Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VIII...

Author's Note: Once again, I apologize for how long it has taken me to update this. I have pretty much decided that this will be something I work on whenever I have some free time, or in the mood to write something pertaining to Squall and Rinoa. Therefore, I can't really say when updates are going to be. I just want to thank you all so much for sticking with me! It honestly means the world to me.

Midnight Song

Chapter Eight

"My head lies to my heart
And my heart it still believes
It seems the ones who love us are the ones
That we deceive
But you're changing everything
You're changing everything in me..."

-"Without You Here" Goo Goo Dolls

RINOA was beginning to feel uncomfortable with the amount of time she was spending at the Deling City Hospital as of late. First Clarissa, and now Selphie. Who would be next? It seemed as if everyone close to her was getting hurt.

With a sigh, Rinoa climbed the front steps of the hospital once more. A strong feeling of deja vu encompassed her, which wasn't very surprising considering that her initial trip to visit Clarissa had occurred at about the same time. Once again, Rinoa had woken up to Caraway's summoning, and once again, bad news awaited her. The only difference this time had been the presence of Squall. After recounting, in brief detail, what had happened with Selphie, Squall had left abruptly, telling Rinoa he would meet her at the hospital in a little while. Rinoa certainly had no intention of waiting around for that to happen, so she had left the house as soon as possible. Her hope was to be long gone before Squall ever stepped foot near the hospital.

As Rinoa walked down the hall that she had come to know so well in the past few weeks, she couldn't help thinking back to her earlier encounter with Squall. The guy had looked exhausted, and from what Rinoa could gather from his story, he had been up all night. All he had said, though, was that he had found Selphie passed out in an alley, and then took her to the hospital. Obviously, he had left out some details, but from the stench of alcohol that had seemed to radiate from him, that wasn't surprising. What was surprising was that Rinoa had actually been worried to see him like that. She had grown so accustomed to seeing the professional and put together side of him that it was unsettling to see him looking so disheveled. She wondered what had caused him to reduce himself to such a state, but couldn't reach any conclusions.

All thoughts of Squall were immediately pushed to the side as Rinoa reached Selphie's room. Taking a deep breath, she prepared herself for the worst before slowly edging the door open. The first emotion to bubble to the surface upon seeing Selphie was a sense of profound shock. The scene before Rinoa was one so startlingly different than what she had witnessed with Clarissa that she was unsure of how to react.

"Rinoa!" Selphie exclaimed from her seated position on the bed. "I know I'm wearing this icky hospital gown, but do I really look that bad? I mean, you look like you've just seen a ghost!"

Tears suddenly sprang to Rinoa's eyes, and she found herself running over to her friend. "Oh, Selphie," Rinoa sobbed, engulfing her in a tight hug, "I'm so glad you're alright."

Selphie's eyes widened with surprise as she hugged Rinoa back. "Hey, it's alright! I'm fine!"

"I was just so worried. First Clarissa, and now you. It seems like everyone I care about is getting hurt."

"But I'm not hurt," Selphie insisted, "And it's all because of Mr. Leonhart. He really saved me."

"Saved you?" Rinoa asked, frowning. "I thought he found you after you had passed out."

Selphie shook her head. "No way! These...people were going to kill me, but then Mr. Leonhart stepped in and chased them off. If he hadn't shown up right then, I wouldn't be talking to you right now," she said, shivering.

"Oh my God," Rinoa said in disbelief. "He never said a word about that."

"Maybe he's modest?" Selphie suggested. "The reason doesn't matter. He's a hero, Rin. In all matters concerning Mr. Leonhart, I say you go for it."

Rinoa had no chance to respond as Irvine walked into the room, followed by Squall, who looked a hell of a lot better than when Rinoa had seen him earlier. He must have gone home to freshen up, but that still hadn't stopped him from reaching the hospital in record time. So much for avoiding him.

"Hey, Rinoa," Irvine greeted before walking over to Selphie and giving her a kiss on the cheek. "How are you feeling?"

"As I was just telling Rinoa, I feel perfectly fine."

Irvine nodded. "The doctors want to run a few more tests, but if the results are good, you might be able to be discharged tonight."

Selphie smiled. "Awesome! I can finally get out of this horrible gown." Her attention suddenly turned to Squall, who was still standing by the door, looking very uncomfortable. "Mr. Leonhart, I don't know how to thank you. You saved my life."

"You don't need to thank me," Squall told her, running a hand through his hair. "I just happened to be at the right place at the right time."

"Oh, please. You could have just kept on walking, but you didn't."

Squall shrugged. "It really wasn't a big deal."

"But Mr. Leonhart-"

"Selphie, leave the poor guy alone. You're embarrassing him," Irvine told her.

