The ravenhaired girl's eyes fluttered open, her vision bleary but soon focusing onto the face of her captor. Slowly, she looked up at him and narrowed her eyes, "I knew it wasn't Seifer... but... you?"

The narrow corners of Yumenegau's mouth turned up into a playful smirk, "Heh, learn something new everyday. You agree?" He was pleased with the angry look across her face and he continued. "There are alot of crooks out there who are just looking for a helpless young girl to..." He drifted off, glancing about him quickly and looking back to her, "Well... I'm not one of those people... But I'm not completely innocent of my actions." His smirk widened.

Rinoa pushed herself up, quickly to stand before him. Her brown eyes widened when she saw the barrier surrounding them, and looked back at the man before her. "Well, I think I established that thought a while ago! What do you want with me?"

Yumenegau smiled broadly and walked out of the barrier, with ease, and he turned to look back at her. "We're going to play a game... and when it's over the winners will hold their ceremony-"

"You're talking in circles! Just answer the question!"

"Fine then..." He shot her a glare, cold and hard like ice. "The game we play shall be that of cat and mouse. We have the mouse-" He quickly gestured to the girl in blue, "-and as soon as he finds out, we shall have our cat..."

Rinoa's eyes narrowed menacingly, "You're trying to get to Squall?"

The older man turned around smiling. The chain around his neck shone brightly. "Aren't we a clever little rodent?"

No need for name calling, twit.

"What about Seifer?" The girl in blue's mind suddenly stung with questions, "He was the one who..."

"Yes, well... You see, magic is a very powerful thing when used correctly." He smirked.

Slowly, his smile widened. Like the vines or a plant, streams of a bright, crimson, light seemed to quickly wrap themselves around his body. When they had done their job and faded away, Seifer stood, his lazy grin plastered upon his face and his eyes cold with malice. Almost as quickly as before, he returned to the form of Yumenegau. "I can be whoever I want to be with magic."

Rinoa's eye clouded with disbelief, "I still don't understand..."

"Seifer is one of many disguises, I could wear. I mean, he is dead, and it dosen't look like anyone else is in the position to stop me." He shrugged nonchalantly am began to pace slowly, "Quite a trick to learn, would you say, dove?"

She glared at him, her ebony eyes bruning into him, "I'm no dove."

Yumenegau gave his most charming smile, revealing perfectly straight, white teeth. "That I can see, precious."

Rinoa sighed in exasperation, "Stop with the pet names!" She slowly looked to the floor, "Why are you trying to get Squall?"

Yumenegau dropped his smile, fis face holding a grave expression, and his eyes grew hard and cold, "You ask too many questions." He clenched his teeth and stopped pacing, he suddenly smiled, "And besides, if I told ya that, I'd probably have to kill ya." he then continued his pacing.

The ravenhaired girl quirked an eyebrow, her voice now calm and confident as she looked straight to his face. "You can't do that-"

"I could, and I have every intention of doing so if you don't shut up!" He growled, towards her.

The blue girl's posture and eyes still held that untouched confidence and sophistication as she heard him. "You're lying."

"I never lie." His eyes narrowed at her, slowly.

"Was your father a glassmaker? Because I can see right through you, Yume, and your lies are thinner than you." Inside, Rinoa was growing excited with this. This had to have been what she left for! An adventure! Something to occupy her time with, and give her that rush of adrenaline and fulfillment she had been missing in a coma. She had known, deep down, that Squall had killed Seifer when she had awoken from a coma.

She had been in a coma for two days, but before that it hadn't been much different. She was growing weak, wondering around the garden while everyone else trained and prepared for any possible battles to come. No one had invited her to train with them. She hadn't even been allowed to train by herself. Maybe it was the fact that Balamb Garden feared sorceresses? That didn't hold much light for her there. Sure, they wouldn't destroy her for simply being one, but they would keep her powers from growing. This was how they assured the safety of the world. After Edea, Adel, and Ultimecia, who took chances anymore?

The battle she had gone comatose in had been a small fued with Seifer and his gang, looking for revenge on Squall and the rest of them. Small, and she had been knocked out shortly after the battle started. What a waste. Hell, the others were all doing the fighting anyway.

It was a cold feeling within her. To be unwanted. She was just a usable pawn. 'There when you need her, but when you don't, who cares where she goes?' No one seemed to want her company or her presence. Squall had, as it seemed reluctantly, spent time with her, but she felt he would have rather been somewhere else. Soon, she stopped asking, and he stopped coming. Funny how she had thought they might have had something. That was obviously a joke.

