Disclaimer: I don't own Square or FF8. How can this be??? Don't sue pls.

Sorry (again) for being away. Soon I'm goin back to school so I should have more time for writing, and catching up on the massive amount of reading and reviewing I've got to do. I'll be updating soon; thanks all for reviews etc.

Knighted

Chapter 4: Plans

By Knighted

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

By Monday lunchtime, almost the entire garden knew that the great commander Squall Leonhart and Rinoa Heartilly the Sorceress were going on holiday together. Even though everyone in the Garden knew that the two had been an 'item' for almost a year, anyone who knew Squall hadn't really believed that he'd changed so much; until now. It seemed to Squall that half of the Garden lived off gossip, although it probably helped to break up the monotony of the routine life of a SeeD. Zell said that something must have slipped. Someone must have told someone. But who could it have been???

"Someone who knew, Zell? Someone like you?" questioned Squall at the lunch table. Zell left pretty quickly, even for him. There wasn't really any need to ask the questions. It was blindingly obvious that it had been Zell who first talked about it, that he wasn't so much annoyed as amused. Then again, he didn't get so annoyed any more. Not with Rin around.

It seemed that even Zell realised that it was obvious that he had told everyone. Late at night, Squall woke to the sound of urgent knocking on the door. Must be Rinoa. His mind began to fill with worry as he extracted himself from his sheets. Was she having the dreams again? He half ran to the door, still rubbing the sleep from his eyes, and tore it open. He stared. Zell was standing there, slightly shaking, in his usual clothes. The digital clock in the hallway showed 4:30am. The only thought seeping through Squalls mind was What. The. Hell.

"Hey... I've been thinking... about stuff, and I decided to come out straight to ya. I... I told everyone about that... holiday plan of yours."

Squalls eyes widened until Zell thought his eyebrows had actually disappeared. Then, carefully and slowly, He shut the door. Zell shrugged and walked back to his room. Squall was asleep before he hit the bed.

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

A voice, cool, husky, carrying an amazing scent with it filtered through Squall's shrouds of sleep.

"So... when's the big event going to happen, huh?" Big event? What big event? What was happening?

"In short, when are you going to get up?" Ah. That voice, the scent, he knew them. The question now was, how did they get into his room?

"Also, in case you were wondering, I 'borrowed' your spare key card when you weren't looking, which is how I got in here." Squall jumped up, hardly hearing the bump and cursing as Rinoa hit the floor by his bed. He looked around wildly. Who was it in the room? The voice came back to him. He peered over the side of his bed to find the dishevelled form of his angel nursing her back.

"Ow... did you have to get up so hard?" he rubbed the back of his head embarrassedly.

"Well I think it was the bit about someone having taken my key card that did it." She scowled

"Will you help me up already?" He extended a hand, which she grasped. He then pulled, sending her flying up towards him, knocking his head back into the wall. As his vision cleared he peered up to see Rinoa straddling him. He gulped.

"So... someone wants to play...?" He winced

"Ah... Rin... I didn't mean-" her finger pushed onto his lips.

"Shh..."

"Rin?" he yelped, panicking as she snaked her way up to his face. She closed in, pressing her mouth against his, and he felt all resistance give way. His walls crumbled, and he relaxed. He ran his hands up and down her back, which arched and twisted at his touch. They entered each other, their tongs passing and tugging, gently caressing. He felt himself letting go, falling into a blissful abyss.

The door opened, and a muscular blond figure walked in. The person stared, and walked out. Squall yelled. Carefully placing Rinoa on the bed, he jumped up and ran to the door, only to find Zell gone. He trudged slowly back into the room. She sat up on his bed.

"Uh... I guess I forgot to lock the door behind me." He stared at her for a moment, and remembered that it had been Zell who had come in and seen them. He walked out again.

Squall jogged along the walkway, eyes flicking back and forth, looking for Zell. By the martial artist's current standards the 'story' of how he saw the Commander at it again would be half way across garden already and spreading. He caught a glimpse of blond hair moving into the training centre hallway, and turned off to follow it. As he entered the corridor off to the centre, he remembered that it was closed for maintenance. Who would be going into the training centre then? He stepped forward and his silent question was answered by a blond haired girl, presumably the hair that he'd seen coming into the hallway, breaking off from her 'intimacy' with what was probably her partner, to look round and see who was coming. Her eyes rose to those of her commander, and she gave an involuntary whimper. Her partner looked round. Squall stared back at them both against the wall.

"Commander, I know what this looks like..." she began. He put his head in his hands, and turned around to walk back out, just as a blond guy ran into him. Squall reeled back into the wall, and whipped round into the features of Zell, who realised that he had just run into the person he'd been trying to avoid. He in turn put his head in his hands and groaned. Squall burst out at him

"Zell! What are you, matchmaker-man?!?! First you walk in on me and Rin and now..." he suddenly came to himself and realised what he'd just said. Acting swiftly, he grabbed Zell and yanked him out of the corridor. The couple in the hallway looked after them and simultaneously turned back to each other.

