Once Again

Once Again

By RobertDogwood

Chapter 2

Squall to the Rescue

Deling City Bound

Cid Gets Flashed

The New Student

Quistis Sneaks a Peek

Rinoa Takes a Dip

All activity in the rec center and coffee shop had ceased, when the intercom came on, because there were often important messages relayed and students and SeeDs alike needed to be able to respond immediately to whatever the emergency might be. When they had initially heard it was just an ordinary conversation they began to resume their former activities, but then when they heard what the conversation concerned they froze again. No one made a sound, except for some heavy breathing.

After the intercom clicked off, Selphie stood up and, towering over the seated Irvine, declared, "So Rinoa said she didn't want to wear your coat, huh?! You said you were embarrassed, but actually you were laughing and playing around with Rinoa. You lied to me! What were you all planning to do? Pull her down to your room?"

Irvine attempted to stand up. "But, Selphie."

Selphie pushed him back in the chair.

"Don't bother. I'm leaving." And, with that, she strode quickly out of the coffee shop and back down the corridor leading to the staircase that would take her to the first floor. She was going to talk to Rinoa about this right now!

In the library the pigtail girl turned to Zell, who had paused his shadow boxing, and asked, "Zell, what was that all about?"

Zell turned bright red and began to stammer, "N-Now Na-."

The pigtail girl interrupted asking, "Is that why you came down here? To see if I had heard about this?"

Zell continued to stammer, "Uh, d-don't get upset-."

The pigtail girl again interrupted the stammering Zell. "Don't get upset! Are you serious? You were seen dragging a naked Rinoa down the hall to your room to do Hyne knows whatever to and you tell me not to get upset!"

"We were going to her room," Zell explained.

"Oh, I stand corrected," retorted the pigtail girl turning away and flouncing out of the library. "Oh, by the way," she declared over her shoulder, "I noticed you didn't explain what you were going to do to her!" and left Zell standing red-faced and stammering.

In her room, Rinoa burst into a new round of sobbing and collapsed in a chair and lowered her head on a desk. Her prediction of the morning had come true with a vengeance, she realized. Nida had told everyone in the Garden.

Quistis and Squall had been sitting in the quad area and discussing their mission when the intercom came on. As the message from the bridge continued, Squall sat silently stone-faced while Quistis placed her right-gloved hand up to her mouth to cover her laughter.

When the intercom clicked off, Quistis and Squall sat silently each privy to their own thoughts regarding what they had just heard. Finally Squall stood up and said resignedly, "I guess I better talk to Rinoa. I'll see you tomorrow, early." And not waiting for a reply, he wandered dejectedly up the staircase.

As events often seem to work out if left to their own devices, Selphie, the pigtail girl and Squall converged at the door to Selphie and Rinoa's room simultaneously.

Selphie, noticing Squall's serious demeanor, asked, "I suppose you want to see Rinoa?" Squall silently nodded.

"Maybe we'd better knock first." Selphie knocked gently on the door saying, "Rinoa. It's Selphie, is it alright to come in?"

There was no answer. Selphie tried again, a little louder. "Rinoa, is it alright to come in?"

Suddenly Selphie became concerned about Rinoa's possible mental and emotional state. "I'd better open the door with my key." So saying, she took out her key and opened the door just as Rinoa stood up and began moving toward the door still completely nude. Selphie came to a complete stop. The pigtail girl turned bright red and fled down the corridor in horror and Squall stepped inside the room. Selphie suggested, "I think I'll leave you two alone," and quickly exited the room. Squall gently closed the door.

Rinoa rushed at Squall and threw herself into his reluctant arms sobbing. "Oh, Squall. I'm so sorry." Squall realized finally just how upset Rinoa really was when she continued to be racked with great gales of sobbing for a number of minutes. Squall began to gently stroke the back of her hair with his hand, whispering, "It'll be okay, no damage was done, nobody died, no da."

Rinoa finally stopped weeping and stepped back from Squall's arms. Her face was flushed and swollen from crying. "Thank you, Squall," she said. "That's the first nice thing that's happened to me today."

Squall looked away from Rinoa's complete nakedness and requested, "Would you mind putting something on? We need to talk seriously and you're very distracting."

