Chapter Four – Seifer
In the few days that followed, Rinoa found herself the subject of everyone's attention. It wouldn't have been so bad, if it hadn't been for the fact she didn't know where she was going. Aimless wandering in the hope of finding her way around made her feel even more conspicuous. Everywhere she went, people looked at her, some smiled, and some paused in their conversations until she was gone. Rinoa understood their interest. Here she was, a civilian that their Commander had brought to the Garden, and then seconds after her arrival they were all on alert for Galbadian attack. No wonder the welcome committee had been a bit thin on the ground.
Selphie had followed through on her promise to find her a Garden uniform, and up until now Rinoa had ingored it's blue and gold presence hanging on the back of her door. But on day three, Rinoa gave in and left her room dressed as a SeeD. The uniform did wonders for her confidence, like wearing a suit of bravery. Two things happened because of that uniform, one, Rinoa no longer felt lost when she walked through the Garden, and the other, she finally read her contract.
Squall had titled her as Military Tactic Consultant. The contract stated that she was engaged to work in partnership with Quistis Trepe in a teaching capacity. Rinoa was alarmed to find that this required her to formulate a programme of instruction for the SeeD students, and that she would be teaching a class of approximately twelve. Her first thought had been terror, she wasn't a teacher, and the idea of speaking in front of twelve strangers, who were expecting great things from her, was too much. What had she done to trick Squall into thinking she would be capable of this? She was good at her job, yes, but good enough for this?
At this very moment, Rinoa was in the cafeteria, waiting for Selphie to finish her weapons training. Selphie turned out to be one of those people who was generous with their time. Rinoa was grateful beyond anything that Selphie kept her from hiding away in her room, and forced her to socialise with people she would have otherwise been too intimidated of otherwise. Today she was going to meet Selphie's friends, all SeeDs, who one way or another she'd worked with before.
Rinoa's phone beeped, and she immediately recalled the number.
"Hey, just running to you now. Damn Jelleye sliced my arm with its fin. Squall healed it up a bit, but I've got to go to the doctor after lunch," Selphie said, in a breathless voice that did indeed indicate that she was running.
"You got hurt? Go to the doctor now. I'll come with you," Rinoa replied, pushing her chair back and reaching for her bag.
"No! I'm here, stay where you are, I see you."
Sure enough Rinoa could see Selphie pushing through the crowd that always seemed to gather at the doorway where the staff had unwisely hung the menu. She was dressed in her sweats, her hair scraped back from her face, blood leaking through one sleeve. But she was smiling like always.
"How's it going?" Selphie asked as she sat down heavily in one of the uncomfortable metal chairs.
"You are covered in blood." Was all Rinoa could say in reply, her eyes fixed on her friend's arm.
Selphie shrugged.
"I'm used to it. No one is going to give a crap here, SeeDs are always covered in blood," Selphie said dismissively, before reaching to take one of Rinoa's abandoned stone cold fries. She grinned and pulled her blood covered sweater off. Her arm looked rather red and inflamed, but like Selphie had said, the wound had been healed. "Squall kind of looks whacked out, don't you think? You saw him the other day right? You should tell him to chill the fuck out. He "
"I think I kind of already did. He looked tired when I saw him," Rinoa said without thinking. She caught sight of Selphie's smirk, but chose to ignore it. Instead she looked around instead.
The cafeteria was busy, and reminded Rinoa of school, where people separated into cliques, busy gossiping and enjoying each other's company. She supposed there was little else for these people to do in their time away from studying, and Rinoa realised that it had been a long time she had been around so many young people all at once. In her professional life, she had been swallowed up by a much older adult demographic.
It occurred to her when Selphie suddenly jumped up and started waving at someone that she was, for the first time in her life, sitting at the 'popular' table. The SeeDs had earned their place in this room, it belonged to them, and the students kept their distance. As fun as that was for about five seconds, Rinoa realised she hated being a celebrity as soon as Selphie started yelling.
