concoursec | (no subject)

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(no subject)

Character(s): Rinoa Heartilly, Squall Leonhart
Location: Around Garden
Rating: G? PG?
Open/Closed/Finished: Closed
Summary: They need to talk. Whether it's about the situation concerning the sorceresses and accusations thrown around about Garden. Or the gossip column. It's talk time!

It had to be a little past four. It was Thursday. Classes were scheduled to begin the following Monday while a game of Hide and Seek was scheduled for the day before. Squall wasn't exactly sure about games being played around Garden when they had much bigger things to deal with. But who was he to just stomp on their fun and tell them 'no', Commander or not. Their classes this quarter were harder than before. Longer morning sessions, and the quarters had been extended in time as well. At the moment he was on the search for Rinoa. Irvine had nudged him earlier that week to speak with her. He wasn't sure whether Irvine meant about the sorceress situation or the gossip column, but either way Squall couldn't keep avoiding it forever.

Maybe it was a good thing Quistis couldn't remember much. And maybe it was an even better thing that Xu refused to speak of what had happened that night whenever asked. Of course nothing big had happened. Xu had somehow managed to slip a full bottle of vodka into his room, insisting that the fun and games were far from over. And they'd had a Triple Triad game, or two. Which of course then ended up as Strip Triple Triad as soon as Xu brought the challenge to the table. Quistis being as competitive as she was didn't back down at all and had taken up Xu on the challenge.

Squall had chosen to sit out of that, choosing to sit in the armchair across from the table and glare at them most of the time.

A complete party pooper is what Xu had dubbed him. Until he had stumbled to the door to slap a hand on the lock and follow the two into the bedroom. But like he cared. Nothing had happened. But how to tell that to everyone who read the newsletter or received a copy of it...?

Squall was grateful for the main floor of Garden being as empty as it was at that moment. But he wondered where she could be, stopping near the elevator to take a look around. She had no idea he was looking for her which no doubt made the search for her all the more difficult.

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Squall was having some trouble sleeping. And his eating habits were the same as ever. It was mostly the entire situation they were all facing that bore the most weight.

"About what Irvine said... his concerns, I mean. You haven't asked about it yet," he pointed out, referring to the newsletter.

That was never good, not that she could really think of any way to help with that though. Same as ever was a pretty vague thing. She'd probably make good and seriously start bringing him up an actual lunch just to make sure he was eating the way he should regardless.

She fell quiet and looked away for a moment before glancing back at him. "I was kind of hoping you'd bring it up so I wouldn't have to say anything. I mean, I know you said I should just ignore it because it's gossip and all, but if that's true then you could at least tell me what really happened, right?"

He looked at her, eyes roaming over the features of her face. Then he sighed quietly. There was really no other way to avoid this conversation, was there?

"We didn't sleep together... if that's what you were thinking," he answered after a moment.

It felt weird to be looked at so closely, but she didn't say anything, just toyed with her mother's ring until he was done. No, no there wasn't. It was a conversation that needed to happen.

Her cheeks heated up at that and Rinoa shook her head. "I wasn't thinking anything like that!" She'd been trying not to anyway, the newsletter had done a great job of hinting at it to the point that it was hard to ignore it, but she'd been trying.

"Hard not to with the way the newsletter made it sound." Squall shrugged a shoulder.

Ah. He had her there.

"Well, I was trying not to anyway." She hadn't wanted to believe it that was for certain and so had just done her best to ignore that part as best as possible.

And now he stood there in silence.

He was kind of hoping she wouldn't ask for details. He really didn't want to have to explain things to her.

"Well? What really happened then?"

No such luck Squall, life just wasn't that kind.

His eyes jerked up to meet hers. She can't be serious.

"...What?"

It's not everyday that something manages to complete throw Squall for a loop. Now that she has, she's more than a little curious about whatever it is that had him so on edge.

"Mmhm!" Rinoa smiled, tilting her head to the side as she watched him. Clearly his reactions here were going to be pretty telling after all. "Isn't that the best way to clear up gossip? Saying what really happened?"

