Her father had been yelling at her again. She couldn't even remember what it was about anymore. It was probably something small, but with him, everything snowballed. Soon he was walking away from her, waving a hand dismissively. He treated her like a child. She was 16 years old, god damn it! So she slammed the doors open and ran, tears pricking at the corner of her eyes.
It was spring, and dusk fell quickly. Soon she was regretting running out without a jacket. The thin dress she had been in didn't offer much protection. The crowds began to thin out, and the empty streets seemed colder the lonelier they got. She took a deep breath and wrapped her arms around her. She couldn't go home yet, that would just prove her father right. Just imagine how insufferable he would be, lecturing her on how she couldn't even run away properly.
A gust of wind blew against her back and she shivered, drawing herself in tighter. She grit her teeth and scanned the stores for somewhere to hide out for a bit. It's not like she wasn't ever coming back, she just needed to stay out long enough to prove her point. She had no doubt her father had someone trailing her like a babysitter. That made her even angrier, and even more determined. She sped up her pace, relishing the way her heels sounded on the cobblestones. It made her sound powerful, and mature, like she could take on the world. In fact, to feel all the more powerful she took a dramatic turn down one of the narrow alleyways.
Thankfully, the narrow alleyway was illuminated by a hanging light, and a worn sign. It was painted with a pair of old-fashion glasses and an open book. She could practically smell the old books and leather, and she jogged over to the door.
The warmth hit her in a wave, and she knew she made the right choice. It was a small store, full of heavy wooden bookshelves of older collections, and displays of newer haphazardly stacked on small tables. A cashier lazily greeted her from behind their own open book. Perfect for a book worm like her. She went down the first aisle and began to read the titles silently to herself. As the only child of an overprotective father she had obviously read most of them. There wasn't much else for her to do, when she wasn't allowed to go on field trips, or even outings with friends. It took months of arguing with her father for him to relent and let her go to her best friend's 16th birthday party a few months ago. Which, of course, didn't go well. It was crashed by several of her father's guards at exactly midnight, showing up and turning off the music to find her and escort her home. It only added to her unpopularity, she feared. Most of the other students in her elite private high school mistook her father's paranoia for her being stuck up. Despite her best efforts, she never really managed to shake the ice-queen moniker.
That's why most of her friends these days were characters from books. She had a certain freedom in them, no overbearing father or guards to pull her away from once in a lifetime adventures. She could reinvent herself, and be one of the confident and powerful girls in her books. She could be the person who always knew what to say and the one who can always tell the best jokes. She could be free. She smiled at that thought. Maybe she would be a writer when she got older. That is, if her father gave up on the idea of her being a noble lady married to some posh young man of good standing…
She winced. Today's garden party had not gone well. Her father had impressed upon her the importance of being perfectly charming to all the young men who arrived with their fathers, friends of her own. None of them were particularly awful, but they were certainly boring, and the idea of marrying one of them and spending the rest of her life cooped up in different manors. But she stuck through it. Her lips curled up into a faint smile at the elegant gold letters of one particular book "The Sorceress's Knight." She picked it up and began to flip through it.
Her mother used to read it to her when she was only a child. Every night she would read another chapter, curled up in Rinoa's bed with her. She remembered the warmth and love back then, when things were happier. Her mother was beautiful and charming. She had the best laugh, and always moved with such grace. She was everything Rinoa's father wanted her to be. But she was also so witty and smart, with a wolfish smile when she wanted, and exactly who Rinoa wanted to be as well. But that all came crashing down when her mother died in a car accident. She was 5. Her father turned cold, and boxed up all of her mother's things. He even burned the book, couldn't even look at it again. Her stomach turned at the thought of her father.
No. No. She pulled on the hair tie on her wrist. She wasn't going to think about that now. She was going to enjoy this book, and stop worrying about him. So she slid down the side of a book case and folded her legs under herself. Then she opened to the first page and began to read.
…
Time passed quickly while she sat, absorbed in the book. She didn't even hear the bell ring as another customer came in, or the half hearted greeting from the cashier. Nor did she notice the heavy footsteps coming closer and closer, until they stopped right next to her.
"You like The Sorceress's Knight as well?" a voice asked. She jolted, and looked up at the source of the voice. Standing above her was a blond man, with bright blue eyes. He was pretty, sort of. Not perfect, by any means, his eyes were too small, and maybe there was something weird about his ears? But they weren't exactly deal breakers for her. If anything, they were a welcomed break from the perfect young men presented to her at the garden party. So she nodded, still slightly confused from her reading haze. She tried to stand but her foot had fallen asleep, causing her to stumble forward slightly.
He grabbed her by the elbow and yanked her back into a standing position. He wasn't exactly gentle, but it didn't grate against her. So she pulled herself up and looked him in the eye and tried again.
"Yeah, I do. I've loved it since I was a kid!" she tried, channeling all of her memories of her favorite characters and the girls she admired in school to try to appear peppy and friendly. His eyes widened in surprise for a second but he recovered quickly.
"Oh, yeah, I like it too, Loved the movie growing up." She tried to hide her grimace. The movie wasn't anywhere close to how she imagined the story, based on the book. The special effects were old, and the acting was glaringly bad. That Laguna Loire guy had the acting range of a dog. No matter what the scene was, he never managed to look serious enough. Not that she was well versed with films. Her father considered them lowbrow, especially this one. She had only recently watched it, her father had always been so weird about her watching the movie, and she had no idea why. He obviously spotted it, but she tried to cover it up with a smile.
