Author's Note – Sorry for the unforgivably-late chapter, this semester at school was horrible for giving me way too much homework…Anyways, I'd like to share other than the fact that I'm yet again pleased with the positive reviews/threats I've gotten (At least they still want to read this fic…) and that I've finally gotten some constructive criticism in some of those reviews, because if I'm not told things, I will not improve. Also, expect more timely additions from here on in because I finally on summer vacation, so that means more free time! Sorry about before, I seem to get worse and worse for updating…

Okay, enough of my rambling… On to those reviews!

Responses to reviews for Chapter 3

FloralBlackMoon – Thanks for review! It makes me so happy to know when people say that they like my fic to that extent. I'm so happy… -author starts rambling insanely in corner-

lady-rinoa – Thank you so much for giving your honest opinion and ideas for the fic, I appreciate the criticism greatly. As for your suggestions, I will make Rinoa less childish (so bear with me for the transition) and she won't bug Squall nowhere near as much, and then we'll see about Squall's reaction to that then... Hee…

…And just to let you know, there was a reason why Squall doesn't want to open up, but I might not write that until a bit later, sometimes I'm not completely sure about certain things, and that's one of those things. Sorry.

DBZ Fanfiction Queen – Thanks for the review, and I hope that Adel forgot about my extreme late-ness because I don't want her after my blood… Lol…

…Okay, if I may be serious for a moment, to answer your question, Squall wasn't sleeping shirtless, and I'll clarify to what I was implying by Rinoa's ending comment in Chapter 3. Rinoa saw Squall's backside when he was going inside the guys' locker room because Rinoa, at the time, had just came out of the bathroom before, so when he was going in, she came out of the girls' locker room.

So, to really get the joke, you had to read between the lines, or that I just have to learn to write fanfiction better.

Luissquall – I'm glad that you didn't mind my laziness and that you enjoyed the chapter!

Heartillyangel – Thank you very much for your review, and I hope that you'll like this chapter as well.

Silver-nex x2 – Glad someone found that last chapter funny. / I'm so sorry… sorry…sorry!

tidusXyuna637 – Thanks, and I hope that this update is as good as the last.

Okay, might as well get on to writing this Hyne-forsaken chapter since I'm done to responding to reviews, here we go!

-Author types insanely fast-

Edit (07/07/06) – Just fixed some typos and tweaked a particular scene due to problems.

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Chapter IV – Unwanted Intrusions

"Why aren't they back yet, it's already very, VERY dark outside!"

A phone was put back onto its' receiver.

"I'm sorry, but they won't be coming back…Um… you see- "

"-Why?"

"Well, it's like this……"

Beams of light peeked through the lounge window yet again, achieving to catch a certain seventeen-year old male captive's range of vision. This caused him to rouse from his slumber to face the new day, a day that he'd rather not experience if he were to be given the choice.

Unfortunately, since he did not possess the super-natural talent of time manipulation, he did not have a say in the matter. Instead, he opted to think about the matter.

'Tonight, I'm going to sleep in the infirmary… I dislike always having this stupid sunlight in my eyes; it always makes me wake up much too early… ' Squall thought groggily while attempting to sit up on the sofa.

After rubbing away sleep from his eyes, he swiftly scanned the room for a possible working clock to obviously to distinguish whether it was early or too early in the morning. He walked around the lounge quietly, Rinoa was still sleeping on the other couch, but to no avail, all two of the clocks he found were plugged to powerless outlets. But then something clicked inside Squall's head, reminding him of something.

'…I think Rinoa has a watch… I'm almost positive that she recited the time at least once yesterday, I guess there's only one way to find out…'

Rinoa indeed had a watch on her left forearm, confirming his prior inclinations, but Squall soon found out that he'd have difficulty in reading the time, because that arm happened to be dangling over the couch's side, poking out from under her blanket-covered form, with the watch's face facing the floor.

Ever so cautiously, he tried to pick up the limp arm to attempt reading the current time, however by coincidence, just about the same time Squall almost had the time at his disposal for reading, Rinoa's arm subconsciously did not feel like cooperating with him. It decided to retract under the blanket's depths, and Squall just got more frustrated with the situation itself.

'She's the only person who I have ever met that's a nuisance both to me when they're awake and asleep! …Might as well try once more before giving up, at least this is killing a bit of time…'

In a final attempt, Squall lifted the pallid make-shift cover, and the watch-bearing arm became visible, bent against Rinoa herself, wedged between her head and curled-up legs possibly for warmth purposes, he then moved to get a better angle to see and actually managed to read the time.

