Disclaimer 2: Flight of the Disclaimer. I don't own Final Fantasy or any of the characters therein, I don't even own my brain; I sold it to a mad scientist who had run out of stock. He gave me 7 teabags for it... Don't sue, especially for the weirdness of that last sentence. My teabag supply is already rapidly depleted...

I'd like to note that I was astounded when writing this to find that I couldn't remember the full names of all the characters... I've been away from the game too long... Also I used the usual name for the Zell's Library Girl: Shizuka as I don't know whether she has a real one. Sorry for the title of the chapter...

Knighted

Chapter Two: Couples in the Cafeteria?

By Knighted


As Squall and Rinoa made their way around the central column of Balam Garden, they heard a squeal behind them. They both tuned slowly, dreading what they knew must come... Selphie Tilmitt was standing behind them, her hand over her mouth; but this was doing nothing to stop the ear-piercing noise coming from behind the petite figure's hand. Squall felt his ears bubbling and Rinoa put her hands on either side of her head to shut out the sound. As the petite brunette finished, she exclaimed,

"You guys are so cute when you walk like that!" Squall, with significantly damaged hearing, growled at Selphie,

"Cut it out. We've been like this for a year, can't you take that in?" the teenage girl had seemed to mature a lot in this past year, but she still had these annoying outbursts.

"Wo, cool it Squall. Just saying..." Squall frowned at her "...that, uh, yeh. Anyway, are you two off to breakfast?" Rinoa straightened up, a little pale.

"Y-yeh. Where's the others?" as Squall had his larger room in a different wing, the others generally went ahead separately. The smaller girl dressed in yellow sighed,

"Irvine's still in bed. He's so lazy in the mornings. Must be all that... stuff... we do... in bed-I mean in... the days..." the Sorceress and Knight stared at her.

"So" she smiling weakly "uh... shall we?" Squall and Rinoa jumped.

"Huh? Oh, yeh, right"

They proceeded along the circular walkway until they reached the siding to the cafeteria, turning in and spotting immediately the others, who were seated around a couple of tables joined together, in the far corner of the eating hall. Zell was, unusually not eating hotdogs; the petite blond librarian girl beside him had accounted for that change in interests. Squall mentally reminded himself to find out her name... On the librarian's right, Quistus sat, chatting idly with the rest of the group-and by her side was...Seifer Almasy. This didn't surprise the commander, as everyone in the garden knew of the fact that the strict instructor and the rebel knight were an 'item'. However, he was annoyed. He had strictly forbidden Seifer's presence in garden and Quistus knew all too well, so to see him in the cafeteria was a bit... Squall had no time to ponder it further, for as he neared the table the tall blond figure of Seifer turned his head and caught sight of him. He quickly pecked Quistus on the cheek and almost ran out of the cafeteria, his customary grey trench coat, now quite tattered, sweeping behind him and whipping round the corner with a flick. Quistus seemed surprised at his strange behaviour and looked behind, only to see her senior bearing down on her with all speed. Her face blanched and she made to get up, but Squall was upon her.

"What" he hissed "is he doing here?" Quistus sighed and returned to her seat, while the three new arrivals to the hall, the raging commander, Rinoa and Selphie, took a seat opposite Quistus.

"...Nothing mu-"the instructor saw Squall's face and decided that, in the current situation, it would be better to re-start.

"He got in on his own, I tried to stop him, but you know when he gets an idea into his head..." and you can't resist him, thought the other three girls around the table simultaneously.

"Right" said Squall, and the finality in his voice scared the heck out of Quistus

"This has gone too far. He can't just walk in as if he owns the damn place." One of the cooking staff approached and deposited a plate on table in front of him. He ran his hand through his hair and looked down at the cooked breakfast served up for him, consisting of what was rumoured among the cadets was anything that the cooks could scrape from the rubbish bin fried.

"I'll talk to Cidd about it later" Squall informed Quistus, who looked relieved. For Squall, this was extremely light payment for someone directly disobeying his orders. She looked at him, her head on one side in thought. Could he be gaining some compassion?

As Selphie joined in with the other's conversation (how were they going to find the several hundred moon-monsters left in Esthar after the cleansing of monsters that had happened three months ago) Rinoa announced that she was going to grab some breakfast for herself. She got up, but Squall beat her to the mark.

