A/N: Wow, it's been like ages since an update. Sorry guys. However something amazing has happened to me this year, I am really really organised! No more essay deadline stress for me. Whoohoo!
'Yellow'
SUNDAY
17:20
Rinoa was listening to Zell in silence, with only the occasional nod. The only other person in the room was Quistis, who was frantically making notes, despite the fact that her Dictaphone was still recording.
"Do you reckon I should market this as a fiction or a factual study?" she had asked Rinoa in a whisper when Zell had been occupied with setting up his equipment. "Either way it's gold dust!"
"No one is going to believe any of this," Rinoa had replied.
"You do though…"
Rinoa was still considering Quistis' words as Zell ushered her over to the small wooden table, where he had arranged a pile of different coloured stones and crystals. Handing one of the larger crystals to Rinoa, he told her to take a seat and sat down opposite her.
"What is this for?" Rinoa asked looking at the rock in her hand. "I thought we were going to work on my aura?"
"We are, that's what the crystal is for. It will glow with your colour, and then we'll know what we're working with. Since your aura isn't like everyone else's, we'll need as much help as possible. Hence the biggest crystal," Zell explained.
He flicked through a few pages of a heavy bound book, until he found a page he was happy with. Then he looked up with a smile, only to meet with Rinoa's sceptical expression.
"You said my aura was broken. So I'm a freak, right? What if it tells me something I don't want to know?"
"Like what?" Zell asked. He liked to know what people's fears were before he began exposing them to magic. Some people had great fears about palm reading, terrified about what they might learn. Where as others believed fate was fate, and it was better to know and prepare. He wondered what might be on Rinoa's mind.
"I don't know. I'll still be the same afterwards, right?"
"You'll be just the same," Zell assured her. "OK, now close your eyes, and concentrate. Tell yourself that you want to see your aura in the crystal. And…"
Rinoa opened an eye as Zell went silent, and found that he was staring at the rock in her hands. It had changed colour, and was glowing yellow.
"Wow, that sure was fast," Quistis remarked, then made a note.
Rinoa smiled unsure.
"Hey, what you know, it actually worked," she said bringing the yellow crystal up to her eye-line and inspecting it. "That wasn't so hard."
"I wasn't expecting that," Zell whispered.
"Why not? You were the one going on about me being a princess from a magical royal family," Rinoa said with a touch of sarcasm, still inspecting her glowing stone. If it weren't so weird, she'd have called it pretty. Not that she had ever imagined herself as a yellow type of girl, but she'd never imagined herself in this kind of situation either, so everything was going to be a surprise.
"Yeah, but I wasn't expecting to be right!" Zell exclaimed.
"This doesn't prove anything though," Rinoa warned before he became too excited.
"Except that you can do magic, and without much effort either. I've seen people pass out only doing half of what you've done here. Even I can't hold a colour for so long, and I've been practicing all my life."
Rinoa shrugged.
"Yellow," Zell muttered. "This makes sense. Yellow is life energy. No wonder all the Bleaks are attracted to you. For something with a sweet tooth you're pure sugar."
"You can fix me?" Rinoa asked hopefully. Having heard enough comments about the Bleaks, and how they were following her around in unusual numbers, she was pretty eager to get rid of them. Since Zell had already proved he wasn't messing her about with tricks, and that she really could turn a clear rock into a glowing yellow orb, she was ready to try anything.
"There isn't anything I can do. There is something missing, but it's nothing I can fix. My guess is it's incomplete because you're not where you are meant to be. That, or there is something you need to find."
Rinoa felt her hopes sink.
"Oh, so the Bleaks will be following me forever?"
"Not if you can raise up some shields. Shall we work on that next?" Zell asked. With a shield she would be able to protect herself against the Bleaks, even if they continued to follow her around, then at least they wouldn't be able to touch her.
20:22
Rinoa found that Zell was an enthusiastic teacher; he never lost interest when she failed, and never stopped encouraging her when she felt like giving up. By the end of three hours practicing, Rinoa felt she had achieved something. Suddenly she felt confident, as if she had been walking through her life with her soul bared, and now she was taking it back and holding it close. No one was going to hurt her again, not unless she let them in. feeling renewed with energy, she felt ready to learn something else, but it seemed Zell had exhausted himself.
"I feel great," Rinoa said as Zell slumped down on the sofa. "I feel different."
"That's because you no longer have a dirty big shadow sapping out your energy. Wave bye bye to the leechy Bleaks."
Rinoa looked out of the window. She couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. But the sky was dusky, and she supposed that she ought to go home soon. Quistis was probably looking forward to going home also, since it had been a pretty long day. Plus she was feeling pretty hungry.
