Shadow of Darkness

Thank you so, so, so much Teef, kingleby (again and again! I'm so flattered you like it so much!), and milkie! I'm so glad you're all enjoying SoD so much! And.. on with the next chapter!

Chapter 5:

"And that's why I need to borrow the airship," Rikku explained. She slapped her hands down on his desk to emphasize her need.

Gippal pressed his fingers together. "Well, that is quite a serious dilemma you have there."

"So you'll let me borrow it?" she asked hopefully. Maybe he wasn't so bad after all…

He gave a small chuckle. "Now wait just one minute. I didn't say that."

Or… maybe he was. Rikku groaned and stomped her foot childishly. She hated him! He was absolutely, completely, without a doubt infuriating!

Gippal smirked and held up his hands. "Now now. Before you have a complete hissy fit on me, I'm willing to lend it to you, for a small price."

She eyed him warily. "A small price huh? How much are we talking here?"

He leaned forward with a grin. "How much do you have?"

And right then she knew she'd have to be careful. She knew he would try to charge her more than she had if she told him how much she really had left. She made her expression desperate. "I only have 300 gil," she said.

"Oh, too bad! I was thinking more along the lines of… ohhh, 500."

"I knew it! Ha! Hand it over bucko!"

"You knew what? I don't have to hand it over- you only have 300, remember?"

She smirked triumphantly. "So you thought. I lied!" She pulled out her money pouch. "750 gil. 500 are yours. So hand over the keys, flyboy."

"500? Did I say 500? I meant-"

"Uh-uh," she interrupted, wagging her finger at him. "You said 500 gil and I want it at 500. Unless you want to reduce your price. I'm game for that."

He grinned and leaned in close, his face just inches from hers. "I'll be willing to reduce the price if you can convince me well enough."

She grimaced and placed a hand on his head, shoving him back. "Ew! Not even if you paid me."

Gippal leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. "Well, aren't you a bitter one?"

She sighed, annoyed. "The keys?"

"Sorry kiddo, no can do."

Rikku narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean?"

"Uh… I mean exactly what I said. Which is No. Can. Do."

"Why!?" Again, she slapped her hands on his desk, this time in frustration.

Carefully, Gippal pushed her hands away. "If you don't knock it off, you'll break the furniture." He leaned back in his chair casually. "Anyway, I can't hand over the keys- well, I can, but they'd be worthless. See, over a month ago, I had the Celsius' engine dismantled and all her workings gutted out. Your ex-airship is useless now."

"What?!" she squawked in sheer horror. "You're lying!"

"Am not. We needed the parts. What else could we do?"

"You can reassemble it! Gippal, this is an emergency!" she cried, "Yunie could die!" She climbed onto his desk and seized his shirt, shaking him back and forth with vengeance. "Fix it and fix it now, dammit! If she dies I'm blaming you!"

"Ow, ow! Watch it, you nut!" He pulled out of her grasp. "You need to settle down, kiddo. Getting worked up won't solve anything."

"I can't settle down! Yuna could die. And if she does…" Rikku slumped limply on his desk and tears formed in her eyes. "They're blaming me, Gippal! They are saying that I tried to kill her." Now she really started to cry. "Just because I'm an Al Bhed…"

Gippal stood and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Hey. I already told you that getting upset wasn't going to solve anything. Calm down."

She looked up at him, sniffling. "But doesn't it ever bother you? The things they say about us?"

"Nah, of course not. I don't let it get to me," he said so easily that Rikku had a feeling he was lying.

Still, she managed to force up a watery smile. "I guess being cocky has its perks, huh?"

"Yeah…" Suddenly, his neck and ears flushed red and he pulled his hand of her shoulder quickly, as if it was a hot iron.

She gave him a weird look. What was his problem?

He walked quickly towards a filing cabinet and gestured wildly about. "Get off my desk, will you? You're sitting on important paperwork."

"Oh, sorry." She slid off the desk and, because she was suddenly irritated and wanted to annoy him as well, she purposefully knocked several stacks of papers off the desk.

"You did that on purpose," he muttered.

"Oh, I'm just rotten to the core," she said with sarcastic delicacy. "Bad Rikku." She slapped her hand.

He made a face at her and crouched down to reorganize the mess. Feeling a bit guilty, Rikku knelt beside him and helped.

"Listen," Gippal finally said, tapping a handful of papers on their side to straighten them out. "I have an airship of my own. It's smaller than the Celsius, but it flies." He seemed quite obsessed with his stack of paper. He kept tapping it on various sides, as if it wasn't adjusting right. "It's available, if you need it."

Again, Rikku eyed him suspiciously. "How much will this cost me?"

"Free, dummy."

"Free? Yeah right."

"I'm telling the truth. But there is one condition."

She lifted an eyebrow. She didn't like conditions, particularly if Gippal was giving them. "Okay… what is this condition?"

"I pilot."

"What? Why?!"

He held up a finger. "First, you don't know what you're going to come up against with this Plague. According to your story, this Tidus guy was almost too hard for you to fight off. You'll likely need some help. And besides, I'm a bit curious about this Dark Plague myself. I don't think Djose's been hit."

