Hello! Thanks for reading the last chapter! Your response, whether it's a review or simply a view, means a lot to me.

So, real talk. I literally didn't know FFX had an audio thing or novella until the lovely Danko Kaji mentioned it and wondered how these one-shots fit into them, specially Will. The answer to that is...they don't. Sorry, not sorry, they don't exist to me. Unless it's a game that I spent days and months struggling to finish (completist gamer) then I'm not considering it canon. Plustheykindofseemlikedisasters -shrug-

Anyway. This particular story takes place sometime in X-2. Maybe after they offer to help Djose's fiend problem? I dunno, take your pick. Happy reading!

3. Gippal visits Bikanel for work business. He doesn't expect to have to rescue Rikku when her transporter breaks down or to be the target of her anger.

It wasn't that he was purposefully stalking her or anything. It was more that he found himself in certain places and if the Celsius was nearby, well, he couldn't help but try and see her.

It didn't help that her perfume...no, not perfume, Rikku wasn't that kind of girl-her soap, or whatever, was the kind to leave an intoxicating trail that ensnared his senses. What did they say about a scent? You're attracted to what smells good? Well she was his personal Ochu, complete with dancing when she was in the mood.

So yeah, Rikku smelled good, even when she was covered in sweat in the blazing Bikanel sun. He wasn't sure if that was supposed to be attractive, but he had been raised on this unforgiving desert and knew that it was an accomplishment to smell good after roughing it in the sand and handling greasy machina all day.

Rikku pulled that off, so yeah, he found it attractive. He always had. Maddeningly so, because it continued to haunt him even after all of her departures.

And hell, why did she have to wander back into his life wearing that bikini?

Whatever happened to functional and practical Al-Bhed clothing? Things like pockets and zippers and actual coverage?

He had only come to this stupid island to touch base with Nhadala. In less than five minutes, he quickly became distracted by...everything about her. Her scent reached him even where he stood with Nhadala.

Nhadala coughed, which caused him to cough and finally look away. "That's got to violate some safety requirement."

Nhadala rolled her eyes. "Or you could just not look."

Fair, Gippal thought as he calculated the distance to the nearest source of cold water. He told Nhadala where he was going and to contact him on his communicator if there were any problems. He didn't expect, two hours later, for there to actually be a problem, and for it to be more of a rescue mission.

"What do you mean, the Gullwings got themselves stranded. Is that even possible for them," he said into his communicator, thinking of their airship and all of their other antics. He had sat up from where he lay on the oasis's small beach, his clothing long since dried by the sun.

"Something came up, apparently, and they left early. Their transporter broke down and you're the closest available person to help."

Gippal groaned; his whole purpose for coming here had been to avoid the Gullwings, try and get Rikku out of his head.

Ah, vilg ed, it wasn't it wasn't her fault her transporter broke down and he did enjoy their banter; he got the coordinates to her location.

When he arrived ten minutes later, Rikku was under the transporter cursing up a storm in Al-Bhed while Yuna tried not to laugh, and Paine was twirling a small flame around her finger, seemingly bored while a small smile threatened to betray her amusement.

"Hey there, ladies," Gippal said after getting off his transporter. He braced his hands on his hips and surveyed the scene.

Yuna was still smiling and gave him a little wave, but Paine's flame had disappeared and her barely contained amusement had been replaced by a visible tension and an unreadable look. He inwardly sighed and shook his head. He wasn't even going to bother with that.

Rikku still seemed oblivious about his arrival. Her long legs still poked out from the transporter as she made no move to get out, and the curses still flowed freely from her mouth, most of them incomprehensible. Something about Fayth forsaken machina and questionable ancestry. Gippal smirked and knelt beside the transporter. "How's it going, Cid's Girl?"

Two things crashed-one in the sand, and the other into the machina, which barely moved from the impact of Rikku's head. Gippal winced-heads and machina did not mix.

"What the hell, Gippal?" Rikku shrieked as she poked her head out, hand on where she hit it, and pinned him with a frosty glare that would make the snow dwelling Ronso proud. "You know better than to sneak up on people holding heavy blunt objects, while under a several ton piece of machinery." She winced in pain and rubbed the sore spot.

"Yeah," Gippal nodded. Oh, how he missed her spit fire fury. "I also know this piece of machinery has no parents and couldn't possibly be a bastard."

Rikku gave him a glare that was honey sweet, but full of venom. "That's right. You're the bastard for sneaking up on me!"

"Wrong again, on both accounts," Gippal winked. "There was no sneaking, only walking. Right past your friends who didn't say anything. It's your own fault you weren't paying attention."

Rikku's glare did not ease up, but damn if she didn't look adorable. Her skin was darkened from a deep tan, her face lightly freckled, and her head was a bird's nest of sand, beads, and braids. And there was that soap again. How did she do it?

"Budge over," he said instead. "Let me help you."

