Ok sea monkeys! So, there was the revelation of 'evil-unknown-Thingy' and Rikku has a pretty new ring on her finger. Although, I don't remember which hand a promise ring goes on. I'm pretty sure that it's the left, but I'm probably wrong. Never was good at that kind of stuff. Hell, I can't even remember what I did this morning, so how can you expect me to know which hand it goes on? Hehe.
Thank you reviewer type people!
On a sad note, I am going to try and wrap this up soon. But not too soon. I just don't know where to end it. I mean, this could go on forever. Seriously, it could. I have that strong of an imagination to go years into the future of these guys.
I don't own FFX-2, but I really want to meat the guy Gippal was made to look like. Or even the voice actor. I like his voice. Almost as much as Spider from Powerman 5000 and Michael Buble. They just make me want to swoon. Yes, SWOON!
Chapter 18: Something Wicked that way Went
The police had finally left the Sun Rose. Everyone was relaxing, reveling in the peaceful silence that had settled over the building. The only who got any real sleep was Vidina. He was in his mother's arms, completely oblivious to the world around him.
Raas and Cid had stayed up most of the night, doing make-shift repairs to the broken window and chasing away the last of the authorities. Elizza had shooed Lulu and Wakka up to their rooms. Like Rikku, they felt no need to stay anywhere else. There was nothing wrong with the Sun Rose.
True to her word, Rikku had been unable to sleep. Gippal had stayed up with her. Most of the time they just laid there, not talking, but enjoying each others company and the comfort that came with it. Rikku kept her eyes on the beautiful ring that adorned her left hand. She thought that if she took her eyes from it, it would dissappear. The few times she did close her eyes, the ring stayed where it was, and she was still safely held in Gippal's arms. So Muja was no longer using Gippal as a pillow. She had opted to lay against the curve of Rikku's back.
A promise ring…I never thought I would get one of these. Rikku thought with wonder. I never thought Gippal would do something so blatently…sweet. What a way to get my mind off things. Me, ME, getting married someday to Gippal of all people! Two months ago I would have scoffed at the idea of us even being together. Scoffed, and then drooled over it in my imagination for days on end just thinking of what it would be like to be his actual girlfriend. Now he's all mine. MINE! Hehe.
"What are you giggling at, sweetness?"
"Huh?" she said, not realizing that her mental giggle had been out loud. "Just thinking."
"About…?"
"The fact that I never thought I would get to have you, and now you're all mine. It makes me giddy. The ring helps too." Rikku giggled again, turning her head to look at Gippal. He had turned the light out a few hours ago, so there was nothing but the feint light from the moon dancing about the room. She could just see the out line of his face and the shine of his eyes.
"I like you so much more with out the eye patch, Gippal."
"You're in the minority there. Most people stare and then try not to stare but keep doing it anyway. It bothers me to be stared at like some freak show."
"I like seeing both of your eyes."
"Too bad I can only see out of one of them." He paused for a moment before continuing. "Although the eye patch gives me that whole dashing-pirate look women love so much." Gippal chuckled at Rikku's light punch in the stomach. "Well it does. Though I won't need to wear it now that I'm happily committed to you. The ladies will be so distraught…"
"You are SO conceited!"
"And you are the reason I'm like that. What with you giving out such wonderful praise for my performance in bed." This made the both of them smile. "To think you doubted my abilities earlier."
"I stand corrected then. What will you dole out as punishment for my lack of faith?"
"Hmmm.." Gippal pondered the question for a few moments. "You have to spend the rest of your life loving me. How about that?"
"That doesn't seem like a bad idea. But how'd you know?"
"Know what, baby?" he asked, playing with her hair once again.
"That I love you."
"Instinct. Pure, unadulterated instinct." he waited while Rikku gave him a 'look'. "That and you mumble in your sleep."
Rikku's cheeks burned bright red. She thought that he would be able to see them glowing in the dark. Great, so now I talk in my sleep. What else did I say that is potentially embarrassing?
"That you want to be stuck on an island with the only food source of cookies and milk and is inhabited by warrior gummi-bears that hunt down cocoa-bean eating monkeys and that ninjas wear pink bunny slippers when they are on an important mission."
A groan eminated from Rikku, making Gippal laugh rather loudly. She eventually laughed with him, thinking about ninjas and gummi-bears and eating nothing but cookies all day long. They quickly toned it down, not wanting to disturb Lulu and Wakka.
"You know I love you too, right Rikku?"
"MmmmHmmm. Since you were seven years old."
