Okay, soooo...this is my first real fanfic here. Um...It's gonna start off talking about couples. lol I know it's short but its gonna get btter:) No flaming pleasE:) Okay couple pairings are as follows: A&R, G&R, T&Y(Of course),B&P, Possibly some L&W later on. :) The reasoning for Aurriku and Rippal is cuz I like both couples. You'll see what I did sooner or later:)

Chapter 1

"Gippal, stop hiding it! You love her!" Yuna said, grinning. The Machine Faction leader blushed. "I do not! She's just an old friend!" Gippal said,
raising his hands in denial. "Come on," Paine teased, "You know you do." He glared at Paine with his one eye, but to his surprise she giggled. "You're gonna have to admit it sometime!"

"Oh yeah? What about that big ring on your finger, huh?" Paine's face turned tomato red. "That is...none of your buisness." Yuna laughed. "You sound like Auron!" Hearing the guy's name made Gippal flinch in pain. She still loved Auron...That's why Gippal had denied the truth.

Not noticing Gippal's slight wince, Yuna looked at Paine. "Spill it!"

"Okay, I'm getting married to Baralai." Both Gippal and Yuna were surprised by this. Baralai? Where in Spira did that come from? "When?" Yuna asked eagerly. "After Vegnagun," Paine blushed even more. "Changing the subject from me," she said brisquely, "I know you love Rikku." Gippal's face turned a rosy pink and he simply left the room as Yuna talked to Paine about wedding plans.

In the antechamber(you know, the room before the Chamber of the Fayth), Gippal decided to really think things through. What should I do?he thought to himself. He loved her, but he didn't want her to be with him until she was ready to move on. Rikku was always the passionate one, the one who loved everything and everyone in life. But when she lost someone...Gippal shook his head, remembering when her mom died

It was a great day for the Al Bhed. The leader's wife, Rikku's mother, was finally coming home! It was by airship, a motive of transportation that wasn't very reliable at the time. The whole Al Bhed race waited outside of Home for her.

But something was wrong. It was half past noon, 30 minutes after she was supposed to land. Everyone was frightened. They waited all day, in the scorching sun, but the airship didn't come until nightfall. And the person who came out wasn't Rikku's mom, but a doctor.

The doctor went to Cid, and spoke to him for awhile. Gippal, who had been 12 at the time, automatically knew what was wrong. Ericka wasn't coming back. He'd seen Cid's expression; his face contorted in grief. Rikku was standing beside Cid, so she'd heard everything. Gippal didn't have to be close enough to know Rikku was crying. He could hear the heartbreaking sobs from a mile away.

The strange thing is, rather than going to her brother or her father, she ran to Gippal. She hugged him and cried on his chest for an hour. All the while he comforted her, shushing her cries and brushing away her tears and stroking her hair. He never wanted to see her like that again.

That's why Gippal couldn't tell her. Because she'd lost someone important to her, again. But if he was being honest, there was another reason for his silence. He was afraid. Afraid of being rejected, afraid of losing her after he got her, and most of all, fear he would fail as her guardian. He could never, ever tell her.