Ahem. This is a NEW chapter, which will lead up to the end of the story. I like it. Nice bits of fluff, and bubbles! Hehe. It doesn't take a lot to make me happy, does it? Lol

Check out the previous chapter! I fixed it up a bit, added a few things. 

I don't own FFX-2, just my ideas. Enjoy them at your own risk! lol

"Gippal?" I had to be careful walking back to where I made my entrance underground. Bare feet and rocky ground don't mix well. Damon trotted at my side, happily keeping pace with me and 'yip'ing at things that moved.

"Yeah?"

"Who was with you when you found me at that statue?"

"..."

"Gippal..."

"Everyone. We had our hands full keeping Yuna from going in after you. I stepped out while they were still dealing with her. You'll be happy to know that Paine was crying."

"You aren't making me feel better..."

"It'll be alright, Ri."

"I hope so."

Gippal was walking ahead of me, keeping an eye out for fiends. Not just the monster kind, either. Some fiend might try to take my sheet away. It was smart of him to walk first, really. I'm naked and un-armed, while he has on clothes and many guns and knives and things.

We went around a bend, and there was the cracked rock wall that led to the cave with the big hole in the ground that I fell through. I didn't want to go near it. Besides, I'm barefoot. Getting inside it would require walking over pointy rocky ground, and I've had enough rocks in my flesh to last a life time. I'll stay right here, thanks so much.

One of the sentries spotted us and yelled out, making everyone inside a little tent run out. Gippal shouted something that sent someone running and then made everyone pull down the tent and secure the equiptment. Yuna, meanwhile, was running at me. She was crying, and angry, and she was shaking me when she reached me. Asking me what happened. She kept on doing it until I just sunk to the ground and started bawling. It was too much like the shaking in that city. All the memories I was hiding about that place came back and hit me and I just cried. Yunie sank with me, shaking me even more. I guess she didn't notice I was sobbing enough for five people.

Gippal came to my rescue. He quite meanly and not at all gently pulled Yunie's hands off me and practically threw her back a few paces. Everyone just stopped, cept me, I'm too busy crying. Damon was trying to comfort me, and I threw my arms around him and sobbed into his fur.

Gippal said something in a not nice way and then I felt him pick me up, Damon and all. Damon kept licking my ear, trying to help me. I just squeezed him more.

I think I stopped crying near the entrance to D'jose, cause that's the next time I had any real thoughts. Before I knew it, I was once again being carried by the one and only Gippal to some inner corner of the temple. I heard a door shut, and I found a bed under me. I also found a glass of water and a wet wash cloth in front of me, with Gippal holding them. I wanted that cloth first, but my arms were full of turquoise fox.

"Oh, no! Damon, look at your fur!" He just lifted his head and rubbed my cheek before jumping down. He's such a sweetie. I grabbed that cloth, and found it wet and cold. Just what I needed for a red, hot, and splotchy face. Being red, hot, and splotchy faced isn't fun. Especially when the guy who's in front of you is someone you don't want to see you red, hot and splotchy faced.

You have to come out of hiding sometime. I wanted to stay hidden. Oh well, I'm thirsty and that glass of water he's holding is what I want. So, I put on a brave face and exchanged the cloth for the glass. I didn't gulp it all down at once. I knew better. I'd make myself sick if I did that. I don't want that, so we'll stick to sipping it.

"Feel better now?" I nodded at him, still looking at my glass and not at him. "Good." He got up, and walked out the door. I felt like crying again. I thought he said he wasn't going to leave me alone. Right before tears started to well up, he came back. "Miss me?" I think he meant it as a joke, cause he was only gone for like three minutes, but I really did miss him, and I said as much. "Good thing, cause I brought you a present. Here."

Gippal usually tossed things to me. I don't know why. It kept things fun, I guess, with random flying objects zooming around all the time. This time, he handed me something. It was a bottle. A bottle of my favorite bubble bath in the whole wide world! It smells like vanilla, and almost good enough to eat. I'm happy to note that it was a new bottle, too. All for little me.

"Go on. Bathroom's right in there." He nodded with his head at another door, near the bed.

"You'd better have something other than a shower in there, else I'm gunna drown you with this stuff, Gippal."

"There's a tub as big as a pond in there."

"YAY!" I ran to the bathroom, and saw that the tub was indeed the size of a pond. A small pond, but a pond none the less. It would take forever to fill with water though. I frowned at that, then decided to get a shower while the tub filled. What? I don't want to soak in dirty water. It ruins the whole luxurious-relaxing thing. So I turned on the water for the tub and poured about half the bottle of bubble bath in. I like lots of bubbles. If there are enough bubbles, you can make a relief map of Spira in them. Then, I turned on the shower and tossed the sheet away near the door.

Only, it kept moving, and then there were Damon's tails poking out from under a corner of the sheet. He was lost under the sheet! Oh, its so cute! I wish you could see it! He keeps biting at it and hopping...oh so cute!

"I'm sorry, Damon! I didn't know you followed me in here!" I said, pulling the sheet off to reveal a blinking Damon. His fur was all messed up, both from me crying on it and from being under the sheet. "That's better, right?" I bundled the sheet up and tossed it outside the door. I saw that Gippal was no longer in the bedroom, and that the door was shut. Since when did he get considerate? Oh well, at least he isn't being a peeping Tom. Why can't it be a peeping Larry? Or Lazzu? Or anything? Why is it always Tom who does the peeping? Maybe cause it's easy to say? That must be it. I'll add it to my List of Things to Ask Shinra. Its pretty long, now.

