Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VIII or its beautiful characters .. but I will one day ! x) It all belongs to SquareSoft. :salutes: -.-;;

Balamb Garden Amazing Race

Chapter One ll Amazing Activity

"BOOYAKA!"

Squall Leonhart almost tore his paperwork clear across with his pen as the triumphant, chirpy cry of a girl he knew only too well startled him. His blue eyes widened as he heard footsteps and excited voices approach his office, which only meant one thing.

They were coming.

Slightly panicked, Squall turned his head around to look for some form of escapism. Unfortunately, there was none.

"It's ingenius, Sef! They're gonna love it!" he heard Irvine Kinneas say enthusiastically, which only deepened Squall's foreboding feeling. Hyne only knew what crazy idea of Selphie's Irvine thought was "ingenius".

"Commander Squall Leonhart!" Selphie's loud, cheerful voice was much too close for comfort. She began to bang on his office door and Squall groaned, "Xu told us to come right through, so we know you're in there!"

Squall grimaced. I'm going to have to talk to Xu about who she lets through...

"Squall," Irvine's voice joined in with the racket, "C'mon man, let us in. Sefie's got a great idea!"

With a sigh, Squall put down his pen and braced himself for the worst, "Come in."

The door slid open with a smooth 'vsshhp' to reveal a girl in a short yellow sundress and a tall cowboy with his hair covered in a brown hat. Selphie Tilmitt looked as cheerful as ever as she bounced into his office, followed by an excited Irvine.

"Hiya, Squall! Got a minute?" she asked happily, then went on before he could open his mouth, "So you know how everyone's been saying how boring it's been lately at Garden?"

"Uhh - "

"And how Uncle Cid told you have to stop beheading all those Grats in the training centre just to kill time?"

"Sel - "

"And how Quisty says that under no circumstances are you and Seifer to spar more than twice a day?"

"Yeah - "

"Well, Irvy and I have come up with an amazing activity to keep us all busy!" Selphie exclaimed over the slightly dumbfounded Squall, "Oh, and Rini helped too!"

"Rinoa helped?" Squall repeated when he could get a word in edgewise. He suddenly felt betrayed. He thought only Irvine would ever help Selphie with her outrageous games. Then again, Rinoa had always been supportive of them.

"You said the magic word," Irvine whispered proudly, nudging Selphie, "Good job!"

Squall sighed as his brown hair fell into his eyes. Sitting back in his chair, he asked without any real conviction, "So what's the amazing activity?"

"No, we can't tell you!" Selphie and Irvine yelled at once.

Squall blinked at their sudden outburst, rather taken-aback. It felt as though his mind was lagging as it dragged itself up from paperwork-mode to whatever mode it had to be set on when talking to this pair.

"It's gonna be a surprise," Selphie said mysteriously.

"Okay," he said blankly, "Then why'd you - "

"Tell you about it?" Irvine interrupted knowingly, "We need your thumbs-up!"

"How do I approve of it if I don't even know what it is?" Squall wanted to know, now feeling slightly exasperated.

Selphie waved her arms in the air and jumped up, "That's easy! You know how fun this is bound to be, Commander. That's all you need to know and you can just give us the a-okay!"

She beamed at him expectantly, and Squall just looked at her. How fun this is bound to be... Selphie, I'm sorry, but -

"Hey, hey, Squall," Irvine spoke up, stepping forward, "Sef's put a lot of work into this. You gotta say yes!"

"But," Squall said helplessly, searching his mind frantically for a loophole, "Why do I have to approve of it?"

"Cause you're our leader," Irvine replied with a shrug, "Your word's law."

Squall felt uncomfortable hearing this. It had been months since the Ultimecia incident and still everyone looked up to him as a leader. Well, he was Commander of the Garden, but to Selphie, Irvine and all the others, he was their friend. There were no leaders in a group of friends. Right?

It also placed a great deal of responsibility and pressure on him, which he hated. And since when had his word become law?

They were both looking at him appraisingly, like two children waiting to find out if they were allowed to play outside in the downpour of rain. Squall knew they wouldn't leave him alone until they heard what they wanted to hear. He would never get his paperwork done if they were in the same room as him.

"Fine," he muttered, already half-regretting his word as he said it, "Go ahead. Do whatever." Then he suddenly looked up hopefully, "But do I have to participate?"

Selphie and Irvine had both jumped and whooped for joy, and were grinning at each other broadly at their success. The short, vibrant girl turned to Squall and exclaimed exuberantly, "Of course! Everyone's gonna participate! Oooh, c'mon Irvy, we have to go see Matron - " she had almost dragged Irvine to the door when she turned back and called, "Oh, yeah, Squall! Come to the cafeteria at lunch. Everyone's gonna be there. That's when we'll tell you our big secret!"

Squall watched them go, both chattering animatedly and almost tripping over one another in their excitement. The door slid back closed after they had left, and Squall looked down at his paperwork, wondering what on earth he had just gotten himself into.

"Don't choke, chicken-wuss."

"Shu-arp 'eifer," Zell managed to grunt out through a mouthful of hot dog.

"Zell, that's disgusting," Quistis said with a little sigh from her spot at the round table.

"What are you now, on his side?" Zell said indignantly after a tremendous swallow. Seifer smirked and draped his arm around the beautiful blonde instructor casually.

"Who'd want to be a foot near a chicken like yourself?"

"That's enough, Seifer, and get off me," Quistis said sharply, throwing his arm off as he chuckled and Zell scowled and stood up at his spot, "Sit down, Zell." She shook her head as Zell growled menacingly before dropping back into his seat and starting on another hot dog.

Seifer snickered, then yawned widely, "Geez, where are they? Taking their time..."

"So, Squall," Quistis said inconsequentially to the quiet Commander in an attempt to have some civilised conversation, "How are the Garden's funds doing now?"

"Oh..." Squall came out of his slight reverie, "We're alright, though it could be better..."

Seifer yawned again, "Boring."

"Shut up, Seifer," both Quistis and Zell snapped at the same time. Squall let out the tiniest, inaudible chuckle while Seifer raised an eyebrow. Before he said anything though, something caught his attention and he said coolly, "Finally, they're here."

Squall looked round as well and saw four people approaching their table. His heart rose when he saw Rinoa among them; her face lit up and she waved at him brightly when she caught his eye. Squall felt rather abashed and a shy, tentative smile graced his usually indifferent face.

Three months ago, Squall had led the others to a battle that would ultimately save the world. He hated how it had labelled them as 'heroes' when they'd returned from Time Compression, when all he had done the whole time was make sure he could live. He hadn't even known what he was doing half the time. The only thing he did know were the battles. He fought without second thought and unleashed his limit break when he reached his peak. He called upon a Guardian Force when needed and used magic to cure himself and his friends. That was what he'd been trained to do as a SeeD, and if that made him a hero then all SeeDs were heroes.

Seifer had been re-admitted into Balamb Garden after all his previous hostile actions had been explained. Cid and Edea were glad to let him back, but on the condition that he re-do his entire SeeD course again. Raijin and Fujin were also welcomed back to enforce the disciplinary committee again.

Seifer had not changed much from what Squall remembered before the whole Sorceress' Knight incident, yet the two of them had developed a friendship, rather opaque but still quite exisiting. Much of their time spent together was sparring in the training centre, taking care not to give each other another scar.

"Hey, everyone!" Selphie greeted loudly as Irvine sat down, "Betcha'll wondering what our big idea is!" Rinoa beamed at everybody while the familiar girl beside her looked bashful.

"But first of all, everyone, meet Shizuka!" the girl next to Rinoa immediately looked alarmed when all eyes turned to her, and attempted a brave smile when they lifted their hand in welcome.

"ACH!"

Zell had looked up and choked violently on his hot dog. Selphie broke off, amusement glimmering in her green eyes as Seifer, against his own will, thumped Zell on the back.

"I told you to eat slower, chicken-wuss..."

"It's her," Zell managed to choke out between violent hiccoughs. Seifer frowned and bent his head further down.

"Who?"

"That library girl!"

"Oh, you mean the one you stalk?" Seifer said with a smirk. Zell turned a shade of pink and went into another coughing fit, and Seifer patted him on the back disdainfully and told the table at large, "Don't worry, he's fine." He gave Zell an extra hard thump and the spiky blonde yelped.

"So anyway, Shizuka's gonna be joining us," Selphie continued chirpily as the shy, pig-tailed girl gave a little smile, "Because we're going to need an even number of people for this to work."

"For what to work, exactly?" Seifer butted in rudely, "You still haven't told us what we're doing."

"Seifer, just wait for them to tell us!" Quistis said exasperately, and he swiftly grinned at her.

"Anything for you, instructor."

Squall intercepted this with sceptism. Seifer had been very devoted to Quistis as of late months, never missing the chance to flirt or charm the younger teacher in some way or other. Rinoa thought it was cute. Squall just wished they would stop bickering.

"Alright, everybody!" Selphie said enthusiastically, barely containing her excitement as she bounced in her boots, "Introducing... the Balamb Garden Amazing Race!"