Selphie pouted, but did as she was told, much to the relief of Squall. Apparently Selphie had been onto something in regard to Squall's modesty. For all Rinoa knew, though, saving Selphie could have just been another detail of the job description. Why should it even matter? Squall had made his feelings on the subject perfectly clear, so it was foolish to dwell on them.

"Rinoa, did you hear what I just said?"

Rinoa looked up to meet Selphie's questioning gaze. "No, I didn't. Sorry."

Selphie laughed. "Maybe you're the one who should be getting checked out," she joked. "I just said that you should probably get going. I don't want to get into trouble with your dad."

"He knows I'm here," Rinoa assured her. "For once, I don't think he'll care if I take my time."

"Maybe he won't, but..." She nodded towards Squall, "He might."

Rinoa shrugged. "I don't really care what he thinks."

"Aw, come on, Rin," Selphie whispered, "He did save my life."

"Oh, alright," Rinoa told her reluctantly, not looking for the least bit happy about it, "But I'm only doing this for you."

"That's what makes you such a great friend," Selphie grinned.

"Yeah, right." Rinoa turned around to face Squall. "Are you ready to go?"

Squall couldn't hide his surprise that she was actually talking to him, but only nodded in response.

"Alright, Selphie, it looks like we're gonna go. Get better soon, okay? Call me when they discharge you."

"I will."

"Bye Irvine." With a wave, Rinoa exited the room, with Squall following behind on her heels.

"Why didn't you tell me that you saved Selphie's life last night?" Rinoa demanded after taking a few steps.

"There was nothing to tell," Squall replied.

"Nothing to tell? Are you kidding me? Selphie would have died if you hadn't stepped in!"

"I saw that she was in trouble, so I helped her. Like I said, no big deal."

Rinoa shook her head. "Why can't you just accept that you're a hero?"

"Because I'm not!" Squall snapped. "Will you just drop it?"

"Fine," Rinoa said angrily. "Have it your way."

They continued to walk on in silence, both too annoyed with the other to bother with small talk. As they reached the lobby, however, they were met with a sight that neither of them had expected to find. Before them stood a very angry looking Seifer, bandaged nose and all. His gaze darkened when he saw Squall and Rinoa together.

"Well, isn't this nice," he sneered, walking over to them. "Back together so soon?"

"What happened to your nose?" Rinoa asked, ignoring his own question.

"Why don't you ask your boyfriend? I'm sure he'd be more than happy to tell you."

Rinoa turned to Squall, confused. "What is he talking about?"

"Nothing," Squall muttered. "Let's go."

"Not up to talking today, Leonhart? Then again, you never were the social type. I have this broken nose to prove it."

"Don't tell me you did that to him!" Rinoa exclaimed.

"Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner!" Seifer shouted. "You hit the nail right on the head, Rinoa."

"I know you, Seifer. If Squall did that to you, than he had a reason. So what did you do?"

"I don't know. What did I do, Squall? Rinoa is just dying to know."

"I told you, it's nothing," Squall snapped, clearly irritated. "Let's go, Miss Heartilly."

"No," Rinoa said firmly, standing her ground. "I'm not going anywhere with you until you tell me what happened."

"It's not up for discussion, Miss Heartilly."

"You know, I love a good show and all, but this is getting to be painful. If Leonhart won't bite the bullet, I will." Seifer threw a smirk Squall's way. "Leonhart couldn't resist throwing a punch my way after I told him something he didn't want to hear."

"That's enough, Seifer," Squall growled.

"What did you tell him?" Rinoa asked, completely ignoring Squall.

Seifer suddenly smiled. "I just told him about our little foray in the park."

Rinoa could feel herself turning pale the minute the words left his mouth. "You did what?"

"Miss Heartilly!" Squall suddenly grabbed Rinoa's wrist, forcing her to look at him. "Let's go."

This time, Rinoa didn't object, and let herself be dragged away by Squall. She was too shocked to even comprehend where they were going. All she knew was that she was completely horrified that Squall knew what had happened between her and Seifer at the park. How could Seifer have been so cruel? No, forget that. She had seen first-hand how cruel he could be. It was her own fault for letting me take advantage of her. She felt so incredibly stupid for letting things get so out of hand.

A quick glance at Squall revealed him to be just as lost in thought as her. She couldn't even begin to imagine what was going on in his head. In all honesty, she knew she shouldn't care, but that didn't change the fact that she didn't want him to get the wrong idea about her and Seifer. For God's sake, she was still supposed to be pissed off at him, but hearing Selphie talk about how Squall had saved her had really struck a chord. Dammit, Squall Leonhart was making it unbelievably hard to hate him. No matter how clearly Squall made his feelings toward her known, she just couldn't seem to let her own go. It was extremely frustrating.

"Mr. Leonhart?" Rinoa asked quietly, breaking the silence between them.

Squall looked up hesitantly. "What is it?"

"It's, um, about what Seifer said. I just want you to know that there's nothing going on between us."