Squall doesn't know what to say. All sorts of excuses are running through his head. On top of it he doesn't have the time to deal with this.

Really - he was going to demote Nida and give him ten years' worth of punishment tours for this.

It's not exactly gossip if... "Yeah... But I don't think you're going to like it."

"When has that stopped you from telling me the truth before?" Rinoa tried to remain optimistic, but it was pretty hard when he started off with a line like that. It couldn't be that bad, could it? If only she knew.

She had a point. And he hated that she had a good point.

Internally, Squall cringed. Externally, Squall kept his eyes locked with hers. "I think it's best to only know that none of us slept together. And leave it at that."

Her eyes narrowed slightly, if he thought she was just going to let this go he had another thing coming.

"What really happened? Something must have or you wouldn't be acting like this." First he said she wouldn't like it and now he was trying to avoid from telling her anything at all? Did he really think she'd just docilely agree to leave it at that after he'd said something so baiting?

Her stomach was already in knots as her mind tried to piece together just what it was he was trying so hard not to tell her. Unfortunately Rinoa had a very active imagination so who knew just what her mind would cook up?

"It's not important," he tried not to get snappy about it, but it was a little hard not to with her pressing for answers.

The worst part about it was his conscience telling him that she needed to be told. It wouldn't be right to keep her in the dark. There shouldn't be secrets between them; they were knight and sorceress to one another.

"It's not important, but I won't like hearing it and it's clearly got you on edge when I ask about it?" She closed the distance between them just a little more, glaring up at him more or less.

"Either it's really not important so hearing about it won't bother me and there's no reason for you to hide it from me or it's actually fairly important after all so it would bother me and that's why you're hiding it from me. Which one is it really, Squall?"

Squall pushed out an aggravated sigh. She was too close for comfort, it was making him feel more on edge than before. He was dealing with a sorceress; who knew what she would do if angered. Should have thought about that earlier, Leonhart...

He eased himself from between her and his desk, putting some well needed distance between them. Having her glaring up at him like that wasn't the most comfortable feeling in the world either. "I told them to go play Triple Triad and drink in their own rooms. They didn't listen. Triple Triad turned into Strip Triple Triad. I told them to leave. They had more to drink - I told them it was time to leave again. Instead they went to pass out--"

Squall cut himself off and made a vague gesture off to the side where his room was. His jaw tightened then as he forced himself to finish the rest, shifting his weight from his left foot to his right foot. "I went after them to kick them out. Xu pulled me into the bed and I--" Cringing, he took a breath and continued, "I fell on top of Quistis-- look, there was just- there was just some touching and even kissing-- nothing else."

That... was a pretty lousy reason to do anything and would probably piss her off more than just about anything else he could do. An 'Oh hey! I'm just doing this to keep up happy because you're a sorceress and I don't want you to go crazy and destroy things' from their knight of all people was probably the surest route to make a sorceress do just that.

Seems like he deserved that glare far more than she knew. Rinoa didn't move, just stood there and listened as he talked, more like rambled, out an explanation. She might get angry about it later, but for now the only emotion that registered was probably far worse.

Taking a step back, the only emotions that showed on Rinoa's face were pain and, unsurprising considering, betrayal. No matter how he might feel, or not feel, about things the fact that Rinoa was hopelessly in love with her knight was pretty obvious to anyone who had a set of working eyes.

"Just touching and kissing? Is that all it ever is to you? Just kissing?" Her voice wavered slightly as she spoke as it threatened to crack all together. Poor girl was about ready to break into tears too which probably wasn't helping her composure any. Were crying sorceresses as dangerous as angry ones? That seemed something they were much more likely to find out in the near future than anything else.

To make it fair, he was a little nervous, hence the rambling. Funny because in his mind his thoughts were going a helluva lot faster than his vocal rambling.

Seeing the pain and betrayal on her face, he felt like a complete ass. She had every right to feel the way she did. But as far as Squall was aware, there wasn't really anything going on between them. He didn't have the time to devote to a relationship. Not when he had to watch over all of Garden with the Headmaster, and even if the Headmaster had married and Matron was his wife, Squall himself didn't have the time to deal with a relationship and what came with that on top of everything else, the emotions, hurt feelings.

