Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VIII, its characters, or anything relating to it, so don't sue me!

Author's Note: Hi everybody! This is my new fic, which is, of course, a Squinoa. As you can probably tell by the title, this fic is going to revolve around figure skating. I really hope that you enjoy it.

On the Ice

Chapter 1- First Impressions

A vast expanse of white. Glistening brightly, anticipating the events that would be happening on its surface. The ice had been polished to perfection for tonight's event. There was not a single mark visible to the human eye. The arena was packed with roaring fans, eagerly waiting for the competition to begin. Off to the side stood Rinoa Heartilly, dressed in a black, off the shoulder, costume. Heart pounding, palms sweaty, she couldn't wait to get out on the ice. The only thing was, her partner was nowhere in sight. This was, after all, the pairs competition.

Sighing, she turned to her coach. "Robert, do you have any idea where Seifer could have run off to now?"

Robert was surprised. "You mean he's not here? The competition starts in five minutes, and you two are on second! Don't tell me you haven't even practiced your routine yet? "

Rinoa rolled her eyes. "Yes, Robert, we have practiced already. Seifer was here a few minutes ago...maybe he went backstage. I'll go see if I can find him."

"Well, you had better make it quick, Rinoa. Like I said, you're going to be on very soon. Plus, it doesn't hurt to check out your competition. There are a lot of new pairs, like Seifer and yourself, who are in this contest for the first time. As beginners, it would very wise to see what they have planned." Robert told her matter-of-factly.

"Okay, I get it! I promise I won't be long." Shaking her head, Rinoa left Robert and headed towards the backstage area.

Looking around, she didn't see Seifer anywhere. I'm going to kill him! This is definitely not a good way to start off the competition! She thought angrily. Up ahead, she saw a short girl with brown hair and green eyes. Next to her, was a taller man with long brown hair. Rinoa guessed it was the girl's partner. Walking up to her, Rinoa said, "Excuse me, but have you seen a man back here? He would be dressed in black skating attire. Let's see...he has short blonde hair and he's about six foot three."

"Hmmm..." The girl said, "Actually, I think I know who you're talking about! I saw him go into that room over there." The girl pointed to a door down the hall. "I'm Selphie by the way, and this is my partner, Irvine."

"Nice to meet you." Rinoa said as she shook Selphie's hand. "My name's Rinoa. I'm sorry to be in such a rush, but the man I'm looking for is my partner, and if I don't find him soon, we won't be able to compete."

"You're competing, too!" Selphie squealed. "Good luck to both of us then, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess so. See you later." Rinoa waved and hurried down the hall towards the door. She was just about there, when she bumped into a hard form, and landed on the floor.

"Are you okay?"

Lifting her gaze, she found herself looking into the iciest blue eyes she had ever seen. The sparkling ice in the arena didn't even come close to comparing with the brilliance of his eyes. "Y-yeah, I'm alright." Rinoa said as she quickly got up and dusted herself off. "I'm sorry...I wasn't looking where I was going. I'm really in a hurry and-"

She was cut off as the door in front of her opened and out walked Seifer. "Rinoa?" He asked surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here?" She asked angrily. "Oh, I don't know, maybe trying to find you since we are on in less than ten minutes!"

"Really?" Seifer asked. "I completely lost track of time. You see, I was meditating in that room, and the time just flew by. I have to say, it really relaxes you."

Rinoa raised an eyebrow. "You meditating?" She asked skeptically. "You know what, whatever. We really don't have time for this! Let's get out there!"

"Fine, fine." Seifer grumbled. "Let's go show all those other losers who the real winner is."

"Excuse me?" The man Rinoa had bumped into asked.

"Yes?" She had forgotten that he was there.

"I just wanted to know if you've seen a blonde girl, wearing a red costume? She said she would only be gone for a few minutes..."

The poor guy looked completely helpless. "No, sorry, I haven't seen her. Would you like me to help you look for her?" Rinoa asked.

