Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VIII and all its characters are property of SquareSoft
A Life Unlived by remote_mine
Chapter Two – Friends?
Not again.
She grumbled while she hurriedly dressed, hoping against hope that she would be able to get to class before the bell rang.
Why do I keep forgetting about the prep? Maybe I should sleep earlier. Looks like I have to skip breakfast for now. I hate those stupid instructors.
Normally she started her day an hour later, but she was going to take the SeeD Examination and had to go to a special class once a week in preparation.
Running toward the elevator, Rinoa quickly mashed the button and waited impatiently for the elevator to descend. As the doors opened, she walked in, hitting the button for floor two. The elevator shuddered as she looked at her watch, silently lamenting the fact that she had less than a minute to get to class. It's already seven.
The hiss of the elevator doors opening snapped her out of her thoughts and she ran toward her first 'class' of the day. What she wasn't expecting was that there would be someone just around the corner as she ran around it, crashing right into him and falling.
"Oops! Sorry." She rubbed her arms where they had landed, partially breaking her fall. Looking at the person that she had run into, she recognized him. "Squall!"
He wordlessly got up and walked over to her, offering a gloved hand. Taking it, she looked up him and made eye contact. "Thanks. Sorry about that."
She looked away from his eyes as he pulled her up, and she wondered as to why he didn't respond. Oh, right. Seifer said something about how he doesn't really talk. But he did talk to me, yesterday.
"Where are you headed to?"
"SeeD Exam Preparations with Instructor Trepe."
Finally, he's talking. I wonder why he doesn't like to talk. I like his voice. Wait, he's going where I am too! So he must be taking the SeeD Exam.
"Oh, so you haven't found it? I was just going there. I'll show you the way!" She walked ahead, looking back every so often to check if he was following.
Finally getting to the class, they walked in a few minutes late. Instructor Trepe wasn't happy that two of her students were missing, but brightened up a bit when she saw them.
Seifer was right. I think they could work out.
Immediately turning back to her instructor-mode, she spoke to the two. "Cadets Rinoa Heartilly and Squall Leonhart, you two are late. Becoming a SeeD is not something to be taken lightly. Take your seats."
With that, she turned back to the class. A cough coming from her side brought her attention to the person standing beside her. "Yes, Leonhart?"
"Instructor, I have not been assigned a terminal."
She looked over to the class, and noted the open seats. Several girls without a seat partner were looking at Squall with admiring glances, hoping that they would be chosen.
Perfect. Rinoa has no one sitting next to her.
"Take the terminal next to Heartilly."
Rinoa looked over at Squall as he took the seat next to her, wondering as to why Quistis had chosen for Squall to sit next to her.
Maybe it's because he walked in with me? Or because she remembered that we met yesterday?
A glance around the room brought up other suspicions; most of the girls were looking at her with jealousy on their faces. Others were looking at Quistis with disappointment.
Or maybe because she knows I don't judge by appearances. But I have to admit, he's pretty cute. I wonder how he would react if he found out I called him 'cute.' She hid a smile that threatened to creep onto her face.
Quistis' voice brought her out of her thoughts. "Class, we're doing a live-training session today. I'll be assigning partners. Let's head down to the Training Area. Leonhart, I need to talk to you."
With that, the class got up and shuffled out the door. Only Squall stayed behind, wondering what she wanted him for.
"Squall Leonhart, I have been reading your report from Galbadia. You've excelled at the gunblade, which is why you're taking the SeeD exam here, correct?"
A nod was the only response she got from Squall.
"Have you had any experience working with others in a group?"
"Yes."
"Good. Let's go."
Squall led the way with Quistis following, walking to the entrance to the Training Center, where all the other students were. Most of them were talking amongst themselves, making quite a bit of noise considering it was only seven thirty in the morning.
"Class, listen up." All the students fell silent when they realized that their instructor was there.
"I'll be assigning partners now. Since there are only eighteen of you in this class, I'll have three groups go in at a time. When you hear your name, step just inside the entrance. I'll be calling off the partners. Group A. Ahn and Geritz."
A boy and a girl detached themselves from the group of students, heading into the entrance.
"Group B. Heartilly and Leonhart."
Squall and Rinoa walked into the Training Center. Rinoa was looking around and again saw the disappointment in some of the other girls' expressions when they heard what Quistis had said. One discussion inadvertently reached her ears as they passed a pair of girls talking.
"Rinoa's so lucky. I wish I could be with that new guy. He was even assigned to the seat next to her."
"Same here. He's totally hot, but I bet he already has a girlfriend."
Rinoa looked over at Squall to see if there was any reaction to either of the girls' comments. Nothing. Looks like he didn't hear them.
Another pair of people joined the four standing inside the Training Center. Quistis walked in a moment later.
