Disclaimer: I do not own FF8 or any of its characters.
~Chapter 1: Remembering Kisses~
The 15 year-old Rinoa Heartilly sat, arms crossed, at one out of fifty large round tables of the reception room. Music rang in her ears and her eyes scanned the room. He was not there. Over hundreds of people were there but she had not seen him specifically and that made her stomach twist and churn. It was so boring if he wasn't there.
She spotted her father, General Caraway chatting vividly with the president of Esthar and the Galbadian Garden headmaster. Politics. She hated these gatherings. The yearly gathering where all politicians of Galbadia, Trabia and Esthar would gather and chat about nonsense.
Every year, she was forced to come along, behave and chat nicely with the wives of political figures. Boring. It was also this time of year, which she was forced to eat seafood. She hated seafood. It looked bad, smelt bad and tasted bad. She thought for a moment.
"It completely corrupts three out of five senses," She thought. "Actually, if I was to hold a fish in my hands it would probably feel nasty too. And fish don't talk so they bore my ears. There you go, five out of five senses corrupted."
However, these types of parties were not that bad. After all, it was these horrid gatherings that had presented her Squall Leonheart. But he wasn't here tonight and it was so boring without him.
Every year, ever since they were kids, they caused havoc among the room. Last year that had entrapped a spider in a serving tray. The spider had sneaked into the clam chowder of a dignified lieutenant's wife and when the cover had been lifted a loud shriek could be heard.
They had needed to hide out in the hallway when the waiter had mumbled excuses over and over. The poor fellow had also gotten fired.
She put her elbow on the table and held her chin the palm of her hands. She didn't care whether it looked polite or not, she was so bored.
Another disadvantage of these stupid parties were the fact that she had to wear a dress. She looked down at her beige dress. The silk straps were tied behind her neck, the dress fit her curves beautifully and ended right above her knee.
Her mother had picked it out. She scowled slightly. She was very uncomfortable.
She sat there for a few more minutes and then felt a hand being slipped on her shoulder. She turned around to face cool, blue eyes, short brown hair and the smooth young face of the seventeen-year-old Squall Leonheart.
He smirked at her slightly and she smiled back. "Ready for some mischief?" His eyes gleamed.
"About time you got here. Where were you?" She stood up looking into his pale eyes reproachfully.
He blushed slightly, "Sorry … SeeD party."
"I'm sure." She rolled her eyes and took him by the hand, leading him out of the room.
"So what should we do?" She asked.
There was a slight pause as the two teenagers thought. Squall snapped his fingers and smiled at his companion.
"The punch bowl." He rubbed his hands together excitedly.
She raised an eyebrow, "What about it?"
"Let's add something to it!" He whispered.
Letting herself be led, she entered the kitchen silently behind Squall. He began rummaging through the cupboards.
"Tabasco sauce?" He asked.
"Nah …" Rinoa shrugged.
"Vinegar?" He asked again, rummaging still.
She didn't answer. She looked curiously at a nearby pile of fish guts. "Squall …" She said.
"Yah?" He turned around and met her eyes that were signaling the pile of guts.
"Ew …" He whispered.
"Yah I know!" She squealed.
He grinned and examined the disgusting pile of remains. "Isn't there suppose to be a grand toast to Vinzer? The new President of Galbadia?"
"Yes … notice that big oriental style lantern tied to the top of the cathedral ceiling? It's filled with confetti and it suppose to explode out at exactly midnight."
They exchanged a look. Squall grinned helplessly and then added, "We only have twenty minutes! Come one!"
She went and got a big garbage bag from under a sink and checked if any waiter or cook was coming. The course was clear. They were probably gone to hear the toast to Vinzer Deling.
The two accomplices carefully dumped the fish remains into the bag and Squall began to drag it out of the kitchen.
Rinoa opened up a deserted stairwell and they began to semi-carry and semi-drag the bag up.
"So what have you been up to lately?" Squall asked trying to make conversation on the excruciatingly long way up.
"Oh nothing much. Going to school." She replied.
"Isn't it fun?" He asked sarcastically.
"I'm not sure if your referring to carrying fish guts or school but one thing for sure is that neither are really amusing right now." She replied.
They finally reached the top floor. It was a small passageway that went around the top of the ceiling. The great lantern covered the immense hole that would have otherwise, looked straight down into the ballroom.
"There isn't that much confetti in there …" Squall remarked, looking down into the contents of the lantern.
"I know, it's because it's a nuisance. Just mixed the guts in, it'll be fine." Rinoa suggested.
"Guess so." And so he dumped the contents in, making sure to spread it out evenly.
"This stuff smell like crap." Rinoa grimaced.
"So I noticed." Squall agreed.
After emptying out the whole bag Squall just threw it down on the ground and grabbed her waist.
"Let's go." He warned.
"Yah …" She replied, slightly taken aback by his touch.
They descended the, what seemed to be, never ending stairs and went back into the hall just in time for Vinzer Deling's great speech.
"Ladies and gentlemen. Good evening!" He paused for the applause that followed. "I would like to thank you all for attending this special yearly gathering and for having voted for me and my party."
He continued, "I promise the country of Galbadia and its surrounding nations that I will make you all proud."
"I can't believe you have such a dipshit as a president." Squall grimaced.
She didn't reply so he continued, "Move with me to Balamb."
Rinoa raised an eyebrow in pure shock, "Yah right …" She stifled a laugh as the president continued his speech.
"As we ring in the New Year that I have yet to wish you, I promise you only this for tonight. Now in ten seconds the clocks will strike twelve."
"We better get out." Squall hissed and darted out of the room.
"Agreed!" Rinoa whispered back and exited.
"So this is my promise … let us party!!"
And the lantern opened to reveal its contents. Out came the confetti … and the fish guts. As the confetti lightly snowed its way down, the fish guts (being the heavier matter) simply splattered all over the room. Some parts landed in wine glasses, atop people's heads and in women's cleavage.
Some fish guts even had confetti stuck to it. The woman screeched and the men cursed aloud but no one could explain this phenomenon.
She and Squall were outside the door laughing hysterically. Thinking it would be better to retreat to another hallway before they were caught, they moved eastward through a rose wood door and ended up in an empty dining room.
They continued to laugh hysterically as yelling, shrieking and swearing could still be heard from the other room.
"Oh Hyne! That'll be all over the papers tomorrow!" Rinoa leaned against the wall for support.
He approached her slowly, putting his two hands on each side of her waist, pressing her against the wall.
"Squall?" She asked slightly confused. She looked at the handsome young man in the black and blue Balamb SeeD attire.
He leaned forward ever so slightly and brushed his lips against hers. She closed her eyes as he closed the momentary gap between their lips and plunged in a kiss.
A perfect moment for two people of ten seconds, an invisible bond.
She kissed back slowly and he slipped his hands on her waist. Her hands were placed gently on his chest.
Her first kiss at fifteen. One she couldn't forget, one that she though he forgot to remember.
Sammy-Chan: Hey hey! This was the first chapter; I hope it wasn't too boring. Yes, there will be more chapters coming soon so don't push! I'll probably post another during the Christmas holidays. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE read and review! Thank you!