Author's Note: Hello, my dear readers. First, let me thank my reviewers. Thanks to you, diamonddust1414. Nothing much happens between Seifer and Laguna, though. I don't have time. Thanks to The wise. You're becoming a more constant reader now. Haha! Thanks, Tatsuki. You're a pretty quick reader, you know? Hehe! And thanks to PasifiKStaR. Angelo is a good little dog. Even though he bites…haha!

Okay…uh, I'm sorry; this Chapter was a little rushed. I might not be able to update very soon because I have a couple of tests coming up at school and I haven't begun writing Chapter Eleven. But I'll try not to go past a week without updating. I don't want to keep you waiting too long. Anyways, enjoy your read!

Chapter Ten

                For the next three days, Quistis and Raijin had an easy time keeping Squall and Rinoa away from one another. Squall stayed inside their room, reading a blue book he never let Quistis lay a finger on. Rinoa spent her time outside, usually sketching or playing with Angelo. Of course, Quistis and Raijin were still quite careful.

                One morning, however, Quistis was sleeping in. Squall, who felt uncomfortable reading something private while someone was in the room, whether the person was awake or asleep, left the hotel to read elsewhere. He decided to take a walk. He had already read the diary over more than five times and he had not tired of it. Never had anybody praised him in the way Rinoa did. It strangely made him feel good. But then again it made him miss her all the more.

                Rinoa closed her sketchpad, finally bored of drawing flowers. She looked down at Angelo who was lying down at her feet. It was pretty quiet without Raijin making senseless comments now and then. And she felt comfortable without Fujin and her scary poise. She was alone since Raijin was asleep and Fujin drove out of town for a while. It was rare that she was alone so she wanted to make this time worthwhile.

                She paused for a minutes, eyes closed in rest, then she flipped open her sketchpad again. She put pencil to paper. The black lines slowly formed Seifer's picture, his Gunblade just over his shoulder, with that smug smirk on his face that Rinoa had come to know so well. She smiled weakly. Sure, she didn't love him. But she had to admit, Seifer had qualities that were desirable. Rinoa sighed as she darkened the area behind Seifer.

                As she did so, she started to form the shape of another person. Someone colder, more distant and less egocentric than Seifer stood behind him as a shadow. His gaze was emotionless and he didn't have a smile. His face was expressionless and his stance showed a man of seriousness and silence.

                Rinoa bit her lip. As she had thought, she did a lot of thinking the past days she was in Winhill. She could remember on the first day, when she saw Quistis, she couldn't help but think endlessly of Squall. She missed him. On the next day she still found it hard to keep her thoughts off Squall but Seifer lingered somewhere in the depths of her mind. Yesterday, Rinoa began to pine for her fiancé and she began to be confused.

                Seifer had been nice the first month of her recovery. All his concerns were of her. When her memory started to return, she began to see his other side. Seifer went to clubs on some nights, usually with Raijin and Fujin. He was pretty easy to anger – though Rinoa noticed he was hardly angry with her – and he liked the feeling and knowledge of being superior. Rinoa didn't like that about him, but she could tell he truly loved her.

                Looking at the picture again, she frowned. She rubbed her thumb on Squall's picture until she knew no one who looked at the picture would know it was Squall. After the first month with Seifer, she had decided to make it a goal to forget Squall or if not at least hide her feelings as completely as possible.

                She groaned. "Come on, Angelo," she said. "Let's walk." It was only then she realized that Angelo had walked off while she was sketching the picture of Seifer. "Angelo?" she said to no one in particular. "Where did he go…?" She got up and walked around, whistling and calling her dog's name. 'Where could he be?' she thought.

                Angelo had started to chase a chicobo again. This one had wandered into town and had gotten the attention of the bored dog. Angelo pounced on the chicobo and it squealed, flapping its small wings wildly. Angelo barked as the chicobo escaped him and dashed off. Angelo followed, delighted with the chase. He barked some more, darting here and there to keep up with the chicobo. For something so young, the chicobo could run fast.

                The brown dog soon reached the edge of town and knew better than to go out to the outskirts. He sat down, panting, as the chicobo ran off somewhere. He whimpered a little, boredom seeping into him again. He started to bark pointlessly at nothing and a man from a nearby shop went out and started to whack him with a newspaper.

                "Stop barking, will ya?" the shopkeeper shouted. "Go on! Get out of here!" Angelo walked away backwards, the fur on his shoulders stiffening. Growls escaped his mouth in a threatening manner but soon stopped because he had bumped into something. He immediately turned around and bit the pant leg of the man he had run into.

                "What the fuck?" Squall said.

                Squall pulled the dog's jaws open, saying, "Let go, dog!" Squall pushed Angelo slightly away. Angelo only barked at him in fury and lunged at him. Squall was not in the mood to wrestle with a dog. He pocketed Rinoa's diary, which he had been reading, and grabbed Angelo by the collar. "Dumb dog…" he said, kneeling down to read Angelo's nametag.

                He read the front of the nametag, which said, "Hi! I'm Angelo!" He looked at the other side, which said, "OWNER: Rinoa Heartilly."

                'Rinoa is here?' he thought. He read the name again and again but was disturbed when a familiar voice said, "Angelo!"

                Angelo struggled against Squall's hold and let go. Angelo ran barking behind Squall and Squall stood up and turned around. "There you are, Angelo. Precious little baby…don't run away like that…"

                "Rinoa…?" he said, walking closer to her. Angelo immediately began to bark.

                Rinoa looked up, smiling. But that smile slowly faded when she saw Squall. An uncertain silence passed between them. After a while, she smiled. "Hi, Squall," she said. He just stared at her and she laughed. "Aren't you going to say anything to me?" she queried.

                "Hi, Rinoa," he answered. She let out another laugh and he began to wonder why she was laughing. Exactly what was funny?

- : - : - : -

                "I don't think it's really necessary for you to talk to Seifer like that," Ellone told Laguna as they walked around the grounds. "Squall probably apologized already."

                "Why didn't he tell me?" Laguna said. "I don't know anything about my own son! He always avoids all of my calls, he avoids all of my visits...I don't know how else I'm going to know anything about Squall."

                "I'm sure he's just a little upset with you," Ellone answered. "Don't worry about it. Squall will start to warm up to you someday."

                Laguna looked at Ellone and said, "Maybe I should talk to him about this girl…Rinoa Heartilly. He seems to like her a great deal."

                "I know he does," said Ellone with a small laugh. "Squall is deeply in love with Rinoa. He told me so."

                "He told you so?" asked Laguna. "That boy never tells me anything! I'm his father for crying out loud! I have the right to know things, too!"

                "Calm down," Ellone said. "Let's go back inside. I'm sure that Seifer is bored by now. You've finished this 'formal apology' you wanted to do, I guess it's time you let him get back to Deling City or Winhill…wherever he said he had to go."

                "Didn't seem like he forgave me," said Laguna. "He looked even angrier."

                "Think of it in his shoes," said Ellone. "Wouldn't you be extremely angry, too? And…I know a little something that went on between Squall and Rinoa that should have been enough to get Seifer to kill Squall." She laughed again.

                Laguna didn't bother to ask what that little something was. He shook his head and said, "I'm going to get him out of that Garden for a while and make him stay here in Esthar. That boy needs a little father treatment. He needs to be with his family more."

                Ellone didn't agree with that but she wasn't in the mood to say anything about it. She just hoped Laguna knew this would only make Squall angrier.