Squall went over and sat on the edge of Selphie's bed, clasped his hands together by intertwining his fingers and stared silently at the floor. A great lump of fear and anxiety arose in Rinoa's throat. Had her behavior today ruptured their relationship? Rinoa thought wildly as she hurried to the closet and pulled out a robe and slipped it on.

Rinoa crossed over to Squall, knelt and opened his hands and held them in her's and asked, "What is it, Squall? Is it bad news?"

Squall looked up. "Well, no. It's not as far as I'm concerned, but I don't know how you're gonna take it." This statement certainly didn't decrease Rinoa's anxiety at all.

Squall, noticing Rinoa's terror stricken face, slightly grinned and explained, "No, it's not what you're thinking. It has nothing to do with us."

Rinoa hadn't realized she had been holding her breath while he spoke until then. Her breath came out in a rush. 'Oh thank Hyne,' she thought.

"Then what is it, Squall?"

Squall reached down and pulled Rinoa up on her feet and helped her sit on the bed next to him. "I've been assigned to go to Deling City with Quistis and discover some information for Laguna."

Rinoa's heart sank. She didn't want to live without being by Squall's side everyday. "But Deling City," she said, "that'll be dangerous."

Squall grinned slightly. "Well, I guess I've been through that before and I've always come out okay."

Rinoa stood up and stamped her foot in frustration. "I'm not joking, Squall! You know they'll be looking for you. What are you thinking about?"

Squall's face and tone became serious. "Rinoa, I've been assigned by the Garden to complete this mission."

Rinoa angrily stamped her foot again. "Who are you trying to kid? You were assigned by the Garden? You're the Garden! You could tell anyone to go!"

Squall stood up finally fully aroused. "I am a SeeD," he said a trifle loudly. "It is my duty to go. I don't send people out on missions that I should handle myself. You have always known that, Rinoa. It's too late in the game to be pulling this now."

Rinoa crossed the room and sat on her bed. "Then I'll go with you," she suggested. "I can be a big help to you in Deling City."

"Now who's kidding who?" Squall asked. "You know you're a dangerous commodity in Deling City being General Caraway's daughter. You could end up being kidnapped or worse. Besides," Squall went on, his words sending little arrows into Rinoa's heart. "You're not even a SeeD."

Rinoa sat on the edge of her bed, her mind reeling around the fact Squall wouldn't be here for Shiva knows how long and also he'd be with Quistis. Rinoa had always had a sneaking suspicion Quistis wasn't as over Squall as she pretended to be.

Rinoa looked up and attempted to put a smile on her face. "Well," she said, "I guess you're going. I'll miss you badly everyday you're gone, but at least we have tonight together."

Squall shook his head gently. "No, I have to get ready to go. We're going to be leaving very early tomorrow."

Rinoa's eyes began to tear up, but she forcibly willed her expression not to change. She realized this was a dangerous time for them and she could end up pushing him away from her completely if she didn't let go. "Well," she said remembering the first time she had said this to him on the Ragnarok, "Give me a hug."

Squall crossed the room, knelt down and gave her a perfunctory hug. He stood up, kissed her cheek and said, "Catch you later." Squall turned and left the room. "Good luck," Rinoa whispered.

Squall hadn't been lying to Rinoa. They did leave early in the morning. At 5 o'clock a.m., before anyone else was up except for the midnight shift, Squall and Quistis entered the parking garage and secured a Garden truck. They drove out into the predawn darkness and down to Balamb. Somebody would be sent later in the day to retrieve the vehicle. After reaching Balamb, Squall and Quistis padded down the dark, deserted streets to the hotel and went in and had breakfast, because the Garden cafeteria had not yet opened. By 6 o'clock a.m. they had boarded the train to Timber where they would transfer to a train that would take them to Deling City.

Rinoa awoke in her bed and felt good. She stretched luxuriously under her sheets, smiled and sat up in bed, the sheets tumbling from her upper body. And then her entire world crashed, as she remembered she wouldn't be seeing Squall today. She probably wouldn't be seeing Squall for a long time or maybe never again!

Rinoa shook her head no! That would never happen! 'But the worst,' she thought, 'was when Squall said to me, 'You can't go. You're not even a SeeD'.' Rinoa sat and remembered the sharp pain this caused her, when he uttered those words with such finality.

Rinoa spoke aloud, "Well, that's going to change starting today!"

