A/N: Okay…I'm writing this sooner than expected to clear a few things up.
1) You are not SUPPOSED to know anything about Saleed and Gippal, and their situation-it will all be later explained chapter by chapter.

2) Saleed is mine. I have not made him due to any other character, or of the sort. I apologize if he's similar to something or someone.

3) Sorry about no descriptions. X-x I've been caught up in my - er - brilliant new plot bunny, that I sometimes forget the things that make a story…

Now read! Shoo!

Djose Highroad, Night

The silver crescent moon was high up in the sky, casting a soft glow on the world around it. Stars started to show through the clear night sky, flashing and winking all the while. The ocean below the Djose Highroad was filled with petite waves, rippling quietly past to the rocky cliff before it, suddenly erupting into loud crashes as the water hit the rocky forms full-force.

The sky was thick with humidity, and all nighttime creatures were sleeping lazily in this rare weather. Anyone could clearly tell it was going to rain anytime soon.

Except for Gippal. Normally, he would have enjoyed escaping the hustle and bustle of the temple to come into a night such as this—but right now; the weather was the last thing on his mine. The first being Rikku, and the second being all the annoying bugs hovering around his body.

"Get off!" He muttered, swiping at the air around them. He felt the little black insects splat into his hands as he swiped them, the force killing them immediately. "These things are gross…" He muttered, wiping a dead bug-infested hand on his pants. Finally he let out a loud sigh, turning on the flashlight he had been carrying. Though he didn't need to—the moon gave everything such a light it almost seemed like just before the sun was to rise.

"RIKKU!" He cried into the air, hoping she'd magically pop up from behind a rock shouting 'here I am!'

"You stupid, stupid child…" He muttered, knowing it was plainly his fault. Though, being a man, the easier thing was to blame it on her rather than himself.

"Okay!" He cried shakily into the air with a fake laugh. "Okay, Rikku! You got me-I'm sorry. There. I apologized…PLEASE COME OUT NOW?!" He screamed down the path. But nothing came. He blinked rapidly, giving a frustrated growl at the flashlight in his hand.

"You useless, stupid, piece of trash." He muttered, throwing the flashlight on the ground. "Go do something worthwhile, you—you lifeless thing you!"

Okay. It was official. He was going mad. Insane. Crazy. Since when did he start talking to flashlights? He couldn't deal with this sort of pressure-normally he would have only been a tinge worried that she left, sure…but ever since Saleed came back…

"No. Do not think about that. Keep going—keep walking. She couldn't have gone far…she wouldn't…"

And that's when he heard a gunshot to his left.

…………

Rikku stumbled on a rock that had been lying haphazardly on the ground. With an 'oof' she fell down for the tenth time that evening.

"Why must you TORTURE me?!" She cried at the rock, picking it up and chucking it over the cliff. She waited to hear its dappled little sploosh in the water, but the noise of the roaring waves crashing onto the side of the rock covered it.

In all truth, Rikku hadn't traveled far from Djose Temple. It was too dark to go deep into the Moonflow Pass, (which, mind you, she was terribly afraid of), and she didn't exactly want to go down to the beach that many Spiran's had wasted their lives on fighting Sin. Rikku didn't want to meet the spirits of angry battlers or anything of the sort.

With a sigh she fell down to the dusty ground, where she pulled her knees up and hugged them, laying her head down on the kneecaps gingerly. All her clothes were covered in dirt and dust—she had fallen so much, and veered off the track and into rocks and the mountain wall…perhaps because she was so tired she could barely see anymore. Her face was perhaps the dirtiest of all, because of her hands wiping at it to get he hair out, sweat off, and just because of stress she had pulled at the skin many a time.

"So…tired…" She said between yawns, feeling her jaw widen slightly. The moon almost seemed to be staring down at her, and she shivered, scuttling closer to the mountain wall. Just to her right she could see the starting of the beach, and she shivered once more. She could turn back, go forward, or stay in this nice, safe, yet scary spot.

