Author's Note – I won't bother you guys with the excuses, I just didn't feel like writing these past months so I apologize for the delay to everybody who was anticipating this next chapter. On another note, I'm happy yet again with the number of positive reviews I received for this chapter, and I'm also happy to hear that I'm portraying the characters right. Now on to the review responses!
Responses to reviews for Chapter 2
trekken46 – Thanks for the compliment, and I hope this chapter will be good enough as well.
DBH – I'm glad that you enjoyed my portrayal of Squall and Rinoa. As for your question regarding Rinoa - it will be answered soon, actually, there is a reason to why I wasn't specific with description with that scene, so you'll have to keep on reading! And about your suggestion about the cafeteria and infirmary, there are reasons to why I didn't have them go there yet.
For some reason when I read that part when you referred to Squall as 'Mr. Happy', it made me burst out laughing. Oh well, I'm a very odd person in general…
Silver-nex – Yes, Squall will be fine, and I hope that you'll like this chapter!
Inuyasha1lover – Thank you for the compliment and I will try to reduce the amount of times that Squall says 'Whatever', I didn't realize that he said it 4 times in the last chapter! XD
Carie Valentine – The reason why I didn't have them go into the infirmary to sleep is because Squall didn't care where they 'crashed for the night' when Rinoa suggested the teachers' lounge, I used Rinoa's excitement for going somewhere she hasn't been to contrast their different personalities.
DBZ Fanfiction Queen – Thank you for your compliment and I guess that you'll have to sic the Moombas on me because I'm late on writing this chapter.
-Is bitten on the leg by Moomba-
Ouch! That really hurt! Alright, I'll continue with the chapter soon! Gah! Just hold on, I have one more review to do, and then I'll get on with the chapter, I swear!
Luissquall – Thank you for your review and I hope this will be just as good of a chapter as the others.
Enjoy!
Edit (06/07/06) – Just fixed some flow, formatting and dialogue problems. God, I can't believe I wrote this crap!
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Chapter III – Surviving Saturday
Squall's eyes fluttered open in consciousness, he caught a glimpse of several small beams of sunlight peeking through the windows as he slowly started to sit up while trying to process the night's events, the last thing he seemed to remember was fainting from the pain emanating from his scar at the teachers' lounge entrance; everything afterwards was foggy and unclear. Squall couldn't picture anything in his mind. He looked around his surroundings in his current sitting position in hopes of something coming back to him.
Nope. It was still very hazy inside his head.
He was in a room with light blue walls, one of which had several bulletin boards with various flyers and papers tacked on for various things. Against the far wall was a table with a coffee machine on it along with a mini-fridge. There were several rectangular tables clustered together, combined surfaces littered with leftover paperwork, files and tests. He came to a conclusion that this was the teachers' lounge itself. Naturally, the blue-eyed teenager's mind went racing.
'How did I get in here? If I recall correctly, I passed out outside of the lounge -Did Rinoa drag me in here? Wait a minute, something's different here-' Squall paused momentarily in comparison to last night, '…I don't have that searing pain anymore… Well almost, I have a dull ache above my eyes…Like I care, it's nothing compared to last night… Did Rinoa do something to me last night? Last time I checked, things like that don't go away without medicine or something… Where is she anyway? '
The answer to his prior question was answered in two seconds.
Squall glanced sideways; a sleeping Rinoa could be seen on the adjacent couch, he surveyed the snoozing Heartilly for a brief moment. Her head was resting on one of the sofa's arms; her own pale arm was loosely dangling over the edge, legs curled together in a fetal position held together by her other, non-dangling arm.
To Squall, it all seemed to be very Rinoa-esque, for as long as he's known her (which in this case wasn't very long), the current sleeping position she was in seemed to reflect upon her free-spirited, innocent nature accordingly, but there was also something else that didn't seem normal; Rinoa had a bit of a bluish tint in her skin tone. She must have been cold from the current lack of heating. Squall looked down for a second and realized that a pale-yellow blanket was covering his lap; the same one that Rinoa had taken out of her locker yesterday.
It clicked instantly, 'She must have given me her blanket after I passed out. Might as well give it to her because I'm leaving… I think I'll see if the cafeteria can be opened, maybe I can see if I can get some extra food for the weekend or something...'