"Rinoa!" Seifer exclaimed. "We don't have time! Weren't you just saying that?"

Rinoa lowered her head. "I'm sorry, but he's right. We have to get going. Good luck finding that girl, though." With one last look at the mysterious stranger, she turned and headed towards the ice.

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"Welcome to the tenth annual new pairs skating competition!" The announcer exclaimed. "Live from the Dollet Skating Arena. We really have a treat for you here today! Four pairs of skaters will be competing in a three part competition to win the gold. Today is the first round. Now, here is the first pair, representing Trabia, Irvine Kinneas and Selphie Tilmitt."

Irvine and Selphie skated onto the ice, waving happily. Selphie had on a sparkling yellow costume, while Irvine was wearing a plain brown outfit. They took their positions, and Rinoa watched as they put on a beautiful performance. It was serious, yet playful at the same time. They managed to land all of their jumps, except for a slight mistake on one of them. They finished, grinning from ear to ear.

"Damn, that was good." Robert told Rinoa and Seifer.

Seifer shrugged. "Nothing special. Let's see what the judges think."

Selphie and Irvine were now seated, anxiously waiting for their scores. "The technical marks for Kinneas and Tilmitt are: 5.7, 5.6, 5.8, 5.8, 5.7, 5.8."

"5.6? They deserve better than that." Rinoa whispered.

"I told you their performance was nothing special." Seifer smirked.

"The artistic marks for Kinneas and Tilmitt are: 5.7, 5.7, 5.8, 5.7, 5.7, 5.8." The crowd applauded politely and Selphie and Irvine smiled again, then walked off.

"Well, that puts Kinneas and Tilmitt in first place for the time being. Next, representing Deling City, we have Seifer Almasy and Rinoa Heartilly."

Seifer and Rinoa skated onto the ice gracefully. "You better not mess this up." He whispered to Rinoa. "We need to win that gold medal!"

"What has gotten into you, Seifer? As long as we put on our best performance, nothing else matters." Rinoa told him.

Seifer shook his head. "God, Rinoa, you are such a looser. That attitude isn't going to get you anywhere."

Rinoa didn't have a chance to respond as the music started up and their routine began. Rinoa knew things were going to turn bad as soon as she pushed off the ice. Seifer and her were completely out of sync. They only landed one jump out of three, and that wasn't the worst of it. When Seifer lifted Rinoa up, he caught a glimpse of someone off to the side. His concentration was immediately shaken and Rinoa fell from his grip. If he hadn't realized what was happening and grabbed her at the last minute, she could have gotten seriously injured.

As the music ended, Rinoa tried her best to act like their horrible performance had been no big deal. As her and Seifer went to take their seats and wait for their scores, Rinoa forced herself to smile. Inside, she was a mess, and all she wanted to do was cry.

"The technical marks for Almasy and Heartilly are: 5.3, 5.3, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 5.3."

Rinoa was devastated at the horrible marks. Please let the next set go up...

"The artistic marks for Almasy and Heartilly are: 5.4, 5.4, 5.5, 5.4, 5.4, 5.4."

Not much better... Rinoa sighed to herself, but forced a smile for the audience. With one final wave, she followed Seifer down the steps and off to the sidelines.

"What was that?!" Seifer shouted. "You were horrible!"

"Me?" Rinoa asked. "I don't think I deserve all the blame. You dropped me!"

"No I didn't. You moved and lost your balance!"

"Seifer, that is completely ridiculous! You can't always blame others for your mistakes." Rinoa told him angrily.

"Damn you, Rinoa." Seifer said harshly as he walked away to the backstage area.

Rinoa sat down, tears filling her eyes. She barely even noticed the next couple skating on the ice. She hadn't really caught their name...something like Chris Baker and Anita Lowtance.

She looked up as she felt a hand on her shoulder. "That...was hard to watch."

