Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, I do not own the places. I don't own anything related to FFVIII, all I own is the plot.

- Chapter thirteen: Pulling and Pushing -

"Go right in, sir."

Squall nodded at the SeeD he had placed right outside the infirmary and entered. He could see Kadowaki at her desk and she didn't seem to look much at ease.

"You sent for me, doctor?" he asked.

She nodded. "Yes...I, err...I know that you told miss Trepe to handle any business concerning miss Heartilly...but I thought I'd best call you. You see..."

She stood up and motioned him to follow her towards one of the rooms.

"If you'd like to follow me..."

She walked into the tiny passageway between two examination rooms. Squall noticed that one of the rooms had a big glass window in it and, to his unpleasant surprise, he could see right into Rinoa's room.

Kadowaki sensed his unease. "Don't worry. This is a one-way mirror. She can't see us."

"Then what is it you want me to see?"

"Well..." Kadowaki hesitated. "Just look at her, Squall. She fell unconcious a few minutes ago. She just passed out. And though I have examined her I can find no reason for it."

Squall looked through the mirror. Rinoa had been placed on a bed and she looked as though she had fallen asleep peacefully, but she didn't move, not even to rub her eyes.

"And there's no explanation at all?"

"Not that I have discovered yet. But my question to you is if she's ever experienced anything like this before. Fainting fits..."

Squall shook his head. "All I can think of is that one time Irvine found her. With the photograph..."

"Hmm, there was a reason for it that time. A surprise like that, angst, can cause fainting. But now...I will examine her more closely. In the mean time, have you discovered anything about the threats?"

Squall turned away.

"Yes." He said briskly. "Yes I did. She received more of them, you know. I found one yesterday. Apparently...apparently someone had found out she was having an affair and wanted to scare her out of it."

Kadowaki said nothing tactfully and kept her eyes fixed on Rinoa's unmoving body. "I see...but an affair, however horrible, is no reason to threaten someone's life, is it?"

"...No. But it's the reason why I don't want to see her. I'll find the stalker but I don't think it'll solve anything now. The damage is done. I know I can't trust her ever again. So I never will." He shrugged his shoulders. "Well doctor, I'd best be off. I have threats to examine."

Kadowaki didn't stop him. She knew that this was not something in which she needed to interfere. Squall pushed through the doors and strode through the office on his way to the main hall. Just as he wanted to leave through the main infirmary doors, Irvine wanted to enter.

Squall stared at him silently. Irvine felt his face grow hot.

"Squall...Is she...okay?" he dared to ask nervously to break the silence.

Squall's eyes narrowed.

"No, no she isn't. Perhaps that would explain why she's in the infirmary." he sneered.

Irvine saw the angry look in Squall's eyes and backed away. "Perhaps it's better if I come back another time..."

"Oh no! Don't let me stop you. Go right ahead, I'm sure she's waiting for your company impatiently."

Suddenly Irvine understood. Squall had found out one way or another.

"Listen, Squall. We-"

"I'm done listening, Irvine. I've got other things to do. I've got to find out who's trying to kill her, but you go right ahead and enjoy every intimate minute with her."

Squall stormed off before Irvine could respond, now that Irvine was obviously angry too.

"Oh yeah!" he yelled after Squall. "Well you got that right! You have no idea how 'intimate' me and her were! And she enjoyed every second of it!"

Immediately he felt sorry that he had said those words. He looked around to see if anyone else had head him but the hall was epmty. He sighed. Perhaps this really wasn't the best time for him to go see her.

Kadowaki looked at her patient. She had woken up again, but still something was not right. Rinoa didn't sit still calmly or wander about through the room. She leaned against a wall and stared at the opposite wall as if she could see right through the glass.

She had asked for a pencil and some paper a while ago, but it lay by her side on the floor as if she had forgotten about it completely.

Kadowaki wondered about that. One moment she was unconcious, the next she wanted paper and then she had gone to sleep, forgetting about the whole thing.

And then there were the flowers. Someone, she expected Squall, had sent her flowers. A bunch of forget-me-nots.

'Very symbolic.' She thought bitterly, taking recent events into account.

But, even though the card had mentioned they were Rinoa's favourites, she wouldn't get near them. And when she did, she exploded into a fit of sneezes as if she was suffering from some sort of allergy. Concidering they had never bothered her before, this was another strange thing adding up to the list.

Kadowaki sighed. What enormous problems for such a young girl. Her dog was dead, her boyfriend left her and her life was being threatened all because she couldn't confine her love to one boy. Hard times indeed.

Kadowaki put down her chart and watched her again. Suddenly Rinoa's eyes opened wide. She looked scared and snapped her head around wildly as if she was trying to discover a hidden person.

Kadowaki leaned in an flipped the speakers on so she could hear what was going on.

"Where are you? Stop talking to me! Stop it! I don't wanna hear you anymore!" Rinoa shouted in panick.

Alarmed, Kadowaki leaned against the glass closer.

"Come out! I know you're there, I can hear you! Will you stop whispering! Stop it! Stop!"

