A/N: Here you go! Chapter 8 is here! Enjoy it!

Chapter 8: Night in Town

"Where to, Miss?" the pilot asked as she came into view.

"Where my dad is. I have a mission today," Rikku explained, smiling at the pilot as she entered the ship.

"And the young man?" the pilot asked with a short nod of his head.

"He's with me," Rikku replied. She turned as Gippal entered the ship right behind her.

In a moment, the airship roared to life and lifted up into the air. Rikku sat down in the seat next to the window as Gippal took the one directly across from her. She glanced at him and saw that he was looking at her. His gaze immediately turned away right as she looked at him.

"...What?" she asked him self-consciously.

He turned to her and smirked. "Huh?"

"You were staring," Rikku said in embarrassment, turning to look out the window.

"You're imagining things," Gippal replied with a laugh. She faced him again, sticking her tongue out.

"So..."

She looked up as he began speaking again.

"...Uh...when are we gettin back?" he asked, leaning back in the seat comfortably. He had his legs stretched out so that they were just next to her own.

Rikku shrugged. "Usually doesn't take more than a day. We should be back in time for tomorrow."

"In time for what?" he asked curiously.

She paused.

Oh yeah. I haven't told him about my "date" with Riolen tomorrow. Besides, I...don't even like Riolen anyway. He's just a nice guy, but...hm. Maybe I shouldn't go tomorrow after all...

"I um...it's nothing. Changed my mind," Rikku mumbled, more to herself than to him.

He leaned forward a little towards her. "What, you had something else planned tomorrow or somethin?" Gippal continued.

She shrugged. "Yeah, but I don't think I'm gonna go anymore."

"Yeah? What were you going to do?" he asked some more.

He's asking too many questions. It's actually kinda funny.

Rikku sighed, reaching up to brush her hair back. "Eh, it's just that Riolen asked me out for tomorrow night and I said yes, but I—"

"I thought you didn't like him," Gippal interrupted with his eyebrow raised.

"I know but...I just don't wanna leave him like that, y'know?" Rikku explained, suddenly feeling very guilty with herself.

"Seems to me like you do like him," Gippal said after a while. He looked at her, awaiting her response.

Her eyes flew to him. "I don't like him. Okay?" she said defensively.

He laughed a bit. "Whatever you say."

Rikku leaned towards him, her mouth slightly turned up in amusement. "Hey...why are you always askin' me about who I like? How about this...who do YOU like Gippal?" she teased, remembering how she had eavesdropped on him and that other girl in the alley.

He turned to face her suddenly, as if he was shocked. Or maybe it was her mind thinking he was shocked.

"It's a secret. Ssshh," he winked.

"Hey! That's not fair! I told you who I liked!" She immediately put a hand to her mouth and realized her mistake too late. "I um...I mean..."

He leaned on his knees towards her, smile playing about his lips. "Actually, Rikku. You haven't. Buuut, since you mentioned it now, who DO you like?"

Idiot! Why'd I let something slip out like that!? How can I forget that I haven't told him anything?!

"It's a secret," she stuck her tongue out at him. Gippal laughed, standing up from his seat and moving so that he was sitting beside her. He leaned in.

"That's cute...but...how about a little deal?" he asked quietly, causing Rikku to shift just a bit away from him. She could feel the heat from his body. "You tell me who you like, and...I'll tell you who I like," he smiled.

Her heart was racing at how close he was to her. "N-No way! Are you crazy?!" She turned to look out the window and crossed her arms tightly.

Gippal tilted his head, trying to look into her face. "What are you afraid of, Cid's Girl?" he teased.

She stood up suddenly. In a step, she was sitting in the seat across from him. "You're irritating," Rikku said simply, avoiding his intense gaze.

"Oh c'mon. It's not like I'd tell anyone who you like." He paused for a moment, looking down at his boots. "I'll be telling you who I like too, so it'd be fair, right?" he looked up at her with a smirk.

Rikku sat motionless, completely stunned by his words. She began to feel dizzy all of a sudden as her mind tried to understand what he was saying. Nervously, she began playing with the fabric of her shorts, looking down the entire time.

"Hey Gippal...do I know this girl that you like?"

Their eyes met, and in that split second, Rikku began to feel her pulse quicken again. He smiled as he turned his gaze to look out the window.

"You could say that, yeah..." he said quietly.

She paused for a moment, taking a short breath. The soft hum of the engines filled the room. Outside, Rikku could see the Moonflow and the machina that had been set up for the mission that day. Her eyes turned to look at Gippal's face.

"I um..."

"We're here," the pilot's voice interrupted suddenly. Rikku shut her mouth and avoided Gippal's questioning eyes as she stood up from her seat. Without another word, they gathered their bags and stood up.

xxx

"Took you two long enough!" Cid exclaimed as they trotted up to meet the older man.

