The Chocobo Eater hit the ground with a crash. Gippal and Rikku drove out of the way, narrowly missing getting hit by the fiend as it fell. The ground shook violently when it hit, sending both Al Bheds tumbling through the brush. Gippal was almost immediately on his feet, watching the unmoving creature suspiciously. A savage growl caught his attention and he spun, just on time to see a vicious looking lupin leap at him. He froze, not having any time to do anything but brace himself for the attack. Instead, he heard the lupin screech as he was hit with a weight that threw him to the ground. The lupin's limp body flew over him as he lay in the grass; it was nothing but pyreflies before it hit the ground. Recovering from his shock, he looked at the weight on his chest. Rikku was sitting on him. He blinked, rather surprised. Rikku grinned.

"You okay?" She asked. Gippal thought a moment.

"I think so…" He answered finally. Rikku gave him a funny look.

"Why do you only think so?" She asked, resting her chin on her hands. Gippal shrugged.

"Well, I was about to get killed by that lupin, and then the next thing I know, I'm lying here with the meddma bnehlacc on top of me and I'm starting to question my sanity." He told her, smirking. Rikku grinned back.

"As if your insanity was ever in any doubt." She said. Suddenly, she scowled, realizing what he'd called her. "I'm not meddma!" She told him, pouting. He grabbed her by the shoulders and rolled over to he was on top of her. Rikku glowered up at him, pretending to be mad while she was really desperately trying to keep herself from blushing. Gippal didn't seem to notice, or he didn't care.

"You're smaller than me and you're younger than me, so I can call you meddma if I want." He told her. She opened her mouth to answer, but shut it again after a moment, surprised by his logic and the fact that she couldn't find anything to say back to him. Gippal smirked, seeing her expression of confusion. Rikku decided that it would be a good time to change the subject.

"Get off me." She ordered, pushing him. She discovered almost instantly, though, that her effort would be a fruitless one. Gippal relaxed a little bit, letting his face fall closer to hers.

"And if I don't want to?" He asked quietly. His voice made Rikku shiver. What's wrong with me? It's just Gippal! Why am I acting so funny? she asked herself, frustrated by the fact that she couldn't deny to herself what she'd denied ever since she'd left on the Moonflow mission. Ever since she'd left on that mission she missed him terribly and found out exactly how she felt about him. Of course, she buried that knowledge deep inside her, not wanting to admit it. They'd been what you might call rivals since as long ago as she could remember. There was no way she had any sort of crush on him! It was becoming increasingly hard to deny it, and as much as she hated to believe it, she knew it was true. That was the last straw. Rikku could feel her face burning, and knew that she was blushing so much that her face was probably beet red. Combined with her expression, though, Gippal thought that she was going to explode in anger at him, so he rolled off her, leaving on his arm across her waist. He never really could figure out why he teased her so badly, because he always hated to see her angry or upset. He lay there, propping his head up with his free arm, waiting to get brunt of her anger. She never exploded. For a moment, Gippal thought she was going to burst into tears. Please don't cry, Rikku, please don't cry. I'm never going to forgive myself if I made you cry, he thought, watching her anxiously. As she stared up through the leaves of the tree above them to the first stars that were beginning to appear, Gippal realized that she wasn't angry, nor was she upset. He cracked a smile. He lifted his arm from her waist and turned her head so she was facing him. She frowned at him.

"What?" She asked irritably.

"Are you blushing, Rikku?" He asked, sounding amused.

"What's it to you?" She still sounded rather irritable. Gippal shrugged.

"Nothing I guess."

"Then leave me alone!" She told him, looking back upward, obviously unimpressed.

"No." He replied. Rikku rolled onto her side so she was facing him and glared at him.

"What do you want?" She asked, exasperated. To the surprise of both of them, Gippal grabbed her shoulder, pulling her closer to him, and kissed her. Rikku tensed in surprise for a moment, then relaxed completely, letting herself melt into his arms. When he broke the kiss, she smiled a little in spite of herself. She never dreamed that being kissed by Gippal would have felt so totally, amazingly right. Gippal smiled back at her.

"I want you." He answered. Rikku paused, her mind (which would be more accurately described as mush at that point in time) having to push itself back into motion. Only then did she remember what she'd asked him before.

