Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VIII and all its characters are property of SquareSoft.
A Life Unlived by remote_mine
Chapter Three – Planning
Rinoa tried to think of why she asked Squall, of all people, to study with her. From what she knew of him, she would've expected him not to agree but he accepted anyway, confusing her to some extent. She banished those thoughts when she ran into Selphie while she was walking toward the dorm rooms.
"Hey Selphie!"
"Hey Rinoa! Whatcha up to?"
"Going to study with Squall."
Selphie gave Rinoa a knowing look. "Ooo. You like him, don't you?"
Rinoa's cheeks reddened slightly, making her wonder if what Selphie said was true. "No I don't."
"Suuuure. I'm really going to believe that. But you've got to admit, he's pretty hot." Selphie was as hyperactive as ever, nearly bouncing down the corridor.
"Yeah," she muttered, thinking about when she had seen Squall with his jacket off in the Infirmary. The memory of that event was so vivid; she could almost reach out and touch him...Nearly stumbling as she walked off a step, she realized that she had gotten lost in her thoughts of Squall.
"You know, Seifer said he's not attached."
"And that's relevant to me in what way?" she asked, hoping that Selphie wouldn't notice the slightly hopeful tone in her voice.
Selphie fidgeted a bit, mentally slapping herself for nearly revealing Seifer's idea to get Squall and Rinoa together. "Uh...well, I was thinking that you haven't had a boyfriend since Seifer, so maybe it's time that you get another one? I mean, we haven't talked about guys for months."
"Yeah, and I really believe that he'd date me. I've seen the looks some of the other girls have given him. Some of which are girls who have quite a few guys drooling over, too. What are the chances that he'd go out with me?"
"So you've got to make your move soon! He's not going to be available for long!"
"That's another reason not to 'make my move.' "
"That's the spir–HEY! You can't give up like that!" She had been expecting something along the lines of 'Alright, I will!'
"Oh, yes I can. Watch me." Grinning devilishly, Rinoa watched Selphie's face flicker from surprise to exasperation.
With a pout, Selphie stormed off, looking for someone else to discuss the minor setback that had just occurred to the group's (excluding Squall and Rinoa that is) plan.
Rinoa could only stare at Selphie's retreating back in amazement, wondering what all that had been about. She turned her attention back to her current task at hand: getting to Squall's dorm room.
A249...A251...A253.
Knocking on the door, she waited as she shifted the books in her hand and tried to distribute the weight more evenly. The door opened, revealing the face of Squall looking intently at her.
Selphie was right...he is pretty hot.
Snapping out of her momentary loss of concentration, she smiled at him. "Ready?"
"Yes." His tone was as stiff as it always had been, making him sound like he was twenty-three or something. He pulled on his jacket and grabbed some books that had been sitting on his desk.
"Okay, let's go then."
They walked down the corridor, their boots clicking against the tiles - the only noise other than the ventilation system and random discussions from other students in the corridor.
Two people ran past them, the commotion making everyone in the vicinity turn toward the noise.
"Chicken-wuss! Give me that T-board!"
"No! You're not going to get your dirty hands on it!"
"Last warning, Chicken-wuss!"
Their voices faded off into the distance as Zell rounded a corner with his T-board clutched in both hands, Seifer in hot pursuit.
"Why's Seifer chasing Zell?"
"Oh, Seifer's on the Disciplinary Committee." At Squall's puzzled expression, she continued. "Seifer's the worst at following any rules ever made, so I think they put him on the committee because he would've had to been expelled otherwise. At least he does his job."
Squall digested the new information, trying to understand the odd logic behind it. It made sense, to some extent. Who would've thought Seifer would enforce the rules.
They continued in silence after the minor disruption, exiting the dormitory area. As soon as they stepped within sight of the fountain, Rinoa turned to Squall. "Where do you want to study?"
He shrugged. "I don't care."
"How about the Quad, then? I didn't show it to you earlier." Rinoa led the way, passing a group of girls by the Cafeteria that glared jealously at her.
"Oh, crap." Squall muttered under his breath, seeing the expressions of the girls and recognizing a couple from his classes. When will anyone realize that I don't want to be in a relationship?
Entering the Quad, the summer sun beat down on them as they walked down the steps toward the stage. There were other people there, their conversations a wave of noise that could not be interpreted.
Rinoa sat down under some shade, gesturing for Squall to sit next to her. He sat close enough that he could hear her, but not too close.
"So what were you going to study?"
