Disclaimer: I'm still in the middle of school and currently preparing for some exams, do you really think I have the time to manage a huge company like Squaresoft? Didn't think so. So the point of suing me would be what? I have no moey, am still getting an education and all I own is my computer…and some other stuff, so by all means sue me, sad cases…

Chapter 9-Persistence

"Dude, you're totally screwed." Seifer stated as he leaned his chair back, crossing his legs on the table.

"What am I gonna do? I can't shut Rin out of my life now that I've seen her again."

"You know, I'll never understand why chicks go after you. I mean, what about me? My charm, my wit!"

"That's probably why they don't go out with you, cocky bastard."

Seifer brought a hand up to his heart in mocked hurt. "You offend me, Squall. Alright, alright, alright. Here's what we're gonna do. You hunt her up, then you give me her phone number and address then I sweep her off her feet then she'll be 'taken' and you can forget the fact that she's still available, because she won't be. So you can go off and marry Louise without a care about Rinoa." He smirked, receiving a hit upside the head.

"Great plan, moron, but I'd kill you if you touched Rin."

"Why, Squall? Its not like she's your girlfriend anymore."

"Yeah, but…" That's right, she isn't my girlfriend anymore, then why do I still get stirred up like this? Shit… "You forget, she rejected you for me in the first place."

"That was seven years ago, I might have a chance now that I'm more mature and-"

"No, forget that plan alright, you are not to get involved with her in anyway, she has a boyfriend," Squall lied. "He was at the party with her last night."

"But you said that she said that he wasn't her boyfriend."

"Whatever, just don't get involved, I have to fix this somehow, its all my fault."

"Isn't everything?"

"I was a friggen moron, Seifer, I broke up with her because I thought she was cheating on me and it turns out the guy I thought she was cheating on me with was her brother."

Seifer almost laughed. "Shit, man. You are screwed! Where's Louise in all of this? Does she know about you and Rin?"

"Hell no! Do you think she'd like Rin that much if she did know?"

"Well, it is Louise, she might."

"Yeah I know, but I don't think Rin would've told her, Louise would've brought it up by now if she'd known and I don't think she'd happily invite her to the wedding."

"Louise is gonna invite Rin to your wedding?" Seifer exclaimed, receiving a glare from his friend. "Okay, here's what you do. You go to Rinoa, apologise to her-"

"Already tried that, she didn't accept-"

"Was that right after you told her the reason of your break up?"

"Yeah…"

"Well of course she wouldn't accept it. Geez, think like a woman!"

Squall raised his characteristic eyebrow. "Okay, you seem to have that skill, so please, enlighten me," he laughed.

He rolled his eyes. "You know that's not what I meant. Well, okay. Rin was probably really pissed and all heated up in the moment, so I don't think she would've been willing to forgive and forget and all that crap."

"I'm guessing that's happened to you many times before."

"No, its called having an older sister who'll bitch to you whenever she gets a chance to."

"Right, so I go and apologise, preferably when she isn't pissed, then I'll have a clear conscience."

"I never said anything about a clear conscience, that all depends on you. And from what I hear, I think you're still kicking yourself about what a fool you've been."

Squall shook his head in contemplation. "You know I hate it when you're right, Seifer."

- - -

The green eyed brunette sat on her bench top as her fiancee cooked their dinner in a rather clueless state. It's a wonder he has any money at all considering he must eat out every night I'm not with him. She held in a laugh as he scratched his head while reading the recipe. After a few minutes Louise glanced at Squall contemplatively, biting her lip. "Squall?"

"Yeah?" he answered without turning from the stove in front of him. Why is this chicken taking so bloody long to "brown".

"Liz is coming into town tomorrow and we're going shopping and stuff."

"Okay."

"So d'ya reckon you could do me a favour?"

"Sure, anything, What d'ya need?" He frowned at the recipe in his hand. "Turn chicken over when brown and repeat the process." What do they think we are? Morons?

"You aren't busy or anything tomorrow?"

"Nope, totally free."

"Alright, so it'll be no problem for you to drop by Rinoa's studio and book an appointment for me, right?"

Umm...I think I'm going to the...dentist...tomorrow. Squall panicked, almost dropping the recipe onto the lit gas stove. "Why don't you just call her?" he suggested as he turned to her.

"Because its Sunday and I don't have her home phone number."

"Can't you call her tomorrow then?"

"Squall, Liz is coming at 9 tomorrow, I usually wake up at that time. She seems to always have the energy for shopping and who am I to stop previously arranged plans with my best friend?" she questioned as she raised her eyebrow at him. He's so going to burn that food. "Besides, this'll be a good chance for you to get to know her, since you're probably still iffy about inviting her to the wedding. Squall, keep an eye on the chicken."

