Author's Notes: Hehe, hi! I'm finally updating. It's been about a week? Hope you didn't wait tooo long. I was planning out the rest of the story, and possibly its sequel. *wink nudge* I'm not gonna tell you anything else about it yet though. =:P I got a lot of the responses I expected from the reviewers, and they were all surprised with Yuna! I know, she was mean, but everyone gets angry. I would've been mad. She'll calm down though don't worry! Another thing, 28 reviews. That's actually the most I've ever gotten...*dances* XD

Disclamer: I do not own FFX-2 or any of it's characters. I do however, own this story. DO NOT distribute without my permission.

To rikku-chan: Don't worry Yuna will get nicer, she's always nice *shudder*

To ShellePrincess: Yeah PxB is starting to get popular. They're my next favourite couple besides RxG.

To maerah: I couldn't picture Yuna being angry, but I did it anyways :] Made things more interesting though, right?

To punky-gal: I know you wouldn't expect it, so that's why I did it! But don't worry, it'll get better!

To Anonymous (isn't it annoying?): Well wouldn't you over-react? I would, haha. Sorry for not updating lately, I got sidetracked with more important things...not that this isn't important.......^.^

To Sarah22: Hehe, I love you too?

To xRobin-Senax: It was Naughty? Forward? Erotic? Hehehehe...

To Kari-demon: You fell off your chair? Are you okay?!

Hullabaloo

Ch.4: Soft Apologies

"Ugh..."

"Pfft.."

Rikku groaned and lay on her back, eyes open wide staring at the metallic ceiling above her. So many thoughts were floating around in her head. Yuna, Gippal...She hadn't seen Gippal since Yuna had gotten angry with the two of them. She supposed he had left to go back to Djose. It didn't bother her...much. It kind of ticked her off that he hadn't said goodbye, but she didn't blame him. He would've wanted to get the hell out of there and away from Yuna. Boy, had she ever gotten pissed. Rikku didn't even understand why, it had nothing to do with her. Either way, she needed to chill out a bit. Rikku wanted to talk to her so bad, but didn't want to get the cold shoulder again. She just wanted to apologize!

She rubbed her nose thoughtfully, still looking up at the ceiling. She had come back to the cabin after trying to find Yuna, but failed so she decided she would have a nap. But to Rikku's dismay, she couldn't get to sleep. The thoughts buzzing in her head were driving her up the wall. She needed to get out of the stuffy cabin. Now.

* * *

"Buddy?"

Buddy turned from the pilot controls of the airship to look at the petite Al Bhed standing behind him. He let out a small chuckle when he saw Rikku standing behind him wearily. She almost looked like a zombie - key word being almost. He hadn't even heard her enter the deck.

"Do you need to go somewhere?" he asked her, motioning to the navigation panel.

"Oh nonono, that's not it," she replied with a small smile, "Can we just talk?"

Buddy grinned and rose from the airship panel, making a move to sit on the steps. Rikku followed him and they sat side by side, facing each other. "What is it?" he asked her. To be honest, he was kind of worried about her. Her brother was his best friend, so she was almost like a little sister to him. Sure Brother was a little nuts, but Rikku was fun. Not like her sibling at all.

"Say you had a friend, and he had a female friend," she started nervously. "And the two friends had feelings for each other, but didn't do anything because they didn't want to ruin the relationship they already had."

She looked to Buddy and he gave her a nod to continue. "But say the two friends both got drunk, and ended up well...having sex. They've totally fucked their friendship and threw it out the window, and realize they have real feelings for each other. But, the guys friend is now mad at him and he doesn't know what to do. Do you have any good advice?"

Buddy laughed and smoothed the hair on the back of his head. What a predicament. He was pretty sure that Rikku wasn't talking about other people though. Something had happened, he could tell, and it didn't look pretty. He looked at her seriously and grabbed her shoulders. "Are you sure you're not talking about you here?"

Rikku's mouth dropped. Well, he defiantly isn't slow to catching on, she thought. She moaned anyhow and buried her head in her hands. "What am I going to do, Buddy?"

"It's Gippal isn't it!"

'Yeah...' "No! Of course not!" she said angrily.

"It's okay Rik! It's pretty obvious," replied Buddy smoothly. "You know what you should do?"

Rikku shook her head miserably. She had no idea what to do. That's why she had come to talk to Buddy. He always seemed to have good advice.

"You should go see Nhadala. She could probably help you out."

"Huh?" Rikku looked up from her sulking and looked to Buddy curiously. "Nhadala? Why Nhadala?"

Buddy chuckled and smoothed the back of his hair again. "Me and Nhadla have been dating for the last few months. No one really knows. Well, except Gippal. That's mostly 'cause he's her boss though."

