A/N-Man, there is something seriously wrong with fanfiction! Whenever I get my review notification e-mails, they're always repeated, like I got 29 reviews and like 15 of them were from the same person, over and over! Has anyone else been having these problems, or am I just all alone? --# Well anyway, thanks for the reviews! Know that I am trying my hardest to update as much as possible, but also know that I have a life outside these computer walls! wink wink Hee-hee! Anyways, I think I'm just gonna start uploading once every week on Saturday because my homework and after school activities are starting to pile up, ya know? Alright, enough chatting!
♥Every Heart♥
Chapter Nine: Ambivalence
I turned around and walked to my room as soon as the two were out of sight. A nervous feeling enveloped my tummy and I opened my door, flopping down on the bed. I sure hope that this morning's incident had blown over! I sighed and stuffed my face into the pillow, blotting out the world's problems, if only for a split second. Facing the ceiling, I stared at the blankness of it, counting the dents and blotches that decorated it. The stench of the outdoors and my sweat invaded my senses and I decided that I needed to take another quick shower and change into something less heavy.
Sliding off of my bed none too gracefully, I skipped towards the bathroom after grabbing a light blue tank top and white shorts, closing the door quietly. The shower didn't last long and as I stepped out of the bathroom clothed in my outfit, I wrung my hands together, a nervous habit that I had. I looked left and right, wondering where the heck Gippel was. Heck, why was I even nervous? It was Gippel for crying out loud! Laughing at my foolishness, I plastered on my usual cheery smile and skipped around the temple, looking around for the Machine Faction leader.
"Looking for me?" A voice behind me made me nearly jump out of my skin. I squelched a loud squeal and jumped around to face none other than Gippel himself, the usual smirk etched onto his arrogant features. Pouting playfully, I punched him on the arm and lightly smirked as he winced, trying quickly to cover it up.
"Ha! That's what you get, you big meanie! Hmm, I don't even know my own strength!" I chirped, examining my knuckles. Gippel snorted rubbing his wounded arm and glared at me from him left eye.
"Tch! Please, like you could hurt me." I pouted again and raised my arm and my eyebrow, daring him to say more. Waving his gloved hands in front of my face, he backed away and then crossed his arms. "No, don't do it again. I wouldn't want you to…er…hurt your hand." I grinned and rolled my eyes, tiptoeing over to him, hands behind my back.
"Oh, alright, I get it. So, where to?" Gippel uncrossed his arms and waggled one finger in my face, grinning.
"Nuh uh uh!" he said in a singsong voice grinning. He turned around and walked outside the double doors, pausing briefly for me to catch up. I pouted momentarily before walking beside him, the sun's rays glaring down at us. He knew that I just couldn't stand it when people had secrets that they wouldn't tell, either if it was for safety reasons, or just to annoy me, his reason being the latter, of course. I groaned and got into his face, moving along with him as he turned to avoid my gaze. Grinning evilly, I plastered on my famous puppy eyes and made a whimpering sound, looking sad as he locked eyes with me. My façade fell as he smirked and rolled his eyes, shaking his head.
"I've fallen for that face too many times. Do you really think your puppy eyes are gonna get to me now?" He chuckled as I scowled and fell in step a couple of paces behind him, moping.
"Hmph! Fine! If you're not gonna tell me, I'm not gonna talk to you!" I huffed and crossed my arms, my boots stomping on the dusty ground. He continued to laugh, obviously not believing a word I said. Back when we were children, I would always pretend to be mad at him when he did something mean, and for the first few times he believed it and would tell me he was sorry, but after a while, he knew that I could never be really mad at him. I couldn't help his contagious laugh and soon my scowl was replaced by a bright smile and I caught up with him on his right, feeling cheery.
He looked down at me and smiled slightly before facing the front again, his heavy boots crunching against the sand. I took a moment to return the smile, my eyes traveling upward to his face. His spiky blonde locks were stiff as the breeze brushed past us and from his profile I could only see his black eye patch. I admit that I still felt really bad about how he got his eye patch, but I shrugged it off when I remembered him telling me it was not my fault, and that he had been glad that I was ok. I smiled internally. The guy seemed like he didn't care sometimes, but he really was just a softie. I giggled, covering my mouth with my left hand, trying to conceal my bubbling laughter.
"What's so funny?" Gippel faced me once more, continuing his walk. I swatted my right hand dismissively, still giggling at the thought of the word 'softie'.
"Oh, nothing, nothing."
"Oh, come on. You can tell me." I rolled my eyes and shook my head, the beads on my braids gently hitting my forehead.
"You're so nosy, you know that?"
"Oh, you're one to talk." I elbowed him, glaring.
"And what's that supposed to mean?!"
"Oh please. Don't act all innocent."
"Hmph!!!" He chuckled again and walked faster.
"Oh fine, I'll leave you alone. C'mon, we're almost there." I smiled as we approached a big hut on the side of the road. It had a tropical look to it. Different assortments of flowers lined the hut as deep green vines encircled it. A stone pathway lead to it, and island music happily jingled around the place.
"Hey, this place looks cool! How come I've never seen it before?" I asked Gippel, walking inside.
"It was recently built, about two weeks ago," he answered shortly, sitting down at a table nearest to the outside. He motioned for me to sit down before handing me a menu. Eagerly, I opened the menu and scanned the contents. A waiter soon came by, dressed in a Hawaiian shirt and cargo shorts, a boyish grin on his face.
"Sup, dudes? May I kindly take your orders?"
"Uh, yeah. Just get me today's special and some sake, alright?" Gippel replied first, handing the waiter the menu.