"You definitely got me."

…………..

Paine, Kairi, Yuna, Sora, Tidus, Leblanc, Nooj and Baralai were all standing by the edge of the cliff, staring down into the gathering gloom.

"You think they're okay?" Sora asked, breaking the long silence.

"You'd think so…" Baralai replied, squinting. Paine shrugged.

"I wouldn't exactly trust Rikku to be the best healer in the world." She observed. Yuna nodded.

"That's true, Rikku didn't really work too much on her magic in general, but I guess she thought white magic was boring or something." she agreed. Tidus, hearing an odd noise, looked down the highroad. The hover was speeding towards them. It pulled to a stop and Kairi and Sora walked over to speak to the driver. Rin was unconscious. The driver had gone pale and they thought he was speaking gibberish. Baralai came over and started to calm him down. Paine glanced at Tidus, Yuna, Leblanc and Nooj.

"I'm going down to find Rikku and Gippal." she said simply, starting down the road. Baralai looked up, watching her go.

"Hey, Kairi and Sora, you guys can take care of things from here, right?" He asked, following Paine. Sora frowned.

"Not really! Baralai!"

"You can't leave, you have to help these two!" Kairi said, motioning to the two Al Bheds on the hover. Baralai paused, glancing from the hover to Paine and then back to the hover.

"I can't just let Paine go alone either! What if there's another Chocobo Eater?" he asked, sounding like he was at a loss. Kairi immediately understood and grabbed Sora's hand.

"We'll go with her." She said. Sora nodded and the two of them ran off after Paine. A few seconds later, Shinra and Brother arrived on the scene (Buddy was staying on the ship. They never left it unguarded after the little incident of the Leblanc Syndicate breaking in).

"Is everyone okay?" Brother asked, looking around.

"We think so. We're all alright, but Gippal took a nasty fall off the cliff and Rikku's down there too." Yuna explained. "Well, everyone up here but Rin." She added, glancing at the unconscious man in the hover. Baralai shook his head.

"No, Rin's just fine." He said, waiting for Rin to come to.

"If everyone is okay, we should go down to see Rikku and Gippal." Brother decided, motioning for Shinra to follow him.

…………………..

Sitting on the side of the road, Gippal cradled Rikku in his arms, both of them completely oblivious to everything around them. Rikku snuggled closer to him. After all her years of knowing him, she never thought he could be this gentle. Gippal smiled at her.

"My meddma bnehlacc…." he whispered. Rikku smiled up at him. Both of them started when they heard a voice.

"So, Gippal, into younger women these days I see." Paine said, standing on the road, arms crossed. Normally, both of them would have bee incredibly embarrassed, but these were not normal circumstances; Paine just made a joke, and it wasn't even sarcastic or cynical! No, that was definitely not normal! Kairi and Sora came into view a moment later, running up to Paine. Kairi hid a smile when she saw Rikku and Gippal, and whispered something to Paine. Sora, overhearing it, raised his eyebrows. Paine blushed bright red. Rikku and Gippal looked at each other, their mouths hanging open. Paine blushed? Just when things couldn't possibly get any weirder! Brother trotted up behind Paine, Kairi and Sora a moment later. It took him a moment to notice Rikku and Gippal sitting in the shadows. When he did, he boiled over.

"KAD OUIN VEMDRO RYHTC UVV SO CECDAN!" (get your filthy hands of my sister!) He bellowed. Paine smirked.

"It's not his hands I'd be worried about if I were you." She muttered. Brother freaked out, yelling incomprehensible things in Al Bhed. Rikku and Gippal relaxed a bit though. Paine was back to herself. Their sense of normalcy had returned. Or at least, as much normalcy as can be returned while sitting in front of five people, in the arms of the person you though of as your archrival until about five minutes ago. Rikku grinned. My life's a little weird. So what?

………………………

Kind of a strange note to end on, but hey! My sincerest apologies Emma! I know, I keep promising and not delivering, but I swear! NEXT CHAPPIE! Anyways, RR for sure, I love you guys so much! I'm thinking that this fic is going to be a 'little' longer than previously thought (and by a little I mean a hell of a lot) :P Well, tata til next time!