She tossed off her sheets, stood up and crossed the room pulling open her closet. Rinoa had a campaign in mind and it involved Headmaster Cid.

Rinoa waited near the first floor elevator for Xu to come down to do inspection after the morning staff meeting. Rinoa was slightly uncomfortable with some of the strange looks she had been receiving from SeeDs and upper-classmen, although she wasn't quite sure if it was because of the way she was dressed or what they heard over the intercom the day before.

Rinoa had decided on a 'full frontal' manipulative attack on Cid to allow her to attend classes. She had shampooed and brushed her lovely hair until it shone, applied her makeup and a liberal dose of her favorite perfume. She then put on her high heels and slipped her slinky, short, yellow dress over her nude body. This was the same dress she wore when she manipulated Cid to send SeeDs to assist the Forest Owls.

The elevator door opened and Xu stepped down the stairs. Rinoa turned away, not having the courage to speak to Xu after yesterday and to have to watch the expression on Xu's face. Rinoa waited until Xu cleared the stairs and turned left and then she quickly strutted up the stairs and entered the elevator.

Rinoa departed the elevator on the third floor and immediately bypassed Cid's student receptionist-secretary and instead went and stood in front of his desk. Cid appeared to be busy shuffling papers, something he spent a great deal of time doing.

"Good Morning, Cid," Rinoa called out brightly.

Cid looked up, totally disorientated for a second, perceived who it was and blushed deeply remembering the day before and then recovered nicely and answered, "Good Morning, Rinoa. How are you today?"

"I'm wonderful!" Rinoa lied, glancing around for a chair.

Cid purposely didn't have any chairs for visitors, because he wanted to discourage uninvited students or SeeDs from visiting him without an appointment and he found keeping them physically uncomfortable helped minimize this.

Rinoa was still searching for somewhere to sit, when Cid asked, "What can I do for you today?"

The student, who worked for Cid, understood the entire situation in a glance and felt sorry for Rinoa, particularly after the day before and picked up her chair and carried it over to Rinoa.

She said, "Headmaster Cid? I have to go to class now."

Cid glanced away from Rinoa. "Uh, okay, Thanks a lot, Catherine," he replied.

"It's Pamela, sir," the girl said.

"Oh, sorry," Cid apologized. "Of course it is."

Pamela turned to Rinoa and asked, "Would you like to sit down, Rinoa?"

Rinoa gratefully sank down quickly in the chair and offered the girl her best smile in return.

As the student was leaving the office, Cid turned to Rinoa and again asked, "What can I do for you today?"

Rinoa sat back on the chair, crossed her legs, smiled at Cid and then crossed her legs again. "I would like to become a SeeD" she explained.

Cid was visibly taken aback by her request. "W-Well, now Rinoa" he began to stammer. "As you know SeeDs are raised from a very young age. Uh, that's why we call them SeeDs, ha! ha!" Cid reached up and wiped some sweat off his brow.

Rinoa crossed her legs slowly and a little more wider than previously offering Cid a momentary glimpse of black pubic hair.

Rinoa declared calmly, "But Cid, you already know that I can fight and I ran my own resistance group."

When she perceived Cid was going to offer a rebuttal, Rinoa slowly crossed her legs the widest of all offering Cid a complete view of her fully distended labia and causing her dress to ride up dangerously high on her thighs to where she was basically naked from the waist down.

Perspiration was freely flowing from Cid's face as he spoke, "I see your point. I think it can be arranged for you to start classes today as an upper-classman."

Rinoa sat back smiling sweetly at him. She thought to herself, 'That bit gets him every time.'

Zell, Selphie and the pigtail girl were sitting around a cafeteria table, where they had just finished eating their breakfast. Zell's girlfriend felt anxious, because she had to report for her shift in the library momentarily.

Selphie leaned forward and spoke to the pigtail girl. "I'm sorry. I never can remember your name."

"What?!" sputtered Zell inantlantly. "Her name is Na-."

"Hey everybody!" Zell was interrupted by Irvine sauntering up to the table beside an extremely attractive redheaded, fifteen-year-old female upper-classman. Selphie felt an instant partiality toward her, because she looked so cute in her uniform that included the extremely short skirt Cid preferred all the girls to wear and because her initial introduction to Garden by Irvine, of all people, caused Selphie to feel sympathetic towards her.