Rinoa, Irvine and Selphie all bore wide grins as they looked around the table. They were met with blank, uncomprehending stares.

"The what?" Zell finally said.

"The Amazing Race!" Rinoa repeated happily, "It'll be tons of fun, especially since you guys have all been complaining about the lack of activity around here."

Quistis was the first to recover. "It sounds like a great idea," she said approvingly, ignoring the stunned look Seifer gave her, "Isn't the Amazing Race that TV show where all the contestants have to get through a whole lot of challenges and go to a lot of different places?"

"Yep!"

"Reality television?" Seifer snorted, sitting back and folding his arms, "Count me out."

"Me too," Squall said quickly. He thought his heart had stopped when Selphie had introduced what her "amazing activity" actually was. There was no way he was going to compete in something like that.

"Oh, come on!" Rinoa said with a frown, "It's not like we're going to be on TV. It's the Balamb Garden Amazing Race. We'll be dividing into four teams and the first team to get through all the challenges wins."

"It sounds like fun," Shizuka piped up confidently. She was a pretty girl with large almond-shaped brown eyes and soft features. She also had the endearing habit of blushing when embarrassed. Rinoa smiled at her and Selphie exclaimed, "See? Zell, you have to go if Zuka's going!"

"Wha - why?" Zell spluttered, looking flustered over the remains of his lunch.

"Because, because, because," Selphie said singy-songy-like, "We'll reveal it to you later!" She and Rinoa exchanged looks and giggled. Shizuka blushed.

"Anyway," Seifer said loudly, "Weren't you explaining this race thing?"

"Oh, yeah," Selphie said, still giggling, "Well, everyone's gotta participate - yes, even you, Squall. You gave us the thumbs-up, after all."

"You what?" both Seifer and Zell shouted at the same time, their heads snapping towards Squall.

"I - I - they didn't tell me what they were planning," Squall said defensively, "If I'd known, I wouldn't have said yes."

"So you didn't have an inkling that it would be something as whacked-up as this?"

"Hey!"

"Yeah, I resent that - "

"Everyone, be quiet!" Quistis shouted over the outburst. Everybody at once turned to look at her in surprise. Well, she wasn't an instructor for nothing. Calmly, Quistis sat back down and said, "Selphie, Rinoa - continue."

"Yeah, thanks Quisty," Selphie said cheerfully, wheeling round to the seven faces that looked back at her, "More details will come on the day of the race! Which will be in two days' time, because the challenges are still being made."

Squall's brow furrowed, "Do you mean to tell me we all have to participate in this?"

"Yup."

"Including me?"

"Especially you, Squall!" Rinoa broke in, "We've all gotten a bit restless since - since Ultimecia. While the peace has been great, we could all use it to do something fun and creative, right?"

"Right!" Irvine, Selphie, Shizuka and Quistis chorused. Quistis glared at Seifer, who mumbled a, "Right." Zell sighed and scratched the back of his spiked-up blonde hair, glanced at the pretty pig-tailed girl sitting across him, and said weakly, "Right..."

"Irvy and I have talked to Uncle Cid about this, and he says we could all do with a vacation - " ("You call this a vacation?") " - so we don't have to worry about that. Just worry about getting yourselves into good shape for this race!"

The bell rang at the end of Selphie's words, and Shizuka jumped up, saying something about having to return to the library. Seconds later, a troubled Zell disappeared after her. Quistis and Seifer also got up.

"Well, time for class," Seifer said lazily, putting an arm around Quistis, "See the rest of you jokers at dinner."

"Get off me, Seifer!"

"Aww, come on, a nice walk up to the classroom - "

Smack!

"Ouuuch! Quisty, that hurt!"

Rinoa giggled as Seifer went running after the dignified instructor, sounding reproachful. Irvine got up and joined Rinoa and Selphie, leaving Squall by himself at the table.

"Hey, Sef, good job! It seemed like everybody really liked the idea," Irvine said optimistically, putting his arm around the shorter girl.

"Yeah, everyone but the boys," Selphie replied doubtfully, then brightened up, "But that's to be expected. I'm sure Zell and Seifer will come through once they find out how competitive it is! As for Squall - "

"I'll go talk to him," Rinoa volunteered, looking behind Selphie and Irvine at the quiet, brown-haired boy whose gaze was resting on the round table in front of him.

"If anyone can do it, Rinoa can," Irvine said reassuringly with a grin, "We'll just leave you two to it, then, won't we?"

"Good luck, Rin!"

The two of them walked away arm-in-arm. Rinoa smiled as she watched them. Selphie and Irvine were the best of friends, always together and oh-so-cute it sometimes made the others sick. No one was sure if there was anything going on between them, though. They were inseparable and had a very close friendship, but nothing to imply that they transgressed beyond that.

