Hello~

First, so sorry this took so long to get to you. Second, we have reached the end of this fic. I've told all the stories of Rikku and Gippal that I wanted. It's been a fun ride and I hope you all enjoyed it too. I'm not sure what comes next for me* but thank you so so so much for every review, favorite, follow and view. I truly appreciate every one to the bottom of my heart. Thank you thank you thank you.

*Jk, that's a lie. I've written over 50k words on a DBZ/Sailor Moon Crossover fic. If you're into that. Apparently I am.

I wanted to end on a high note so I present to you, Rikku's first kiss (with Brother trying to ruin it because of course he's that obnoxious older brother). Enjooooy~.

10. Growing up, Rikku has broken every rule established by Cid at Home. All except one: no boys. Right, as if. Or, Rikku gets her first kiss.

Rikku sighed and leaned back, closing her eyes as she took a micro break. She and her friends were disassembling some old drones one excavation team had found. She was making great progress on hers, though one piece was proving to be extra stubborn and would not budge.

The sun seemed especially hot as it beat down on her. A bead of sweat rolled down her cheek, tickling her, and she reached a hand up to wipe it away, grease smearing in its wake. She instantly smelled a metallic tang but she ignored it because with her hands elbow deep in the stuff, there wasn't much point. Besides, it smelled like a job well done.

When she opened her eyes, the bright desert sun blinded her for a second and she blinked and found herself suddenly looking at Gippal.

He was soaked in the sun's rays, golden and glistening with his own sweat, and also staring at her. He had looked at her before obviously-living in a compound meant daily run ins with each other-but something about this felt different, like a Look. She found herself staring back.

Maybe it was his piercing green eye. Maybe it was the way his mouth had popped open just ever so slightly so as to be inviting. Maybe it was the way he didn't look away in startled panic, thinking Brother would swoop down. Maybe it was all of that.

Whatever it was, it sent a shiver through her body and settled in her core so that every bit of her tingled in the most intoxicating way. Her eyes lit up as she bit her lip and smiled back at him.

Cid was a fairly liberal man, allowing the residents of Home to mostly govern themselves, stepping in as leader only when there was a larger dispute that needed handling. Everything else was common sense: respect each other, don't kill each other…

Still, Cid did have a special set of rules for the children of Home. As Cid quickly learned, the expansive desert, filled with yet to-be-discovered machina was a playground for the already curious Al-Bhed children.

After a few incidents, some minor, some major, Cid was quick to establish a few rules: no explosions/fires; no desert exploring alone/at night; no stealing/fighting; and no underage drinking.

They were easy enough to follow if you were a simple tinkerer who simply wished to learn how a machina and its components functioned. They proved more restricting when you were, say, an overly ambitious child with a wild imagination and thought yourself to be the world's greatest inventor.

Rikku blew up her first machina before she even turned five years old, with one following every six months or so. Gippal wasn't much better, taking out an entire hover craft hanger at age ten.

Every rule was broken every few days, by either Rikku or her group of friends. How else was a girl supposed to stargaze in peace and quiet if she couldn't even leave Home at night? Or become a thief class fighter? And, they reasoned, it was ludicrous to wait until the age of eighteen for their first taste of alcohol in a world ravished by Sin. It was practically an eternity.

Sure, she had a few scrapes and close calls over the years, but what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger, Rikku often said. She counted herself as one of the island's most skilled fighters and thieves by the time she left.

However, in all of Cid's good intentions and wisdom in making his rules, he failed to consider the possibility of a daughter. When Rikku was born, Cid's jaw clenched and his eye twitched as his own promiscuous teenage years flashed across his mind. Within minutes of her being born-before she even had a name-Cid created her own special rule: no boys.

But Rikku, as evidenced by her previous rule breaking, was skilled at ignoring said rules. After all, they were created by her father merely to take the fun out of life. As it was, she had just turned fifteen, and there was one broken rule that had always eluded her…

Gippal and Rikku had known each other since they were born. They grew up together-knew everything about each other. But as teenagers, they were completely different people.

His soft baby curves were replaced by raw muscle while hers grew long and slim. His face grew handsome angles that one couldn't help but try to memorize. Hers was sweet and mischievous and she mastered how to bite her lip enticingly early.

For years he was just Gippal, and she was just Rikku-casual friends who sometimes snuck out of the compound with other friends and shared a drink under the stars.

It was only after their shared smile over a pile of greasy machina that Gippal became Gippal. She knew he would be hers when Brother did swoop out of nowhere, did his usual scare routine, and Gippal merely laughed.