Squall shrugged. "Why would I care? What you choose to do outside of our tutoring sessions is none of my business."

"If it's none of your business, then why did you punch Seifer?" Rinoa demanded.

"Seifer pissed me off, so I punched him," Squall answered simply.

"You punched Seifer because he made comments about us in the park yesterday. If you don't care about me, then why would his saying that piss you off?"

"I've had a long night, Miss Heartilly. Excuse me if I'm not up for an interrogation."

"Will you just stop avoiding the question? Why are you so afraid to answer me?"

Squall sighed. "I thought I made my feelings towards you perfectly clear. Don't flatter yourself by thinking that I broke Seifer's nose because of you."

"Then my question still remains. Why did you do it?"

"I did it because Seifer was making comments about my girlfriend. Is that what you want to hear?"

"Your girlfriend?" Rinoa repeated dumbly.

"Yes, my girlfriend. She was at the bar with me last night when Seifer started hitting on her. That's why I punched him."

"Oh," Rinoa said quietly, trying to mask her surprise and sudden jealousy at the thought of Squall's girlfriend. "You could have just told me that from the beginning."

"It was none of your business in the first place," Squall pointed out.

"Fine," Rinoa said, coming to a sudden stop, "If you hate me that much, then I'll never ask you another personal question again. When we first met, you told me that you would be nothing but a tutor to me. Well, from now on, I'm going to be nothing to you but a student. Will that make you happy?"

"Yes," Squall told her, "It will."

"Great. At least one of us will be."

Before Squall had a chance to respond, Rinoa had stormed off ahead of him. Squall sighed. This was going to be a lot more difficult than he had thought. Damn Quistis and her plans. Caraway, too. They had only served to complicate things.

"Miss Heartilly!" Squall called, racing to catch up with her. "You don't even know where we're going."

"I'm going home, and I really don't care where you're going," Rinoa said angrily as she continued to walk away from him.

"I hate to break it to you, but I have express wishes from your father to start your field training."

"Forget it," Rinoa said, shooting him a dirty look. "I can take care of myself."

"Your father doesn't seem to think so."

"And I suppose you agree with him?"

Squall shrugged. "Prove me wrong."

"I don't need to prove anything. I'm a-" she stopped suddenly, as if catching herself.

"You're a what?" Squall asked, narrowing his eyes in suspicion.

Rinoa shook her head. "Nothing. Just forget about it." Once again, she began to walk away.

"Rinoa!" Squall shouted, grabbing her wrist. "Do not walk away from me!"

Squall didn't need to worry, as Rinoa suddenly found herself frozen to the spot. It wasn't the anger in Squall's voice that had stopped her dead in her tracks, but the fact that he had called her by her fast name.

"You need to listen to me," Squall told her, grabbing on to her shoulders. "Your friend could have died last night, do you realize that? Do you know how easily that could have been you?"

"But you would have saved me, right? You would have saved me like you saved Selphie."

"Dammit, I'm not always going to be there. You can't rely on me to protect you forever."

Rinoa looked up to meet his gaze, startled by the emotion burning in his eyes. All sarcastic comments were immediately forgotten when she saw how serious he was. Why would he care so much if he just viewed her as a paycheck? Did money really mean that much to him?

"Why do you care?" she whispered, desperately wanting to know the truth.

"I think you already know the answer to that question," he replied, his voice just as low as hers.

Rinoa's heart was hammering away at a volume that surely Squall could hear. "No, I don't."

"Forget it," Squall said, turning away from her. "The fact of the matter is that I am going to train you how to defend yourself. You can either listen to me and follow me right now, or you can go back to your father and explain everything to him. I have a feeling that he won't be too pleased to hear any explanation you have to offer."

Rinoa was trapped and she knew it. If she could think clearly, she might have been able to come up with a witty remark, but Squall's apparent sincerity from earlier had completely unnerved her. Instead, all she could do was sigh and reluctantly follow her tutor. She was so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn't even notice the slight, although brief, smile that graced Squall's features.

"Fine," she grumbled, "Have it your way. Although you seem to be forgetting one thing."

"Really?" Squall raised an eyebrow. "And just what might that be?"

"Weapons," Rinoa told him pointedly.

Squall shook his head. "You've underestimated me, Miss Heartilly. I'm disappointed."

Rinoa followed him as he led her over to a black BMW convertible parked across the street. Squall pulled out a set of keys, unlocked the car, and then hopped into the driver's seat.

"Get in," he instructed as he started the engine.

Rinoa did as she was told, too surprised to object. Who would have thought that Squall would drive such a flashy car? For someone who seemed to abhor attention, he sure was asking for it with a car like that.

"So you've had this parked here the whole time?" Rinoa asked, breaking the silence that had encompassed them.

Squall nodded. "And before you ask, the weapons are in the trunk."