Selphie stood up and held out her hand. "Hi, I'm Selphie. Glad to meet you."

The younger girl took Selphie's hand and shook it. "Pleased to meet you," she said.

"And you are?" Selphie asked.

Irvine attempted to explain, "This is-."

"Let her talk!" snapped Selphie.

The new student, a little shocked by the vehemence in Selphie's voice, replied, "I'm Akane."

Irvine continued. "She's from-."

Selphie exploded. "Irvine! Let her talk for herself! And sit down!"

Irvine dropped like a rock into a chair. Akane began to sit next to him until Selphie indicated she should sit next to her.

Selphie spoke to Akane, "You need to do yourself a favor and stay away from him," and pointedly stared at Irvine until he glanced away.

The pigtail girl stood up and said, "Well, I have to run. I'm already late for my shift at the library. Goodbye, everybody."

Zell began to speak. "Take care, Na-."

Selphie interrupted. "So where are you from, Akane?"

Akane shifted self consciously in her chair to be thrust among so many strangers, but felt a little better when she realized that they were giving her their undivided attention and most were smiling at her.

"I'm from East Academy," she explained.

The town of East Academy lay halfway between the towns of Timber and Dollet. It was located in the Vaulny Canyon near the Roshfall forest. The town grew around the East Academy University. The University was approximately one hundred years old and was a well-respected insitution of higher learning. East Academy was considered to be neutral in the war between Galbadia and Esthar, although Galbadia was currently the ruling authority.

"Now that's interesting," commented Selphie. "I don't think we've ever had anyone here from East Academy."

Zell leaned far forward and accused in a loud voice. "How come you wanted to come here when you could have gone to the University instead?"

Akane flushed a little at Zell's tone and began to stutter, although before she could speak Selphie stood up, reached across the table and pushed Zell back in his seat. "Zell, calm down. You're scaring her."

Selphie reseated herself and turned to Akane. "That's just Zell. He's always like that. He doesn't mean anything by it. He's just very excitable. Now what were you going to say?"

Akane, feeling a little more reassured, offered Selphie a timid but sweet smile. "I've always wanted to be a SeeD ever since I was a little girl. I was attending the University, but a professor of mine pulled some strings and got me in here."

"Well, we're glad you're here," Selphie said. Irvine loudly exclaimed, Here, here!" until Selphie pointedly stared him down again.

Selphie asked, "Why don't we meet after your classes and go down to the baths and have a good soak?"

"Okay," Akane readily agreed. "It sounds like fun."

Everyone stood up from the table preparing to go their separate ways, when Rinoa walked in wearing an upper-classman female uniform with the shortest skirt any of them had ever seen. "Hi everyone!" Rinoa exclaimed. "Guess what?" she asked. "I'm going to be a SeeD!"

"Oh Great Hyne!" retorted Selphie. "Since when?"

"Since this morning," Rinoa explained, "Cid is allowing me to attend classes. Isn't he sweet? And he even handpicked this uniform for me."

Xu walked into Doctor Kadowski's office and said, "Hi, you busy?" The doctor looked up from the files she was writing in and smiled when she saw it was Xu.

"Not particularly, just some catch-up work. What's up?" the doctor asked, noticing the tightness that was not normally on Xu's face.

"Oh, I don't know," sighed Xu while pulling over the patient stool to sit on in front of the doctor's desk. "I guess I'm a little worried with both Squall and Quistis gone at the same time. You know, I think the world of Cid but he lives in his own little world of papers and billing. I guess I'm just not used to being the person in complete charge."

The doctor nodded in an understanding of what Xu was saying. "If you think back, Xu, when the Galbadian Garden was attacking our Garden, Quistis, Squall and you were all here, but Squall was so new in his leadership role that someone had to step up and take charge and I did it. I'd never done anything like that before, but it had to be done if we were to avoid being overrun by them."

Xu nodded in a sudden understanding and respect for the doctor.

"Now you are a lovely, wonderful and capable young woman who can certainly handle the same responsibilities and duties that this tired old doctor did once again upon a time," explained Dr. Kadowaki.

Xu gave a little laugh and nodded her head.

"What are our immediate plans?" asked the doctor.