"You were eavesdropping, weren't you? Bad Rikku. Very bad."
Rikku giggled softly allowing him to ruffle her hair. He would brush it out for her in the morning.
"So why age seven? Didn't girls have cooties then?"
"Remember when my parents died?" he said softly, smoothing her hair back down with his fingers. Rikku nodded, sobering at the memories that came to mind. "Well, I was so, alone. No one felt like I did. Everyone just felt sorry for me. Then you came along with this big plate, carrying a cake. It wasn't that pretty to look at. You said that you'd made it for me, cause I looked so sad. I told you I didn't want it and to leave me alone. Instead of doing it like everyone else did, you grabbed a handful of cake and shoved into my mouth, saying 'I didn't make Daddy stand over me in the kitchen while I made it for nothing! EAT!'."
"Because I made you a cake, you fell in love with me."
"No. It was because you cared enough not to leave me alone when I really wanted to just sit there and cry on someone's shoulder. So I cried and ate your cake. Which was good, by the way." This elected a smile from Rikku. It had been her first baking attempt by herself, so she had not been sure it was really good or not until tasting it. "You made me go out and play, even enduring the endless teasing and torment from all the boys for making me a cake."
"Until you beat the ever-living snot out of the boy who stole my favorite toy, saying I wouldn't get it back until he got a better cake than you did."
"That really pissed me off. I wasn't about to let anyone else get a cake from you. And taking your cactuar plushie was plain mean."
Rikku giggled, remembering how she thought Gippal was her hero for returning with her toy. He had gotten a black eye for his efforts, but he smiled and handed it back like it was some kind of treasure. Which it was, to her anyway. She had hugged her plushie and then fussed over his black eye until he let her use a potion on him.
"I'll make you another cake. A really big one."
"You don't have to. But I won't object if you insist. I'll hoard all of it to myself. Just not anything too sweet. No chocolate fudge with sprinkles or anything."
"Aww! That's the best kind! Meanie…I like making chocolate cake. And eating it when I'm done."
Gippal laughed softly at her, sliding further down the pillow his head was on. He really was tired, but he would not sleep until Rikku did. That might be a while, considering that she showed no signs of falling asleep. He had gone without sleep before, he could do it again.
"You sleepy, Gippal?"
"Yeah, a little. You?"
"Yeah." There was a small pause before she spoke again. "Thanks for staying up with me." Rikku's voice was soft and sleepy sounding.
"Anything for you."
"Go to sleep, Gippal."
"Hmmm…not much choice in that…"
Rikku shifted her position slightly, trying not to disturb her kitten or Gippal. She felt her body fall into that place between sleep and awake, her mind quickly following suit. Gippal was already asleep, breathing deeply and evenly. His breath lulled her into dream land.
It was mid-afternoon when Rikku woke up. Gippal was already up, but he had not moved at all. The smell of food had awakened her stomach, which in turn woke her mind up. Both were conspiring against her body's need for sleep. The need for food won. She got up and blinked sleepily at her room. After shaking her head, to clear the sleep out of it, she made her way into the bathroom for a shower.
There is nothing quite like a hot shower in the morning; or whenever one happens to wake up. One could either stay awake and go about the day, or go right back to sleep. It all depended on whether one likes to sleep with damp hair. Rikku could easily do that, but her stomach was complaining bitterly, so she would have to stay awake. At least for the rest of the daylight hours.
Rikku stayed in the shower longer than she usually did. It felt like she was washing away all the recent bad memories she had made. Well, more like pushed them away, so that they were not so immediate in her mind. It was a wonderful feeling. Maybe she could sleep without any nightmares tonight. That would be incredible. Poor Gippal would get a night of uninterrupted sleep too. He never complained about being woken up, or sometimes kicked awake while she was still asleep.
Reluctantly, Rikku turned off the water and emerged from the shower, grabbing a towel. Her eyes strayed to the shiney ring that sat on the counter a safe distance from the sink. She smiled happily and bounced over to put it back on her finger. It was enough to keep her mind cheerfully occupied instead of sadly occupied.
Upon opening the bathroom door, Rikku found Gippal still lying in bed, staring at the ceiling. She smiled and decided to bounce her way over to him. She was only clad in a towel, and her hair was a wet mess. It fell in ungraceful tendrils all about her face and on her shoulders.
"You look adorable like that, honey-lips."
"Aww. What a nice thing to say."
Gippal sat up and tried to make his own way to a shower; but Rikku got in his way. She pushed him back onto the bed and snuggled next to him.
