I'm cooking up a storm lately! Probably because my computer ish fixed and it's really preeeeetty. Anyway, last or second to last chapter maybe? I don't know. Gotta see what my random string of events plays out this time. Enjoy!

Rikku eventually joined the group with her acquired Sprite. She opened the bottle and drank half of it, her throat dry from her recent conversation with Gippal. She risked a look at him, and quickly averted her eyes when she saw his stare dead on her. She looked again the next minute to see him with his head tilted back on a pillow. Tidus was poking his forehead, but he wasn't paying attention. He looked like he might fall asleep any second. She drained the rest of her soda and tossed it in the trash, turning to her friends. Yuna looked at her with a pained expression.

"What?" Rikku asked.

"Man, everybody heard that spat!" Shuyin said. Yuna pursed her lips at his openness. Rikku would want to be let down gently that they had heard their words to each other. They had almost dared each other to admit their feelings for the other. Which meant that there might be no secret anymore, since all the other wanted was to be told that they won. Gippal already had told Rikku he loved her, but she didn't believe him. He was hardly serious when he said that.

"So what're you gonna do?" Lenne asked. She looked like she was about to cry.

"Nothing. There wasn't anything there in the first place." Rikku replied. She spoke quietly. She didn't believe Gippal was asleep at all.

"Oh god Rikku, would you stop it? This whole denial of affections thing was normal in middle school, but it's just immature in high school." Lenne said. Rikku was taken aback for a few seconds. Lenne didn't lose her temper with her friends often. Only to people she didn't know. "You love him, don't you?" Rikku didn't want to answer that. She was in the spotlight. Everyone stared at her like she was growing a horn on her head. She absentmindedly put a hand on the top of her head as she looked down at the ground.

"What does it matter?"

"It matters a lot! He might love you too, and it might come to him in a dream how much he yearns for you and then everything will be good! It's like the legacy of the gang. Final Fantasy! That's what we'll call it. The Legacy of Final Fantasy! This is the chapter of the climax of the Gippal and Rikku volume. And then as you date through high school it will be the falling action and then when you get married and have god knows how many kids is the part where they tie up the loose ends. Then they get on to other unfulfilled couples, like Paine and Baralai!" Tidus said, earning a glare from Paine. Though nobody could deny they were an "item" by the way Baralai grabbed her hand and held it tightly. Rikku rolled her head around to the ceiling then stood up.

"I'm gonna go to bed… night." She said quietly. She glanced back at Gippal who was once again watching her, and she grinned painfully at him. She then turned and quickly opened the door. When she got into her room, she sat in front of a mirror and pretended she was Lenne.

"You're so stupid Rikku! God, you screw everything up! You have a chance at the guy you know you've liked since about sixth grade and you blow it because you're too immature to accept the fact that relationships aren't the same as in Chocolat where she falls in love with a pirate and they have no problems except for him leaving for a little while! God!" she yelled, flopping back onto her stomach. Whenever she wished she could cry, she couldn't. She just got that lump lodged in her throat. "God…" she whispered one more time.

"Very interesting." Came a voice from behind her. It was familiar, so she didn't bother turning around. "So I guess I've won this competition." Gippal said as he pulled back the curtains in the room to look at the tower. He had a strange obsession with watching it when the lights were on.

"What do you mean?" Rikku asked.

"Well, you just told the mirror that you liked me, but I overheard. So you cracked first, right?" he said. Rikku sighed.

"This doesn't have anything to do with a competition." She said.

"I know that. I just love that you compare your life to movies."

"You don't?" Rikku asked. Gippal sat down in front of her and watched out the window.

"Nah." He said. "I like my life better than movies. I think I got some pretty good friends." Rikku laughed lightly.

"Friends…" she said. She didn't know why the word humored her current mood. Maybe it was more a bitter humor from him using the word 'friends'.

"Yeah… guess so." Gippal said. Rikku saw him clench his fists and make a face at the window. She felt a terrible wave of confidence and covered his view from the window, kissing him lightly. She opened one eye tentatively and was relieved not to see him looking at her like she had broken some ancient law. He was just looking at her thoughtfully, and then he kissed her again. She stood up abruptly. Suddenly, this room was very hot. Or maybe it was her face. She took off her sweater but stopped halfway when Gippal spoke up in an amused tone.

