Author's Note: Hello, readers! Hi, Tai-Style. Glad to see you reviewed again, thanks. Was it really that sad? Thanks, The wise. You think it's sad, too? Thank you, PasifiKStaR. You didn't mention if you thought it was sad. I'm happy you're still enjoying the story. Here's Chapter Twelve. I'll try to keep this everyday-update thing I'm doing now.
Lastly, I hope I never mentioned that Squall and Seifer already had scars. If I did, just forget that I did. Something about that happens in this Chapter. Well, that's it! Read and Enjoy!
Chapter Twelve
"Squall," Rinoa murmured. "Are you mad at me?"
He didn't answer. He just stared straight ahead. They were having breakfast together at a small café in Winhill. It's been an hour but during all that time Squall had hardly said anything more than a few words.
"Squall!" she said. "Stop ignoring me!"
Squall looked at her. "What do you want?" he asked.
Rinoa frowned. "What's wrong? Why are you like that? Come on, please say something. All you do is sit there and stare into nowhere."
Once again, he said nothing. Rinoa glared at him. They had not been on good terms after the night that they spoke to one another. Rinoa had been intent on getting Squall to forgive her for whatever he may think she has done wrong and Squall was intent on getting her to leave Seifer and go with him. Of course, he refused to forgive her since she wouldn't go with him and she refused to go with him because she thinks it's wrong to betray Seifer. And Squall's opinion is that it's right. When asked why he thought it was right he wouldn't dare tell her anything.
It was becoming complicated and Rinoa's patience was already wearing thin. It had only been two days and she already wanted to slap him for being selfish and for not telling her anything, which was only making her confused and making the situation even more complicated than it should have been. "Why don't you just give it up?" she said in anger. "Your folly is getting us nowhere, Squall! Just stop it! I don't even know what you want! You're making everything so difficult and complicated!"
"It's simple, Rinoa, you're the one making it complicated," he countered, his hands in his pockets and his gaze, for once, straight into her eyes.
"Well why don't you tell me anything?" she asked him. "I'm pouring out my soul to you, trying to explain, and you with all your stupid pigheadedness refuse to listen! You don't want to understand me because of all your silly wants! What's wrong with you?"
"Oh, so now I'm pigheaded?" he asked her in a careless tone. "There's nothing wrong with me, Rinoa, what's wrong with you?"
"There is absolutely nothing wrong with me! I just don't hell see why you keep insisting on this ridiculous thing!" she said. "Hyne, I can't understand what you're thinking! I don't see what makes what you want right!"
"Well, you should see it," he muttered.
"Then tell me!" she said. "Tell me what you want! Tell me why you want it!" She screamed at him. She couldn't take it anymore. For the last two days she had been trying to hold back her mixture of emotions but now her heart had held it too far. She was being torn between two men. She wanted so badly to keep them both but she can only do that if she chose to love one more than the other, which meant hurting at least one of them. That would now involve her conscience. And neither Squall nor Seifer – who wasn't even there – was helping.
She bowed down her head and bit her lip, not wanting to cry. She couldn't even understand herself anymore. 'Maybe I'm trying too hard…' she thought. 'Maybe…maybe I never should have wanted to see Squall…I shouldn't have wanted to talk to him. He's only making things worse for me because he's so naively stubborn…I hate this!'
A soft whimper beside her made her look to her side. Angelo nudged her gently and she sighed, standing up from her chair. "I have to go now, Squall. You will be leaving later today, right? Well…then…I guess I'll just go to Garden to visit you and the others sometime. Um…see you…" She waited a few moments to see if he would say goodbye but he made no move.
She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand as she turned around and slowly walked away. Squall looked at her and suddenly stood up. He immediately grabbed her arm and made her turn around to face him. "Rinoa, I love you," he said, placing his hands on her shoulders and kissing her roughly. It was almost like he was forcing her to kiss him back. Rinoa felt the tears in her eyes again but she couldn't resist.
Her hands rested on his arms as her tears began to fall. He relaxed his kiss as she began to respond. His tongue flicked on her lips a few times and she opened her mouth, letting him slip his tongue inside. He played with her tongue, waiting for her to do the same. She cried softly but she still mimicked his actions, her arms now wrapping around his neck. His hand had moved to the back of her neck so she wouldn't pull away.
