Ok sea monkeys! Here we go again! I have been doing some MAJOR sleeping, and guess what? I'm still tired! Seriously, I slept for like, 12 hours, and I could go right back to sleep. That's ok, because raspberry lintzer cookies are my friends! Hehe. Since you guys like my story, I'll share them! (tagg gives her reviewers a cookie)
So, Rikku got caught in the rain wearing white, and Gippal was all jealous-boyfriend-like. Now they are asleep in the same bed, wonder what will happen next...
Find out in our next episode: Chapter 8: When it Rains, it Pours.
I don't own FFX-2, but if I did, I would have enough money to go to Italy like I want to.
Chapter 8: When it Rains, it Pours
It was still raining when Rikku woke up. It pattered on the window and the roof, creating a soothing lull. Nothing seemed to be stirring at all. She was not worried about it though. The idea of falling back asleep was too tempting to resist. She was so comfortable, lying next to Gippal with a warm blanket pulled over her. Blanket? I didn't have a blanket over me before. Gippal must've got me one. He knows I hate being cold, almost as much as I hate cleaning dishes.
She shifted her position slightly, noting as she did so that Gippal was fast asleep. He looked so peaceful. No signs of fatigue or worry were on his face. Gippal had always been tired; ever since he was a child he almost never slept. A few hours a night, if that, somehow sustained him. Rikku wondered how he could function on so little rest. She slept at least seven hours a night, more if she was allowed to. Her all time record was eighteen hours.
Rikku watched him sleeping for a few minutes, and then snuggled back down against him. She let out a soft sigh and closed her eyes. Then the unthinkable happened: she had to pee. It is always when you really do not want to pee that you always have to go. It is a fact of life. Mother Nature had not designed human beings to hold it.
Grumbling to herself, she reluctantly and carefully extracted herself from Gippal's arms, not wanting to disturb him. After answering the call of nature, Rikku climbed back into bed, slowly so that she would not wake him up. The man just did not get enough sleep. Just as she was snuggled against him again, he shifted onto his side so that he was facing her and opened a bleary eye.
"Where'd you go..." he mumbled, almost intelligibly. Fortunately, Rikku was fluent in sleepy-ese. She smiled apologetically, looking sheepish.
"Sorry. I tried not to wake you up. I had to pee." she explained quietly. Rikku made herself more comfortable, pulling the blanket up around her. Rikku was always cold when she slept. It was why a large collection of blankets lived at the foot of whatever bed she was using. She much preferred the thick, fluffy comforter and then some blankets, but she was not about to make Gippal move so that she could get under the covers.
"Mmmm..." he said, getting up from the bed groggily. Rikku frowned at him.
"You don't have to get up, Gippal. Let's go back to sleep." He did not listen. Instead, he managed to un-make the bed and put Rikku underneath the covers without fully waking up. He kicked off his boots, Rikku wondering how he accomplished the feat considering there were buckles and straps to undo, and climbed in beside her. This was surprising. Gippal always slept with just the sheet. He hated being warm for some reason. She was not about to argue though. She was warm, she had a very warm, good looking man next to her in bed, and she was going back to sleep. Life was good.
The next time Rikku woke, the sky was still gray and wet. It was lighter than before, when she had had to go to the bathroom. It had been night then, and the window black. It must be morning. she thought sleepily. She yawned and stretched gently, then shifted her body slightly. Her back was to Gippal's chest and his arm was wrapped around her waist. She could feel his breath on the nape of her neck. It tickled. Rikku tried to adjust her position, so that she would not wake him with a fit of laughter. She tried to no avail. No matter what she did, he was still breathing on her neck.
"Stop that." Gippal said, eye still closed. He was speaking sleepy-ese again. Rikku smiled and moved again, just to spite him.
"Sorry, can't help it." Rikku was suppressing her giggles; she did not want Gippal to let her go, after all. Gippal tightened him grip on her waist, pulling her right up against him. He nuzzled her neck, sending a shiver down her spine. She moved again, this time so that she was leaning against him, making the most of the full body contact. "You need to shave." she said with a giggle.
"And you really need to stop squirming." Gippal started kissing her neck after he spoke, causing Rikku to inhale sharply. She relaxed with the exhalation, enjoying the warmth that bubbled into being inside her stomach. She even moved her head a little, giving him better access. He made full use of the invitation. Rikku sighed, then grinned. An idea had been hatched in her sleepy brain.
