Well, you all asked for more, so I'm giving it to you. I thought it would just be plain evil to let everyone hanging when I have the next installment written. You'll like this chapter, I'm sure of it.

Rikku couldn't breath; air would not come out of her lungs, or go in them for that matter. Her brain went into shock, not being able to form the words she wanted. She tried to say something, make noise, a sound anything. But nothing would come out of her wind pipe.

When it did, it came out as a shorted scream, a squeak as it was. She covered her mouth, the small sounds escaping every so often. Her eyes were still wide, as she stared out in front of her, not actually seeing anything.

Signals in her head were going off. All the time, he knew? He knew Cid wanted them down the aisle and left her believing he didn't. Then, he tried to make her say it by...doing all those things. He kissed her, all for nothing!

She looked around, and noticed that Lulu was looking at her. She was still squeaking like a chocobo and some were starting to notice. "Rikku?" the black mage asked, concern in her eyes. "Are you all right?"

Lulu didn't get an answer. The second that someone spoke, it snapped her back into her senses. