Disclaimer: The only thing I own is this plot and the city they're going to. Nothing else.

Chapter 8 - A Date and a Fight

Both people got what they deserved - At least Seifer got the date.

Right after breakfast, I broke my almighty vow and got into the car with Seifer, whom was driving. I really didn't know why I had agreed to the date, but this is where it brought me. An hour drive to one of the coolest cities in the world, with the car-driving maniac. After leaving the house, the speeding began until I started to feel sick. Little did he know, I was one of the most annoying people in the world to drive with in a car for long periods of time.

"Seifer, I'm hungry."

"We just ate breakfast!"

"That was like half an hour ago!"

"Well hold out for another half an hour." I groaned.

"You're not supposed to starve your date." It was another fifteen minutes of speeding where I decided once again that it was time to annoy him.

"Are we there yet?"

"No. . ."

". . .Are we late?"

"No. . ."

". . .Are we-"

"Shut up! I'm trying to drive." Smirking to myself I continued to look out the window. To my regrets, he sped up as a punishment for being annoying. I could only handle it for so long, and after a few more minutes, I felt like I could throw up right then and there, regardless that it was his car. He was speeding up again, and I couldn't take it much more.

"Seifer, slow -" I heard the brakes screech and I flew forward in my seat.

" We're here." I tried to catch my breath the best I could.

"You jerk." He continued his lame smile, while I was fuming and wanted to punch his teeth out. Ignoring my anger, he pulled out the dreaded chair, and I saw Graveling City. It was spectacular, with little city side coffee shops, roller coasters on one side, and what had to be the mall. Slowly, he started pushing the wheelchair.

'Now's the perfect time to speed up. . .' I anxiously thought. Turning around, I gave him 'the look' and he started pushing fast again, towards the food area of the city.

"Lunch?" I hungrily nodded. After a wonderful meal eating just about everything on Earth, ranging from salads to soups, we went to the amusement park. I hadn't ridden a roller coaster in my LIFE, thank you protective parents, but Seifer had ridden just about every coaster on the face of the Earth. The first ride was my choice - The tilt-a-whirl. Seifer rolled his eyes, but I just wanted to ride something not-so scary, but of course, Seifer had to make it as terrifying as possible. Somehow he managed to make it spin so many times I wanted to vomit. It was very hard to ride anything at the park with a broken leg and arm, but somehow, I got through the first few. Then, Seifer tested me on a real roller coaster. I didn't like the looks of the huge wooden contraption.

Seifer picked the second from front car, and proudly took his place. I slowly sat next to him, and pulled down the lap bar as far as it can go down. I started to hear our train move, and I heard the crick-crank of the chain pulling it up the hill. I looked down and saw the scenery start to get smaller, and looking up I was even more terrified of seeing how much we had left to go on the first hill. We were just stretching over the top of the hill and I saw the drop. . .

"I think I changed my mind!" But the train was pulled down and I found myself screaming the whole way. I looked over, smiling to see Seifer with his hands up in the air yelling. It took a lot, but I admitted to myself it was kind of fun, aside from the jerks of the ride, screeching, and wrenching around. For a moment, it was like flying through the air, until I was once again flung forward at the screeching halt of the end. It reminded me of driving with Seifer.

"See, that wasn't so bad." He said, as we exited the ride.

"Nah, actually, it was pretty fun." He smirked, knowing he was right.

"Wanna go on it again?" I shook my head.

"Sorry, but it's my pick now." I scanned the park for something exhilarating, but sane.

"Aha," I said, pointing across the park. It was The Pirate Ship. Seifer huffed. "That's kind of lame. . ." I rolled my eyes. Then I pointed to 'The Drop.' It was a tall thrill ride that took you to the top of over one hundred and fifty feet, then dropped you.

'Let's see him stay cool on this one!' I said to myself, grinning. Once we sat on the seats, 'The Great Seifer' laughed nervously and looked at me.

"Uhm . . .Sure about this one?" I nodded my head, as the ride started to move, and I squealed, frightened. He laughed at me, when the ride came to another jolt which silenced him. It started to take us up, slowly and full of suspense, until I was amazed at all the small people below me. Turning to Seifer, he looked kind of pale, as we were held up at the top, waiting to be let go and plunge down.

"You're lookin' a little scared over there." He gulped.

"I- I'm fine."

"You are scared! Well I'm n-" Then the ride dropped and we both went screaming as we watched the ground come close and closer, and when I was sure we were going to fly into the cement, it slowed down and gently caught us at the bottom. After being released from the restraints, we both were dizzy for a second, and comprehended what happened.

"That. . .was. . .AWESOME!" I said. Seifer nodded in agreement, although he did look a little sick.

