Ok sea monkeys! I'm back and ready for action! Well, evil actually, but it's the same thing, right? And it's also time for tagg to eat some Halloween candy! Except chocolate. Can't eat it. Poo! Starbursts here I come. WOO HOO!!!!!!! Ohhhh, a pink one...yummy.

Ok, tagg, get back on track...

I don't own FFX-2, but if I did, I would find a way to remove caffeine from chocolate, so that I could eat a Snickers bar. Yummy!J

Chapter 13: See No Evil...

Gippal and Rikku had been able to spend over a month together in Luca. Unfortunately, Gippal had to go and do some work at Djose for a few days. His workers had not minded his absense at all. They were relieved to see him getting some rest instead of working himself into the ground everyday. Plaazt had taken on his workload, and nearly buckled underneath it. He held up though; Gippal paid him too well to buckle.

So here he was, working and working and working and not sleeping much at all. Gippal found that he missed sleeping through the night with Rikku. He missed waking up with her snuggled against him. He missed taking her places and buying her things. The clothes he had bought had just been the beginning. All kinds of treats found their ways into Rikku's room at the Sun Rose. They were little things, like flowers or gormet candies left on her pillow so that she could gobble them up when she woke. So Muja even received a beautiful rhinestone collar with a delicate bell that jingled ever so lightly when she moved.

Here he was, thinking about his beautiful girlfriend instead of the mound of paperwork that threatened to fall off his desk at the slightest breeze. He signed them and sorted them and replied to them without really thinking about it. He was on auto-pilot. The only thing that kept him going was the fact that when this was finished, so was he. Gippal could see Rikku again. It had only been three days, but they felt like the three longest days in history.

Gippal pulled his gaze away from the sun rise and tried to listent to what Plaazt was saying while still signing and sorting and replying. He really did try to listen. Most of what was being said he already knew. Plaazt was just giving his reports on productivity and progress. Can we say boring, Plaazt? You know that I know all this crap. Why bother telling me again? Man this bites.

"You're not listening to a word I'm saying, are you?" Plaazt said. He did not seem upset about it.

"Not really. I'm too busy giving myself paper cuts."

"I'm sure that's the only reason..."

Gippal gave the man a very level stare, and Plaazt left the room sighing. Do all my workers think I'm love struck? I am, but I thought I was doing well hiding it. Damn. Gippal gave up all thought and turned what remained of his attention to the papers in front of him.

Later that night...

Luca was buzzing with activity that night. All the clubs and bars were at full capacity and more people were out enjoying the balmy night. Nights were usually cool in Luca, so the residents were out in force. Gippal was walking to the Sun Rose with Raas. Raas had joined him when he got off the boat.

"Rikku's making something for us to eat when we get home."

"Good. Man am I hungry." Gippal said, patting his stomach.

"A real Al Bhed feast. She and Elizza have been at it since this morning. All the neighbors are sticking their heads out the windows, drooling." Raas made a face, mimicking the drooling neighbors. Gippal laughed. "Why not just stay with her at the Rose? You end up spending most of your time there anyway. It would make her happy too."

"I guess so. I don't want her to think I'm being clingy or something." Gippal said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Whatever. The two of you are almost disgusting to watch. If I didn't like you guys I'd have been sick already."

"Thanks. I think." They walked on in silence for a while.

"So, you going to marry her or what?"

Gippal missed a step and almost fell. "What?! We haven't even been together that long!"

"You said you've loved her since you were a kid. Why not ask her? I bet she'd say yes."

"Because I'm terrified of doing anything to lose her."

"You won't lose her, boss man."

Gippal remained silent. The thought of marrying Rikku did not frighten him. The thought of losing her did. He finally had the woman of his dreams, he was not about to mess things up. It might be worth the risk though. He indulged himself with a fantasy of being married to her. The idea proved to be intoxicating enough to occupy his mind for the rest of the trek. Seeing Rikku would just amplify the effect. The thought of her rushing into his arms again made him walk faster.

They had reached the Sun Rose. Raas unlocked the door. There was an odd smell in the air, like something was burning. The smell intensified when the door was opened. Gippal and Raas shared a worried look and hurried inside. Gippal dropped his bag immediately and ran into the kitchen with Raas. The place was a mess. The contense of a pot was emitting the burning smell as it boiled over and hit the flame below. Platters of food were upturned or broken and scattered on the counters. What had been a sumptuous meal was now a very large mess. Cooking utensils littered the floor along with various pieces of food. The kitchen table was knocked over and what was left of a chair lay near the still open windows.

What grabbed their attention was a bloody kitchen knife left on the floor. The blood was spattered all around, but concentrated in two distinct places. One was where the knife lay on the floor and the other was near the window.