"Oh no," Rikku said as she picked up the fallen wrench and brandished it at him like a weapon. "I've got it. You stay right there."

She disappeared under the transporter again and he shared a look with Yuna and Paine, both of whom shrugged, clueless.

"You know, Cid's Girl," he began as he sat crossed legged in the sand next to her. "I can't help but notice that you seem a little on edge right now."

Whatever she was doing stopped and she peeked her head out again. "Of course I'm on edge. I'm stranded in the desert, in desperate need of a bath and water, with a transporter that refuses to start, talking to the biggest flirt in Spira-who just happens to be my ex-mere minutes from where he dumped me. Forgive me if those things put together don't leave me in a pleasant mood."

Something unpleasant churned in Gippal's stomach as he processed her words.

Somewhere behind him, he heard Yuna and Paine whisper something to each other then, Paine's voice, louder and directed at Rikku. "We'll just leave you two to it. See you later, Rikku."

He whipped his head around in time to find Yuna and Paine jump onto his transporter, send him a salute, and shoot off into the desert with a spray of sand.

Rikku's mouth gaped as she watched her two partners in crime fade away and scrambled to her feet, yelling obscenities in their wake. When they could no longer see them, Rikku flopped down in the sand and crossed her arms. "They are so dead when I get back."

Gippal took the opportunity to ease himself under the transporter. He assessed the engine and Rikku's work, and then reached over to gently pry the wrench from Rikku's hand. She glared at him but eventually relinquished her grip on the tool.

"Biggest flirt in Spira, huh," he said, as if commenting on the weather, because the other things she mentioned were worse. "Glad to know you're noticing me. Gotta say, it's pretty flattering."

He winced in pain as Rikku delivered a swift kick to his leg.

"I don't want to notice" she said with a huff. "You're following us around Spira, you creep. It's kind of hard not to notice when you show up and flirt with the first pretty girl you see. Like Yuna-which was totally uncool, by the way. She's my cousin. Just because she saved Spira doesn't mean you can charm your way into her shorts. Besides, she's practically taken."

Right, whatever that meant, Gippal thought as he blinked and paused in his work. "I didn't think that'd bother you. It's just harmless fun. Besides, it's not like you're interested."

And right, that was why they didn't just hook up; she was only ever carefully polite in their recent interactions, nothing more. It made flirting rather difficult. Which was fine, if that's how she wanted it, and so entered the other women. Not that he ever did anything with them, either, but it was a nice attempt to forget everything else. He shook his head. This situation was more than a little confusing.

"Harmless fun, but it still sucks to see." Rikku kicked him again.

Now it was Gippal's turn to peek his head out at the sound of her hurt voice. She wasn't looking at him and was instead staring off into the desert, her lips pursed in annoyance.

Guilt gnawed at Gippal for all of a second before indignation flared within him. "It's not my fault you happen to always be where I am, either." Rikku opened her mouth but Gippal shook his head. "I'm not stalking you," he said flatly.

"Okay, but could you maybe be a little, oh, I don't know," Rikku pretended to muse about her word choice for a moment and then snapped her fingers, pointing accusingly at him. "Respectful?"

"Of what," Gippal blinked again. "It's not like we were a real couple. We both knew we were leaving. It was just fun and it's not like you're interested in starting over."

Rikku froze and something like panic filled Gippal.

He was right though-right? They had both been young and restless and the world awaited them. It had been fun and after, she was off being a legendary guardian and he an accidental world leader. It wasn't like she sought him out or anything.

"Yevon, Gippal," Rikku said when she apparently got over her shock. She jumped to her feet and Gippal felt a spark of apprehension. Swearing to a false god their whole race despised meant serious business. She glared down at him with eyes holding all the powers of a firaga spell. "Do you even think? Just fun? You-we-ugh. You broke up with me at that stupid oasis! That wasn't just a casual end to a fling. It was real emotion and hurt and you said things like 'we were never going to work out' and 'if I ever want a laugh, I'll come look for you'. Do you even remember? Do you know what that feels like to a fifteen year old?"

"Ah, shit, Rikku," Gippal said as he scratched his head, the guilt crashing over him like Sin on a rampage. Yeah, he remembered. They were the words of a stupid sixteen year old trying to soften the blow for himself, regardless of his own feelings, or hers. Obviously it hadn't worked.

"Yeah," Rikku said. "And to think I told the girls you were all right. But then, that was before you flirt with Yunie and all those other girls." She shook her head and squeezed her eyes shut, breathing heavily. He opened his mouth and, like a psychic, said, "don't tell me I need to get over it."

Gippal swallowed as more guilt hit him. She was obviously angered about their past-rightly so-but...he narrowed his eyes and took a step toward her; something else obviously bothered her. Something was...off all of a sudden. "Okay, I know I was an ass and I'm sorry, really. But are you okay? You sure the sun isn't getting to you?"