"You guys are dating?!" Rikku was pretty shocked. She had no idea whatsoever. Now that she thought about it now though, the two Al Bhed would make a cute couple.

"She gives pretty good advice. To be honest with you Rikku...she's kind of where I get all my advice from," Buddy gave a slight chuckle with a subtle blush covering his face.

Rikku laughed with him, probably the first time she had today. She covered her mouth to stifle her laughter. She looked to Buddy amusedly and grinned. "So to the Sanubia Desert then?"

Buddy nodded and returned to the pilot's seat, directing them towards Bikanel Island. After an hour at breakneck speed, the Celsius reached the sandy island.

Rikku turned to leave the deck where she had waited, and stopped when she reached the automatic door. She looked to Buddy, a little more cheerful than she had been earlier. "If you see Yunie can you tell her I'm looking for her?"

Buddy nodded and gave her a thumbs up as he watched her leave the Celsius.

* * *

Rikku fought to keep back her hair, which was flying wildly around her in the sandy wind. Before her was the rubble of Home. She sighed inwardly as she remembered it burning down 2 years ago. She had felt like a piece of her heart had been ripped away. Home had been the only sanctuary for the Al Bhed.

Now, as she looked at it, hundreds of people were milling around the rubble. Most of them were Al Bhed, but there were the few that weren't. From the looks of things, they were collecting materials to rebuild the fortress that had so furtively protected her people.

Rikku saw her father standing upon a podium to the side, yelling orders and waving around a clipboard. She ducked by him, trying to avoid being seen. Her father still didn't know what had happened last night - at least, she hoped so - so she wanted to avoid confrontation. She approached an Al Bhed that appeared as if they hadn't an idea of what they were doing. "Rao! Ryja oui caah Nhadala?" she shouted. The confused Al Bhed nodded to her and pointed towards a large canvas tent.

Rikku approached the tent, sweating as she did so. The desert sun was blistering hot, and she wished that she had worn something a little cooler and lightweight.

She opened the flap of the tent carefully, looking for Nhadala. "Nhadala?" she called out softly, "Are you here?"

"Yes!"

"It's Rikku," she said, stepping into the tent more fully.

"Yeah I know, Buddy called me on the commsphere and told me. You needed to talk about something?" The tall woman approached Rikku, her goggles hanging around her neck.

Rikku nodded and told her the situation she was in. She scratched the back of her head timidly. "Well? What should I do?"

"First off," Nhadala said with a chuckle, "You should go talk to Yuna. Make her listen to you no matter what she thinks or says. I think she will though. Secondly, you need to sort things out with Gippal. I can't really tell you how to do that. You'll have to figure it out on your own."

Rikku nodded in agreement. She raised her face to Nhadala's and smiled. "Thank you Nhadala, I appreciate it."

"Hu bnupmas, Rikku," she replied. She turned and left the tent, heading back to the Celsius.

As she approached the large red airship, she saw a figure standing at the landing plank. From what she could see, it was Yuna. As she got closer, she saw that it was indeed Yuna. Groaning inwardly to herself, she approached her. At least she wouldn't have to go look for her, right? "Hi Yunie..." she muttered quietly.

"Um...Hi Rikku.

"I -" Rikku started.

"No wait. I have something to say, if you please," interrupted the ex-summoner. She took a deep breath and looked Rikku in her eyes, smiling a bit as she did so. "I shouldn't have acted the way I did earlier. I was just tired and hung over. I'm really, really sorry Rikku! I know I was harsh, just surprised, that's all. Can we put this behind us and be cousins again?"

Rikku grinned and jumped onto Yuna, enveloping her in a hug. "Of course we can be cousins again!" she giggled. "Besides, I'm your only cousin."

Well, that was easier than she thought it would be.

"Oh and Rikku? There's a birthday party in Besaid for Vidina in a couple days! It's his first birthday. You're going, aren't you? You can bring Gippal if you want...I promise I won't yell at him again," said Yuna with a soft chuckle.

"Oh I don't know Yunie..."

"Oh come on! It will be fun! And there's no booze..." cooed Yuna, trying to convince her to come.

"Fine, alright then," said Rikku stubbornly. At least there wasn't going to be any alcohol. She needed a break from that. And just maybe, Gippal would want to go.

Hehe, sorry again for such the long wait! Well, only about a week, but still, that's a long time! Things came up - my boyfriend having surgery, etc etc. Let me know what you think, mkay?

"Rao! Ryja oui caah Nhadala?" - Hey! Have you seen Nhadala?

"Hu bnupmas, Rikku" - No problem, Rikku.