1- The Social Customs of the Common Teenager
"So seriously, you got nothing?"
Two teenage boys, ages 15 and 16 stood in a giant field, sparring with two kendo sticks amid a sea of other pairs. Each was wearing an identical uniform: long sleeved purple shirts under thin chain mail and tight black pants. The shorter one had spiky blonde hair, and seemed very nimble. His slashes and parries were quick and smooth; as beautiful to watch as they were effective. His foot work was as excellent as his swordplay. He had a cocky style, and used many unneeded twirlings of his "sword" as he deflected the attacks of his opponent.
"How many times do I have to tell you? Nothing."
The other boy was a few inches taller, and had gentle brown hair that swayed in the weak breeze that skittered across the field. He had deep brown eyes that always seemed to be looking inward, a trait that scared away most girls and never did help him make friends. His slashes were cunning and sharp; well thought-out and tactical. Where the beauty of the former boy's style could be seen by anyone, only the most deeply intellectual mathematicians and chess masters could truly appreciate the wondrous technique of this second boy. He was still, however, always a step behind the first.
"I still don't believe you. This girl is pining over you. Pining."
The brown-haired boy aimed an over-head slash at the blonde, but it was easily deflected to the side. The blonde boy didn't wait for his opponent to recover from the unexpected parry, and spun fully around once and, while crouching, cut down the legs of his opponent.
"Whatever…" He did not stay on the ground for long, but immediately jumped to his feet to try again.
"C'mon, how can you not see the beauty of this situation. Just look at her, she's gorgeous." He cocked his head toward the other side of the field, where the girl in question was struggling in vain to control her kendo stick. She had shoulder length black hair with a few wisps of light brown down her part. Her partner was laughing uncontrollably at the rueful manipulation of this representation of a beautiful weapon. The second girl had short cropped black hair, and was a few years younger than the first.
"Drop it, Strife, okay? I don't want to… date her." The word stuck in his mouth and made him feel sick. Rinoa was loud and annoying, and her looks didn't change that much, in the boy's mind. He was never much for the social customs of the common teenager, anyway.
The two boys continued to exchange blows until the first broke the brief silence. "Fine, just don't say I didn't warn you. A girl that looks like that isn't gonna sit and wait for you forever, Leonhart."
"Company, attention!" A man in full suit of armor stood on one side of the field. All the fencers immediately put away their weapons and stood up straight, facing their instructor. "Most of you are doing very well. Private Strife, nice parry. Private Heartilly, I should fail you right now. And I would, if I had the authority…"
The focus of the boy's discussion went bright red and looked down at her shoes. The boys both thought the comment to be ridiculously unfair, sword training was a mandatory class for anyone going into any branch of defense, even if they were to be studying magic, like in Rinoa's case. However, everyone knew that Instructor Garland held animosity towards the Heartilly family.
"… but luckily for you the entire class must spar in the presence of Lord Ansem to determine whether they pass or fail this course. I wish you the best of luck when taking this class again next year, Heartilly."
"Now wait a- mmf!" Luckily for Rinoa, her friend Yuffie covered her mouth before she could say anything drastic, and Instructor Garland never even noticed Rinoa's small outburst.
"Some of you," Garland continued, "have been selected to be considered for Top Ranks." Becoming a Top Rank was a very big deal for new recruits to the academy. Initiation into the top ranks usually meant a shorter training period before being put into the actual military, and the status in itself was a chick magnet, many boys thought. A murmur spread across the field as the instructor took a list from his pocket. "The chosen are as follows: Seifer Almasy…"
A small group of students in the back row applauded wildly as an arrogant looking boy of 16 with short blonde hair made extravagant bows. He looked at Rinoa and smiled, then shot a look of satisfaction towards…
"Squall Leonhart…" Squall returned the look, only to receive a bitter face from Siefer. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Rinoa clapping for him much louder than the rest of the class. Strife mouthed 'Congrats, Leonhart!'
"Freya Crescent…"
Few people clapped, and Siefer mused, just loud enough for everyone to overhear, "Well the White Knights are obviously lowering their standards, letting a rat in!"