Rikku moved yet again, earning a growl from Gippal, and turned so that she was facing him. When she was snuggled close against him, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into a deep kiss. Now, one must keep in mind that it is morning, and that both Rikku and Gippal had gone to bed without brushing their teeth. There is nothing in this world that shows just how much one cares about another than by kissing them with Morning Breath. It is one of nature's ways to make sure one chooses the right partner in life, not to mention what toothpaste one uses.
Kissing someone with Morning Breath is not something one should do in a new relationship. It has been know to ruin what could have become the greatest romances in history, not to mention ones that would not have been so great. On the other hand, if the couple can survive an encounter with it, it can survive almost anything the world can throw at them. This includes a shortage in world coffee supplies and a drastic reduction in chocolate bars due to a troop of cocoa bean eating monkeys running rampage around the forests, eating every cocoa bean they can get their grubby little hands on.
Apparently, Rikku and Gippal would go down in history as one of the few couples to survive a Morning Breath encounter this early in a relationship. Gippal returned her kiss fervently, trying to hold Rikku as close to himself as possible.
"You're not making this easy for me, Cid's girl." he said when they parted. Rikku blinked her eyes innocently at him.
"Why, whatever do you mean, Luscious?" Gippal gave her a very odd look, somewhere between humor and irony.
"Here I am, trying to be a gentleman and not take that robe off of you, and you go and kiss and rub up against me like that." Rikku laughed softly against his shoulder. "It's not that funny. You wouldn't be laughing if you knew what I was thinking about." He contradicted his words with a smile on his face, pointedly keeping his hands, almost, to himself.
"It's not my fault you woke up in an amorous mood." she said with a smile of her own.
"It's your fault for encouraging it, though." he said into her ear. "It's also your fault I woke up like this." He stroked her neck with a finger, moving it down to her collar bone.
"And that is my fault... how?" Rikku retorted with an eye brow raised. "I didn't do anything to warrant this mood of yours."
"You like being warm."
"Okaaaaay..."
"So do I. A little too much, I think. Why do you think I never sleep with more than a sheet? Or why I never share a bed with anyone, for that matter."
"Being warm makes you horny?" she asked, now with both eyebrows raised. Gippal chuckled, shaking his head.
"Not in and of itself, but it certainly helps. You certainly help in that department." Rikku rolled her eyes dramatically at this revelation. "You do." She ruffled his hair, her finger nail getting caught on his eye patch. Rikku frowned at it, and then pulled it off his face and head. She ruffled his hair again, smiling when there was no interference.
Gippal did not usually wear the eye patch when he slept or was alone. He only wore it because his eye bothered other people, not himself. The right eye matched his left one perfectly, except for the scar that ran across the middle of the iris and pupil. No one really knew how his eye had been damaged except for Brother, and he would not tell. Rikku had never asked, thinking it might be awkward for him to talk about. She was one of the few people he did not always wear the eye patch around. Staring at his blind eye, she decided to ask anyway.
"What really happened to your eye, Gippal?" she said quietly, trying not to sound too curious.
"An unfortunate accident with a machina."
"DUH! I know that, but what happened? Brother knows but he won't crack."
"I should think not." Rikku frowned at him. "Okay, okay. I was caught doing something I shouldn't have been doing." He grinned broadly at the memory of it.
"How can you smile about losing your eye? It's not funny."
"No, its not, but it was worth the price."
"And what were you doing?" An absolute evil grin occupied his face. Rikku wondered just what deviltry he had been up to.
"I was spying on you and your friends when you went skinny dipping at the Oasis and Brother caught me."
Rikku bolted up right, glaring at Gippal. "YOU WERE SPYING ON US?!" she yelled. Gippal put a finger to her lips in an effort to silence her. She remembered that she was at an inn and other people were probably still sleeping. So she decided to glower at him instead of yell. She also grabbed a pillow and began beating him with it. Gippal laughed out loud, not bothering to defend himself from the onslaught. When she had exhausted her pillow fighting strength Rikku tried to go back to glowering, but could not because of the smile that kept creeping into her face. "So why didn't he just beat you up?"
"That's the good part. I had a sphere recorder taping you, and Brother didn't seem to like that. So he sent a machina after me. I don't think he meant to really hurt me, but the machina malfunctioned and started shooting at me in stead of chasing me. One of the bullets caught my eye, and that was that."
Rikku began hitting him with the pillow again, only this time Gippal blocked most of her attacks, a grin plastered on his face. He thwarted her hits by removing the pillow from her grasp. "You recorded us?! What happened to the sphere?"
"I kept it, of course." Rikku lunged at him, grabbing his shirt with both hands.
"If you showed that to anyone so help me I'll..."
"As if I would let some other guy see you naked. It's one of my favorite treasures."
