Author's Notes: I'm so sorry for such the long wait. I've probably lost some readers by now. It's just that a lot of stressful stuff been going, and I've been in no mood to write. But, here I am now, with a new chapter, and hopefully more to come. Just a note, but some characters will be a little OC in this chapter. You have been warned.

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.

Hullabaloo

Ch.5: Secrets Revealed

A few days later:

Rikku shimmied into a pale green sundress effortlessly. Currently, the Celsius was heading towards Besaid, to make it in time for little Vidina's first birthday party. It wasn't going to be anything too big, from what Yuna had told Rikku. Just close friends and family. And well, that was actually quite a few people.

Rikku brushed her hair in front of the mirror by her bed. She had decided to keep it down, for once. She had left her braids in though, so she had to weave her brush between them carefully. Now that Rikku thought about it, she never left her hair down. All throughout the whole Vegnagun ordeal, and even during Yuna's pilgrimage, she had always kept her hair tied back and out of her face. Rikku supposed it made the battles easier, without hair flying in her face and obscuring her view. But why was she keeping it down today? She wasn't even sure herself. It wasn't like she had to impress anyone...or did she?

Rikku's thoughts trailed back to Gippal. She still had to talk to him, figure things out. Well, she would have that chance tonight, she figured. She'd just have to find time to talk to him. She hadn't even seen him since the morning after the party in Luca. She sighed inwardly as she thought of him. He was probably too scared to come back, what with Yuna freaking out and herself getting upset. She needed to talk to him. Even see him, that would suffice too.

Rikku heard the door to the cabin slide open, and she stood to see who it was. A bright smile filled her face when she saw Tidus standing there, hands on his hips. "You ready to go?!" he yelled up to her, "We're finally here!"

Rikku nodded in reply ran down the stairs two at a time, nearly bumping into her blonde friend as she did so. "You betchya!"

Rikku looked around at all the smiling faces surrounding a small child with bright orangey-red hair. They were all so happy, with their significant other by their side. Yuna by Tidus, Lulu and Wakka, Leblanc hanging off of Nooj, Buddy and Nhadala cuddling close by. Even Paine seemed to be content standing next to Baralai. The only ones left alone were Brother, Shinra, Gippal, and herself. Although Rikku wanted to talk Gippal, she still hadn't found the chance. It was almost as if he was ignoring her. Ever since he had arrived with Nooj and Leblanc, he had barely said a word to her, nodding a simple hello to her as he walked by. What was with him?! She wasn't that scary when she was hung over, was she? She hadn't done anything wrong, at least, she didn't think she had.

Turning her attention back to the small child sitting in a high chair in the middle of the group, she let out a bright smile. She leaned in towards the small child, picking up one of his teeny hands and waved it around. "You excited about your first birthday, Vidi?" she cooed in a playful tone. She laughed cheerfully as Lulu's child, that resembled both parents significantly, let out a squeal of delight. He was just starting to learn how to communicate with others around him, and it was always fun trying to make out his gurgles and shouts of laughter that resembled the English language. Rikku wondered if Lulu would ever teach him Al Bhed. Wakka most likely wouldn't be happy with the idea, but you never know, right?

Yuna ran from the beach path, carrying a rather large birthday cake in her arms. She ran over to her friends, many of them who were much like family, who all stood or sat lingering on the beach sands in the shade of the trees.

Rikku stood to greet the ex-summoner cheerfully. As she stood however, her sandaled feet caught on her dress and she fell face first into the sand. "Ugh! That was...not fun!" she muttered to herself, spitting sand out of her mouth. Hearing laughter from behind her, she turned around angrily in the sand. "What's so funny?" she spat.

Gippal held his stomach, laughter pouring from his mouth. He earned a menacing glare from Rikku and he covered his mouth with his hand, trying to cover his giggles. "You're funny, that's what! Not to mention we all got a nice glimpse of your pink panties."