Well, she didn't want to meet any angry spirits—and she certainly didn't want to meet an angry Gippal.

"Staying here it is then." She said between another yawn. She moved her body so she was lying on her side, her hands clasped underneath her head like a temporary pillow. It was so warm tonight; she didn't need to worry about a blanket. With another yawn she blinked a few times, wondering where she could go.

I could go to Luca…maybe somethin' nice there…back to Besaid? Nah, I'm personally sick of Yunie, as harsh as that sounds. Umm…Kilika? Why bother? Not…Bevelle…

Rikku felt herself yawn again, and her thoughts were starting to drift away from her grasp.

Mt….? Calm…temple, maybe…Zanarka—

Rikku's eyes flew open, and she sat straight up for the second time that day. She felt the same feeling she had that morning…an eerie one, like something was watching her…

She stood up suddenly, her eyes widened from paranoia. "Stay calm…" She murmured as quietly as she could, momentarily closing her eyes and sliding her hand into the pouch that held her garment grid.

Crack. Thump. Thump. Clank.

Rikku's eyes opened again, this time now vivid with fear. Those sounds—someone was coming. Someone was coming very close-and fast. She didn't know what roamed around at night, for her, Yuna, and Paine had always found a place to stay the night, rather than just outside in the open as she was doing now.

The first dressphere that popped into her mind was soon found in her grasp. In a second, she had transformed, her weapon held firmly in her grip, waiting for the thing to come.

"Bring it on." She growled, as she saw a shadowy figure turn the corner.

………

Gippal gave out a yelp as he gave a wild turn to his right, falling to the ground on his front. He splayed out his hands so he got a fairly safe landing, but a moment later he collapsed. Fear ran through his veins, and he immediately stood back up, his hair now wild and his heart pumping wildly.

A bullet. A bullet had just whizzed past his head. He had narrowly died, and just barely survived. This was insane.

Get your weapon…GET YOUR WEAPON! A voice cried in his mind.

Hurriedly Gippal fumbled in his pouch. The small tool fell to the ground, and he cursed his trembling hands. He hated being caught off guard. As he bent down to grab it, he froze as he heard another bullet whizzing above his head, where he would have been if he had still been standing. So maybe he had to thank his trembling hands.

Whew. Close one. He thought, shaking as he stood back up. Okay, grenades are easy; he'd used them all the time. First, pull the tab. Good, good…

He gripped on tight to the grenade, and leaned back as if to throw it, which he was about to, in the direction that the bullet had come from.

But something came at his legs with such a force, at such an amazing speed; he felt his knees buckle underneath him. His body fell to the ground a second time, and once more he cursed, though this time it was to the thing that had hit his legs. As he got up on his knees, something came and kneed him in the back. He let out a grunt and tried to twist his body, but whatever was holding him had him in the tightest grip. Probably a stinking bandit

"Shove off!" He cried, rearing up from the ground so the thing that had been on his back fell to the ground. He heard a helpless squeal escape it.

Wait…squeal?

He spun around, eye wild. "Rikku?!"

………

"…Oops." She managed with a shaky smile and a quiet, yet nervous giggle. How was she supposed to know it was Gippal? Rikku had thought it had been a bandit, or an abnormally shaped fiend. She did have to pride herself on being a good fighter, though. Two well-aimed bullet shots and an awesome kick to the legs were nothing to frown upon. But…if one of those bullets had hit him…

Gippal seemed to be thinking along the same lines.

After unwillingly pulling her up from the ground, he blew up.

"ONE OF THOSE THINGS COULD HAVE HIT ME RIKKU!"

She stayed silent, knowing to wait until he was done venting.

"I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR YOU ALL NIGHT LONG, TRYING TO SAVE YOUR UNGRATEFUL BUTT, AND WHADDYA DO?! ATTACK ME! WITH BULLETS, FOR PETE'S SAKE! I NARROWLY MISSED THEM, RIKKU! NARROWLY! HOW COULD YOU—WHY DID YOU—"

He sputtered uselessly for a few moments, his arms making useless, yet wild, motions. Rikku crossed her arms, tapped her foot, and narrowed her eyes at him. His voice quieted into silence, and she gave a heavy sigh.