"You still have it? Gippal, that wasn't worth losing your eye for! Besides, that was over three years ago!" she said, exasperated.
"And oh so much fun to watch. I'd show it to you, but it's locked up safely. The only sphere anyone saw with you in it was the one from your fifteenth birthday."
"And who'd you show that to?" Her hands were balled up into fists. That sphere was not exactly flattering, even if she was clothed.
"Barali wanted to see it. He saw me packing it up one time and asked what it was. He wanted to see what kind of girl could fascinate me so much that I kept a sphere of her with me. He said you were cute." Rikku blushed and let go of Gippal's shirt. "I've got it here, if you want to see it." She nodded her assent when she remembered beating the daylights out of him on that sphere. He rummaged around in the night stand for a moment then tossed a sphere into her hands. She played it.
Rikku stood in the center of the screen, smiling. She was holding a set of matching daggers in her hands, admiring them. She then began experimenting with them, slashing at the air.
"Soooo, you like my presents, Cid's girl?" Gippal was holding the recorder.
"Yeah! These rock. How'd you make them, Gippal?"
"Trade secret. You have a good birthday?"
"Yup! This is the best day ever!" Rikku jumped in the air with the last word she said.
"You want to jump in the air again, Cid's girl?" he said in that cocky tone of voice he was so well known for.
"Why?" Rikku was suspicious. Gippal never asked her to do anything with out some kind of ulterior motive, usually to tease her.
The recorder zoomed in on Rikku's chest, giving an excellent view. "Cause I have a great view down the front of your shirt."
Rikku roared and tried to grab the recorder, but Gippal jumped out of the way, laughing his head off. "You give me that you mass of shoopuf-vomit!" She lunged again, this time catching him and knocking him to the ground. The recorder fell to the side, taping only sand and the sound of Rikku punching and kicking Gippal. Then the recording stopped.
"You showed a sphere of yourself getting beat up by a girl to your friend?" It was just not, well, a manly thing to do.
"You bet. He also said I was very brave to want you as a girlfriend." Gippal smirked at her. "I'm inclined to agree with him."
"Hey! I'm not that bad..." Rikku was pouting for all she was worth. I'm a nice person. I only beat him up because he purposely annoyed me. Besides, he could have pinned me anytime. It made her so sad that he said such a thing. Gippal noticed, and sat up beside her.
"I didn't mean it like that. I was playing. Don't be mad."
"I'm not mad." she said, still pouting. Gippal did not believe her, and gave her a tight hug, not giving any room for movement on her part.
"Please stop pouting like that. I'm sorry, really." Rikku looked up at him.
"Really, really?"
"Really, really. Now stop pouting. You're making me feel guilty." Rikku did not stop, but she lessened the pout on her lips. She was not letting him off the hook so easily.
"Good. You should feel guilty." was all she said.
"So tell me how I can make up for being mean." Rikku thought for a minute and her face brightened suddenly.
"Breakfast. I want breakfast. With pancakes, and lots of bacon. And coffee. Lots of coffee." Gippal laughed.
"I should have known. The way into your heart is through your stomach."
"And in bed. But you're being a gentleman, so I won't go there." she said impishly. "So where are my clothes? I can't go out for breakfast with out clothes. Unless you want me to wear just the robe, that is." Rikku fluttered her eyelashes at him, smiling.
"No way are you wearing just that robe anywhere but with me, in private." Gippal tightened his grip on her to emphasize his point. She laughed at him, nodding her agreement. He let her go, not really wanting to, but knowing that Rikku was hungry and getting hungrier spurred him into action. He disappeared out the door for a little while, and then returned, holding a neatly folded bundle that turned out to be her clothing. She hopped out of bed and reached for them. She really was hungry, and the sooner dressed, the sooner food would reach her stomach.
"Do you want a shower first, or last?" she asked. Normally she would have just gone and taken one without asking, but she thought she should be nice. There was food at stake, after all.
"You first." Rikku set her clothes on the foot of the bed, so that they would stay dry. Then she ran into the bathroom, closing the door. "And you'd better save me some hot water, Cid's girl!" The shower was already going, so her response was muffled.
"Don't you know these places have ridiculously large water heaters?"
"So? You'd still better save me some. I hate cold showers."
