Author's Note: Thanks for everyone who has already added this story to their favorites. =) You guys rock.
"My past is like a nightmare that I never can escape. I can't wait 'till I wake up so I can fall back asleep. And I won't understand what happened between you and me. But you will probably end up with someone half as good as me. So I don't care if you look into my eyes and say hello. You were blind to me now I'm blind to you." –Safetysuit, The Moment
**********
Her first night's stay wasn't nearly as rough as she had planned for it to be. Actually it had been rather peaceful. This scared her. When she first woke up in the morning she was rather sure she would find some sort of trap or practical joke waiting for her courtesy of Gippal. But to her relief, all seemed to be as she had left it.
Luckily for her he didn't seem to have the time to waste on her, "I guess nothing's changed at all."
Worried green eyes took in every article of clothing she had to her name. Everything was…suggestive. If it wasn't a bikini top then it was a noodle strap top that cut off just underneath her breasts. If it wasn't a mini skirt, it was mini shorts. And if it wasn't boots it was high heels. The only piece of clothing she seemed to have that didn't expose her midsection was a purple dress. And that wasn't saying much. The midsection was just about all the dress covered. Rikku whimpered with defeat. She would have to just grin and bear it.
She gathered up her selected clothes for the day and headed for the shower, her spirits lowered from that of yesterday. But perhaps with Tamai on her side she would be able to survive this hell hole.
************
So it was a little better than yesterday. No skirt. No bikini top. Everything else was the same though. Where her bikini top had been was a tube top that fell short of her belly button, a sea foam green in color. And where her skirt had once barely covered her, a pair of black shorts took its place. Not that it did any better. But at least no one could steal a glance up her skirt. She wrapped her scarf around her neck and pulled on her boots before sighing. No white ribbons on the side of her arms today either. This was a good as it was going to get.
"If stupid Gippal would have just given me a uniform or something I wouldn't have to be messing with this," She grumbled to herself, pulling her long blonde hair up into her famous pony tail.
Rikku glanced at herself in the mirror before grabbing a bottle of water and darting out of her room. She let out gasp as she nearly crashed headfirst into a few Al Bhed that happened to be littering the main lobby of the temple. Her heart rate increased. Had she overslept?
The feisty thief hugged the wall and made an attempt to sneak up to the Chamber of the Fayth without being noticed. Hopefully Gippal hadn't noticed yet. Where was Gippal, now that she thought of it?
She shook her head; the beads in her hair rattling slightly as she quickly ran up the stairs and sighed as the lift inside the chamber took her to the upper most level.
Rikku closed her eyes and smiled brightly as she waltzed into the main room where she and Tamai had been working on the monster machina yesterday.
"Hiya Tamai."
Silence.
Something was wrong. Her mind told her to keep her eyes closed, that it was best that way. But of course, as she always did, she ignored her conscious. Slowly, green-swirled eyes edged open to find Tamai waving at her nervously.
Rikku laughed, exhaling the breath she had sucked in finally, "Phew, I thought that maybe something was up. Am I late?"
"I don't know, Cid's girl. I don't think an hour is too late, do you?"
She smacked her palm to her forehead, gritting her teeth together as she turned to find Gippal standing behind her, arms crossed, his brow furrowed with irritation.
"Gippal…heheh, when did you get here?"
"I've been standing here the whole time. I'm so glad you decided to finally waltz in here. I've had to help Tamai until you got here."
She blushed, "Sorry Tamai."
Gippal threw his arms out to the side and let them fall down to his sides lazily, "Are you kiddin' me, Cid's kid? Don't apologize to him, he had my help. You should be telling me that you're sorry."
Rikku glared at him, placing her hands on her exposed hips, "Excuse me but who didn't give me an alarm clock?"
Her former friend's eye glinted with anger, "I'm not your babysitter. I remember saying that when we were younger. I figured you would have gotten the clue by now. Still as hard headed as ever, I see. Work starts at seven in the morning, not eight. Seven o'clock sharp, do you understand me, Cid's girl?"
Normally she would have retaliated but she was putting her father's name at stake here. Even though they didn't always see eye to eye she couldn't tarnish his image like that. She loved him, even if he had gotten her into this lousy mess.
"Yeah, yeah."
Again he glared, "Seriously. It's sir while we're working."
Alright…he was seriously pushing it. Her eyes narrowed in to meet his one good eye and she nodded stiffly, "Yes…sir."
She watched as his shoulders relaxed and a smirk tugged at the corners of his mouth, "Better. Now, get to work, kid."
It was her turn to cast daggers with her eyes. This only encouraged him to laugh harder as he sauntered out of the chamber and headed towards the lift. Rikku stole a glance over at Tamai to see if he was laughing as well, but like a true friend, he remained silent. He even looked a little sympathetic.