"Well, that's my main problem right now," Xu confessed. "I don't have any idea as to what our next agenda should be."

The doctor suggested, "Why don't we take a ride up to Trabia and see how they're coming along with rebuilding their Garden?"

"That's a good idea," Xu agreed, while standing up. "I'll run it by Cid and if he's okay with it, maybe we'll head up there in a week or so. Thanks, doc, you're the best," Xu said while bending down and giving the doctor a kiss on her cheek.

The Balamb train pulled into Timber two hours after leaving Balamb. Squall and Quistis had spent the time sitting and quietly talking about a variety of subjects, but not one minute of it was taken up with talking about their present mission. Both of them were too veteran to over analyze their plans.

Timber was located on the Lanker Plains near Lake Obel off Timber Beach. The town of Timber had been literally carved out of a vast acreage of forestland nearly a hundred years previously. Most of the forest was now gone, leaving Timber economically depressed.

The Balamb train pulled into the station close to the center of town. Squall and Quistis disembarked from the train and walked down the steps into Timber; with Squall remembering back to the first time he had done so and the silly password he had given Watts.

Squall turned to Quistis and asked, "What say we grab a bite? We don't know how long it'll be after we get to Deling City that we'll be able to eat again."

Quistis readily agreed and as they walked along the street to the Hamptons, the best restaurant in town, Squall realized after all there was a certain charm to the town. As they were walking past the weapon shop and hotel, Squall recognized a young SeeD who was apparently sent on the Timber mission walking on the other side of the street. The SeeD's initial reaction was to speak to Squall, but Squall quietly shook his head. The SeeD walked on.

After Squall and Quistis were seated in the restaurant and their food was brought to the table, Quistis leaned forward and asked, "Wasn't that Kasumi?"

Squall nodded and quietly filled Quistis in. After Squall was finished, Quistis said, "Whew, we'll just have to keep our eyes open and not allow them to blow their covers or ours."

Squall nodded silently in agreement. After they were done eating and had paid the hefty bill, tip included they started back towards the other end of Timber. One of the first things Squall had instituted when he took over the Garden was having an expense account for SeeDs, who were out on assignments. They no longer had to pay for everything out of their salary.

The train to Deling City had to be boarded in the area in front of the Timber Pet Shop. They walked up the steps to the boarding area. Squall paid the conductor and they boarded the train, and then walked down the narrow hallway until they found and entered their private compartment. The train pulled out of the station soon after.

"Well," Squall said, while looking at Quistis. "I guess we should change."

Quistis flushed slightly. "Have you given any thought as to how we're going to do this? The bathroom on this train is far too open and public. We couldn't change back at the restaurant, because it would have appeared way too obvious to go in as one person and come out as another and one of us standing out in the hallway on this train, while the other one changes could prove disastrous depending on who came down the hall during that time. There are many Galbadian military and government people on this train."

Squall answered, "As a matter of fact I have. We'll have to change together in here."

"In your dreams!" Quistis laughed.

"No, I'm serious," Squall replied. "We'll change back to back."

Squall turned his back to Quistis, knelt down and began to pull out clothes from his small carry-on valise, figuring he should be the one to get the ball rolling. Quistis, observing what he was doing, quickly turned her back to him and began doing the same.

Squall, hoping to cut the tension, joked, "Now don't be peeking."

"Yeah, right," Quistis retorted. "It would be more likely the other way around."

Squall replied in a serious tone, "You might be right."

When Quistis started pulling the front zipper of her orange top down, after already detaching her long sleeves and pulling off her gloves, she began to get a twinge of regret. Actually she wouldn't mind sneaking a peek. Why should Rinoa get all the fun? Quistis attempted to turn her head just slightly enough, while she was removing her top and then unbuckling the belt of her long skirt, to use her peripheral vision to catch a glimpse behind her. As she attempted this, she could suddenly distinguish enough of Squall to perceive he had already removed all his clothing and was standing facing her stark naked!

Quistis snapped her head back, accidentally letting her skirt drop to the floor with a loud thud of her belt buckle. 'This is wrong!' she thought, 'I shouldn't be doing this!'

Squall asked, "What in the hell is going on back there?"

Quistis realized, with a pang of sexual longing, that Squall's naked physique was even better looking than she had imagined and his flaccid penis had appeared enormous.