"Sorry Pops! I thought you said I had two hours!"

Cid raised an eyebrow. "Hmph. Where did you go anyway?" he asked, pulling off his diving suit.

Rikku laughed nervously and scratched the back of her head, avoiding Gippal's gaze. "Nowhere, Pops! It was really nothing!"

He bent down and grabbed the bag next to him. "Hm...well, enough talk. Get your suit on and get the machina started!" her dad replied, changing the subject.

"Roger!" Rikku answered with a nod. She was glad that her dad didn't ask her anything else. The last thing she wanted was to be talking to her dad about guys.

She removed her item belt and her boots. Gippal stood off to the side, regarding her with his head tilted curiously. He looked up as Cid called his name.

"Gippal?"

"Sir!" he answered.

Cid handed him a suit. "You're going in with her. If anything were to happen down there, you be sure to help out. I'll be monitoring you two from up here too, so don't worry much either," he explained.

Gippal nodded, pulling on the suit quickly. "I understand."

Rikku looked up as Gippal stopped beside her, dressed in a full diving suit.

"Huh? You comin' with me?" she asked curiously, glancing in her father's direction.

"Yeah. Cid's orders," Gippal responded with a wink.

She groaned openly, causing him to laugh aloud.

"What's wrong? Don't want to spend some time alone with me or anything?" he asked with a chuckle. Moving over to her, he lazily draped an arm across her shoulders.

Rikku brushed him away, causing him to grin wider. "Let's just get this over with!" she replied with a huff, zipping up the rest of her suit. He trailed behind her.

The machina was partly submerged in the water and Gippal had begun to climb down into the open chamber.

"Hold it! I'm climbing in first!" Rikku suddenly said, rushing past him.

He crossed his arms, a grin on his face. "Worried I'll see something if you came in last? I thought we were past all this," he laughed.

"What? We're never gonna be past anything!" Rikku replied back.

"Oh really?" he asked quietly, keeping his voice down so no one would hear them. "Why is that Rikku? What makes you think I'd actually look up and get a great view of your ass or something?"

She felt her cheeks warm up and turned away from him suddenly. "'C-cause you're a pervert...!"

He laughed loudly this time, clutching his sides as he almost fell over. She spun around and gaped at him.

"Wh-What's so funny?!"

Straightening up again, Gippal smirked at her. "You are," he chuckled. "Sometimes I wish you were always there to make me laugh like this!"

Rikku paused at his words. She could only laugh slowly in response. Gippal on the other hand, didn't seem to notice anything wrong.

"After you," he said suddenly, motioning towards the open hatch.

She blinked. "Huh?"

"Go ahead. Get in first."

"O-Oh yeah! Alright..." Rikku agreed in embarrassment. He stepped aside as she climbed in.

The hatch closed and they were slowly lowered down into the water.

xxx

"Not bad, Rikku," Cid greeted with a short smile.

The dive had lasted only fifteen minutes, a time that shocked even Rikku. Since the machina had been functioning perfectly, the entire mission had ended quite successfully.

She beamed. "Thanks, Pops!"

Gippal climbed out shortly behind her shaking his wet hair out and running a hand quickly through it. He stopped beside her.

"Anything go wrong down there?" Cid asked the two of them.

They both shook their heads. "Nope."

"Good! At least I know that you're able to handle the underwater missions. We've got a lot of old machina that we need to dig out from under there, and that one you used today is going to be big in helping out. That's going to be your duty from now on," Cid informed Rikku.

She put a hand on her hip, feeling very good about herself. "Alright, I guess I can handle that!" she smiled. Rikku glanced at Gippal and he gave her a thumbs up.

xxx

"Man, am I glad to be back home!"

Gippal regarded her with his eyebrow raised. "But we were just here the other day," he chuckled.

Rikku grinned. "Yeah, but sleeping on that hard airship bed was horrible! With all those guys around too!" she made a face, sticking her tongue out.

He laughed, dropping their bags on the floor. Rikku went over and flipped a switch, making the living room light up.

It was a little bit past 7 in the evening, and Cid had let them both return back home before him. Brother and Cid remained at the Moonflow to gather up any remaining men and move the rest of the machina. They had informed Rikku that they would be coming back home on Sunday.

Rikku went into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator, feeling extremely thirsty. Gippal trailed behind her and leaned against the doorframe in silence. She drank quietly, feeling his eyes on her. The only sound in the room was the gentle ticking of the nearby clock.

"What...?" she asked finally, tipping the water away from her lips.

He pushed himself off the wall and sat down at the table. A smile played about his lips and he had his arms resting on his knees.

