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Chapter 3: A relationship?

"I remember." she said slowly, surprised as he reached for her right hand.

"It meant a lot to me, you know." Gippal whispered.

"What do you mean?" Her heart seemed to skip a beat as he leaned in and his lips met hers in a tender kiss.

Before she knew what she was doing she kissed him back. It was like one of her dreams and she was sure that she'd wake up every minute.

... but she didn't wake up. All she felt were his warm lips on hers and that she was stroking his hair.

He pulled away suddenly and she almost felt the pain of rejection as he whispered: "E muja oui."

She couldn't believe that he had really said that – and at the same time she wanted it to be true. She had denied her feelings for so long, she had been afraid to be rejected and she knew that she had to say something or he would think that she rejected him.

"E muja oui." she repeated and watched him as he stared at her, his eyes shimmering with joy. He wondered if her heart was beating as fast as his one and he wanted to ask a thousand questions at the same time but all he did was smiling.

She loved him... Cid's girl loved him... Gippal breathed in slowly. "Can you... can you say that again?" He knew this sounded odd to her, maybe she would think that he was crazy but he had to hear it again. He just had to make sure that he hadn't been dreaming.

Rikku smiled at him. 'He's always this self-confident and now... He was afraid, too. He thought I would reject him.' she realized and whispered again: "I love you."

A great smile appeared on his face.

"I could get used to hearing this, you know." he whispered softly and then kissed her again until they had to pull back to catch their breath.

"I could get used to that, too." Rikku snickered and then stared at the man next to her.

"Well, I know that I am a good kisser." he grinned and she smacked his head playfully.

"Hey, why did ya do that?"

"Who said you were a good kisser? I just said I could get used to it." she snickered again and he encircled her waist with his arms, pulling her closer.

"Now I'm really hurt, Rikku."

She knew he was smirking into her hair while his chin rested on her head. But then his voice became more serious as he began to talk again.

"You know that you broke my heart when you left without telling me you would. And that kiss... I have to admit that I my mind didn't work fast enough or else I wouldn't have let you go away that night but when I found out you were gone... when your father told me you were on a secret mission."

He stopped and Rikku knew that this was difficult for him. He usually didn't tell someone – not even her when they were closer friends – what was going on inside of his head or in his heart.

"Then, I wanted to go after you and drag you back to HOME so there would be no chance for you getting hurt and then..."

"The you joined the Crimson Squad, didn't you?" she asked, touching on of his hands with both of her own hands.

"What were you thinking during that night when you kissed me?"

"I didn't know if I was going to return and I was madly in love with you – even then when I was just a teenager – and I... well, I just wanted to kiss you."

She blushed and was glad he couldn't see her flushed cheeks.

"Aw, don't tell me you're flushing, Cid's girl." he provoked slightly, not letting go of her as she tried to stand up.

"Don't be so mean right now." Rikku sighed and leaned back. "Maybe we should go back to the others."

"Why?" he asked and his lips were touching hers once again.

"Because someone is going to look after us and when it's Brother or even my father who finds us together then you have to run as fast as you can, I guess."

Though this idea was kind of strange both of them couldn't help but laugh.

"You know, if I were scared of Brother and Cid finding out about us... well, let's say I don't care what Cid thinks."

"Hm..."

"What are you thinking about?"

She sighed and then answered. "I think the Gullwings are out of duty so there is no YRP anymore."

"That means we'll have a lot of time to spend together." Gippal whispered and it made her heart skip a beat. "You're not going on another journey and leaving me behind again?"

"Why do you think I would leave after tonight?" she asked and turned around to look into his eyes. Though it was dark around them and she could hardly see anything around them Rikku noticed that he was frowning.

"Tell me, Gippu."

"Gippu?" he laughed and she joined him.

"Well, OK, you tell me and I promise not to call you that again."

"You're so relaxed tonight, you didn't shout at me for kissing you and you said that you love me." All of those words came out of his mouth in a few seconds and Rikku blinked before she realized what he had said.

"Is that so unbelievable?"

Her right hand touched his cheek and he leaned onto it.

"Well, I still think this is a dream and I'll wake up every minute." Gippal murmured slowly, trying to avoid her gaze.

"I'm not a dream, Gippal. I love you, never doubt that."

The way she smiled at him made a grin cross his features again and he stood up, pulling her with him.

"Let's go back and then..."

"What 'and then', Gippal?" she asked though she knew what he was going to say by just looking into his eyes.

"Aw, come on. We'll tell Cid, let him shout or whatever he wants to do and maybe he will accept our relationship in a few years."

"A relationship? You mean something serious?"

"Of course, all or nothing, that's what I think."

"Did I tell you how much I love you?" she asked before the went back to the others.

TBC

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