Squall got up silently, then he walked towards Rinoa's couch in about a second or two, placed the blanket on top of her huddled-up body and left to go get some bobby pins where the raven-haired girl had seemed to have left them, which in this case was on the table nearby, the one that the coffee machine was on, before leaving the room.
Upon obtaining a single bobby pin, Squall strode out of the lounge, but he took a moment to gaze at Rinoa's sleeping figure before completely exiting the room itself. A thought came to mind to further his opinion of the young girl for a few seconds.
'I hate to admit it to myself but… she is kind of pretty, even though her optimistic personality drives me up the wall to insanity… Why am I even thinking about her? I'm going to go crazy with these stupid feeli-…err…thoughts of mine if I keep this up... Next thing I know, I'll be talking to her and everything- I have got to stop these thoughts now before I do something completely stupid…'
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Squall made a quick stop to the water fountain mid-way to his destination, his throat was thoroughly parched and his stomach was completely empty; the last thing he'd eaten was an apple yesterday morning. He finished drinking after what seemed like a minute or two, and then he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand to remove the excess droplets of water under his bottom lip.
He walked down the hallway while surveying the murky surroundings around him; the lack of light effectively changed the atmosphere completely. Squall didn't mind this change at all, in fact, he sort of enjoyed it; it matched his personality quite well. He was more worried if Rinoa wasn't fond the darkness, but judging by her actions from last night, he could tell that she didn't like the somber hallways at all. He half-guessed that she most-likely preferred cheery, bright environments. He found Rinoa to be one of those people who were easy to read mentally. However, her tendency to be tense and dependent on people in the dark was causing the stoic adolescent to contemplate pulling the alarm and getting out of here right now. Her nature and quirks were trying his patience, the brown-haired teenager was naturally a lone wolf, and she was essentially very annoying in general, yet for some unknown reason, he couldn't pull himself up to triggering the alarm.
Why?
Squall pushed these thoughts aside as he continued to amble forward in the direction of the cafeteria, yet something at the back of his head was nagging at him. It felt like there was something peculiar picking at him in his mind, as if fragments of a dormant memory were trying to surface; he stopped to think upon this, but when nothing came, so he ignored it and continued on.
'Something's amiss. Why should there be any reason to have some kind of memory after I blacked out by the door… usually people don't remember things while they're passed out… This is not making sense at all... What am I trying to think of?' He pondered in revelation.
After the destination was attained, Squall picked the lock, and although he wasn't as good as Rinoa when it came to unlocking doors, he still managed to enter the unpopulated cafeteria.
The cafeteria's front counter was locked behind a possibly retractable steel grate, at one of the sides of it had a lock along with a small red button underneath of it, Squall assumed that this would allow the divider grate to open. He attempted a combination of picking at the lock then pressing the button, but it was a futile effort. Getting frustrated, he continued these motions until light footsteps behind him caused him to glance backwards in distraction for a brief moment; it was Rinoa. He barely acknowledged her presence before continuing to pick the lock once more in vain effort.
"I tried that already last night, and it doesn't work. The grate must need to use electricity in some way." Rinoa stated in a calm tone.
Squall's attempt to get the grate to open halted as he turned around to face Rinoa with his stoic gaze and with his arms folded. Rinoa mysteriously wasn't affected at all by his cold demeaning posture. In fact, she attempted to lighten the mood with a little conversation.
"So… Don't you wanna know how I saved your life?" Rinoa said jokingly, she chucked a bit afterwards.
"No."
"Well… How are you feeling then?"
"Fine, I suppose."
At the moment, Squall was feeling much better knowing that he was not letting Rinoa get to him; albeit he was a little curious to how Rinoa purged the previously-agonizing pain he had endured last night. Rinoa on the other hand, wasn't quitting until she'd crack his icy walls to force him to at least admit something, if anything at all.
She then planned to attempt to catch him off-guard eventually by changing the subject.
"So, what's on the agenda for today Squall? Anything special you want to do?" Rinoa inquired, Squall looked at her after her question, slightly perplexed.
'Why would she want to know what I want to do?'
"…Nothing really."
"Come on Squall, you have to think of something to do while on vacation! Think harder!" She mock-yelled at him jokingly, somehow Squall would never adjust to the idea of this predicament being a 'vacation'.