"Let's stay here all day. Make Elizza bring us yummy food and lay in bed all day."
"You've been lying in bed for too long as it is. You need fresh air and sunshine and to spend time with me. We can go shopping again, if you promise to be good."
"Oooo…shopping! Sounds fun. We can bring Lulu and Vidina and Wakka, he can help you carry all our bags. Or do you want it to be just us?"
"They can come. I was hoping you would suggest that. You bought way too much last time. At least the load can be shared."
Rikku giggled. "Too bad Lulu likes to shop almost as much as me! And think of all the fun things we could get for Vidina. This'll be so much fun!"
"Why do I get the feeling I'm going to regret this?" he said, finally making his way to the bathroom. Rikku's laughter followed after him.
The decadent smell of Elizza-food, mingled with Lulu-food, wafted up the stairs and into the room she shared with Gippal. It maded her mouth water just imagining what it would taste like. She was really starting to get grumpy. After all, the last time she ate was last night. That was entirely too long in Rikku's mind to go without food. She did not yell for Gippal to hurry up though. That would not be nice.
She did not wait much longer, because Gippal came out and quickly got dressed. Normally, she did not want him to be fully clothed when they were alone together. However, the times called for drastic measures and Rikku did not even make a remark about how much she liked his abs. (They really were drool-worthy.)
"Come on, please? I'm hungry!"
"Geez, impatient are we? You don't have to wait for me you know."
"Yes I do. You didn't have to stay awake with me last night and you didn't have to sleep here with me and put up with all my odd sleep talking and stuff."
Gippal walked over and hugged her tightly, planting a kiss on her lips and forehead. Rikku surrendered to his embrace, if only for a moment. She was starving. Fortunately, he knew this and led the way down the stairs. Rikku started going down them faster than Gippal. An impromptu race insued, resulting in Rikku bursting into the kitchen followed closely by Gippal and slidding to a stop at the table.
"Ha! I won!" Rikku did a little victory dance, making the other occupants of the kitchen laugh out loud. Gippal was smiling instead of laughing, but she knew he found her antics amusing.
"What do you get as a prize, dear?" Elizza asked from the stove.
"Um…pink bunny slippers! So I can sneak about on important missions for mid-night snacks without waking anyone up."
Gippal collapsed in a chair, laughing without restraint. She had been hoping for that reaction. He needed to laugh and have a little fun just as much as she did. He eventually collected his self control only to loose it when he saw Lulu and Elizza staring at him quizzically. Rikku patted the top of his head gently, messing up his hair slightly.
"Shoud I ask what is so funny?" Lulu said.
"Probably not. You never know what's going through his mind." she said in answer to Lulu's question. Rikku changed the subject, to give Gippal a chance to recover. "You don't happen to have anything for a poor waif like me to eat, do you?" Rikku used her most pathetic voice and looked down while shuffling her feet.
"Of course, dear. What would you like?" Elizza asked.
"Anything. I'm starved! And I'll eat some of whatever you're cooking when you're done, too."
So Rikku was seated at the table, gobbling down a sandwich almost too large for her mouth to bite into. Elizza had supplied Gippal with a similar sandwich. He was hungry too, it seemed. The yummy food being prepared made her hungrier. The sandwich was only a temporary solution.
"Hey Lulu! You want to go shopping with me? I've discovered a whole street full of great shops. I didn't get to explore all of them, though." Rikku gave Gippal a falsely wicked stare.
"Why not? I've never known you to stop in the middle of a shopping spree before."
"Because she bought half of the merchandise in just one of the shops, that's why." Gippal broke in before Rikku could answer.
"I believe you bought it. I TRIED to buy it, but no, you had to go and pay for it."
"It got you out of there, didn't it? I don't know how you expected me to be able to carry all that and trudge after you while you went into yet another store to get yet more bags for me to carry."
"I told you I'd carry some. You refused, so it's your fault."
"And I told you that it's against the rules for you to carry them."
"He's right, ya?" Wakka said, entering the kitchen with Vidina. "Rule number forty-three in the Big Book of Rules Men Live By."
"Is that book actually in existence? Or are you two playing around with us?" Rikku asked, giving both men suspicious looks.
"It's real, baby. Just not in print." Gippal said, enjoying the moment. He could not get one up on Rikku very often anymore.
"It's all in the head, ain't that right, Gippal?"
"Yep."
