Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VIII or its beautiful characters .. but I will one day ! x) It all belongs to SquareSoft. :salutes: -.-;;

Balamb Garden Amazing Race

Chapter Thirteen ll Sweet Adrenalin

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"FOR THE FIFTIETH TIME, I DID NOT WRITE THAT LETTER!"

"GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"Quistis - somebody - stop him!" Squall cried frantically as he sped past them, occasionally casting Stop spells over his shoulder, all of which were fruitless attempts as Seifer dodged them, "I - can't - keep - this - up - arghhh!"

"Seifer... please," Quistis said desperately.

They had all been standing in the regal hallway in their pyjamas for about ten minutes, watching hopelessly as Seifer ran after Squall with his Hyperion. Quistis smacked her hand to her forehead in frustration and Rinoa looked on, rather concerned.

"Maybe we should subdue him?" she suggested timidly as Seifer, with a maniacal, triumphant shout, jumped off a banister, rapidly closing the gap between him and Squall. Squall glanced back and yelped, running even harder.

"I'll teach you to write me love letters!" Seifer yelled, waving his gunblade viciously.

"For Hyne's - someone help me!"

"Who wants to do the honours?" Rinoa asked edgily, her eyes following the two young men as they ran around the landing of the palace a third time, coming back towards the group again.

"Oh, let me do it," Zell volunteered gleefully. He jumped out into the hot zone after Squall had bolted past, standing right in the way of the charging Seifer, "Hehehe, take some of this - Blizzaga!"

The force of the icicle knocked Seifer abruptly off his feet, him yelping, "ARGHHHHH!" in fury. Quistis, Zell and Irvine roughly dragged the dazed Seifer into a sitting position, while a gasping-for-air Squall collapsed onto the ground, clutching onto the hand of Rinoa for protection.

"Ugh... head... hurts..." Seifer mumbled, his Hyperion lying a foot behind him on the ground. In the shadows, Fujin silently kicked Raijin in the shins as he shook with laughter beside her and she tried to hold the camera steady.

With a sigh, Quistis bent down towards him, "Are you going to calm down now and leave Squall alone?" she asked authoritatively, like a mother or a teacher.

"No..."

"I got plenty of Blizzaga stocked."

Seifer scowled as he caught his breath, "Fine." He glowered in Squall's direction, "So long as he keeps his own, grotesque feelings to himself."

Squall peered from behind Rinoa and retaliated hotly, "I do not fancy you, Seifer! The very idea is... nauseating!"

"Well, now you know," Seifer said scornfully, all the while ducking behind Quistis for good measure, "But just in case those - feelings - ever return, lemme deliver a blow to your head to imprint into your brain the sickening reality - "

"FOR HYNE'S SAKE I DIDN'T WRITE THAT STUPID LETTER!" Squall exploded, quite at the end of his tether after being irrationally (and oh-so-wrongly) accused of writing a love letter to Seifer, and being pursued by the madman trying to cut his head off for a large portion of the night.

"EVERYONE KNOWS I LOVE RINOA!"

The atmosphere changed completely. Rinoa, who had been looking weary seconds before, now looked as though she had received a severe, mental shock. Seifer's expression changed, too, and he looked rather foolish as he opened and closed his mouth. All the others were astonished and were staring at Squall in disbelief.

Squall, on the other hand, had no emotion to spare for embarrassment at his outburst. Leaping to his feet, he stalked off angrily to the nearest door (a luxury bathroom) and locked himself in it.

Everyone turned to look at Rinoa.

"Ummm - errr," was all she could stammer, so speechless she had been rendered.

She really was quite stunned, but inside her heart was soaring at the words Squall had said, and she knew she would go to bed that night (or that morning, more accurately) with tingling cheeks and an idiotical smile. After all, she supposed she had known it all along... he jumping out of space to rescue her was proof enough. But there was something so wonderful, so solid about him actually saying it out loud that made her want to dance - even if he had been red with rage while doing so.

"I'll go talk to him," she finally said decisively, and made her way purposefully towards the door.

Irvine immediately jumped up, "Alright, folks, off to bed, nothing to see here..." He motioned for all of them to troop back into their rooms, which they all did hastily as they cottoned on.

"I guess some good comes out of you," Quistis muttered inconsequentially, dragging Seifer away from the scene as he clung onto her hand.

