Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VIII or any of it's characters because someone beat me to it… someone much more rich and refined than I… OK? Good… now that we've got that cleared… I guess you want to read the chapter, huh? Well… THERE IS NONE! MAAAHAA… joking… joking… presenting…
Chapter Six
The dark haired man leaned in the kitchen doorway, smirking cockily, "So I'm on time then?"
"No, you really aren't…" Rinoa said in a low hiss, giving him the 'when-the-kids-leave-to-go-to-school-I'm-going-to-hit-the-roof-and-you'll-shoot-out-from-the-chimeney-look' that he identified very well. Only, he just smiled.
"Hey monkey," He ruffled his son's hair affectionately and bent over near Riana, "Can I have a kiss?" She pecked him on the cheek, happy to have her father back at home. Though he was more often than not the start of her mother's bad moods… he was usually the one to end them. How, her feeble young mind didn't know and in this case, innocence was bliss.
He then went daringly towards his wife, "Hey honey… nice to see you in such a good mood due to the fact that I'm back…" He smiled wryly and all he got was a death glare. "Did you miss me?"
"Don't push it, Leonhart," Rinoa warned hotly, "I think you've already exhausted your luck for one day." She buttered another piece of toast and set it down next to Alessandro's still incomplete math homework.
Alex and Riana ate their breakfast without any further comment, even if Alex was burning to ask, 'Why does toast leave crumbs?'. Rinoa occasionally glared at Squall when she wasn't dictating numbers to Alessandro.
At 7:50 A.M., the honk of a bus caused both children to hurry up and finish their packing, hurriedly kiss their mom on the cheek, hug their father, and speeding out of the house to catch their ride to school. And hence forth, the Leonhart-Heartilly residence turned to a battlefield.
"You could have been here earlier!! I know for a fact that your mission was at around 10:30 P.M. and so it must have ended at around midnight. See, if you take the train from Dollet to Deling it would only take you three hours to get home! That's almost… four hours unaccounted for!! Where the hell were you?"
"Oh, I've decided what I want for my birthday!" He said randomly, "One of those dog collars that have radio transmission with a little gadget that the owner keeps. I could wear it around my neck… so you would know where I am all the time." He smirked.
"Oh yeah? Well fuck you!" She snapped at him, pilling the dishes on the counter viciously. For a moment, Squall was quite afraid that she might break a glass or throw a plate at him. However, Rinoa had learned to control certain amounts of her anger.
"So you still want to know why I was absent?" His courage soon resumed. Having no immediate answer from his raging wife he applied a thick coat of sarcasm to his words, "Well, I went for a drink and you know those Dollet beers! Yeah, you and I would know one of those Dollet beers is enough to knock out a two hundred pound guy. Well I had three of them and so I was really hammered! So I decided to go to a cathouse, you know a whorehouse, and…" He had to dodge the oncoming coffee mug that then crashed against the wall.
"I swear to the almighty Hyne above, Squall that if you did anything of the likes, you are never going to see the light of day again!" She yelled.
"By the blood of-! Calm down! I was just joking, you know… like… ha-ha sarcasm! Holy shit…" He bent down to pick up the pieces of the mug that had scattered along the wall, "Sheesh… pretty jealous, aren't you?"
"Make another smart comment and I'll tell you kindly where to shove it!" Rinoa retorted venomously and then added under her breath, "Stupid moron, didn't need to go off like that in the first place…"
However, Squall had heard very clearly. "Uh, I hate to remind you and prove you wrong but you are the one who kicked me out of the house. And I'm willing to bet that you don't remember what the argument was about in the first place…"
"Oh yes I do!" Rinoa replied triumphantly, "It was about you being emotionally neglectful! And you leaving the house for three days didn't exactly improve that problem, now did it?"
"I'm not emotionally neglectful, damn it, I'm not!" He yelled back. "If anyone in this room is, it's you! Do you love me, Rinoa? Do you love the kids? I don't hear you saying those three words very often-"
"So I don't say the words! Big fucking deal! You say them all the time, but do you mean them? Because I think that's the important part!" She snapped back, interrupting, "You told me… you promised me that you'd be a good husband… a good father… and you aren't!"
"I was eighteen! Eighteen, Rinoa! I'm trying my best to be the man you want to spend the rest of your life with and at the same time I'm trying to be a good father! Frankly, you aren't trying anything, are you?" He retorted harshly.
"What do you mean I'm not trying?" Rinoa said, fairly offended, "I try harder than you can imagine Squall… but I just can't deal with your… your… job, whatever you call it, your work!"
