Disclaimer: I do not own these characters... never will. No matter how much I try blackmailing Squaresoft in Japan to give them to me :/ .. they just won't give them up, will they? :[ I should steal their Saki!
Author's Notes: The first chapter was really short and not so interesting, but I worked long and hard on this one to make it better! Next chapters' are going to have a lot more other FFX-2 character involvement so it won't be such a snooze, but right now it's Rikku/Gippal focus time. F o c u s with me now .... okay, done focusing! Thank You for the good reviews! I'll update often ^_^! Please R&R. Oh! Sometimes I put quotations like this "*example*" between **... that means they're speaking in 100% Al Bhed. I didn't want to translate those because it would've been too confusing to read considering what they say is pretty long!
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Heavy breathing... Rikku's chest slowly pounded up and down as she swayed to and fro, practically dancing to an invisible rhythm of her own. There was a chill in the air, clearly noticeable through the frosty huffs of breath escaping from her lips, but she was still sweating up a storm. Her cold sweat drew a path past her brow, down her check, and quickly flew off her chin as she rapidly dodged an attack from a fiend; her blazing green eyes glared as she counter-attacked with her double daggers and annihilated the beast. She bounced back into a new position after the attack and she finished it off with her little victory dance. Afterwards, she skimmed the area for more fiends; when she realized there wasn't anymore to battle, she grinned, dusted off her hands, and skipped back to Gippal's tent, where she usually went after her contribution to Home was completed to tell him the news.
While she was walking to Gippal's tent, a brave young Al Bhed worker came up to her, clearly interested, and started a conversation, joining her on her little walk. Rikku didn't mind the extra company. She always liked to make new friends. When Rikku and the worker got to Gippal's tent, they spotted Gippal sitting attentively at the entrance. Rikku gave out a large wave to Gippal, which caught his attention and he started to stand up to greet her. The worker suddenly became so nervous and started to move frantically in his spot. For some reason, Rikku spotted Gippal eyeing the worker in an expression that clearly told him to back off or go away. Gippal in his heavy armor, and being his natural broad self, towered the small average worker, making him look weak and fragile.
"*I...I was just having a little chat. Th-that's all..nothing else. In fact, I was .. just about to leave, uhm. Bye!*" Said the worker to Gippal, before he sprinted away fast as if he were running for his life. Rikku watched him leave, clearly puzzled. She shrugged her shoulders and then looked at Gippal, who was grinning at the fleeing worker. She raised her eyebrow at him.
"What was that all about, hm Gippal?" She lightly laughed at the awkward situation and nudged Gippal's arm with her fist. "He ran away the second he saw you!"
"What does it matter?" Gippal told her, then he smugly said, "He's long gone now, and I'm sure you won't be seeing much of him anymore." He said with a cocky smile.
"Aw, how come? Did you do something bad to him, Gippal?" She said, leaning forward at the man she yearned to learn so much more about.
"Who knows? E zicd sekrd..." (I just might...)
"Pid fro?" (But why?) Asked Rikku.
Gippal looked at her and avoided the question. Gippal made sure no one would dare come close to Rikku. It was already rumor-spread once that Rikku was his girl by the Gippal himself, but everyone really knew that he was just messing around... or was he? No one dared to find out. It was obvious though, both Rikku and Gippal were clueless with their feelings for one another. Noticing it was as easy as spotting LeBlanc in a pile of dogs. Wait a second... that is pretty difficult. Anyways, Gippal turned around and started to head back towards his tent. When he got to the entrance he lifted up part of the opening and motioned Rikku to enter in a very gentleman-like way. He said to her, "Myteac vencd." (Ladies first.)
"Oh...uh, hehe. Alright." Said Rikku, a little nervous, since it was her first time being invited into his tent. She walked into his tent, being very excited. Gippal was just about to enter when he heard some bystanders call out his name. They were cheering him on about getting Cid's daughter into his tent. Gippal smiled, knowing all the others were envious, as he stepped into his tent. He stopped smiling when someone yelled out what would happen if Cid caught him with his daughter.
When he walked into his dimly lit and barely organized tent, he saw Rikku already poking around at his stuff curious about everything. He found it adorable yet bothersome at the same moment. He walked up to Rikku and then asked her to take a seat. She browsed around for a chair, but with no luck... (or luck) she decided to sit on his bed, and crossed her legs.
"Wow, anxious to get it on in my bed, aren't yah?" Gippal teasingly said. "Cid's little girl's finally going through puberty! Who would've thought?" Gippal watched the shocked Rikku react to his comment by standing up on his bed; the top of her hair almost brushed against the roof of the large tent.