She had just barely lasted, at Garden, as long as she did. Days there were long and dull. Nothing seemed to be happening around the world anymore. If anywhere on the globe something was going on, it wasn't coming to Balamb. That's the way it was.

"Tell me what you want with Squall." Her tone was firm and her eyes narrowed, glaring him down with the seriousness held within her.

"Seifer... that arrogant fool, he didn't have what it takes. If he had just destroyed Squall in that battle things would have been alot easier on me. Now, I must waste my time destroying him." He talked as he paced, now keeping his eyes away from Rinoa's direction, "Heh, all of Balamb's SeeDs, cadets, and what have you... weak. I had just wanted to destroy the entire garden, but Tenshi said that it would bring us too much attention. Sometimes, I just want to choke that girl! When the sorceress arises we wouldn't even have to worry about the damn SeeDs!"

"Ich bin ein Berliner." - John F. Kennedy.
Translation: I am a jelly-filled doughnut.

I'm not kidding.

"What sorceress?" Rinoa stiffened, impulsively. She had had enough experience with sorceresses in the past to understand that this was getting very serious.

Yumenegau did nothing more than grin, and continue his mumbling, "Squall remains the toughest SeeD ever. One of the only mortals, successful in destroying a sorceress, or stopping one on a rampage..." He glance to the pale girl, trapped within the domelike barrier, "And to think the fool was even successful in turning one into his hoe." Malice danced like fire in the man's icy eyes.

In a fit of anger, Rinoa dropped her composure, "I am nobody's hoe!" She gathered her magic, summoning to her the ultima spell. She drew back her palms and hurled the ball of magic at him harshly. The spell flew from her hands like lightening and hit the barrier arounf her. The strange force inside of the dome shaped cell sent the spell on a rebound, flying right back at the ravenhaired sorceress. The harsh hit sent her sprawling to the ground within the forcefeild, and drained most of her energy almost instantly.

The older man outright laughed, and loudly at that, as Rinoa hit the floor. "Yes, sure. As I was saying. Squall poses the only threat to our plan, and we are going to get rid of him. Hence kidnapping you. Your man will come looking for you, thinking you have just gone out travelling, and will get the surprise of his life when he sees what I have instore for him."

She gritted her teeth and clenched her fists at his words. Anger seemed to burrow deeper within her every moment she spent with Yumenegau, it was coming close to it's peek. Squall wasn't her man, she wasn't a hoe, and no one was going to come looking for her. His plan was going to go down, and she knew it. "You can't kill him."

Her captor paused in his pacing, looking to her face, mild surprise stained his grim expression, "Who said anything about killing him?" He shook his head slowly, "No, I'm afraid my Angel's anger has gone far beyond that, mine as well. I have something far worse instore for him."

"I will not help you in anyway! Squall is not going to come looking, nor will any of his friends." The realization of the statement was like ice freezing within the walls of her lungs. Breathing was suddenly difficult, and she lost the will to resist.

"You should've known better than to leave the garden alone, or at least tell someone you were leaving... other than that blond..." he muttered something, Rinoa couldn't hear, "That might have saved you. I like it better this way though. You're vulnerable and under my control, now. You said you'd be gone about a week?" He shook his head, "Tenshi will settle that matter. She's visiting your little 'friends' as we speak." He glanced at the girl on the floor, her breathing shallow and cold. "Something wrong, dove?"

Rinoa forced her eyes open to glare at him, the heat of anger rising within her, but her lungs still frozen with cold. Finally when the anger had melted the walls of ice within her air passage she spoke, in a sharp nasty tone. "They're not my friends. They're not going to come and save me. And do not call me dove!" She sat up, finally. "I am not under your control, and I will never be!"

"Are you so sure about that?" He smiled at her, and entered the barrier slowly. "Do you feel angry, Rinoa? You're eyes speak louder than your words." He slowly sat before her to look into her face directly. "Who are you angry at Rinoa?" He tilted his head to the side, looking into her deep brown eyes, "You aren't nearly as angry at me, as you are those wretched SeeDs who claimed friendship with you. Look at how they've treated you, Rinoa! How dare they make you feel so low! You're a sorceress and you've always been so good to them! What kind of friends would do that to you?"

The ravenhaired girl found herself unable to move from his gaze. Did her eyes really reveal so much? How could he have known how she felt?

"They live under the blind illusion that you'll be there whenever they need you... That is if they ever need you. They will come for you." His smile was small, but confidence shone through darkly. "They want their support back, just in case they need your power in the future. They will suck you dry, Rinoa." His eyes hardened their gaze on her. "They will suck you dry and leave you powerless. They're weak, but manipulative when given the advantage. They use what little power they do have to draw you in and take your energy.