Shit! He quickly turned back around, turning the heat off. Close call..."Fine, I'll go." Not that I don't know a lot about her already anyway.

"Thankyou." She rolled her eyes at him before hopping off the bench. "Ugh, let me finish up, you'll probably end up burning dinner, you can do the washing up."

"That's kind of why I wanted to cook this time."

"Fine, I'll do the washing up as well if you make dessert."

Crap...make dessert!? "Uh…dessert?" he asked, nervously.

"Sweetie, dessert involves you scooping ice-cream into two bowls for the both of us."

"Ah, right. Okay…easy is good."

Louise smirked at the comment. It isn't that easy...especially if the ice cream is rock hard and you're silly enough to scoop towards yourself.

Squall frowned as he looked down at his shirt, blotches of water present as Louise cleaned the chocolate ice cream he had unintentionally flicked on himself while "making dessert". "You knew that was going to happen, didn't you?"

"Yup," she smiled evilly. "That's what you get for getting out of doing the dishes."

"I'm doing you a favour tomorrow, isn't that fair enough?"

"You drop by - remind me to give you her card - you say hi and you ask if you can book me in sometime, preferably before Friday, then you leave. It isn't really that big a deal, now is it?"

Yes... "It's cool, really it is."

"Okay then, there," she smirked at his semi-wet shirt. "I'll get you her card." She went into her room, leaving Squall alone in the bathroom with his thoughts.

She takes care of me...she's great to be with, she has a great personality...isn't that enough?

Why don't I feel that way about her then?

- - -

Squall shifted uncomfortable as he stood outside the door of the small, clinic-like looking house. He stared at the golden letters on the glass door accentuated by the cream coloured curtain on the other side of the door, the inside. Rinoa Heartilly...Rinoa Leonhart. He frowned as he shook his head. Clearing his throat he opened the door, receiving glances from two ladies: one behind a magazine, the other behind a table. Squall awkwardly walked to the desk. There was nothing to be heard but the faint notes of a piano and a muffled voice, unmistakably belonging to Rinoa. "Hi, I'm here to make an appointment for a friend."

"Sure thing, what time did your friend have in mind?"

"Any time before Friday, I guess."

"Okay, Rinoa has tomorrow at 1:30 PM free, your friend can come in then."

"Alright."

"What was your friend's name?"

"Louise Evans."

"Oh, Louise, I see. I've put her in," the lady smiled.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome." The lady assumed her work, even though Squall continued to stand in front of her.

Maybe I should... "Umm." She looked back up at him. "I was wondering if I could talk to Rinoa."

"If you wait," she quickly glanced at the clock, "About ten minutes she'll be free to talk to you, that's her last student for the day in there at the moment. Why don't you sit down while you wait."

Squall smiled stiffly at her before turning to sit down. "Thankyou." He aimlessly flicked through a magazine he had randomly chosen from the large pile on the coffee table before him. Out of all the magazines I choose a chick's magazine. Who actually reads this crap... Honestly, do girls really worry about this stuff: "I have lots of guy friends and, as a result of this, girls are getting bitchy towards me and calling me a slut. But I haven't even slept with a guy yet. Why are they doing this?"...who cares?... "When my boyfriend talks to other girls I get jealous. Is it okay for a boy to have a number of girl "friends" when he's got a girlfriend?"...okay, I find myself becoming slightly interested...

"…Tommy did very well this lesson Mrs Pike," Rinoa stated before averting her glance at the other person sitting down. Is that...? she frowned at the sight slightly until Mrs Pike asked her a question. "He started playing a music piece. He's doing very well for his age."

Tommy smiled up at her before pointing over at the man quietly reading a magazine. "Are you teaching him as well? He looks really old."

"Tommy, you're never too old to learn an instrument, but I don't know if I'll be teaching him," she stated while giving him an annoyed look.

"Well then, we'll see you next week Rinoa, I think we'll keep this time, they've finally stopped moving my work shift around."

"Okay then, I'll see you then. Bye Tommy, don't forget to practise real hard for Miss Rinoa."

"I won't. Buh-bye!" He waved enthusiastically as he and his mother exited.

Finally alone, she crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow at Squall, who was still reading. "You're reading a girl's magazine? That's a level I thought you'd never drop down to."

Squall's head snapped up, hearing the comment directed at him. She didn't bother waiting for a response, she had already re-entered her room and closed the door. Shit, she's already pissed. "Rin, wait." He quickly got up from his place and opened the door. "I really want to talk to you."

"Well I don't really want to talk to you," she stated as she sat back behind her desk. "Exactly what part of 'I don't ever want to speak to you again' do you not get?"

"I don't think any of that makes sense anymore since you're talking to me right now," he smirked at the comeback.