7:32 it read.

Squall's mind automatically started to ponder, 'Hmm… Not bad, I sup-'

"…Huh… -Hey! What are you doing?" Rinoa exclaimed as her eyelids fluttered open, meanwhile Squall clattered to the floor in surprise.

"-Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you!" She pleaded as she sprang to help him get up.

"…I'm fine, just startled…That's all…" The blue-eyed teen replied briefly while doing his best to get up with a bit of grace while brushing off the attempt of help given by the previously-sleeping girl.

"That's a relief… what were you trying to do Squall?"

"…Just trying to read the time on your watch…The other clocks weren't working." Squall stated in a no-nonsense tone of voice, he was certain that Rinoa wouldn't be able to find anything weird in that sentence to bug him about, he didn't feel like her antics this early in the morning, especially when he could have been sleeping if the moronic sunlight hadn't woken him up.

"That makes sense, clocks need electricity to run, but why would you want to know the time? I mean, I don't think that it'd be necessary in our predicament."

'You know, she might be right about that one, but why can't she stop trying to figure me out... Hyne, can't I even do one thing without her analyzing the reasoning behind it, and today I just want to be left ALONE and not bothered...'

"…Rinoa, can you please stop judging whatever stupid thing I do and just leave me be? I'm getting sick of it. I only wanted to know the time because the sunlight woke me up, that's all…"

Rinoa was a bit shocked by his angry retort because she wasn't expecting him to say something like that so early in the morning, usually somebody would need to be fully awake before saying something like…Wait a minute, didn't it seem like what he had said was actually what he happened to be thinking about? Had she at last gotten through his defenses? Or was this a slip because he wasn't fully awake? Only one thing was certain and that it was that Squall Leonhart, the self-proclaimed lone wolf had finally shown traces of humanity and that he did show some level of emotion, even though the ones being articulated happened to be anger and annoyance at the moment.

"Oh, I'm sorry about that, I didn't intend for my question to be like that, it just seemed a bit... you know, odd."

Squall suddenly realized in full effect what he had just said. Had Rinoa finally gotten to him? And did he just confess to what he was actually thinking, and to what he was… feeling? Squall was unsure to any of this at all, he was caught on the fence because he couldn't decide to whether he only said that because it was so early in morning or that in reality, Rinoa had finally achieved to make him admit something, albeit accidentally. Only one thing he did know was that it sickened him to know that fact and that she'd won and neither of them had even realized it until moments later.

'What have I done? She actually got me to admit something without even TRYING! Maybe, it was a momentary lapse… Yeah, that's got to be it… after all, I don't think that I'm really awake yet, but was that the reason? Or is it an excuse? I can't believe that I actually did that… If she tries that again- it'll be the last straw. I'll leave, I… can't… I won't take this anymore… Sorry E-"

"…Squall, are you okay? You look a little pale." Rinoa wondered aloud, at that moment he realized that he went into a bit of trance a couple of seconds beforehand.

"…Um-Yeah, I'm fine." As if it where trying to mock him, a small trickle of a faint, stinging sensation was beginning to feel it's presence known on Squall's scar yet once more.

'Does this thing have a mind of its own? The pain always seems to act up only at the worst times possible… Maybe this'll teach me a lesson for letting my ego get the best of me…But why do the lessons always have to be so Hyne-forsaken painful all of the time?'

"Phew, that's good. So… since I don't think that we have anything planned, I was sort of wondering, would you like to spar with me again? You seemed to like it yesterday, so I thought that it might be fun to do it again."

'How did she know that I liked it? -Am I losing my touch? Better brush it off for later. I don't want to be figured out that easily...'

"…Maybe later, I really don't feel like it now."

"Oh, okay…"

The sunlight shining through the windows had seemingly been getting stronger by the minute, and Squall was getting sick of it, that and the thought of Rinoa getting to him. A part of him wished once more that this morning had never come to be and it was tormenting his mind to know that there could be nothing to be done about it, but for some reason today, his body felt was also feeling tormented as well. Squall was pretty certain that he was actually feeling tired, which was another first for him, just another exception to be added to his normal behavior. Maybe a nap in the infirmary would to him good, after all, he hadn't been eating properly in the last couple of days and this would give him an escape from Rinoa's random bantering.