"Are we meeting up tomorrow?" Rinoa asked.
"I don't know. I mean, depends whether you've forgiven Squall or not," Quistis replied, picking up her bag and finding her car keys.
Suddenly Rinoa's buzz fell away as she remembered that she was still fighting with Squall. She wished she had managed to keep her cool, since he didn't like her anyway, and now he would like her even less. Not that it was her fault, but his, for being so insensitive. But then, it didn't sound like he and Seifer were very sociable with regular people, so what was she really expecting?
"Oh yeah. Maybe I should go and find him?"
"I think he ought to be the one to apologise, don't you?" Quistis asked.
Rinoa knew Quistis was right, she shouldn't go running after him. She didn't want to seem desperate. Better to wait until he came to her, then she could play it cool. Yeah, it was better to wait. Unless he couldn't be bothered to…
"Alright, can you drop me home?"
21:40
Rinoa was watching the TV, in front of her was cup of hot chocolate and a book with creased corners. She was debating whether she should go to bed, or watch the next programme, which some kind of countdown show of the wealthiest people in the world. She had only just decided that she would watch the first half then go to bed, when she heard her doorbell.
Frowning, she moved quietly to the door and wondered whether she should ignore it. Her TV volume was down pretty low, and she hadn't made any noise walking over to the door, so she could pretend she wasn't at home. But she was curious about who would be visiting at this time.
"Who is it?" she called after she knew she couldn't ignore the mystery anymore.
"It's Squall," was the blunt reply.
Rinoa opened the door to find Squall on her doorstep, the streetlights behind him giving him a sorrowful glow. His gaze was down at the ground, but as soon as the door opened he looked up into Rinoa's face. She looked nervous in front of him, with her hair loosely tied back and ready for sleep. She tried a small smile, but Squall knew he was making her uncomfortable.
"Can I come in?" he asked, after a few minutes of standing in the cold.
Rinoa silently opened the door further and stood back, allowing him in. Closing the door on the world outside, Rinoa followed him into her home, not truly believing that he was really there.
"Um, can I get you a drink?" Rinoa asked, walking by him into the kitchen. She hoped he'd say yes, because she felt she needed something to do. She couldn't just stand there and have him look at her in the strange piercing way he often used when around her.
"Sure."
"What would you like?" Rinoa asked flicking the kettle on. "Tea, Coffee, chocolate…"
"What are you having?" Squall asked, leaning against a counter near her.
Rinoa tried not to look at him, as she knew if she did she'd blush. He was standing uncomfortably close to her. Still looking at her in the same questioning way, as if he had no idea what he made of her.
"Chocolate," Rinoa replied.
"I'll have the same," Squall said, stepping back and letting her make the drinks. "Rinoa I wanted to apologise."
Rinoa nodded as she poured the boiling water into the mugs, but found that her heart was beating too wildly to speak. She didn't know why she was so nervous around him, she had spent almost the whole day with him. But then, she hadn't ever been alone with him. Not truly alone anyway.
"It's OK," Rinoa said handing him the drink. "You don't have to."
Squall wished that she hadn't decided to forgive him so soon, as she was making this much harder by being nice to him. He didn't want to know what she really thought about him however, not when he couldn't work her out at the best of times. She always looked so uncomfortable around him, which made him think that she couldn't stand him.
"It's not," he said trying to catch her eye.
"No it is. You see, I really can do magic, Zell taught me how to see my aura, and create magic shields…. If you were right about that, then maybe you were right about my mother as well!" Rinoa said in a manner that told Squall she didn't believe it was true, but was clutching at a small scrap of hope.
"No, Rinoa. I shouldn't have said it."
Shrugging, she walked past him to the sofa, and sat down. She patted the cushion next to her to invite him to sit. Hesitating, Squall didn't know how to broach the subject again, since it seemed Rinoa was determined not to discuss it. He didn't know whether to keep pressing her until she realised his words had just been a thought off the top of his head, or to let her keep hold of the small hope that her mother wasn't dead after all.
"It doesn't matter. I'm just happy that you bothered to come all this way to say sorry."
Rinoa smiled then turned to the TV and waited for Squall to join her. In silence they watched the show about rich people. Rinoa tried her best to relax, but found that more times than she could be comfortable with, Squall kept turning to look at her. It was only when the programme reached the advert break that she looked back at him.
"Why do you keep looking at me?" she asked.
"I don't know," Squall replied, embarrassed that he had been caught. Without warning he stood up. "I have to go."
"Oh, but…"
"Bye," he said abruptly, before he walked to the door, opened it without looking back and was gone.
Rinoa stared after him confused, with the sound of the door slamming in her ears.