Rikku huffed. That was not nice! She stood up hurriedly, raising herself from the sand. She looked around her and saw that most of her friends were laughing at the situation. She stalked over to Gippal, leaving her sandals in the sand behind her. She stood over him, glaring at him, icicles shooting from her eyes. He was finally giving her attention like she wished he would, but this was not the kind she wanted! This was just embarrassing her.

Rikku squinted her eyes and forced herself to smile. The smile itself was not kind looking, and Gippal writhed back at the look on her face.

Rikku looked down at Gippal, who was trying to look innocent. His eyes opened wide as she saw her hands flying to his shoulders, and he was shoved back into the ground as she shoved him back. "Hmph!" Rikku turned and ran to Yuna, who was just as shocked by the situation as everyone else.

Yuna gave Rikku a quizzical look, but the Al Bhed ignored it easily. Rikku took the cake from Yuna's hands and turned back to the group. "Time for Happy Birthday!" she shouted gleefully.

Gippal was just as confused as anyone else. She was as moody as a bloody Spherimorph. Gippal figured she was just tired. And well, he was bugging her. He dismissed the thought and looked to Lulu and Wakka, who sat with their little Vidina in their arms. "Time for Happy birthday, eh?" he asked.

Rikku nodded and Yuna lit the candles on the cake. Rikku carefully bent down and placed the cake in front of Vidina, unknowingly giving a nice view of her behind to Gippal.

Gippal smirked, and looked to Tidus. Tidus understood and gave him the thumbs up, earning a smack from Yuna.

Rikku stood and turned, looking at her friends once more. Something seemed to be going on between the only two blonde men present besides Buddy and Brother, who was totally clueless to the situation. Shrugging it off she started the main chorus of the traditional birthday song. Soon, others joined her and she bounced on her spot, dancing and singing to the small child. "Al Bhed breakdown!" she cried, pumping her fist in the air with her usual fashion.

Wakka's eyebrow twitched as she started to sing again, and tried to ignore her. The Al Bheds present joined her, along with Tidus, Yuna, and Paine.

"Rybbo pendrtyo du oui! Rybbo pendrtyo du oui! Rybbo pendrtyo tayn Vidina! Rybbo pendrtyo du oui!"

After the cheerful group of friends had finished their own Al Bhed rendition of the 'Happy Birthday' song, everyone settled in the sand, paper plates in their hands.

Lulu took the liberty of cutting the cake for her son, who was incapable himself since he was so young. The child looked up at the black mage with a questioning look as she placed a small piece of cake in front of him. "Mama?" he asked cutely, pointing at the cake.

"Go ahead little man, eat it, ya?" replied Vidina's slightly robust father. He urged him on, and eventually the small child took a handful of the cake in his tiny hands, making a mess immediately. He looked to Gippal, who just so happened to be sitting in front of him, and tossed the cake.

Rikku heard a smack noise, and turned to see Gippal with a very annoyed look on his face as white icing dripped into his eyes. Rikku snorted loudly, giving into fits of laughter as she watched the Al Bhed wipe icing from his face.

"Yeh think that's funny, eh?" he asked her with a sly grin.

"Yeah actually, I do!" replied Rikku with a giggle. However, Rikku's grin soon left her face as Gippal raised his own cake and smushed it in her face, being sure to wipe it all around as well.

"You're a deadman Gippal!" she screeched, and she got up abruptly, her own cake falling to the ground as she chased after Gippal.

Gippal, seeing the fuming girl rise, bolted off to the beach path with Rikku on his tail. The rest of the group stared at the scene with surprise, and soon erupted into laughter.

"What was that all about, eh?" asked Brother curiously.

"Oh...nothing! Nothing important!" replied Nhadala with a snicker.

"Huh? Am I missing something?" whispered Tidus to Yuna, the touch of his lips on her ear sending chills down her spine.

She looked to him and nuzzled her head in his neck, taking in the scent of his hair, which smelt of the ocean. "I'll fill you in later."

"Get back here, you, you...MEANIE!" Rikku shouted after Gippal as she attempted to run after him. She soon caught up to him by the waterfalls, and jumped on his back from behind. The couple fell to the ground in a heap by the base of the bridge.