"You could always join me..." Rikku could picture his expression and it made her laugh. I'm so mean. I wonder if he'll take it seriously. she thought. He did not join her, so she guessed the answer was no. Pity. Oh well. It's not like I take long showers anyway. She turned off the water, and grabbed a towel. The towels and the robe matched exactly, making her wonder just how much they cost. The Sun Rose had happy, multi-colored towels and robes that did not match each other but matched the décor. She had not bothered to wash her hair. It would take forever to get it dry again. She examined the medicine cabinet, and found a new toothbrush. Taking advantage of it was one of her top priorities. Morning Breath was not pleasant to keep for very long. So after brushing her teeth and removing most of the excess water on her skin, Rikku emerged from the steamy bathroom clad in a towel. "It's all yours, luscious." Gippal shook his head at her attire, then walked into the bathroom himself.
"You do realize there's a hamper in here, right?" he said through the door.
"Huh? Hamper?"
"You left the robe on the floor."
"Oh. Sorry about that. Guess I forget."
"That's okay. I'll clean up after you. Don't worry about it." His voice was dripping with sarcasm.
"Thank you, darling." The shower started up again, and all conversation rolled to a halt. Rikku was busy drying off, so she did not mind. After the under garments were donned, Rikku had a thought. "You didn't give these to Mr. Helpful to have them dried, did you?" she yelled at him.
"No way. The lady that does the laundry is awesome here. I gave them to her." There was a pause then, "Why, is something wrong with them?"
"Nope. Just thought I'd ask." Rikku then looked at her hair in the mirror. It was a total mess. The mirror in the bathroom had been fogged up, so she had not noticed earlier. She frowned at her reflection, then went in search of the comb Gippal had used the previous day. It was not on the dresser, nor the night stand. She looked on the floor around the bed and found it. It had fallen half under the bed beside the night stand. Rikku stood up triumphantly, her prize in her hand.
Her hair actually looked decent, what with the waves the braid had added. She combed it as smooth as it would go, then decided that she had better not try for anything more than decent. She would probably make it look worse. Nothing was wrong with looking like you just got out of bed.
Rikku jumped when a pair of arms wrapped around her waist and a kiss laid on her neck. She let out a long breath and glared at Gippal in the mirror. "Don't you scare me like that, Gippal."
"Sorry." he said, kissing her neck again. "Shouldn't you be wearing that dress?"
"Why? You've already seen me naked, what's wrong with seeing me in under ware?"
"Nothing's wrong with seeing you in under ware. It's eye candy. Puts naughty thoughts in my head, too." Rikku giggled and turned around so that she could get a real kiss. Her arms wrapped around his neck, feeling the warmth of his skin and her hands went through his still damp hair. She felt like they could stay this way forever. "You really need to put that dress on." he said between kisses.
"And if I don't?"
"I'll take you back to bed and make sweet, passionate love to you all day long."
"Ooooo, you promise?" She gave him her best, thousand watt smile. It made him sigh but he still insisted she get dressed. Rikku pouted again, playfully. Gippal pulled her into another kiss, pressing her against him, his hands beginning to wander a bit.
"Get dressed." he said pulling away from her but not letting go. Rikku was quite breathless and did not want to get dressed at all. She was about to argue when she saw that his face was serious. Letting out a sigh of her own, Rikku nodded her head.
"You have to let me go if you want me dressed..." Gippal slowly stepped away from her. She noted that he was already dressed in clean unwrinkled clothes. He must have brought them in the bathroom with him. I can't believe he would pass up the chance to tease me. Although, if he's this reactive fully clothed, it was a good idea. Well, not good, but, um, gentlemanly I guess. Rikku made her way over to the bed to get her dress, feeling his gaze follow her. She liked the sensation. After the dress was put on, slowly, she turned around with her arms held out. "Is this better?" she asked.
"Much." Gippal walked over and put his arms around her saying "Although I think I like you better with out clothes on." He was grinning at her, trying to get a reaction. Rikku did not disappoint him. She rolled her eyes dramatically, throwing her head back.
"Then why'd you tell me to get dressed?"
Gippal laughed and kissed her, just as she had planned. It was a nice long kiss, and would have lasted longer if the door had not burst open, spraying splinters of wood all over the floor.
Woo-hoo! Finally finished! This took me forever to write for some reason. Oh well. I wonder who broke the door? It is...did you really think I would tell you? You are just going to have to wait for the next chapter. It will be good too.
Sorry this took so long. I would have posted it last night, but my friend forced me to be social and go to a club with her. I had fun, so it's ok. She's my best friend in the whole widest world. Only for her would I go out late at night in the city. We did not get home until like 2:30. It was great. Anywho, stay tuned for the next chapter! Please r&r! I need happy reviews to spur on my desire to finish writing this. It might take a while though.
(tagg gives everyone another cookie, because this chapter was kinda long and took some time to read.)