"With your assigned partner, kill one T-Rexaur. Bring back a Dino Bone as evidence of your kill. If you or your partner becomes injured and cannot proceed, use the distress beacon on this radio. GFs and Junctioning are legible for use in this training session." Quistis handed a radio to each person, and questioned each to make sure that they knew how to use their radios. "Good luck."
The students dispersed into the jungle overgrowth in their respective pairs, alert for any sign of a T-Rexaur nearby.
Squall led the way, Rinoa behind him as they followed the trail. The trail split suddenly. Large footprints were made in the flattened grass, leading off to the right.
"Let's go right!" Rinoa suggested.
"Fine." He continued following the right path, looking around for any sign of danger.
A corpse to the right caught Rinoa's attention, and she noted that it looked like a T-Rexaur's corpse. The corpse had many bites on its flesh, and the stench pervaded the area. Flies were buzzing around it, many landing on the rotting meat. "Hmm. A dead T-Rexaur." Looking closer, Rinoa saw the tell-tale marks that showed the weapon that had cut into its chest. "Someone with a gunblade did this."
The memories of yesterday immediately came to her mind. Squall was walking out of the Training Center carrying a gunblade. "Did you kill it?"
He put a hand to his forehead as they had inadvertently stumbled across the result of his anger he had released on the T-Rexaur. "Yes."
"Wow. You did this all by yourself?"
She looked over her shoulder at him curiously as she got no response. "You don't need my help to take one on, huh?"
"Whatever."
"Let's go. We still need to find a T-Rexaur and kill it."
Loud footsteps and a roar behind them made Rinoa jump slightly. "Or maybe we don't need to find one."
Turning around, they saw one T-Rexaur looking at them hungrily, its hot stinky breath washing over them. Both of them readied their weapons and got into their battle stance as they saw the T-Rexaur was about to lunge. Squall quickly sidestepped the first attempt by the T-Rexaur, hoping that Rinoa would be able to hit it while it was busy with him. He held his gunblade low, keeping it ready for an opening.
Rinoa had snuck off to its side when the T-Rexaur was busy with Squall. She fired her weapon into the unprotected side of its scaled skin, embedding her weapon into its flesh and causing the T-Rexaur to stomp its feet in pain. The resulting earthquake almost knocked her off her feet, barely managing to keep her balance. It whipped its head around to look for what had caused it that injury and spotted her. Right before it was about to step toward her, she released a sudden blast of ice that froze its hind legs to the ground, rendering it immobile.
Squall took advantage of the T-Rexaur's momentary paralysis and ran up behind it, jumping on its tail. He ran up its bony back and brought his gunblade down on its neck, cutting through flesh and bone and partially severing several of its neck arteries. A blast that followed when he pulled the gunblade's trigger forced the tear in its neck wider, drawing an enormous gush of blood.
The T-Rexaur howled again in rage, and broke free of its icy confinement as it struggled to keep its balance. Blood flew everywhere as the sudden movement sent Squall flying off the T-Rexaur. His grip on his gunblade slipped as its tip was still embedded in the neck of the T-Rexaur. He landed on his arm with a loud crunch, followed moments later by the clatter of his gunblade not far away which had also been thrown free by the T-Rexaur's thrashing. He couldn't move his right arm.
Shit. Did I break something? Rolling onto his back, he fought to get himself off the grass and back on his feet.
Still ready to cast another Blizzard spell if necessary, Rinoa watched as the T-Rexaur finally collapsed to the ground. Its blood gushed out thicker and faster than before, to finally slow to a trickle with its body still convulsing.
Hope he's alright. That was a pretty nasty fall. Running over to him, she noted that he was still lying on the ground, struggling to get up. She grabbed his hand, and tried pulling him up.
His arm screamed in pain as she tried to help him up, making him wonder what had happened to it. A slight tightening of the muscles around his eyes was the only expression he showed. "Rinoa, don't grab my arm."
Eyes wide with concern, she let go and examined his arm. "Sorry. Be careful with it, then. Your arm might have been dislocated or broken after that landing."
If I try healing it now, it'd probably make it worse. She looked around for his gunblade and saw it lying a few feet away, still stained with blood. Picking it up by its handle, she brought it back over to him.
This thing is heavy. "Here's your gunblade."
He slowly got up, wincing as his arm jolted him with pain whenever he tried to move it. He made a clumsy attempt to grab the gunblade, but his arm couldn't move far enough or straight enough in a line for his hand to grasp the handle.
She watched as he attempted again to grab his gunblade, finally seeming to give up. "I'll put it back in its sheath for you."
He glared back at her. "No. Don't tell anyone." With that, he grabbed his gunblade with his left hand and walked off.
Don't tell anyone what? Puzzled, she followed him back over to the freshly killed T-Rexaur. The next thing that she saw shocked her.
Squall was using his gunblade with his left hand to cut apart the T-Rexaur's flesh, each slash with phenomenal accuracy.