"Hey cowboy, whoo! Over here!"
With everyone looking over, Rinoa felt herself get beet red, and she smiled nervously. Selphie looked like she was seconds from jumping on top of the table to flag down her friend, and Rinoa grabbed her arm.
"Selphie, everyone is staring at us," she whispered.
"Everyone always stares at us Rin, get used to it," Selphie replied not caring for Rinoa's embarrassment.
All of a sudden two young men were making their way towards them, and Rinoa felt the pressure to make a good impression return. These people mattered to her, they were Selphie's friends, but they were also depending on her to live up to the trust their Commander had placed in her. Her heart started to beat uncomfortably fast.
"Irvine, Zell, meet Rinoa," Selphie said, sitting down and looking mightily proud to be making the introduction.
"No way, Rinoa Heartilly in the flesh," the man in the cowboy hat said, removing said hat in respect as he took a seat next to Selphie. "Thanks for keeping this one out of trouble," he added before pressing a light-hearted kiss to Selphie's cheek.
"I'm Zell," the other said, he'd seated himself also, and immediately started eating. "Thanks for all the help by the way. You saved my ass a few times out there."
It took a few seconds for Rinoa to realise what he'd said through his chewing, but before she could reply, he was talking again. They made her feel at ease within minutes, and Rinoa suddenly came to the conclusion that as far as they were concerned Rinoa didn't need to prove herself at all. From the way they recalled and talked of old missions, she started to see it all from their point of view, and realised how much she'd meant to them all without ever being aware. She was indeed the voice of calm in their darkest moments, and it was humbling.
"Yeah, you remember that time Seifer found those people hiding in the shelter, and Squall was telling him to fall back, but he couldn't because the monsters were closing in?" Zell was saying excitedly. "And then Rinoa organised that chopper to drop in me and Irv, and had you and Squall organise the evacuation… you remember that Selphie? Then we all camped together in that cave…"
"Wasn't that the night Seifer almost died?" Irvine asked.
"Yeah, good memories," Zell concurred. "Oh fuck. There he is."
Rinoa immediately turned around to look. Seifer had been the bane of her life, never took orders except from Quistis, and always gave her plenty of attitude. Having him miles away and only seeing him in his battle gear on a screen was as close as Rinoa had ever wanted to come to him. Now he was here in the room with her, walking towards them like a predator.
"Bit early for your daily beating Zell, but I suppose I could oblige you," he said as he neared.
The grin on his face told Rinoa that he meant to start trouble. She felt extremely intimidated, and the mood at the table changed to tense. Rinoa felt herself freeze as he put his hands on the back of her chair and leant forward, invading her space. Forcing herself to acknowledge him, she remained looking him in the eye.
"You've got to be kidding me," Selphie muttered under her breath.
"Hi," Seifer said, completely ignoring everyone and staring at Rinoa as he looked down at her. The grin was still on his face, and he clearly thought his attentions would be welcome. Rinoa could see over his shoulder that Seifer wasn't the only new arrival in the room, Squall was standing in the line waiting to be served, looking bored and checking his phone.
"Hello," Rinoa replied uncertainly. No doubt about it, Seifer was an intense person. He seemed to take up all the room in the place, his presence was overwhelming, and his interest in her was unmistakable. He also clearly had no idea who she was.
"Seifer, this is Rinoa Heartilly," Selphie said, sounding nothing like her friendly self, but more like her no nonsense SeeD battle self.
"Rinoa Heartilly? Like, the actual…" Seifer said, realisation dawning in his eyes and he leant back, as if Rinoa had suddenly changed into something else. He looked completely off balance for a second, which allowed Rinoa to take a good look at him. He was tall, his t-shirt was tight around his muscled arms, blond hair cropped short, his eyes sharp. Rinoa knew she had been right from the off, this man was dangerous.
