hey people. it is I, the mastermind behind this story. here is another chapter. Read and Review, and enjoy.
(wow, that note was despairingly short)
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Dream A Little Dream
Chapter 18: Complicated sunsets
Rikku was walking along the deck of Kilika, wandering aimlessly, fruitlessly trying to find parts that might be able to repair Kuppo's monitor, and some of the A.I parts fried during the fire and the fall. Rikku sighed. Luckily no data was erased from her memory core. Hopefully she might be able to upgrade Kuppo to have a higher memory capacity with a faster reaction ability, to avoid future mishaps like this.
"That is, if I ever find anything useful here" She muttered in frustration. She had been shopping for nearly four hours with nothing to show for it except a growing frustration with the lack of machina parts and sore feet. Pau trailed after her like a little child, eating a sugared Paupo Shish kabob. She looked at the Moomba with some amusement, watching it happily eat the sweet fruit it was named after. After the whole falling fiasco in Zanarkand, Pau had been very reluctant to leave her side, thinking that she would get into trouble if it wasn't there to watch her. It was amusing really.
"I want to go head over to Besaid next after this," She said, both her hands braced behind her head, Kuppo perched on her head, and Pau trailing after her, oblivious to the world, too enamored with it's sweet fruit kabob to care.
"Not like I'm able too, anyway. Who does Gippal think he is, telling me to stay put until he could get here? He's not the boss of me. Why am I even listening him? I don't need a baby-sitter." Rikku pouted. She glanced back at her orange pet/friend.
Pau gave her a look that clearly read: Yes. yes you do need a baby sitter.
"Yes, yes you do need a baby-sitter, princess." A wry voice said to her right. Rikku visibly jumped.
"Will you stop sneaking up on me?!" She snapped.
Leaning in the shadows of one of the stalls was Gippal, arms crossed, his expression a mix of irritation, relief, amusement, and some other emotion she couldn't identify.
He walked towards her, not stopping until they were nose to nose. (Of course, she was shorter then him, so it wasn't very even. More like nose to forehead, she had to tilt her head to see his eye).
"You deserve it sweetheart, after taking ten years off my life like that." he said.
"I'm fine, as you can clearly see. And don't call me sweetheart. Rikku. Riiiikkku. Say it with me. Riii-kku, and I'm perfectly fine." She growled at him, stabbing him in the chest with her finger.
"Physically, maybe, but mentally? I'm not so sure." He remarked dryly "Who would go running in to a raging fire like that?"
"Um....you?" She rolled her eyes at him. After all, she had seen him in the blaze, before she fell.
"Touché" He said, still not moving away from her.
"Humph, see? If I'm mentally unstable then so are you, you jer--" She never got to finish, he slammed his mouth against hers. Drank his fill like a desperate man in the desert and she was the water. His arms went around her and he pulled her into an un-seen niche in the wall between shops, so they wouldn't be standing where people could easily see them.
Even as Rikku's arms went around his neck, and even as she kissed him back wholeheartedly, she felt like she was doing something out of a romance novel. Er. Not that she read anything like those. It just seemed like one of he scenes that might happen.
This kiss went on and on, and Gippal didn't seem to be in any rush to stop right away, or anytime soon for that matter.
Rikku was getting dazed, either from the lack of oxygen, or the earth-shattering kiss that Gippal was currently so concentrated in giving her.
'It must be the kiss..' Rikku thought dizzily, 'who needs....air......?' Her thoughts broke off as Gippal tore his mouth away from hers and started nibbling on her neck. She whimpered, heat exploding all over her body.
There was a soft snarl from Pau, but both of them ignored it, too busy in their ardor to touch one another then to listen to the disapproving Moomba.
"Where is Rikku?" A voice asked, worried exasperation riddled her tone. "You don't think she left again, do you?"
"Dunno, Gippal said he'd find her" The voice of Paine and the imistakable voice of her cousin drew closer.