"I figured as much," Rinoa told him stubbornly.

"Sure you did."

Rinoa sighed. "Are you going to tell me where we're going?"

Squall shrugged. "That depends."

"What do you mean, that depends?"

"I mean," Squall said slowly, "That if you stop being a pain in the ass, I just might tell you."

Rinoa's jaw dropped. "What did you just call me?"

"You heard me."

"You are impossible to get along with, do you know that?"

Squall shrugged once more. "It wouldn't be the first time I've heard that."

"Why are you acting so confident all of a sudden?" Rinoa demanded. "It's unnerving."

"Good. Maybe it will knock some sense into that thick head of yours. Life isn't a game."

"I never said it was."

"No, but you sure act like it."

Rinoa glared at him. "Did you bring me all the way out here so that you could mock me? If so, I'm leaving."

"And just how would you be doing that?" Squall asked.

Looking around her, Rinoa could see that Squall had a point. They had driven out to a secluded forest area, well away from the hustle and bustle of the city. There was no way that she could go back on foot with the monsters running around. That only left Squall's car, and while she was feeling pretty desperate, stealing it didn't seem like a very good option.

"Let's just get this over with," Rinoa said irritably as she waited for Squall to hand her her pinwheel. To her disappointment, he didn't go anywhere near the trunk.

"Don't give me that look. Before we jump into weapons, I have to teach you a few basic techniques."

"I already know the basic technique," Rinoa complained. "Contrary to what you may believe, I'm not some poor, defenseless child. I've been studying up on how to effectively use the pinwheel, and I'm ready to try out what I've learned. So hand it over."

Squall threw her a skeptical look. "You really think you're ready?"

"I know I am."

"Alright," Squall said, unlocking the trunk. "Let's see what you can do."

The moment the pinwheel was placed into her hands, Rinoa felt a surge of adrenaline rush through her. She was ready to show Squall exactly how much he had underestimated her.

Making her way deeper into the forest, Rinoa was met with the sight of a caterchipillar. Perfect! she thought, and immediately launched the pinwheel into its stomach. The caterchipillar began to hobble over to her, obviously angry at being disturbed, but Rinoa was ready for it. Before it could retaliate, Rinoa once again launched the pinwheel, this time aiming for its head. The caterchipillar shuddered, but still tried to best his opponent. Taking a few steps back, Rinoa quickly aimed one more time, and then it was all over. With one final gasp, the caterchipillar shuddered and then lay dead.

"Ha!" Rinoa exclaimed, throwing a triumphant look at Squall. "Peace of cake."

To her surprise, a sudden look of horror had come across Squall's face. Had she done something wrong? It had just been a caterchipillar, after all.

"Wha-"

Before the words could even leave her mouth, Rinoa found herself pinned to the ground by Squall. "Run!" he shouted. "I'll take care of this."

Looking up, Rinoa suddenly realized what was going on. A gigantic blue dragon was standing just a few feet away, and it looked anything but happy.

"I can't just leave you here!" Rinoa exclaimed.

"I said go! That's an order!" Squall shouted, and before Rinoa could object, he raised his gunblade and immediately charged at the creature.

What happened next seemed to pass by Rinoa in slow motion, although in reality, it couldn't have taken more than a few minutes. Squall unleashed a series of attacks against the creature, barely sopping to catch his breath. It made Rinoa suddenly realize what a skilled fighter he was, and how lucky she was to have him on her side. The blue dragon, however, also had a few tricks up its sleeve. To Rinoa's horror, its spiked tail began to batter Squall, pushing him back considerably. At that moment, Rinoa knew with absolute certainty that she had to help him. She didn't even bother to think about the danger she would be putting herself in. Instead, she quickly aimed her pinwheel and launched it straight for the creature's heart. The dragon, having sensed the attack, moved to get out of the way, so that the pinwheel had only grazed its stomach. With a roar, it trained its gaze on Rinoa, who suddenly found herself frozen to the spot.

"Oh, God," Rinoa whispered, "This is it."

The dragon raised a clawed hand and Rinoa prepared herself for the blow. However, it never came, and instead, a piercing scream echoed throughout the forest. Rinoa looked up just in time to see the dragon's eyes roll back in its head right before its body hit the ground. Behind the fallen creature stood Squall, his gunblade completely covered in blood. His eyes sought out her own, and then, before Rinoa was fully able to comprehend what she was doing, she had closed the distance between them, collapsing in his arms.

"Please don't say anything," Rinoa begged, resting her head against his shoulder. "Just...let me stay like this for awhile."

Squall knew that he shouldn't let her have her way, and that the smart thing to do would be to pull away before it was too late. However, his mind didn't want to work just then. Instead, he wrapped his arms around her petite frame, pulling her even closer to him. In that moment, he was more than happy to oblige her. After all, who needed words, anyway?