disclaimer: i do not own ff8. or there characters and so on...
Note: well okey dokes here is the next chapter, not a whole lot of action but kind of sets up the story.i'll try to add more soon. Thanks to my usual peeps. Wayne for being very cool and also being one fo the two people to review my first chapter and hannah for being the other lol and for being there to help me with my pkots and also for gneral rockige. we have sooo much fun. all i have to say is sainsburys!Enjoy the story y'all xx
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Squall Leonheart was sitting in his office sorting through the massive piles of paperwork on his desk. As little fighting as there was in the world, Squall still seemed always to be saddled with a forest worth of paperwork. at the moment it was a time of year that Squall particularly hated at the moment. It was that horrible time when he was responsible for writing a report about every single student in Garden. All 547 of them. Squall dropped his head on to his desk "300 left" he muttered to himself. At that moment he heard a gentle tapping on his door.
"yeah?" he answered in his mono-tone 'I'm bored' voice
"It's me. Rinoa" called the familiar and soothing voice.
Squall got up and opened the door to his office. As soon as he saw Rinoa's face he felt happier. Suddenly work didn't seem to be an issue. He took both her hands and lead her into his office "Did we or did we not have the conversation. Were I said you didn't have to knock anymore?" he teased her playfully
"Yes" she said blinking up at him-in the past two years he had grown quite a bit of height over her- "but I thought you might be working"
"Hmmm. I'll let you off then." Squall said as he bent down slightly and kissed her on the top of her head
"Besides! You obviously were working" she said gesturing to the pile of paper on his desk. Squall wandered back round and sat behind his desk. "Reports" he said rolling his eyes "Fun"
"That sucks" Rinoa pouted "I wanted to see if you wanted to go out somewhere. You've been working a tonne recently. I feel like I haven't see you for ages" she said as she sat on the end of his desk
Squall laughed slightly to himself "You saw me this morning"
Rinoa narrowed her eyes at him slightly "Well I think that's a long time. Besides you cant actually want to do all this work can you" she leant across his desk and kissed him lightly
"That's so unfair" Squall whispered playfully "Now you're just deliberately trying to distract me"
"Working?" she asked him. He leant in again to kiss her, but at that moment the door to his office swung open and the two of them sprung apart.
Quistis and Headmaster Cid were standing in the door way. Cid looked mildly uncomfortable and Quistis was doing her best not to look at Squall or Rinoa. She had known all along they'd end up married, so it was no shock to her when they actually did. But it was still hard for her to see them together, for as hard as she had tried to move on and be happy for them, some of her feelings for Squall still lingered in the back of her mind. And as hard as she tried to get on with Rinoa-and she really did like her-she always felt a pang of jealousy and even resentment towards Rinoa.
"Sorry commander" she muttered still looking at the floor
Squall brushed his hair out of his face "It's erm…it's not a problem"
Rinoa stood up, smoothed her hair, fixed her clothes slightly then, slightly blushing said "this seems like it's going to be business. I'll see you later Squall. Quistis. Cid" she nodded to both before leaving the room.
"What is it?" Squall asked his colleagues
Cid placed a folder down on Squall's desk "It's a mission"
Squall was shocked and slightly excited. A mission. It had been over two years since Squall had gone on a mission. His role as commander had consisted solely of doing masses of paperwork. He picked up the folder skimming through the details.
"Please chose a team quickly Squall, the situation sounds quite desperate, we should aim to leave perhaps tomorrow morning."
"I'll get straight on it" Squall nodded.
"Right. Good work" Cid said before leaving the room
"Quistis could you find Selphie, Irvine, and Zell and tell them to come to my office in an hour"
"ok. Sure commander" she promptly left the room, and Squall sat back down and started to read through the information he had been given. A few seconds later Rinoa wandered back into the room
"What was all that about?" she asked sitting on the little sofa at the side of the room
"A new mission"
"A mission? Wow. It's been a while. What's the mission. Where are we going?"
"We are not going anywhere. You're not going"
Rinoa looked a little taken aback by his statement
"You're not going on the mission" Squall repeated, writing something down on a piece of paper
"But I want to go"
Squall shrugged his shoulders "Tough. You're staying here"
Rinoa stood up and placed her hands on her hips "Why? Why aren't I going"
"It seems as if it could become very dangerous"
"So!" she demanded
Squall sighed and rubbed his forehead "So you're my wife. And I'm not going to go and put you in danger because I don't want you hurt. Why is that wrong?"
"It's not" she said her tone softening slightly "It's just that…you don't need to shield me from danger. I can handle danger Squall. We both know I can"
"Maybe you can Rin. But it doesn't mean you should have to, no one should really. But that's my job"
"Well it's my job too. I'm not only your wife Squall, I'm a SeeD too. And SeeD go on missions"
"You know what you're right. But hold on if you actually want to look at it that way, well you're a SeeD, but husband or not, I'm still your commander. And I say you're not going"
Rinoa sat down and crossed her arms over her chest "Fine" she breathed.
Zell ran frantically down the hall way, bumping into Irvine and Selphie in the process
"Yo guys" he said "Quisty find you?"
