Disclaimer: I don't own FFX or FFX-2

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huggles reviewers Yaysh, thankies. And yes, don't worry, this will turn out to be GippalxRikku fan fic... Just wait x.X

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The two had been in Bevelle for over an hour now, well on their way to meet a Leije's mother. He had led her past a corner, down an alley Rikku didn't even know existed. Nervously, Rikku bounced as she walked; this didn't look like a part of Bevelle at all. Graffiti masked the walls of the alley, illegible symbols stretched across them.

Leije stopped walking, discomfort clearly etched across his features.

"What is it?" she asked him, anxiety in her voice.

"It's just... This isn't how I remember it. Everything's so unfamiliar..." He shook his head, dismissed his thoughts and continued to lead the way.

And so they continued, a quarter of an hour, until Leije stopped in front of what was once a large abode. Rikku gasped aloud, and immediately silenced herself; she couldn't help it. The building was completely burnt, crumbling and caving inside itself. Its roof was completely caved in, and the remains of it was lying on the floor of the once beautifully furnished house.

Meekly, Rikku edged through the doorway, Leije numbly following behind her. What was left of the furniture was cloaked in years worth of dust. It was as if the building had been burned down for nearly a decade.

"L-Leije?" she called out uneasily. "When was the last time you were here?"

"I don't rememb-" he was cut short from answering as Rikku clutched his arm and steadily stared ahead of her. Following Rikku's gaze, Leije noticed that amidst the rubble, he saw a middle aged Al Bhed woman. Her hair was cropped short, and her green eyes surrounded by red swollen circles. Her arms hung limp at her side; she seemed to be staring straight through them. Not once did those eyes blink.

"M-Mother?" Leije whispered, hardly trusting his own voice. This seemed to shake the woman, who gazed at her son.

"Leije, honey. You're home." She wheezed, dust spurting out as she exhaled. "It's so nice to see you again."

"Ma...?" Pyreflies swarmed around the figure ahead of him.

"She's.. she's an unsent!" Rikku shrieked, glancing at Leije. He said nothing, but you could tell from his features he was dazed.

The figure disappeared all together; Leije just blinked.

"She's gone," He looked at Rikku, desperately. But her gaze had rested somewhere else; amidst the blackened furniture was a sphere.

---

Leije had been too distraught to head back that day, so Rikku respected his wishes and they stayed at an inn, leaving the next morning.

Along the Djose Road, the two walked back in silence, contemplating what they had witnessed.

"I-I'm really sorry," Rikku finally stuttered out, destroying the uncomfortable silence.

"Don't be," he replied, mind still wandering, trying to grasp the contents of the sphere they had viewed. His mother's death. The burning of his house. The Yevon perpetrators that had destroyed his home nearly a decade ago, as soon as Auron left on the pilgrimage.

Realization dawning on Rikku, she immediately blurted out the first thing on her mind: "Your mother was Al Bhed?"

Leije shifted nervously. "Yeah. So?"

She eyed him carefully. "You don't look Al Bhed. You look like Auron... Sort of."

"Yeah, well, don't blame me; blame the gene pool."

"You sure that was your mother?" Leije just glared at her in response.

As they neared Djose, a few workers stared at them, and immediately yelled out in Al Bhed, heads cocked towards the Temple. Almost instantly, Gippal burst through the doors, angrily making his way towards his two workers.

"Where were you?" Gippal hissed, eyeing Rikku and ignoring the fact that Leije was with her.

"I was gone. Important business," Rikku flashed a smile at him, completely avoiding giving him a straight answer.

"You left without reporting to me, and without finishing up the Tacdnuoan. Not only did you ditch work, but you didn't come back until today. And what's he doing with you?" He spat out, the last part with a little more emotion than he had wanted to show.

"What's it to you?" Rikku narrowed her eyes in a playful manner, a smile still resting on her lips. "I'm sorry if I upset you. I promise it won't happen again."

Gippal physically relaxed. "Yeah, yeah, Cid's Girl. Just watch it, aight? Or one day you're gonna find yourself jobless."

"Ha! Yeah right, you wouldn't dare. Pops would flip on you if you fired me." Rikku stated, causing Gippal to smirk.

"Whatever you say, Cid's Girl," He left the group, presumably back to work, cocky manner back in his stride.

---

Gippal paced in his office, thoughts and emotions crowding his head that he just couldn't quite understand. Papers covered the desk, calling to be dealt with, but he just ignored them. He couldn't work his best when his mind was wandering.

He thought he was over Cid's Girl, he really did. And things had been fine; so what if Rikku wasn't in love with him? Plenty of other women were - he'd had his fill, that was for sure.

It was strange though; he was surrounded by beautiful women constantly giggling at him, anxious for him to look their way, and yet he wasn't really interested. Sure, he went out with almost every female he ran into, but it wasn't because he was attracted.

There was no way he would ever turn down a date. There was always a chance that he might click with someone - that it might be love.

Gippal cringed at that thought. Man, if someone could read his thoughts he would be so incredibly screwed.

To tell the truth, he had only been in love once. He had been young and stupid; he had ignored that girl, hoping that his feelings would vanish. They didn't. So one day, he acted on impulse, intent on showing this girl they way he felt. Things didn't go as well as he had hoped; she had slapped him and called him all the dirty Al Bhed names she could think of. Well, that was the last time he was going to fal in love, and the last damn time he was gonna admit it.