'I love you, Squall,' she thought. 'But I can't love you anymore. This is it…it has to be the final time we do this…so…so let it last…'
They made out in public, oblivious to those who saw them. Unfortunately…one of those who saw them happened to be the last person on earth who should witness that…
"Lay your damned hands off Rinoa, you fucking bastard!" The shout from a recognizable voice made Rinoa pull away immediately. Her eyes widened when she saw Seifer dashing towards Squall, his Gunblade in hand, already starting to cast a fire spell.
"Seifer, please, no!" she screamed. Squall pushed her away to keep the fire from hitting her as he drew his Gunblade. The blade blocked him from the flame and he was able to change his stance quickly enough to catch Seifer's weapon with his own.
"How dare you touch her, asshole!?" Seifer yelled.
"How dare you take her from me, dickhead!?" Squall retorted.
The rage shone in both their eyes and Rinoa could only stand there and watch. "No! Stop it!" she pleaded. Angelo was barking at her, trying to make her go away from the two enraged gunbladers. But she couldn't just go. She wanted to make them stop. They slashed at each other with the fury of an endless storm; each blow seemed more powerful than the last.
"I'll kill you!" Seifer shouted. "I'll kill you!"
"I'll kill you first!" Squall answered back, pushing Seifer away slightly. Seifer cast a number of fire spells incessantly but Squall only dodged them easily. "That won't work, dimwit!" Squall said. He rushed at Seifer and swung his blade hard. Seifer evaded the attack and Squall was left open for Seifer to deliver a powerful punch to his abdomen.
Squall barely flinched and he returned the attack with a punch to Seifer's face. Seifer didn't flinch either and the fight continued. With every time they hit one another, their resolve to win seemed to rise. Soon, Seifer was able to push Squall back and, with a self-satisfied smirk on his face, quickly cast another fire spell. Squall was unable to defend himself this time and the spell temporarily blurred his sight.
Seifer took this opportunity to slash at Squall. Squall was able to move his head in the nick of time but the blade still cut a diagonal wound on his face. In anger, Squall ran towards his opponent and slashed upwards at Seifer, who was also unable to completely react in time. He received a wound as well and he fell backwards. "No, Squall! Don't!" Rinoa shouted, running to Seifer just before Squall stabbed him.
The sight of Rinoa, crying and holding Seifer like that, made him angrier and made him want to kill Seifer more but he stopped himself. "For you, Rinoa…" he said, "I won't kill him…" Squall also fell backwards and he was now seated on the ground across Seifer, the pain of his wound coming to him. He reached up to touch his face and felt the warmth of his own crimson blood on his fingers.
"Seifer…" Rinoa murmured, kissing his lips. She cast a cure spell on him to kill the pain a little and handed him a handkerchief to stop the bleeding. When she stood up to assist Squall, Seifer held her wrist and pulled her down to kiss her again.
"Don't you dare go near him," he told her firmly. "He doesn't deserve your attention." He gave her a quick kiss again and she nodded obediently.
"Hey! There's Rinoa!" Raijin ran up to them, Fujin following close behind. When Raijin saw Seifer, he gasped. "What happened here, ya know?! Seifer!"
"RAGE!" Fujin said, about to vent her anger out on Squall.
"No!" Rinoa said. "Fujin, please! This is enough!"
"Stop, Fujin. And didn't I tell you never to let Rinoa out of your sight?" Seifer said. "Let's go. I'll deal with this bastard the next time I see him." He stood up and looked at Squall, threatening, "And I swear if I ever catch you with Rinoa again you'll get more than just a cut!"
They walked away and Squall got up. He saw Quistis heading towards him. "Squall, what happened?" she asked. She began wiping his wound. "And where have you been? I've been looking all over for you!"
"Why the hell would you do that?" Squall asked as Quistis led him back to the hotel. "Well…because I'm supposed to keep my eyes on you," she answered.
"That's it?" he mumbled.
"And…your father called," she said.