He didn't want to have to deal with the raw emotions and the complications it brought around.

All he knew was that they'd shared a kiss on the balcony right after Ultimecia's defeat and they had spent most of the evening on the balcony together just looking at the stars and trying to spot shooting ones, while Garden moved. They'd never talked about furthering anything, they had never put anything into cement.

"What else do you want me to say?" He stared at her, already bracing himself for what was to come next, warily watching her.

Nervous? Did he have time to be nervous? Maybe he didn't have time for that either.

That's right he should feel like an ass and she did have every right to feel this way. There wasn't? Did he think she just let any random guy kiss her or something? She didn't kiss just anyone thank you very much. ~~That was apparently Squall's job.~~

If she was feeling rational, she'd have given this long speech about how it wasn't that he didn't have time for a relationship and the feelings that went along with it. What it really was is that he was still trying to hide from his emotions as much as possible. That whole 'keep people away because they'll eventually leave' mentality was still going pretty strong so far as she could tell.

"What do I want you to say?!" She exploded a little, eyes flashing angrily for a moment. "What I want you to say isn't the point here." She sighed, wilting a little. "It's not about what I want you to say, but about what you should want to say or at least feel you should say. Otherwise it doesn't mean anything."

That was the thing; he didn't know it was 'his job'. He had assumed it was anyone's job.

If Rinoa attempted to use such an argument against him, his mind would scream that she was right while he would verbally deny it. Repeatedly. But in reality it did play a major part. One of the reasons why he'd told Quistis that one time that she was better off talking to a wall.

At Rinoa's explosion Squall stiffened, jaw clenching. He could probably handle an emotional female better than he could an exploding sorceress. But the latter was not something he fancied on experiencing at the moment. She's not making any sense...

"I don't follow. Rinoa, what--?"

He could deny it all he wanted, she'd just comment on how he was in denial so it wouldn't change anything.

If he wasn't careful he'd have to deal with an emotional, exploding sorceress instead which would be so very fun. Especially if she got too out of hand since that would do wonders for Garden's publicity.

Sometimes Rinoa was pretty sure she was talking to a wall too and right now was certainly one of them.

"It's not like it's something you can be ordered to say Squall! Sometimes you have to figure out how you really feel about something and say it yourself without anyone trying to say or translate it for you." Suddenly Rinoa felt so very, very tired. This was ridiculous really. She shouldn't have to explain something so simple, did he not even understand something this basic? Hyne, even an I'm sorry would have done wonders and he couldn't even think to do something like that? Maybe this was hopeless.

Squall didn't think he had to apologize for anything. Since they weren't exclusive - what in Hyne's name was there to apologize for then? When did I even...

"There's nothing else to say." He shrugged a shoulder, brows knitting together. "Why does it matter so much?"

And this is where learning to thing about how other people felt came in handy. Maybe he should talk to Irvine about it, he'd at least have enough common sense to understand the situation.

Somehow that hurt almost as much as him admitting just what had happened that night. Nothing else to say? It sure seemed that way. Tears building up in her eyes, she still managed to glare at Squall. "Apparently it doesn't." Glares weren't exactly effective when your lower lip was quivering, but she at least gave a valiant effort. "Then again sometimes I don't think you think anything matters much ever!"

With that she wheeled around as the first tear broke free and headed for the door. As she left, a single downy feather drifted down in her wake and settled to the floor near Squall in what was a pretty telling sign.

He didn't run after her, he let her go.

Sighing, Squall reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose, massaging. He'd give her her space and give her time to cool down and try to talk to her again at a later time. Right now the amount of paperwork on his desk was what needed his undivided attention, documents concerning Galbadia and even Trabia. Not an overly emotional female.

He spied the white feather just feet away from him and groaned to himself. That's definitely not a good sign, Squall thought, going to pick it up, grasping it in gloved fingers.

"Not a good sign at all." And his fingers closed around it, as he glanced across at the door and stared at it.

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