"That's how the SeeDs become so strong, don't you know? Like little parasites, they feed on the power of those stronger than them, destroying the powerful and threatening the very existance of those capable of magnificence. Like yourself, Rinoa. But also- Like parasites, they can be destroyed with the press of your heel. Weak. They're weak, low, manipulative, power sucking parasites." He paused.

Everything he said sounded so true. It was true. Wasn't it? It all made sense to her. Her head felt heavy and she broke his gaze to look to the floor. She had trusted them with her power, with her relyability, her strength, and in Squall's case, even her heart. The anger within her boiled and burned, reaching it's highest peak. She was disgusted with herself for even associating with the SeeDs. She was a sorceress, not an insect!

He frowned, feeling her sadness, and raised his hand under chin, lifting her face to his own. "Don't let them destroy you, Rinoa. You're too good for that, and I know it. Tenshi and I are doing this for you, whether you know it or not. I will do my best to ensure that those pathetic excuses for warriors will not bring down one of the last living goddesses of this world."

Rinoa's face was one of shock, amidst an ocean of heartbreak. Goddess?

The man sensed her thoughts, and nodded, a surprised look washing over his face. "Didn't you know?" Seeing the light shake of her head he continued. "Those blessed with the powers of the sorceress were not 'sorceresses' or 'witches' as you hear today. They were goddesses. Those filthy parasites are the ones who gave them those names. They did it to ensure fear amongst humanity. That's why everyone fears the sorceresses. Their true beauty and gifts were transformed by them to ugliness and shear power. You're not like that, though. I can see it in you, Rinoa. You are still beautiful and blessed, like the originals. You're a goddess."

Amidst the surprise, sadness, and anger she felt shone a slight shade of embarrassment. Her pale cheeks lightly flushed, and she forced her head down, once more. "Then why is this barrier here?"

Yumenegau sighed heavily, "I had to put it there so you wouldn't completely kill me before I could tell you. You know, playing the evil guy is kind of hard. I'd just rather stick to my own nature." A smile crossed his face and he chuckled softly.

Rinoa looked back at him, "So what was the Seifer disguise for?"

He looked back at her and started laughing wildly, "You should have seen your face! It was too funny! I couldn't pass up the chance. I just did that little number to scare you!" He walked out of the barrier to take seat in a rickety wooden chair and watch her.

Rinoa clenched her fists her fury dying a bit, though she was none the less angry. He had acted as Seifer to kidnap her, for no good reason. He had scared her for fun. He talked about being the good guy but did such things to her. She knew he wasn't going to let her our of the barrier, and he wasn't going to let her go. He was going to follow through with his plan, and as much as she didn't mind it, she didn't like him.

The girl smiled at Squall, and held out a hand, "My name is Waruitenshi! My friends call me Tenshi for short... or Warui... Whichever works." She giggled softly.

Squall stared at her hand, and reluctantly shook it, she had something about her, drawing him to be polite towards the golden angel. "Um... That's an original name..."

Tenshi smiled, "Original!? You think it's original!? I think it's just... strange. It's supposed to mean... Oh... nevermind. My mother was quite an oddball when naming me." She laughed again. "Uh, I don't remeber catching your name?"

The brownhaired SeeD looked to the ground, quietly, "My name is Squall Leonhart." Liar.

Waruitenshi looked enlightened, "Neat!" She looked around, showing no more signs of sadness.

Silently, the SeeD in black watched her cautiously, 'What was she crying about?' He couldn't find it in him to ask her, but let it remain her buisness. Why was he so curious anyway? Squall bit his lip, "Um... I was going to do a little bit of training... but..."

The goldenhaired girl frowned, "There's a problem, right?"

Squall narrowed his eyes at her, "..."

The girl walked closer to him, "Someone made you very... angry?" She stared into his eyes, "No... um... sad? Someone hurt you?" She slouched, "You're hard to figure..." She groaned inwardly, 'Yume is so much better at this than me... What should I tell him?'

Squall continued watching her.

She stared into his eyes again, "Someone left? Someone left you alone?"

The blue-eyed SeeD jumped, the words had suprised him. Had she read his mind? "How-H-How..."

Warui shrugged and smiled, "Never fails! Oh, it's just a gift I have. God was so kind to me!" She tossed her golden hair and lifted her head high, as to proove the fact. Haughtiness was evidently something she was 'blesed' with too.

Squall backed away, "Um... ok."