Her eyes narrowed. "Listen, I'm really busy, I have another student coming and I really don't feel like talking to you." She tried to busy herself with something and all she found were some certificates she was yet to sign.

"Really? Well your secretary told me that you're free for the rest of the day, that Tommy was your last student for the day, I believe." Squall made his way to the piano stool and sat on it.

Rinoa stopped what she was doing. Oh Gina...trust her to tell the truth. Sighing, he put her pen down and lifted her gaze to meet his. "Fine then, what do you want?"

"A lesson."

"In what? Propriety?"

"No." He turned to face the piano. "A piano lesson." Squall started pressing random notes.

"Stop that! I taught you better than that." Rinoa had started to walk towards him but froze as he began playing properly, as if he'd been playing all his life. Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata...my favourite piano piece. She continued towards him slower, a small smile playing at her lips. Rinoa crossed her arms as she stood beside the stool watching as he played. When he reached about halfway through the piece she unconsciously sat down on the stool next to him as she was wont to do in the past. In her mind she was sixteen again, teaching Squall her favourite song. In her mind, as he finished Squall turned to her, slowly inching forward to kiss her, just as he was now. She was about to relive that moment when she snapped back into reality, quickly gathering her distance from Squall.

Squall sensed her leave his side and quickly opened his eyes to see her leaning into the wall as if she wanted it to swallow her. Rinoa pressed her lips together as she shook her head slightly.

"I can't do this, Squall."

- - -

A/N-okay, so how was this chapter? My friend read it last night and thought the Squall/Seifer exchange was humourous…was it? if not, I'll just call her severely unhinged…anyhoo (jokes gin)…so how is everyone? Life good? That's good, I can't say the same, but its reasonable. To get to the point…could you all please please please review? If that isn't asking too much, I really do value your opinions, and I really do take into account any constructive criticism you have to offer. Just a word of thanks in particular to:

Mariedel-that's right my friend, you were the very first to review…hehehe and I have no idea whether you'll re-read this chapter since you were lucky enough to score an "advanced screening". Don't you feel special? I think I edited this chapter twice! Or sumthing like that…but yeah, how was this chappy anyway? Ack! Forget that, you've already told me…well don't forget to study real hard even though your highness doesn't need to cos you're oh so smart ^.^ (don't bother denying it, I aint listening.) ttyl dude!

remote mine-accurate depiction of what Squall would've thought eh? WOW! Thanks so much! That really encouraged me u noe! Hehehe Squall deserves a smack in the head, don't you reckon so? I do. Hehehe thanks for the review!

Raine-hope this chappy was sufficient! And im glad you like Louise and Michael, Louise is actually based on my bestfriend, and Michael is well…a figment of the imagination ^.^ thanks anywaiz!

CTHSKI-Louise doesn't shout at Squall .….…^.^' eh…hehehe, we'll see then won't we? Thanks for the comments!

Wcigtdniw-you would assume correctly then! ^.^ I do go to an all girl's school, I do have a nun principal, I do live in croc hunter land (though I've never hunted crocs before and don't ever intend on doing so) and I do wear a uniform which unfortunately resembles toothpaste…the stripey kind…otherwise described as minty wrappers, if you know what they are…anyhoo! Appreciate the lovely review! Thanks verily much ^.^

angelprinczess29-have you updated recently? If you have I'm pretty sure I've missed it, and I seem to always forget to check your profile, I'll check that right now…ack! You did update! And I missed it! *shock* I'll have to read it tonight after I come back from church (First Friday mass) and add me to the update email list thingy doosy watsy ok? Thank you ^.^ you rock! Thanks for the review!

PasifiKStaR-wow! I'm so happy you enjoy my fic so. Its makes me really happy to hear that ^.^ thanks so much for review and I hope you enjoyed this chappy.

The Ever Smiling-ahh, your provincials are prolly the equivalent to our School Certificate (which I have on Monday *shudder*)…anyhoo, I'm sure you'll do fine! Hehehe Michael thinking evilly? I'm sure its in the best interest of everyone *shifty eyes* anyhoo, thanks for the review! All the best for your provincials! ^.^

!*~moonlight chick~*!-made you cry? Omg! I can effect that ppl in that way?! *tear* that makes me feel so…so…special! Thanks for your review! You seem to brighten up my day all the time!! Thanks again! ^.^

baka_shinji_01-aww no cookies? Its okay, I'll bake you some next time ;) lol! Thanks for the review!

wInD chIme BeLLs-Squall wasn't really touched last chap u reckon? Ok, how was he in this chappy then? Was it okay? Well thanks for the review all the same ^.^ moi really appreciates it.

Once again thanks everyone and PLEASE DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW ^.^ HAVE A NICE DAY!

3 e.t