"Look, Gippal, it's nighttime. I was nervous, and scared. I thought you were an enemy! After two-no-THREE years of traveling over Spira and fighting big bad guys, you kinda get the impression there's somethin' evil lurking in every corner. And it's not my fault my aim is so good." She added with a sly smile.

"The moon is shining like the sun." Gippal stated through gritted teeth. "How could you not see me?!"

"Who said I couldn't see you? I knew perfectly well where you were. I was just scared because it was nighttime, not because of the amount of light. I'm just nervous at this time of day. I'm not used to being alone out here. And besides, I wasn't really looking at you when I came up and attacked you…"

Gippal sighed and shut his eye, as if this would calm him. It seemed to.

"Why did you run away?" He finally asked.

She blinked. A number of times, actually. Gippal wasn't freaking out. He was actually asking a normal, sensible question! Too bad Rikku didn't want to answer it.

"You should know." She answered snobbily.

"Is it because of me?"

"Maybe."

"Rikku."

"Do you know, or do you not know?"

"WHY do you think I'm ASKING?!"

"Fine. It's because of you. Happy?"

"No. Elaborate."

"You told me to get out." Rikku sniffed, feeling her eyes well up with unwanted, and what she had thought were used up, tears.

Gippal sighed heavily. "I just meant out of the room."

"Why? So you can goggle over your many pictures of women? Some that are of women that aren't even NEAR your age?"

Gippal frowned. "No. Because I was disappointed in you."

Disappointed. Wow. That wasn't a word she had heard used on her in quite a while. Usually everyone was saying "good job!" or "well done!" but never disappointed.

"Oh."

There was a terrible silence. "Do you know what you look like when you're mad?" Rikku finally asked, feeling her lip tremble. She bit it to try and steady it.

"Annoyed? Aggravated? Frustra—"

"CRAZED, Gippal!" She finally cried, uncrossing her arms and laying them at her sides. "CRAZED. You looked like a maniac. I felt so…so small, and—and inferior…" She sniffed, but continued.

"You look like—like you're insane. You look completely different, ya know? You just, totally change, and it's too much to handle with you yelling already, but then you have to look…crazy?" She let out a small hiccup, and clamped her hands over her mouth. THAT was what had really been bothering her. As weird as it sounded, but Rikku hated being scared of someone she thought she was so close to.

Gippal sighed heavily and walked over. He placed both hands on her shoulder and bent down so the two were level. His eye was filled with sadness, and Rikku immediately felt guilty.

"I'm sorry." He said quietly. So quietly, Rikku almost couldn't hear him.

"For what?" She sniffed out.

"For being a jerk." He said with a small smile. "I never actually meant to scare you so much you'd run away…"

He sighed and stood up once more, running a hand through his hair. "Do you know why I actually don't have as many pictures as you?"

Rikku was silent, realizing a blush was creeping into his cheeks. "No." She finally said suspiciously.

He sighed, and his cheeks were pink again. "This is just to clear things up. It's because…because….Icagirjunmyu…"

Rikku let out a small giggle as he looked at the ground. "I'm sorry. I didn't catch that."

"Because—because if I had the chance to look at a picture of you, I would!" He finally cried, and Rikku saw his ears grow red as well. She blinked.

"Huh?"

"I had to get rid of all your pictures because if they were just sitting in that drawer, I would look at them. All the time. In fact, I probably wouldn't stop. That's why I thought you might think me as a stalker, or something. But I guess you got the wrong impression…"

Rikku felt herself blushing too, and coughed. "So you mean…you don't hate me?"

Gippal shook his head fervently. "No!"

"And you…don't keep those pictures in there because you like them more?"

"No way."

"And you still love me?"

"Ye-WHAT?!" He asked, his eye growing wide. "That's cheating Rikku!"