"I think we should ride something. . .smaller?" I laughed, it was his pick, and I had to oblige.

'So. . .slow. . .' I thought while we were on the Paddleboats. Although Seifer had regained his natural color, I think that was enough slow for today. I'd taken a liking to roller coasters, and the adrenaline rush you get flying down the hills, hearing the roar of chains. I was thankful when the slow, ugly, yellow boats. When we were done, I had already found the perfect ride (thanks to the scenery of the boats). It was a huge, water ride, and when you got to the bottom you were pummeled by a waterfall and waves. Me and him sat in the seats, and it started to take us up. When we got to the very top, I was almost frightened at the perilous plunge that was before me, so I tightened my grip on the lap bar when it started to slide down at top speed.

Once I felt the ground level, I thought I was safe from the wetness until the wave hit me, as well as the huge waterfall. After I was positive the ride was over and it pulled to a stop, I opened my eyes and sputtered out the water in my mouth. I was very, very wet, with very, very cold water. Seifer wasn't any drier, I noticed as he pushed his hair back. Thank god that I had brought a red zip-up sweatshirt with the wheelchair. We stopped at the bathrooms, where I took off my wet shirt and replaced it with the nice, warm sweatshirt. The sky was starting to change colors, and I knew it was going to be dark soon.

When I came back from the bathroom, Seifer had also changed into a sweatshirt, and it was his turn to pick the final ride of the night - The Ferris Wheel. I didn't' know if he was thinking the same thing as I was, but the Ferris Wheel was like, the most romantic ride at a park, and I was going to feel uncomfortable, but regardless, I felt it would be rude to deny his request. So, soon we were in the car, starting to rise up into the cold, night air. I yawned, leaning on the side of the window.

"It was really fun today." I told him as he nodded, and I knew he was happy in having a successful date. It was a lot of fun for me after everything that had been going on lately. "Thanks." I added. He looked over to me.

"For what?"

"It's been a while since I had a lot of fun." Maybe the Ferris Wheel was getting to me, but I was thanking Seifer for a wonderful date, and I really had meant it. I hadn't had this much fun since the night before the accident, when we were celebrating.

"Same goes here. My house has been pretty empty. Not much social recovery is possible after people think you're a monster." He said, with a hint of sadness in the tone.

"You're not a monster Seifer," I said turning to him. "You're letting a practically crippled girl into your house, free of charge, and you take care of her. What kind of monster does that?" I was so much in debt to Seifer for all he had done for me, I couldn't believe that he could call himself that. The ride slowed to a stop, and Seifer was still letting what I said to him sink in. I guess he thought he was a monster so long, he was surprised someone could possibly contradict. The rides were starting to close down as we headed for the parking lot, me on the stupid wheelchair, and him behind me.

I was pathetic. All I did all day was complain about my stupid arm, and my stupid leg, while the guy behind me was trying to make everything better. I was starting to ignore everyone else's feelings, and just sit in a puddle of pity. That was a personality trait that my father had always carried, and one that ruined my relationship with him. Not even once had I told Seifer thank you for all he did and was still doing for me. Thus, bringing me to the conclusion that I was a pathetic human being. He gently placed me in the passenger seat, and put my wheelchair in the back. This time while he was driving, he didn't go over the speed limit once, and I started to fall asleep.

I slept for the whole ride home, and not until I knew the car door had opened did I open my eyes. Seifer laughed.

"You're cute when you're asleep." He whispered. I smiled and he carried me into the house, dragging my wheelchair behind. When we came to the guest room, he opened the door and placed me on my bed. "Goodnight, Rinoa."

"Goodnight, Seifer." Before the door closed I called out to him.

"What?" He asked.

"Thanks." I knew he was smiling when he shut the door, and I went to sleep again, losing a guilty conscience.

I woke up to the alarm clock, blinking the time, as I reached over and hit the alarm. Today was the day that we had to go to the hospital and check out my arm and leg. Afterwards, Squall was out of the hospital now, and we were going to visit Balamb to see him and the others. I started to dress myself, which I was getting pretty good at with a bad arm and leg, and soon I was successful. Yelling downstairs, I called for Seifer, who kindly lifted me up and took me downstairs to the couch.

I knew he was extremely nervous about seeing everyone after all that had happened, but he tried his best to give no hint to that at all. When we got in the car, he was back to his normal, speeding self. At the hospital, we checked in and sat in the waiting room, until the doctor that had treated me a week ago came in and called my name. We followed him into a regular, white room, where I had some x-rays done on my leg and arm. The doctor came in some minutes later.