By the time I was done with the shower, the tub was ready. The plumbing here must be awesome, cause I was showering for like, five minutes. Works great for me! I plopped in the water with a sigh. There were so many bubbles, and they were thick too. That's why I love that bubble bath. Mondo bubbles when you use it.

Damon jumped up to the edge of the tub, tilting his head, looking at the bubbles intently. His nose was sniffing the air, and getting closer to a large lump of bubbles. When his nose collided with the bubbles, he pulled back, twitching his nose insanely, trying to get rid of the bubbles on his nose. He finally used a paw to swipe them away, though it took a few tries.

I wish I had a sphere recorder! All these moments of terrible cuteness, and no way to preserve them for others to see! I mean, who'd believe that a mega-cute, turquoise fox would have a close encounter with bubbles? No one! That's why I want to record it, so that people will believe me.

And talk about CUTE! Now he's batting at them! I think my face is going to crack from smiling.

"Ri? You alright in there? You keep squealing." Gippal said from around the door frame. That sneaking little...! And here I was, giving him compliments on how considerate he was being. We'll just see if he ever gets a hug again! Humph!

"Damon's being cute, and you're being rude! Spying on me in the tub!"

"Like I can see anything under those bubbles." He said, walking in, much to my charge in, and seating himself next to the tub. He had his back to me, which I guess was supposed to make up for him being in the bathroom with me. "And since when did you care if I saw you naked? I seem to remember you bouncing around naked in front of a mirror, so that I got great front AND back views."

"Hey! If you're going to complain about it, then I'll make sure never to do it again."

"I'm not complaining. But I'm jealous that you took off that sheet in front of the fox rather than me."

"You weren't here."

"I was dealing with Yuna downstairs. Some way to treat you, after what you went through. I told her she's not allowed to see you until you want to see her. Among other things."

"Sounds good to me. I don't want to see anyone, really. I'll hide out here with you and Damon, if you're okay with it."

"Stay as long as you want. They'll be happy to have me in one place for more than a day."

"Um...can I ask you something?"

"Shoot."

"Well..." I sat up and laid my head on my arms on top of the tub, so that I could look at him. "How come you went after me?"

"Are you kidding? I'd have gone after you if that hole led straight to hell. As if I'd leave you there, or anywhere, alone."

"But why?" He was silent for a while, thinking I guess. I think he's thinking, at least. He looks like he's thinking. What's so hard about that question? It's not like we're in love or anything. Sure, I have this little crush on him, but I don't think he likes me that way anymore. We kinda had a romance going, but that all ended when Yunie left on her pilrimage and he left for the Crimson Squad. He's been all Big Brother since then.

"I'd miss you, that's why."

"You'd miss me? You barely talk to me anymore."

"Damn it, Ri, I don't have any one answer. I just know I'd miss you more than you think. And I don't talk to you cause you don't seem to want to have anything to do with me."

"What! You idiot! I miss talking to you, even if you do call me 'Cid's Girl' and mess up my hair all the time."

"Yep. So when are you gunna get naked again? You said you would."

"I'm naked right now, horn dog."

"You're wearing all those bubbles. I'd have to jump in there and push them all to the side to get a good view."

"Go right ahead."

Gippal turned to look at me then, and his face was classic shock. Jaw slightly hanging, eye wide open...yet another moment when I wish I had a sphere recorder. I'll have to make sure I carry one from now on.

"I need to go get my recorder. I have a naked, hot chic in my bathtub, and I'm not in there with her. Seems kinda wrong."

"I told you to go right a head, but you keep trying to be good for some reason." I leaned back in the tub again, closing my eyes. "I've always wanted to be up to my neck in hot water with you. And you and I never did get to finish that kiss."

"We should fix that."

"How bout right now? Come on in, the water's nice and hot!"

"Sounds like a plan to me. Though I can do without the bubbles." Now, keep in mind here that Gippal's clothing involves lots of buckles and stuff like that. Yet, they were off with a miminum of noise, and very very quickly. How long did it take him to learn how to do that? Does he sit there and pracitce in his spare time? Or are all those buckles just for decoration?

Not that I care, cause right now I'm being thoroughly kissed by Gippal, with both of us naked in a bathtub. And no, I'm not going to tell you what happened after that kiss! You smut happy people, wanting to know what goes on in my sex life. Geez. Ever hear of a thing called privacy? It's when you mind your own business! Go watch some porn if you want to think about people having sex. Smuts'R'Us is chock full of the stuff. Go have fun there.

I will tell you that snuggling in bed with Gippal is great. Again, he's really, really warm. And he's got good taste in sheets. These ones are all soft and comfy. He's got nice cushy pillows, too. Damon came in and decided to take one for himself. He looks so cute, laying there with his tails over his little nose. I'm really going to have to get a recorder one of these days. Gippal's cute when he sleeps, too. Not that I'm facing him, cause he's spooning me, but he really is. YAWN It'll be nice to sleep. Yeah...nice...zzz...ZZZ...zzz

So, I'm working on the real ending to this. I'm not sure it'll be any time soon, so keep your ears and eyes open for updates! Thanks!

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