So at that moment, he started walking to the infirmary without saying a single word, and oddly enough, the raven-haired girl wasn't following him or asking him a million questions a minute, the weary-eyed Leonhart was starting to think that maybe, just maybe, she was finally getting the picture and that she was starting to realize that he didn't want a companion at his side every waking minute of the day.

After opening the infirmary's already-unlocked door, Squall went inside the somber room and found himself a nice clean bed and laid down on its soft, but firm, white mattress. Sleep came easily enough within a matter of a couple of minutes, but a small multitude of thought permeated his head right before falling into slumber's sweet, cleansing depths.

'Why didn't Rinoa follow me? I was almost certain that she'd ask me at least one question after I left…'

'Can it be possible that she might have gotten the message?'

'I don't think people change that quickly…'

'… Why is this even bothering me, shouldn't I be trying to …sle..e.p… '

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"-they won't be coming back…Um… you see- "

"-Why?"

"Well, it's like this… they got into… a car accident-"

"What's a car ac-ac..cid…dent Daddy?"

"It's when two cars crash into each other, sorta like what you do to your toy cars sometimes… a-and, I can't really explain it to you right now… It's just too hard."

"It's not hard Daddy, I can understand, I'm 5 years old and that's big!"

"…Maybe I'll explain it when you're older, then you'll understand…"

After a having what seemed like a fragment of a dream, Squall woke up and found himself the exact same bed, in the exact same position right before he'd fallen asleep, exact same everything…that is, unless if he hadn't seen Rinoa on the bed adjacent to him, just like Seifer had been a few days prior, however this didn't surprise the teenager one bit.

"I suppose some things don't change after all…" He muttered to himself while trying to get up, but somehow he knew deep inside that Rinoa wouldn't leave him be after all. However, in reality, this was far from the case.

As Squall was silently trying to exit the room, trying not to wake the slumbering Heartilly for the second time, he heard an odd clattering noise, causing him to abruptly turn around. It was Rinoa that had fallen out of her bed.

"…Oww."

Squall had turned around split-seconds right after to see Rinoa fall down onto the floor, and when she came out of her sleep-induced reverie, it looked as if she was having a bit of trouble getting up on her own accord. His primary instinct was to leave her to get up by herself, but another thought emerged and it told him to help her, being caught on what action to do, he thought about it for maybe a fraction of a second.

'Somehow, I know that I'll regret doing this but-'

After an interval of a few seconds, Squall swiftly aided Rinoa to get back on her own bed and let her go back to her own devices as fast as humanly possible. Whatever they might have been, Squall didn't care as long as she'd leave him alone. After leaving the nearly-vacant room, he came to the conclusion that he did make a good decision in helping her since she seemed to be half-asleep, therefore couldn't possibly hold it against him. Somehow Squall was starting to get a little annoyed with himself; reason being that he kept on getting increasingly paranoid about Rinoa and the way she subconsciously seemed to make his notions revolve her with just about… everything she did. Why was this happening to him? And for that matter, why should he even be caring about this?

In attempt to ditch the continuous, plaguing reflections, Squall decided on taking a long walk of the school's interior, maybe it would do him some good to clear his mind and pass some time.

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The walk had done wonders for the previously-troubled adolescent's complex mindset, now the only torment he seemed to have were the occasional pangs of hunger spasms from the lack of nourishment, figuring that it appeared to be an appropriate time to share the day's rations, Squall walked in the direction towards the infirmary in hopes of meeting up with Rinoa to inform her about what he was planning on doing. They had previously agreed to tell each other when they were having any food just to keep tabs.

When he re-entered the room, he appeared to be in good luck, Rinoa was still sleeping soundly on her bed, unbeknownst of everything surrounding her, Squall figured that he should wait until she woke up, just to be polite and not disrupt her slumber. Instead, he backtracked to his locker and opted to start some history homework assigned a day before their quiz.

Squall however, couldn't seem to concentrate, whether it was constant rumbling of his stomach reminding him of his hunger or just general thoughts drifting in and out, his mind could not stay focused on Hyne, wars, or whatever the hell he was supposed to be writing about, and for some reason he kept on having a continuous notion that something was wrong somewhere. Squall was actually on ball for that; that something somewhere seemed to be a certain someone sleeping in the infirmary, not that he knew that much.

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Meanwhile in the infirmary, saying that Rinoa wasn't very well the greatest was a bit of an understatement; she felt drained, which probably the worse feeling she'd like to experience at any given moment, add a few nightmares and guilt trips and you'd know exactly how she was feeling (provided that you're a very perky and optimistic individual).

