The new day was as swelteringly hot as the one before, though it seemed a bit more extreme to Rikku, who strolled out into the morning heat of the Bikanel Desert still clad in Baralai's overcoat.

Though she was feeling a bit dizzy in the thing, she was determined to keep it on long enough until she saw Gippal and Baralai once again. She forced a content grin on her face as she trailed forward at a slow pace, holding her head high and her eyes wide with determination.

The entrance of the construction site came into view as Rikku continued on forward, and standing by it, she could faintly see Gippal and Baralai waiting, peering around through the desert. Gippal seemed to have spotted her first as he suddenly extended a hand forward, pointing his finger toward Rikku, shouting something to Baralai. Baralai chuckled a bit and waved a greeting to the approaching girl. Rikku considered waving back, but the overcoat seemed to restrict any kind of sudden, quick movement, and she decided against it.

"Cid's girl," Gippal shouted out loudly as Rikku finally came closer.

"Not again," Rikku sighed, hiding a small grin from forming over her face.

"Fyc dra hekrd ihpaynypma vun oui?" ("Was the night unbearable for you?")

Rikku stared at Gippal, lifting an eyebrow suspiciously at his strange question.

"Fryd?" ("What?")

"Fedruid ouin muja, uv luinca!" ("Without your love, of course!")

"Gippal," Rikku gasped out, narrowing her eyebrows. "Vencd, ed fyc JANO paynypma, palyica... E ryja rec luyd-- E cdemm vamd lmuca du res, ajah frah fa fana cabynydat!" ("First, it was VERY bearable, because... I have his coat-- I still felt close to him, even when we were separated!")

Gippal let out an amused laugh, clapping his hands together. She knew Gippal would enjoy that one.

"And second," she continued on, coughing a bit as she switched back out of Al Bhed, "don't you think it's rude that we just talk in Al Bhed all of a sudden and leave poor Baralai confused?"

"Er--"

"Yeah, thought so," Rikku smirked, interrupting Gippal.

"It's okay with me," Baralai added in, stepping a bit closer to Rikku, "I really don't mind it."

"No, it isn't," Rikku insisted, shaking her head. "Which is why Gippal should apologize!"

"Me," Gippal repeated incredulously, glancing from Rikku to Baralai quickly.

"Of course, sayhea," Rikku grinned, "apologize!" ("Of course, meanie," Rikku grinned, "apologize!")

"Uh--"

The three were suddenly interrupted by a loud, booming roar of airship engines sounded from overhead. The three gazed up at the sky, where Cid's airship was pulling up toward the entrance, narrowly avoiding hitting a few people scattered here and there as it came to a stop. The doors on the side of the airship opened up, and Cid led a rather large group of people out toward the entrance.

"Nice going, Pops," Rikku teased loudly, "might as well run over a few people on your way in!"

"Ingrate of a kid," Cid snapped back.

"Meanie!"

Cid shook his head gruffly and turned back around to wave the group that had just came off of the airship over.

"Come on, everyone! We've got a lot of work to do today and not a lot of time to do it!"

"Oh great," Gippal mumbled quietly.

Baralai let out a small laugh at Gippal's comment. He turned around and grinned back at the praetor for a moment before leading the way over toward Cid.

"Now, everyone listen up," Cid began quickly, "we've been getting a little help from Shinra here--"

Cid paused for a moment, pointing toward Shinra as he came forward from the group. Rikku waved rather ecstatically to Shinra-- fighting the urge to put her hands down as the rather restricting overcoat weighed down on her.

"And he found a problem with the new security system we're putting into Home. It turns out, folks, that we've got a little more digging to do."

A rise in quiet, curious talk surrounded them all of a sudden.

"We thought we had cleared the area out pretty well before we started building, but some stuff has been surfacing, I guess, and it's gettin' to be a problem. Shinra thinks that what you're goin' to be looking for is either some old scrap metal still hidden around-- or spheres."

The curious talk suddenly grew a little louder.

"Spheres," Rikku repeated a whisper, looking over to Gippal and Baralai, who looked rather confused, as well.

"You got it right, folks-- spheres. So, the rules here are-- if you happen to find some old scrap metal, you can make a big pile of it yourself and call one of our hover workers over to take it back to the entrance. If you find some spheres--"

Cid paused for effect, looking around at the excited faces surrounding him.