"yeah, something about a mission were on our way up to Squalls office now" Selphie answered
"Oh yeah baby, mission time. Its time to give these fists o'mine a work out. It's been a while"
"You two are way to excited" Irvine said in a lazy tone "this means we actually have to work you know"
"Irvine!" Selphie hit him playfully "We're seed, were supposed to do missions!"
"Yeh yeh yeh" Irvine said waving his hand.
When they got to Squalls office, Squall was sitting behind his desk looking very serious and Rinoa was sitting on the sofa, gazing out of the window. As Zell looked closer, he realised she was not enjoying the view, she was just purposefully looking anywhere but at Squall.
'woah, tense' he thought to himself as he took a seat.
"Right" Squall stood up behind the desk "Here's the situation. We all know that after the whole lunar-cry situation, under the say of Esthar, Galbadia's military government was overthrown in favour of a more liberal one, and that there army was limited for use only in military crises. Well apparently now someone is trying to bring back the military, 500 new soldiers have been recruited into the army and some protesters contacted Esthar to ask for the rising to be stopped. President Laguna has referred them to us, so we have to help them. We'll travel to Deling to meet with these protesters, and also to take part in a negotiation talk that's happening. We will represent the interests of both Balamb and Esthar, Selphie you'll represent the interests of Trabia. There'll also be representatives from Timber, Winhill and Dollet in attendance. Now we are at the aid of the protesters, so if the negotiations fail then are job is to eliminate the Galbadian army, at least to the point were they are no longer a threat.
"I say, screw the peace talks. We should go straight to the violence" came a familiar voice from the door way. Squall looking up and seeing who the voice belonged to, rolled his eyes
"what do you want Seifer?"
"I want in. heard there was a mission and I want a piece of the action"
"No way" Zell said standing up so quickly he nearly knocked over his chair
'Seifer. Do I really think that's a good idea he causes more problems than he solves. Then again he is a strong fighter. And it's better than leaving him here with Rinoa'
"Fine, seifer you're in." Squall sighed "but if you fail to follow any of mine or our clients orders you are out of Garden for good ok?"
Seifer rolled his eyes and sat on the nearest chair.
"So squall" Quistis said choosing to ignore Seifers interruption " These people trying to bring back the military. Who are they?"
"It doesn't say actually. I guess we'll find out when we get there. So is everyone clear on what were doing"
Everybody nodded, except Rinoa who just kept staring out the window.
"Right you better all go and prepare, we're leaving first thing tomorrow. Hopefully we wont have to fight, but it might come to that, so if you can try and fit in some training it's been a while since we've had to fight. That's all"
"I am so PSYCHED!" Zell said running out of the room and no doubt straight to the training centre.
"Hey wait up" Selphie Squealed running after him, and Irvine and Quistis followed behind in a much calmer manner.
Rinoa stood up and without saying anything to Squall or Seifer walked out of the room.
"Yeesh. What's wrong with the missus?" Seifer laughed
"Go away Seifer" Squall said tiredly
Seifer strolled out of the room still laughing to himself.
'Same old Seifer' Squall thought
When Squall went to his room later that night, he found Rinoa sitting on the bed staring straight at the wall in front of her. When he opened the door she looked of briefly before looking back to the wall.
Squall sat down next to her on the bed "What's up?"
"I'm……..worried" she said quietly
"About what?"
"You. This mission. I just have a bad feeling about it. ..you…you shouldn't go Squall"
"I have to" Squall said simply
"Why. Why do you have to go. Can't you send someone else."
"I have to go Rinoa because it's my job" he could see that tears we're starting to trickle down her face and he wrapped his arm around her to comfort her "And I'll be fine. You don't need to worry about me. We might not even have to fight"
"How long will you be gone?" she asked between little sobs
"I don't know. It could be a day. Could be a week. .."
"Could be a month or a year" she sobbed
He pulled her to him and hugged her "Don't be crazy. It wont be that long. it's just one contract"
" Remember how your last contract ended Squall….?"
"Do you mean that I nearly died or that technically I married my last client"
"Both. What if that happens again?" she wailed
Squall laughed a little to himself "Ok you don't need to worry about either of them. I'll be fine. I'll be home before you even know it ok?"
"o..ok" she whispered
"trust me. Everything will be fine. "
But as much as Squall told her that, deep inside he felt ever so slightly worried about what would happen. It had been two years since his last mission. Two years since he had fought any real battles. And for two years he had not been apart form Rinoa for more than a day. He wondered if he could actually cope on this mission…….
It was the middle of the night, or perhaps early hours of the morning and the room was bathed in darkness. Rinoa couldn't sleep. She just lay there, resting her head against Squalls chest and looking up at the ceiling. She was worried still. Something about this whole thing just gave her a bad feeling. Thoughts were jumping erratically around her head
'it'll be so weird, Squall not being here. And what if something happens to him and I'm not there. What if this is the last time I ever see him" She started to cry again.
Squall, whom she had not realised was awake, stroked her hair and said "go to sleep, it's late. Stop worrying about me"
She tried to stop the tears from falling. "Squall…just one thing" she said softly
"Anything"
"Just…don't leave me for too long." she whispered, listening to the sound of his heartbeat, and closing her eyes
"I wont. I promise"