Is he left-handed? "Don't tell anyone you can use the gunblade with your left hand? Don't tell anyone you're actually left-handed?"
A nod was all he decided to respond with. He cleaned the blood off his gunblade as he finished with the T-Rexaur and awkwardly re-sheathed his gunblade. Picking up the bone, he wiped the blood and gore onto the trampled grass.
He's injured and he's still working! "I'll carry the bone." She grabbed it out of his hands before he could protest, silencing him by walking before he could stop her.
"Wait. You forgot your weapon." Squall walked over to the other side of the corpse, extracting something that was partially embedded in the scales. "What is this?" He seemed curious as he turned it over, looking at it from different angles.
She laughed as she remembered what had happened yesterday. "Oh, I never told you what I use. This is a Blaster Edge. Normally it would boomerang back after hitting something, but I guess the T-Rexaur's skin was too tough and it got stuck." Setting the bone down, she reloaded her weapon by placing it back into its arm holder and picked up the bone again.
Walking back to the entrance, they saw a few Grats that quickly disappeared after the smell of the dinosaur's bone had reached their senses.
Quistis was still standing at the entrance, apparently bored of waiting for the groups. She saw Rinoa and Squall walking back, with Rinoa carrying the bone. "Good, you two are the first to finish. Put the bone over next to the wall." The next thing she noticed was that Squall was favoring his right arm in how he tried to keep it immobile. "Leonhart? What happened to your arm?"
"Injured it."
She couldn't read the expression on his face.
"Heartilly, take Leonhart to the Infirmary."
Rinoa nodded as she set the bone next to the wall. She walked back over to Squall. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine."
"I'm dragging you there anyways!"
She grinned back at him, making him feel uncomfortable as to why she wanted to help him.
"...Whatever."
Taking his answer as the closest to a 'yes' she would get out of him, she walked off toward the Infirmary with Squall by her side.
They had the unfortunate surprise of running into Irvine near the Cafeteria while they were passing by. Irvine whistled as Squall and Rinoa walked by him, making them turn toward him at the sound. "Hey guys."
Squall didn't respond when they stopped, so Rinoa did. "Hey Irvine. Where's Selphie?"
"Probably not up yet." He grinned at Squall, looking at the awkward position of his right arm. Irvine chuckled at a sudden image of Rinoa breaking Squall's arm. "Man, you've gotta move slower. Girls don't like it when you rush things. And apparently you found out the hard way. What did Rinoa do to you?"
Squall glared back at him with a cold, hard look that had the feeling of welcome from absolute zero. Gritting his teeth, he silently tried to block out thoughts of maiming and killing Irvine. Why is it whenever I'm with a girl, everyone assumes that I like them or something?! Stop. Calm down and just ignore what he's saying. They give up when it looks like it doesn't affect you.
Rinoa growled at Irvine. "Irvine! Anyways, to answer your question, he got injured in the Training Center. It was a T-Rexaur's fault."
Laughing, Irvine dismissed her comment with a wave of his hand. He looked over toward the dorms. "Oh look, Seifer's coming. Wait 'til he hears this." Before they could flee from the proximity of Irvine, he had already shouted to Seifer. "Seifer! Your old buddy Squall is already hitting on Rinoa. I've got to compliment his taste in girls."
Seifer had an amazed expression on his face when he walked over to where the three were standing. He stared at Squall with a bemused look in his eyes. "Whoa, Squall. How come you never hooked up with one of those girls from our old Garden? There were a lot of girls that liked you. And quite a few were hot."
Squall could not believe what was going on. "Seifer, shut up." Great, I'm going to hear about this for months. If I pretend it doesn't affect me, they'll stop. One lone thought made him reconsider. Puberty boy. Damn, screw that. Seifer knows how to annoy the hell out of me, plus he never stops.
Averting his gaze from Squall's eyes, Seifer noticed the irregular posture of Squall's arm.
Turning to Rinoa, he let his jaw drop exaggeratedly. "Rinoa, I never knew you had that bad a temper. Were you that pissed at him flirting with you?"
"I did not break his arm! It was a T-Rexaur that threw him off its back and he landed on his arm, alright?!" To Squall, Rinoa actually looked annoyed at Seifer and Irvine. She had her hands on her hips, glaring intently at the two.
Irvine and Seifer couldn't hold their laughter in after Rinoa's reaction. Struggling to regain his breath, Irvine managed to stop laughing long enough to make another comment. "She's being defensive. Let me guess, you two were too preoccupied with each other to notice his arm being messed up."
Rinoa blushed furiously, wanting to kick Irvine right where it would hurt the most. Seifer had been slightly recovering from his fit of laughter started laughing even harder.
Feeling embarrassed enough for the both of them, Squall turned to Rinoa. "Let them laugh. Let's go."
Behind them, Squall and Rinoa heard Seifer and Irvine's attempts at wolf-whistles through the laughter as they walked to the Infirmary.
