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I Forgot Your Name

Chapter Three: A Find

--In Balamb Garden

Squall quickly signed his name to a document authorizing the deployment of SeeD to facilitate a border dispute outside Deling City. Since the destruction of Ultimecia, Squall and Cid had tried to steer Garden away from the mercenary life, and to a path of peacekeeping, force only when necessary. Although SeeD were still accomplished fighters, Squall hoped to limit the amount of violent confrontation which the young people under his command faced, knowing for himself what it was like to be such a tense situation.

No kids should be put into circumstances like we were... We were too young. We did it... but we were too young

He glanced out the window at Acauld Plains. It was a beautiful afternoon, and even he, the impassive Squall Lionhart, wished he could be out in it. He caught sight of something on the road near the entrance to Garden. He stared at it a moment, not sure quite why he was so interested. It was a vivid blue color... he knew that color!

Rinoa...?

Squall shoved his chair back from his desk and ran from his office, bumping into his surprised office assistant.

"Sir? Is everything alright?" she questioned, but Squall was already running down the hall towards the elevator and Garden's main gate. He caught sight of Rinoa on the roadside and knelt beside her.

"Rinoa? Rin, can you hear me...?" She didn't stir in his arms. "Rinoa!!!" he called her again. This time her eyelids fluttered and the hand he had put in his own tightened. As Squall brushed her soft hair away from her face, her eyes fluttered open and she whispered "Squall?"

"Yeah baby, its me. Are you alright? What happened?" he asked her, holding her tight.

"I... I dunno... I feel fine now..." Rinoa replied, a frown crossing her features. "It must have been the heat and the long walk. I was on my way to go see Selphie and Quistis... but... I must have changed my mind and come to see you first...?" Squall was still staring at her concernedly, so she added "I mean, can you blame me?" with a quick wink.

Squall watched as she got to her feet. The color had returned to her cheeks and she seemed to be alright, she was joking again and everything. His same sweet Rinoa. "Do you want me to walk you back to Balamb?"

"Nono, silly. I'll be fine. I'm sure Quistis and Selphie are wondering where I am!" She put her hands on his shoulders and looked into his eyes for a moment before pulling him close and kissing him softly. "I love you, Mr. Leonhart." she said after breaking their kiss.

"Love you too, Miss Heartilly." he said, although the tips of his ears turned a little red.

I always blush...

"You always blush," Rinoa giggled. "But soon you'll have to call me Mrs. Leonhart... maybe that will help?" she whispered and walked off down the road, calling "See you tonight, Squall! Don't be late for the party... That's an order! An order from your client!"

Squall smiled and jogged slowly back towards Balamb Garden.

--The House in Balamb

Quistis and Selphie were sitting at the table discussing recent events with Rinoa. "I just... I feel so BAD!" Selphie said. "I would never impose on Rinoa's stuff like that... but we were all having fun and she seemed so into it, I thought she liked it when she started doing it too--"

"Whoa now ladies, what did I miss?" interrupted a smooth voice.

"Nothing Irvy. Shut up." Selphie said, deadpan. She motioned to her cheek with her index finger and Irvine walked to her and kissed it obediently. "That's better," she said, much appeased. "Where's Zell?"

"I think he's stopping by Balamb Garden for a few library books" Irvine said with a wink.

"Ah, and maybe a date for the party, too..." Quistis added with a small smile.

Irvine winked again and held a finer to his lips. "So what were you all talking about before I oh-so-rudely interrupted?"

"It's just that Rinoa's been acting really weird lately, Irvy. You know how she's become a little bit of a perfectionist lately?" At Irvine's half-nod she continued "Well today she had some kind of major freak-out, it was like she forgot who she was, who we were. She got really angry and stormed out of the cafe.... I feel so BAD!" she finished, holding Irvine's arm in a death grip, illustrating how upset she really was.

"We just didn't know what to do, she even looked like a different person... she got so pale, but her eye were burning," Quistis added.

Irvine took off his hat for a moment and ran his hand through his hair. "Well, is she ok now? Did you guys ask her what happened?"

"Actually, by the time Selph and I came to our senses, she was long gone... we looked all over town but we couldn't find her anywhere. She hasn't come home yet."

Just then they heard the front door opening, then closing. When the sound of footsteps began to come their way, all three of the unconsciously stood up. Rinoa walked in and folded her arms across her chest.

"Where were you guys? I waited at the cafe for like half an hour but you didn't show up!" she asked. Seeing their stricken faces, she tried to lighten the mood by adding "I could just kill you guys sometimes!" with a wink, but it seemed to do more harm than good.

Selphie stepped forward to Rinoa's side. "Rinny, don't you remember? We were at the cafe with you... and you got mad at us for drawing on your painting?" When Rinoa looked at her skeptically, Selphie continued "Here, look" and took the portfolio Rinoa still carried and opened it, pulling out the artwork. Rinoa put a hand over her mouth to suppress a giggle.

"That has to be the best art I've ever done... but... I can't remember any of it." she said with a frown.

Irvine, who hated to see any young ladies in distress, cut in "Well you don't have to worry about it right now, Rinoa. It's almost four o'clock. You girls have to get ready for the partayyy" he said, borrowing one of Selphie's words, to Selphie's great pleasure. Rinoa still looked perturbed. "Really Rin, we'll figure it out later. It's probably just stress. We all need to relax tonight"

Finally Rinoa managed a smile and agreed. The three girls wandered off to bring out the decorations and to get themselves ready for the big night.

Irvine stayed in the kitchen, leaning one arms on the counter.

You don't suppose...? No, that's silly. Relax Irvine, have fun tonight

Since no one was in the room, Irvine laid the back of one hand across his forehead and whispered "I won't think about that now... I think about that tomorrow... After all, tomorrow... is another day...!" Replacing his hat, he went to go help Selphie set up the decorations.

Woohoo! I love my reviewers! (Just had to get that out of the way) Well, there's the next chapter! Next will be the party itself. I am thinking that each chapter is going to get a little darker... and there will be at least one more chapter before I name what's wrong with Rinoa, most likely two. But I hope it will be worth it! Thanks to my *awesome* reviewers, ariescelestial (yeah, yay for titles!), Karla (I am loving your fic, update soon!), Zell Coral (::pokes back:: Well, you'll just have to wait and find out, teehee) Old User (You want me to continue? I love you!) and Rinny Leonhart/Rikku (I can't spell without spellchecker, don't feel bad ^_^). You guys rock! Anyway, hope everyone is happy with this chapter, please review it if you liked it or have some comments. Te amo~ Kupo