"Oh, nothing," Quistis replied in a husky voice.

"Quistis," Squall spoke plainly. "I know better. Turn around."

"No, Squall," the blonde woman answered even though her whole being wanted to meet his request.

When he gently reached out and pulled Quistis around so she was facing him, she did not struggle or protest.

Quistis stood, her beauty radiating out from her, in her skimpy bra and panties. She couldn't help but notice that Squall's penis had grown to an enormous erection.

"Oh, Squall, please don't take me wrong, but should we be doing this?"

"Quistis, we're involved in a life and death mission. We might not return. We’re also going to be living together in very close quarters and the sexual tension, if unresolved, could distract us and end up getting us killed.”

Quistis nodded at the handsome young man. “What you said makes complete sense, but you love Rinoa. Wouldn’t you feel guilty?”

“There are some things we could do that I wouldn’t feel guilty about,” he grinned at her.

“Oh, I get it,” Quistis grinned.

“Methinks m’lady has too many clothes on,” Squall said. He reached out and pulled the blonde woman’s panties down to the floor. He had always assumed that Quistis was a real blonde but it was nice to observe visual confirmation as he saw her pubic hair was identical to the strawberry-blonde hair on her head.

Quistis unfastened her bra liberating her pretty breasts and dropped it to the floor on top of her panties.

“You are so beautiful,” Squall murmured pulling the young woman to him, their bodies now intermingling totally in their nakedness.

“You're not so bad yourself,” Quistis replied and then plunged her mouth down on his. Squall returned her kiss in full soon thrusting his tongue into her mouth. The blonde woman matched him in passion. This was the moment she had so longed for.

A few minutes later, Quistis softly said, “Let's take this debate to the floor,” and she pulled Squall down to the train compartment floor with her.

Lying on her back, Quistis was soon able to make her needs known as she took both hands and placing one on each of her breasts she pushed them together causing them to present a very attractive groove.

Squall was quick to pick up on her thinking and he knelt with his legs straddled over Quistis’ waist. The handsome young man began to thrust his raging erection back and forth between her breasts.

“Oh Squall,” the beautiful blonde groaned as she felt the young man had reached behind him and locating her clitoris he began to pull and squeeze it.

That was last Quistis was able to speak for awhile as each time Squall thrust forth with his impressive erection it ended entering the blonde beauty’s mouth. Before he would withdraw it, she would suckle it as hard as she could while rimming her tongue around the head.

The better Quistis felt from Squall manipulating her clit, the more she thrust her hips up at him making the operation even more assessable to him. Oh Hyne! It felt so good and it had been so long. She couldn't even remember the last time she had made love.

Squall was now moving his prick faster and faster between her breasts, sometimes pulling back from her mouth, before he had even entered it. Quistis could tell Squall was holding back now waiting for her from the expression on his face and the way he was holding his entire body on top of her.

“Go,” she whispered, “Go now.”

Quistis’ orgasm swirled from deep inside of her causing her to twist and turn in every conceivable direction almost as though she were a bucking bronco attempting to throw Squall from his saddle.

“Oh Hyne!” she cried out as her climax arrived.

Squall sat straight up as his cum shot out of his massive penis onto Quistis’s breasts rather than hitting her in her face or hair. He wanted to make love to her, not degrade her. No matter how he acted towards her, he had always had the deepest respect for her ability and womanhood; even if he hadn’t always been able to express it.

Stoically as ever, even when it came to love making Squall made no comment until it was over. Lying down beside Quistis for the moment, he murmured, “That was wonderful, puts a whole new slant on our assignment, doesn’t it?”

“You could say that,” Quistis smiled at him.

They lay and embraced each other until the floor became uncomfortable and they both realized the moment had past. Kissing once more, they both stood up and resumed dressing.

The rest of the undressing and dressing was uneventful, but when both of them turned around they were staring at different people. Squall had long blonde hair in a pageboy style cut and was wearing a white T-shirt and low cut jeans with a good inch or more of his striped boxer shorts showing.

Quistis broke into laughter at Squall's appearance and then quickly covered her mouth with her right hand.

"What are you laughing at?" Squall asked irritably. "You should see yourself."