"Now now…" The rebuttal came from Rinoa. "Don't be mad at Freya just because you're ashamed of your tail!" Siefer shot Rinoa daggers, but she just smiled triumphantly as she saw Freya's tail twitch in thanks.
"And finally, Cloud Strife." Many cheered for Cloud, since he was well liked by most of his cohorts. Siefer and his gang were an exception, but they never paid as much attention to Cloud as they did to Squall. Siefer took the fact that he and Squall both wielded a gunblade to be a personal insult, and never failed to challenge Squall when he though it might get the quiet boy in trouble. Cloud's friend Tifa cheered for him the loudest, and Cloud smiled at her in appreciation. She melted.
"Now don't forget," Garland continued, this time addressing only the candidates for Top Ranks, "you must complete an interview with Lord Ansem himself, and, if you pass, you must show your skills to a panel of judges a week from Thursday. Those who pass this test will achieve the status of Top Ranks given by the great General Sephiroth himself."
Everyone heard him, but none knew if they should believe him. The great general had been gone for over five years on a crusade for the White Knights of the Hallow Bastion. Had he really returned? Cloud was more fascinated by the general than anyone else. He always dreamed to fight under Sephiroth's command, but he had been assumed dead about a year ago. This news flooded Cloud's thoughts and he hardly noticed when, minutes later, everyone starting leaving towards the changing rooms. Squall's pat on the back awoke Cloud from his daydream and they began to walk away.
"Heartilly, get over here, now!" Garland was obviously upset, and as usual, it was with Rinoa. Squall walked right passed her, but Cloud noticed that he slowed his pace in order to hear the conversation. "Don't think that I didn't hear that sly remark you made to Almasy!"
"But sir, I was only standing-"
"No interrupting! That comment was totally uncalled for, and for punishment I'm going to have to-"
"Can I help you, good Instructor Garland?" It was the Commander for Incoming Troops, Zack Ebony. He liked his position, and it showed through in the kind way he treated his upcoming soldiers. He had spiky black hair, much like Cloud's only more rampant and unmanageable, and wielded a very large sword. He had immense strength, but was a softy on the inside. Many of the female troops had an undeniable crush on him.
"Ah! Commander Ebony! This girl-"
"I'll handle it from here, thank you."
"Uh… erm… yes. Thank you, sir." And with that, Garland retreated to his office, extremely glad to be able to spend the rest of his afternoon doing nothing but thinking about various ways to punish Rinoa Heartilly.
"So," Zack addressed Rinoa, "was it Siefer?"
"Yes, sir."
"What did you say to him?"
"I kindly informed him that he was a rat," Rinoa responded honestly.
"Hmm… Fair enough. See you tomorrow morning, Heartilly."
Rinoa smiled as she ran happily up to the girls changing room. She looked at Squall and for a moment their eyes locked.
"Awww… you're blushing."
"Shut it, Strife."
* * * * * *
"He's obviously not interested, so I'm just going to leave him alone," Rinoa explained. Her friends had been urging her to make something of her infatuation with Squall for weeks now, but Rinoa was terribly unsure of how to go about such things. Most of the time, guys talked to her, but this one was… different.
"Oh, since when is the great and fearless Rinoa Heartilly afraid to talk to a boy?" Yuffie mocked. She was changing out of the horribly uncomfortable training attire and into a pair of shorts and a sleeveless shirt. Perfect clothing for the nice weather they'd been having. "I had to stop you from getting yourself killed by Instructor Garland and you can't ask a shy boy on a date? Gawd…"
"You know, Rin, you'd better catch him while he's still there. That boy's lookin' better every day." The voice came from Rikku, another of Rinoa's friends and Freya's partner in the day's exercises. Rikku's clothing was remarkably similar to Yuffie's, aside from differences in color. It was understandable, though, since Rikku was raised by Yuffie's father after her family died ten years ago in the Great War. She had vibrant green eyes, and shoulder-length blonde hair tied up on the top of her head. "You wait too
much longer and I may just try and take him myself," Rikku smiled, "isn't that right Tifa?"