"Hmph... I'm still not completely convinced..."

When at last Irvine and Selphie, both sending a big beam to Rinoa, had gone back into their rooms, the raven-haired girl quietly knocked on the bathroom door and called Squall's name gently.

"Can I come in?"

"No," came his stubborn, muffled reply.

Rinoa's mouth twitched in spite of herself, "Come on... Seifer's gone. It's only me out here. Besides, I want to ask you something."

She waited patiently for a few seconds, and then the lock clicked and the door opened a fraction of an inch. Smiling slightly, Rinoa pushed it open a little further, frowned, then poked her head around the door.

"Boo!"

He blinked, then lowered his gaze quickly. There was a spot of colour in his cheeks that made her want to throw her arms around his neck and hug him. Grinning, she said whimsically, "Sooo..."

Squall looked at her quizzically, but didn't say anything.

Rinoa stopped stalling and stood right in front of him, facing him directly. Putting her hands on her hips she said, "Come on, Squall! Don't you have anything to say to me?"

He met her confronting gaze, "Other than 'keep Seifer away from me'?"

Tutting, Rinoa took a step closer and asked with new softness, "Did you mean it?"

Squall returned her soulful look hesitantly, feeling the colour rise in his cheeks. Fixing his burning gaze on the floor, he muttered evasively, "Didn't you know already?"

"I... I guess," Rinoa said unsurely. She studied him for a second, then a reluctant smile spread across her lips, "You know what I've learnt about you? You have the strangest ways of expressing yourself. And you do it in the most unsuitable circumstances."

Squall thought for a moment.

"Yeah. I probably do."

"Everyone says we're polar opposites," Rinoa said smilingly, surprising Squall by taking a step forward and hugging him close, "I guess they're right sometimes."

Squall's heart skipped a beat, "But we do have one thing in common... I hope." She tilted her head up and he looked down at her earnestly, "We both... really do not love Seifer."

She looked into his blue eyes wonderingly and guessed the hidden meaning behind those strange words. With a giggle Rinoa buried her head in his chest, he lifting his arms to wrap around her petite frame.

"I love you, too, Squall."

He couldn't help but grin like the fool he never thought he would become.

After they had held onto each other in peace and quiet for a few minutes, Squall quietly suggested they go back to their rooms to rest up for tomorrow, and Rinoa nodded. Reaching out for the doorknob, she pulled it open and together they stepped out.

"Ahem," Seifer said with dignity.

Squall yelled in alarm and leapt a foot back, crashing into the door.

Rinoa put her hands to her hips as he moaned, rubbing his elbow, and demanded, "Seifer! What are you doing here? Don't tell me you've been standing out here this whole time."

"No, he just came back out," Quistis said apologetically, stifling a yawn, "He said he needs to... settle some business. Don't worry," she added when Squall caught her eye, "His Hyperion is back in the room."

"Yes, yes, anyway," Seifer said impatiently, his green eyes glinting malevolently, "After the emotional trauma that letter put me through - "

"Don't tell me you're going to sue me."

" - I have come to the conclusion that we need to settle this business, man-to-man. I simply cannot let this surpass without some... punishment. And it goes like this," Seifer cleared his throat importantly while the three of them stared at him, stupefied, "Between the two of us, whoever doesn't win the Amazing Race must fight a T-Rexaur in an instructor uniform."

Rinoa burst out laughing and Squall just looked at him, "Do you know how hard it is to move around in those things?"

"Hmm. Better make it a female instructor uniform."

"Ooooh," Quistis said knowledgably, shaking her head, "Good luck."

Squall just frowned at the immaturely determined look Seifer had on his face, his eyes slightly distracted by the red splotches in his blonde hair.

"You really didn't like that letter, did you?"

"Not at all."

"But you do know I didn't write it, don't you?"

"I know I'm very good-looking, but no, I didn't think you could ever convince yourself you had a chance with me. But hey, initial reactions. I just had to try to behead you for security reasons."

Squall looked a little nauseated, "Fine. You have a deal, Seifer."

Seifer's smile glowed, "Knew you wouldn't refuse. Well, that's that, looking forward to seeing you at the finish line, Commander Puberty, sir!" He mock-saluted Squall, who lifted an eyebrow, "Hehehe... this is gonna be fun. Good night, all!" Whistling happily, Seifer wheeled around and sauntered back to his room, quite content with how the night's events had panned out.