"Well, Rinoa, I must say you've been progressing very fast on your arm. Come back in two weeks, and we'll take off the cast. As for your leg, I'm estimating ten weeks until it's completely healed, which is still a little faster then average. Now, as you know, when your arm is completely healed, you'll have no use for a wheelchair, and we can switch you to crutches. Any questions?" I shook my head, but I was extremely happy. In two weeks, I could finally use my arm again. It'd be a lot easier to do. . .well, everything. But my leg still had ten weeks. . .that's seventy days. I knew I'd be counting down on a calendar.

"Bye!" I said, gleefully as Seifer pushed me again. When we were checking out, I noticed Seifer slipping three of the "free pens" in his pocket. I kicked him and he gave me an innocent face. We left the hospital, and went through the familiar roads of Balamb Garden. It had been a very long time since I had been here, but not much had changed. There was still the iron gates, steps, confusing halls. Luckily, Seifer remembered every corner of the place.

I noticed a lot of people whispering to each other, most of them being the gossipers of the school, and I didn't know if they were talking about me or Seifer, or maybe even both of us. I looked up to Seifer and saw the obvious worry written across his face.

"People need to get a life." I reassured him, so that he wouldn't have second thoughts. I knew even though he was the 'tough guy,' it must have killed him to get the guts to come back here, where everyone remembered him as the betrayal of the garden. We walked down the gray path that led to the dorms, and took a turn, knocking on the door that I remembered as Squalls. The lock turned and the door opened, and I tried to hide a grimace as I saw Quistis standing in front of me.

"Hey guys! You're here to see Squall I bet?" I weakly nodded, slightly upset by her good mood. It was unfair to be mean to Quistis, but I couldn't help my natural suspicions. She moved out of the door way, and frowned at Seifer, sending him a dirty look. He did the best he could, being a proud guy, to ignore it, but that didn't' stop him from rolling his eyes. Squall was laying on a bed, propped up by a pillow, looking more ecstatic then I'd ever seen him.

"Hi Rinoa! Who's that?" He said, motioning to Seifer. Seifer stifled a laugh. Quistis shut the door and came into the room, fluffing Squall's pillows.

"That's Seifer, Squall. You don't like him very much." Squall looked at her weirdly.

"He doesn't look like a mean guy. I can give him a chance."

"Can I have a minute alone with Squall?" I meant it more toward Quistis, who hesitantly nodded, and left along with Seifer. I smiled at Squall and realized how much I had missed him.

"How've you been?" I said gently. It was kind of funny seeing him so different from his old self.

"I've been pretty good. Quistis has been filling me in on everything, but I haven't remembered that much." I nodded, but I was very interested. There was a strange silence before Squall filled it in. "You're not like what Quistis told me you were like." I froze.

"What did she say I was like?" He thought for a moment.

"She said after her and I dated, you came in and I fell in love with you. She said that you intentionally pushed her out of the picture, and that it worked." My jaw dropped.

"Wh-what!" Squall nodded, acting kind of oblivious to my reaction.

"She said you were a little meaner then what you are, I guess." I was in such awe that I couldn't even respond. No wonder he wasn't remembering anything! She was lying to him about everything! That little. . . .

"I'm sorry to break this to you Squall, because all of that's not true." I said to him, in barely a whisper. Quistis came back in, probably afraid that I had undone a lot of which she had "repaired."

"Hey guys, it's time for Squall's medicine, so you'll have to leave for a bit. Bye!" She said ushering us out of the door. Seifer noticed that something was wrong.

"So what happened in there?" I was gritting my teeth, refusing to answer. We knocked on Selphie's door, and we heard a lot of laughter inside, until perky Selphie stood in the doorway.

"Rinoa!" She squealed, giving me a hug. She let me and Seifer in, without sending him any dirty glances, where we saw Irvine sitting in a chair.

"Why hello, you two. What've you been up to with Seifer?" He tried to say without offending Seifer in the least bit. For the first time in a long time, he talked to Irvine.

"I've been helping her out." He said. Irvine nodded, not completely satisfied with the answer. I was very thankful to Irvine for not reacting like everyone else would, who didn't already know. Me and Selphie started catching up on everything, while Seifer and Irvine rolled their eyes at how long we could talk, commenting on it from time to time.

"So, have you talked to Squall yet?" I nodded. "Quistis has been feeding him quite a lot, hasn't she?" Irvine added. I looked at Selphie.

"Did you try to set him straight?" She shook her head. "We knew when you were coming, you could explain it a lot better then we could. Did you know, she hadn't even mentioned to him about me? He didn't even know who I was!"

"And supposedly I'm the girl who broke him and Quistis up." Irvine laughed and Selphie widened her eyes.

"Your kidding me!" I shook my head. Seifer stood up and brushed himself off.