Squall started to walk out of the cafeteria while he also started to respond to her question in a cold tone to attempt to brush her off, he was getting annoyed with this constant talking, "…I'm going to look around to see if there's any other possible way out, that's it. Now can you please leave me alone, just because we're stuck inside together doesn't mean we have to be glued together."
He had started to quicken his pace a little while heading towards one of the first-floor classrooms, his first idea was to open up a window and go through to the outside. During the brisk walk, he took time to do his usual pondering.
'Maybe I shouldn't have been so harsh towards her… Nevermind, she would have left if I hadn't done that. Whatever... Squall you have to keep your thoughts at the task at hand, not on the past… Normally you'd never do that, what's happening to you?'
Something must have distracted him greatly because he'd forgotten the bobby pin necessary to open doors; he inwardly cursed to himself under his breath and silently returned towards the cafeteria in order to recover the abandoned pin. Squall blamed the confinement for his uncharacteristic act of neglect; however, in the depths of his mind, he knew it had to be something else.
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The cafeteria door came closer into view as he walked further down the darkened corridor. As Squall re-entered the desolate canteen, he checked for the missing bobby pin, yet was futile in his findings and his brain went to work right away, accessing the situation yet once more.
'Where did I leave it? It should be here somewhere… It's not like it could disappear into thin ai-'
"Looking for this, Squall?" A voice behind him inquired somewhat-mockingly, interrupting his train of thought, Squall turned around on the dime; it was Rinoa brandishing the bobby pin between her thumb and forefinger.
'I should have known it was her... I never forget things like that, especially when they're between my fingers. Will she ever give up? I've got be more careful next time, that girl is going to be the end of me I swear…'
"Okay… enough of this game, please give it back."
"Nope." Rinoa replied blatantly, a small smile started to curve on her lips.
Squall had enough this foolishness on her part, he made one final attempt by glaring at her in combination with a menacing, cold scowl in her direction, he then finalized the attempt with a simple demand in an low, icy tone.
"…Give it back now."
Rinoa, however, wasn't fazed by this at all. Oddly enough, she still kept her chipper attitude and the small smirk on her face.
"I will- But only if you say 'Thank you' to me for last night."
He then started to wonder. 'Why should he thank her for anything? Did I (or she) do something last night that I don't remember today?' Squall looked slightly perplexed and annoyed before retorting to her proposal.
"-And what should I thank you for exactly?"
Being somewhat aggravated, Rinoa's tone seemed a little more riled up than usual, "I saved your life Squall, you could have DIED for Hyne's sake!" She paused to calm down to return to her normal state of being, coy smile and all, "Tell you what, if you listen to how I saved your life last night, I'll give you the pin. What do you say?"
Squall started to debate inside his mind, 'It won't kill you Squall, just accept. Hyne, it's better than asking what happened last night yourself. Go ahead; she's just given you an opportunity to find out without letting her think that's she's gotten to you.'
"…Fine. But first, understand one thing."
"What, Squall?" She asked sweetly.
"I'm only listening just to get that pin back, I'm personally not interested in your story at all… so don't get any ideas."
"Sure, whatever you say Squall… In fact, I didn't even know you had a personal side to begin with." Rinoa retorted with a mix of sarcasm and humor before beginning her yarn of events. He glared at her for that remark, she just giggled at the scowl he gave her. He was so much fun to tease in her opinion.
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"Okay, last night after you had collapsed, I had gotten extremely nervous; I wasn't sure what to do at all. I panicked. Then I got so nervous that I started to pace back in forth in thought. After a few seconds or possibly minutes, I'm not sure, I got this idea, and it was to go to the infirmary to see if they had any medication on hand to possibly save you or anything that could have helped. So I ran as fast as I could to the infirmary because I couldn't bring you with me. Hyne, I ran so fast I nearly slid into lockers three times! Also, it was so dark I accidentally passed infirmary twice! Anyways, I unlocked the infirmary's door in record time, but when I went inside, I couldn't open up the medicine storage cabinet, it had one of those card swipe and PIN number battery-operated things on the cabinet's doors, so I couldn't get to any medicine at all. I was in too much of a rush to think of a way to open it. Even if I could have gotten to the medicine, I probably wouldn't have been able to read any of the bottle labels anyway, and Hyne knows you'd die from choking if I'd have tried putting a pill down your throat, let alone if I could have pried your mouth open for a change. Actually, come to think of it, that could have been fun to watch…"
Squall had thought Rinoa had stopped for a second to catch her breath for a bit after recalled a lengthy portion of her tale, but in reality, it was actually because of something else.
