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Rinoa gazed at her handsome, albeit reluctant dance partner as he watched the fireworks erupting overhead, the bursts of color reflecting off his pale skin. He was tall but not too tall, strong and solid but not imposing. His movements had been surefooted and graceful, once he got over whatever jitters or pretense had sent them stumbling at first. He also looked a good measure more relaxed than he had when she’d first approached him, his expression smoothed and almost but not quite smiling now. She hazarded a quick glance over his shoulder, and her eyes widened at the pair of silhouettes she saw at the ballroom’s main entrance.
Neither figure belonged to the man she was supposed to be dancing with that night, but they were unmistakably those of his two best friends, Fujin and Raijin, and they were unmistakably looking right at her. Rinoa didn't know either of the pair well, their interactions having been limited to a single weekend several months ago when they had visited Seifer during his summer in Timber. For the most part, conversation that weekend had involved the visitors filling Seifer in on Balamb Garden gossip, and the doings of the "disciplinary committee," whatever that was. It was almost like they had been speaking in code, and most of it went over Rinoa's head. Nonetheless, she had flexed her considerable social muscles and done her best to engage Seifer’s close friends in topics that might interest them. However, when the duo left on a train back to Balamb, Rinoa was certain they thought her incredibly dull, and the feeling was mutual.
All the same, Rinoa had no problem spotting them. Raijin was a giant of a man, with height that dwarfed even Seifer's, and a physique that told of countless hours in the gym. Indeed, Rinoa's eyes had glazed over for a solid half hour last summer as Raijin and Seifer compared diet and workout routines for building muscle mass. Fujin was of a normal stature, but at all times stood absolutely ram-rod straight. This made an impression on Rinoa because it reminded her so much of her father's military countenance.
Rinoa was torn for a moment about what to do. She had been so disappointed and confused when Seifer had failed to meet her for their dinner date in town. There had been no answer on his dorm phone. Unwilling to give up and supposing that there could have been a delay with his exam, she had made her way to Garden. After begging her way in at the front gate, she had asked a few random students of his whereabouts. No one had told her anything useful, though she suspected a couple of them had known something they weren't willing to say. When she'd entered the ballroom for the gala, she had still half-expected Seifer to be there, dapper in a new dress uniform, shooting her a self-assured grin and a “sorry babe.” No such luck. She had been thinking about calling it a night when a wayward star had pointed her towards the handsome stranger still standing close to her now. Her fortunes for the evening were just starting to turn around, and she didn't really want to turn away. She wanted another dance with this man. And another. She wanted to flirt with him and learn his name and what he liked to do for fun.
With a resigned sigh, Rinoa made up her mind. She simply had to know what had happened to Seifer. Her fond memories of last summer and their shared plans for the future were too compelling to allow this one misstep to ruin everything. With an apologetic gesture and a wink to her dance partner, she broke away and walked with purpose towards the doorway where Raijin and Fujin still stood.
“Hi guys,” Rinoa greeted as she approached. She noted that neither of the two were in suitable attire to attend the ball. Much as he had during that weekend last summer, Raijin wore a vest that exposed most of his impossibly muscled torso. Fujin was wearing military-style fatigues.
“Hey Rinoa, nice dress, ya know?” Raijin said, raising a huge hand in greeting. Fujin just glared, first at Raijin and then at Rinoa.
“I’ve been looking for Seifer for hours! Where is he?”
“NOT COMING,” Fujin announced in her usual stilted manner.
“Yeah, said to tell you he’ll see you in Timber, ya know?”
Rinoa looked between the two odd friends, mouth agape, incredulous that could be the only explanation she was going to get. “What about the field exam? Did he pass? Is he okay? I really want to see him tonight.”
“The exam was a joke, ya know? No real danger, just waiting around, is what Seifer said.”
“BULLSHIT ORDERS.”
“Yeah, shoulda let Seifer call the shots, ya know?”
“So he passed?” Rinoa asked. The two other teens exchanged a look.
“IRRELEVANT.”
“No, it's very relevant to what we had planned,” Rinoa countered in frustration. “Also, if he’s not hurt, he could have at least showed up to tell me about it himself,” she huffed, about done with the evasive answers.
Something about her tone must have sparked Fujin’s ire because she squared up close to Rinoa, her single dark red eye narrowed. Despite Rinoa's height boost from her high-heeled shoes, Fujin was still taller and decidedly broader and stronger. Still, Rinoa stood her ground, her jaw set stubbornly.
“FICKLE,” the taller girl proclaimed, gesturing sharply to the dance floor. “DISLOYAL.”
“Disloyal?” Rinoa repeated, her voice rising sharply. “What, because I dared to dance with someone else when Seifer stood me up? Give me a break. It was just a dance.”
“Yeah but Seifer would have hated to see you gettin’ cozy with the enemy, and people are gonna talk, ya know?” Raijin interjected.
“Enemy? What enemy? According to the uniform, that guy was a SeeD! I just hired SeeD to help the Owls! That’s the whole reason I'm here!!”
Raijin and Fujin exchanged a look. “OBLIVIOUS,” Fujin said.
“Tch, really,” Raijin concurred.
“Whatever. If who dances with who passes for gossip around here, then it's worse than Deling City! Besides, if Seifer had shown up himself tonight instead of sending you two rays of sunshine, there’d be nothing to talk about!” Rinoa retorted, her voice raising in volume again. Although the heated exchange was mostly drowned out by the orchestra, a few attendees in close proximity gave the three of them curious looks.
“IMPERTINENT. ENTITLED,” Fujin accused, jabbing a pointer finger at Rinoa's chest.
“Yeah, Seifer doesn't owe you his time, ya know? He did you a big favor settin’ up your little meeting with the headmaster. If anything, you owe him, ya know?”
Rinoa shook her head in disbelief over what she was hearing. “Look, in normal human relationships, when you're friends with someone? When you care about them? You help them because you want to. You show up because you want to. It's not about who owes who. I don't know how this whole thing got so twisted.”
Clearly fed up, Raijin crossed his massive arms across his chest. They were roughly even with Rinoa's forehead. “We said Seifer’ll catch up to you in Timber, ya know? So go home.”
“HOME. NOW,” Fujin reiterated.
Rinoa bristled at the fact that they clearly expected to boss her around, whether on Seifer's behalf or not. She could tell that any further argument would be pointless. “I’ll think about it,” she responded flippantly and turned heel, walking back into the ballroom proper, heels clacking loudly on the marble.
Fueled mostly by indignation, Rinoa did two full circuits of the ballroom, hoping to find her cute dance partner from earlier, but he was nowhere in evidence. She even tried drinking a flute of champagne while leaning casually against a pillar, hoping fate would maybe be inclined to work in reverse, but to no avail. No other attendees, who were all paired off or chatting in small groups, paid her a bit of mind. It appeared that Raijin and Fujin had left, or at least Rinoa could no longer see them glowering at her from the doorway.
Finally defeated, Rinoa returned to her hotel room to spend the rest of what was supposed to have been a romantic evening with Angelo, some microwave popcorn and a made-for-TV romcom. As she laid down to sleep, her mind oscillated between memories of Seifer's charming grin from last summer and the subtle, pleased tilt on the lips of the man from earlier in the evening who had been so reluctant to dance, but was clearly glad that he had. Then she laughed at herself and shook her head, trying to focus instead on the events that would unfold once SeeD arrived in Timber. Her and the Owls’ Big Plan was officially in motion and it would be unwise for her to be distracted by silly crushes, or even serious crushes. “Eyes on the prize, Rinoa,” she murmured to herself as she finally drifted to sleep.