She knew she was his when his swagger fell away while they talked and he revealed genuine charm and sincerity. His raw intelligence hooked her as thoroughly as his handsome stare.

They talked of their ambitions and Rikku realized, after he drilled her for shrugging when he asked for hers, what it meant to have some. She originally thought she'd work for her father in whatever way he needed her.

"Not good enough," Gippal said with a look that said 'as-if'. "You're too smart for that. You could do anything."

"Even become a Maester?" She meant it only to tease and rolled her eyes but Gippal shrugged and flashed her a smirk.

"Sure, once I save the world," was his easy reply.

She loved that he was shooting for the stars.

Growing up with Cid as a father was definitely more of a curse than a blessing.

Sure, being the offspring of the leader was a blessing in that she got away with more than anyone else, but there was also the tiny, infuriating fact that most people kept their distance.

And by most people, Rikku meant boys.

It wasn't a problem when she was younger but those were the days before hormones. Now they were here full force, and here to stay, and it was awfully inconvenient that her father decided he did have parental instincts after all. The glares he sent the boys looking her direction were enough to melt Macalania.

To make matters worse, Brother decided to join in. She lost count of how many times he jumped out of nowhere and screamed at the boy she was talking to until said boy ran away.

Literally ran. Brother would accept nothing less.

Rikku would subsequently scream at him and they would scream at each other until Keyakku wedged himself in between them and attempted to bring peace. It was a cycle.

Rikku tried to understand Brother's obsession with protecting her. He was the middle child, after all, and attention was hard to come by. If Cid made a rule just for Rikku, then he was obviously going to seek his father's approval by upholding that rule.

On top of it all, Rikku knew that she reminded her family of her mother. From what people said, they looked and acted the same. Rikku didn't have many memories of her aside from ones with Cid, but Brother did, and he was as devoted to her as their father. She knew, despite his flamboyant behavior, that he felt her loss deeply.

There was also the Lightning Incident, when Rikku had been minding her own business and a fiend appeared. The next thing she knew, she was in the infirmary and Brother was at her bedside in tears. Their mother was gone and he had almost killed his sister. She understood that he would want to protect her.

But, it was Brother. He meant well but his overzealousness often meant his execution of things tended to land on the poorer side.

"Rikku, what are you wearing?" Brother's voice was grating enough that she had to bite the inside of her cheek and count to ten so she wouldn't scream back.

"You can't wear that!" His voice followed her through their family's quarters and she restarted her count before she finally acknowledged him. Not by turning around, he didn't deserve that, but by throwing a dismissing look over her shoulder.

She'd done away with her regular body suit and had instead chosen a tight leather skirt with a slit that went halfway up her thigh. A matching top cropped just under her breasts and a few accessories completed the look. Perfect for a party at the oasis.

"I can, and I will," she sniffed. "There are no rules against clothing."

"Well, I forbid it," Brother countered.

Rikku crossed her arms and glared at him. "You're not Pops. Only he can make the rules."

"I am Father in his place," Brother said, which caused her to snort and roll her eyes. "You will obey me!"

"Yeah, right, you blubbering sand worm." Rikku tried to go around him again.

Rikku wasn't stupid. She knew Brother would try to stop her which is why she came out of her room prepared.

What she wasn't prepared for was Brother suddenly rushing at her with a battlecry.

Brother was strong, but she was small and agile. She jumped up and kicked him hard in the chest. He grunted, stumbling back, but came back after her.

She shot under Brother's raised arms, and used one hand to dig in the pouch hanging on the belt slung across her hips, and the other to flip down the goggles perched on her head. Once secure, she flung out her latest invention: a silent flashbomb.

Brother didn't stand a chance. Blinding light, brighter than the desert's noon sun, exploded in the room. He screamed, loud and piercing as he groped the empty space around him for

All of her friends had had their first kiss before they turned fourteen. Rikku was treated to hushed retellings during one of their many escapes into the desert after nightfall.

Rikku didn't know why every girl whispered their stories, it wasn't like they were deserving of the reverence. Maybe they wanted to preserve the magic of the moment. To Rikku, it sounded like a battle with a fiend-all teeth and tongues and wet. Not exactly a surrender to passion.

Rikku knew that passion was. Gross as it was, she remembered what her parents were like when she was younger. She knew the way their entire beings lit up when they saw each other, and the constant touching as if to assure themselves they were there. She knew of the deep kisses while they held each other close. She knew of her father's deep sorrow when her mother died.