"Yes, Rinoa the navigator… Squall must have told you she'd be here?" Selphie continued rather sarcastically. "Maybe you should stop hitting on her, especially when the Commander is stood right over there."
Seifer looked over his shoulder, and took his hands off of Rinoa's chair. He grabbed another chair from a neighbouring table, and sat next to Selphie as if he had been invited. For all he seemed to like antagonising everyone, Seifer also looked as if he was completely at home with their company. But clearly the sight of Squall wasn't too welcome to him right now, like a naughty child spotting their parents.
"Squall never said you were so fit, but then his taste in women is pretty shit…." Seifer said, his attention now split between Rinoa and checking that Squall was still far away. "I thought you were an old lady."
Rinoa raised an eyebrow. She wasn't sure if this was meant to be a compliment… or if Seifer was just a professional asshole. He was succeeding in making her highly uncomfortable either way.
"Seifer…. Oh wait, you were the one who never followed any orders," Rinoa replied with a smile, as sweet as she could make it.
Seifer stared at her for a moment, and then started grinning again. Rinoa knew giving as good as she got wouldn't make him leave her alone, it would probably make things worse, but a man like Seifer marked meek people as targets. He liked people who stood up to him, like Quistis and Squall. He'd most likely gravitated over to this table, looking for a fight, knowing full well no one here who was going to lay down and die.
"Speaking of pain in ass people, the fucking Commander is on my case. Got to weapon-train the idiot students with him, as if it will help, they're all useless."
"Oh boo hoo Seifer," Selphie said rolling her eyes. "No one cares."
"Speaking of Squall, you know he's right behind you, don't you?" Irvine said, smirking followed by giving Rinoa a conspiratorial wink. Seifer's eyes widened, and he turned around. There was no one standing behind him, but Squall was in fact watching them from the table he was sitting at. He still looked incredibly tired and pale.
"He's such a loser," Seifer muttered as Squall looked away. Rinoa thought that although Squall was sat alone, he seemed to be enjoying being away from everyone. Still, everyone who walked past him greeted him in some way, whether a nod, or a 'hey', or even a salute.
"No he isn't," Zell argued looking increasingly annoyed with Seifer.
"You're only saying that because you love him," Seifer retorted. "You want to take him home to your mummy."
Rinoa rolled her eyes. Really, this was just like school, even down to the petty arguing. She supposed she been spoiled in the past few years by actual adult conversations… between actual adults. Rather than listening to the idiocy coming out of mouths that ought to know better. Still… she supposed a change was as good as a rest. It would do no good to become old before her time.
"You're in love with him!" Zell yelled becoming more and more riled. Selphie snorted.
"Probably true," Selphie muttered, casting an amused glance at Rinoa.
Rinoa supposed that for annoying as Seifer was, he was being very well tolerated by everyone. Well, perhaps not Zell, who seemed to be counting down the seconds until Seifer left.
"I'm done hanging out with you losers," Seifer decided abruptly, interrupting the conversation Selphie had started with Irvine. He stood, and started heading over to where Squall was sat.
Rinoa watched nervously, feeling highly protective of Squall all of a sudden. She knew everyone else at the table was waiting for what might happen, as if Seifer was a firework that was about to explode at any moment. Sure enough Seifer stopped in front of Squall.
"Commander Leonhart in the house!" he yelled, arms wide with over the top flamboyance, before clapping Squall rather violently on the back and sitting, once again uninvited, at the table.
Rinoa couldn't hear what Squall said in reply, but he looked as if he was completely over Seifer's bullshit. Apparently Seifer yelling in the middle of the cafeteria wasn't worthy of any special acknowledgment, and no one paid him any attention. Maybe no one wanted to draw his attention towards them, which was more likely.
"Come on, let's just go…" Selphie said. As Rinoa followed her out, she looked over at Squall. He returned her gaze, his eyes lingering on her uniform, and Rinoa couldn't read his expression at all.