Rinoa let out a high-pitched scream and clutched her hands to her head as she sank to her knees. Kadowaki stared around too. There was no one else in the entire infirmary, not in the rooms and not in the office.

So no one could have accidentally opened a speaker to Rinoa's room. Quickly she pressed a button.

"Miss Heartilly...Rinoa, are you okay?"

Rinoa's head snapped up with such speed that it took Kadowaki by surprise. And the sudden moodswing from angst to boredom she read in the girl's eyes startled her.

"Yes doctor, I'm fine. Look, can't you let me out of here? I'm so bored and there's no one for me to talk to. Please?"

Kadowaki hesitated. "I'm not sure that-"

"But I'm doing my head in here! I swear I'll lose my mind if I don't get out soon."

Kadowaki cleared her throat. "I'm afraid that I can't let you go. Even if it is for your own safety. Remember that there's someone out there who threatened you."

Rinoa sat back down on her bed and stared at the floor. Suddenly she noticed the pencil and paper.

"Hey..." she muttered. "When...when did you give me this?"

"You...you asked for it, don't you remember?"

Rinoa shook her head slowly. Kadowaki switched off the speaker and walked away. Something was definitely wrong with that girl. Perhaps Angelo's death had hurt her more than both of them had expected. Perhaps that caused her memory lapse...and her twitchy-ness.

'The shock must have messed up her mind temporarily. Most likely a case of post-trauma anxiety...' she told herself.

The door to the office in the infirmary opened and Irvine came walking through.

He coughed nervously. "Doctor...is it okay if I go in?"

She looked at him. She wasn't completely sure if it was safe for either of them to let him see her, but then again, it would probably do Rinoa good to talk to someone. It would certainly keep her mind occupied for a while.

Kadowaki nodded and watched him walk over to Rinoa's room tentively. Irvine knocked on the door carefully. Then he pressed the release button on the lock to let himself in. He was surprised to see Rinoa sitting on the floor, the tip of her tongue just out the corner of her mouth, a look of purest concentration on her face.

She was drawing something on a piece of paper. He took a few steps closer and peered over her shoulder. To his surprise she was drawing the same picture that had started all their problems. It was the same bird in the same cage. And she wasn't copying off an example. The fright of everything that was happening now had probably etched this drawing in her mind for ever.

"Rinoa?" he said wondrously.

She looked up and immediately tried to cover her drawing when she saw who it was.

"I- Irvine..." she whispered in a distressed voice.

He sat down on his knees and looked at her.

"How are you?" he asked casually.

She shrugged. "Okay, I guess."

"I heard about Angelo...I'm really sorry..."

"...It's not your fault that some sicko..." she stopped and looked away. "Kadowaki insists on keeping me here, but I don't know why. It's driving me crazy to be stuck in this room...and people keep whispering things through the speakers to annoy me. I wish they'd stop doing that. It's really irritating. It keeps me up at night."

"Oh." Irvine looked at his hands. "Rinoa...I know that you and Squall broke up. He was...well, angry is not the right word. I guess that it's for the best."

"I know...it just hurts. You know I still loved him."

"And still I think it's for the best."

"Oh yeah?" she snapped suddenly. "And what about you? You and Selphie still comfortable together? I could have known it would turn out something like this. You've still got your Selphie and I am alone now."

He leaned in.

"You're not alone." He said quietly. "I will be there for you. I'm just not ready to tell Selphie yet. She's so...vulnerable..."

Rinoa turned her head up and looked at the ceiling. "I see. Well then, go back to her. Enjoy her and every minute you spend with her. Keep her in that fantasy world and don't think about me. Don't mind me here, locked up for no reason whatsoever!"

"It's for your own good!" Irvine said, suddenly feeling very angry.

She was attacking him again. Why did every conversation between them end in an arguement lately?

"Someone out there is trying to get to you, don't you see that? Those threats are for real, someone wants you dead! How many people have to get hurt before you see that? Wasn't Angelo enough?"

She stared at him with blazing eyes.

"Get out." She hissed. "I don't want to see you here again. Get out."

"Fine." He stood up and turned his back on her. "Be like that if you want. We're all worried about you but all you do is get angry with us. First you piss off Squall-"

"Like you had nothing to do with that."

"And now you're doing the same to me! You're going to end up very much alone if you keep pushing us away, Rinoa."

"...Bluejay." she said bitterly.

He didn't know how to respond to this sudden change in her. The last time he had called her Bluejay she had objected heavily to it and now she practically made him use that name.

He looked at her as she stood up too. She was holding the drawing, he noticed. She stepped up to hem hesitantly and then threw her arms around his neck, pulling him into a kiss. When she pulled away he had tears burning behind his eyes.

"...Don't do this to me, Rinoa...Please...I can't handle it. Not if you keep pushing me away and then pull me back again every time...I can't take it much longer..."

"I'm sorry..."

"Don't be...but please, I beg you...make up your mind..."

Then he turned around abruptly and left without another word.