"We better get going now. I'm not really welcome here in Balamb." Selphie completely understood and opened the door.

"It was great seeing you Rinny! Come back next week, okay?" I laughed at her, and admitted to myself that I missed her perkiness.

"Alright, see you then!" We left and heard the door close, and got on our way. I knew that before I left I was going to have a little talk with Quistis.

"We need to stop at Squall's dorm, please?" Seifer understood, and I opened Squall's door and my jaw, for the second time today, dropped. There was Quistis kissing Squall! This was not the kind of kiss you give your mother, I mean this was full on lip lock kiss. Quistis turned around and saw me. She gasped and hopped up, looking around, not knowing what to do.

"Quistis. . .Can I talk to you for a moment?" She had no choice but to come outside, and Seifer moved out of the way. Quistis didn't say anything, and stared at the floor.

"Well, Quistis. . ." She stopped me.

"Let me explain. . ." I shook my head.

"No, I've heard how you explain to Squall, and I'm not taking that chance." She backed away for a minute.

"Listen Rinoa, I swear, if you touch me. . ." Before she could finish the sentence I leaped as well as I could with one foot, and tackled her legs, bringing her to the ground. She tried to pull me off by my hair and I clawed her with my free arm. I didn't care how bad it hurt with my broken arm into the ground, she deserved it. Even with two limbs, I was still dominating the whole fight. "Rinoa, get the hell off me!" I didn't listen, I just kept ripping out her hair while she dug her nails into my arms and kicked.

"You little tramp!" I yelled at her. Seifer must've heard what was going on, because he opened the door and watched in awe. Quistis yelled at him.

"Don't look you useless bastard! Help me!" The insult added with the plea of help really didn't help her anymore, because Seifer just let it continue, and I was thankful. Squall heard it too, and he I heard him ask Seifer. "Is that about me?" Quistis was pushing me away, but I kept punching her until Seifer finally intervened, grabbing a hold of me back into the wheelchair. Quistis stood up, with her hair a mess and her body debilitated.

"What is your problem!" She yelled towards me. I tried to lean forward again, but Seifer grabbed me back with one hand. I yelled back to her.

"No, what's YOUR problem! He's practically defenseless and you're feeding him nothing but God damn lies!" She pointed a finger at me.

"If it weren't for YOU he wouldn't be in that situation! Plus, I have to take care of him all day! You haven't done anything but date Seifer, have you?How DARE she have the nerve to even accuse me of dating him! It was one night, and one only, as a repayment. I couldn't feel anything for Seifer, because I knew in my heart I was in love with Squall, and even though it was cruel, I couldn't love Seifer.

"For one, I'm in a damn wheelchair for Christ's sake! What am I supposed to do? For two, you have no idea all that Seifer's done for me, yes we went on a date, a friendly one, and he's been nothing but nice. I can't even believe that judgmental people like you can talk down to people like me and him!" She started to go back in the dorm.

"You're obviously capable enough to start a fight, you're not completely helpless! I don't even care Rinoa, just get out of Balamb, and stay out! I was in the picture way before you were! Squall doesn't need you anymore, he has me!" She slammed the door, and I heard her stomping behind it.

"Wow. . ." Seifer said. I huffed and looked at him.

"What?" He just shook his head and continued to push the wheelchair.

"I never saw someone with two working limbs fight so good." And he continued to go down the halls with me. I was fuming the whole way, thinking of ways of revenge. I should've known better, I should've told Quistis to go screw herself ever since the first day Squall lost his memory. God knows what else she filled into his head. Her attempt to earn him was completely pathetic, and I imagined degrading on both of their parts, but it had worked, and Squall was starting to fall for her.

I had to think of a way to get close to him, to help him recover his memory. When we got home, I was once again on the couch, thinking so hard I got a headache. Seifer sat down next to me and ran his hand through his hair. Looking over at him, I knew that I still owed him, and I knew the perfect way to repay him and get my mind off of everything.

"So what color would you like to paint this room?"

So did you like it? I'm sorry it was late, but I tried to make it longer then usual, and I think I succeeded.

Anyways, thanks to my reviewers. . .

SavannahX - Thanks! I like both too, and I think I'm going to make an alternate ending to the story for Rinoa and Seifer in a different FanFic.

Blue Jae - Yups, I'm keeping it a Squinoa. Thanks!

Cerulean Crystal - There was a bit of Rinoa and Seifer in this chapter. I'm pretty sure that I'm going to make the alternate story for Rinoa and Seifer. Thanks for reviewing!

Reality Trance - I think this was a better punishment then Q-tips. I'm not really a Quistis fan, lol. Thank you a lot! I'm sure I won't change my writing style, and remember you're a great writer too.