The Fine Line Between Love and Hate
a/n: oo I used to be an avid Gippaine shipper. After reading some Rippel fics around here, though, my mind changed quickly. ;; Reviews are adored. Oh, btw, this takes place two years after FFX-2. So Rikku is 19, Gippel is 20, Yuna is 21, Paine is 20.. you get the picture, yes?
Chapter One: Machina?
"What is it that you wanted, Cid?" asked Gippel, rubbing his neck and fixing the aging Al Bhed leader with his emerald-flecked violet eye, a calculating look to that eye. The old man had called Gippel to Bikanel Desert, not telling the young Machine Faction leader why, just to come there pronto! And normally, when Cid ordered things, you did them, or there was hell to pay.
"I'm glad you're here, Gippel." Cid rubbed his bald head, sitting down behind a desk -- albeit, one that he looked strange behind. Cid would look strange sitting behind any desk, for that matter. "Nhadala and I have been working on blueprints for a new machina."
"What kind of machina?" Gippel was suddenly interested. Anything to deal with machina -- or machines -- was his kind of material. He was the kind of person who would say how high? if you said jump and were offering him a machina to work on.
"Well, see, we haven't exactly figured out what our plans for it is," Cid replied, looking a bit bashful for a moment. "We were hoping you could take a look at it and come up with a use for it."
Gippel crossed his arms over his chest, beginning to get annoyed with the old man and his antics. "So let me get this straight... you brought me here.. to figure out what to do with a machina that you're planning.." He paused, raising a brow at Cid. "Is it just me, or is there something wrong with this picture?"
Cid sighed. "E ghaf oui't cyo cusadreh' mega dryd." He stood up, crossing to the door and opening it. "Rikku, lusa eh rana, bmayca."
The Al Bhed girl came into the room, wearing a dark green midriff tank top and a black miniskirt, her yellow bikini bottom peeking from the top of her skirt; the same with her bikini top, only peeking out of her shirt. Her small feet were wearing her normal boots, an accessory she would nearly always wear, no matter what her ensemble was. Well.. if it was a dress, then maybe she'd wear fancy shoes, but only then.
Gippel turned around in his seat, his uncovered eye falling on his old girlfriend. A rush of feelings went through him at once; anger at her for no reason, regret that things had gone bad between them, and a strange fleeting feeling through the pit of his stomach. The year before, things had been all fair and well between the two of them.
-----
"So, Gippel, who's your new fancy?" asked the eighteen-year-old female, swirled green eyes glittering mischievously. The two of them were walking along the Djose Highroad, having just left Mushroom Rock Road. They had been visiting Nooj and Leblanc, who were the proud new parents of a baby girl, who they christened Marina. She had brown hair, like Nooj's, and the same color eyes as Leblanc.
"Why does it concern you, Cid's little girl?" he said, wrapping an arm around her neck and rubbing the top of her head with his knuckles. He chuckled, letting go and starting to run. He knew what was coming.
"RAAAAO! E RYJA Y HYSA, OUI GHUF! ED'C RIKKU!" She lifted her hands to straighten her braids, which were in a disarray from Gippel's noogie. Rikku rubbed her scalp, watching him as he ran. "Uuuur, oui zicd fyed, secdan!" She took off after him, closing in on the boy who was a year her senior. Coming within a few feet of him, she took a running leap, landing on his back and taking him to the ground.
They wrestled on the ground for a minute, Gippel trying to get Rikku off him, Rikku trying to hit him (playfully) in any open spot she could. After a minute, though, their energy was draining, and they both gave up, Gippel laying flat on his back with Rikku sitting on his stomach.
"Dryd rind, Gippel!" she whined, rubbing her scalp some more. Sometime within the minute they were fighting with each other, he had attacked her scalp with his knuckles once more. She balled up her hands, hitting him on the chest between the opening on his shoulder plate.
"Oof!" he said, lifting his head from the ground and quickly grabbing her hand as she brought it back to hit him on the chest, pulling her down. Within two seconds, their faces were inches apart. "Oui fyhhy ghuf, Rikku?"
"Oayr! Fru ec ed?" she said, although she had an inkling of who it was -- considering they were about two inches apart.
"Oui," he said, his voice soft. His tone was one she had never heard before, one that managed to take her breath away as he murmured the word.
"Oh," said Rikku, eyes widening. "Well, uhm, heh, I--"
Suddenly the situation was flipped on her. Rikku found herself on her back on the ground, with Gippel positioned above her. Her breath hitched, going in and out of her quite faster than it had been; butterflies were doing an intricate dance within her stomach.
He softly placed a kiss upon her lips, calloused digits running over her soft face, then playing with a blonde braid between his fingers. As she returned the kiss, it continued, becoming deep within seconds. Then, Gippel remembered where they were -- in the middle of the Djose Highroad -- and pulled away, clearing his throat and turning a light pink. "Cunno," he said, running a hand over his face, hesitating over his lips, and standing up. He offered her a hand, which she took hesitantly.