Rikku yelped, almost soundlessly, tearing herself away from Gippal and franticly fixing her rumpled appearance. Gippal just watched her, amusement at her flustered state, and irritation at whoever interrupted them. "Pau" She whispered almost desperately, "distract them."
Pau jumped into the boardwalk, right in front of the two girls. Rikku still franticly tried to gather her scattered thoughts and fix herself.
She looked up at Gippal, feeling herself flush at the look in his eye. "I got some of my lip-gloss on you...." Rikku muttered, reaching up and gently brushing away the, mocha flavored lip gloss from his mouth. She was so busy staring into the Machina Faction Leader's eye that she dimly noticed what her friends were saying.
"---oomba? What is it doing here?" Paine's voice, laced wit amusement and pleasant surprise said.
"I don't know. Oh, it's so Cute!" Yuna gasped.
They were faced in the other direction, so they wouldn't see Rikku and Gippal walking out of their dark little corner. Pau was currently mesmerizing them with it's now luminescent blue-green eyes. The kind of eyes baby animals looked at you with. Yuna practically melted with adoration at the sight. Paine, not so much, but that didn't diminish the amusement in her eyes.
Pau, seeing that she had gone out of her little corner with Gippal standing right behind her, with her appearance fixed (you'd never have guessed that she was locked in a passionate make-out session with the hunky Faction leader not two minutes prior.) and relatively composed, bounded past the two girls and to her.
Paine and Yuna turned, following the Moomba, to see Rikku and Gippal standing there.
Yuna's eyes brightened at the sight of Rikku and rushed forward to give her a hug, all the worries that she had been hurt (even after her call) rushing out her body to be replaced with relief.
"Rikku!" The high summoner cried, enveloping her little cousin in her arms.
"Yunie!" Rikku said jubilantly, She had missed her cousin (even though she was the one trying to stay away from them.)
Paine however was looking with curiosity at the Faction leader, who hadn't taken his eye of her bubbly blond friend. He glanced at her, she arched her eyebrows and tilted her head towards Rikku in an inquiring manner. He gave her a nervous grin and a shrug.
Her ruby eyes narrowed slightly in that 'You're-hiding-something" expression.
He shrugged. A clear 'I-don't-know-what-you're-talking-about' gesture.
During the Time they had both spent in the field training to qualify for the Crimson Squad, Paine, Gippal, Baralai, and Nooj had gotten to know each other so well, they had unconsciously created an un-spoken language between them, using their gestures and expressions (though they weren't aware of such a thing) to communicate.
"Gippal." Paine said in acknowledgement, though her eyes were still tinged with suspicion.
"Dr. P" He said nodding back, eye flickered in her direction before going back to settle on Rikku.
"We've been looking for you Rikku." Yuna said, looking at her cousin who was still at an arms length away from her.
"I've been staying at the inn." Rikku said, stepping back and placing a hand on Pau's head.
"Oooh, that moomba is yours?" Yuna asked.
"Yep. Pau, Yunie. Yunie, Pau." Rikku said. Kuppo, who was sitting on one of the stall ledges chirped.
"Oh. That's Kuppo" Rikku said, pointing to the little bird, who chirped a welcome to Yuna.
"Is that a Machina?" Yuna asked, staring at the bird in amazement.
"Yep"
"Where did you get it?"
"Erm.....Well, Gippal gave it to me and--" Rikku started.
"Gippal?" Paine interrupted. Shooting a glance at her long time companion, who was currently very interested in anything but the three girls.
"Yes..."
"Gippal gave that to you?" Paine asked again, motioning between Gippal and Rikku.
"Yes..." Rikku said, a little uncertain. "Why?"
"Oh.....nothing..." Paine said, trying very hard to keep a straight face. "That's...." her mouth twitched "....interesting."
"What is?" The blond girl pouted. "Paaaaine! Teeelll Mee!"
"Nothing to tell Rikku" The stoic girl said, and watched as Rikku huffed, muttered vaguely about going back to the inn and stomped away, Gippal trailing after her. Paine and Yuna left staring at them. Yuna, confused, and Paine very amused.