She had to admit he made a fair point. "And is there a second reason?"

"Yeah."

She stared at him when he didn't continue. "Well? What is it?"

He grinned and held up a second finger. "Second, there is no way in hell I'd ever let you pilot my baby." He laughed at her when she gasped, offended.

Rikku scowled at him. "Ooh, you stupid… stupid meanie!"

Again, Gippal laughed. "I'm not stupid or mean. I'm cautious. There's a difference." He wrapped an arm around her neck and ruffled her hair vigorously. "Word on the street is that Cid's girl is a klutz."

"I am not!" And she proceeded to trip over her own two feet, scattering the papers she had just cleaned up.

He smirked. "Ah, what was that?"

"Mnod ob ::Shut up::."

''''

Later that evening, Rikku followed Gippal deep into Djose's temple. Eventually they reached a chamber that had been transformed into a hanger filled with half-finished airships and machina galore. A handful of Al Bhed milled around, working on various projects.

"Mikkeb!" Gippal shouted over the clanking of metal and general chatter.

A short, lithe old man trotted over. "What do you say, Gippal?" He grinned youthfully at Rikku. "And what a beautiful companion."

Rikku flushed and smiled.

Gippal rolled his eyes. "I say don't hit on Cid's girl."

"Cid's girl? Rikku?" Mikkeb chortled. "Why, I haven't seen you since you were knee high!" he said cheerfully.

Gippal sliced his hand through the air before Rikku could reply. "Enough of the small talk. The girl and I are leaving in a few hours. I'll need you to handle operations while I'm away."

"Ah, you and the lady alone?"

Gippal snorted. "Not like that, you dirty old man!"

"Yeah, I already told him not even if he paid me!" Rikku chimed in.

"You're not helping."

"Who asked you?"

Mikkeb laughed again. "Okay okay. Yeesh, kids these days can't take a joke." He shook his head. "So, how long will you be gone?" he asked Gippal.

Gippal cast a sidelong glance at Rikku. She shrugged. "It could be a day. It could be a lot longer. We're looking for someone and we only have a few clues."

The old man nodded. "All right. I'll keep everything under control until you come back Gippal."

"Thanks." He motioned Rikku to follow him again. "The ship is further down this way."

"It must be small, if you can hide it behind a few machina," she commented.

He shrugged. "Well, yeah. It's probably about… oh, a third the size of the Celsius."

She squawked. "Do you even have an engine in it!?"

"Of course. Come on, kiddo. You think that, after all the time we spent here tinkering, we can't build a more compact engine?" He snorted. "Honestly…"

They rounded a corner and came up to a sleek black and silver airship. It looked like a slimmer, curvier, more compact version of the Celsius. Only way, way cooler. "Whoa! And this is yours?!" Rikky asked in disbelief. Gippal didn't need something so incredibly cool.
"Yep." He gave the hull a loving pat. "I'd like you to meet the Cid's Girl Squisher."

She gave him a look. "Come on. You named it the Cid's Girl Squisher?"

He laughed. "Nah… But it has a nice ring to it, don't you think?"

"No," Rikku said flatly. She circled the ship, trailing her hand along the smooth metal exterior. "What did you name her?"

He shook his head. "Nothing yet. It's hard to find a fitting name."

"How about The Cocky Bastard?" She smirked.

He gasped, aghast. "How could you call such a beautiful airship such a cruel name?"

"Easy. I take a look at her owner."

"What a demon you are."

She leaned against the nameless ship. "So, what is it that's going to take a few hours to complete?" she asked, ignoring his previous comment. "Why can't we leave now?"

"Well, as you have probably noticed, I am the Machine Faction leader. I have some things I need to finish before I leave. Besides that, I haven't used this baby in a while." He patted the ship tenderly. "She's going to need a bit of time to warm up nice and easy."

Rikku frowned. She liked this plan less and less. Every moment they stayed here was a moment lost for Yuna. She needed to find Marin as soon as possible! "How long is this going to take?" she asked.

"Impatient, aren't we?" Then Gippal shrugged. "Two hours? I don't know."

"But it's night! Don't you stop working like normal people?"

"Not for a long while most nights, kiddo. I have a lot to do, you know."

"Well, what am I supposed to do while you're working? Recite the former summoner's in alphabetical order backwards while skipping rope?"

He snickered. "That would be entertaining." Then he grinned. "Or you could always take that job offer and give me a hand."

"I told you no and I meant it!"

He shrugged. "Suit yourself."

''''

Rikku frowned at the huge stack of papers on her right. "Why am I doing this again?" she asked Gippal over the stack of folders in front of her.

"So we can leave sooner. Are you going to ask that every ten minutes?" he asked over a stack of packages filled with machina parts courtesy of Nhadala.

"Probably."

"Well you shouldn't complain. I'm giving you a free ride all over Spira so you can find that Marin woman, out of the goodness of my own heart."

