Disclaimer: FF8 belongs to Squaresoft!

A/N:    Here's another chapter! My brother keeps reminding me that my time on the computer is up. So annoying! Anyway, please enjoy this chapter. I'm trying to make them longer but not to beat around the bush too much and play around with the words. Oh yea, and please review!

Words in italics: Squall's thoughts

Chapter 2: Reminiscence

"Irvine Kinneas and Selphie Tilmitt, you should be honoured to be chosen from over more than a thousand students here today. It proves just how much Squall believes in your abilities."

Irvine coughed at this remark, choking on his saliva. "S-sorry (cough)," he apologized waving his hand over his face. "Dusty."

"Ahem," Headmaster Cid went on, frequently throwing suspicious looks at Irvine. "There have been reports of a string of murders recently. No witnesses to even one, all killed as well, I suppose. The first victim was the head of Timber Maniacs, an old lady related to the head, a scientist in the Esthar Laboratory, and two Galbadian soldiers in Deling City, and all of them were killed on very same night. It has been concluded that there is more than just one mastermind, possibly two."

"Hey, Squall! I thought you said there was a beautiful and elegant lady involved," pleaded Irvine, poking Squall, who had been sleeping with his eyes open, in the ribs.

"Mr. Kinneas, questions later!" barked Cid, annoyed that he should be interrupted. "As I was saying, there are two murderers on the loose. There were no traces of harm whatsoever to the victims bodies, internal and external. The strange part is that no investigations, not even one, have been carefully executed."

"Coming back to the phone call I've received, the caller has informed me of the next victim. Hence, your mission is obvious – to protect this girl ( holds up a picture) and make sure she does not come to any harm at all. She is the only daughter of General Caraway, who resides in Deling City."

In the photo, there was an image of a young, raven-haired girl, with gleaming, brown eyes.

"Her name – Rinoa Heartilly."

"Hot chick alert!" chimed Irvine, grinning vigorously, his eyes glued to the raven beauty as he snatched it out of Headmaster Cid's hands. "I knew something good had to happen! I shall now nickname you Rinny and you shall be mine, and you shall be my Rin learned-Muah!" He ended in a half-singing, majestic voice, before planting a quick kiss on the picture.

Grunting, Headmaster Cid continued, "One of you, excluding Selphie, will have to get near her and actually be her boyfriend. That way, either one of you will have a reason to stay by her side and make sure she's safe. Luckily, you have a lady's man on your side!"

"You got that right!" smirked Irvine, beaming with pride. "And that man is.."

Cid placed a hand on Squall's shoulders and gave him a proud, distinguished look. "Right here."

Don't you dare look at me that way.

But Irvine protested after recovering from his shock, temporarily taking his eyes off the picture. "Hey….!! Hey, hey, hey! He? A lady's man? Aw, c'mon! What does he got that I don't? Is he more handsome than me? Is he a better fighter than me? Is he a better slow-curve perpetrator?" He swung his arm around and pumped what biceps he had and added, "Is he more BUFF THAN ME?? HUH? WHICH ONE IS IT?? TELL ME!!"

"Umm…let's see," suggested Selphie raising her hand into air. "He's a better leader, more calm and not so stuck-up as you. Sure, you may be better at handling a gun, but he's got the brains. But, ahhh…, I got no comments on who's more buff, or a better 'slow-curve' doer, or who's the good-looking one among you two. So…like…isn't it obvious?"

Oh please.

The headmaster, getting frustrated with all the noise in his usually confined and peaceful office, groaned aloud and went on rattling the rest of the information as though he had memorized it, "Board a train from Balamb town to Timber. From there, take another train to the East Academy Station and make your way through the plains and you'll find Deling City. You should make it to Balamb Town by nightfall. I advise you to rest at the hotel so that you can have a fresh start in the morning. Thank you! Now out! OUT!"

***

Making their way to Balamb, Selphie suddenly brought up the question: "Hey, Squall. You're suppose to attach yourself to this Rinoa girl, right? But what about Quistis? Aren't you guys together? Don't you think she'll be sad, even mad?"

Technically, yes. 

Squall merely answered, "This is a mission and she has to understand. As SeeDs, we cannot allow our emotions to take over."

"But still…"

Irvine, still feeling gloomy not being chosen over Squall, took this chance to regain his name as the Garden's notorious playboy, and spoke up, "Hey, look here, man. A woman's heart is not a rulebook, no matter how disciplined or regimented she is. Get what I mean? You mean a lot to Quistis. You of all people should understand that."

You don't have to remind me.

"Irvine, I never knew you had such a way with words. You're kinda cute…when you're not a complete idiot," commented the open-minded Selphie, skipping all the way.

"My pleasure, m'lady," hummed Irvine, bowing.

"There you go being an idiot again," teased Selphie, giving Irvine a wink.

***

True enough, when they arrived in Balamb town it was already dark. Their legs were sore from all the walking, so they decided to follow Cid's suggestion. After sending a brief greeting to Zell's mom, they took a bend and entered the hotel.

"Excuse me, is there a room available?" queried Squall when he got to the reception desk.

"Yes, sir. That will be 100 gil for the night."

A room key and gil changed hands. Squall muttered, "Thanks."