"Woah there girl. Let's take this relationship one step at a time." He said. Rikku scoffed and tapped her toe against his shoulder. She sat back down when she had the sweater off and rested against his shoulder.

"So, does this mean we're… dating?" Gippal asked. Rikku grinned and didn't answer. "Riiiiikku?" He looked at her and she stuck her tongue out at him.

"Mehbeh." She said past her tongue. He stuck his tongue out at her as well. He then made a move to get up.

"Fine! Then I'll just go and tell everyone the saucy facts about what exactly happened in here. I'm sure Yuna and Lai are just dying to know, since they're gonna be virgins for the next ten years." He said.

"You're completely ludicrous." Rikku said. He just grinned at her and exited the room. She waited for him to walk back in. She waited a minute. Two. Three. "GIPPAL! Don'tyou dare!" Rikku jumped up and ran to the room next door. Everyone stared at her like she was insane. "I'm completely sane! It's him that's crazy!" she said, pointing to Gippal, who smiled innocently at her. "Don't you look at me like that!" she said, though she couldn't help but grin back at him. Vacation was looking up again.

Rikku woke up late the next day. But not late enough, since all the girls were still asleep. Rikku listened at the wall and didn't hear anything. She ran over and opened the door and tiptoed over to Gippal's bed. She prodded him with her finger and earned a smacked hand. She frowned and pulled up on his eye patch. He opened his eyes slowly and she smiled at him. Then she let go of his eye patch. It smacked back down into place with a loud "slap!" He took a deep breath and put his hand to his eye.

"Owwww…" was all he said.

"You'll live. You got anymore of those horny things?" Rikku asked. He raised an eyebrow at her and smirked.

"Horny, you say?" he said, sounding like he was trying not to laugh.

"Yes, the ho-"she then realized what he found so amusing and frowned at him as he started laughing. "You sick boy. I sympathize you." She stated. He laughed for a few more seconds, and then fumbled around in his pockets. He pulled out one of his horns and pushed down on the button. All that came out was bit of mist and a dull "squeaaaaaak…"

"Dammit…" Gippal said. He opened the drawer next to his table and pulled out a package. It had five other horns in it. Rikku gaped at it for a second, and then wiped it away when he had one out of the package. He pushed down on the button and it immediately let out the ear piercing sound. Tidus nearly tumbled out of the bed next to Gippal. Baralai woke up slowly. Shuyin didn't move a centimeter. Rikku grinned.

"Thanks!" She made to grab for it, but Gippal whipped it out of her reach. Tidus stayed sprawled over the floor.

"Ah, ah, ah. What're you gonna give me for it?" Gippal asked, smiling at her. She sighed.

"It depends on what your currency is." She said.

"I like kisses." He said it as if it were candy. She told him that too, before she leaned over and kissed him for what she had meant to be a second, had he not "accidentally" made her fall onto his bed and he pinned her down. When he let her go, he looked up at the ceiling.

"Well, you're not a Tootsie Roll, but you're still pretty sweet." He said, grinning at her. She snatched the horn out of his hands and sneered, but bit her lip when she straightened up. He lay back down in his pillows and twiddled his fingers at her while she walked away.

When she got back to her room, she looked around at the three other girls. She sighed and then held the horn up. The second she pushed down on the horn, she jumped. She could only see everything sideways. She thought she was going insane, until she sat up.

"I was asleep…?" she asked, looking around at all of her friends, who were asleep in the boy's room. "NO!" She yelled, sitting up and looking down at herself. She was in her satin yellow dress still. Except, it wasn't so pretty now that it had all these wrinkles in it. She growled her anger. "It was a dream?" she flopped back onto the pillow she was laying on. She heard steps behind her. She looked up.

"You say something?" Gippal asked. She thought to say no first.

"Did anything… different happen last night?" she asked. He seemed to think for a minute.

"Other than you eating snails… no." he said, turning away. Rikku ducked her head down in misery. So that confidence she had had been a dream. Everything had been a dream. Had their fight been a dream too? "Oh… forgot." Gippal said. She looked up only in time for him to kiss her lightly. She gasped. "And that." He said with a grin when he pulled away. She bit down on her tongue as she got a stupid grin on her face. Laadeedaa…