"I'm so not a kid. God he's such a jerk," She grumbled, walking over to join Tamai.
Her newly found friend shrugged, "He just acts like that with you."
An arched eyebrow automatically cocked as she bent down and began to apply another part to Gippal's monster machina, "Are you messin' with me? He's a complete dick to me but he's not like that to anyone else? I'm the chosen one? How did I ever get so lucky?"
Tamai snorted, "I don't think luck has anything to do with it. You're just the one he's known the longest so he takes out his frustrations on you. Plus you said you two used to be friends when you were little? What went wrong?"
She shook her head quickly, letting him know that this topic was off limits. Her childhood wasn't something she cared to talk about in detail. Especially when it came to Gippal. He was kept in the darkest place of her mind and she intended to keep every memory of him hidden there. Out of her everyday thoughts and only available when she was feeling really depressed.
"Sorry…I was just trying to figure out why he's so…different with you. And not in a good way either."
She shrugged, "Oh well, I'm used to it. It's not like I treat him like royalty either, or have you not noticed?"
Tamai grinned at her, his blue eyes flashing with humor, "I've noticed."
Rikku winked at him, "Good then, if you noticed then that means Gippal is more than aware of my dislike of him as well. Enough about this," She said, flicking a braid from her vision, "Let's get this bad boy goin'."
************
"LUNCH TIME! LET'S GO TAMAI!"
He laughed at her eagerness, "Are you sure Gippal will let you go to lunch since you were an hour late?"
She rolled her eyes, "He can't keep me from eating. Gippal is a moron but even he knows not to get in between me and food. That's dangerous territory."
Tamai nodded, "Alright then. Let's go. Shall we try the cafeteria again today or would you like to go to the Mi'Hen side café?"
Rikku tapped a finger to her lower lip as if in great thought before she flashed him one of her dazzling smiles and pointed towards the north, "I say Mi'Hen café!"
Her friend smirked, "Alright then. The change in accommodations doesn't have anything to do with the women here, does it?"
Before she could catch herself, Rikku was blushing. She quickly recovered and threw him a haughty expression, "Like I care what those girls think. Let's just go, I'm starvin'."
The other Al Bhed followed her as she ran to the lift and jumped on, grinning wickedly as the blue electric current filled the platform and descended to the lower level of the temple.
The main lobby was empty, thankfully. Which made Rikku wonder, where exactly Gippal was work during the day? Not that she cared much, just more for precautionary purposes.
As they exited the temple, the raw sunlight that poured onto their sheltered forms nearly burnt Rikku's retinas to the point of no return, "God it's bright out here. The lightning doesn't help either," She added as a flash of blue lightning from the temple cast an eerie glow around their bodies.
Tamai shrugged, "You'll get used to it."
His comment made her a little depressed. She was hoping that she wouldn't be here long enough to get used to it all. Maybe Gippal would get tired of her and fire her. 'No…I can't do that to daddy. Be a good girl.'
Something poked her. She grunted.
A poking sensation again. Quickly she blinked out of her coma-like state to find Tamai prodding her in the shoulder with a slender finger, "Hey…you alright?"
She raised a hand to scratch at the back of her head, a goofy grin on her face, "Yeah…sorry. I think I zoned out there for a minute. I'm good now though. Now, let's go get some grub."
Tamai nodded, "I'm game."
Rikku lowered her hand and pointed directly into his chest, "Are you now? Care to make a little wager?"
The other mechanic chuckled darkly, "What kind of wager? You should never bet a gamblin' man, Rikku-san."
She smacked her hands together and rubbed them against one another in an evil gesture, "Oh so then we should have high stakes if you're such a gamblin' man, Tamai. Alright so…it's a race. The first one to the Mi'Hen café buys the lunch for both of us."
Tamai crossed his arms, leaning most of his weight on his left leg, "Stipulations?"
The former guardian blinked, "Stipulations?"
"Yeah…like the rules?"
Rikku flicked her hair from her face, a devious expression on that cute little face of hers, "Oh there aren't any rules. No blood, no foul."
Her friend let a mischievous grin capture his face, "My kind of girl. Alright, on the count of…GAH! RIKKU!"
The young woman was cackling loudly as she bolted towards the Mi'Hen highroad, leaving an awestruck Tamai to catch up to her pace, "That's not fair!"
"Like I said no rules!"
He cursed under his breath as he ran after her, wishing to all that was state of the art machina that he hadn't left his wallet in his other pants.
************
Of course he had to pay. He was behind her by a mere two seconds but still, every second counted and it had counted against him. So he paid the fifty gil it took to purchase both the meals and ate with Rikku happily. Although he had lost out on fifty gil he didn't mind. He couldn't think of anyone else he'd rather spend it on.
Once they had eaten their fill and even left some on their plates, they left a tip and grudgingly headed back to Djose to finish off the rest of the day.