They entered cautiously. It went against the grain of Gippal's nature to sneak in when Rikku or Elizza could be in danger or was hurt. Whoever had broken in could still be inside. Terrible thoughts entered his mind, thoughts of what might have happened to the two women. The further they went in, the worse those thoughts became. The blood spattered on the floor turned into puddles. The one near the knife was centralized, all the blood right next to it. Gippal was going to investigate the puddle near the window when he was distracted by a pair of feet sticking out from behind the center island.

"Elizza!!" Raas yelled, rushing to the feet with remarkable speed. Gippal went with him. The feet did indeed belong to Elizza. She was lying on the floor with a dart in her neck. Nothing else seemed to be wrong with her. Raas pulled the dart out carefully, putting it on the island above him. Elizza'a eyes fluttered open, released from whatever drug had held her. She suddenly came to life, sitting up quickly, eyes darting around the room. "Elizza, what happened? Where's Rikku?" Raas asked. There was concern in his voice, but now that Elizza was awake and alert he knew she was in relatively good shape. She did not answer at first. She kept looking around, searching for something that was not there. Tears streamed down her face, and her hands looked like they wanted to claw at her skin.

"Oh NO! He took her! He took her!"

"What happened to Rikku, Elizza?" Raas asked again with utmost patience. Gippal remained silent, not wanting to believe something had happened to Rikku. So he turned his emotions off for the time being. Becoming emotional would only compliate matters. Raas could handle his wife and Gippal knew it. He busied himself with the second puddle of blood near the window while Raas calmed Elizza down.

This puddle was more like something had sprayed blood all around the floor and it had gathered together, forming the puddle before him. Upon closer inspection, there looked to be tiny paw prints in the blood, probably from So Muja. There was a small trail leading to the window, with larger smears on the frame and window sill.

"So Muja got a bite of him." His voice was cold and still. It must have shocked Elizza because she stopped babbling and took in a choking breath. Raas was staring at him with a very peculiar expression. He did not question Gippal, though. He mearly accepted it and turned back to his wife.

"What happened, Elizza? Where is Rikku?"

Elizza pulled her gaze away from Gippal and looked at mess that had been her very clean kitchen. "A...a man came in. Broke in. He...he threw some kind of projectile at me and I fell down. Rikku attacked him. She ..she stabbed him with the knife she was using to chop vegetables." She covered her face with her hands, and started to shake. Raas put his heavy hands on her shoulders, trying to give her some comfort. Elizza stopped shaking but kept her face hidden. "He didn't even flinch. A knife was buried to the hilt in his leg...and he didn't seem to notice. Just pulled it out and lunged after her." She paused again, trying to breathe normally but failing. "Rikku, she turned around and did something I couldn't see...but when she turned back he had her. Oh fayth, he took her..." Elizza took several minutes to gather herself together, all the while with Raas holding her. "That kitten, she jumped on him and took a bite of his hand, clawing his forearm. I've never heard a cat sound like that. He threw her off, somewhere...oh! Poor So Muja! Where is she?!"

Elizza got up and ran to the corner of the kitchen where the desk was. She practically threw the chair out of her way, and pulled a small furry bundle to her chest. At first, the kitten did not respond to Elizza's prodding. Then a feint purr resonated into the room, signifying that she was alive. Elizza started sobbing. Raas was next to her immediately, telling her they needed to take care of So Muja.

Gippal had not moved since Elizza had started speaking. He had heard it all, and could not make himself move. All the emotions he was trying to repress were doing their damndest to come to the front. It had always been easy to turn his feelings off, and now it seemed to be more difficult than ever to do. Any time he needed to think and not feel, like now, he just got rid of them. It made things easier to deal with. Most people thought he was just an unfeeling, cold person when it happened. They couldn't be farther from the truth.

"Raas."

"What?"

"I'm going to look outside." Raas nodded and went back to helping Elizza tend to the kitten. Gippal made his way outside and around the building. When he came to the open window, he stopped and looked around. The blood was outside too. He followed it out to the street, and lost it about a block from the Sun Rose. Too many people and too much time had passed by for him to find anything beyond that. Returning to the window, Gippal gave the area a more thourough investigation. He crouched down and found an odd pile of what looked like wood slivers. He sniffed the air, his nose finding a smell that did not belong to the area. Cedar wood. Fresh cedar wood. The odor came from the wood slivers.