Tifa nodded shyly. She never was big on girl talk, and found her heart a difficult subject to speak about in any situation. Besides, she didn't have a whole lot to add in this conversation. None of the girls in the room would really make a move on Squall. They were just hoping that with their pushing, Rinoa would finally make a move herself.
"I saw him fell Cloud once today, at the beginning of class."
All the girls were surprised at the sudden appearance of Freya, who nearly never spoke to anyone. She was one of the few demi-humans in the Hallow Bastion, and grew up in the poor section of town. She was so agile that she was offered a scholarship for the Academy of the White Knights, and took up on the offer without looking back, although her parents hadn't spoken to her since. She was one of the few students who lived on the castle grounds, and rarely communicated to anyone but Cloud.
"That is pretty impressive," Rinoa was the first to respond.
"Don't worry, Rinoa, you don't have any more competition." Rinoa smiled, and she was sure she could see Freya smiling under her scarf, too. "I just wanted to… thank you for earlier… with Siefer."
"It was my pleasure, Siefer's a-"
"prick," Yuffie offered. The whole group laughed at Yuffie's comment, and when they regained themselves Freya was gone.
"Nice girl. Strange, but a nice girl," Tifa noted.
"So, about this boy…" Rikku menacingly returned to the original conversation.
"Ahhggg…" Rinoa threw on her sleeveless blue coat and flew out the door, exasperated.
* * * * * *
"So, about this girl…" Cloud began menacingly. He knew his friend was too introverted for his own good, and he thought that Rinoa might be able to open him up a bit. He was hoping all Squall needed was a good girl by his side.
"Strife, enough about the girl." He was changing back into his normal clothes: black pants, a white t-shirt and a short black jacket with short sleeves. Squall had an odd style, but he certainly didn't look like a guy you would want to pick a fight with. He took his gunblade out of his locker and, after making sure it wasn't loaded, sheathed it on his belt.
Squall was regularly commended on being one of the two gunblade specialists in the academy. The gunblade had a handle resembling a revolver, but rather than a barrel the weapon had a sword-length blade from the end of it. A gunblade can be loaded with charges (Squall's blade held eight rounds) and by pulling the trigger on the handle the blade would light up with an explosive force, devastating anything it touched. It was an extremely difficult weapon to master, but Squall had taken an instant liking to the weapon when he first picked one up years prior.
He quickly thought of a way to change the subject: "So do you think General Sephiroth is really back? All that was left of his troops returned last year after their huge loss at Wutai."
"If anyone can fight his way out of the middle of Wutai, it's Sephiroth," Cloud quickly defended. "I can't wait to be able to meet with him. Do you think he would let me spar with him?" Cloud asked Squall, blue eyes alight.
Cloud had been compared to Sephiroth in terms of fighting skill on more than one occasion. Sephiroth was the greatest warrior to ever go through the academy. He took an instant liking in all forms of combat, from tactics, to swordplay, and magic. Though officially classified as a warrior years ago, he continued to studied magic and became more powerful than many mages. Ever since he left on Ansem's crusade after the Great War, he had become a legend, and was said to have converted half the world to the ways of the Light. But two years prior, Sephiroth's regime got into a skirmish with Wutai, the main adversary during the great war. They fought valiantly for almost a year, but could not take the whole of the Wutai army, and came back broken and defeated. Sephiroth had been lost during the retreat.
"Not a chance," Squall responded. He didn't entertain the foolish fantasies of others.
"Well, let's get out of here, or I'm gonna be late." Cloud quickly finished changing. He was wearing black slacks and a long sleeve, button-up dress shirt. He held a coat in his arm.
"Why are you dressed so nice?" Squall inquired, expecting it to have something to do with himself and Rinoa.
"Going out for drinks with Rikku, wanna come?" Cloud only asked because he knew Squall's response already.
"…No. See you," he mumbled as he walked out of the locker room.