"Hey, hey, hey! Don't get any wrong ideas now Gippal! You told me to have a seat... I'm surprised that this big huge tent doesn't have a single chair in it!" She quickly said, overreacting to his comment. "Ooo...and you know I have a name! It's --"
"Cid's Little Princess." Rikku froze in place, then flopped back down on the bed after eyeing Gippal for a brief moment. Rikku figured it was a tad bit better than 'Little Girl' but she wouldn't let Gippal off so easily this time when he misnamed her. She opened her mouth to defend herself but Gippal wasn't quite finished yet. "Plus, I may have wrong thoughts, but it doesn't mean I dare to do them." Gippal smirked a sinister grin. The sudden open-minded remark surprised Rikku as she flushed with embarrassment and her cheeks were quickly turning into a redder tone with every passing moment. Her anger with Gippal had vanished and Rikku felt flattered. Also being uncomfortable with the situation, she suddenly felt the urge to quickly change the subject.
"Uh, uhm... I finished with all the fiends today! There's not one single fiend around Home." Rikku told Gippal with a sense of confidence in her voice. It's been almost three weeks now since all she's been doing was fight fiends. The exercise kept her in amazing shape and the task was easy for her, though she really wanted to bust out Machina Maw and do some serious building. One of the main reasons why she didn't mind fighting fiends was that every now and then, she would catch Gippal staring at her. Rikku loved getting his attention, good or bad, all that mattered was that she was on his mind. After spending most of her time with Gippal after work, she grew a liking to him. Rikku, since ever, was always infatuated with Gippal's manly looks. From his spiky blonde hair, to the mysterious eye patch, and his manly body the armor little could hide, she always wondered what it would feel like being wrapped in his arms. She didn't mind the teases he always gave out either, as long as they weren't too serious; she had grown accustomed to them. The teases settled day by day, but every once in a while they would reappear. Shockingly, Gippal even gave out compliments to her about her hard work.
"That's what I wanted to talk to you about." Gippal said, still standing.
"Am I doing something wrong?" Rikku asked, worried about her performance.
"No, you're not. You're pretty good, Rikku. Maybe even better than me."
"Naymmo?!?" (Really?!?) Asked Rikku, feeling complimented, yet pondered at his conceitedness at the same moment. She smiled, actually glad at the thought.
"Hu." (No.) Gippal said firmly.
"Ooo..Gippal!" Said Rikku as she lifted her leg and bumped Gippal's thigh for the joke he just pulled. He smiled at her and watched her do her little cute girl reaction. Gippal loved watching her. Of course he didn't want to be caught dead doing it, but everything about her made him feel happier since she was always so happy. Gippal knew he wasn't the most upbeat person, or friendly, kind... the list can go on and on, but all he knew and started to realize was that it was always Rikku who still cared for him no matter what he was like. She made him feel special even after all the rejection he placed on her, it didn't make her hold a grudge or be disgusted by him compared to all the other girls he knew. Yuna was disgusted by his rudeness, it was obvious, and Paine well... must he say much? There were many girls in his time; being the leader of the Machine Faction and such a studly man, it was hard for girls not to fall to his feet. He knew though that these girls' emotions and feelings towards him weren't real though. It was more worship than anything else when it came to liking him. Yet, Rikku was different. It seems as if she wanted to be his friend, she didn't ask any much more than that. Usually, when it came to girls and Gippal, he was either trash or treasure, but when it came to Rikku, he just couldn't tell.
"I want you Rikku..." Gippal said to her, not knowing that he just said that aloud.
"F-fryd?" (W-what?) Rikku looked at him with a weird expression, and she wasn't sure if she heard wrong or not.
Thinking quickly, Gippal replied, "I want you Rikku, to start building with the workers. Machina Maw could be useful with the final touch-ups. I figured I'd give you a chance to do something you'd want to do, just because I'm the nicest guy in the world. Cid wouldn't be too happy either if he found out one day you were eaten by fiends."
"Ah, Gippal! Are you serious!?" Said Rikku as she stood up on the bed once more and bounce a bit in place. She was unsure if Gippal was being real with her or not since he had already pulled one too many jokes. She didn't want to get her expectations too high over being able to build. If Gippal was kidding with her, she swore to be angry with him.
"Of course. I'd be drowning in deep shit if you really got eaten! Wouldn't want that happening now, right?" Gippal told her, smiling.