She hated every moment of this lethargy; not having any energy was horrible for starters, Rinoa felt as if all she could do was sleep, she couldn't even get herself up after falling out of bed for Hyne-sake! No… she had to be helped back onto the bed by someone else (Squall?), to what, sleep some more? Being helpless and weak was extremely unlike herself in her own opinion, on top of that, she felt bad for Squall; had she'd been too forward with him? Dissecting his every sentence… word…pauses for hidden meanings of interest? Now that she was fully aware of her actions by his minor outburst earlier this morning, Rinoa finally realized that trying directly to get to know Squall Leonhart was not the best (or easiest) route to follow as once thought.

Awoken again from her slumber, still exhausted, she got up. Rinoa may have gone a little too fast maybe, because she tripped out of bed instead of getting out of bed.

"Tired or not, I'm getting out of here!" She declared, still fighting the fatigue which was plaguing her.

She exited the room and turned around a couple corners, but halted suddenly, surprised to see Squall trying to do his homework.

"…Approximatly.. 4000 years ago… Cetra civilization forms… Nevermind…" He mumbled to himself while looking at his textbook and putting his pencil down.

"Can't do your homework?" Rinoa asked, walking up to him slowly. Squall gave her a 'what-does-it-look-like-to-you?' glare in response.

"…If you're here to bug me some more, leave me be." He retorted coldly to his history book.

"…No, I just know how it feels when you try to do homework but can't because it's too boring, that's all."

"…Whatever…" Squall paused for a moment, remembering what he wanted to tell Rinoa when she'd been asleep.

He got up, picked his things and said, "…I'm going to have my rations for today, just so you know."

Squall was heading towards his locker when Rinoa piped up and said, "You do realize that the rations are in my locker, right?"

'Crap…'

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The two teens had made the trip to Rinoa's locker very silently, so silent that a pin could drop and make an unholy racket in comparison. However, Squall did notice the change in both Rinoa's social and physical behavior; she seemed eerily quiet, her gait was noticeably slower and she was as white as a sheet.

'I wonder why she's so… different and sickly… Why am I even complaining about this? Well the sick part I can understand, I don't want to drag her around, but why am I questioning the silence? What's this I'm experiencing? Is it that I'm getting used to the annoying topics? Am I going insane? I'll have to think about this later… '

"Here we are, I guess I'll take my rations out too I suppose." Rinoa said, justifying her actions accordingly.

She began taking out the food but had a bit of difficulty standing straight up, Squall immediately knew why she looked so weary; she needed more food in her system.

'She looks like she's going to pass out soon, better give her my share or else I'll have to carry her to the infirmary myself… Hope she doesn't look into this…'

"…Rinoa."

"Hmm?"

"Take my share… you don't look…very well."

"No, it's okay, it'll pass." She said, trying to hand him his rations. However, Squall refused the food in her outstretched hand.

"Trust me on this one, you need it."

"Are you sure?" Squall nodded.

"Thanks." Rinoa then sat and ate her lunch in dignified silence, slowly but surely, colour began to return to her face. After she was done she resumed talking again.

"Are you going to be okay for today Squall?"

"…Yeah. I'm used to this kind of thing happening."

"You starve at home?"

"No. Sometimes I have to wait for my father to come home from late meetings to have supper." He stated in a flat tone.

"Why couldn't you just eat by yourself instead of waiting for him?" She asked.

"He's… very quirky about things like that. That's all."

"…Or is that just code for 'Squall Leonhart can't cook food for himself at all'?" Rinoa giggled jokingly, Squall gave her a Mega Death 3000© glare for that remark.

As soon as the one-sided laugh fest ended, the non-laugher decided to leave and take a walk by himself; and it just so happened that he was starting to experience another one of those migraines again.

'What's the trigger causing these headaches so sporadically? Is it anger? Frustration? -No, then I would have them all the time… What is it?-'

Just then, Squall could ponder no more as the ache intensified, and his body on the verge of collapse again, nearly identical to the pain's paramount on Friday night, yet escalating faster making it all the more excruciatingly atrocious.

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Later that day, Rinoa was roaming around aimlessly to pass time; she started to know where the various alarms, graffiti and useless junk were all situated in the school. Wandering the corridors was boring, yes, but it felt great to have her vigor restored to its prior levels.