He watched as she placed a hand on her sculpted tried to conquer the flustered look that was working its way onto his face.
She made a raspberry noise with her perfectly formed lips and giggled afterwards, "I'm stuffed. This was definitely not the outfit to wear today. I should have known we'd go eat there. I just didn't expect the food to be as good as it was. Next time we go we need to plan ahead so I can dress accordingly. Now everyone is going to think I have a beer belly."
Again he watched as she tried to stick out her stomach and puff out her cheeks playfully. He knew what she was trying to say and the point she was trying to get across but it just wasn't working for her. The girl couldn't have a single ounce of fat on her body and if she did it was in all the right places.
"Yeah, sure, whatever. If you're trying to call yourself fat then you should just stop because it's not working. You got a bowl of egg soup and you couldn't even finish it. Are you kiddin' me? I'd hate to take you to a buffet and pay a shit load because you wouldn't get past your first plate."
Her nose wrinkled in delight, "Please…I was raised with boys. I can keep up in a buffet."
Tamai sniffed, "Yeah I'm sure. I don't know where you'd put it all, then."
Rikku rolled her eyes, "Alright well like you're one to talk. The only fat you have is in your big, fat head."
She let out a gasp as he shoved her forwards slightly, "Excuse me but you're talking to me, not Gippal."
The former defender of Spira's mouth cracked into a sly grin, "Oh yeah, I forgot."
Her friend shook his head, chuckling at her humor as they walked back to the front of the temple. Everyone was still out and about, and of course, all eyes found Rikku. Like clockwork, she shifted uneasily and cast her eyes to the ground to draw patterns in the dirt with her feet.
"I'm um…I need to go inside. I promised my cousin I would send him a transmission today during my lunch hour. Will you be alright out here?"
Her eyebrows knit together once she realized that she would be left out here alone but she nodded. If she could fight Sin…if she could defeat Vegnagun, then she could learn to deal with a few catty women. And maybe if she asked around she'd be able to find one that had a heart and would let her borrow a work uniform.
Tamai squeezed her shoulder before he left her there, alone and half naked like she usually was. A trend that she was beginning to grow tired of.
As soon as the loud bang of the temple door rang through the tense air, Rikku was on the move. Regardless of how much she wanted to crawl under one of these electrical rocks, she refused. So with her head held high and her resolve set, she walked over to the group of women. Of course the looks they were giving her grew darker the closer she got to them but she paid them no mind. She had to find something to wear. If she ever wanted to get out of the lime light she needed a different attire to work in.
"Um…hi. My name is Rikku."
They said nothing; a few of them put their hands on their hips however. Sweat began to bead on her forehead. 'Stay calm…they're just girls.'
"I'm sorry I haven't gotten to talk to any of you yet," She continued in her always perky voice, "But I was wondering if maybe someone could help me out? You see all I have to wear are clothes like I have on and I'd like to wear something to work in that…covers me more."
A couple of the women snorted, and one of them even nudged a friend of hers in the ribs. They snickered at one another.
Rikku swallowed, "I know it's kind of strange for me to be asking you without you even knowing me but I really don't want to keep making everyone uncomfortable with the way I dress so do any of you think you could help me out?"
"Help you out? You have the nerve to even buy clothes like that, let alone wear them, and you come over here and ask for us to help you out?" The woman standing in front of the entire group snarled, taking a step towards a flustered Rikku.
Rikku's face was uncertain as the woman took another step towards her, "I uh-"
"You thought you could just show up here and get respect from everyone automatically just because you helped save Spira on two different occasions? Must we remind you that you weren't the only one who saved the world? I remember Lady Yuna being there both instances. I have a news flash for you, sweet cheeks, you aren't getting any of our respect or any of our clothes-"
"I don't want your clothes to keep…I just thought I could borrow a shirt or something until I could get to Luca to buy more."
The women all cackled before flicking their hands at her and waltzing off to their designated work areas. To say that she was hurt was an understatement. Usually people didn't react to her like this. She didn't parade around like she was the savior of Spira. Quite the opposite rather. She was happy she could have been a part of the team that had done it on two separate occasions.
Her mind drifted off to her friends, in their scattered positions around the world, and she couldn't help but let her lower lip tremble as she fought back the urge to scream. Tidus had instilled that habit into her. Or rather Yuna had told her about it and had informed her that her beloved Tidus had been the instructor of the technique. But she couldn't do that here. She had to keep her family's name in tact but it was proving to be much more difficult than she had originally thought.
All she had wanted was a chance to be herself. Start her life. Free of worry or expectations. But yet again a normal life had escaped her grasp. It was becoming more and more clear that she wasn't ever going to have what those women had. A normal life. She had already been too tainted. Everywhere she went people knew her face. Anyone she talked to knew her story. People knew her and already had an opinion formed before she could even properly introduce herself.