"So who's your favorite character then?" she tried, and he lit up and began to talk about Zephyr and his romantic dream. Predictable, but it was sort of charming, how childlike his excitement over the character was, and she found herself giving a genuine smile in return. They ended up chatting for a while, loudly, if the clerk's disgruntled sighs were anything to go by. But what did she care? He obviously didn't. Finally, the exasperated clerk told them they had 10 minutes before closing. Even if Seifer didn't seem to mind, she did feel a little bit guilty. They had ruined what the clerk was probably expecting to be a quite night. So she bought the book and stepped out with the young man following behind her.
Suddenly she felt awkward again, and stopped. What does she do now? Does she excuse herself and go home? Her father hasn't sent anyone for her yet, so that would mean giving up. But where else was she supposed to go? It was getting late and the only places still open were bars, but in such a thin dress she did not want to stay outside. The man seemed to notice her hesitance.
"Do you want me to… escort you somewhere?" He said, and she looked at him. Sure she barely knew him, but he seemed too honest to be dangerous, and considering her other options she decided to take a risk.
"Well, I don't really have anywhere to be… I don't exactly want to go home right now." she answered truthfully, surprised at herself.
"Well, I don't either, not really. So if you want, we can just walk around for a while? You can show me around Deling City?" he says, and she can hear the hopeful tone in his voice. She can feel it reflected in her own affirmative answer.
"I suppose, but I have to warn you, I don't actually know the city very well." She wagged her finger warningly, hoping to break the tense mood. She didn't have to be that insecure girl, she reminded herself. He didn't know her at all; she could be anyone! But then another gust of wind hit her and she shivered. Then her vision went black, and she realized he had taken off the jacket he was wearing and given it, rather unceremoniously to her.
He grinned back and nodded, before pointing off to one of the belltowers in the distance. "Let's go there!" he said, and then offered his arm for her. She giggled and put the jacket on before linking his arm in her's and pulling her off towards the direction of the belltower.
It wasn't long before she stumbled, the heels twisting under her. He stumbled as well, but was able to pull the two of them up. He turned to look at her, worried, but she laughed him off. "I'm fine! Fine! I promise. But maybe we should walk for a bit?" she said, and he complied. For a few heartbeats the only noise was the clicking of her shoes and his quieter footfalls beside her. The silence started getting to her. She hated the silence. To her silence always meant loneliness, or the aftermath of another angry fight between her and her father. It made her antsy.
"Sooooo…. I just realized that I don't even know your name, and no offense, but running off and spending the night wandering the city with a guy is slightly less suspicious when I know his name." She said, trying to keep the same upbeat voice.
He threw his head back and laughed. It was a full body laugh, and it made her grin a little less nervous and a little less authentic. "Good point, but weren't you listening? I am a Knight-in-Training, I would never do something so Ignoble." He says, winking. And then, more seriously, "Seifer Almasy, and you?"
"Rinoa, um, just Rinoa." She said, suddenly feeling meek again. Something about the idea of telling him her last name made her heart wrench. What if he looked at her the same way everyone else did? But thankfully he didn't press the issue. Instead, she turned the conversation back towards him. She found out that he wasn't really a man, but a teenager like her. He was only a year older, actually. He was also a member of Balamb Garden, training to be a member of SEED. She learned that he was a member of the disciplinary committee with his two friends, Fuujin and Raijin, and all the responsibility that came with that. He puffed up with pride talking about his exploits, and his dreams of seeing the world as a SEED operative. He paused, as if suddenly remembering that there were two people in this conversation, and turned to look at her. Instead, she just asked him more about what it meant to be a member of SEED. Happily, he continued, telling her about the places he had already been, which weren't really that many places, but still more than she had been too.
She also learned, reading between the lines, that he was an orphan, and had been for as long as he remembered. He didn't seem too upset about it, but it still made her heart lurch. But she kept that smile on her face, and he kept on talking, about his rival, someone named Squall or something, and how they both used gunblades. He was a surprisingly good storyteller, animated and passionate, with grand hand motions and a voice that would never be mistaken for monotone. His excitement was infectious. He was a bit crass, sometimes using language that made her blush, but she didn't mind. She almost never heard someone speak so freely, for fear of her father's anger. She could just imagine him listening to Seifer's storytelling, and the way his mouth would pucker, and angry wrinkles would form on his forehead. No, she could truly say she had never been allowed to meet anyone like Seifer before.
It wasn't long before she spotted one of her father's men out of the corner of her eye. He signaled her and she sighed. It was time for her to come home. She didn't want to leave Seifer, but at the same time, the reminder of her bed had her legs aching and her eyes feeling heavy. So she tugged on his shirt to get his attention. He stopped, mid sentence, something about T-rexs? And she looked at him apologetically.
"Sorry, Seifer, I have to go, my… Uncle… has come to pick me up and it's probably best if I go home now." His eyebrows furrowed, but then smoothed out and he agreed. She felt bad, but wasn't quite sure why. He looked over at the soldier and nodded at him, and she turned away from him to walk towards the man.
At least it was one of her father's kinder men. He could have sent one of the unforgiving ones. There were so many who had no problem talking behind her back about how much they hated being on guard duty for a "spoiled princess" as they called her. If only they knew how much she didn't want this. She wanted to be normal. She wanted to be the sort of person who could have friends like Seifer, and walk around town freely. That gave her an idea.
"Do you have a pen? Or a pencil?" she asked the guard, and he looked surprised before nodding and grabbing one out of a side pouch. She took out the book she had just bought and hastily scribbled down a note inside for Seifer, before handing the pen back and running towards the boy's retreating back. She shouted his name and laughed as he started before turning to look at her.
"Seifer, thank you so much for keeping me company tonight, it meant a lot to me. So, I guess as a token of my appreciation or whatever, here!" and with that she shoved the book into his stomach, and without waiting for a response, spun away to run back towards the guard. Her heart was pounding for some reason, but in a good way. The guard didn't say anything, but began to lead her through the streets back towards the manor.