"I realized that it's just the two of us tonight."

She almost choked on the water she had begun to drink again. Suddenly feeling nervous, she blinked at him. "Yeah...so?"

He chuckled, standing up from the seat. "Sooo...I was thinkin' that you and I should go out and do somethin.' You know, I've been here for a while now, and you still haven't taken me to do something fun," he suggested with a wink.

Rikku put the cap on the bottle and shut the refrigerator door.

Oh no. I'm supposed to meet Riolen in an hour tonight too! If me and Gippal go out to town tonight, Riolen might see us! What then?!!

The risk was just too large for her, and she found herself torn between two things. If she went out with Riolen, it would make Gippal think that she liked him. But that just wasn't true. If she went out with Gippal...then...

"C'mon, it's not like you have any other plans, right? You said you changed your mind," Gippal spoke up, interrupting her thoughts. She knew that he meant, "changed her mind" about Riolen. He flashed her a grin and began dragging her out of the kitchen towards the front door.

She drug her heels. "I know...but...! I um...I don't think it's a good idea for us to go out like this...Riolen might see us and—"

He stopped pulling on her for a moment and paused. "So what? It's not like he owns you or anything. Besides, you don't like him anyway."

Rikku felt his grip around her hand loosening and she nodded slowly. "Y-Yeah, I know. I just don't want him askin' me why I changed my mind. It'll just seem weird if he sees me with you instead..." The last sentence came out quietly, and she began to feel herself blushing again.

Geez! I blush WAY too much!

At that, Gippal reached down to grab her hand again, pulling open the front door into the warm night air. "Just tell him the truth then," Gippal spoke up. She looked up at him in confusion.

"What truth?"

He laughed. "The truth. You know, that we're going out."

She pulled herself out of his grasp and felt her face burning. "Forget it! I'm not going with you!"

Gippal was laughing. However, his chuckles quieted down as he saw the expression on her face. "Hey, hey! I'm kidding! It's a joke! C'mon...just for tonight, let's have some fun!" He began pulling her again, and Rikku said nothing, mentally cursing the blond next to her.

They reached the town plaza. Around them, people bustled here and there, the blur of people rushing everywhere was common in that area. Gippal finally let go of her hand. He had been holding it firmly in his during the short ten-minute walk, but it made Rikku's heart race during the entire time nonetheless.

She crossed her arms and looked around them, suddenly feeling very, very bad.

This is bad. I shouldn't be out here with Gippal. Even worse, Riolen's probably gonna stop by the house and realize that I'm not home. Omigosh! I'm going to stand him up tonight! I've never done something like that before...!

Feeling awful with herself and mentally scolding her passive nature at immediately agreeing to everything Gippal said, Rikku checked her watch. It was fifteen minutes before 8 PM.

"Man, I'm starved," Gippal suddenly said, holding his stomach.

She looked at him. "Yeah..."

Gippal looked at her strangely and noticed her removed nature. "Somethin' wrong?"

"Huh? Nah...it's nothing," Rikku replied distantly. She shook her head firmly, trying to focus on the task at hand. "Let's just hurry, ok?"

He ran a hand through his hair and nodded. "Sure, that's alright with me."

They began walking across the plaza and towards the dining building. Rikku found herself walking a bit away from Gippal. He glanced sideways at her, noticing how far she was walking from him. She wasn't looking at him, and he frowned.

He was about to open her mouth to say something, when he suddenly felt her hands grip his arm tightly.

"Omigosh, it's him! Gippal, come here for a minute...!" she exclaimed in a whisper.

She pulled him by the arm and he followed her as she led them behind a machina hidden deep in shadows. He still felt her grip around him as she peaked around to look in the direction of the plaza. His gaze drifted over to where she was looking as well and he immediately recognized Riolen.

He was walking in the direction of the residential area, no doubt going to pick up Rikku. Gippal still felt her clutching his sleeve and he glanced at her.

She sighed softly and loosened her grip after a few more seconds. In the darkness, he could see that she looked relieved after Riolen had passed by. He couldn't help but smile to himself.

"Um...ok. Let's go now..." Rikku whispered to him. He nodded slowly.

"You...ok now?" he asked her as they stepped back out onto the sidewalk.

She nodded, looking down at her boots. "Yeah, but I feel really bad now. I never should have agreed to go with him tonight in the first place..."

Gippal reached down to pull her again. They began walking. "I know, but who are you with now?" he asked quietly.

Rikku looked down at their joined hands as they walked towards the restaurants. His grip was warm as they continued to make their way past the crowds of people.

You, Gippal.

End of Chapter 8

A/N: Thanks so much for your wonderful reviews, everyone! I hope you liked this chapter, and I promise that it only gets better in the next one! See you there.