She saw him back up, "Hey! Well, was I right!?" She looked at his face, "I suppose I was. Um... who left? Was it-" her face was suddenly swallowed in emotion, "Was it, your girlfriend?" She almost whispered the question.

The SeeD jumped, shock and anger flooded though him suddenly, "No! No! I don't have a girlfriend! Just... Keep out of my buisness!" Squall regained his composure and stood frozen. He was loosing it, yelling at this girl. She should have kept to her own business, though.

Waruitenshi gave a small silvery laugh, "Don't worry, it's ok, you can tell me!"

Shaking his head frantically, Squall glared at her, "No. I think you mistunderstood! You see, a friend of mine just left for a visit with some friends, and they didn't tell us they were leaving." Squall frowned deeply, he had just spilled. What did this girl think, now? 'Damn! Now she's going to be asking questions... Grr...' The brownhaired SeeD mentally stabbed himself with his gunblade.

The girl frowned, "Oh... " She kicked at the dirt on the floor of the Training Center, "Who is 'us'?" She glanced up at him.

Squall scowled, "Me and some other people she knows..." He muttered something under his breath. 'Why would she leave? She didn't even say goodbye. Was she just playing with me? She kissed me... Didn't that mean anything to her? She was...'

The girl looked up suddenly happy again, "She?" Her voice was taunting and prodded at him to speak more about his 'friend.'

Squall shrugged off the comments and started to walk from the training center, meeting up with the others would definatly be more welcome, than staying there and talking to Waruitenshi. Though, to Squall's dismay, she followed him. She reminded him of Rinoa in a kind of way. He sensed something else about her though. She was definatley much differant from the ravenhaired beauty who had tricked him into believing that he meant something to her. She had tricked him into believing she had meant something to him. She had meant something to him. That was all clearly over now.

Please cue Singing in the Rain by Aya for pointless and unfitting background music... or not.

The ravenhaired sorceress sat alone, dwelling upon the thoughts of the SeeDs at Balamb. Intense hatred burned within her. 'So this is what the others had felt all that time? I was fighting on the wrong side for so long... I trusted them! I opened my heart and they took advantage of me...' She stopped the angry thoughts flooding her head to look for the bright side of things. There were problems in that, too, though. There was no bright side. Her life was falling apart. Yume's plan would surely fail. Something inside of her knew it.

Yumenegau watched her in silence as she sat alone within the barrier, dwelling on thought. The girl in blue seemed completely unaware of where she was or what she was doing. It would be wasted breath to talk to her. 'What a space case.'

The man couldn't resist the large grin that spread across his face. She had beleived him. Every drop of anger within her could now be controlled by him. She was his puppet, now, and she depended on him for survival. Every seething lie he had poured into her mind she had drunken, and she had been left a complete fool because of it. Oblivious to his game. If she could see through his lying earlier, it had been a one time deal. She had no idea now.

'And so the game begins...' Yumenegau had delt out a full duck of cards, and he could already tell he had the best hand.

No one questioned Squall on his strange behavior, storming from the Infirmary, they had decided it was a private thing and that Squall should be left alone about it if he wished it so. Waruitenshi met up with Squall's gang, to the silent SeeD's misfortune. Quistis had immediatly disapproved of her, and she sensed Squall did too. They were finally agreeing on something, even if it was about this airheaded blond.

The ex-instructor, Quistis Trepe, stormed angrily into the cafeteria early one morning. Around the table it looked like an average day at garden. Irvine had fallen asleep in his breakfast, and didn't seem to mind the large file of scrampled egg in his left eye (or the bacon making a curvy imprint upon his forehead). The blond SeeD had yet to figure out why Selphie even bothered waking the man this early in the morning. He was a lost cause, never awake to actually have a coherent conversation with the others or eat his food.

She rolled her eyes in mild surprise seeing that Selphie and Zell were having a staring contest. Their silent leader, Squall, on the other hand was silently watching her. At least one of the group was attentive.

"Problem..." Quistis approached the table. No one seemed to take notice, except for Squall who was silent in responce.

Quistis cleared her throat this time and hit the table, "There is a ploblem!"

This time everyone looked up at her, Selphie was, again, the first to speak, "Good morning, Quisty! What's the prob?!" Her cheery grim illuminated the area around her. Selphie was appearantly a morning person. How did she do it?

Quistis sighed heavily and sat down. Irvine lifted his head from his tray, his breakfast was all a mess, littering in globs over his face and tray. He picked up a napkin and started to wipe off his face as he listened to her. Selphie merely grinned at him.

