19A/N: Hi! I know, I know. It's been forever since I update, but here it is right now! All Squall/Rinoa fans, get ready for some of it moments in this chapter!
SECRET ALIAS
Chapter 4: Wish.
"Wow, Selphie. You ARE crazy to do that." Zell said as Selphie finished her story. "Hey, it took me one month to get my reflexes back in my leg. Just consider he's lucky I didn't amputate his legs." They all sweat dropped after heard that.
Rinoa all the sudden giggled. "You haven't change at all. I was bored after you left." "Well, now you're here, we're going to have loads of fun."
"Well, just hope that you don't think another crazy ways to have 'fun'." They all laughed when Rinoa said that. All... Except Squall.
Some of the things don't add up.
He exited from the cafeteria without anyone notice. The others were too busy laughing at Rinoa's and Selphie's stories, he can't stand the sound of their laughter. He walked slowly as he headed to his dormitories. When he got there, he sat on his bed and started thinking.
The things are not making sense at all.
He then flopped on his back on the bed, eyes gazed on the ceiling. He then realized something. "Oh, shit." He closed his eyes and rolled over on to his side.
By tomorrow, everyone in school will know who she is. Thanks to Zell.
Unknowing to him, Zell sneezed. Squall then can imagined what the students will say tomorrow. He hated it. The attention he got before, thanks to Seifer, was too much. Yes, he was one of the best students of Garden and the only person other than Seifer who is an expert in gunblade.
So, doesn't mean he's a better person than anyone else. He can't understand something though, even with his cold attitude and face, he still has girls chasing him around. Because Quistis always hang out with him whether he like it or not, his popularity increased along with hers. Well, Zell didn't give him much problem except for his big mouth. He was famous for that mouth of his. Oh, and the fact that he's a master of close combat, one of the best actually. Sadly Squall added.
The most famous and favored instructor cum SeeD, one of the best close combat master and not forgetting the Garden's biggest show-off and snob, are the only ones that still manage to be near him. Even if Seifer's reason was just want to pick a fight. Usually when Squall gives people the cold treatment; they would give up trying to get close to him.
But no, not this people. They tolerate with him, with the fact that they know each other in the orphanage. Squall long gave up on shaking these people off. This gives expression to the others student only the best students of Garden can be with him. He wished at least Seifer would get off his back, but that won't happen until he beat Squall. Most likely won't happen. So, he stuck with me until graduate. They both also consider as the trouble maker due to the outrages fighting against each other for who knows how long. Due all of this popularity, the students make a 'Qualification' list to be with him. He frowned when he found out about the 'list'.
This didn't help when Selphie and Irvine came. When Irvine came, girls already started to chase him around. They bumped into each other when Irvine was trying to get away from a certain girl. Next thing you know, Irvine hides them both in a janitor closet. Refused to be involved, Squall tried to get out but the door was blocked by Irvine. After a few shouting, glaring and his gunblade on Irvine's neck, he finally got out. The girl was long gone but Irvine said he wanted to be sure.
It was then Irvine realized the guy in front of him looked familiar, vice-versa with Squall. Usually he would shrug it off, but he continues on wondering. Almost at the same time, their eyes were wide opened in surprised. Irvine immediately grinned while Squall frowned. Since then, he, much to Squall's irritation, followed Squall and met the others. Then the next morning, the other students already added another thing in the list of 'Qualification' to be in Squall's group.
Selphie, in the other hand, was worst. She already made her name popular in Garden when she spotted Squall in the cafeteria during breakfast. Squall frowned when he remembered what happened a year ago.
FLASHBACK
Squall was eating his breakfast alone in the cafeteria while reading the notes from yesterday class. Zell wasn't there as usual since he always wakes up late. As time move on, the cafeteria was getting crowded. Squall realized this and makes his way to the exit.
He was in the middle of the crowded cafeteria when he heard someone's familiar voice called his name.
"SQUALL!" He looked around and found the source of the noise. A small, petite and yet familiar brunette was at the entrance. She smiled widely and that give Squall's memory a click.
Oh, Hyne. Don't tell me...
Instantly, the brunette ran slowly towards him and stopped the moment she reached Squall. "Sephie..." It came out before he realized what he just said.
"You remember!" She said that a little too loud as the students were staring at them now. Before Squall could do anything, Selphie jumped and wrapped her arms around his neck. It caught Squall off-guard and losses his balance and finally fell to the floor flat on his back with Selphie still clung on him. At that time, all eyes were on them. There were silence for a second or two, then was broke by the hushed whispers of the curious.
"Who is that girl?"
"Oh, my god! She hugged him! And he didn't push her away like he always does!"
Squall frowned and sat up, Selphie's arms still around his neck. Selphie sat on his lap.
"Man, why is Leonheart always get the good girls?"
"Yeah, he already got Instructor Trepe, at least let us have the rest."