She giggled and grabbed his arm. "Of course it is! I don't play fair." She winked at him. "Now come one. Thanks very, very much for coming out to save me, but we should probably head back to the temple now."

Gippal didn't move. His body froze to the ground. Rikku turned around and frowned slightly, tugging at his sleeve harder. "Err-Gippal? Come on?"

He slowly shook his head. "We can't."

She felt her jaw drop. "Can't?! Why not?! I miss my bedroom thing already! Gippal? Please?"

He shook his head again. "We can't Rikku."

"W-Why not?" Rikku's lip trembled again. Well, she just thought she had gotten a stable life. Sure, there was Wynter, and sure, she had to do paper work, but now they couldn't go back?

"But it's your baby." Rikku added with a small pout. Gippal grinned sadly.

"Yea…but we just can't."

"Why. Not." Rikku growled. Gippal eyed her warily.

"Are you sure you want to know?"

"YES."

"Positive?"

"YES."

"Abso-positively?"

"YES." Rikku said, grimacing.

"Fine." He said with a small frown. His eye seemed to darken immediately, and Rikku felt a little worried. She let go of his jacket, and instead moved her arms to hug her chilly arms instead. And they weren't cold because of the air.

"Rikku—to put it bluntly—you're in danger."

Her jaw dropped. Again.

"I'm—what?"

"In. Danger." He said, without trace of a smile.

"You're joking."

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"I'm in danger of what?"

"Oh, you know. Theft, kidnapping, maybe a little torture—oh, and death."

Her stomach churned, and she felt her legs weaken. "D-Death? From what."

"No time for that now." He said, his voice suddenly urgent at Rikku's change. She now looked quite sickly. "We need to get out of here."

"What's—here?"

"This place."

"SPIRA?!"

"No, genius. Djose—Moonflow. ESPECIALLY Moonflow Pass. Now come on-we need to cross the beach."

"NO." Rikku said firmly, feeling herself come back to normal almost immediately. "I can handle death threats, but I cannot handle dead spirits."

"Dead spirits? That's a little redundant." Gippal said with a cocky grin.

"You know what I mean."

"Do you want to live?"

"Yes."

"Then follow me."

"No." She said again, feeling even more tears spring at her eyes. Gippal seemed to notice her wariness, and came closer to her again. He looked down at her, forcing her to look up.

"What?" She asked meekly.

"Look, I know I didn't tell you about your dangerous situation in the most pleasant way. In fact, it was probably second worst. But you can worry about it later. I know that sounds cold-hearted and mean, but unless you actually want to survive this ordeal, you'll come with me."

"B-B-"

"I'll protect you." He finally said quietly, grabbing for her hands and holding them in his large ones. She felt her cheeks grow hot, but looking up at him once more, he looked dead serious.

She felt the tightened muscles in her body relax.

"Promise?" She asked shakily. He nodded firmly.

"Promise." He stuck out his pinky, and she let out a smile, entwining her pinky with his. They shook their pinkies and both gave a soft laugh. Gippal held onto her hand though as they walked slowly down the path.

"Are you gonna be okay?" He asked. Rikku nodded, though it was a lie. Inside, she felt sick.

But she decided Gippal was right. She could deal with the shock of death—in fact, it was so shocking, she just felt numb, really. But she would deal with it later. The first thing she would need to do was cross this ghost-infested beach.

With Gippal safely guiding her…or so she hoped.

A/N: Another kind of filler chapter, though not really. Okay, nevermind, just ignore that. Umm…hope I did better on describing the areas and not leaving such gaping holes everywhere-I hope it didn't just confuse you, or anything. Thanks to Gippikku for letting me know Nhadala's age. Gippal is a very dirty man. Heehee.
AGAIN: You are not supposed to know why and how Rikku is in danger. T'is all explained in the next chapter. I'm not good at this... But hint: it has to do with Gippal and Saleed, thus the secrecy.

And when he asks her if she wants to live, and then he says follow me, I just realized while going through it again it sounded like off of my Casper movie. X-x WEEEIRD. Er—anyway…

Review please, I hope you liked it!