Title: Quick Change

Pairing: Gippal and Rikku

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy X-2.

Dressphere: Gunner

The gunshot flew right past his ear, shattering a light fixture.

Gippal stayed frozen, blinking his good eye at the shooter.

Rikku loaded another ammo cartridge into her gun, not paying any mind to the various machina that she broke during her target practice.

"What," Gippal began. "Are you doing?"

Rikku grinned, closing one eye as she aimed at one of the statues that lined the temple walls.

"What does it look like I'm doing?"

"Destroying my property."

She snorted. "This is the lightning temple, Gippal. As in, sacred place for worship of Yevon? You can't own religion."

He rolled his eye, slowly moving so that he was a good distance behind her and out of range.

"I can when religion decides to move out."

She gave a short laugh. She pulled the trigger and the bullet shot out with a loud clap. It bounced off of the statue, ricocheting off of the floor and into Rikku's boot-covered shin.

She fell over with a rather unnecessary scream.

"Son of a biscuit eater!"

Gippal ignored her creative attempt at swearing and rushed over, kneeling down beside her.

"You okay?"

Rikku groaned dramatically, throwing a hand over her forehead while clutching her shin with the other.

"I've been hit. We may have to amputate."

He raised an eyebrow and looked toward the area of interest. He reached down, plucking the still-warm bullet out of the dense leather.

He was going to disprove her fears and tell her how childish she was being, but an idea popped into his spiky head.

"Yeah, it sure looks that way."

"...Wait, WHAT?"

She sat up straight, clawing at her boot. Once it was off, she saw nothing more than a light colored bruise in the place where she was struck.

"...That wasn't very nice."

"Neither was shooting all of my work."

Rikku rolled her eyes as she pulled her shoe back on. "That would insinuate that you actually do something around here besides boss everyone else around."

Gippal didn't rise to the bate. "I'm impressed that you knew what the word 'insinuate' means and used it properly in a sentence."

He quickly snatched her gun up before she could make a dive for it and blow his head off. Although, with her aim, he probably would've been safe regardless.

"Give it back!"

"No. It's not safe to use a gun indoors, especially when you don't know how to use it."

"I DO TOO KNOW HOW TO USE IT YOU BUTTHEAD!"

"Then why did you shoot yourself?"

She sputtered.

"I didn't—you—I—meanie."

He shook his head, taking the ammo out of the weapon before tossing it back to her.

"Just take it outside and practice. And at least learn how to switch the safety on."

"...The what?"

He had to resist the urge to slap his forehead. "The safety. It's the switch on the gun that will keep it from accidentally firing when you're not using it."

"Oh...I always wondered what that thing was for."

Gippal sighed. He looked at her and noticed something familiar about her clothing and weaponry.

"Doesn't Yuna use guns?"

Rikku nodded, digging through her pouches for another cartridge of ammo. "Yeah, this is the gunner dressphere. It's her favorite one, plus she's really good at it."

Gippal's eyes narrowed. Oh yes, the dresspheres. He still needed to have words with Shinra.

He once again took in Rikku's appearance. The shorts were a little short for his liking, but at least you couldn't see her—he shuddered—thong.

"Right...well, you're not. So take it outside."

She stuck her tongue out at him. "Fine, fine. Baby..."

She whipped out another gun, similar to the first, and held one in each hand. She stomped determinedly towards the door.

Gippal stared.

Dear, merciful Yevon. She had two.

This could not end well.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

Gippal sat up quickly, banging his head on the hover's undercarriage.

He groaned, rolling out from underneath the vehicle while rubbing his throbbing forehead.

He turned in the direction of the bloodcurdling scream and saw...no one.

Every single one of his workers were peeking out from behind some form of shelter, staring in horror towards the middle of the large workspace.

Gippal followed the target of everyone's gaze.

Rikku.

She had both of her guns raised in front of her menacingly.

Yep. He was right. This wasn't ending well at all.

He heard the audible click as she released the safety on both guns and jumped to his feet.

Apparently teaching her about the safety did nothing to improve his or his employee's chances at survival.

He dashed towards her, catching sight of her fingers curling over the triggers.

"Rikku, don't!"

Her head turned towards him. And so did the guns. With no safety on to prevent the shots.

Clapclap.

"Gippal, I am so sorry that I shot you."

Gippal twitched.

"I mean, technically I didn't hurt you or anything, but still—"

"Save it, kid."

He could only stare at his reflection in the mirror.

Lucky for him, he was in the Crimson Squad and had extensive knowledge of safety precautions and firearms (being an Al Bhed didn't hurt either).

Unfortunately, he was up against a force of nature—also known as Rikku—and had no chance of coming away from this unscathed.

"I'm sure it'll grow back in no time!"

He touched the strange looking hole in the top of his hair-do, then ran his fingers over the strange, jagged cut in the side of his hair. He now had two bald patches and some black hair.

He turned towards the frightened teen.

"Actually, it's not half bad. I mean, you already make the sissy purple clothing work, so this should be no problem for a fashion genius such as yourself—"

"Rikku."

She knew she was in big trouble now. He only ever used her name when he was completely and utterly serious. Unfortunately, this was usually when he was mad at her.

"Okay, I know you're mad, but you did tell me to practice outside, and I was outside..."

"You don't know how to safely use this kind of weaponry—"

"Which is why I was practicing."

"You endangered my employees—"

"To be fair, I did warn them ahead of time."

"You endangered me—"

"And again, I am deeply sorry—"

"And you endangered yourself." Gippal's voice raised, effectively cutting off Rikku's interruptions and causing her to shrink back into her seat.

"I was just trying to get better at shooting a gun...Yunie and Paine are both really good with the gunner dressphere...well, maybe not Paine. But definitely Yunie!"

She looked down at her feet, shoulders falling dejectedly.

"I really am sorry...I didn't mean to hurt you..."

She sniffed and Gippal sighed, his anger ebbing away into irritation. Because ugh she was going to cry and he hated seeing her cry let alone making her cry.

He picked up one of the weapons off of the table, tapping the barrel against his palm.

"...If you want, I can show you how to use it."

Rikku looked up at him, blinking back her tears. "What...?"

He looked off to the side, muttering, "I build machina for a living and I know how to use a gun so...if you really want to get better at this, then I think I should teach you. You know...so that you don't hurt anymore people."

Rikku grinned, ignoring his slight snub at her. She bounced up out of her seat and stood on her toes to kiss Gippal's cheek.

"Thankyouthankyouthankyou! This will be so great!"

He rubbed his cheek, willing away the blood that was rising to his skin.

"Great for who?"

Again, she ignored his banter. "Awesomeriffic! I'm going to be so much more badassery after I can shoot stuff! Well, you know, without making people bald."

She smothered her giggle when Gippal glared at her.

"You know what? Maybe I won't teach you."

"What? No! C'mon, Gippal, I was just teasing!"

He gave her a wry look. "Maybe you should go back to shooting yourself. At least you were good at that."

Gippal dove to the ground when Rikku picked up her other gun and attempted to rid him of his good eye.