by Haruka

"Of course I do," Squall answered.
"Squall!" Rinoa and Selphie both yelled at him.
"What?!" he demanded.
"You do _not_ hate Seifer," Rinoa said firmly. "You guys have a mutual respect."
"Since when do respect and non-hate have anything to do with each other?"
Raijin was frowning. "So your answer is yes?"
"TRUTH!" Fujin warned.
Squall looked away, shrugging. "Hell, I don't know. Hate's a strong word. Maybe too strong."
"Aw, I'm touched," Seifer said.
Squall gave him a look. "Don't get too excited - he didn't ask if I _liked_ you."
"Maybe that'll be the next question." Irvine grinned.
"The next question is mine," Squall said.
"You didn't answer _my_ question yet, ya know," Raijin pointed out. "Do you hate Seifer?"
"NO, OKAY?!" Squall yelled. "I DON'T HATE SEIFER!"
Crickets chirped in the silence that followed.
"NEXT!" Fujin declared.
"Good idea," Rinoa said quickly. "Squall, take your turn."
"Okay, Bossy, since you insist, I'll ask _you_." He turned to her. "Have you ever desired anyone else since you met me?"
"Ooooo ...." Everyone but Rinoa teased. She was busy staring at Squall. "You ... you don't really want me to answer that, do you?"
"I asked."
"Well, I think I'll take the dare."
He looked genuinely surprised. "You're kidding? After giving Irvine a hard time for taking a dare so early?"
She winked at him. "Let's say I want to keep some mystery in our relationship. Now give me my dare."
"Okay," he said, and Rinoa swore she saw a twinkle of mischief in his eyes. "You have to find Instructor Trepe and give her a kiss on the lips."
Rinoa's jaw dropped while everyone laughed.
"Squall, my opinion of you has just gone up," Seifer remarked. "I'd have thought you'd go easy on her."
"Kissing Quistis isn't exactly a hardship," Irvine chuckled.
"No, but it's hard to explain," Zell hooted. "Wish I could watch!"
"You can," Squall said. "Someone has to go along to make sure she goes through with it."
"Yahoo!" Zell leapt to his feet. "Come on, Rinoa girl! Let's go!"
Rinoa finally closed her mouth. Squall's eyes were definitely dancing now. Well, she'd show him! She stood up and tossed her dark hair. "All right, Zell. Let's go give Quistis the thrill of a lifetime."
"Whoo-hoo!" Raijin cheered.
"Go for it!" Selphie clapped.
After the doors closed behind them, Zell looked at Rinoa. "Hey, how are we gonna find her, anyway? I hope we don't have to go to her room."
"I think she said she would be grading papers until late," Rinoa said. "So she might still be in her classroom. Let's go there first."
As they walked along, Zell gave Rinoa a curious look. "Hey, Rinoa, you can tell me and I won't tell anyone. What _was_ your real answer to the question?"
"Zell, I'm doing this dare so I won't _have_ to give an answer."
"Pleeeaaase?"
Rinoa sighed. "Well, it was a pretty vague question. He didn't ask if I wanted to sleep with anyone, just if I desired them. There might have been too many answers if I'd gotten started!"
Zell laughed. "Was I on your list?" he asked, posing like a bodybuilder.
"Maybe." She grinned. "I'll never tell." She noticed they'd reached the classroom and held a finger to her lips. "You wait here."
"Nuh-uh," he said, shaking his head. "How will I know if you've done it if I don't watch?"
"You'll know by her reaction," Rinoa said reasonably.
"I wanna waaaaatch," Zell whined.
"Oh, for ... all right."

Quistis Trepe put another paper aside and picked up the next. She was almost finished, and glad of it. There were other things she would have gladly done that evening, but a teacher's work was never done ....
A movement in the classroom doorway drew her attention and she looked over at Rinoa in surprise. "Good evening, Rinoa," she said. "What's so important that you're breaking curfew?"
Naturally she expected a verbal answer - anyone would have. What happened instead was Rinoa walking over to her, bending down, and kissing her hard on the lips. Quistis thought she heard cheering in the background, and it was that more than anything else that enabled her to push Rinoa away.
"Well, Miss Heartilly!" she said, her voice shaking slightly as she tried to regain her composure. "What brought that on? I'm sure it wasn't uncontrollable passion." "You're right," Rinoa admitted, then shrugged grinning. "Although given some more practice, it might turn into that."
Quistis gave her a Look. "Be serious," she told her. A nearby snicker made her look back to the doorway, where Zell was peeking around the edge, grinning. He waved at her.
"Okay," she faced Rinoa. "Who dared you to do it?"

End of Chapter 4

Story contents (c) 2000 Tenou Haruka No characters here are mine. Comments welcome at: [email protected]