"So... where were we?" asked the man against the wall.

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

"Squall, what were you doing in there?" asked Zell as he was dragged like a dog through the halls of Balam garden. The answer came growled.

"Looking for you."

"Why?" Squall stopped dead on the now empty pathway-most of the occupants of the garden were in classes, or on missions in the cases of SeeDs. He half-yelled at Zell

"So you wouldn't go and talk to the entire cadet population of this place about what goes on in my, own, room with me and Rin. By rights you shouldn't know."

"Hey, what happened to the slightly more cheerful Squall we were getting used to knowing?" Zell knew as soon as the words came out of his mouth that it was the wrong thing to say. Squall just managed to mutter through gritted teeth

"Go. Away. Now." Zell took the hint and fled. Squall shouted after him

"Talk about it and you die, Zell."

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

It seemed that Squall's friend really had taken the hint and not told anyone, because, as Squall entered the cafeteria that evening, the noise level dropped only slightly, which was better than it had been the day before, although the glances, and on a few occasions stifled laughs as he passed tables.

"What am I, a menagerie for the garden's amusement?" he grumbled as he sat down at the table, opposite Irvine, glaring round at his observers on the other tables, who went back to their meals quickly.

"Heck, I'd be grateful for all the attention from all those lovely ladies over there" commented Irvine, tipping his customary cowboy hat at a few SeeDs of the feminine persuasion passing their table, earning himself a kick in his bruised shin from Selphie. Even through his anger, Squall smiled and shook his head. It was going to be longer than it was for Squall before Irvine changed.

"I don't know how you expect to keep him looking at you, Selph," commented Squall's significant other from the left of Irvine. He turned to look at her and she winked. Selphie answered her question

"Shock therapy" she demonstrated by kicking him in the same place as before as his attention began to wander to a few of the older girls in the corner, making him wince

"It'll work eventually. It's a tried and tested method you know." Shizuka the library girl giggled, and Selphie turned a grin on her.

"No, seriously! I heard from Quistus that it worked great with Seifer!" So that's where Quistus is tonight Squall thought, suddenly noticing her absence.

"She had to do that with Seifer?" he asked sceptically. His rival had never seemed to have much public interest in the ladies before he met Quistus; he was the head of the 'disciplinary committee', which had been abolished after his disappearance in Timber, and was usually prosecuting girls for breaking some rule or other, not eyeing them up.

"Oh, you're not the only one who changed a bit after the Sorceress thing." Rinoa informed him "apparently, after his... you know... desires to be a 'knight' were gone, Seifer started to let on his other... wishes... involving his more masculine side." The supposedly mature 'ladies' round the table burst into muffled fits of giggles, as Squall tried to decide whether to be angry or amused. Selphie wrapped it up

"But the, uh... therapy worked apparently" after which she leaned across to Rinoa and whispered

"Among other more interesting methods of, er... persuasion no doubt." Which made them both double up with laughter again. Squall glanced across at Irvine and Zell, and shrugged. 'Who knows?' said his gesture. They seemed to agree, although, as usual, he wasn't quite sure what Irvine was thinking.

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

Squall accosted Rinoa after the rest of their companions had left for their respective rooms.

"Hey, Rin, I was wondering whether you could come in to discuss... things." As she walked through the doorway, he admired her form, curving, smooth and delicate, entrancing...

"Squall!" He looked further up to the region of her face, which was currently half surprised, but almost on the verge of laughter. He suddenly realised how blatantly he had been ogling her.

"Rin, I'm sorry, I just... uh" he didn't know what to say really. He couldn't read any feeling from her face; was she angry, was she amused and about to laugh at his foolishness? He didn't know. So much of this, of her was still foreign to him. Sometimes he was lost in her, in her actions and emotions. Sometimes he just didn't know what to do, and, if he was honest with himself, this frightened him. Before her, nothing had been unplanned, he was in control of the situation and, he had thought, his life. She had saved him from his stifled suffering, but the life preserver came with a price; uncertainty.

She came closer, face more serious now, more intense. She reached up and placed her delicate arms around his neck, pushing to him. He felt himself tensing, as a not-yet-familiar sensation filled him like a warm liquid flowing into him. He felt her body pressed against him, put his arms around her, her scent filling his senses. She smelt his cologne, feeling a pressure building up in her, one that made her excited and one that she knew she must keep under control, unlike the emotion that penetrated her now, one of comfort, tenderness. Without knowing it he caressed her hair, its silkiness making him lust after her, to touch her, voicing secret unnamed desires. He, too, knew to suppress these. Their common love had been building over the last year, strengthening like a growing community, tight-nit. For now, it was just them, him and her, in their own private world which no-one could change. Her voice, like music, moved into their place. She looked up at him seriously, brushing the hair from around his eyes. She spoke from her very heart. This was something that was new to her, too; Seifer was never this to her.