Rinoa turned to Squall, who was still sitting by himself at the table. His blue eyes flickered up towards her for a second, then went straight back down to the table. She smiled to herself as she walked towards him.

"Hey," she said softly as the cafeteria around them emptied. She stooped down a little to look at him in the face. He glanced up at her again, then looked away.

"I don't wanna go," Squall muttered, knowing how ridiculous and childish he must sound.

Rinoa put her hands on her hips and said sternly, "Well, you have no choice, Leonhart. You're a part of the Balamb Garden Amazing Race and there's nothing you can do about it." She dropped her stern voice and said playfully, "And who knows... maybe you could win."

Squall looked away, determined not to look at her, "I don't care."

Rinoa studied him perplexedly for a second, then smiled wickedly. Reaching out she took his hand and tugged him gently so that he stood up. Squall gave her a questioning look but she said nothing as she wrapped her arms around his neck and put her head in his chest.

A content smile spread across Squall's face as he put his arms around her, enjoying the feeling of holding her in his arms. He didn't often get the chance to hold her like this. It was always Rinoa who'd reach out for him first. Squall wished he had the ability to be able to display his feelings for her as easily and freely as she did.

Breathing in his familiar scent, Rinoa said quietly, "I missed you..."

He chuckled silently, "You saw me yesterday."

She also laughed, burying herself deeper in his embrace, "No... I meant I miss hugging you... being near you..."

At her words Squall felt even more ashamed of himself. Tightening his arms around her, he lowered his head into her hair and murmured, "I missed you too, Rinoa..."

The raven-haired girl smiled and lifted her head slightly, "You'll miss me even more if I'm away at the race."

Squall chuckled, "You think that's going to convince me?"

"I guess not..." her sweet, angelic voice floated to his ears, and he could hear the smile in it. Locking her hands together at the back of his neck, Rinoa suddenly grabbed the back of his jacket and yanked it over his face, "But this will!" she shouted gleefully, immediately withdrawing her arms.

"Huh - Rinoa!" her happy, triumphant laughter rang in his ears as he reached to pull his jacket off his face - but almost at once she snatched both of his hands and kept them firmly apart.

"Say the Balamb Garden Amazing Race is the best idea you've ever heard of and you can't wait to compete in it!" she ordered in between giggles.

Trying to pull his arms away from her, Squall said helplessly, "Rin - "

"Say it!"

Squall was trapped in a compromising situation. A petite girl maintaing a surprisingly strong grip on his hands, stopping him from pulling the puffy jacket off his face so he could see what he was doing. Squall suddenly felt the urge to laugh as well, and a grin appeared on his face as he tried to shake Rinoa's hands off him.

"Rinoa, let me go!"

"Not until you say it," she called back in a sing-song voice, leaping back as he thrust his hands forward towards her waist, "Hey!" she giggled, struggling to push his hands away, "No tickling."

Squall forced both his and her hands toward her again, making her squeal and jump back, her grip on his hands loosening. He grinned; it was working.

"Squall!" she exclaimed breathlessly, laughing as he continued to force her backwards. She glanced behind her and saw the cafeteria women looking at them in amusement. She felt fingers lightly dig into her ribs and she let out a burst of laughter, "Stop tickling me!"

"Let me go then."

"No. Oof - Squall - I'm gonna fall over," Rinoa looked behind her again and her eyes widened, though the giggles still hadn't died from her lips yet, "Squall!"

They had reached the edge of the eating area, which was two stairs higher than the ground below. Rinoa let go of his hands and quickly jumped down just before they both fell right over the edge; but Squall, caught unaware as she suddenly released him, stumbled forward and yelped as the ground below him seemed to disappear.

Crash!

He heard her stifle her giggles as he groaned and rolled over onto his back, opening his eyes to see the peachy-cream coloured ceiling of the Garden. Her head popped out from nowhere, a broad grin from ear to ear.

"That wasn't funny," Squall managed to get out forlornly, his mouth still twitching inspite of himself.

"Could've avoided it if you'd just said what I told you to," Rinoa told him with a straight face, kneeling down beside him. She bent down low, a mishievous smile playing across her lips, "Now will you say it?"

Squall sighed and recited dully and forcefully.

"The Balamb Garden Amazing Race is the best idea I've ever heard of and I can't wait to compete in it."

"Lucky for you, it's only in two days!"

He groaned.

A/N: Hey everyone! Not much time to say anything now, but HOW DO YOU LIKE IT SO FAR? x) Hehe .. please review. Pretty please? xD - msq.