A/N: Hello again loves. I'm not going to lie but I just lost the urge to write this for a while. But somehow I hit my 'Rikku groove' (which tends to put me in the mood to write for hours) I will tell you now that I'm not giving up on this story. It is my baby, my first fanfic ever and although I dislike the earlier chapters (which I hope to edit and fix once this fic is done) I find that as I progress with it, my writing is getting better. I have updated two chapters (filler chapters) and you guys can review them separately or together it doesn't matter to me. Updates will be irregular but I promise I will try to refrain from updating after three and a half months. (God you guys probably hate me)

Disclaimer: I don't own final Fantasy X or X-2…if I did I would be swimming in money instead of writing.

Chapter Thirteen: The Gullwings

The tip of my nose twitched as I inhaled softly. Cracking open an eye, I found my gaze being met with hills of silky warm fur and granite walls. I was in a cave and the delightful essence of the water springs laid behind in my dreams. I sat up and stretched, feeling some joints pop and muscles twitch as they were put to work.

I was grateful that I was still in my bathing suit and that a female Ronso didn't attempt to undress me. A flush heat came to my cheeks thinking about it. The idea didn't upset me as much as it should have. But I guess that's what happens when a person is sexually curious about the same sex.

I changed into my Alchemist dress sphere (since prancing around in a thief outfit at the top of a mountain didn't seem like a warm idea) and headed out of the cave with my bag in toe.

"Did Rikku sleep well?" Kimahri said as I reached the opening of the mountain trail where he usually stood. I politely greeted the rest of the Ronso and smiled at him

"It was the best sleep I've had in a while! The cave was so warm that I forgot that I was on the mountain."

"Scared mountain protected you."

"Well, I don't know about that." I laughed trying desperately to accept the concept of a sacred place trying to protect something as tainted as me.

"Will Rikku leave soon?"

"Oh yeah, I have to make it to Zanarkand before brother gets there. If he doesn't see me, he'll get a heart attack" I laughed again. Why was I feeling so uneasy?

Kimahri didn't say anything nor did he smile. He merely crossed his arms over his chest.

"Well anyway, I guess I'll leave now!" I said walking slowly away from the frozen awkward air between us.

"Rikku not go alone," I heard him say behind me. "Basik Ronso will escort Rikku to Zanarkand."

"Why?" I said

"Mountain fiends are not easy, they are angry with rage."

This bit of information was filed away in the memory bank of my brain.

"It safer with Ronso to help."

"Thank you"

And so I was escorted up the mountain. I thought using the teleporters would be safer but Basik told me that the fiends kept destroying them. While walking up I noticed that we didn't encounter any fiends what so ever. The first thought that occurred to me was that maybe Basik had on a Charm bangle so that we would go undetected. But soon that idea was thrown out as I saw his azure eyes dart from side to side, waiting and anticipating an attack. It dawned on me how the situation it self brought a feeling of dejavu as the day I walked through Macalania forest. Just like the earth that barely held on to the dying trees, it's fiend supply had proved to be unyielding.

Taking the long route to Zanarkand I was worried that brother was already there with Buddy holding him back to prevent him from mauling me. But to my surprise the dork didn't show up.

I bid my farewell to Basik and sat on a piece of ruin. Zanarkand hasn't changed one bit. The air held on to its nostalgic feel and the pyreflies danced and glided in the air. I sighed knowing that there wasn't anyone there since Issaru had up and left after the Venagun incident. The true keepers of Zanarkand became the monkeys and if I wasn't careful I would not only end up bored but broke as well.

I decided that to pass the time I should continue on with my story.

Journal Entry #12

I twiddled with my fingers as I waited outside of pop's office. My mind scrapped for any reason that would validate my going out in a very revealing thief outfit across Spira in the hopes to find who the man on the sphere was. Simply saying that it might be Tidus would not win him over but if I brought up the fact that maybe Yuna would want something to do with it, then maybe he would consider it.

The door opened and I looked up from my thoughts. A worker came out with his arms full of rolled up plans. My presence startled him and he almost dropped the paper cylinders as he eyed what I was wearing. He blushed and stumbled towards his destination. I took a deep breath; this was not going to be fun.

I opened the door and felt the air conditioner rush out towards me. Pops was there, sitting with a frown on his face eyeing at a plan on his desk. He didn't look happy and I felt that my timing couldn't have been more off. I closed the door behind me softly so that I didn't give away my presence. Pressing my feet gently against the floor I made my way up to his desk. I was so close yet he still didn't look up. He grumbled at the plan in front of him and I chose the moment to study him then. His head hung low and his shoulders slouched with stress. The once smooth skin on his head that shinned under the sun was now gruff with gray blondish stubble and deep creases that gave the appearance that they were dusty with age.

My chest rose and fell deeply as I silently counted in my head. My throat felt tight as I opened my mouth to speak.

"Pops?" I squeaked

At the sound of my voice he shot up from his seat.

"What in the hell do you thin…"

He stopped as his bottom jaw dropped and his green eyes darkened as they surveyed my attire. I bit my lip and closed my eyes knowing very well what was going to happen next.

"WHAT ARE YOU WEARING!"

His voice was so loud that my ears screamed and covered themselves.

"I can explain!" I said on the defensive.