During this pause, and after shooting daggers at her for that last remark, he thought in horror what could have happened if she'd of gotten any medicine at her disposal and what other terror-inducing things in store for the rest of the story; he just hoped that she didn't do anything R-rated to him when he was out-cold during the remainder of the story.
"…Okay, so seeing as I couldn't get hold of any medicine, I simply went back towards the teachers' lounge to find you still unconscious, but you were a bit bluer than last time so I dragged you into the lounge, propped you onto that one couch and put that blanket over top on you since …I-I…um… couldn't think of anything else, …so…I just kept watch to …um… make sure that didn't-"
Rinoa was lying. It was dead obvious to Squall, seeing that he already knew what her speech was like when she was 'attempting' to lie. He was just about to interject to tell her to just tell the truth, no matter how weird or inappropriate it was or might have been, but Rinoa beat him to the punch herself.
"-Actually… Forget about that last part, I actually tried something else to help save you before putting you on the sofa with the blanket, but I'm not so, so…sure… if you want to hear about it since… it's sort of something that I probably shouldn't have done…"
Squall got annoyed with her insecurity, 'Why insist on telling a story if there are parts that you don't want to say?' He had thought in response. Inside, however, he half-wanted to know what she'd done, but his other half didn't. This time, and one of the very, very few times, his inquisitive side won, but to mask this…feeling, he replied in a tone of voice that sounded more impatient, rather than curious.
"-Just spit it out, as long it wasn't something revolting, I don't care."
"Okay, but there's one thing I'd like to know before telling you."
"…What." Squall folded his arms in annoyance.
"Do you still feel any pain from yesterday right now?"
"…Only a dull ache above my eyes. Why would you care?"
"Wow…you must have been in agony last night." She murmured discreetly to herself before replying aloud to Squall.
"…Squall, how did you manage to stay on two feet with that amount of pain? …I had to use two Curaga spells on you last night before seeing a difference! You must have had exceptionally strong endurance to withstand a magnitude of suffering like that if you still have a dull ache today; with all due respect, you should have fainted a lot earlier..."
'You'd have to thank Seifer for that.' He quipped internally.
"…So what was the big deal about the Curaga spells?" Squall inquired as politely as he could, trying to hold the sarcasm for a change.
"Oh! Well… I thought that you wouldn't have liked it if I'd have told you that I broke school policy to attempt something that might have not worked… Guess I was wrong wasn't I?"
Squall mused briefly on Rinoa's display of doubt, 'Rinoa, if you would have read the school's policy on spells properly, you'd of known that curative spells are permitted in situations like those, like I'd care if you broke the policy anyways… And for that matter, why would you care what I think about you anyway…'
"Whatever."
"Well, I suppose you want the pin back now…" She took a brief moment to fish the bobby pin out of her pocket, "Here, take it."
Squall took the make-shift lockpick out of her hand and started to head back towards his earlier destination by retreating out of the room, and then he heard her light footsteps follow him outside; although those footsteps did not follow the same direction after getting out of the cafeteria.
"Well, I'll see you later Squall. Just let me know if there's a way out, 'kay?" Rinoa said in a small trace of slight disappointment as she was heading towards the opposite corridor.
Sometimes Squall cursed upon his ability to read people so well, and this was one of those times. Obviously by her tone of voice, Rinoa wanted to join him in search for a way out, or at least to have his company in general. Normally, he would have ignored this subliminal verbal plea, but there was just something about her that he couldn't ignore. He automatically started to ponder in revelation.
'Hmph…Maybe my mind is using some kind of subconscious logic to make sure that I don't have a completely unpleasant person to deal with for the weekend? -No, that doesn't make sense; I could just pull the alarm if that was the case… What is it that I'm experiencing? I can't believe I'm actually doing this… '
"…You can come if you want… I don't care."