Squall could hear the last comment from Seifer echo across the dome as he walked into the Infirmary. "She must like you a lot. She never let anyone that close to her before!"
He groaned as a major headache finally hit him, making him struggle with his footing.
Rinoa rushed to his side to help him, making sure not to aggravate his injury. Grabbing his good arm, she half-dragged him into the waiting room, spotting the resident doctor. "Doctor Kadowaki! Squall's been injured. I think his arm might be broken. Plus he almost lost his balance right after walking through the door."
The doctor's attention which had been directed towards a file she had been holding was brought immediately back to the person that Rinoa was with. "Help him over to the bed."
Carefully removing his jacket and the white shirt underneath, she gave them to Rinoa. "Hold on to this. I'm going to need to examine his arm closer." She observed that the entire arm just seemed to be knocked out of its socket. "It looks like he landed on his shoulder instead of his arm, so there aren't any fractures. The dislocation isn't that bad, but I'm going to need to push it back into place before I can fix it."
Rinoa looked at Squall, who seemed to be totally dazed as to what was going on. She could only watch at what was happening as the doctor spoke to him.
"Squall? This is going to hurt." He didn't seem to hear her as he lay on the bed, weaving in and out of consciousness.
She gripped his arm tightly as she pushed it back into place with a popping sound. She realized that he was so out of it that he didn't even react at the pain. Turning to Rinoa, she asked her, "Do you have any healing spells on you?"
"Yes, several Cures and two Curas."
"Good thing you didn't use them on him immediately. If you did, they would force his arm to heal incorrectly. And we would need to re-break his arm to set it correctly. Two Cures should be enough." Finished, she grabbed a pen off her desk and began to write in a file she grabbed from one of the filing cabinets.
Rinoa brought to her mind the image of Squall's arm being healed, and released the Cure spells onto him with a hand gesture. The immediate effect on his arm was obvious. He still wasn't entirely conscious, but she could see that his arm looked as normal as his other arm. She looked at him wearing only a white tank-top at the moment. Wow, he has a nice body. Wait, what am I thinking? Alright Rinoa, when have you started paying so much attention to how guys look?
Dr. Kadowaki finished writing, and spoke again. "He'll be entirely conscious in a few minutes."
"Thanks for your help."
"No need to thank me."
Rinoa looked back over to Squall, and was shocked to see that he was already sitting up and looking back at her. "How are you feeling?"
"My arm's stiff."
Dr. Kadowaki focused her attention on Squall. "Careful with that arm. It'll be sore for a few hours. Magic can speed up healing, but it can't take away all the effects of injuries. You'll be able to use it normally by ..." She looked at the clock. 7:42. "Eleven o'clock."
He grunted and got up, walking over to Rinoa who was holding onto his clothes. Holding out his hand, he waited for her to give him his clothes.
She blushed as she stared at his bare arms, marveling at the way his muscles rippled underneath the skin. Realizing that she was still holding his jacket and shirt, she handed the articles back to him. How long was I staring at him?
Quickly dressing, he put on his shirt and jacket while avoiding moving his right arm too much. The only problem was that he couldn't zip up his jacket with just one hand.
Rinoa was still looking at him while he was putting on his clothes, struggling with the jacket zipper. She knew he wouldn't ask for help, so she grabbed the zipper and did it for him.
"Thanks."
Giving him a smile, she walked with him back out of the Infirmary. Her stomach complained at the lack of food to digest. Skipping breakfast wasn't such a great idea after all. "Squall, you had breakfast yet?"
"No."
"Well, let's go get something to eat then!" They walked into the Cafeteria, and headed over to their normal table. Rinoa waved at a couple of classmates as she walked by their table.
Irvine and Seifer were there, along with Zell and Selphie. Irvine and Seifer noticed the two walking in, and looked at each other with very evil smirks.
Squall brought up his hand to his forehead, knowing that they were in for it. He sighed as he took the seat next to Rinoa, mentally preparing for the worst.
Glancing away from the knowing grins that Seifer and Irvine were pretty much flaunting, he jumped up again. "I'll grab the food. What do you want, Rinoa?"
She knew what he was trying to do. "I'll get the food, you stay here. You're injured, remember?" She gave him a knowing smirk as she quickly got up and walked to the line to buy the food.
Damn, she's on to me. If Squall could have slammed his head into the table inconspicuously, he would have. She and her friends had him trapped, and he couldn't do anything. Dreading the inevitable conversation, he slowly sat back down and steeled himself for the first blow. The shit's going to hit the fan. Three...Two...One...
Zero. Irvine took it. "Was she good?"
Squall decided the best course of action was to avoid the topic by playing dumb. "What?"
Irvine grinned. "You know."
"No, I don't."
Seifer butted in with a smirk on his face. "Don't deny it. Rinoa broke your arm accidentally, huh? Was she too rough?"