At this rate, Squall growled in annoyance.
"Selphie?" Selphie looked up to Squall, still clung to him. Not waiting for her reply. "Can you please let go of me now?" Instead of letting go of the grip, she tightened it, almost choking him.
"No, don't want to. It's been along time since I last hugged you." He slapped his forehead in irritation when he realized that he was losing his breath due to the hug.
"Selphie... seriously, let me go... You're—CHOKING—ME!" Startled by Squall's sudden rise in his voice, she let go of her hug. On reflex, Squall massages his neck and regained his breath.
"Are you alright, Squally?" Still sitting on his lap, Selphie asked as she looked right into Squall's eyes. "Yeah, I'm alright and don't call me 'Squally'." He then got up before Selphie could, causing Selphie to fall down on the floor.
"Ow!" Selphie immediately got up to her feet and frowned in annoyance. Squall straightens himself as Selphie started to whine.
"Why did you do that for?" She waited for his answer while tapping the floor with her feet and both of her hands on her hips.
"You making my legs feel numb." Selphie stand up straight and craned her neck to looked Squall right in the face.
"Are you saying that I'm fat, Squally?" Squall frowned in irritation when he heard that name. He then realized that everyone was watching them.
"Don't-call-me-Squally!" he said as he dragged Selphie out of the cafeteria by her wrist with him. "Aww. Why not, Squally?" She said mockingly with a sly grin on her face. When they reached the school fountain in the middle of the building, Squall let go of her wrist and turned to face her.
"I'm not the little Squall, anymore. I've grown up." Selphie looked at Squall's face and said. "You are! Looked how tall you are, last time I saw you, you were a little shorter than me." She smiled.
Never in his whole life Squall thought that Irvine is a sight for sore eyes, because the moment Selphie was about to hug him again, Irvine came along and hugged her around the waist from behind. Selphie thought it was some crazy molester, did a high kick and it landed right in Irvine's face. As if not enough, she elbowed him in the stomach and stomped his foot. Squall flinched to the spunky little girl he knew now have some deadly moves. Irvine got a broken nose, a pained stomach and a sore foot. Squall for once feels sorry for Irvine and makes a mental note not to make any sudden move on Selphie.
"Wait, wait! Sephie, it's-ME!" Irvine screamed as he covers his face in defense. Selphie was about to hit his head when she stopped abruptly.
"Irvy?" Her eyes wide in surprised. Feeling the blow has stopped; Irvine slowly lowered his hands and looked at Selphie. "Hi... Sorry if I did anything wrong." He grinned stupidly.
"Huh?" Selphie looked at her fist that was above her head, ready to hit someone. "Oh my god! I'm so sorry Irvine!" She helped Irvine to get up. That's when Selphie start to hang out with him. Well, she's very happy about it. Soon, she's the head of the festival committee, which, we all 'voluntarily' joined. She also earned herself a bundle load of friends. A week later, Squall notice another point added in the list, much to his annoyance.
END OF FLASHBACK
With Rinoa, who most likely hangout with the gang, they will add another point in the list. Squall rested his arms over his eyes. He felt sleepy since he studied late last night. Slowly he drifted to sleep.
It was raining heavily. An old building was standing there all alone. At the front door, on the front porch, shield away from the rain, stood a boy. A small boy with brown hair looked about 5 or 6 years old. He looked sad.
"Why did you go, sis?"
The boy looked at the floor. Tears started to welled up in his eyes. It took him a few seconds to regain himself. Then, he looked up, his eyes showed a sign of determination.
"But, don't worry. I'll be fine. I won't cry any more. I'll be stronger! I promise... So, don't worry about me, okay?"
I'll be stronger...
"Who are you talking to?"
Squall snapped his head to the source of the voice, a small young girl. It was dark so Squall couldn't see her face, but he knows the girl was smiling. One thing he knows, it wasn't Sephie or Quisty. Cause the girl has black hair, just like matron.
Squall slowly opened his eyes. He rubbed his eyes sleepily and got up and sat at the edge of the bed. He blinked a few times to make sure that he's awake.
What was that?
He ran his hand thru his hair and flopped back to the bed. He stared at the ceiling, thinking about the dream. He expected the dream to come but, it always ended when he finished saying; "So, don't worry about me, okay?" Never had he heard the girl's voice nor did he remember talking or meeting her before.
Who was she?
He closed his eyes and drifted in to deep thinking about a certain little girl to another raven-haired girl.
"Kreeeek..."
His ears perked up at the sound. It was coming from the door. Someone was intruding his room. It couldn't be his roommate, he doesn't have one! Then, he could hear the sound of foot step, coming inside.