"Squall... don't worry so much about what you do, what you feel. This is new to me too... I don't know what's going to happen. Right now, it's just us. Don't live in the past or the future... wondering what's going to happen or what happened. Just feel." And he smiled.

"Rinoa... we have a holiday to plan."

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

An hour later she was lying on his bed, as he sat at his computer terminal, surfing the internet for holiday choices, and offering likely ones to her. She listened to his deep voice, resonating and moving into her, through her. She spent what felt like years dwelling on a single sound from that mouth, that haven. She drifted on dreams of him...

"Rin?" his soft calling awoke her from her pondering and she looked up. He was seated next to her head, smiling down at her.

"You awake?" he asked her quietly.

"Of course" she moved to get up, but he lightly put out his hand to stop her. As she moved up to his hand he realised where he had it. To late. He winced as his hand made contact with her chest. He quickly moved his hand away, properly ashamed of himself. Of the many embarrassing situations that seemed to have occurred today, this just had to cap it he thought.

"Rin, I didn't mean... it was an accident. I'm sorry." He looked up at her, ready to beg her to stay, when he caught her naughty expression.

"Oh, Squall, I told you not to worry about that sort of thing... you really shouldn't disobey me, you know..." these sudden moods of hers scared him, and he thought of getting up... but then, she knew what she was doing, right? She placed a graceful, slender hand on his chest, and pushed him back onto the bed, catching him off-guard. She stood up and pounced on him, laying herself on him. His heart hammered in his chest, as did hers, though he didn't know it. She had never felt so close to him before. He was half terrified, half excited. She moved her body up to him, and kissed him. The electricity was almost palpable in the air, the energy streaming through their lips as they moved closer, their legs intertwining. How could this be possible? He thought of her beauty, of how lucky he was to have found her. She thought of the meaning of this moment; this was no one-night stand with Seifer. This was real. They indulged in one another's tastes and textures. He ran his hand down her back to her thigh, caressing. Suddenly she broke off. She took his hand and placed it on her chest, on her ring. The stark contrast of the cool metal to her soft skin showed another beauty to him, another warmth. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the feeling of the bare skin under her sinuous but somehow still delicate neck. The hand which had brought death to many now brought something almost like new life to one person. She interrupted his thoughts, trying hard to keep her voice steady with the feel of his touch enveloping her

"Squall... didn't you have something to show me?" her words brought a gasp to his mouth. What did she mean?! She giggled at his reaction, and pointed down to the papers from his holiday research on the computer, now scattered on the floor. Of course. He was overreacting as usual to Rinoa's actions. He picked up the papers and made some attempt at tidying himself up, straightening his ruffled hair. She smiled at his actions; even after something as intimate as what they had just experienced, Squall still seemed to be able to make things suddenly formal. He thoughts were contradicted when he placed himself back on the bed, sitting up against the wall. He stretched his free arm out for her, putting his head on one side and giving her a questioning look. She answered him by shuffling up and leaning back on him, as he put his arm round her and she leaned her head on his shoulder. She thought that might be one of the great things about him-the security. He handed her a piece of paper, and she looked over it-a tropical sandy retreat, beaches, palm-trees, clear sea, the usual stuff. Her eyes trailed down to a number at the bottom of the page. Her eye widened.

"Um... how much are you paying for this?" he attempted to snatch the paper away from her, but she was too quick.

"Well, however much it takes" he coughed and looked away.

"Squall it says 40'000 gill here!" he reddened, feigning surprise.

"...Yes?"

"How do you expect to afford this?" he shifted her across do that she was sitting across his lap.

"Look, sweetheart, we didn't spend all that time training before facing Ultimacia just to get better at fighting. And when you're Commander you don't get payed too badly. It's not as if I spend much anyway." She frowned

"But still, you don't need to spend half that much to find a descent place."

"What?" he looked startled, and she sighed.

"I guess you just don't know how to plan a holiday, do you?" a hint of amusement showed in her face.

"Yeh, well it's not like I've ever had one before." He said, slightly annoyed at her presumptuousness. She stared at him. She had never truly admitted to herself that he'd missed so much of life. Now she understood why he seemed so... ignorant of some things. It was because he had never experienced these experiences which she took for granted. His face softened and she spoke

"Squall... I'm sorry. I just take all these things for granted... I sometimes forget that you haven't been everywhere I've been." He smiled, and looked down to the papers again.

"Here... what about this one" he handed her a piece. She skimmed over it and looked up at him, sceptical.

"Dollet?"

That's it for the moment people. Thanks so much for the reviews, they really make me want to write more so please keep on reviewing!

This chapter was... slightly different from the previous ones, but hopefully you liked it just the same. Or not.

Thanks,

Knighted