Rinoa abruptly turned around in surprise, "Really? If I recall correctly, weren't you the one who had said 'just because we're stuck inside together doesn't mean we have to be glued together'. What's with the change in heart?"
"…Well, number one, I've come to realize that you need some kind of company or else you go insane within two minutes of solitude, and number two, if I didn't let you come with me, I'd have to spend 20 minutes trying to find you anyways to tell you anything regardless. That's it."
"Are you sure it's not because of something else? Hmm..?" Rinoa asked jokingly with a big Cheshire grin, face tilted just below Squall's. He gave her the usual icy glare as he turned around to end all further non-sense and commenced their search for a way out.
"She'd better shut up during the search or else I'm the one who's going to go insane…" he muttered irritably underneath his breath, with Rinoa happily tailing him.
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During their search, Rinoa had surprisingly been fairly quiet apart from the several minor (and fruitless) attempts at striking up a conversation, and when she also inquired if she could help him when Squall was attempting a new possible way to escape the clutches of the school's interior. No efforts were successful at all; all of the windows were permanently sealed (or too high up for non-suicidal escape), no unguarded doors were unlocked/lockpick-able, and the other outside doors were alarm-protected. By the time the pair were finished searching, it was around 4:30, and their always-searching, anorexic-like eating habits were finally catching up with them, so naturally, they decided to head towards Rinoa's locker, where they consequently kept all of the food, and ate the day's pre-planned rations, not to mention a stop at the old water fountain to keep their hunger at bay. At least for a little while anyway.
Afterwards, they, or rather Squall with Rinoa following him, went in the direction of the other school-incarcerated teen's (Squall's) locker. There, the owner of that particular locker started to gather up his Revolver case, his gym bag which contained another set of non-stained gym clothes and started a trek to the gym in a steady, even pace while the other captive was left a bit bewildered while trying to catch up.
"Hey, what exactly are you doing Squall?"
Being annoyed, Squall replied coldly, "…What does it look like I'm doing?"
"Well, shouldn't you care about what I am supposed to do while you're practicing your brains out?" The Revolver case-carrying adolescent chose to ignore this remark and simply continued on his march to the gym.
As the doors to gym came into the view, Squall quickened his pace a bit; he was itching to practice his gunblade techniques all day regardless if he were to practice in his basement if he got out- or the gym if he couldn't. Seeing as they couldn't get out, it was clearly the latter.
When they were inside the somber gym, while Squall headed towards the guys' locker room, Rinoa took a seat on a gym bench, most likely to rest her feet for she and Squall had been walking nearly all day. But right before completely retreating into the change room, Squall noticed out of the far corner of his eye, a deviant smirk spreading across Rinoa's face. Then he hoped that she wasn't planning anything sinister in store for him.
Changing took a little longer than usual, the lack of lighting made the task of picking the clean set of gym clothes rather than the blood-stained ones and bit more troublesome, but despite this waste of a several minutes, Rinoa didn't barge in to catch him half-dressed like he had assumed she'd do, judging from of the sly smile she had plastered on her face whilst sitting on the bench.
As he exited the room, Squall didn't see Rinoa on the bench like she was located before, or anywhere for that matter, but roughly two seconds later, she popped out of the girls' locker room with her set of gym clothes on, and her Pinwheel attached on her right forearm, grin forming on her lips as soon as she saw Squall at the opposing side of the gym, he thought nothing of it as he caught a glance at the smiling Heartilly. Unbeknownst to him, she had a plan - a plan ready for action.
Squall started to practice as if she didn't even exist, but stopped as soon as Rinoa got in his way. Being thoroughly annoyed, Squall tried to drive her away so that he could to the only thing he actually felt like doing on his 'vacation'.
"Can you please move…"
"No, I was kind of hoping that we could practice together, if that's okay with you."
Squall contemplated Rinoa's offer, 'She must have something up her sleeve, there's something unsettling about the way she was smirking earlier, I can't help but not at least have the suspicion that she's got ulterior motives planned already…'
'-The practice can't hurt though, it's better than practicing alone… I'll just ignore any opportunities for conversation that she attempts, that's all…'
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Dueling with Rinoa was a lot different from dueling with Seifer, it wasn't that it was harder or easier, Squall had just realized that the battle mechanics for fighting against projectiles were a lot different from the methods for facing another gunblade or any blade weapon, and so he found it a bit more challenging to adapt to in such a small period of time. He secretly was enjoying the change of pace that this practice was providing; even though he was determined not to show it.