"Ooo..DRYHG OUI CU SILR, GIPPAL!" (THANK YOU SO MUCH, GIPPAL!) Rejoiced Rikku as she jumped in air and landed in his arms to hug him. Gippal stumbled back a little bit from the surprise attack and tried to catch her, but the impact was so quick and sudden that he tripped over himself, bringing Rikku down him.
"Rao! Gippal, E haat ouin ramb! --" (Hey! Gippal, I need your help!) THUD. Rikku and Gippal didn't hear Brother, who was yelling for Gippal, over all the chaos that was happening. Brother was just outside Gippal's tent and overheard the big smash in Gippal's room and figured it was just some Machina that had dropped. He then opened the flap to go inside to ask Gippal a question about the Celsius. He was asking the question while he was walking in until he was cut off by the sight of seeing Rikku on top of Gippal on the floor. "Dra Celsi--RIKKU!?!" (The Celsi--RIKKU!?!) "*What is going on in here! What are you doing on top of Gippal? Ahhhh! Rikku!!!*"
""Brother! Ah! It's not what it looks like!*" Said the red-faced Rikku as she tried to quickly get off of Gippal, but his armor had caught onto one of her sleeves, making her stumbled on him once more. Gippal 'Oompf!'ed, having been just kneed in the balls, and curled up in a feeble position, grabbing his just-harmed jewels.
"Ah! Gippal! I'm so sorry!" Screamed Rikku as she placed her hands on his. Her body was covered with dirt from the floor, and so was Gippal, who had it worse.
"*Now what are you doing?! Let go, Rikku! Don't try to hide it! I can't beli--*" Brother was going mad in Gippal's tent over the situation. When he spotted Gippal's bed, which looked worse than the situation on the floor since the sheets were messy, he freaked out even more, cursing in Al Bhed.
"BROTHER!" Yelled Gippal, completely annoyed and angered by Brother's reaction. He was still grimacing on the floor, as Rikku let go and backed off, she sat inches away from Gippal feeling hopeless as both Brother and Gippal started cussing at each other. She knew Brother was not going to listen to her, and what if he told dad? She'd be in trouble...but not as much as Gippal would be. "*GET OUT! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU! YOU UGLY--*" Gippal and Brother just wouldn't stop freaking over the situation at each other. Rikku was mad with Brother also, having him barge in like that and assume things, so she quickly got up and ran over to Brother who was going insane. The first thing she had to do to stop the commotion was to get rid of Brother.
"Brother! *Get out of his tent! I'll explain later!* Go, go go go, go! *Ooo, come on you big jerk!*" Rikku was shoving her Brother out the door; now Brother was telling Rikku off while he was practically tripping over himself being pushed out the door by the angry Rikku. After being successful, Brother was cursing still, then Rikku asked him not to tell father and that she was going to explain the situation in a moment. There was a small crowd swarming the tent as many overlooked the situation. Brother didn't care though, he still went mad until Rikku punch him on the arm really hard, causing him to wince and shield his arm with his other hand. "CRID IB!" (SHUT UP!) She told him then that it wasn't what it looked liked, and he would find out what happened if he would just calm down and listen to her. She turned him around and told him to head back to the Celsius. Brother groaned, and swung his arms like a monkey before finally trusting his sister and walked away. Rikku tightened her lips as she watched him walk away and then quickly went back in the tent to see Gippal once more.
When she went in, Gippal was still on the floor, just half-laying there. He looked up at Rikku, very surprised to even see her dare to come back in his tent. She ran up to him, dropped on her knees, and then flung her arms around his neck and embraced him. She whispered in his ear, "Cunno yht dryhg oui...Gippal."
Then she quickly got up again and ran out of his tent to catch up to Brother. Gippal smiled as he got up from the floor and started to dust himself off. The sand in his hair would take forever to wash off... great. Even after kneeing him in the nuts, and having his head ache with Brother's protective calls for his sister, he felt alright. He was angry, but after Rikku told him sorry and thank you, he couldn't help but fall victim for her caring ways. Under his breath, he said, "Oui'na famlusa."
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Author's Notes: Ta da! That's chapter 2 of the many chapters up to come! This one focused mostly on the beginning of Rikku's and Gippal's appreciation for once another. Next ones will get more juicier & juicier! I swear I like that word.. juicy. Haha, oh well! Thank you for reading my story and the next update is coming soon! Please review your opinion and tell me some things you disliked or liked...! Hmm...maybe this one wasn't as long as I expected...do y'all want it longer? Tell me please!