"History of Balamb." He flipped open the book he was carrying, finding the page that he had been reading before that guy – What was his name? Tyler? – tried to beat him up. Sighing at the memories, he handed the book to Rinoa and she started asking him questions.
~-~
The two sitting figures were completely oblivious to a couple of people not too far from them. Irvine and Selphie watched the pair study.
"Huh. I wonder if Seifer's right about Squall and Rinoa."
"Well, from what Seifer said, he's totally cold and never thinks of girls beyond the fact that they're human." Selphie answered in response.
Irvine's brow furrowed at that comment. "Wait, you don't think he's gay, is he? I mean, a guy who never pays attention to girls would ha–"
"Oh shut up, Irvine. You just spend a disproportional amount of time thinking about girls. Tell me, how many girls have you slept with?"
His face grew red when he heard that question, and he answered in a very quiet voice. "None."
Selphie's eyes nearly bulged out. "What?! I was thinking like thirty."
"Don't tell anyone, or else it'll ruin my reputation as a ladies man."
"Feh. Anyways, back to Squall and Rinoa."
Irvine put his hands behind his head. "So yeah, look at 'em. Sitting together, studying. Wow. Amazing. Entertaining. I see stuff like that everyday, so what's so special about them?"
An odd observation came to Selphie as she looked at the two. "How come they're the only ones who don't wear uniforms?"
"What?" Irvine looked at them again, and then turned his gaze to the other students in the Quad. "That is odd." He glanced down at his own trench coat. "Wait. We're not wearing uniforms either."
"Yes, and since we're the only ones without uniforms, that means we're going to save the world from an evil sorceress, right?"
"And in the process Squall and Rinoa fall madly in love with each other!"
Both of them looked at each other for a moment before they burst out laughing. Selphie finally spoke after calming herself down. "Anyways...well, we've got to get them together somehow."
"You're the girl, not me. Work your magic. Voodoo Squall or something. I have no experience whatsoever with making two people fall in love. Maybe tell Rinoa to go up to him and hypnotize him by saying 'You're-going-to-like-me. You're-going-to-like-me.' "
She peeked around the edge of a group of students again at the couple, and for a moment she froze as Squall's gaze suddenly fell on her. "Eep!" She squealed, ducking back to escape his gaze.
"What?"
"I think Squall just saw me!"
"How could he have seen you?" Irvine's expression showed puzzlement.
"I don't know! It was sort of creepy. He was just looking off in some other direction and he suddenly turned his head toward me as if he knew that someone was staring at him."
They could have been caught, and both knew that it wouldn't be pretty. The next thing they saw was Rinoa and Squall walking toward them from where they had been sitting. Squall had his expression of indifference as always on his face and Rinoa looked as cheery as she had before, except this time with a bit of suspicion in her features.
Selphie and Irvine immediately pretended that they hadn't been watching, but it was a futile attempt; they had definitely been caught.
"Alright, what are you two doing here?" Rinoa's voice had a definite edge to it, making Selphie and Irvine look at her.
"Nothing! I was just...um, taking a walk with Irvine!"
"Uh huh. And may I ask why Squall told me he saw you looking at us?"
"You saw h–" Irvine's exclamation was immediately cut off as both of Selphie's hands had suddenly clamped down on his mouth.
Selphie's eyes grew wide as she realized that she had been seen by Squall. Nervously, she tried to cover up what could've been disastrous if Irvine actually had spoken. "What he meant to say was that it was just a coincidence running into you guys here."
During this entire conversation, Squall had been patiently standing off to the side without looking at anything in specific. He was thinking about Selphie's expression when he had glanced toward her, and knew that it wasn't merely a coincidence. He had a nagging feeling that there was something afoot hidden from him that the rest of the group he hung out with knew, and he wasn't exactly sure that he wanted to know.
Rinoa rolled her eyes at the obvious signs that someone was definitely lying. "Right. And it's just a coincidence that you, Selphie, had run into me earlier and I had told you I was going to study with Squall. Now you just happen to be watching us. I want an explanation."
Exasperated and more than a little fearful of what would happen if Rinoa and Squall found out, she tried to shrug it off. "There's nothing to explain! Look, Rinoa, I told you I was just having a walk with Irvine!"
"Uh...huh."
Knowing that this definitely wasn't going to work, Selphie immediately released her hold on Irvine's mouth and grabbed his hand. Both knowing they had screwed up royally, Selphie shouted over her shoulder as she dragged Irvine off. "See you later!"
She glanced at her companion who appeared lost in thought. "Squall?"
"What?" He took his eyes away from his surroundings and focused them on her.