"I'll get it" he offered quietly. Rinoa smiled sweetly and Squall felt his heat at Quistus melt away as her lips offered a crescent shape. He seemed mesmerised, trying to tell himself that he should go get Rin's breakfast, but his legs didn't want to move. He finally got moving, Rinoa following him with her eyes, and as he got past him a man bumped into him

"Well, look at the two little love-birds sitting way up in a tree so high up there" Irvine commented, startling Squall out of his reverie, while he sat down. Squall practically raced away from the table as Zell began sniggering. Rinoa grinned and sat down again.

"Wow, have you got him hooked Rinoa!" laughed Shizuka, the library girl. Zell snorted again.

At that moment Squall decided to reappear with Rinoa's breakfast, sitting down himself, he began to tuck in.

"Thanks..." she didn't really know what to say.

"No problem" he replied, and there was silence as everyone ate and Selphie surreptitiously stole Irvine's juice.

---------------

"Hey, you two, what're you doing today anyway?" Zell called back to Squall and his angel.

"We've got to see the headmaster now, we'll call you if we have any plans." Rinoa replied.

"See ya then" Zell said, racing out of the hall after Shizuka.

Squall finished off and waited for his counterpart, watching her. His eyes roamed over her pail face, the way her hair fell down over and she flicked it up behind her. Even her slightest movements enraptured him, creating a warm, sensuous feeling inside him. His eyes trailed over her mouth and her red lips, as she delicately placed another forkful pass her lips. He felt urges inside him with which he was familiar, desires and longings for her. These feelings he used to dread, he now saw as an indulgement, a way of getting closer to his feelings for her. His eyes roamed further down past her chin, to her smooth, shapely neck, to her shoulders and... he stopped himself just in time; slightly shaken he berated himself, knowing that he had almost gone to far.

It was then that he glanced up and saw her watching him. He froze, seeing her grin, as a hot feeling covered his face and slowly edged it's way down his body. She giggled lightly and he felt another hot feeling which was not connected with his embarrassment.

"S-sorry... I didn't mean..." she giggled again louder and he blushed even deeper.

"Squall!" she said, tapping him lightly "don't worry so much" he felt a relief spread like a coolant up his form, a release. She saw him cool a bit laughed again, but this time it was more slyly.

"I didn't say you were going to get away that easily..." he stopped again, wary now. Before he had time to react Rinoa was reaching across the table and their lips met. A furore spread through him now, but she wasn't there for long. She was teasing him, breaking off and taking his hands. She leaned in again and he moved to her but she held him off with her free hand and whispered in his ear

"Ickle Squallie been thinking naughty thoughts huh?" she felt his body tense at her words, and knew that she had gone one step too far. But Squall seemed reluctant to move from this position, so she decided to give him some time. She felt him slowly relaxing and after a while decided to continue.

Moving slowly and carefully, she moved across his face brushing his lips with hers. Then she moved in. With a rush of anticipation, she pressed her mouth against his. At first he seemed reluctant to respond; to him this more daring side of her was still new to him, but he decided to take advantage of the moment and let her move more freely. She parted her lips slightly, and he followed in her suit. Then she went in, her tong making caresses and flicks that knocked that breath out of both of them. He tasted her, intertwining with her tong and pulling, moving, smoothing around. She moved around, exploring, finding passages and surfaces that gave her a rush of adrenaline. Slowly they moved out, going backwards, retreating slightly; each other's tastes lingering like a blast of warm air to their senses. As they broke, they both gasped for breath, taking in then darting back to each other, caressing but not entering. At length they broke away; Rinoa was now basically standing over Squall. She fell back to her seat. He stared at her, his ice-blue eyes peering past her low flesh-barrier and into a deeper part of her: into her very soul. They breathed calmer, slowing down, committing the moment to memory forever.

"Rinoa..." she looked up at him, surprised that he had started first, but then a nagging doubt pulled at her; what if he was going to tell her off for 'showing signs of affection in garden public areas'? Silently she wondered what he would say.

"...We have to go see Cidd." She smiled and stood up; right now, she couldn't have thought of anything more perfect.

Authors Note: thanks for reviewing all. This was another quite fluffy chapter (glad I got some Squinoa stuff in, though). Hope you liked it. I promise, next chapter will have some actual plot in it (wow!). Basically for my first fic here I wanted to have something which was interesting but not too intense. I'm planning on getting Squall and Rinoa off on a holiday together; but the basic idea is that they are trying to connect more-to realise that they really do love each other etc. Rinoa's dreams are really only a starting point for their search to find each other. Hopefully my writing skills will improve as they go along. Thanks, please RR! Knighted