"You better start before I go berserk in here!"

"Pops, I know this isn't appropriate, but it's a new invention that Shinra came up with to help me in battle."

"That little pervert" he scowled and looked down as if thinking a way to extract his revenge.

"There's something else too…"

His face almost looked ill, as if I could make things any worse.

"…I'm going away,"

He took a deep breath and let it out. He stood up straighter now and was more composed. Now that the worse was over, he was going to give me a chance to explain myself.

"Where are you going to go" he asked quietly. He looked so serious that I took it upon myself to choose my words carefully. A misunderstanding could lead to something that would make the rift between us even bigger.

"Well, Kimahri found a sphere on the mountain. He was on it trapped in some cage. I figured that since Yuna was so close to him that maybe I should go and take it to her…"

"…so that you two can go save him." he said finishing my sentence. I pouted and clasped my hands together.

"Please pops?"

He stared at me and grunted but then sighed defeated as he saw that I wasn't giving up on my puppy-dog face.

"All right you can go, but make sure you and Yuna get some help so you don't go off killing your selves for that boy" he said crossing his arms over his chest. I always thought he did that to make himself look authoritative.

"Thanks pops" I said smiling and turned around happy that I wasn't mauled to death.

"Rikku."

I stopped in my tracks and turned around.

"Good luck," he said.

I wasn't expecting that but the comment made me look at pops in a different light for a minute.

----------

While packing my bag I couldn't help but feel my skin shiver from excitement. My gut was telling me that this was going to be another adventure. It was something to do other than mope around in the desert and feeling sorry for myself. I could begin to travel the world and not have so many limits. Sure I was still Al Bhed and certain places did not appreciate my heritage but I knew my status with Yuna would give me an advantage to reach into those areas where my people were still looked down.

Finished and satisfied with my packing I closed my bag and admired my work. Mess was the wrong word to describe the condition of my room. I sighed and rubbed my temples. I really did not want to start cleaning.

"To think that you live up to the phrase 'I have nothing to wear'. Nice get up, did you dress like that for me?"

I turned around knowing all to well who the voice belonged to. Gippal and his cocky smirked greeted me and at the moment my heart jumped into my throat. I hadn't seen him in such a long time and to see him actually standing there in my room brought about a feeling of a warm current through my body.

"Gippal!" I said running towards him. He picked me up and twirled me around.

I hugged him so close to me that I could smell the husky scent of cologne and desert. I wrapped my legs around his waist and he walked over to the bed. He laughed at my eagerness and I brushed my lips against his neck, tasting the sweet salt of his sweat.

I jumped off him and sat on the bed while he sat next to me.

"Going somewhere?"

"I'm going to start sphere hunting with Brother and Buddy and we're going to pick up Yunie in Besaid."

"So I take time off from my job to spend some time with you and you go off running away and half naked no less!" he said falling back on the bed.

"Gippal!" I whined.

He laughed and pulled me close to him. I felt heat rush up to my cheeks as I felt my chest brush up against his. My lips brushed against his and temptation began to nibble on my bottom lip. I felt like I wanted to consume him. Greedily I engulfed in his kiss making his warmth my warmth and letting desire rule his fingers as they found their way towards the knot of my top. I had to stop it before it got out of hand.

"I have to go before my brother blows his lid." I said reluctantly breaking away.

"So will I be seeing you anytime soon?" he said sitting up.

"I don't know do you have a sphere?"

"Yeah the one hidden in my--hey!" he said as I pinched his ear.

"Gippal, can't you stop being perverted?"

"Ok, ok, sorry." He laughed. I smiled because I felt so sure that I was the one making him happy. Then his face took on a serious tone.

"Just be careful out there. Sphere hunting will bring out the worst in people."

"Don't worry, if worst comes to worst I'll take my top off to distract who ever and have Yuna take the sphere." I laughed.

"Now who's being perverted," he winked.

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As soon as I placed my bag on my bed of the ship, I went straight to the main control center. Shinra was busy typing away on the computer. He said he was making the final adjustments to the sphere that Kimahri found so that it could be used as a dress sphere. Brother was busy flying or at least trying to look useful. I walked towards Buddy who was still having trouble having any type of eye contact.

"We have a new member," he said.

"Really? Who?"

The door slid open to reveal a young woman with a serious face and leather attire. She walked down the stairs and stood next to buddy and crossed her arms over her chest. I noticed that she had crimson eyes.

"Hey" she said more to Buddy.

"Hi I'm Rikku! Nice outfit" I said putting out my hand.

"Paine." she finally realized my presence.

"So how are ya? Are you excited about this sphere hunting gig?"

She looked past me and walked in that direction. I looked at Buddy who shrugged and put his hand on his hip.

"She's bursting with conversation," I said rolling my eyes.

Buddy laughed walked towards his seat on the ship. I sighed and pressed the button to de-activate my dress sphere. If I was going to Besaid to pick up Yuna I at least might as well go looking more appropriate.

The sound of an airship landing made me close the journal and look up. The rustic sound of the large metal door opening made me get up and walk towards it. I hoped that brother was ready to receive my warm welcome. If Buddy was there then he was in luck, I just might need someone to restrain me from killing him.
A/N: well I hope you guys enjoyed it and go on to enjoy chapter 14!