Zell perked up at this, a donut in his hand. "What? What are you guys talking about?"
Glaring directly at Seifer, he replied through clenched teeth. "She told you. We were in the Training Center and fought a T-Rexaur. I climbed onto its back, and it threw me off when I stabbed it. I landed on my arm, dislocating my shoulder." This time, he really wished that both of them would shut up.
Irvine chuckled. "Right. Like I'm really going to believe that. You've got to tell me your secret, man. Scoring on your second day here, now that's impressive. Except for getting your shoulder dislocated. That's the part you need to work on. The art is to get what you want without getting physically injured in the process."
Selphie looked up from her cereal and whacked Irvine on his arm. "Sickos. Anyways, she would never hurt someone like that by accident."
Squall clenched and unclenched his fists, wanting nothing more than to stick his gunblade through both Irvine and Seifer or at least chop off their tongues.
Their ability to converse was spared for the moment by Rinoa returning with two plates on a tray and some utensils. Setting the tray down, she handed the plate with more food on it to Squall. "Here."
Grabbing a fork, he stabbed his bacon with a vengeance and looked away from Seifer and Irvine. They're just teasing you.
The next words out of Seifer's mouth did nothing to calm him down. Slowly drinking some orange juice, Seifer gave Rinoa a mischievous glance. "Rinoa, how good was he?"
Hearing that, Squall nearly broke his plate with his fork as he stabbed a bit too hard into the scrambled eggs, having hoped against hope that they would just leave him alone. His hope had been misplaced.
Rinoa was not one to back down in a confrontation. She knew what the impact of her chosen response would have on the group focused intently on both her and Squall, and said it with a smile directed at Squall. "Wonderful."
That wasn't anywhere near the reply everyone was expecting, and it was shown in the events that followed. Irvine suddenly tipped his chair backwards and landed flat on his back, twitching violently and muttering "I've been outdone!" Seifer was still in the middle of drinking and choked, spraying the orange juice all over the table. Selphie who had turned back to eating her cereal, dropped her spoon into her bowl and looked at Rinoa with an expression of astonishment and disbelief. Zell's half-eaten donut went rolling off the table to splatter jelly on the floor as he stared back and forth between Squall and Rinoa. None of them could speak.
Recovering his voice first, Seifer broke the sudden silence at their table. "Oh my God." He looked around the room wildly, wondering if it was the end of the world. "Where's the reddened sky? The large earthquakes? The end of the world has come!"
Hearing that, Rinoa started laughing at Seifer's expression as he continued to look around for a sign of the apocalypse. Irvine was still flat on his back, but Selphie was trying to help him back up with that look of denial on her face. Rinoa couldn't stop laughing at how they reacted. She finally looked over at Squall, hoping that he wouldn't be too angry at wanting to have a laugh at the expense of the two tormenting them earlier.
Squall saw his life flash before his eyes, and he knew that he would never hear the end of this event. This was something that he knew the entire table group would permanently attach to how they viewed him. He looked over at Rinoa, still somewhat dazed at what she had said. "What the hell?"
Laughing so hard that tears were streaming down her face, she tried to answer him. "I'm so sorry Squall ... but I wanted to see their expressions!" After another wave of laughter passed, she was finally able to control herself. "Alright. Seifer, Irvine, Selphie and Zell, nothing happened between us. Understood?" She only saw grins from the four she had directed her last statement to.
Irvine made it worse. "Drop the act, Rinoa. We know what really happened. I wonder how Quistis will react when she hears of this ... " His grin widened.
At that point, Rinoa was fed up with them. She played her trump card with an innocent smile. "Fine. If you don't understand, Squall here will take out his gunblade and slice and dice you into pieces. I'm sure that he would be happy with the results of that."
That was a request he could definitely comply with. Unsheathing his gunblade, he pulled the barrel open and cleaned the chambers with a piece of cloth. He took out six bullets from his belt and reloaded his gunblade, shoving the barrel back into place. Finished, he spun the barrel with a flick of his wrist. Just for extra emphasis, he took out a piece of slate he used to sharpen the edge and ran it across the nicks on the blade which made a horrible screeching sound. He glanced up at the rest of the table group looking to see if they got the message.
Seifer and Irvine immediately started blabbering about how sorry they were. Fear could be seen in their eyes. Zell and Selphie diverted their attention, suddenly quite interested in finishing their breakfast. Rinoa smiled at their newfound interest, finally being able to sit through the rest of breakfast without being teased. Squall turned back to his plate, thankful for the peace and quiet.
~-~
Two more questions. That was all he needed to finish. He scribbled the answer to the question, and quickly read the last one.
Explain how limit breaks work, and how they are affected by various battle events. Name any magics that relate to limits, and describe their effect.