"What was that about?" Yuna asked, frowning slightly.
"Like I said to Rikku, Yuna, Nothing to tell." Paine grinned. "Yet."
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"Oi, would you wait up a sec? Geez, what's the rush?" Gippal complained as he was jostled by the Kilika Shoppers, pushing past them distractedly as he tried to catch up to Rikku, brushing by a man with a strange green hat, who watched him with a peculiar look.
The blond stopped and spun around. "What gave you the right to grab me like that?" She snapped, more to cover up her flustered state of mind then in actual anger.
Gippal just grinned that 'you-don't-fool-me' grin. "You weren't complaining"
Rikku reddened. And Gippal burst out laughing. He grabbed her hand. "Don't be such a baby, c'mon, lets go" Still holding her hand, he dragged her along the streets and walked her back to the inn.
"I could have found my way here on my own, you know." She muttered, still slightly red in the cheeks, mainly because he was still holding her hand.
"What's going on Rikku?" He asked abruptly, his fingers tightening almost painfully on her hand.
"What are you talking about?"
He snarled, pulled her into her room, closed the door and pinned her against it. "Don't give me that crap. Tell me what is going on."
Rikku couldn't look at him, "I don't know what you're talking about, nothing's going on."
He slammed his lips against hers, almost as if he wanted to punish her, nearly bruising. He tore his mouth away from hers after what seemed like an eternity.
"Why won't you tell me?" He asked quietly. "Why do you keep running away?"
"Gippal....."
"Why do you keep running?" He repeated, he bent forward touching his forehead to hers and then he said, so quietly she almost missed it. "Why won't you let me protect you?" The breathless resignation in his voice tore at her heart.
"Gippal, I'm a big girl" Rikku swallowed. "I can protect myself"
He reached up, touched her cheek with the back of his gloved hand. "You have grown up haven't you? Does that mean I'm not allowed to look after you now?" He asked, thumbing her cheek.
"I....Of course you can still look after me. But no commenting on my singing. Got it?" She said.
He chuckled, and kissed her lightly. "But you sing horribly-ow! Hey!"
"What did I just say?" she snapped, but grinned.
"It's the truth-you tired?" Gippal said
She yawned, and nodded.
He swooped down and carried her bridal style to the seat near the window and placed her on his lap.
"Go to sleep then" he said, and kissed Rikku's forehead.
"You'll be here when I wake up?"
"I'd be a poor body guard if I wasn't, right?"
"Okay..." She snuggled closer to his chest. "Goodnight, Gippal"
"Good night, Princess"
---------------------------------------------------
"Damnit! We lost him again!" A man yelled in the corner of the Kilika bazaar.
"We'll find him, he was with a blond girl" a woman said, rubbing the man's back.
"Heh, blond huh?, The leader's kid?"
"Think so. All these Al' Bhed look alike anyway"
"They think they can just waltz in and take out temple, damn them."
"The Burning Zanarkand didn't help either" the woman spat. "Now we're going to be in trouble with the superiors because we burned it"
"whose fault was that, who's idea was it to burn those worthless ruins anyway?"
"Don't care, but we're the ones going to get blamed for it. How hard is it to assassinate some second rate leader that like playing around with stupid parts anyway?"
"Obviously harder then we thought, he's still alive isn't he?"
"Sir" Another man stepped out of the crowed, his green hat distinguishing him. "He's at the Inn. with the blond girl. He seems to care a lot about her. We take her and she should come willingly."
"Should?" The man snapped. "I don't want 'should' I want you to be a hundred and ten percent positive that if we do take this chick that he'll come."
"oh he'll come alright. the trap is already set, now we just have to wait."
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ahhhhhh! Finals! I'm sorry that I couldn't get this up faster. I think I'll fail my finals, and won't be able to get to collage and then I won't be able to get a good job, and then I won't be able to afford food and clothing, but that's okay, who needs food to survive anyway? I live on love. Stupid finals! Read and Review! ;