Her shoulders sagged as she turned to go back inside the temple, eyes glued to the ground. If she had been paying attention perhaps she would have tried to find a different way into the temple but seeing as how she was side tracked, which was a dangerous thing when it came to Rikku, she didn't notice the tall, muscular figure of Gippal blocking her path.
"Cid's girl!" He called out, jerking her back to Spira and the rest of the world.
She blinked hazily at him for a moment. As much as she wanted to feign anger at him right now she couldn't bring herself to do it. The women had unsettled her too much.
"What is it, Gippal? I was heading back to work. The lunch break isn't even over yet so you can't yell at me for being late."
He raised his eyebrow, sealing his arms over top of his chest, leaning in towards her. She didn't react as she usually did. Whenever he invaded her personal space like that she would blush and push him away but she was so out of it right now that she probably didn't even truly notice.
When his tactic to turn her back into the normal, flamboyant, care-free Rikku didn't work, he stood back to his full height and groaned with frustration, "Listen…I heard what the other workers said to you."
Rikku shrugged, "Alright. Wanting to add your two gil as well? Alright, get it out. I don't have all day to wait for an insult from you. I would like to get back to assembling that machina of yours."
Gippal rolled his good eye, "You're just as annoying when you're depressed as you are when you're happy. I don't know which one is worse."
His long-lost friend finally let something inside of her click and she was back to her old self. Thankfully. She glared at him and shoved a scrawny index finger into his chest, "Listen here Gippal, no one asked you to even talk to me so shut the hell up about me being depressed. I'm a woman and I'm allowed to have any damn emotion I want."
The line his lips had previously been formed into quickly upturned into a devious grin. It had worked. Her defiant personality had resurfaced. "Follow me."
She watched him with an open mouth jog over to the temple. He stopped in front of the door and turned around, "Now, Cid's girl."
He threw his arm behind him in a motion for her to follow him. Rikku let out a perturbed whine before she jogged after him, making sure to hold onto the top of her tube top. Flashing everyone definitely wouldn't help her current predicament any.
Once inside she found a couple Al Bhed men inside rapidly speaking to one another in her native tongue. She waved shyly at them before following Gippal. He was headed towards his room. Her eyes rounded. What exactly was he wanting her to go in there for?
"Gippal I don't think-"
"Be quiet, kid. Just wait outside for a second."
Rikku waited awkwardly outside of his room, glancing nervously around the room for any curious eyes that might be transfixed on her. Of course there were a few pairs but nothing serious and none of them happened to female so it was a little easier to stomach.
He was only gone for a minute or so before he reemerged, shoving some sort of fabric into her hands.
"What's this?" She asked, looking at him uncertainly before holding the fabric out to look at. It was a large, long sleeved, purple shirt. Her eyes rounded upon distinguishing that this shirt was one of his and an identical copy to the one he happened to be wearing right now. Minus the large shoulder ornament and the gloves.
The young woman swallowed harshly at her throat, lowering the shirt to look at him, "What's this for?"
As usual, Gippal seemed uninterested and his mind completely elsewhere. He merely shrugged, "So you'll stop complaining about needing something to wear to work. Here's the deal though, you can only wear it until Friday. That's in two days. I want it back after your shift and then I expect you to go to Luca and buy some new clothes, alright?"
He was being…nice? What was going on?
If it had been any one other than Gippal she would have launched herself into their arms and hugged them so tightly around their neck that they would be pleading for air. This, however, was a different instance entirely.
"I don't know what to say."
Gippal's light green eye came to rest on her disheveled form, "I do. Get to work."
Rikku watched as he walked away with his usual, lethargic gait. Her mind still couldn't wrap around the act of him giving her the shirt to wear, even if it was only for a short period of time. He had said he had heard what the other workers had said to her but still…since when did the fact that she was being ridiculed instill such a gentlemen reaction from her former friend?
"I owe you one!" She called after him as he reached the door handle of the temple's main door.
"I know."
He shut it behind him and was gone.
With her spirits rejuvenated Rikku quickly tossed the gigantic shirt over her small frame and smirked at the room she had in it. She could probably fit another Rikku or two inside it with her. The sleeves were much too long as well. She rolled them up so that they exposed her hands and enabled her to work. It was all she could do not to giggle at how ridiculous she was sure she looked. She didn't mind. She would much rather be dressed in a overly large shirt of the opposite sex's than be ridiculed for her lack of clothes.
Quickly she dashed to her room, grabbed a belt, secured the large shirt a bit closer to her waist, and hurried back to the Chamber of the Fayth. All the while she couldn't help but smile.
=) Rikku is such a cutie. Update in a day or so. Thanks for all the reviews and favorites so far. I love the reaction I'm getting from this story so far. Thanks for reading everyone! I appreciate it very much.
Much love,
~Nikki~