* * * * * *
"Woah, what's with the duds?" Rikku gasped incredulously when Cloud walked into the restruant. Cloud and Rikku had been friends for about a year. They met when their trainers started dating, and scheduling their sessions at the practice field for the same time. For being grown-ups, Cloud thought they were acting extremely childishly.
"Well, you said you didn't want Squall to come, right? I know my friend, and I know that if I want him to not show up anywhere, I tell him you've got to dress up," Cloud answered as intelligently as he could, which just meant cocky.
"I see, so where does he think you are?" Rikku asked, with more than a hint of her flirtatious nature in her voice.
"Right here, having drinks with you… thanks," he said to the waitress, giving him his drink that Rikku had, apparently ordered. "I'm sure he thinks were on a date." Cloud smiled. He really didn't have any feelings for Rikku, but there were worse looking people in the world to be pretending to date, he thought. Rikku felt exactly the same.
"I'm sure," she smiled. "But, onto business. So how are we going to get these two together, Cloud? Cloud. …Cloud? Hey, I'm talking to you!"
"Wha..? Oh, sorry. I'm very… distracted at the moment." He nodded his head behind Rikku, where a very pretty girl with long chestnut hair sat at the bar. She was wearing a simple pink dress and had a big bow in her hair. It were her eyes that Cloud fell for, though, big and green and with an undeniable look of innocence in them. She looked like she had been waiting for someone that wasn't going to show up, judging by the look of forlorn in her eyes and the way she swirled her ice water with her finger.
"You always have to fall for the innocent ones, don't you? I'm not sure about her, Cloud… it's the bow." Rikku always enjoyed critiquing the objects of her friend's affection, and this new girl obviously received no special treatment. "But seriously, we can talk about your crushes later. We need to figure out how to get Squall and-"
"Rinoa!" Cloud yelled.
"Yes, and Rinoa toge-"
"Hi Rinoa, how are you?!" Cloud loudly asked the very confused looking girl standing in the entrance of the restaurant.
"Fine…" she answered suspiciously. "Hey Rikku, I thought you were going to go practice?" Rinoa's eyes darted back and forth between Rikku and Cloud, not sure what to make of the situation. Cloud was dressed awfully nice.
"Ummm… yeah, but, uhhh… Cloud here needed to talk about… what is it you wanted to talk about, Cloud?"
"What?! Oh, I, uhhh…"
Rinoa smiled with satisfaction. "Oh, I get it. Sorry you two, I'll go head off somewhere else for the afternoon. See you tomorrow, Rikku, Cloud!" And with that Rinoa confidently walked out of the building and skipped up the street.
Cloud and Rikku sat with their mouths wide open, unable to decide how to treat the situation. Cloud looked at the pretty girl at the bar, who caught his eyes and looked away with a fake smile on her face. Then she turned around and walked out the door.
"Well, that sucked," Cloud stated obviously.
"How about we continue this conversation later, after I think of something to tell Rin?" she suggested. Squall thinking they were dating was one thing, he never talked to anyone. Rinoa thinking that, however, could do serious damage to their social lives. She always told everyone this sort of stuff.
"Sounds great."
The two walked hurriedly in opposite directions out of the building without saying farewells, quickly escaping from the awkwardness of the event. Cloud knew everything would be alright, though, and he closed his eyes and smiled at the image of the beautiful girl at the bar inside his head. Oh yes, he'd have to get to know that one.
* * * * * *
Squall and Cloud were walking home a few days later when it finally happened. Cloud saw her first, running to catch up to them. "Want me to get lost?" Cloud calmly asked, knowing that Rinoa must have finally gotten up her nerve to talk to Squall.
"Whatever."
"I knew you would say that," Cloud said as he smiled and turned to walk away.
So this was finally going to happen, Squall thought. That annoying girl was going to just walk up and try and talk to him like she'd known him all his life, and expect some sort of connection. She was getting closer. He didn't know how to deal with girls, he'd never had to before. Most of them had the sense to realize he was avoiding attention, not playing the cute shy boy that Rinoa probably thought. Now he was going to have to just tell her off and break her heart. She was getting closer. 'Why me?' Squall thought.