Rikku's expression didn't exactly soften; she grimaced and held a hand to her head, licking her lips. "No...I'm just thirsty. But it doesn't make what I said any less true."

Ah, shit, he thought when something she said earlier clicked: in desperate need of water. She rocked a bit where she stood, eyes still closed. He closed the gap between them and steadied her with a hand on her shoulder.

"Here, sit," he instructed as he gently guided her back onto the sand. "When was the last time you had some water?"

Rikku put her head between her knees and groaned. "I don't know. But we got called to the Celsius so I thought I'd be okay until we got back."

"You should know better. I saw how hard you were working," Gippal said as he reached into the supply pack hanging off the transporter and fished out a small canteen of water. "Drink up, Cid's Girl."

She took it with a heavy hand and threw a half hearted glare at him. "I have a name."

Gippal picked up the wrench again and got back to work on the transporter. Despite her dehydration, and general annoyance, Rikku had gotten pretty far in her repairs so it was just a matter of a few adjustments before he got it up and running again.

Rikku looked utterly pathetic; even her hair seemed deflated. She threw the now empty canteen on the sand beside her and dropped her head in her knees again. Sighing, he knelt and scooped her into his arms and deposited her onto the transporter. A moment later, he handed her another small canteen.

"You should probably cover up next time, too," he said, "and I don't mean because people will stare. All that sun exposure isn't good for you."

"Shut up, creep," Rikku moaned.

Gippal smirked. "There's the Rikku I know and love." He hopped on the transporter in front of her and wrapped her arms around his waist. He kept one hand over hers and he put the transporter in gear and guided it over the sand. "Hang in there, okay?"

He lifted his hand from hers and dug his communicator from his pocket. "Hey Nhadala." Her voice sounded over the crackling transmission. "On my way. And have medical ready. We have a little dehydration on our hands." Nhadala copied and Gippal stuffed the communicator back into his pocket.

"Gippal?" Rikku's voice was soft and pressed against his back. It couldn't have smelled pleasant for her but then, she had bigger problems, he thought with worry. "Don't say things you don't mean."

Gippal was a lot of things-stupid a lot of the time, didn't think others, like now. And yeah, he probably was the biggest flirt in Spira. But he knew what Rikku-eagle-eyed Rikku, who was smarter than people gave her credit for-was talking about.

"I didn't say I didn't mean it."

Fayth on stake, he did mean it. He knew it when he left for the Crimson Squad and couldn't stop thinking about her. He knew it when he watched her disappear into Sin. He knew it when he saw her again, confident and smiling; a living sun. Unchanged and yet changed in all the best ways. She burned him in the best and worst way possible. And should the occasion arise-like more world-saving-he was fully prepared to go into full jackass mode to protect her...not that she would really need it, but still.

Rikku said nothing the entire ride back, and it might have worried him more than her dehydration. He might have deserved it. Yet her hand wrapped around his and he focused on that small touch, her intoxicating scent, and the warm breath that tingled his back.

Yeah, he was done for. If she ever stopped being mad and expressed interest, nothing would stand in his way of that.

They made it back to base and true to Nhadala's word, a team of medics and the Gullwings descended upon Rikku, carefully helping her from the transporter. Yuna and Paine, to their credit, looked desperately guilty as they followed the medics to their tent.

Rikku waved them off with assurances of forgiveness. Gippal, however, didn't fail to notice the glint of mischievousness that appeared in her eyes as she said this, and neither did the other two sphere hunters because they shared twin looks of trepidation.

They may be forgiven, but it seemed their abandonment would not be forgotten.

Maybe it was the mischievousness that did it, or maybe his newly acknowledged feelings, but either way Gippal found himself approaching the tent she was led to and pushed aside the opening flap.

Rikku had been placed on a small cot and a medic handed her a glass of water the size of her head. Yuna and Paine sat in small stools beside the cot. Rikku gave him a questioning look while she sipped at the water.

"Where do you get your soap?" The words tumbled out before he could think and he refused to acknowledge the others' rising brows.

Rikku's eyes narrowed. "Why, so you can fulfill some creepy stalker kink?"

The medic coughed on something, and Yuna and Paine grew very still but Gippal smirked. "Not a stalker but, sure, something like that."

Rikku stared at him, unblinking, as she resumed sipping her water. Gippal would have happily handed the Machine Faction over to Cid just to know what she was thinking. Finally, her lips quirked in a small smile around her straw. "It's peaches and apricot. I got it in Luca near the theater."

Yevon bless Luca, city of selfish fulfillment.

Gippal smiled. "Get better." He made to leave the tent but paused and let out a deep breath before turning back to her. "And I really am sorry. About everything."

Rikku smiled, grateful and a little wistful. "I know." Gippal returned the smile and lifted the tent flap again but Rikku's voice, mischievous once again, stopped him. "The soap comes with glitter."

Gippal snorted. "Of course it does."