Squall jumps of his bed and grabbed his gunblade. Quickly and swiftly, he make a sideway slash movement towards the intruder's neck. He heard a familiar voice gasped and stopped just before he cut the trespasser's neck. He held the gunblade's edge at the person's neck; threaten to kill at a sudden move. Squall, eyes not leaving the intruder, switched on the lights and surprised to see who it was.
"You?!" Squall said with eyes wide open. "Hehe..." Squall lowered down his gunblade and turned around. "What are you doing here!? More importantly, how did you get in!?" Rinoa just smile wryly, still recovering from shocked.
"It's almost dinner time so the gang asked me to fetch you. You forgot to lock the door and I did call you but no one answer, so I wanted to check if you're in." She took a seat and sat down. Squall turned and looked at Rinoa. She was looking at her hands, which by the way, was shaking like a leaf. Squall felt guilty for scaring her.
"I guess I got more then I bargained for, huh?" She looked up and smiled. She looked a little pale and tried to stop the shaking by clenching her hands into a fist. Squall headed towards the door and got out of the room. He looked around to find Rinoa wasn't there next to him. He walked back in his room and surprised to see Rinoa still sitting on the chair.
"Come on. What are you waiting for?" He asked Rinoa as he walked towards her.
"Y-you go first." Her voice was trembling. Squall sighed and held out his hand. Rinoa looked at Squall with surprise.
"Come on. They'll be waiting for us. Let's go together." Rinoa hesitantly put her hand on his. Squall holds her hand and gently pulled her out of the room together.
"Selphie is going to kill me if anything happen to you." He tightened his hold as her hand still shaking, he could feel it, but it lessened. Squall looked at her and realized that it wasn't only her hands that were shaking, but her whole body. Rinoa seems to notice Squall.
"I-I'm s-sorry, but I can't stop." She said as they walked out the dorm to the hallway. "Don't worry, it'll stop." To make sure that, Squall held her hand until they reached the cafeteria.
"Squall! Over here!" They both looked at the source of the voice and immediately let go of their hands. They silently walking together towards the table the gang has taken as if nothing has happen.
He sat down next to Irvine while Rinoa was still standing. Everyone was there except Quistis since she's busy marking the paper. Selphie asked her what's wrong, but she only shook her head.
"Nothing. It's just that I'm not going to eat with you guys." Zell immediately looked up at Rinoa.
"Huh? Why?" She smiled and unties her hair.
"I wanted to sit with Seifer. Bye!" She turned away literally run towards Seifer's table. The whole gang was surprised to hear that and they looked at each other. Squall, while waiting for them to get out of the shock, get himself something to eat.
When he returned, the whole gang was looking at him. He ignored them and started to eat. Selphie took the first step. "Well?" Squall looked at her.
"Well what?" He stopped eating and drank a sipped of his drink. "You know, why Rinoa all the sudden wanted to be with Seifer?" Zell was getting a little worked up about this.
"She has a date with him this weekend. Surely she wanted to know him first before going out." They all looked at him as if he had a second head growing on his shoulder. He ignored this and continues on eating. Selphie doesn't look comfortable at all.
"Are you sure it's okay for her? I mean, Seifer is known to be a little aggressive. I mean, looked what he did to you." She too started to eat her dinner.
"It's none of my business with who she's dating with." He said coldly. They all decided to drop the topic and the started to talk about the next SeeD test where they needed to get a GF. Squall was quiet the whole time except when Selphie asked him questions.
Squall once in a while silently stole a glanced towards Rinoa. She was fine, in fact she was laughing happily.
She's fine you idiot! So stop worry about h—whoa! Where did that came from?
Squall surprised to find himself worried about Rinoa's safety. He shook off that thought and realized that it was getting too noisy as Irvine and Zell started to fight over the last hot dog on the table. He quickly finished his dinner and exited the cafeteria, didn't realize a pair of black eyes watching him.
He walked silently thru the Quad as stars shone brightly above him. He found himself a seat and sat down. He leaned and rested his back and placed his head on the top. He looked over the stars and didn't realize that someone was walking towards him.
"Hi, Squall." Squall lifted his head and looked at the person standing in front of him. He just shrugged in response. Rinoa walked closer with her hands behind her, her hair blown into her face by the wind as she stopped and smiled.
"May I join you?" She asked as she put some of her hair behind her ear. "Whatever." Rinoa take this as a yes. She sat down quietly and joined Squall in star gazing.
"What are you doing here?" She said as the soft wind blow to their face. "Nothing." They didn't say anything for a full minute.
"It's nice, isn't it?" She tries to make a conversation with Squall but all she got was "Mmm..." She sighed and looked back at the stars. Silence once again took over, until...
"Squall, look! A shooting star!" She got up and pointed at the shooting star. She looked at Squall who is still sitting behind her. He looked at where she pointed at. "Yeah..." She smiled and looked back at the fallen star. She brought her hand together and closed her eyes. Squall saw this and wondering what is she doing.