Cid was many things-impulsive, loud and abrasive-but he was also a devoted husband.

That passion seemed to run in the family since her aunt had eloped with a Yevon priest. She also had a front row seat to Keyakku's courting of his wife during which he followed her around like a little puppy. Theirs wasn't a public passion but she once barged into Keyakku's room for something and found them alone. Their flushed faces and breathless shouts at her were forever seared into her mind.

Passion. That's what she wanted. Not the week long flings her friends seemed to enjoy. Whenever Rikku saw a boy talk to another girl a day or week after Brother scared him off, she begrudgingly and silently thanked him for saving her that heart break.

It had been three weeks since they had started talking or flirting or whatever it was they were doing. In that three weeks, the slow burn and flutter she felt in her body hadn't faded. It had grown to the point that sometimes she thought she might burst if she didn't see him or touch him or make him laugh.

She enjoyed the game, but that afternoon, when the newly excavated and unstable machina that Gippal was repairing blew up, she realized that the game needed to move forward. Hence, her midnight flight through the desert to this party.

Somewhere in between the compound and here, Rikku's heart had kick started into a skipping and thudding mess of nerves. She wiped her moist hands on her skirt but it only smeared across the smooth material. She licked her lips and rolled her shoulders, shaking her hands out.

She could do this, she told herself. She made a job of appearing braver than she felt. This was all part of it.

But she sat frozen on her hover, staring at the figure next to the bonfire, until he turned to her. The light of the bonfire lit up his face so that she could clearly make out his eye patch. Her heart almost thudded to a stop, only to restart, skittish as ever. Was this was it was always like? No wonder Keyakku seemed addicted to his wife.

She jumped off the hover and walked as quickly to the bonfire as the loose sand would allow. The laughter and crackling popping of the fire grew louder and Gippal separated himself from his group of friends to meet her halfway.

Somewhere behind her, she heard another sand hover approaching but paid it no heed as she suddenly felt Gippal's eye taking every detail of her. The part of her leg that flashed through her skirt's slit practically burned. Every part of her felt alive under his stare and her heart skipped and leapt in anticipation of something.

Something flashed in Gippal's eye, as if he read something in her expression. She saw him swallow and look over her again, this time knowingly and hungrily.

They stopped a foot from each other. The light around them, gold from the fire and white from the moon, cast strange shadows over the panes of Gippal's face; he regarded her with the smallest of smiles, his blond hair almost appearing copper.

"You're late, Cid's Girl," he said in a warm voice that only ever seemed capable of teasing.

"I have a name," she pouted back, though a smile was playing at her lips.

This opening interaction was par for the course. Tradition. Ever since Brother let it be known that she was forever Cid's daughter and therefore untouchable. Gippal liked to remind her, though he also liked playing with fire. So did she.

She took a step forward and placed a hand on his firm stomach. He didn't flinch or tense or back away under her touch which emboldened her further. She looked up at him through her lashes, her eyes landing on his lips.

Behind her, the hover craft had arrived, sending a wave of sand toward the party, causing several people to yell their indignation. Rikku vaguely heard someone shout her name but she was too focused on Gippal's lips and her own beating heart to pay attention.

"Rikku," Gippal whispered; she loved the sound of her name on his lips. Just like how she would probably love the feel of his lips on hers.

"What," she whispered back, leaning forward so that his breath mingled with hers.

"Brother is going to kill me," Gippal sighed as his hands came up, fingers brushing over her bare arms and making her whole body tingle. He grasped her shoulders and one hand snaked up into her hair, cupping the back of her neck.

"Not if I kill him first," she replied, proud that her voice didn't tremble with her anticipation. She took a breath and summoned her courage. She raised herself on her toes and closed the distance, pressing her lips against his.

There was a scream behind her and the next she heard was, "RIKKU, NO."

Rikku and Gippal both threw Brother a vulgar gesture.

Brother cried out again, sounding remarkably like a slain Mushusuu, and bellowing something about failing and giving up on her.

Rikku smiled against Gippal's lips and pulled him closer. She felt drunk on the taste and feel of Gippal. The fluttering she first felt when he smiled at her flared, leaving her heart bursting, breathless, and feeling all too small for it all. And yet she wanted more more more.

This-this was what she sought, this was why her father grieved so hard, why Keyakku couldn't be out of his wife's sight. This was why her aunt eloped and Braska defeated Sin. This felt like the start of something great and where nothing would ever be the same.