"Well what? I'm a responsible husband and father… I put food on the table, don't I?" He asked fiercely.
"You put food on the table, you are a responsible man," Her voice softened a bit, "But you aren't a responsible husband or father."
"What does a responsible husband and father do then? Huh?" He asked, irritated, "If putting food on the table isn't enough, well then assign me new tasks!"
"For one, you could quit that stupid job! You could try not running away from every argument we have and you could pick the kids up from school!" Rinoa stormed out of the kitchen.
"Ok, fine! I'm definitely not quitting my job but I won't run away from arguments and I'll pick up the kids from school, what time?" He calmed down a little but his fists had not yet unclenched. He followed her out into the living room.
He would not have known that Rinoa was formulating a plot so simple yet so efficient that he would soon fall prey to. "Four thirty …"
"That's fine. I'll pick them up." His resolve grew.
"Good, that's great!" Rinoa concluded.
"Great, it's good that it's great!" Squall added, "Now could we go have sex?"
Rinoa gave him a look of great disgust and finally spoke, "No… make yourself useful… do laundry!" She shoved a basket full of dirty clothes in his arms and motioned towards the basement where the washing machine was located. He smiled slightly, reminding himself that this is how she always was.
Even after their marriage, it was hard to get close to her. He had grown used to it of course. He began to slowly separate the clothes into their respective colors. Then he realized that he had no idea how to do laundry beyond the color separation. "Ah… Rinoa!!" He called out.
Almost as if she was expecting it (and she was) she came down the stairs and said, "Twist dial to Ultra-Clean, yank on it… ooh, look… see? It starts to fill with water… you following so far?" She rolled her eyes when he shrugged, "You put in detergent…" She filled a cup, "And when it gets a little fuller you put it in… and then when the water reaches its limit… you put the clothes in. Put in the dark laundry. Do only this part and I'll be proud of you beyond words. Come and see me when it reaches second rinse." She immediately turned around and went back upstairs.
He looked, clueless as always, at the laundry and he heard his wife calling out to him from above, "You aren't allowed upstairs until you've done your part… I want to make sure you pay attention!"
"Damn…" He muttered under his breath. So he pulled up a chair, which was usually used to place the laundry basket on, and he thought about what exactly had happened after he had proposed to Rinoa.
She had agreed, to his relief but yet she seemed reluctant. He frowned slightly; it still bothered him even today. Almost as if being with him was some sort of chore or necessity. He just wished that once, she would tell him that she loved him. Only just to reassure him.
He had assumed she withheld some sort of emotion for him since she did accept his proposal. But did she really have that much of a choice at that time? He shook his head slightly trying to shake those thoughts from his mind.
He thought a bit about Rinoa's family. It was obvious that Caraway held the most concentrated amount of hatred for him… even Rinoa knew this. He thought about this for some moments… 'Maybe it's because I took away his baby girl…' It was the first time that Squall had felt a tad bit of sympathy towards his father-in-law. Then there was Julia… she simply didn't really mind him, or so he perceived.
'Great, now that I think about it… one hates me passionately and the other is indifferent on my presence… just great.' Squall thought bitterly. He leaned back in the chair… and that was a pretty bad move. His muscles relaxed and sleepiness washed over him since he had not rested for a few days. There he fell asleep.
…And awoke many hours later. "Oh SHIT!" was the first thing to come out of his mouth. He reset the washing machine dial since he had completely slept through putting the detergent and clothes. He bounced up the steps (and nearly slipped and fell halfway through) in the search of his wife. He found her in the kitchen, preparing a chicken for dinner.
"I'm really, really sorry… I feel asleep so I had to restart the washing machine!" He apologized quickly.
"I know, you can go press 'Cancel Wash' because I already did the two loads of laundry while you were sleeping." She had her back turned to him.
"Oh… I'm… really… I'm really sorry, Rin."
"I'm sure you are… and the kids, did you forget about them?" His panicked eyes glanced to the clock on the wall that read 4:38 P.M.
He was going to burn in Hell for this one…
Sammy: Hee hee … poor Squall. Will Rinoa give him hell? HAH! Only I know that … so you people will just have to stick around for the next chapter, muwahahaha … I'm evil, I know! BUT … I just might post earlier if all of you people review! I'm really sorry if this was a short chapter … but please review and I will try with all my heart to post earlier … like next Wednesday or something. Thank you all for your encouragement, please review! Oh and I would really appreciate it if you reviewed chapter 5 and 6 individually. If you don't, that's fine … but … a very big thank you if you do …
*Ekika raises her hand* I KNOW TOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!