Both Irvine and Selphie fell asleep almost immediately as they let their tired bodies collapse onto the ready, soft beds. Squall was left alone, able to concentrate on his own thoughts quietly. As he stood there on the balcony, enjoying the light breeze, Irvine's and Selphie's words suddenly crept its way back into his mind. That night was very much the same. He recounted how Quistis had actually confessed her love to him that night two weeks ago.

~Flashback~

It was during the night of the Garden Festival, outside on the veranda. Quistis had called him to come out to talk about 'something'. She started off by saying that it was a lovely night. How lame, he had thought back then. A few silent minutes passed and, at last, she decided to tell him what she was really up to.

"Squall…the reason I called you out here was because I wanted to talk. Well, it's about me and…my feelings to a certain SeeD. You."

"What about it?" Squall asked, leaning against the railing, as though the current subject was not unusual but meaningless.

"E-ever since I saw you, I felt this tingling sensation, this strange feeling of wanting to be with you. I thought it was just how an instructor felt for her student. But…but, now I know I can't run away from what's really in…here." Placing a hand onto her chest, she finally braved herself to raise her eyes to meet with Squall's cold, crystal blue eyes fixed on her. She was blushing furiously but she made no attempt to hide her face.

Squall could not think of a proper answer. He sighed and returned his gaze to the soothing, wide ocean, which he could see from the Garden; the waves splashing gently on the beaches. The young blonde was suffering from the tension playing in her mind, waiting patiently for Squall's reaction and words. Another five minutes had ticked away, but still, Squall said nothing. Wanting to escape the situation, he managed to utter in a sort of a croak. "Whatever."

"So…are we, you know…together?" asked an ear Quistis, praying hard that the reply was favorable.

 Can't she stop nagging?! She's driving me nuts!

"Whatever. Just leave me alone for now."

"Oh! Thank you, Squall! Thank you! You don't know how important you are to me!" Quistis would have given Squall a big hug then, but pushed the thought away. Instead, she burst into tears of joy and couldn't control her lips from forming a huge grin.

What the hell! I didn't even say 'yes'! Hyne, what is she thinking?!

Quistis, happy with Squall's 'respond' left the balcony and returned back inside, not before swirling round and giving her 'new boyfriend' one last look and a quick cry of "Good night."

Squall, simply not bothering with what had just happened, glanced back towards the night sky.

Somehow, the stars seemed duller that night.

~End flashback~

He turned back and walked to Irvine's bedside. He quietly slid the picture of his 'target' out from the cowboy's bear hug. For the first time, he actually looked at her. Come to think of it, she didn't seem as bad as he had first seen her.

What am I thinking? Better get some rest now.

He put the picture back down on the bed and flopped down onto a separate one. Lying stretched out on the bed with both the palm of his hands at the back of his head, he slowly lifted up the cautious aura surrounding him and dozed off to sleep.

***

"RISE AND SHINE, SQUALLY WALLY!!!"

"Raghh…"

"UP, UP AND AWAY!" Selphie screamed again.

"Ok!Ok! I'm up," groaned Squall, "You don't have to shout! You've probably woken up the other people around here."

"Oops!" Selphie giggled and stuck her tongue out to the side.

"Where's Irvine?"

"He said he was going to uhh…what was it again?...Oh right! Check out the neighborhood chicks. Sounds like fun! Here chicken, chicken..!"

"Whatever. Let's just forget about him and get to the pod."

"Ummm…..ok!"

Both of them headed down the stairs with Selphie marching ahead. As they walked around towardsthe train station, they saw many young women. One of them had said, "Ouch! See how red my hand is. Maybe I shouldn't have slapped him so hard!"

"What?! Are you kidding? For what he said, you should have slapped him harder!" came another. "Well, it's a good thing he fell into the sea! At least that'll shut him up a while."

Oh, great.

"Let's go get him before he drowns…"  growled Squall.

When they got to the harbor, they saw a man, soaking wet from head to toe, climb out from the sea. "(Gurgle) Blehh! Salty! If you wanted a drink, you could have asked me nicely, you know!"

"Hahahaha! Irvine, you look like some seaweed monster!" Selphie couldn't help laughing at Irvine's miserable plight.

"GEE, THANKS!"

Squall was getting impatient, and told Irvine that he would just have to dry up in the train. Of course, Irvine griped with an excuse that he would chase away all the beautiful girls with his smell. People would probably think what kind of cologne he had used. But once again, Squall won.

The journey in the train was quite dreary and tedious. Not much talk, except for Selphie's high-pitched rambling as she counted the fishes she could see underwater to pass the time. It was suppose to be a ten-minute ride. But it felt more like an hour.

Finally, they arrived at Timber station where they got off. Making their way through the small town, with every female throwing a disgusted look towards Irvine's direction, they hitched another ride aboard the train to the East Academy Station and walked all the way to Deling City as ordered.

It was still broad daylight and Deling City didn't look as colorful as it did at night. Nevertheless, the pavements were still filled with bustling crowds of people and vehicles flooding the streets. Selphie kept whining that she wanted to go on a shopping-spree and Irvine begged that they take a rest at the pub. Taking a bus, they proceeded to their main destination – Caraway Mansion.

Finally. This better be good.

A/N: Chapter 2! So how'd you like it. I don't know what else to write here but please REVIEW!