She looked at him surprised. Rinoa thought that he wasn't going to respond, judging from the way that he had been looking like he was in his own little world. "That was interesting, to say the least."
"They're planning something. What it is, I don't know yet. And I'm not too sure I want to find out."
She gave him a look of curiosity. "Why not?"
"It's none of my business, for one thing."
"Well, hey! C'mon, I want to see what they're trying to do. Somehow, I get the feeling that it has to do with us. That makes me want to find out even more, considering the way they'd been acting earlier."
"Are you sure you want to find out? What if you found out, but then wished you hadn't?"
"I'm sure I want to. Why don't you help me?" Rinoa saw Squall's slightly surprised expression that clearly stated 'Are you kidding me?' so she continued. "Just live a little!"
"...You don't give up, do you?"
"Nope! Rinoa Heartilly always gets what she wants." She gave him a grin when he rolled his eyes. "Let's go. Break's almost over."
~-~
She muttered under her breath as she slipped in and out of consciousness. The droning of the instructor's voice was almost like a lullaby, nearly making her fall asleep. Half awake, she jotted down some more notes about Junctioning before looking around the room and seeing that most of the class was either asleep or struggling to keep their eyes open.
Rinoa stretched out, accidentally raising her arm high enough that the Instructor took it for her wanting to ask a question.
"Yes, Rinoa?"
Oh, shit. What was the last thing that she said? "Uh, could you explain how the Guardian Forces strengthen us when we Junction magic?"
Selphie, who was also in the class, gave Rinoa a sleepy grin knowing that no one actually cared about how Junctioning worked, except for the tests. It was merely BSing skills coming into play.
"Junctioning is not as it seems. The reality behind the strengthening through magic junctioning is merely a Guardian Force making you believe that you are stronger in your mind. If you believe that it makes you..." Rinoa fell asleep along with Selphie, the droning voice finally making them lose consciousness.
Rinoa was rudely awakened when Selphie 'accidentally' bumped into Rinoa so as not to draw the teacher's attention that there were people who did not stay awake and pay attention in class.
Selphie gave Rinoa another devious grin. "Dreaming about Squall?"
Indignant at having to put up with Selphie's teasing the entire day, she gathered her books. "No, in fact I was thinking about how hot Irvine is."
"Hey! He's my boyfriend!"
"Then stop talking about Squall. It sounds like you're the one that wants him."
"So...why don't you go out with Squall? I can't annoy you about him then, can I?"
Hrm...might be a good idea. Rinoa mentally shook herself as she realized quite belatedly what she had just thought. Squall, as a boyfriend? He doesn't even look at girls!
"If it makes you any happier, I'll admit that he's hot and could make a nice boyfriend for some girl, if he wasn't so cold. Okay?"
She completely missed Selphie's delighted grin that had sprung on her face. "That's better. I thought you were starting to lose your eye for guys."
Walking out the door, she retorted. "Oh, just look at him, Selphie! Think about how many girls already want him. You even said yourself that he's not going to be available very long."
"And if you'd recall, I told you to make your move now. You know, the only girl I've seen him with was you."
"And that's supposed to mean something?"
"Of course! I mean, there are a lot of guys that like you too, you know."
"So?"
Giving Rinoa a look of irritation, Selphie sighed. "Are you just playing with me? Don't you know?"
"No."
"You're being blind. Remember Tyler? Word about that fight in the library got out already, and they said that Tyler got his ass kicked." Rinoa said nothing, so Selphie continued. "If Squall's your boyfriend, no one would even try to hit on you."
"Hmph."
"Rinoa! Just think about the benefits! First, protection from any other guy that would dare hit on you. Next, he's hot. Definitely a plus. Third, I bet he has a great body..."
That last comment seriously disturbed Rinoa, as hearing that had immediately brought to her mind of how Squall looked like in the Infirmary with just his undershirt on. And how his skin would feel under her touch. Just thinking about it sent a few shivers down her spine before she stopped her thoughts from running rampant and going too far. Trying to take her thoughts off of Squall being half-naked, she responded. "So why don't you go after him?"
"Because Irvine's perfectly fine for me. You're the one that needs a boyfriend."
Finally reaching the point where they had to go their separate directions, Rinoa walked toward the elevator while Selphie headed for another corridor and yelled over her shoulder. "Catch ya later!"
Hitting the button for the first floor, Rinoa mentally reviewed the list of things that she had to do.