Being completely by herself wasn't very enjoyable either, being used to her circle of friends and whatnot, but if Squall could do it 24/7 voluntarily, Rinoa figured that she could too.

"It's a shame I couldn't get to know him as well as I would have liked, maybe I can try later." She thought aloud to herself in renewed confidence. Two minutes later, she approached the end of another corridor, ready to make a right turn; but something else caught her sights first.

"Oh my god! Squall!" Rinoa's pace quickened, heart beating faster instantaneously. Squall was nearly on the floor trying to regain his posture, failing miserably at doing so; he was desperately clinging onto the wall for support.

"Squall, let me help you, I'll-" He interrupted her savior speech glaring at her from menacing eyes, one hand motioning her to stop talking.

"…You will do nothing, I'll be fine… this will pass."

"No it won't. You should be on medication for that gash, but since we're not in any position to give you any meds, so you will listen to me and let me help you." Rinoa said defiantly; clearly this was forming into a battle of wills.

'I won't listen, I can handle this… I'm not going to fail…'

Trying to stand on his own accord, Squall finally collapsed and clattered to the floor, but being the strong-willed person that he was, he got up slowly and started to stagger towards the infirmary, ignoring Rinoa's pleas to help him. Reluctantly, she seemingly gave up as she stormed down the other corridor to continue whatever it was she was doing very angrily.

Without her help, Squall somehow managed to make it. Once inside, he locked the door to make sure that she'd have difficulty getting in. He was going to brave it alone, with no one's help. The teen intended on keeping the promise he'd made to himself years ago; not to rely on anyone for anything. Soon, he fell into very uneasy sleep.

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"…Maybe I'll explain it when you're older, then you'll understand…"

"NO! I wanna know now Daddy!"

"…Okay, but it's not very happy news, are you sure you want to hear it Squall?"

"Yup, I'm ready! I'll even sit down like a good boy!"

"'Kay…Sigh… You know how your sister Ellone and Mommy went to get some fresh strawberries so that we could make jam tonight?"

"Yeah, Mommy said I get to help make jam too!"

"We.ll…After they got the strawberries, there was…another car a..nd…"

"-And big car crash, Daddy?"

"…….Yes…."

"When are they coming home then?"

"No, Squall, they're not coming home…They're gone…Your Mommy and sister..are gone, okay? They… died…"

"NO! I saw Sis and Mommy at supper, they're alive! It's too early! You only die when you're old Daddy!"

"No, Squall, they really died in the car crash… I'm so sorry…"

"But… Ellone was my big Sis..she was my fwend…I never want to have anymore fwends again, I don't want my fwends to die-"

"Don't worry Squall, everything will be alright…"

"No…never..I won't let it…"

Squall jolted out of his bed very agitated. That same nightmare about his mother and sister's death was plaguing him all day today and it hasn't stopped yet; trying to get his mind off things, he decided on practicing techniques again. Gunblading had always his escape, diversion from pain, thought and feeling. First, he had to get off this weird note off his shoe.

I know that you didn't want any help, but I didn't want you dying in midst of sleeping, you were twitching an awful lot. I only cast one cure spell, if you can still feel pain that's your problem. See you in the gym.

- Rinoa

'How did she know? Whatever, I'll just do as I planned, ignore her if I have to.' The pain was still there- but to a lesser extent. Regardless, he hopped out of bed and headed towards the gym.

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Right before getting to the gym doors, Squall spotted Rinoa unnaturally nervous. At the same moment his headache seemed to force its' presence to be known again, but she wasn't the only reason why the pain was possibly perking up again. Unknown footsteps were echoing behind them. Fast.

"Well, well, look who we have here, Leonhart and Heartilly. Finally hit puberty yet Squall?"

It was Seifer accompanied by his two others that Squall knew as Seifer's 'posse', Fujin and Raijin. Rinoa must have had the same primary response to the three's presence because she voiced what Squall was thinking.

"What the heck are you guys doing here!" Rinoa yelled in shock, not expecting to find anyone but herself and Squall for the duration of their imprisonment.

"I could say the same to you, but I have a pretty good idea already." Seifer sneered. At that moment, the cobalt-eyed teenager noticed the identical gash across his rival's forehead and wondered if he was also experiencing the same pains too.

"Yeah, me too ya know?"

"SILENCE!"

"Oww… Why didja hit me for!" Raijin whined after Fujin hit him.