Rinoa ran up to Squall and without stopping, waved and continued on running shouting "Wait! Wait!"
Squall didn't know what to think, but whatever was inside him didn't make him feel good. He saw Rinoa run up to his best friend, who was obviously surprised at this short turn of events. Squall was too far to hear what they were saying, but he watched the two anyway, unable to take his eyes off of the unfolding events.
"Wait! Cloud, I thought I would never catch up to you!" she started.
"Yeah… me two," Cloud responded unsurely, not confident on what to say to her.
"Listen, I know why you and Rikku were having drinks! She told me yesterday. I just wanted to say that I apologize for thinking too quickly, but you guys didn't have to be so secretive about that!" she stated happily, putting her hands on her hips. It was funny, Cloud thought. Rikku said they had to keep their meeting secret since Rinoa would be very angry if she found out she was being set up. She was a free spirit, and hated stuff like that.
"Oh, and you're not angry?" Cloud asked, undeniably relieved. 'This is going much better than I thought it would!' he thought.
"Not at all! I would love it if you tutored me!" Rinoa was obviously excited, and probably just excited enough to not notice Cloud's moment of confusion before covering for himself. So Rikku said he would help Rinoa with her fighting. He was amazed at Rikku's quick thinking. In mid-thought Rinoa gave him a big, quick hug.
"Great!" he said, recomposing himself after her display of unexpected affection, trying to figure out when he could possibly have the time to do something like that. "When would you like to practice?"
"Ummm… well, what are you doing now?" she asked, looking around the street, possibly seeing if anyone was watching them.
"Actually me and Squall…" he trailed off as he looked where Squall used to be standing. He had walked off himself. 'Shit,' he thought. "Well, I guess I'm not doing anything anymore! Let's just go back to my place and get some equipment."
* * * * * *
"Hey, good job!" Cloud resounded. He was absolutely amazed at how much Rinoa was improving after just one session with him. He had never paid much attention to Instructor Garland's lessons since he knew what he was doing, but after hearing them reiterated through Rinoa, he realized why Garland held no actual place in the military. "As long as you forget everything that idiot taught you, I think you'll pass the sparring test next Friday."
"Really? Oh my God, I thought I was going to have to take the whole class again next year!" Rinoa was ecstatic, and was smiling brilliantly while jumping up and down. Cloud smiled at her and turned to get their water. He was amazed that Squall hadn't made a move on her yet, she was beautiful. 'Actually,' Cloud thought, 'If I hadn't seen that girl in the bar today I'd be all over Rin now.'
He gave her some water, and they sat in silence for a few minutes. She obviously had something on her mind, but didn't know how to say it. Finally, she just started talking: "Thanks… for the water I mean.
"Listen, I have to admit, I was really happy when I found out you would tutor me a bit, but I was also excited that I'd get to talk to you for a while." She paused, but Cloud said nothing, not sure on where she was going. "Fine, I'll just ask you. How does Squall feel about me?" She couldn't even look Cloud in the eye as she asked.
Cloud laughed out loud, and Rinoa gave him the dirtiest look she could muster. "No, no, I'm not laughing at you!" Cloud assured her. He was amazed that he and Rikku had to go through so much trouble to cover up their meeting, only to have Rinoa jump through the hoops all by herself. He realized that his delayed answer was causing her to worry, so he told her. "Rin, he's always talking about how you're annoying, and a pain in the ass, and that you don't know when to keep your mouth shut-"
"Well, the last one I can understand, but the other two are ridiculous! My first point is that-"
"Stop it! I'm not done!" Cloud laughed at her. "Like I said, you don't know when to keep your mouth shut! But I've seen the way he looks at you, and you can't fake that look. He's head over heels for you, but I doubt he'd admit that to anyone, especially you."
Rinoa smiled coyly to herself, and sat still for a few minutes. Cloud cleaned up the ground where they had held their practice session, and disposed of the bottles of water and the dinner plates they had used up. When he was done, he stood in front of a very content Rinoa, and she said:
"Well, I like a challenge."