Besarki: This is my first one-chapter-story EVER! It sucks. I just wrote it to let everyone know that I'm still alive. : )

Note: The first part is spoken in Al Bhed, but I wrote it in English. The second part is spoken in English.

5 year-old Rikku sat alone in the desert, several miles from Home. She was building a sand castle and seemed quite content with the her sand creation. The little girl normally wasn't fond of being alone, but her friends and her brother weren't exactly the best company when it came to constructing sand structures.

She was putting the finishing touches on the castle when she felt a rough pile of grainy sand rain down on her. The Al Bhed cried as someone behind her laughed hysterically.

"That's not funny!" She whirled around and screamed at the kid behind her.

Gippal couldn't stop laughing. Her face was hilarious.

"Gippal! STOP LAUGHING!" Rikku demanded. Unfortunately, Gippal did no such thing.

The elder of the two threw his red bucket aside and fell to his knees laughing.

"S-sorry Rikku, but--HAHAHAHA!!!" He choked on his laughter.

A river of miserable tears burst from the little girl's eyes. She was heartbroken. Not only was he laughing at her, but he had destroyed her castle as well when he threw the bucket.

When she turned away, Gippal steadily stopped laughing.

"Rikku?" He asked sincerely for once.

"Go away!"

"Why are you crying? It's just a sand castle."

Once again, she turned around to scream at him.

"IT'S NOT JUST A SAND CASTLE! IT WAS MY SAND CASTLE! IT TOOK ME OVER TWO HOURS TO BUILD!" She shrieked furiously, balling her fists.

Gippal threw his hands up defensively.

"It's your own fault for building it here."

"WHERE ELSE WAS I S'PPOSED TO BUILD IT?!" The little girl demanded.

He shrugged.

"I dunno. Behind a rock or something?"

Rikku's shoulders slumped.

"You're such a meanie!"

"You're such a baby."

"I'm not a baby!"

"Uh, yeah you are."

"NO I'M NOT!"

"YES YOU ARE!"

"NO I'M NOT!"

"YES YOU ARE!"

"YOU'RE A JERK!"

"YOU'RE A BABY!"

"YOU'RE...YOU'RE..." Immediately, even more tears fell from her emerald eyes as she proceeded to cry loudly.

"Ugh!" Gippal groaned, smacking his head as he had seen them do on spherevision, "Aww, come on, kid! Don't cry!"

"You're a big fat meanie, Gippal! MEANIE!!"

His resulting sigh was a clear surrender.

"Whatever Rikku."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"Really? I don't remember it that way." Seventeen-year-old Rikku smirked. "If I'm remembering this right, then you made up that last part."

"I'm surprised that your head still works, what with all the times you've banged your head off walls, doors. Thank the Fayth that you're too short to reach the ceiling." Gippal teased.

Rikku wasn't happy about his distasteful remarks. She scowled at him in a vain attempt to wipe the smile off his face.

"Nice expression." He laughed.

"Shut up, liar."

"I wasn't lying, Rikku." He defended softly.

"Really? Then why do I remember you offering to help rebuild my castle after you wrecked it?"

"Not a clue." He shrugged. That was a lie, but his dignity was on the line here.

"I think you do! But you're too much of a tough guy to admit that you helped a little girl rebuild her sandcastle, huh?"

"Why not." He replied indifferently with a smirk.

"Be serious Gippal!"

"Because this is a very serious conversation."

"MEANIE!"

"You really should use better vocabulary."

Rikku stuck her tongue out.

"I like my vocabulary!"

"Yeah, but the rest of Spira doesn't."

"Why are you always picking on me?!"

"You bring upon yourself most of the time."

"I do not!"

"Okay, you're right. You win." If he had learned one thing from his time with Rikku, it was that she was not to be argued with. This little firecracker would fight to the death.

She giggled triumphantly.

"Well, if you're done with your games, I have work to do." The Faction Head rose to his feet and turned away from her.

"Need help?" The Al Bhed princess jumped to her feet as well.

"That depends." He crossed his arms mockingly. "You aren't going to be bringing up any more sandcastles, now, are you?"

Rikku laughed and grinned a bright, energetic smile.

"No." She promised, "No more sandcastles."

Besarki: And that's that. Obviously not my best work and I strayed a little from my usual style. I'm not big on the whole "one-chapter" thing. I doubt that I'll have any more for a while, but that's okay! I'm better at multi-chapter stories anyway! Whoot!