"Okay enough of this, if you guys got in, that means that there's a way out… Could you guys tell us how to get out?" Rinoa pleaded to Seifer.

"Had enough fun already? Nah…I don't think so."

"Please! I beg of you!"

"Why should I bother helping you? However…"

Finally, Squall entered the conversation, "…However what?"

"How about we duel, a rematch you might say. If you can win, I'll tell you; if not…I'll leave you to have your …fun here."

"…Fine."

'It's obvious that Seifer's only doing this for revenge, it's too obvious. I just hope this ends well…'

Once in the gym, both Squall and Seifer stood at their respective ends ready to duel with their Gunblades when something suddenly sparked in Rinoa's brain.

"I still don't get it. What did Seifer come here for? Wait a minute! He must have known… …No wonder he brought his Gunblade with him… Oh my Hyne…" Rinoa mumbled to herself, aware of the situation in its' full magnitude. Just then she looked up and saw Squall ganged up on 3-on-1 by the aid of Fujin and Raijin. Not in a traditional sense though, they only seemed to be serving as some kind of human barrier to prevent him from going very far, occasionally using their weapons to force Squall to go closer towards the blonde, strangely effective in minimizing the space he had been away from Seifer. Squall was still maintaining himself somehow- but just barely. Rinoa skid into the locker room to find her Pinwheel and help him.

By the time she got back out, Squall was still fighting back a little less effectively, all though Raijin was out cold momentarily. Squall looked very drained with several minor cuts and blood running down his sides, beads of perspiration collecting on his forehead. Figuring that there was no time to waste, Rinoa rushed to join the fray and help. Losing was not an option, but at least if she could stop the fight, it'd be all worth it.

When she got there, Squall was dodging an assault of projectiles and blade swipes, narrowly escaping each movement, every disk shot. Rinoa figured that distracting Seifer would be her best bet to ensure Squall's survival. She delivered a Pinwheel attack to Seifer's lower lip causing him to jump slightly in disbelief that he was actually bleeding in slight hurt from an unknown attacker; this gave Squall a chance to gain a bit of leverage to regain equality in the previous unfair scenario.

However this move caught Squall off-guard too as he suddenly realized Rinoa was fighting alongside him, even… helping him…

"…What are you doing?" Squall speculated in between a parry.

"Keeping it even." She replied coolly while dodging.

In a moment later, Raijin came out of his daze and suddenly got back up. Seeing how his friends were now occupying both adversaries since Fuijin was now fending off Rinoa, he seized the opportunity and made Squall trip forward using his staff behind him; the sudden movement caused him to drop his weapon and hit his head against the gym floor.

Trying to get back up as fast as he could was extremely difficult for Squall; it was like pressing to do 10 more push-ups when you've already done 1000. Scrambling back to his feet was extremely painful too but he managed to do it because of his desire not to give in or fail. When he just got back up, he was knocked back down again. Not by the pain or suffering, but by Seifer's blade.

'…I ..c…an't fail…I mustn't give up…'

"...Seifer. No more... Please? Can't you see that he's had enough?" Rinoa implored, trying to stop the fight.

"…Don't speak for me…I'm fine." Squall interjected as he was getting up for the second time, notably slower this time round, glaring at Seifer acidly through his own blood.

"Squall, you're pitiful. You aren't worth fighting right now. You're not even taking your girlfriend's excuse to back out. You're not thinking straight Puberty Boy, I'm leaving. C'mon guys." That just achieved to make Squall even angrier than before, whether it was the 'girlfriend' part or the fact that he was saying that he unworthy to duel. In his mind this was just as bad as failure, or possibly worse.

When he finally stood up straight with a bit of Rinoa's unwanted help, Seifer and the others had already left.

"I'll try and see how they get out without getting spotted, I'll be back soon." Squall nodded.

She then exited the gym with caution, wary of the task of following Seifer and the others without being seen. Closely following their trail, Rinoa went down the full length of the corridor, and then as they turned right, she cautiously approached the corner listening for footsteps coming back or anything suspicious. When all sounded alright to continue tracking them again, Rinoa rounded the bend to resume pursuit.

…Or she would have if she didn't crash into Seifer himself.

"You're all too predictable Rinoa, you know that?" He said with a smirk on his face.

"I don't care Seifer."

"Well if you're so hell-bent on escaping this dump, I've got an idea."

"Then what is it?" Rinoa asked tiredly.

"I'll let you escape with us if you'll go out with me again."

