Author's Notes: I have nothing more to say.

I'm becoming less to find

As days go by

Fading away, and well you might say I'm losing focus

Kind of drifting in the abstract

In terms of how I see myself

-Nine Inch Nails

Chapter 2 – Rubik's Cubes

"Now Rinoa," General Caraway began, sitting at a table with his daughter over two cups of tea. "I'm sure you will put into consideration what is best for you. For your future, I mean."

Rinoa Heartilly. 17 years old. In the past month, she had probably left her house twice. There were always people in her mansion, so she wasn't lonely, but she never had any fun. She never got to speak her mind. She was even pale and dark-haired from lack of sunlight.

"I understand," she timidly replied, not daring to object to her father's orders. He was letting her know that a SeeD from Balamb Garden was to be sent over sometime soon to train her before she went off to live there. Generally, students started their training years earlier, but since it was only a recent decision that Rinoa was to be sent to Balamb Garden, her training was just beginning.

She was unsure as to why her father wanted to ship her off. She never caused trouble, or made noise. She kept to herself, usually away from her father's workplace. She had never even imagined, prior to this day, her father doing something like this. But despite all the emotions that were going through Rinoa's head, she was powerless to her father, and she kept her mouth shut. Arguing over anything just lead to trouble.

"Alright, that's all I wanted to talk to you about. Go and play."

Rinoa sat at the table or a moment staring at her father. Had he really just told her to go and play?

"Or, um, go and….study," he corrected himself, and walked off.

Rinoa remained motionless. She wasn't sure if she should be offended, or just plain disgusted.

Quistis sat on Squall's couch, staring at Selphie, who was bouncing up and down in her seat for the arrival of Irvine, the SeeD from Balamb Garden who was supposed to be Rinoa's trainer.

Within the next few moments, there was a knock on the door. Selphie leapt up to open it, and standing before her, was a tall figure with auburn hair and green eyes. A beautiful face, this one had, and Selphie stared up at him with a smile plastered on her cheeks.

"Irvine Kinneas," he said to her, holding out his hand.

"Selphie Tilmitt," she replied, taking his hand and shaking it with a smile on her face. "Um, the SeeD right?"

He nodded, and looked over Selphie's shoulder at Quistis. "Right place I assume?"

Quistis nodded. "Yeah, this is it. Squall's already left."

Irvine rubbed his chin. "You gave him my uniform?"

Quistis shook her head. "It isn't required for this operation, Cid said, so I simply got him some proper clothes to wear. Caraways a tough one, you never know how quick he could pull a 'you're fired'."

Irvine smiled and nodded his head, taking a seat next to Quistis. "Lovely place, no?"

Selphie giggled, unsure of what to say next. "Hey want some tea?"

Irvine thought for a moment. "What kind of tea?"

"Kava Kava? It's a mild sedative," Selphie told him. "You have to drink it cold."

"I wouldn't" Quistis muttered to him.

"Sounds great!" he answered.

Squall got off the train at the Deling City stop, already unsure of where he was supposed to go. He had only been to Deling City twice, and it was for the bar. The thought made him cringe. Just like his father was what he was. He didn't even know how to get anywhere else in the entire city.

Squall slowly walked through the entrance, trying to force his way through the crowded street. He made his way to the escalators, and rode his way up.

Once he was officially inside the city, he took a trolley to the mansion. As he got closer, he grew more and more anxious. Would if Caraway was one of those quick-witted people? Would if, as soon as he looked at Squall, he knew something was up? Desperately, Squall tried to shake the image out of his head. The more paranoid he was, the more suspicious he would look, he reminded himself.

The trolley squeaked loudly, and Squall got out at the gates of the mansion. He stared at it for a moment, unsure of how he was going to get in. He looked around, and soon noticed a security guard. Unsure, Squall walked up to him.

"Hi, sir, um, I'm the SeeD from Balamb Garden, here for Cara…General Caraway's daughter."

The guard looked him over. It took him a minute to react, causing Squall's heart to race in anticipation. "We've been expecting you," he said with a nod, and motioned for Squall to pass through. "Directly up this path here will bring you to the front door. Just ring the bell and someone should answer, and they will be happy to assist you from there."

Squall looked at him for a moment before walking past him to the walkway that led to the front door. "Thanks," he said behind him.

Squall was now at the front door, sweating bullets. His hand shook as he brought it to the doorbell. He pressed it, listening for the ding on the other side.

A moment later, an ebony haired teenage girl wearing very conservative clothes opened the door.

"Hi?" she asked. "Oh! You must be the SeeD!"