"Ed'c veha," she replied, cheeks as red as his.
But she didn't let go of his hand.
----
Gippel kind-of missed those days. Where she would run at him, eyes alight with happiness, and greet him with her soft kisses. Even if he had only been gone for half an hour, it seemed as if she missed him whenever they weren't by each other's side. And he missed her, too, whenever they were apart, even if he didn't act like it.
But they had drifted apart after Yuna and Tidus's marriage, not blaming it directly on the two, but secretly thinking it was their fault. Rikku did, anyway. But she did not hold a grudge against her cousin and best friend.
----
"That wedding was so beautiful!" squealed Rikku that night, perched next to Gippel with her head on his shoulder. The two had been going steady for nearly a year; Gippel's twentieth birthday was the next week. Rikku's birthday wasn't for another few weeks. "I want a wedding like that," she sighed dreamily, staring at the ceiling.
"I'm happy for them," said Gippel nonchalantly, although he became kind-of nervous after her mentioning the wedding.
"Can our wedding be like that, Gippel?" she asked softly, turning her head to look up at him.
He didn't look at her for a moment. The truth was, he did not know if he was ready for marriage -- and Rikku was only nineteen. That was far too young to be wedding, in Gippel's eyes.
"Aren't we a bit young to be talking about marriage, Rikku?" he said hesitantly, feeling her tense beneath his arms and inch away.
The argument that followed was one of the worst the two had ever had. Rikku felt as if she was being brushed off; Yuna and Tidus were only twenty-one -- they were only two years older than her! And only one year older than Gippel!
It ended with a tearful Rikku stating that she wanted a break from the relationship if he was going to be that way.
She didn't know how much it hurt him to watch her walk away from him.
----
"Rao, Gippel," said Rikku, not meeting his gaze.
"Rao." He watched her as she moved into the room, a sad look crossing his features for a moment before he turned back to the desk, where Cid was taking his seat.
"Don't look so morbid, you two, it's not like anyone died!" said Rikku's father, who had no idea the two had been previously dating -- and certainly didn't know how they had split up.
"Heh. Yeah, Pops," said Rikku, smiling at her father and not looking at Gippel. "So what is it you want me to do?"
"Well, you and Gippel here are gonna work on puttin' this machina together for me and Nhadala." He pulled out the blueprints. "And I lied, Gippel. We do know what it's for."
"What's it for, then?" Gippel asked, leaning over as Cid rolled out the blueprints. Rikku followed suit, staring at the contraption drawn on the paper with a confused expression.
"What is it, Pops?"
"It'll skyrocket Spira into the future! Well, it'll make communication a hell of a lot easier." He pulled out another copy of the blueprint. "We want you two to make two of them."
They were looking at a model of a small device, with a screen and many buttons on it. "What do they do, Vydran?"
"Well, it's kinda like Shinra's commspheres, but different, in a way. You can still communicate and see each other and everything, but the person you're talkin' to can see you! And each one has a special code number, so if you hit those numbers --" he pointed at the squares on the blueprint, which had numbers etched on them, "-- with a certain code number, you can talk to whoever you want!"
Gippel and Rikku stared at the blueprints for a moment, then looked at Cid, who was standing with his hands on his hips and looking at the two, a bit of a pompous, haughty look to him. Especially since he was puffing his chest out.
"Well? What do ya think?"
"It's..." Gippel trailed off, staring at the blueprint again.
"Brilliant!" Rikku finished, smiling at her father.
------ DICTIONARY OF TERMS ------
E ghaf oui't cyo cusadreh' mega dryd. - I knew you'd say something like that.
Lusa eh rana, bmayca. - Come in here, please.
Raaaao! I ryja y hysa, oui ghuf! Ed'c Rikku! - Heeeey! I have a name, you know! It's Rikku!
Uuuur, oui zicd fyed, secdan! - Ooooh, you just wait, mister!
Dryd rind! - That hurt!
Oui fyhhy ghuf, Rikku? - You wanna know, Rikku?
Oayr! Fru ec ed? - Yeah! Who is it?
Cunno. - Sorry.
Ed'c veha. - It's fine.
Rao, Gippel. - Hey, Gippel.
Vydran. - Father.
------
So, did you like it? ;;; I've only written one other FFX-2 fanfic, and it was a Gippaine, but I don't much like Gippaine anymore, so I've converted to Rippelism, and I like it. Leave reviews if you want me to keep writing! (Even though I've already started on the second chapter. ;) Oh, and by the way. My pen name is Pneddyho because my friend Cinny (Lehho) christened me that. It's my Al Bhed name. :D