"What are you doing?" He finally asked. She opened her eyes and turned around to face Squall. "I'm making a wish." Squall was puzzled by her answere. Rinoa must have seen it thru her face since she started to explained about the wish-making.
"Legend said if you made a wish upon a star or better, a shooting star, it'll come true. So, when you see a shooting star closed your eyes and makes a wish." She then starts to walked away a little.
She started to twirls around, arms out-stretched and her head facing the sky and recites something that goes like this. "Star light, star bright, the first star I see tonight. I wish I may and wish I might, have the wish that I wish tonight." She then stopped; face still looking at the sky. Her voice lowered down but Squall could still hear her. It's barely audible, but it was enough. "I wish that everything will be over."
Squall was puzzled at her wish and also annoyed about her for believing in this thing call 'wishes'. He then got up and started to exit the Quad, leaving Rinoa behind. "Hey, don't leave me here all alone." She caught up with him and walked beside him.
"Squall?" Rinoa slowly said as they almost halfway to the exit. Knowing she wouldn't get a reply, she continues on. "Do you think I'll pass the test?" Squall was taken aback by the question. Rinoa waited for her answer but it didn't come. After full two minutes of silence, she regretted for making things become awkward again between them when they already started to get along well.
"Never mind. Sorry for asking such an awkward question." She then started to walked away from Squall. "How can you know the results, right?" She continues on walking ahead of Squall. For some reason, he didn't like to see her, or anyone else he closed to, looked sad.
"Yeah, I don't." Rinoa snapped her head towards Squall, facing him. Her face was somewhat surprised and amused. "Excuse me?" Wanting to make sure that what she heard is right.
"You're right, I don't know the results. But sometimes it doesn't matter." He then walked towards Rinoa, who now stopped in her tracks and was facing Squall. "What do you mean it doesn't matter?" She felt that the closer Squall was getting the slower times go.
"I mean, yeah, if you tried your best and hardest, then you will." He then stopped right in front of Rinoa. She looked up to him. Squall could see doubt and confusion in her face. "But if you don't, at least you tried your best instead of giving up or didn't try at all." He then looked at her, unknowingly giving her some confidence. She then smiled sweetly.
"You know what? This is the longest thing I ever heard you said." Squall just scoffed. Silently, they agreed on walking out of the Quad together, didn't know that they're been watch.
"What are they doing?"
"Rinoa looked sad."
"Really? Wait! She's leaving him behind... Eh, why did she stop?"
"She's talking with Squall, and he's getting closer to her."
"That's strange. Usually he wanted people to leave him alone."
"Ooooo, things are started to looked interesting around here. Lucky for us you know where Squall usually goes after dinner, Quistis." Selphie shoved her binoculars to Zell.
"Well, I spend all those time with him; of course I knew how he lived his life. It's always the same, after dinner, Quad, after Quad, training. Then study." Quistis said as she made her hand moving around. Selphie asked why she does that. Quistis told her that her fingers are numb from all that typing.
"Whoa, looked! They're walking out together!" Zell all the sudden yelled. Quistis and Selphie only sighed and shook their head slightly. After they notice Squall is missing from their table, it's not that it's unusual for him to be missing; it's just that Rinoa went missing too.
Thanks to Quistis, they all went to the ballroom's balcony and 'watch over' them. (A/N: more like spying to me.-;) Irvine and Zell now looking at them with the binoculars they brought. Selphie don't even dare to ask why they have that thing in the first place.
"Don't you feel weird that Squall let her be with him? I mean it took me about half a year to make him give up ignoring me, but Rinoa just took one day." Quistis wondered as she rubbed her chin with her fingers. Selphie just smile.
"Well, Rinoa can be persistent. Plus, she had that effect on people."
The girls later literally have to drag the boys to get in even though the show isn't over yet. Unknowing to them, a pair of emerald eyes was watching them and Squall.
To be continue...
A/N: I hope you like the squall/Rinoa moment in this chapter. More will come in the future! Here's some preview:
"It's no use. The door is reinforced steel and highly sound-proof. There is no way you would hear anything."
"Rinoa? Rin? Are you ok?"
"Huh? Squall? Is that you?"
"What going on?"
"Quistis! Why aren't you doing anything? You're an instructor!"
A/N: and here is a special preview:
Rinoa's head was turned sideway cause by the impact. Her eyes were wide open and were too shock to react. Everyone was surprised to see Rita station herself between Squall and Rinoa; and slapped her. Even Squall was surprised at the scene right in front of him, too surprised that he was speechless, motionless. Silence reigned over them and slowly Rinoa turned her head, look straight at Rita with surprise in her face. Slowly, Rinoa's hand reached up to her cheek that was hit and is red by now. Rita breath was ragged and her cheeks were tinted red by the anger. For what reason, Rinoa couldn't guess.
A/N: That's all! Please R&R!