"I think we've waited long enough. We knew Rinoa's disappearance was strange, but we left it alone. " Quistis looked at the table, "It's been almost two weeks..." She glanced at Squall out of the corner of her eye, his expression was stone cold, "Two. Rinoa wasn't supposed to be gone this long." She glanced around the table, worry livening her usually calm eyes, "I'm getting a bit worried as I know you all are, too..."

Everyone was quiet, looking down or away from the group in shame. They had nearly fogotten. Squall's expression was frozen, a cold expression showing no feeling or even a bit of sign that he was missing the girl at all. He was angry. He didn't want to waste his time moping about some girl who had just toyed with him anyway. Entertainment for a witch.

Irvine leaned forward in his seat, finally awake "You don't think something happened, do you?" His tone was deep and his face showed sincere worry.

Selphie frowned, "Well, maybe she's just..." she looked down at the table, too, "What if she got tired of us? What is she doesn't come back?"

Zell rolled his eyes, propping his chin upon his fist, "So now you see the dark side of things!"

Narrowing her eyes, playfully, she hit him. Harder than expected, because Zell lost balance on his chair and tumbled onto his back on the floor.

"Ouch!" He moved, struggling to pick himself up.

"I'm not kidding!" The curly brunette glared at him.

Silence ensued for a moment or two.

The tall blond shook her head, "I don't think that was the case."

In silence, the quiet leader's face masked his thought. He pondered over what Selphie had said, 'What if she is right?... Rinoa got tired of us? Well... It's true she didn't have much to do, but just being with us should have been enough, right? Maybe. Or am I being selfish? There's something strange going on here.'

Quistis glanced around, "The note didn't explain anything... I don't even think Rinoa has ever been to Dollet. She didn't explain why she left so suddenly. Why she didn't notify any of us, when she woke up... There is something going on, here... I don't think the problem starts at 'why she didn't come back'. I think the problem starts at 'why she left'. Rinoa's letter is not very clear about it, but it does tell us where she is..."

"Dollet, right?" Zell, now back in his chair, moved his gaze to the tall blond.

The sound of silence, both a paradox and a very good song by Simon and Garfunkel.

Squall looked up at Quistis, quietly, "You think she was lying? In the note?"

Please tell me you're not still reading this.

The woman in pink frowned, "Well, maybe 'lied' is kind of harsh- no... she just didn't want to tell us..." Quistis slouched, Squall was right, she probably did lie, "But, I think she had a good reason."

"Why wouldn't she tell us? We are her friends, aren't we?" Selphie's face was a portrait of innocence, her eyes beginning to turn red around the edges. She turned to Squall slowly, "And you... She didn't tell you anything?"

The quiet leader shot a quick glare at the curly brunette from across the table. "No."

Irvine looked up at Quistis, "Should we go search for her?"

"Yes, but... I... There's something I need to tell you all." Quistis looked to the floor. She had to tell them. This lie Rinoa had given her wasn't going to help them. "Rinoa's note... it told me more."

Everyone's eyes were focused on the ex-instructor as she stood before them mumbling.

"Well?" Irvine prodded her after a short second of silence.

"Well, Rinoa didn't really go to Dollet... She..." Quistis glanced around quickly, feeling the perspiration on her back sink into her outfit. "She went back to Timber."

The group was quiet, as anger grew in the tension, and frustration broke through.

"Why didn't you tell us!?" Selphie stood, knocking her chair back a yard or two and into the table behind her. Slowly everyone else joined her in curses and angry threats.

"I'm sorry..." Quistis didn't move her gaze from the floor, "She told me to tell you that she went to Dollet and-"

"I thought you were our friend!" Selphie narrowed her eyes in rage at the blond, "Friends don't tell each other lies! They speak the truth! If you were Rinoa, or our, friend you would have told us!"

Like boulders collapsing upon her, Quistis stood, silently taking threat after threat and all of the curses inbetween. She didn't notice when Squall stood to stand beside her. They were all right. She shouldn't have kept it a secret. 'Is failure my mission? I failed as a child, as an instructor, and now.. I failed as a friend?' She felt heavy and tired, like she wanted to fall. Just fall.

"She did what she was told to do. Just like when we take orders. You can't blame her for following instructions." Squall's voice was quiet but strong, and everyone, nodding and agreeing returned to their seats, muttering their apologies in near silence.

Everyone looked up and realized their new 'friend' had just heard the entire conversation. Waruiteshi took a seat, "So Rinoa, is the friend you were talking about?" She glanced at the table and everyone turned to Squall, who sunk in his chair.