Rikku and Leije were friends; that was it. Nothing to worry about. But then... Why had those two run off together? And hadn't been back till the next day? What'd they do, take a little vaca at the inn and jump in the sack?

No, no, no. Rikku wouldn't do something like that. She wasn't like all of the other girls he dated. She was stronger than that. ... Right?

---

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Leije," Yuna bowed her head and extended her hand towards the dark-haired man.

Leije had been a little uneasy at the prospect of travelling back to Bevelle, but had given in when Rikku stared at him with her trademark puppy dog eyes. Rikku and Gippal had accompanied him, the latter coming to visit his "old friends" from the Crimson Squad. Personally, Leije thought he may have had a very different reason for attending to them.

Taking the High Summoner's hand, Leije was then introduced to the current headfigures of Spira: Baralai and Nooj. A spirited, blonde hair, blue eyed man was also present, presumably the High Summoner Yuna's husband. In the back near the two leaders stood a very solemn crimson-eyed woman with cropped dirty blonde hair. She had a dark look to her face, almost dripping with sarcasm.

Yuna's eyes had lit up when Rikku had formally introduced Leije as Auron's only child, and the young man Tidus grinned.

"Is that all, Rikku?" The praetor Baralai questioned the Al Bhed with a solemn look. When the girl blushed and mumbled a little 'yeah...', he smiled.

"It's been awhile since we've all been together. Thank you, Rikku, then, for calling this little gathering. What do you say we relax for a few days and catch up?" Baralai suggested.

Rikku's features instantly lit up. "Really? That'd be great!" She nudged Tidus in the stomache. "It's been awhile, eh?"

"I agree with Rikku. I think I'd like to get to know this... Leije," she smiled at him. Rikku raised an eyebrow and Leije looked away.

---

Rikku pushed herself against the brick wall, perspire dripping down her forehead. She had almost got caught that time. What would Yuna say if she saw her cousin spying on her?

The Al Bhed had a good enough reason, though; Yuna and Leije had been talking for nearly three hours now! What were they talking about, anyway? She couldn't hear what they were saying, maybe she should get closer-

"Cid's Girl, what in the name of Home are you up to now?"

"Aghhh!" Rikku slammed her back against the wall and screeched, causing the objects of her spying to turn towards the noise. Grabbing Gippal's arm and running away from the wall, she turned on him.

"Why'd you have to sneak up on me like that? I could have been caught!"

"Looks to me like you were doing the sneaking," Gippal had a suspicious look in his eyes.

"Ugh, whatever. I was just making sure Yuna doesn't get any ideas. She's married, she can't have- Oh, just leave me alone," Rikku glared at Gippal and stomped off, angry but not knowing why.

"What was that?" Yuna asked, bewildered. "Was it Rikku again?"

"Yeah, I think so. That's the third time I've seen her sneaking around."

"Better not let on that we saw her. She'll take it as an insult." Yuna giggled. "So, what were we talking about?"

"Erm... Rikku."

"Oh, yes, Rikku," Yuna mentally cursed herself for forgetting. They had spent the first hour and a half discussing Auron, and during that time Leije had pledged loyalty to her, as her father would have. The rest of the time had been dedicated to discussing... well, Rikku. Gippal had come up a few times as well, but she couldn't imagine why. And speaking of which, here it came again.

"Gippal and Rikku seem pretty close," Leije commented, hearing their voices yelling a little ways away.

"Yeah, I said that once myself. You know," Yuna lowered her voice, looking fairly mischievious, something she had surely learned from Rikku. "Gippal once told me that they had dated,"

Leije's eyes narrowed in response. 'Figures...'

---

Tidus, will you please just listen to me?" Rikku pleaded with her friend, who just shrugged his head.

"Not if you are going to talk about Yuna again," he turned away.

"Ugh! If you'd just come with me and see them together, you'd feel the same way I do. You should just see the way she looks at him!" Rikku glared at no one in particular.

"Good Lord, Cid's Girl, will you just cut it out? Tidus is married to her! She's not going to cheat on him, so stop flipping out. Besides, why do you care so much?"

She didn't dignify Gippal with an answer; Rikku merely spun around and stalked out of the room, slamming the door behind her. What was wrong with her, anyway? Why was she feeling... jealous?

Gippal narrowed his eye(s) as he watched Rikku's form slip out of the room. Soundlessly, he followed her out, making sure the door didn't creak as he closed it. Tidus just watched them with a blank expression and yawned. They were both crazy as far as he was concerned.

Glancing outside, sure enough, he saw Rikku in between Yuna and Leije, giggling and drawing herself closer to Leije every second. It made him sick - watching Rikku strive for the attention of another man. Why the hell does she care about him so much, anyway? What's so special about him? So what if he's Auron's son, that doesn't make him better than another man. That doesn't make Leije better than him.

'I don't know what to do about this. You know, I don't care about her, so it doesn't matter. I need to get back to Djose and those girls, I need to forget about this shit...'

Gippal went back inside to chat with Tidus, disgusted with the scene set before him.