Squall studied her pale face and brown eyes for a moment before nodding his head.

"Right then. Let me get my father. Come in, you can wait here," she said, motioning to a small standing area. She then walked off, properly, to find her father. Nothing like a normal teenage girl would act.

Squall put his hands in his pockets and tried to stand as straight as he could. For a moment, he considered if it was proper to have his hands in his pockets. Deciding against it, he took them out. For that moment he wasn't sure what he should do with his hands. In the next passing moments he grew impatient, and started pacing.

"Ah, here we are." A man's voice said, as he walked around the corner. "It's great to see you. I'm General Caraway," he introduced himself, and held his hand out.

Squall wasn't sure what to say about his name. Quistis had mentioned it, but Squall must have not been paying attention. Would if Caraway kept contact with Cid? Would if they wrote each other, and in a letter, Caraway mentioned that Squall Leonhart was working for him? Wouldn't that mess everyone up?

Squall decided, and held out his hand. "Irvine Kinneas," he said, as he shook his hand.

Caraway smiled and nodded his head. "Alright then. Let's get started, shall we?" Caraway energetically turned and started walking down the hall. "Follow me," he told Squall, looking over his shoulder.

Squall followed, and did his best to pay attention.

He led them into a small dinning area, where the girl who had opened the door before sat motionlessly in a chair.

"This is my daughter Rinoa," he said, motioning to her. "Who you will be training for the next few months or so until she is fully prepared to be sent to Balamb Garden."

Squall nodded his head and made eye contact with the girl, but quickly took it away.

"Hi," she said timidly, not moving.

Squall remained expressionless. He wasn't quite sure what he was supposed to do now. Should he have brought equipment of some sort? Weapons, perhaps?

"Alright then, you will be working together in the courtyard until she is ready for real training. I have cleared my staff of this area, so you should have a pretty good environment." Caraway motioned towards the door. Rinoa got up first, and Squall followed.

As he followed her through the house, he couldn't help but get distracted by the different pictures and sculptures scattered throughout. Squall couldn't imagine living alone in a place like this. Part of him felt a bit bad for the girl. Of course, who was he to say? She probably had numerous friends, popping in and out all the time.

Before arriving at the courtyard, Caraway labeled all the different rooms, giving Squall a general idea of where he could get certain things.

"Help yourself to anything," he would say, every other sentence.

The courtyard was green and sunny, with beautiful flower and tree arrangements. It was a large area, enclosed by perfectly trimmed bushes and large, decorative fountains.

"Alright well, now that you have a feel for the house, you two can stay out here for an hour or so. Introduce yourself, Mr. Kinneas, explain what being a SeeD at Balamb Garden is. Explain exactly what you do. At this point in time, she's completely uneducated."

Squall looked over at her. She nervously looked down at the ground, almost as if her father had embarrassed her. He probably had.

"Now, our intercom system is rather simple. If you need anything, I'm sure Rinoa will help you out with it." He stood very properly, and nodded his head. "Good luck, Mr. Kinneas." He turned and left the courtyard, shutting the door quietly behind him. But a moment later, he opened the door back up. "Rinoa, you are to address him as Mr. Kinneas," he said, quickly closing the door again.

Awkward silence followed. Squall wasn't sure what he should say.

"Hey," he said, trying to smile.

She looked up at him and smiled. "Hey," she said, clasping her hands behind her back, tilting her head.

"I'm Squall. I mean Irvine. Kinneas."

Rinoa was unsure of what he had just said. "Okay," she said, with a nervous smile. "Oh. Um, I'm Rinoa."

More silence followed. Squall became un-thrilled at the idea of everything he was supposed to do here, at this point.

"So…Rinoa," Squall began. "What sort of things do you enjoy doing?"

It took her a moment. She shuffled her feet. "Um," she stammered. "I don't really do all that much. Read, paint, study. I guess."

Squall looked at her. "Friends?"

She nervously looked back at him, shrugging. "I don't really know that many people outside of my house. My dad keeps me on a really short leash."

Squall rolled his eyes. "So you're a good girl?"

Rinoa's mouth fell open. "Excuse me? What's that supposed to mean?"

Squall chuckled and dropped his head and thought for a moment. "Seclusion, money. I mean, what else could that mean?"

Rinoa looked at the ground, almost as if offended. "Well, you know, it's not my fault. You act like it's my fault, like I can help it. And I can't. My dad secludes me. He knows what is out there."

Squall's eyes still remained on the ground. "What exactly…is out there, hm?" He lifted his head and made eye contact with her.