Sure, he'd been a little shocked, a little furious, and perhaps a little savage, but now he and Squall had settled the score and everything would just work out from here.

"Squall," Rinoa exclaimed fervently, "Why did you agree to that absurd - thing?"

"Because," Squall said evenly, "After running away from that idiot for ten minutes, aiming a gunblade at my head, it'll be a comforting consolation to see him battle a T-Rexaur while wearing a skirt."

Without further words, he, too, strode back to his room.

Rinoa and Quistis glanced helplessly at one another.

"Both as arrogant as the other," Rinoa conceded ominously.

"Mmmhmm. They'll get their reality check sooner or later."

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Morning dawned bright and early in the Presidential Palace and Zell awoke to the rummaging sounds of Shizuka as she packed away her things in her bag. It was something they'd all grown very accustomed to; living out of a single, overnight bag that contained all their essentials, and then re-packing it the next morning, completely ignorant of where their next destination may be.

As they ate their breakfast of waffles, Zell thought back on their race, somewhat fondly.

"Hey, how long has it been? Since we started the race?" he asked Shizuka, who shrugged.

"It's been about a week, I'd say."

"Then we should be near the end," Zell said slowly, thinking to the first day of the Amazing Race (it seemed like years ago), "Selphie said it only went for one week."

Shizuka looked thoughtful, "You're right." Then she smiled, "It'll be hard to imagine you without your bandana." Zell had grown rather attached to the piece of pink material, keeping it on even when he slept. Sometimes it was tied around his wrist, like the first time he grudgingly put it on, but mostly it was wrapped around his head for the whole world to see. Actually, most of the members of the race had taken to tying their bandanas around their heads. It made them look like warriors and ninjas, they claimed.

Zell scratched the back of his neck sheepishly, "Yeah... it's not such a bad colour, I guess."

When nine o'clock arrived, Shizuka opened up their next pink envelope. It was one of the few that were left in the manilla package.

B.G. Amazing Race
Challenge
59. It's time to go home:) The first team back to Balamb Garden, the 2F classroom, receives 50 bonus points! BUT; you CANNOT go on airships, trains or cars. Travelling must be done by foot, boat and anything else you can think of. Keep going through the rest of the challenges along the way - they will give you clues as to where you should be heading. Happy hiking! (Hint: you might want to use a map.)

Buy three potions from the shopping arcade and juggle them.

"What? We have to hitchhike back?" Zell yelped, "Awww, man. This is gonna suck."

"It'll be like orienteering," Shizuka said bracingly, though she was not exactly looking forward to this loooong trip back to Garden either, "And think about it, Zell, how achieved and accomplished will we feel afterwards! But what does it mean by 'keep going through the rest of the challenges along the way'?"

"I think it means we keep doing the rest of these," Zell explained, looking into the manilla envelope, "So basically, this is one big challenge that we're doing the whole time, and we have a few little ones to do along the way."

Shizuka was quiet for a moment, "What time do you think we'll be back?" she asked wistfully, thinking of her warm, comfortable bed and her beloved, quiet library, full of her favourite books.

"Not till it's really late," sighed Zell, "After all, they want to make us suffer, don't they?"

Shizuka smiled, "At least we'll have the comforting thought of home at the end of all this!"

"Right," Zell said, smiling vaguely at how optimistic she was, "And now, off we go to find a map and juggle some potions! Did you know I'm an expert at juggling?"

Thus, the final day of the Balamb Garden Amazing Race takes flight with an energetic kick of adrenalin. The pink team's geared to go, the yellow team's bolting down their breakfast as they get lost in the enormous palace, the red team's having troubles with Odine's flying gadgets, and the blue team is making their way out to sweet freedom.

And who will win, nobody knows.

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A/N: Bwahahaha, imagining Seifer chase Squall around the palace made me giggle. xD Hehehe. Whoot, it's the last day for our champions! I'm really looking forward to writing the next chapter, BUT SCHOOL STARTS AGAIN TOMORROW AND MY EXAMS START TOO! So I best be off now and start learning about .. genetics and DNA and all that horrible stuff related with Science. x( The next time you'll see me I will be one happy, ecstatic, FREE girl! xD Reviews are ALWAYS hugged. - msq.