"They're yours for the takin'!"

Loud cheers and applause exploded around the gathering, and the talk amongst everyone had grown even louder.

"Just, uh, don't do anything bad with them, all right?"

The crowd laughed appreciatively at the comment.

"So, I need you all to divide into pairs and head out into different sections of the desert. So, come on over to me in your pairs and I'll assign you a place! Hurry up! Get to it!"

Rikku grinned widely at the news, though she wasn't all that excited about getting spheres. But this was her chance!

Rikku gazed over at Baralai and grabbed his hand quickly. He looked down at Rikku with a sort of amused confusion, tipping his head to the side.

Rikku believed for a moment that she could physically melt-- right there into a puddle on the ground. Baralai was entirely too adorable to handle.

"Come with me," she grinned cheerfully.

"All right, then," Baralai nodded, returning the grin.

"Drana'c y kenm," Gippal's voice suddenly sounded, as he nudged Rikku by the shoulder. ("There's a girl.")

Rikku simply gave Gippal a pleased smile. She wouldn't let him get to her.

"So, Gippal," a voice suddenly called.

The three gazed around and quickly spotted Rin heading toward them.

"Do you have a partner yet?"

"Er... no, Rin. I don't."

Rikku and Baralai both stifled their laughter and escaped the scene before Gippal heard them. Still holding onto Baralai's hand, Rikku led the way forward toward Cid.

"Reporting for duty, Pops," Rikku greeted cheerfully.

"Rikku, what are you doing in that thing?"

"Oh, right," Rikku grinned sheepishly, gazing back down at the overcoat.

"It's not even yours, is it," Cid continued on, glancing at her suspiciously.

"No," Rikku smirked, "it's Baralai's!"

"Baralai's," Cid suddenly trailed off as he looked over at Baralai curiously. "Er-- the praetor's here to dig, too?"

Baralai nodded quickly, "Of course."

Cid shrugged his shoulders, then gazed back to Rikku.

"Well, you two can head over to that hover," he paused, gesturing to the hover to his left, where a small group of people was amassing, "and head out to the southern expanse. Happy diggin' and everything-- so, get going already!"

Rikku chuckled quietly as she slipped Baralai's coat off of her shoulders and handed it over to Cid.

"Here, take care of that, Pops!"

"Right," Cid replied rather half-heartedly.

Rikku laughed a bit more and took Baralai's hand once again as she headed over toward the hover.

"Think we'll find any spheres," Baralai mused aloud as they stopped in front of the hover.

"Maybe," Rikku grinned. "I sort of miss my sphere hunting days-- so this'll be interesting!"

Baralai gave a chuckle of approval to Rikku, nodding his head in agreement.

Suddenly, the hover gave a loud start, the engine roaring above the crowd. The driver hopped out of the front, giving the group a quick once over and an approving nod.

"I'm Itaal, and I'll be driving the hover to the southern expanse today," she greeted loudly. "So, now that our little introduction's over-- get on in!"

The crowd suddenly pushed its way forward, people going this way and that, trying to stick close to their partners. As Baralai and Rikku managed their way in, there was little room left, with a few people still waiting to get in behind them.

"Now, it's not the time to be shy," Itaal shouted out, "squish in! We've got to fit everyone in!"

Everyone tried to condense together a bit more, but the over was still rather lacking in space. Rikku shrugged to Baralai, and he gazed down toward the seats. Baralai quickly slid into the next open space, looking up at Rikku rather expectantly with a shrug of his shoulders.

How perfect!

As the people behind her seemed to be getting a little impatient, Rikku stepped forward a few paces and dropped herself down onto Baralai's lap lightly, chuckling a bit as she gazed back at him. Baralai grinned back and gave Rikku a quick wink.

Rikku gazed back in front of her as she felt a blush burning madly in her cheeks, and the thought of melting into another muddle crossed her mind. He was getting to be too irresistible.

Before she made herself blush even more, the hover suddenly jerked forward and sped off through the sands.

She could only be thankful that Baralai couldn't see her face right then.

Oh, but if only he knew!

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After keeping you all waiting for forever and a day, I finally updated! The random inspiration struck this morning while I was wasting time. XD

Hope you enjoyed! And hopefully I'll get Chapter 5 up soon! XD