Squall was relieved, mainly because he was worried that it would be something confusing about the mechanics of Junctioning. His hand was tired from all the stuff he had written, but he forced it back onto the paper. At that moment, his hand cramped up painfully. Cursing inwardly, he switched the pencil over to his left hand and finished the quiz.
"Time's up. Please turn in your papers."
He got up and walked to the front of the class, handing the answer sheet to the instructor with the rest of the class. You'd think with all our technology, we'd have tests and quizzes on our terminals.
He passed Rinoa as she walked back to her terminal, picking up her books under her seat. She noticed that Squall was holding his pencil in his left hand, and remembered what had happened earlier before in the Training Center. He said something about how he didn't want me to tell anyone. Hrm, I'll ask him about it after class. Walking outside the classroom, she waited for him to finish picking up his stuff and leave.
She walked beside him as the students filed out of the class, most heading for the elevator to take it downstairs so they could go to the Cafeteria as it was lunch. The moment they entered the elevator and the doors closed, she voiced her question as they were the only two in there. "Why don't you want anyone to know about you being left-handed?"
No answer.
This is getting old. Sometimes I think he's mute. "Well?" They stepped out of the elevator as it gave off a ding, and walked down the steps.
What he did next confused her. He pointed directly at a student in the middle of a group sitting near the fountain. The male was talking loudly, apparently telling a joke while all the onlookers were laughing at what he was saying.
What's that mean? "I'm sorry Squall, but I don't know what you're trying to show me by that."
Squall sighed, and stopped walking. "Look at him. Look at where the attention of that group is directed at."
Instant comprehension of what he meant came to her. "Oh, I see." She didn't voice her thoughts, ones of why she had decided to come to Garden. It was for pretty much the same reason as Squall not wanting anyone to find out about him being left-handed. She hated being the center of attention, just like Squall. Maybe we're more alike than we know. Everyone else doesn't think of us as normal people, but we feel just like they do.
The next question she had was somewhat personal, so she tried to word it without seeming like she was prying into his life. "So you don't like attention? You're like the opposite of most guys I know."
He muttered something so softly that even he couldn't tell what he said. She's asking so many questions. I don't get her. She's pushing into stuff that doesn't concern her. "Whatever."
She stared at him, wanting a straight answer. Why can't he just tell me why? Is it really so hard to say what you're thinking? "Tell me. Don't just 'whatever' me. I don't get you. Right when it seems like you have a personality, you immediately go and prove everyone wrong." Annoyed, she stepped right in front of him, making him look directly at her.
She's really testing my patience today. A hint of irritation could be heard in his voice. "What's it to you? Why do you care about something that's not your business?"
This time, she made sure he had eye contact with her. "Because I can tell you care! Why do you act so cold?"
"I don't need this." His reply spoken, he started walking again and left her standing there.
She could only stare at his back as he disappeared off toward the dormitories. I know you care. If nothing else, what you just said about hating attention proved it. But why do you pretend as if most things don't affect you? That question echoed in her mind as she walked toward the Cafeteria.
~-~
He took off his jacket, draping it on his chair. He kept thinking about the days' events, the last question that Rinoa asked him still lingering in his mind. What's she up to? Why won't she just leave me alone? I can take care of myself.
Undoing the buckle that strapped his gunblade's sheath to his side, he set it on his desk. He felt a slight sting in his right arm from the dislocation earlier that day, but his arm still functioned as well as before. Sighing, he pushed the thoughts out of his mind and tried to concentrate on the work assigned by his instructors. He flipped open a book and found the page that he was supposed to read.
He couldn't concentrate. That question that Rinoa had asked him kept bugging him, tearing his mind off of the history of Balamb.
"Why do you act so cold?"
The odd thing was in retrospect, he had the perfect answer and even his answer wasn't an answer. He got up and stretched, feeling as if he had run a marathon. His right arm complained again, but he ignored it as his thoughts were concentrated on the question that he had never considered before.
Looking at the clock, he decided that he might as well grab some lunch anyway as he wasn't going to get any work done. He grabbed his jacket and put it on as he walked out his dorm, heading toward the Cafeteria while still thinking of her question.
Great. As soon as he looked at his group's table, he saw that the only seat open was next to Rinoa. He wasn't exactly sure why, but he didn't really feel like sitting near her at the moment. This time getting the food first, he walked over to the line and brooded some more about the question she asked him. All those you care about, won't be there permanently. I had to go through life alone, so I don't need others helping me. I got through life fine so far. She's wasting her time. Buying a hamburger and some fries, he walked over to his group's table and sat down next to the person he wanted to see least. I hope that she won't try to talk to me for now.
His hope was destroyed yet again. "Squall."
Picking up his burger, he turned his head toward Rinoa who was sitting on his right. "What?" He looked at her and to him it seemed like what she wanted to say was quite serious.
"I'm sorry for snapping at you."
"Don't worry about it."