And she stood motionlessly and held his eyes in hers. "I…I dunno."

Squall walked closer toward her, and she backed away. "Drugs? Sex, perhaps?" he questioned.

The more steps Squall took forward, she took backward. She was beyond baffled at his outlandish behavior, and wasn't sure what to do about it. She looked at him, who was still getting closer. "What are you doing?" she questioned.

He stopped walking and looked at her, smiling. "Nothing."

She frowned and stood still. "Okay?"

He nodded.

Awkward silence followed again, and it took Squall a moment to remember why he was supposedly here.

"Garden!" he exclaimed. "What do you know about it?"

She chuckled. "Way to change the subject."

He was almost shocked at her smart remark, and he regained all of his seriousness. "I'm not changing the subject, I'm getting to work. It's what I'm here for."

She shrugged. "If you were that serious about it, we would have started already."

Squall smiled. This was beginning to get fun. She wasn't a blank and innocent little rich girl. She was fresh. She could get mad at somebody bigger than her. And with these thoughts, Squall wondered what her reaction would be to more personal questions. Would she answer them? Would she tell her father?

"So Rinoa, are you…" He wanted to say virgin, but he assumed he would just slide a bit more easily into these types of questions. Asking them too soon would only cause this plan to fail completely.

She widened her eyes and held up her hands. "Am I what?"

"Are you ready?" he asked, and with that, she nodded.

"Okay, first of all, when you go into Balamb Garden, you're obviously not just automatically a SeeD. I'm sure you know that. You're a student. To become a SeeD you have to take a SeeD exam. And this calls for a lot of training. I mean, a lot. And in your case, we don't have that time. So you're going to have to be up to your fullest potential in order to do this. At all." It was funny how when Squall stopped to think about it, he sounded extremely convincing. He was even beginning to convince himself.

She nodded. "I understand, and I'm up for a challenge. But I don't necessarily have to be a SeeD, you know. I think my dad just wants me to be a Garden Student."

Squall smiled and felt the energy running through his body, until he felt blood rising to his head, and his head started throbbing.

"Okay." He stopped and looked at her for a minute. She was so frail. How could somebody like her become a fighter? He held his thoughts to himself for the time. "Let's get started." Squall motioned for her to sit on the ground. She sat, and he followed.

A few minutes went by with just the two of them sitting on the ground across from each other, before Rinoa asked, "What are we doing?"

Her question took him by surprise at first. "What do you mean what are we doing? We've been sitting here in silence for two minutes. The hell do you think we're doing?"

Rinoa's mouth dropped open. His stern answer took her by complete surprise. "Um…I don't know."

Squall stood up. "It's called meditation."

Rinoa hopped up after him. "No offense, but, meditation?"

Squall wanted to laugh. When he went to Garden, he never meditated. It was something he had started doing with Selphie after they had dropped out. It didn't have the slightest thing to do with fighting.

He let out a sigh. "Yeah. It has a lot to do with fighting."

Rinoa put her hands on her hips and rolled her eyes. "Okay, now what."

There was a silence, the kind of silence that reminds you that you're on the planet earth. The wind itself serves as a reminder, along with the rustling of trees and sounds of birds chirping. They were plentiful here, the birds, and if Squall really listened, it was almost deafening. The entire silence was nearly deafening. And to him, in that moment, it grew into desperation to cut through it.

"Now, uh," Squall wasn't sure what to do. He didn't bring any equipment, so this entire thing started to feel slightly pointless. It started to even feel a little bit fishy. To him, at least. "Oh, right. GFs. Tell me you know what they are."

Rinoa looked at him, but quickly turned her glance to the ground. She shrugged her shoulders.

Squall pushed out a sigh. "Okay, okay, no problem. Don't worry about it. GF stands for Guardian Forces. They help you in battle."

Rinoa nodded. "Oh yeah, you have to junction them."

Squall nodded. How the hell did she know that?

"I know about junctioning magic. So I assume you junction GFs, too. Right?"

Squall just stared at her for a minute. How could a secluded rich girl just know something like that? "Yeah, you're right. And I'm assuming you have no experience with magic, either?"

Rinoa shook her head. "Not really. I just know how to junction it."

Squall nodded, and a moment later, realized how weird her answer was.

Irvine sipped his tea slowly. With every gulp, he got a nasty cringe on his face. "How can you just drink this stuff?" he asked Selphie.

She giggled. "I don't drink it for the taste."

Quistis just stared at Selphie, and then turned her glance toward Irvine. "It's not worth it."

He shrugged and gulped the rest of the liquid down, and a moment later, put his hand on his chin. "I can't feel my mouth."