Let's see, Garden Committee has something coming up, better check that I don't have anything to interfere with next week. Projects, homework, blah blah. At least the weekend's coming up. I sorta wish that the SeeD Test was sooner...then there's no more waking up early, but I'd probably get assigned a mission somewhere and won't be able to see my friends.
She stepped out of the elevator and headed for her next class, which was inconveniently located in the Training Center: Combat Training.
After taking her weapon from her room, she walked to the Training Center. The familiar sticky and hot humid air clung to her skin, making her itchy. Rubbing her arms absentmindedly, she stepped just inside the entrance where she could see several students talking with each other. Rinoa had found a couple of her friends and started talking with them about various topics, ranging from homework to weekend plans.
The moment their temporary instructor had come, he immediately ordered them to remove all junctions and to do twenty push-ups. Most of the students grumbled as they did what they were told.
Rinoa immediately unjunctioned the GF Siren, feeling a momentary dizziness as her magical capabilities were weakened. Gaining back her senses, she immediately did her pushups.
"Alright cadets, we're practicing Drawing today. Since all you've been doing so far has been Drawing in non-combat situations, we're going to see how well you perform in the middle of live-combat." His voice barked out orders that they immediately followed, setting up a magic barrier to prevent other monsters from interfering while they were busy practicing. The students rejunctioned their GFs and immediately made sure that they had the Draw command ability in use.
The instructor let in a couple of Grats, which were as far from the students as possible, while inside the magic barrier. Shouting out a cadet's name, one student immediately engaged combat with the Grat and drew a few spells from it. Right after disengaging combat, the student gave the spells to the instructor.
Student after student went through the line, finally getting to Rinoa's turn. The moment she stepped up and engaged combat with the Grat, it immediately whipped out a tentacle towards her leg. Quickly stepping back, she dodged it and focused her mind on Drawing. Searching for the tell-tale magical signature, she sensed several types of spells and chose one at random. Several white balls of light streaked from the monster to Rinoa, and it shuddered as the spells were torn from it. The name of the spell came unbidden to her when she touched it with her thoughts.
Confuse?
Just like the other students, she immediately retreated and gave the spells to the instructor who had been watching the process with virtually no expression.
His expression changed to that of a frown as he realized exactly what spells she had given him. "Cadet Heartilly?"
Uhoh. Did I do something wrong? "Yes?"
"I haven't seen anyone else been able to draw Confuse from a Grat before."
Curiosity gnawing at her, Rinoa tried to keep her expression straight. "What spell was I supposed to draw?"
"That's fine. Confuse is quite a hard spell to draw from a Grat. You're a natural with magic."
Elated, Rinoa couldn't help but give her friends a grin as she told them what had just happened.
~-~
Squall slammed his book shut as the teacher dismissed the class. Finally; the weekend was here, and there were no classes or else everyone would go mad. Too bad it was just one day though. Picking up the rest of his assorted class-stuff, he stepped outside the door and was immediately greeted by a very bouncy and cheerful Selphie. Two questions had immediately popped to mind when he saw her.
What's Selphie doing here? What was up with her and Irvine when I was studying with Rinoa?
His first question was nearly immediately answered as Selphie spoke. "Squall! Quistis told me I'd find you here. Anyways, I was wondering if I could convince you to join the Garden Committee."
He gave her no response, looking away from her.
They walked down the corridor, drawing a few odd stares in the obvious difference in the attitudes between the two. Selphie, hyperactive and fun compared with to the composed Squall, serious to a fault.
Oblivious to the attention granted by everyone else, Selphie immediately launched into her full-on attack. "Please? We only meet once a week."
"No."
"C'mon!"
He gave her a look of irritation and amusement as Selphie had, for the moment, definitely reminded him of Rinoa. "My answer's no, and that's final."
She pouted, wondering why he was so insistent in not joining. "Hmph. Well, anyways, there's something else I was going to ask you anyways. If you weren't busy, we were wondering if you'd like to come with us to Balamb tomorrow."
"I don't think so."
"Fine. I'll get Seifer, Rinoa, Quistis, Irvine and Zell to drag you along, then."
He weighed the options in less than a second. The mere mention of Seifer and Rinoa's names already made him know what could happen. "...Either I die, or I go."
"Ha! So you're coming?"
Resigned, he sighed as he looked at the wall. "Looks like I have no choice."
"Booyaka! Seifer is gonna be so happy!"
"Seifer?"
"Well, see you!" Selphie immediately ran off down another corner, which led directly toward the dorms.
Not for the first time since coming here, Squall could only wonder at what was going on behind his back. He knew that something was going on, and he hadn't the slightest clue what. Shrugging the thoughts off as none of his concern, he continued his trek down to the Cafeteria. It was right before seven, and for some reason he was already feeling hungry.