A tear trickled down Rinoa's face. "I know that Robert, okay? Do you have to go rubbing it in?"

"Rinoa, I have never seen you perform so badly. What's wrong?" Robert asked, concern evident in his voice.

"Nothing! I'm fine, see?" She smiled slightly.

"I heard what Seifer said to you." Robert told her. "I'm considering letting you two go."

"What?" Rinoa asked in alarm. "Why?"

"I'm not sure if I can work with Seifer's attitude anymore. He is wearing you down, both physically and emotionally. He could have killed you on that ice because he let his attention stray." He shook his head sadly.

"Do you know what had Seifer so preoccupied?" Rinoa asked. "He blames me, you know. He said I slipped."

Robert nodded. "I don't want to upset you anymore than you already are, but if my eyes weren't failing me, he was staring at a woman."

Rinoa shook her head. "No, Robert, you have to be wrong."

"I wish that I was wrong, Rinoa, I really do, but it was a woman alright." He told her sadly.

"How could he do this to me?" Rinoa whispered.

"He's a jerk, Rinoa. My advice to you is to dump his ass, but that's just me talking. Don't worry about it now...the final pair is about to skate. Maybe they'll mess up and you'll have a chance for third."

"Our final pair of skaters, representing Balamb, are Squall Leonhart and Quistis Trepe."

Rinoa gasped as she saw that Squall Leonhart was the same guy she had crashed into earlier. He truly was gorgeous, with his shaggy brown hair and built body. From where she was sitting, she couldn't see his eyes, but she knew from before how blue they were. She figured that his partner was the woman he had been looking for earlier. She was blonde and dressed in red. The woman, Quistis, was extremely beautiful, but there was something troubling about her. Rinoa just couldn't figure out what it was.

They began to skate and Rinoa could see how wonderful they were. The only thing was, Quistis seemed to be slightly ahead of Squall the whole time. As Squall came skating by her, Rinoa offered him an encouraging smile. Momentarily startled, he stared at her, and ended up bumping into Quistis. She shot him a dirty look, but quickly covered it up with a false smile.

Rinoa felt terrible for having distracted him. The rest of their performance went downhill from there, and you could see the fire burning in Quistis' eyes. They waited for their scores, Quistis smiling sweetly into the camera the whole time.

"The technical marks for Leonhart and Trepe are: 5.6, 5.6, 5.5, 5.4, 5.5, 5.5." The announcer paused. "The artistic marks for Leonhart and Trepe are: 5.4, 5.4, 5.5, 5.4, 5.5, 5.4."

"Well ladies and gentleman, day one of the competition is over." The announcer said. "The results are as follows: in first place are Kinneas and Tilmitt, in second place are Baker and Lawrence, in third place are Leonhart and Trepe, and in fourth place are Almasy and Heartilly. The second round of the competition will begin tomorrow night. Thanks for watching and goodnight everyone!"

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"Third place?!" Quistis shouted. "Third place?! What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Look, Quistis, I already apologized for my performance tonight. What else do you want from me?" Squall asked, annoyed.

"Oh, you apologized. What good is that to me? I don't see our names next to the first place mark." Quistis told him angrily. "This shit needs to stop."

"Listen, my head just wasn't in it tonight, okay?" Squall told her.

Her gaze softened. "Are you feeling alright? I didn't mean to scream at you, but I'm frustrated." With more things than you know.

"I don't know, maybe." Squall shrugged. "I'm going to bed." he turned to go.

Quistis grabbed his hand. "Wait for me. Just let me go and change." She grinned seductively.

Squall shook his head. "There's a reason why we have our own rooms, Quistis. Goodnight." He said firmly as he walked out of her room.

Quistis gritted her teeth. "You don't know what you're missing, Squall..."

Author's Note: Well, that's it for the first chapter. I have so many ideas for this story, but I guess I'll have to see where it goes. Please tell me what you think!