Rinoa on the other hand, wasn't getting as much fun out of this as Squall secretly was. She was determined to get a conversation going while dueling, yet Squall's level of intensity in practice wasn't enabling her that opportunity. Instead, the she was giving 110 percent on trying to focus to fend off his blade so that he could not win. She saw a victory as a possibility that Squall could use to utilize as an excuse to go Hyne-knows where alone by himself. She did have to admit that he was actually improving her skills though, but still, that was not her intention at all. Not by a long shot.
During the course of the duel, Squall was noticing a decline of effort in Rinoa's techniques, albeit they provided nearly the same effectiveness, he generally assumed that she was getting bored of the general repetitiveness of the duel as a whole, which caused him to form a smart-alecky remark inside his head.
'You got what you asked for Rinoa, I'm not here to feebly practice and chat at the same time, I'm here to duel whether you like it or not.'
However, he soon changed his analysis of Rinoa's predicted present state very swiftly.
While looking up at her for a moment, her current appearance gave the gunblade-wielder an impression that she was going to collapse from exhaustion any minute now, so in light of this, he inwardly considered that he should be kind enough to stop in order to avoid any complications later on. But the thing that surprised him the most was the fact that she didn't say anything about stopping herself, this got him to thinking that maybe she really was that determined to practice to improve her skills or… that she really was that determined to practice to squeak in some conversation at one point or another. Either option was legitimate, but after thinking over once more, Squall realized that she clearly had 'Option B' in her head.
'Rinoa, won't you ever give up? It's doesn't matter though, nothing will ever work anyways because I'll be one step ahead of you every time. Maybe I'll make this into game… Maybe not, that's too cruel for anyone to endure.'
Squall had dropped his attacks after he had delivered one last counter with his blade for what probably could have been the hundredth time, yet Rinoa took notice of this a little too late and ended up hitting Squall in the stomach with the Pinwheel's projectile. She gasped as he doubled over slightly and extended his left hand forward to let her know to stop dueling.
"Are you okay Squall!" She yelped loudly.
He then proceeded to scold himself mentally, 'Smart move Leonhart, maybe you should have said something instead… Now she'll be worried and shower you with a pointless rain of 'SORRY! SORRY! SORRY!'… Sometimes you should open your mouth more…'
"…I'm fine."
"Phew…That's good…although I still feel a bit faint… –Hey, why did we stop?" Rinoa wondered aloud.
"…Because you didn't look too good…I didn't want you fainting or anything."
"Oh, thanks… -Wait a minute, since when do you care about me anyway? …Got some other unsaid thoughts in your head that you'd like to share, hmmm…" Rinoa said suggestively, trying to corner Squall into forcibly admitting something. However, Squall already had a response to get out of that trap already.
"…No, I just don't feel like dragging a body all the way to the staff lounge today." He honestly retorted rather dismissively.
"…Very funny, Squall, I never thought you were capable of making a joke. But still, I'm not feeling the greatest, so I'd like to get to that couch before I pass out. Hyne knows where I'll end up if I faint and need your help." Rinoa quipped wearily with a bit of venom in her voice; she couldn't believe that he got out of that one.
'That's funny, I wasn't even joking…'
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When Rinoa made it to one of the lounge's sofas without any complications at all, she decided to take a nap. Meanwhile when he knew that she'd finally had fallen asleep, Squall headed back towards the gym yet again. Not for practice purposes like he'd previously had done before, but to try to distract some of the hunger pains he was having by planning to do a little workout of sit-ups, push-ups and various things. For some reason it usually worked for him when he was at home alone waiting for his father to come home for a very late supper.
On his way to the gym, Squall checked under his gym shirt to see if there was any bruise or anything caused by the Pinwheel attack. He only found a small gash along with a bit of minor bleeding on his abdomen and a small blood stain on the inside of his t-shirt, although it didn't stain on the outside. Squall would have checked sooner, but Rinoa was also present, he didn't feel like being worried about over what was only a mild discomfort to him.