Rinoa was a bit surprised at the non-'whatever' statement that Squall replied with, but said nothing of it. When I thought I knew what kind of person he was, he goes and destroys it. I was right. He's not as uncaring as he acts, but why does he act that way? She gave him a smile and turned back to her lunch and started eating again.
Irvine injected a comment, his voice dripping with sweetness. "Aww. Look Seifer, the two lovebirds are making up after a fight! You two just don't get too carried away in showing how sorry you are here. Save that for somewhere more private." He winked at Rinoa who blushed and glared at him.
Squall ignored him, starting to get used to those perverted comments that Irvine always made. Since he felt that Irvine might need a little reminder about Rinoa's threat, he removed his gunblade from its sheath and lifted it on top of his lap with his left hand supporting the flat of the blade. His other hand lightly gripped the handle of his gunblade as he stared directly at Irvine.
Irvine immediately looked away and redirected his attention to Selphie, who was sitting next to him. "What were you saying about the Garden committee?"
Rinoa grinned at Squall as he replaced his gunblade, thankful that she wouldn't have to suffer a repeat of Seifer and Irvine's version of the morning's events. Both of them could hear Selphie chatter on and on about the next event hosted by the Garden committee.
Finished with his lunch, Squall got up and returned his tray to the counter. I've got some stuff I have to study for. Maybe I'll go to the Library and read there. He saw Seifer get up too, following him. Slowing his pace, he waited for Seifer.
Seifer spoke when he caught up to Squall. "Been meaning to talk to you."
"And?" Squall was in an oddly curious mood.
He shrugged. "Just wanted a chance to catch up. Didn't talk to you much yesterday. Like your classes?"
"They're fine. Most are boring as hell, though."
Seifer chuckled. "Lighten up, man. Why don't you sleep through them? I set a Garden record in the most hours unconscious in Magic Training. The only interesting moments are ones where we get to use our magic to kill something."
"And I thought you were a peace-loving student." A teasing tone could be heard in Squall's voice.
Seifer nearly choked when he heard that, an unbelieving expression on his face. "Who are you and what have you done to Squall?! Something big must have changed you enough for you to crack a joke. You finally woke up and got a girlfriend?"
"...What? This is Squall you're talking to." I can't picture myself dating any of the girls I ever knew. 'Sides, too many of them fawn all over me and I hate it. He shuddered when he remembered one girl that was quite aggressive in trying to get his attention.
"Oh, right. Squall Leonhart. The guy that all the girls like but he never even went out on a date or gave them a second glance. Damn, so many of the guys at Galbadia wished they were you. You had it made, man. Quite a few of the girls would jump into bed with you if you asked." His condescending smirk returned to his face.
"Hmph. I don't understand them. Hell, I don't understand most people."
"What do you think of Rinoa, then? Two days, and it seems like I've always seen you around with her." Seifer mentally berated himself. Shit, too obvious. If he finds out that I'm trying to get him together with her, he's going to kill me. And she probably wouldn't be too happy about it either. Images of being slowly decapitated by Rinoa's Blaster Edge and Squall's gunblade filled his mind.
"Don't understand her. She seems to think I care."
Seifer breathed a sigh of relief. Good, looks like he doesn't suspect. "Maybe she's right."
"Whatever."
"Was wondering where the old puberty boy went."
Squall remembered the conversation that had occurred yesterday at dinner. "You didn't tell her the truth, even though I told everyone about your stuffed Chocobo."
"Yeah, well I have my reasons. Besides, you did do me a favor with all those girls." His smirk turned into a very perverted grin.
"Whatever. Need to go study." Squall proceeded toward the Library, ignoring a group of girls that started flirting with him the moment that his attention was off the conversation with Seifer.
Seifer walked off in the direction of the dorms, several girls stalking him.
~-~
A sudden noise made Rinoa look around as she walked into the library, searching for a quiet table with no distractions to study. Her eyes found a group of people that were partially hidden by the bookshelves that were cheering. She found an unoccupied table and dumped her notebooks there.
"Back off, new guy." A loud shout could be heard from where the crowd was.
She recognized the voice. It was that one guy that never took a hint.
Tyler. But what's he doing? Bullying someone like always, I bet.
Walking around the bookshelves to the back, she joined the crowd, trying to peer through the people standing in the way. A person was pinned against the wall, held at the neck by the person she knew as Tyler. He was a blonde who most described as a jerk. He had good looks and was quite tall, but that was pretty much all he had. Most of the students were afraid of him, mainly because he had his gang that would beat up anyone that stood him up.
From her vantage point in the crowd, she realized that the other person was Squall. And she saw that Squall didn't even attempt to get out of the neck-hold Tyler had on him.
"You think you're so great with all those girls that flirt with you, huh? And I've seen you around Rinoa so much. Rinoa's my girl. Not yours. Get the hell away from her. Understood?" Tyler's voice ebbed with anger and frustration from the lack of compliance that Squall showed.