The sight when he entered the Cafeteria was one that most guys would be jealous of, except him. A large crowd of girls were huddled around Seifer, and he was talking animatedly about something and wildly gesturing with his hands.
Loves attention, doesn't he? Squall was struck by the irony of the situation; Seifer was alike him in some ways, yet completely different overall. Seifer craved attention; Squall loathed it. Seifer was quite passionate; Squall, indifferent.
Getting some food, he paid for it and sat at a table not far from Seifer, watching as many of the girls flirted with Seifer. It was amusing to watch to some extent; Seifer drank up the compliments and even took up a few on offers for a date.
His quiet thinking was interrupted as Irvine and Selphie had joined his table. The first thing Squall and Selphie noticed was the jealous look Irvine was giving Seifer.
To bring Irvine back from his little world, Selphie interrupted the silence. "Hey Irvine, you have a girlfriend, right? Like the girl that's sitting next to you, known as me?"
Caught, Irvine gave Selphie a sheepish grin. "Yes...but I can't help but check out pretty ladies, you know?"
Selphie jabbed her elbow into Irvine's gut, drawing an 'oof' from him as he had looked back over to the group again. Irvine immediately stopped staring over at the group and instead focused his attention solely on Selphie. "Sorry! It's just habit!"
"Well, considering what you said earlier, I'll believe you...for now."
Their conversation degenerated into comments that could only be described by one word: sappy.
Rinoa, Zell and Quistis soon arrived with their dinners and also took seats at the table. The moment everyone was there, Selphie addressed the group. "I was able to convince Mr. 'I-don't-like-to-have-fun' here that it would be in his best interest to come with us tomorrow when we go to Balamb." Rinoa looked at her with an obvious 'How'd you manage that?' look on her face.
As Selphie was sitting next to Rinoa, she whispered into her ear. "Yeah, Squall's got the hots for you. I just mentioned your name and he's like 'I'm there!'"
"Like I'm going to believe that." But Rinoa couldn't stop herself from wondering if it was possible.
"Fine. I just mentioned that all of us were going to drag him along."
"That's more like it."
Finally done making arrangements with his new fan-club, Seifer grabbed a chair at their table and sat down. Selphie told him that Squall was going to join them when they went to Balamb.
Squall and Rinoa were preoccupied at that moment eating their dinner, so they missed the knowing grins that the rest of the table members shared with each other.
Getting the group's attention, Selphie outlined the plans for tomorrow. "Well, we don't have any classes tomorrow so we'll go to Balamb for most of the day. Anyone have any suggestions as to what we're going to do there?"
Zell spoke up. "Yeah, I wanna visit my Ma!"
"Okay, we'll stop by there. And then...?"
It was Seifer who gave the next suggestion. "How about stopping by that new movie theater that they finished pretty recently?"
"Stop by Ma's, movies, what else?"
Glancing up from her food, Rinoa responded this time. "How 'bout we see when we get there?"
"Alright."
~-~
A/N: I hate myself. I had vowed that I would get this chapter done more than half a month ago. Which obviously did not happen. Anyways, finally sat down and finished it. If it's not funny or something, tell me. I have a very twisted sense of humor.
bembem: Thanks to your dedication and willingness to beta-read my chapters, I've actually gone somewhere with my stories. I can't thank you enough! Especially for catching all my errors; some of them are horrible! Update your fics soon (especially 'Falling For You')!
elanor tinuviel: Wow. Thanks so much for sitting through my entire fic and reading through it plus beta-reading it! Especially for your ideas and suggestions for how I'm going to develop the Rinoa/Squall relationship in making it sound believable. Thanks again, especially for your prompt reply to my request. Sorry about that, but I realized that it was nearing a month and a half since I updated it! (I'm worse than most at updating, huh?)
Noacat: Updated, finally. I actually had this chapter 'done' before those two one-shots...odd, huh? Thanks for those reviews on those one-shots too!
Fantasy-dreamer88: And here's another chapter thrown into the fray...at least this time it's only 12 (and a seventh) pages instead of 20. Enjoy.
lps: Here's the next chapter! I really should update more often, huh?
Duncan Hay: Thanks for the review!
Rinoa36: Thanks for being a dedicated reviewer of my works! Means a lot to me!
Cassandra: Heh! Just remember Squall belongs to Rinoa!
BerlinBrownEyes: Wow. I didn't know my writing could do that...well, I hope that you enjoy this chapter too!