Squall had a point. Quistis was wearing a red spiky wig and a schoolgirl uniform, which consisted of a white blouse with a blue collar, low cut enough so a little bit of her lacy white bra was visible and a extremely short, blue check skirt with a little midriff showing and a belt that also held a gray purse by her side. The entire disguise was topped off by her new square framed glasses.

Quistis glanced at the image of herself reflected from a mirror that hung on the compartment wall. "What do you mean?" she asked innocently. "I think I look great!"

Squall declared, "Well, at least it doesn't look like you. Where are you going to keep your weapon?"

Quistis picked up her backpack, opened it and pulled out her 'Save the Queen.' "I'll be in real trouble though, if I have to open this for anyone. I'll have to be ready to use it."

"What's that?" Quistis pointed at a guitar case lying on the floor behind Squall.

Squall knelt down by the case, flipped the catch and opened the lid. "Watch this," Squall said as he lifted the guitar up and placed it on the floor. Then he lifted up a false bottom and pulled out 'Lion Heart.'

"Pretty sneaky," Quistis complimented. Squall nodded in agreement. "It was Xu's idea."

Rinoa thought her first day of classes went as well as could be expected, though she admitted to herself she had some difficulty in concentrating fully at all times on the instructor, as she was out of practice with this and also because she kept finding herself wondering how Squall was doing.

Rinoa was planning on meeting Selphie and Akane for a good hot soak in the baths but, as she was unable to locate Selphie, she decided to go on down to the sub-floor and wait for them in the baths. Rinoa headed down the long staircase that led to the sub-floor corridor leading to the bath area.

When Rinoa reached the end of the corridor, she headed left to the bath area; right would have taken her to the laundry area. A wooden wall separated the men and women's sauna baths. There was a strict Garden policy prohibiting men and women sharing the same bath together; in fact, they were not even supposed to be on the floor at the same time. There were very rigid guidelines regarding the times of the week the different sexes were allowed in the bath area.

Rinoa entered the small dressing area on the women's side of the baths. Rinoa quickly removed her clothing, taking care to hang up her new uniform and placing her underwear on a bench and took down a huge towel from a stack of towels provided by the Garden and proceeded into the bath area. She laid her towel carefully by the side of the bath and eased herself down into the bath.

'Ah' she thought, 'Now that's more like it.' Rinoa sat there for a few moments with her head resting on the back of of the bath with her eyes closed basically thinking about nothing, when she heard a sudden noise. She opened her eyes expecting to see Selphie and Akane, but instead observed Seifer, Raijin and Fujin looming over her standing at the edge of the bath!

"Seifer!" Rinoa squealed, "What are you doing here?" while instinctively attempting to cover herself, even though she realized they would be hard pressed to see any part of her body through the steamy water.

"Is that any way to greet an old friend?" Seifer asked sarcastically. "You're looking good, Rinoa but I can't really see you. Rage, pick her up!"

Before Rinoa could react, Raijin reached down with one huge arm and pulled Rinoa completely out of the bath exposing the entirety of her nude body from tip to toe!

Fujin shouted, "PERVERT!" and kicked Raijin hard in the shin causing him to drop Rinoa back into the bath with a large splash of water that covered the three of them with spray.

"OW!" yelled Raijin.

"Seifer, you'd better get out of here," Rinoa warned excitedly. "This isn't the right time of day for men to be in the baths and, besides, you are never to be on the women's side!"

"Oooh" responded Seifer. "Are you going to sic the disciplinary committee on me? We don't live here anymore, in case you haven't noticed."

Selphie and Akane entered the bath area, wrapped in large towels. "Seifer! What are you doing here?!" Selphie demanded in a loud voice.

Seifer turned his attention to Selphie and Akane. "Well, if it isn't the little messenger girl and who's this little cutie here?" Seifer leaned forward and chucked Akane lightly on the chin. Akane shrank away from him as quickly as possible. "You know," he went on thoughtfully, "I think I've seen you somewhere before."

"SEIFER!" screamed Selphie.

Seifer turned his attention back to Selphie. "If you must know, like it's any of your business, we have an appointment with Cid and we're on our way to talk to him right now."

"Then go!" Selphie demanded.

Seifer turned to Raijin and Fujin and said, "Let's go guys. I can tell when we're not wanted."

After they left, Selphie asked, "What the hell do you suppose that was all about?"

Rinoa just shook her head. "I don't have the slightest idea."