Squall explained everything he knew to Rinoa about Garden, from SeeDs, to the history of Cid, to the SeeD exams, to the training Center, and so on. Every once in a while she would question something small that Squall quickly knew the answer to. At noon, they were called in for lunch. Ten minutes later, they continued their training outside. And once he was finished explaining everything he knew, the sun was starting to set.

Rinoa clasped her hands together. "Okay, I think its time to go inside."

Squall shrugged. "Why? Afraid of the dark?"

Rinoa shooked her head. "I just-"

"Plus you're loaded, the outside of your house is probably lit up like a Christmas tree at night."

Rinoa didn't have anything else to say, other than another "okay".

The courtyard was really big. "Do you have a favorite place to relax?" he asked her, assuming that most people would have chosen a favorite place somewhere like this.

She nodded. "Actually, yeah, right over there." She pointed toward the far corner of the courtyard, which was slightly closed off by cleanly cut bushes and flowers. There was a small, stone bench within the cubicle-like area, and a fountain right next to it.

"Alright then," Squall said. "Let's go over there."

Rinoa looked at him and smiled. "Okay." She quickly looked at the door to make sure her father was not near. "Let's go," she motioned.

The slowly walked over to the closed off area, and once in it, Squall got on the ground and lay on his back. "The night is better than day."

Rinoa nodded and sat next to him. "Um, I guess." Where was he going with this? Why did he want to come over here?

"Well, anyway, you don't have to call me Mr. Kinneas. I don't think it's a bad thing if we're on a first name basis, now, do you?"

Rinoa started at him wide-eyed. "But-"

"Your father said no, yeah, so what. You don't always have to play by the rules."

Rinoa stood up quickly. "Excuse me, but, you're supposed to be professional here, not act like this. Not try to be my friend."

Squall looked at her. "Why can't we be friends, Rinoa? You're how old? 17? And you let your father control your life like he does?" Squall rolled his eyes. "Do you understand that you're close to being an adult? And you'll look back at your teenage years in disgust because you never actually got to live them. Because you were like, a trained dog. Or something. Life is too short to be so conservative, you know."

Rinoa didn't know what to say. But whatever he had said had convinced her. She knelt back on the ground. "I never really looked at it like that, but, I'm still unsure. I don't think this is right."

Squall rolled his eyes. "Rinoa, friendship isn't rape. It isn't murder. It's not hurting anyone." She was being ridiculous. If she was going to keep this attitude up, he didn't even want to bother.

"Okay, okay, calm down. I'm sorry. I'm new at meeting new people. Especially guys, okay?" Rinoa let out a heavy sigh. "You'll just have to excuse me in that area. I know I'm way too conservative."

Squall sat up and smiled. "There you go, that's the spirit." He was beginning to forget what he was there for. "Alright, now. Call me Squall, alright?"

Rinoa nodded.

"Just don't tell your father."

Rinoa rolled her eyes. "Obviously. It would just get me into trouble, not you," she said.

"Exactly, Rinoa. I don't want you to get into any trouble."

She nodded. "So Squall, how old are you?"

Squall smiled again. They were getting somewhere. She was starting to step off the path her father wanted her to take. It was small progress, but it still counted as a pretty big drop in the bucket. Everyone had to start somewhere. "18," he said to her. "Just recently turned it."

Rinoa nodded. "I thought you were older. I forgot how young SeeDs were." Rinoa shifted the position she sat in. She looked relaxed and comfortable next to Squall, which made him feel sort of good. "Do you have a girlfriend?"

Squall shook his head, unable to hold the wide grin that came upon his face.

"What's so funny?" she asked.

Squall looked at her. "You're finally chilling out a little bit."

Rinoa pressed her finger to her lips. "You really aren't much like what I expected, you know," she said to him, lying on her stomach so her head was level with his. "But maybe everyone's like this and I just don't know it."

Squall sighed. "No, definitely not. Not at all. You're lucky to find people who aren't uptight. Especially if you go to some place like Garden."

Rinoa smiled but then quickly frowned. "You never answered my question."

Squall thought a moment. "Oh, oh yeah. No. I don't."

He didn't want to look at Rinoa at that point. He didn't want to know what her reaction would be. Because with her reaction, it was almost as if he felt he could tell her emotions toward him. With a simple reaction, the question of how hard this entire operation was going to be would surely be answered. In only a moment, of course, he gave up and looked at her face anyway. And with the quick glance, he was relieved, because the only look on her face was that of contentment, tranquility. Or maybe it was an unspoken blankness.