"No, he doesn't trust many people. He's notoriously good at covering his tracks."
Squall sat down on the bed, sighing. He rested his head against his hand, seemingly deep in thought.
"You look like you're giving up," Rinoa told him.
"You got any better ideas?" he asked, growing tired of her barrage of questions.
"As a matter of fact I do." He looked at her, disbelievingly.
"I know where Seifer keeps his computer. Getting to it would be a piece of cake."
"How exactly to you plan to gain access? I don't know about you, but I'm not exactly great with computers," he admitted.
"Just trust me, alright?"
"Are you sure he won't come back?" Squall questioned.
"It's Friday night. He doesn't usually come back until tomorrow."
"Usually?"
"Do you want to get to the bottom of this or not?" she demanded. "Because I'll do this with or without your help." Rinoa turned the key in the lock and entered Seifer's room, heading straight for the wardrobe. She removed the clothes from the hanging rail and unhooked it. Inside the hollow rail was a tube which she knew contained the key to one of the cupboards. She placed the key in the lock and opened the cupboard, revealing the laptop which belonged to Seifer. "Keep watch at the door," she ordered, pleasantly surprised that Squall was leaving this to her.
"How the hell did you find out about all this?"
"I've seen him do this. He was too drunk to bother about the fact that I was there," she explained. Squall watched in astonishment as she hooked some equipment she had brought from her room to the computer as an expert would do.
"What's that?"
"It's a hard drive. I'm going to copy all the files off his computer onto it," she replied patiently. "Dammit, I need a password to get in."
"Don't you know it?"
"No." Shook her head before trying several possible combinations. "It's not anything obvious like where he was born or my name." She paused for a few seconds. "Wait, I think I've got it," she exclaimed, before typing furiously. Immediately, the words 'password accepted' appeared on the screen. "Am I a genius or what?" she muttered.
"What was it?"
"DarkStar. It's the name of the horse he bets on every week. I know what's important to him."
"Can you copy the files now?"
"Doesn't look like it. They're encrypted."
"Which means?"
"It's like they're in code. They're should be a disc somewhere to decipher it." She spent several minutes scouring the entire room for any sign of the disc she required.
"Anything?"
"No. Fuck, without the disc, we can't get anything."
"I know this sounds really stupid but have you checked in the computer?" Squall asked.
"Who'd be stupid enough to leave it there?" she muttered, before checking. To her astonishment, it was there all along. "How did you know it would be there?"
"It's where I always leave mine," came the reply.
"This is great, I'll just make a copy of the disc and then I can get the files."
"So, how do you know how to do all of this?" Rinoa was surprised by the genuine interest that Squall was showing.
"I always loved this kind of stuff at school, and when I was at home, I didn't really have much else to do other than sit at my computer. I wanted to go to university to study computer programming, but…" She trailed off, not wanting to complete her sentence.
"Seifer?"
"A combination of him and my father."
Squall could see that this topic bothered her, and decided not to press the situation any further.
"Almost done," she announced.
"Hurry it up, I think someone's coming."
"The lift?"
"Yes, it's coming up to this floor now."
"Come on, come on," she willed the computer to work faster. As soon as it was completed she turned it off, before replacing it in the cupboard and locking the door. She replaced the key, the rail and the clothes whilst Squall grabbed the equipment. When they were satisfied that nobody would be able to tell they had been there, they swiftly left, making sure that the door was locked behind them. They just made it back to Rinoa's room before somebody rounded the corner.
"That was too close." Rinoa breathed a long, hard sigh of relief.
"Was that Seifer?"
"I'm not sure. It could have been one of the staff but I don't want to risk looking at these while he might be here."
"Agreed. He can't know we have them."
"I hope there's something on them that helps."
"If there's any information at all to find, they'll probably be in those files."
"You're right."
"You know, you really should have gone to university," Squall announced out of the blue.
"What?"
"Well, you know, you're very…talented," he replied awkwardly.
"Was that a compliment? From Squall?" she thought in disbelief. "Well, erm, thanks," she replied sheepishly. "But I don't think I'll ever be able to go."
"Why not?"
"There's a lot of reasons," she replied, avoiding the question completely.
"Fine."
Rinoa began to feel guilty for not giving him a straight answer. "After all, he told me about his sister."
"My father just wanted me to go off and get married. He said he wouldn't fund me through university, and then did his best to set me up with all kinds of people. When Seifer came on the scene, that was it. He basically threw me out of my house so that I'd have to go and live with him."
"But you didn't even like Seifer."
"That's not true. Well, not at the beginning anyway. He fooled me too with his innocent victim act. I thought he was somebody he wasn't and found out the truth the hard way. Before I moved in with him, I had no idea that he was an alcoholic or a womaniser and I had no idea that he could get violent, but by that time, I was trapped. I had no home, no friends, nobody to turn to. My father made sure of that. He was determined that we should get married. He still is."
"But what does your mother think of this. She can't agree with it."
"My mother died in a car crash when I was five," she said, bluntly.
"I'm…sorry," he replied, not knowing what else he could say to ease her discomfort.
"Anyway, I don't want to talk about this anymore. Tell me more about you. I want to know about your girlfriend." She was determined to turn the topic of conversation towards a happier subject, although she wasn't particularly sure that she wanted to hear all about his girlfriend. "She's probably perfect, after all," she thought to herself, with more bitterness than she had expected.
"Girlfriend?" he asked, shocked.
"Yeah, girlfriend. You bought her a present didn't you?"
"What, that?" He pointed towards the bag that still lay on the bed.
"Yes."
"Rinoa, that was for you."