Great clue, Gippal. Wood slivers. You'll be able to track down this guy for sure now. Just fucking wonderful. Rikku's been kidnapped and all I can do is sit here and wait for Elizza to come to her senses and tell us what happened. Mean while, she's out there all alone, with that man doing who knows what to her...he's a dead man if he hurts her. Gippal knew what could happen, but he did not allow himself to think overmuch about it. The idea of Rikku being hurt, or worse raped, made his blood boil.

"Hey Raas," he said through the window. "Any idea what a bunch of cedar chips are doing outside your kitchen window?" He waited a moment and then saw Raas' head in the window, his body postioned carefully, so that the blood smears were not disturbed.

"Nope. Anything else out here?"

"Blood leads to the street, but it gets lost out there." Gippal gave the area one last scan and looked back to Raas. "Make sure Elizza's okay. I going to check up on something."

"Like I'd leave her alone right now. Check on what, boss man?"

"Har. He might know something. I'll be back soon."

"Be careful dealing with him. He's not quite right in the head, if you ask me."

"That's just a show he puts on for the benefit of the authorities. Man's a sly one."

Gippal did not wait for an answer. He just started walking. Movement helped him keep control. It was a long walk to find the man named Har. No one knew who he really was, or what he did to find out his information. All anyone knew was that he had it, and would share it. For a price. Usually a steep one.

Har operated in the part of Luca that was middle-class, not the poor part that most people would think to find him in. No one looking for information that had enough money to pay for it would go into the slums. They thought they were too good to go there. So Har worked where the money would go. That is where Gippal found him, leaning against the corner of a building with a cigarette in his hand. He was just outside of the ring of light a street lamp emitted. The man looked up when Gippal came close and held out his hand like he was greeting an old friend.

"Good to see you, Har. How's business?" Gippal asked, voice flat and icy. Har looked the same as always. He wore the clothes of a man that lives paycheck to paycheck and had the most forgettable face you could think of. No part of him stood out in one's memory. He was just there, like a shadow you could have a real conversation with.

"Pretty good, Machine Man. What brings you here?"

"Something happened. Wondered if you knew about what was going to go down today."

"Going down? I don't what you're talking about."

Gippal slid a bag full of gil into Har's pocket. "The Sun Rose. What do you know about what happened?"

"That's only half." Har said.

"You get more if I like what you tell me."

"Well, you won't like it. Cause I don't know about anything happening at the old Rose."

"Something did. I don't believe that you know nothing about it, Har."

"Neither do I. What went on?"

"Break in. Lot's of blood. A girl was taken. Jog your memory any?"

"Nope." Har took a drag on his cigarette. "I don't like anything happening in my city that I don't know about. Who's the girl, might I ask?"

"My girl."

Har whistled softly. "Pretty one, that." He held up his hands innocently when Gippal glared at him. "Can't say I'm surprised when I think about it, though."

"How's that?"

"Well, you see," Har said, taking another drag, "there's been an odd number of disappearances over the last two years. All of them pretty young girls, like yours. Authorities keep it quiet, see. Don't want to cause a panic or ruin the tourist trade. Any way, these girls just disappeared. No sign of struggle, no ransoming, nothing. Just poof, gone. No one sees hide or hair of them again."

"Anything out of the ordinary where the girls vanished?"

"Not in the beginning, no. It's a man, I know that. He'd have to be ridiculously strong or insane to try and take on your girl." He meant it as a compliment, but seemed to realize Gippal was not in the mood for it. He sighed and lit another cigarette. "About a year ago, the guy started getting sloppy. People started to notice the girls disappearing sooner and sooner. Took one girl right out in public, and no one noticed. An old man fell over a shoe that fell off the girl's foot right when he took her. Found some kind of wood at one girl's inn room."

"Wood?" Gippal asked sharpley. "What kind was it, cedar?"

"Right on the button. I take it you found some then." Gippal nodded and Har shook his head saddly. "Don't look too good, then. Wish I could give you more."

"Thanks anyway." They shook hands, with Gippal slipping another bag of gil to Har. He was walking away, when Har called to him. Gippal turned to find the bag of gil flying through the air at him. Catching it, Gippal gave the Har an inquiring look.

"I didn't give you what you would have liked. I'll keep an ear out for anything. You'll make it worth my time, I think. Hope you find your girl, Machine Man."

Soooooo, what do you think happened? I wonder if Rikku is still alive, and who took her away from her ever so devoted and loving Gippal? The cad! And he hurt little So Muja, too!!! That's just plain mean.

Anywho, sorry this took so long to post, but tagg has had a bad migrain for a few days. Got rid of it with the help of my incredibly wonderful chiropractor. That man is just so great. I'm making him a great big key-lime pie for fixing me.

So thank you to all you patient and ardent readers out there! Please let me know if I've executed this properly. R&R, please!!!!! J

tagg