Coldly, Squall stared directly back at the raging storm of emotions in the person holding him.
"Looks like I have to teach you a lesson, then." He nearly snarled those words, his rage finally at the breaking point. Releasing his grip on Squall's neck, he brought his fist back and aimed directly for Squall's face.
What surprised Rinoa was the speed with which Squall blocked the fist aimed at him. She stared at him as he did nothing to attack, only to defend. Punches and kicks aimed at him were quickly blocked or dodged. Extracting her gaze from the fight, she tried to move closer to the front row of the group by squeezing between people.
Thoroughly pissed, Tyler grabbed a chair from a nearby table, fully intending to throw it at Squall.
"Stop!" Rinoa had finally broken through the crowd, able to get within earshot of the two fighting. She glared directly at Tyler, wanting to hurt him. Both Tyler and Squall looked over at the person who had suddenly interfered with their fight. The group cheering the fight on suddenly silenced as they saw the person the fight was over had appeared.
"Rinoa, this doesn't concern you." Squall broke his silence that he had carried with him the entire time the confrontation was going on.
"Yes, it does. I won't let you get hurt because of me." She turned to Tyler.
"There you are, Rinoa. This guy here was –" The anger in Tyler's voice had died away, replaced by that flirting tone she always heard whenever he was talking to her.
She cut him off. "Shut up, Tyler. I don't want to hear your version of the story. Whatever you're going to say isn't the truth." Stepping closer to him, she looked directly in his eyes. "Tell me the truth."
"As I was going to say, this guy here was talking about you to some people, saying that you were going to be another girl in the long line of his conquests." He grinned over at Squall in silent victory as Rinoa stayed silent, thinking about what she just heard. A hard slap on his face brought him back to reality.
She had pretended to think about it, to catch him off-guard. "Bastard. You think I'd believe that? I heard what you said to him before the fight. I was never your girl. Go sleep with some slut." Walking over to Squall, Rinoa pulled on his arm. "Let's go." He grabbed his scattered books and they walked over to the table where Rinoa had dropped off her stuff and she quickly gathered it up. Neither of them looked back to the shocked Tyler that had one hand on his reddened cheek and the crowd staring at the backs of the two that had walked out. The chair he held dropped to the floor, clattering noisily.
"You didn't need to stop it." Squall's voice was slightly hesitant.
"But I knew that one of you two would get hurt before it was over, and I didn't want it to be you. I know what kind of person Tyler is. He's selfish and he always does stuff like that, which is why most girls avoid him. He never gets a clue. And he bullies people around with his gang, forcing others to give him what he wants." Her anger at Tyler hadn't entirely subsided yet, her veins still coursing with adrenaline.
She thought back to the event in the library. His actions during the fight confused her. "Why didn't you fight back? All you did was block or avoid his attacks."
"I never liked to hurt people." His voice had gotten a bit softer, like he was saying something he didn't want to admit to himself.
She stared at him, amazed that he would share something that personal about himself considering that he seemed somewhat shy, in addition to being detached.
Realizing the last thing he said, he turned away and tried to shut himself into his world. Why would she want to be my friend? It's not like it ultimately matters. Nothing stops the inevitable. Having friends is great, but it's only temporary. They'll leave just like how Sis left. Seifer was one who called me a friend even though we were at each other's throats so much at the beginning. It hurt when he left too.
Aware of Squall's attention being elsewhere, Rinoa tried to bring him out of it. "Hey, I'm sorry for saying that. I know you hate it whenever you're the center of attention. What are you thinking about?" I want to see the real you, not the one that's always hidden by that mask of indifference. I know what you show on your outside isn't who you are.
"Nothing."
Go figure; so many guys would love to talk to me, but the one I want to talk to doesn't. "Yeah, right."
Squall said nothing in response to her sarcastic statement.
"Where are we going?" Looking around, she realized that they were following the circular path that connected the various sections of Garden together.
"I was heading for the dorms."
"So why were you in the library, anyways?"
"Needed to study."
"Oh. Hey, you can study with me if you'd like. I was going to study too, but Tyler made a mess of things in the library."
"Whatever." Again, Squall felt a bit confused at Rinoa's comments. Why is she inviting me along? I don't get her. I don't need anyone.
"I'll take that as a yes. Tell me your dorm room number so I can find you."
If I don't tell her, she'll probably bug me until I do. Sighing, he felt that what he was going to do was a serious mistake. "A253."
"Okay! I'll meet you in like half an hour or so."
"Fine." What am I getting myself into?
~-~
A/N: Er, anyone bored of reading like 20 pages worth of stuff? *sees lots of raised hands* Thought so. I'll cut 'today' here, and continue it in the next chapter.
bembem: Well, there's nothing like getting another chapter done, is there? Thanks so much for reviewing and also beta-reading my chapters!