"He-Whoa!" shouted Gippal as his head made contact with the ground. Gippal rubbed his head angrily, whilst trying to shove Rikku off of him. "Why you son of a bitc-"

Gippal stopped his sentence short as he saw Rikku on the ground, tears threatening to spill from her eyes as she wiped the now grimy cake from her face. He instantly regretted doing what he had done, and inched towards her slowly. "Hey, I'm really sorry Rikku, I didn't mean to make you ups-"

"Oh shut 'yer trap, Gippal," she muttered quietly.

"...What?"

"Oh you heard me," she replied a little louder than needed.

Gippal nodded silently and sat on the dirt road, not saying a word. He relished the feel of the mist of the waterfalls spraying on his face, and enjoyed the moment. He figured it was best to probably let Rikku figure out whatever it was she was trying to do or say. He didn't want to make her more angry with him. 'But wait...what did I do to make her pissed? 'he thought. 'I was just flirting with her the same way I always do. What on the Farplane?!' Suddenly, Gippal felt very angry, and his body tensed. Great, now they were mad at each other.

"Rikku-"

"-Gippal," the two managed to say at once.

"Um...you first," he answered.

A moment of silence and then Rikku continued, "What are we? What's going on between us? I've been meaning to ask."

Gippal thought the question in his head, a dozen different answers coming to mind. However, as soon as he looked up and saw that spark in her eyes that he had never seen in anyone else's, that something that made her different, he knew exactly what to say. "Rikku...I, I think I want to be with you."

A smile spread across her face and she leaned towards him, fist clenched over her chest. "Really?"

"Yeah," he replied, a small smile, not his trademark arrogant smirk, but a genuine smile.

Rikku pounced onto Gippal, wrapping her arms around his neck and embracing him in a bear hug. Gippal complied by wrapping his strong arms around her lithe form.

Rikku raised her head from where it had been resting on his shoulder, and she gazed into his eyes. "You just gotta promise one thing though," she said softly, as her face inched closer to his own.

"And what would that be, hmm?"

"You gotta stop teasing me so much."

Gippal snickered and brushed his lips against hers, sending a tingling sensation all throughout his body. "I'll try, but I ain't promising anything." Gippal leaned up and closed the distance of a few millimetres between their lips, giving into the kiss that was destined to happen. The kiss was a soft one, their lips massaging the other's gently, sending chills down both their backs.

Rikku eventually broke the kiss, a small blush encompassing her small face. "We should probably clean up and head back to the beach," she said hardly above a whisper.

Gippal nodded and climbed down to the river, Rikku in hand, to clean themselves of the sticky icing.

---------------------------

The small party had continued long after Gippal and Rikku had returned and migrated into the small village of Besaid. Rikku stood close by Gippal, as they had decided on the trek back to the beach to try to keep it a secret for as long as possible. The two would occasionally exchange glances, which caused Tidus to notice their strange behaviour once again. Out of curiosity, the blonde blitzer went to Yuna and pointed to the couple questionably. "What's with them?"

"OH! Yes, I need to tell you about that," replied Yuna with a grim smile. She dragged her boyfriend to the side and stood before him. How was she going to tell him this? Well, she could just come out with it outright..."Gippal and Rikku...um...hooked up the other night. At the party. They had sex."

"What?!" shouted Tidus, causing a few heads to look in his direction, including Brother. He decided to eavesdrop, and started to walk by slowly, trying to catch as much of the conversation as possible without looking suspicious.

"Geese Yuna!" exclaimed Tidus as he doubled over in laughter. "Rikku and Gippal slept together? You make it sound like a bad thing!"

Brother stopped dead in his tracks as he heard those words slip from the blitzer's mouth. He pointed at the couple who were trying to secretly discuss the topic and yelled as loud as he possible could, "E'S DAMMEHK VYDRAN!" and ran off in the direction of the Celsius.

Yuna's mouth dropped as RIkku ran to her in a frenzy. "Yunie, how could you!?" she cried, and ran after her brother.

DUN, DUN, DUN... Muaha, R/r?