"And for you, miss?" The waiter turned to me, flashing a flirtatious smile.
"Um…what do you recommend?" I asked, returning the smile.
"Personally, I prefer the Tahiti fish burger, with a chocolate milkshake."
"Sounds good! I'll have that," I chirped and handed back my menu as well. The waiter winked at me and walked away, disappearing behind the doors that lead to the kitchen.
"You were flirting with him." My eyes widened and I looked at Gippel, who had an unreadable look on his face. Scowling, I glared at him.
"I was not! And even if I was, what's it to you?" I squinted hard at him. He scoffed and faced the outdoors, looking out at the dusty road. After a few seconds of silence, he took out a white stick. Curious, I leaned in to see what it was, but quickly reared back once he lighted it and placed it in his mouth.
"Hey! That's a cigarette!" I exclaimed. He rolled his eyes and took it out with his left hand, quietly blowing smoke from his mouth.
"No shit, Sherlock."
"Hey! Don't be all smart-alecky with me, mister! Smoking is bad for you!" And as I said that, I skillfully swiped the evil stick out of his hand as a protesting look covered his face.
"Hey! Give that back!"
"No," I stated simply, raising the stick in the air. "Smoking is bad for you. It makes your lungs all black and stuffs, gives you bad breath, yellow teeth, lung cancer, and slowly kills you. Plus, it has icky stuff in it!" I finished, searching his face for a reply.
"What's your point?" he ground out, reaching across the table for it. I easily maneuvered my fingers, twirling the stick in the air like baton, smirking at his weak attempts to get his cigarette back. Suddenly, he grabbed my hand and started to try and pry the stick out of my hands.
"That's cheating!" I growled, forcefully pulling my hand back.
"Oh? Are there rules?" Gippel narrowed his eye as he focused solely on the stick, a yearning look in his eyes.
"You want this cigarette?"
"Oac! Huf keja ed du sa!"
"No." I narrowed my eyes and with a quick upward press of my thumb, the cigarette broke in half, its contents spilling onto the floor. Gippel's eye followed the stuff slowly, his mouth hanging open.
"No! My cigarette! It was my last one!" He clutched his head in despair dramatically and I rolled my eyes.
"And it will be your final one. Starting tomorrow, you're gonna use a nicotine patch and you're gonna go into withdrawal," I stated firmly, nodding my head.
"What makes you think I'm gonna listen to you?"
"Well…I don't think Pops would want an Al Bhed leader that smokes, don't you agree?" I asked innocently, waiting for his reply. I heard him sigh in defeat, sitting back down in his chair.
"Fine. I won't smoke anymore stupid cigarettes. Rybbo?"
"Yes, very," I replied happily. The sound of swinging doors caught my attention and the waiter placed our entrées onto the table.
"Enjoy! If you need anything else, just call for me." And with that, he was gone to assist another table. Grabbing my burger with my hands, I chomped down onto it, savoring the taste of fresh fish.
"So, what'd you wanna talk about?" I asked after a while, gulping down my milkshake. He chanced a glance at me, locking emerald with emerald.
"What? Just because I asked you out to lunch, you think I want to talk about something? Don't you think I just want to spend some time with you?" He feigned a hurt expression, bottom lip jutting out and quivering. I laughed, shaking my head. He grinned back at me, taking a bite out of his meal.
"Alright, alright. You got me there. As you probably suspected, I just want to make sure you're okay with this marriage deal." How many times had I contemplated this already? I still didn't really know, but since I didn't feel like I totally hated the idea of it, I guess…
"I'm fine with it," I replied simply, sucking the rest of the milkshake out of the straw.
"Really? You sure? Cause I've been thinking, and if you don't want to go through with it, I shouldn't make you," he said quietly. I stared at him.
"Really?" I squeaked out, still surprised at his generosity.
"Yeah…" He scratched the back of his head, grinning sheepishly. I leaned back in my chair, rubbing my chin thoughtfully with my right hand. I had a choice? This was a nice feeling. If I said I didn't want to marry him, I'd probably hurt his feelings and make things awkward with our friendship, and I didn't want that. Plus, Pops wouldn't be too happy, and when Pops is unhappy, it makes me sad, so that would ruin my mood for a while. And if I told him I wanted to go through with this, how would I feel? I studied Gippel's expression. It was no joke, I really did have a choice. He was staring right back at me, tensely awaiting my answer.
Coming to a decision, I stared into his eye and opened my mouth.
"Gippel, I…"
Djose Temple- Leblanc and Yuna
"Where are they?!" Leblanc screamed, running up to Yuna. Confused, the ex-summoner faced Leblanc.
"What are you talking about? Where are who?"
"Don't play dumb with me, missy. Gippel and Rikku! Who else?! I'm supposed to be their wedding adviser! I must keep track of them at all times!" Leblanc flipped back her blonde locks, pink lips frowning.
"Oh! Didn't Gippel take her out to lunch somewhere?"
"I thought he was taking her out to lunch here…Oh, no wonder I couldn't find them. Oh well. I'll just wait until they come back, and then I'll let them have it. Ahahaha…Yes…a dinner date sounds perfect, don't you think?" Without waiting for a reply, Leblanc sashayed away, forming a romantic plot into her mind.
A/N-Sorry it took so long to update! Tell me, do you think that Leblanc is a little OOC? Is this story going to fast or too slow? Am I losing my touch? Do you guys hate it now? Tell me, tell me! I'd like to fix any problems you guys might have so you enjoy this story! Weee!!! Make me proud and review! Thanks!
Moshi Moshi Mai
Translations:
Oac! Huf keja ed du sa! : Yes! Now give it to me!
Rybbo? : Happy?