"Whatever." Rikku dismissed the Big Book of Rules and latched back onto thoughts about shopping. "So…you wanna come shopping Lulu? There's this neat shop with all kinds of baby stuff. Toys and clothes and more toys. It'll be fun! Please?" She looked hopefully at the older woman, begging with her eyes for her to agree.
"Alright. But we can't stay late. Wakka and Vidina will miss their bedtime." This caused Rikku to giggle and Wakka to protest rather loudly.
Elizza cut in before Wakka could get too heated up. "Why not go on ahead? I can watch dinner while you're gone."
"Are you sure, Elizza? I helped make this too."
"Of course, dear. You go on and enjoy your stay in Luca. I'll make sure dinner's ready when you get back. Do have a good time."
With that, the group left the Sun Rose and made their way to the Siren's Street, as Rikku privately called it. All these shops and only so much time and gil to spend. It was maddening.
"See, Lulu? There's that shop I was telling you about! Let's go in."
Rikku and Lulu entered, with Lulu carrying Vidina. They left the boys in their wake, seeing as they were walking too slowly to keep up.
"You do realize what you've done, ya?"
"Anything to make her forget for a while, Wakka. Just hope we can keep Rikku out of that store." Gippal said, pointing at a shop across the street with clothing in the windows.
"Then we better keep Lu outta there too."
The rest of the afternoon was spent shopping in all the various stores on Siren's Street. The others had adopted Rikku's name for it. They were making their way back to the Sun Rose, all but Lulu carrying bags. She had Vidina to hold, after all. Rikku had weasled Gippal into giving her some bags so that she could help carry her new belongings.
Raas met them at the front door, carrying supplies to fix the window. They greeted each other merrily and went inside. Elizza, of course, had everything ready for them. Everyone wondered how she did it, but no one bothered to ask. Thoughts of the food sitting on the table filling their stomachs overrode all other thoughts.
Dinner was eaten in a timely fashion and the baby put to bed. Rikku helped Gippal lug her bags into their rooms. She liked calling it 'their' room. It gave her a sense of security and of belonging to something other than herself. She had always been independent, but secretly craved having someone to share her life with. Now she had what she wanted, despite the obsitcals placed in her path, namely her father and Mr. Helpful.
"Hey Gippal…" Rikku said, pulling out her new clothing and sorting it to be washed. She knew how to do laundry, but Elizza insisted on doing hers. At least the nice things. He turned around, a smile playing on his face when he saw the dress she was looking at. He had picked it out for her to try on. It turned out that Gippal had great taste in imagining what would look good on her. Not that he wanted her fully clothed anymore than she wanted him to be. "What was that thing that came out of his body?"
Gippal's smile faded and he sighed, sitting down on the bed. She did not want to remind him of the previous night's events, but she wanted to know.
"That's the thing. The Impish looking evil thing, isn't supposed to exist anymore. At least that's what Lulu said. They were supposedly exterminated a long time ago, before even Zanarkand was built, by some ridiculously powerful mage. They can only obtain their true power by working through a host and getting enough blood spilled in their name. Then they could be free of the host and run amuck in society. I guess they were all called 'Mardoc'. It just told the clerk that it was a god and to do what it said or else."
"Weird. Anything else?"
"Not really. Unless you want to go bother Lulu to get all the boring details she kept spitting out to Raas and the others."
"Hmmm…" Rikku continued taking clothes out of bags. "So the world has been ridden of evil once more, huh?" she said with a small grin. Disturbing thoughts were running throught her mind, so a small one was all she could muster.
"I guess so." Gippal was clearly unhappy about the whole incident. "How can you take this so well? I mean, any normal person would be horribly traumatized by what you've been through."
"It's in the past. No point in crying over what has happened when you can do something to make things better. Sure it bothers me, but life's too short to dwell on all the bad stuff." Now a real smile appeared, and she turned it's brilliance onto Gippal. "Besides, you said that you were going to buy me a house. And that you want to marry me. I have all kinds of wonderful things to look forward to."
He laughed, and pulled her over to him by the hand. Instead of kisses, she found herself being tickled to within an inch of her life. She could barely fight back. Not that she wanted to. She was right where she wanted to be.
Man, writer's block sucks. Have I mentioned that? Anyway, there will probably only be one more chapter. Two maybe. Or I could pick up the story some other time, but that may take a while since I have soooooooooooo many other story lines in my poor head. Sometimes I wonder how I have room for a brain, what with all these daydreams I have.
R&R please!!!!!!! I would greatly appreciate it if you would!
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