"Okay, you made your point." She filed away a report. The amount of work Gippal did, everyday apparently, was incredible! No wonder he needed an assistant. He probably did three times the work Nhadala did!

She glanced up at him. He was worrying his bottom lip as he held a paper in each hand, comparing and contrasting costs and various other estimates. His brow was scrunched in concentration and he carelessly swept a strand of blond hair from his good eye as it skimmed the papers.

Rikku felt her face grow hot when she realized she was staring and quickly, she looked down at her filing again. How ridiculous! And then she couldn't help it- she looked at him again. She'd never seen him work so diligently at one task in his life. Like her, he always had to do something new or risk becoming careless with boredom. Maybe he'd calmed down?

"… on my face?"

She shook herself out of her daze when she realized he was talking to her. "Wha?"

"Is there something on my face?" He grinned. "You were staring."

"I was not! I was … just thinking. That's it," she said stubbornly.

"About me?"

"You wish!"

Gippal snickered. "How would you know what I wish for?"

She stuck out her tongue childishly.

Gathering up a new stack of papers, he walked over and set them down in front of her. "Would you like to know what I wish for?" he asked in a low, husky voice. He leaned down towards her.

Rikku drew back a bit. "N-no…" She was suddenly acutely aware of the fact that his mouth was just a finger's width away from hers. 'Don't you dare think that!' she warned herself.

"I wish… that you would pick up the pace! At this rate we'll be leaving Djose next week!"

She jumped back, startled, and then glared at him as she laughed. "You just stay on your side!"

He chuckled. "You're way too easy."

She blushed and busied herself with the filing. This was going to be a very miserable journey.

''''

The moon had risen high in the sky by the time Gippal's ship lifted into the air. Rikku was slumped in the navigator's chair, exhausted. She felt as though she hadn't slept in weeks. But she couldn't fall asleep! Not yet. Yuna needed her! She yawned. 'No! Stop yawning!'

Her yawn was contagious, for Gippal yawned as well. "I'm wiped. You don't look too good either," he pointed out.

Half-heartedly she made a face at him. "I am exhausted," she admitted.

He stretched. "Why don't we go to bed? Set this on autopilot. We'll get a couple of hours of sleep anyway, until we reach Bevelle," he suggested.

She nodded. "All right." That sounded nice. Until she realized what she had just agreed to. "Wait a minute. Gippal, this ship only has one bedroom!" And a small one at that!

"So? Your point is?"

"My point is… that I'm not sharing a room with you!"

With a chuckle, he said, "Are you afraid I'm going to make a move on you? Give me a break. I like my women with a good figure." He made a curvy motion in the air with his hands. She glared at him. "Anyway. Even if I did like you, I'm too tired. But if you have such a problem, you could always sleep in your chair. I'm sure it will be delightfully comfortable."

"No way! You sleep in your chair!"
"I'm not the one with the problem."

Rikku scowled a bit and followed him to the room. "What sort of idiot makes a ship with only one room?

"One who doesn't expect to tote around bratty little girls."

She harrumphed. So she was being a bit bratty. Did he have to point that out so pleasantly? "Fine… but I get the bed."

"Uh-uh. My ship, my bed. I'll share if you like," he offered with a generous smirk.

She sized him up. He didn't look like he'd cave about the bed but she didn't really want to sleep on the floor either… "Oh fine."

"After you, kiddo."

She clambered onto the bed and braced her back firmly against the wall.

"Oh grow up. I'm not going to bite," he muttered, pulling his shirt up over his head.

Rikku stared for a moment. For such a jerk, he really had a very nice body. Ew no! This was Gippal! Blushing faintly, she averted her eyes elsewhere as he kicked off his boots and pulled off his pants. "Keep your pants on!" she screeched.

"Yn mnod ob ::Oh shut up:: . I have more clothes on than you usually do." He tugged at the waistband of his boxer shorts. And then he climbed in to bed next to her. "Stop making that face. You look dumb."

She harrumphed again and tried to scoot further away from him.

"The wall isn't going to absorb you, if that's what you're hoping," he said with a smirk. "It's steel, not a sponge."

"I know that." She propped herself up on her elbows and threw him a withering glance. "If you so much as touch me, you're so dead."

"Oooh, so scary!" he squealed.

"I mean it!" she trilled.

Defiantly, he stuck out his index finger. "Ooh, it's the Pointer Finger of Despair!"

She gave him a scalding look. "Don't even think about it!" He was such a child!

His finger hovered over her shoulder. "I'm not touching you. I'm. Not. Touching. You." Poke. "Oh no! I'm touching you! Warning warning! Pink Fluffy Bunnies Attack! Ahhhhhh!" he screamed, thrashing his pillow around. "Stop the fluffy cuteness. Noooo!"

She ground her teeth. "Oh grow up!" No way would she use an attack by that name! She'd have to show him just what attack's she would utilize. Pulling her knees up, she kicked him hard in the side and effectively shoved him clean off the bed. "More like The Sideswipe Special!"

He yelped. Moments later a pillow and blanket hit him in the face.

"And stay there!"