When he finally got to the gym and went upstairs to the weights room, Squall then proceeded to do what he had intended on doing on the mats, and his plan was working for awhile, but there was something else that was slightly impeding his progress as his mind came up for a substitute for those hunger pains that he was experiencing earlier, and those were thoughts from his mind about today, and particularly on the person whom he'd spent today with.
'Why is she so desperate to make conversation with me?-'
Sit-up.
'-Why doesn't she just leave me alone?-'
Sit-up again.
'-Why exactly didn't she ask to stop in practice?-'
Sit-up once more.
'-Why is she even on my mind anyway?'
Get up.
Squall tried to assimilate these new bothersome questions in his head by switching to push-ups with ease. He assumed that since he was getting used to the continuous burn of sit-ups, it enabled his brain to wander elsewhere and formulate questions in his head, and for the moment, was right with his prior hypothesis.
Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Squall, a silent observer had taken up residence outside, near the weight room's door, peering through the window beside the door with guilty fascination at his working figure.
"Wow… I didn't know he was that fit… But there's so much I don't know about him…" Rinoa, the silent observer muttered to herself in awe, which by chance, freshly awoke from her nap. She still wasn't back to 100 percent, but she couldn't make herself sleep anymore anyways, so, she went to find Squall.
She looked on for at least 10 minutes; she was fascinated with how he managed to work arduously in a continuous manner in light of their situation and after the conditions which they both subjected themselves all day in search and practice. It kind of made Rinoa pity her own physical capabilities and endurance for a moment or two. But most of the moments she'd spent gazing at him from afar made Rinoa continuously wish that Squall would take off his T-shirt, but from what she'd knew about him, she fully realized that her wish was just as good as being a pipe dream (A/N – I couldn't resist writing that in…lol!).
However, she stopped making guilty wishes at she saw him stop momentarily to clutch his sides, she guessed that he was experiencing pain from either his stomach or possibly his head and felt badly for him, wishing that she could have helped him through the hurt, but she knew that she couldn't do any thing about it.
"I wish that I could help, but I can't. I just feel like…-I feel like your pain is all my fault…Sorry."
And that's when Rinoa decided to leave, she couldn't bear seeing him like this or to get caught peeking at him, and besides, she had to go the bathroom anyway.
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Squall's hunger, mental and head pains seemed to have all come back all at one precise moment, as if the three pains were conspiring to make him writhe in suffering, but despite the intense moment they all strangely left quick enough.
After the pain had seemed to have departed, Squall mused briefly. 'Maybe I should finally stop and take a shower; I think I'm thoroughly done for the night.'
He went downstairs in haste, not even bothering to halt for a split second to his destination to the guys' locker room, and meanwhile just blatantly removed his sweaty shirt as he just before got inside the locker room itself, he didn't feel like wasting any time, he felt dog-gone tired and felt like getting the inevitable icy-cold shower (no electricity equals no heat) out of the way and go Hyne-knows where to crash for the night.
After what felt like the shortest, and most-coldest, shower of his life, the adolescent walked swiftly the staff lounge, where he found a sitting Rinoa, doing what seemed to be like homework of some sort.
Once she caught a glimpse of him in her sight, her attention diverted from her schoolwork to him, giving him an odd smirk.
"Where did you go to, a water park?" Rinoa said while keeping a nearly-straight face.
"…No."
"Squall, you do realize that I was joking, right?"
Squall didn't reply right away, he just made a mental retort, 'Of course I do Rinoa, I'm not stupid, I just don't partake in imbecilic jokes.'
"…Whatever, I'm going to bed."
Afterwards, Squall almost instantaneously fell asleep on the same couch he found himself on this morning, but right before going unconscious in sleep, he thought he had heard Rinoa say something along the lines of, 'By the way Squall, nice back.' but he ignored it, figuring that he was probably imagining things.
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End of Chapter Comments – Sorry in advance if this chapter wasn't as good as the other two, but I swear that the next chapter posted will be up much, much sooner and might possibly be better in terms of stuff happening to Squall and Rinoa. Also, before I forget, sorry if you guys didn't like the bits of humour that I added in this chapter.
So until next time (whenever that may be), keep reviewing with ideas, comments or anything you guys have to say! Thanks!