"No, that was ages ago; I couldn't go out with you now! Besides, I couldn't just leave Squall like that! That's horrible!"

"Fine, it's your loss. Don't bother following, from the way we came, you'd need help getting out and I'm sure as hell not in the mood to lend a hand."

"Wouldn't have it any other way."

"By the way," Seifer paused, breaking out in a malicious grin, "did ever tell Puberty Boy about what you did Friday afternoon?"

"No. No I didn't, but how-"

"-Lets' just say I have connections, some people talk you know."

"Forget about it, I don't want to know. I'm leaving."

Rinoa nervously ambled back down toward the other corridor, and, for some reason, the nervousness doubled when she saw Squall nearby.

"Did you hear any of that?"

'Of course not. Mindless chatter doesn't concern me, so why listen?'

"…No."

"Good. Feel better?"

"…Why do you care?"

"Well, when you can't stand by yourself that usually means that you're not 100 percent, you know." Rinoa joked; as usual, Squall didn't find it very amusing.

"Lighten up, if we're going to survive another night and day together, we've got to stick together and you need a sense of humour my friend." She added.

"…I'm leaving."

'Now I'm going to do that practice I intended to do, I just need to… escape from this nightmare of a day..'

At that point, Rinoa stood there dumbfounded. "…Huh?"

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"Parry…Swipe..Turn… Duck… Parry-" Squall muttered under his breath as he was going through the motions, trying to clear the multiple failures he'd experienced in the short while he and Rinoa had been trapped inside the school. But it wasn't working, several thoughts kept on seeping into mind, occupying space.

'Why isn't this getting my mind off of things? I feel… off today, like there's something not right, something missing, what is it though?'

As soon as his latest thought session was over with, in the corner of his eye, he noticed Rinoa slowly and shyly entering the gym with her bag. Assuming that she was here to see him, he stopped and acknowledged her presence, just slightly though.

"You want to spar together now?"

"…Sure."

"Okay, but I won't hold back, you know that right?"

"…Neither will I."

"Good. Let's start."

Rinoa smirked a little as she headed for the center of the gym, where Squall was. Although she wasn't exactly sure, the teen thought she saw a small, positive change in his facial expression, or it might have been the naturally subdued lighting playing tricks on her. Who knew anymore? Meanwhile, the other teen made a small side note in the actual change in his mindset.

'Hmm… The void earlier is clearing away… Maybe all I was just missing a partner to practice with…'

During the practice, Squall noticed improvement in Rinoa's technique and overall performance and found himself in tight situations for often than before; mulling it over, he decided on commenting it – it'd be an insult not to.

"…You're.. getting better."

"Yeah, I know. That duel with Seifer and Fujin really got me to thinking about those 'real-life' situations that Janis is always droning about, before that I didn't take those applications and techniques seriously, but now I know those things were actually effective, it's like a spark triggered or something. Oops- let my guard down…" As soon Rinoa finished speaking, Squall got her trapped in a somewhat complex technique, rendering her immobile, ending the hour-long practice.

After both of them changed and showered in their respective locker rooms, they both walked down together to eat the second half of the day's rations. It was late afternoon and Rinoa had been complaining during the last 15 minutes of their training that the noises emitting from Squall's stomach were 'gross and disturbing' and that he should eat something before she'd have to drag his corpse around the school. Considering that he didn't want to hear her nagging for the rest of the day, he agreed without objections, although he did object to other things that Rinoa had 'humorously' suggested.

Halfways there she'd started talking again.

"In order to figure out that you liked practicing with somebody instead of by yourself I had to use weird logic you know."

Squall arched his eyebrow at this, the first reason being for the weird comment she'd made, the other for how she seemingly figured him out so accurately. But alas, he finally accepted that he couldn't stay completely shrouded in mystery if it was only the two of them in here. So what, after all, didn't his father know something about him after living with him too? Those kinds of side effects were unavoidable when these sorts of conditions were set upon them.

"…Whatever."

"You know deep down that I'm right. Admit it." Rinoa teased.

"……Fine."

"Knew it! Hee…"

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End of chapter comments – I'll try from now on to be timely like I said before. Sorry if anybody is OOC or anything was out of place or repetitive, I haven't written a chapter or played the game in the longest time. I hope that this chapter was of equal quality too and that it answered some review's questions or fulfilled others.

As always, keep reviewing with ideas, comments or anything you guys have to say! Thanks again!