Disclaimer: I do not own FF8 and all that blah blah blah..this is the last one to ever pop up on this fic

It was a cool summer day by Shumi standards to say the least. As the temperature was actually was just below zero degrees (Celsius). The halls of the Garden were alive with the excited chatter of students who were about to leave for summer break. A time in which they could relax and not worry about classes, homework, and more importantly tests. Many of the students would leave for home; others would stay in the Garden. Such is the case of Karen; her parents passed on six years ago in Timber, during the revolution. She was only ten at the time and could not fend for herself, and to make matters worse her remaining family did not want to get stuck with the responsibility of looking after her so they sent her to Balamb Garden where she would make something of herself and stay out of their lives.

Karen was 17 in age, andabout 5'6", with long strawberry red hair past her shoulders, she had majestic mahogany eyes that reflected her sweet caring nature, her skin was a milky white and was as soft as the finest of silks. Her features were noticeable, especially in the standard Garden issue uniform. She possessed long toned legs thanks to all the years of sports, a refined waist. Her chest was a B cup, not small and not big at the same time, just right. She was at the prime of her youth, although she lived a hard childhood, her strong will helped her get through the toughest of times. Apart from her breathtaking beauty she wielded a wicked gun blade at her side. Not many females prefer this weapon as it takes many years to learn and discipline, not to mention physical strength. Her father was a gun blade master when he was younger so she developed a love for the weapon at a young age.

The gun blade was carried in a red leather sheath that was easily concealable in her red leather combat trench coat to match. The blade itself was about six feet in length and glowed a warm vermilion, the handle was a rare metal only created when certain energy items where mixed under high heat and pressure. It gave off a silvery glow in the sunlight and had patterns that resembled Cleric runes of safety. The chamber unlike other gun blade models carried a twelve shot chamber instead of the usual six shooter models. This way she wouldn't have to reload immediately in the heat of a battle, there also was a double trigger attached to it as well, so instead of one shot there would be two at the same time or one coming right after the other. A skill that is very difficult to learn. Engraved on the handle was a griffin, its eyes were two small rubies and it seemed to be breathing fire into the blade, giving it life. She called it "Diamonds Edge" as it was sharp enough to cut through diamonds. There was no other gun blade that compared to it...except the Lionheart that was wielded by the Commander of the garden, Squall Leonhart.One of her goals was to challenge Commander Leonhart in a one on one match, gunblade against gunblade...what she would do if she won would be up to fate, all she wanted was to fight against one of the finest warriors in the planet.In the meantime she had other things to worry about, like the history final she had later on.

Karen lounged by herself in the back corners of the Quad where few people go; she went here for the quiet and solitude, but most of all for the atmosphere of just being one with nature, that was one of the best things of Balamb Garden, they not only prided themselves to honor and discipline, but to making every room and hallway have some sort of plant life adorning it. To Karen that was the heart of Balamb Garden, the beauty of nature in a school environment.

She was busy reviewing her history notes when someone was blocking her light."Hey! What do you think your doing?" she asked, looking up to someone she knew but not well.

"What? Am I interrupting?" it was a male, about her age, aboutfour inches taller than her; he had short spiked black hair, tanned skin, and a strong Hispanic accent. A little something that drove many of the females of Garden wild. He had dark brown eyes, a warm smile and an inviting aura around him. His body was well built as he used as his style of fighting a combination of martial arts with knives, he was wearing his combat clothes which consisted of black baggy pants, short sleeve black shirt, combat boots, and his knife belt which consisted of two bowie knives on the side, one army issue combat field knife in the back and four throwing knives in the front. His name was Raze, he gave himself that name and it stuck, not even the teachers know his real name, as he never wanted to give it away. To him it was a reminder of the hell he had to live through while he was a young kid.

"Actually you are" Karen declared, her eyes focusing on the knife Raze was twirling around in his hand with expert skill.

"Well I'm sorry but there's something I need to ask you" Raze kneeled down coming into eye level, "no..I'm not proposing so get that thought out of your head."

"Well, what is it?" she blushed a bit and smiled gently.

"Listen uh...I know we don't hang out much and don't talk much either, what with us being in the same history class but..I was wondering if maybe you'd like to go out with me tomorrow night. Everyone is leaving tomorrow so we can go out for dinner at Balamb...what do you think?" Raze took in a deep breath of air waiting for her response. He had fought many enemies before, but this was his toughest one yet. He took a deep breath and held it patiently waiting for her answer.

"Yea, I'd love to" Karen giggled and smiled once more.

"Really? Uh..I mean, great! So I'll...pick you at your dorm tomorrow at...9:30 pm?" Raze exhaled and tried to remain his composure, his heart had skipped a beat by her answer.

"Yea, that would be great, room 645, don't forget now" Karen winked and looked at Raze and saw something she hadn't seen in any of the other males in Garden or any she had dated for that matter; loneliness... and a want of acceptance by others. Maybe she was a sucker for pretty eyes but something inside told her that he was someone she could have a serious relationship with.

Raze stood up and smiled down at her, "okay, so I'll see you tomorrow then?" she nodded and he walked away feeling pretty damn good of himself, why? Because he had asked out one of the most beautiful intelligent girls he had ever met, and he'd do whatever it took to keep her if it came to that.

Karen returned to studying her notes and as she did she felt something inside her again. She ignored it and smiled to herself blushing madly, and nothing could ruin her day. Not even the history final she had to write later that day.

A/N:Okay, so how am I doing so far? I hope everything is fine and there are not too many grammatical errors and whatnot, and uh...seeing as how this is my truly first fic, I would greatly appreciate it if there were some of you willing to look over my work and making corrections to it before posting. And yes, you will get credit for it by my mentioning you at the beginning of every chapter and at the end of the fic itself. So please R&R, and let me know, give me feedback, flames, whatever..Just anything to keep me going at this moment.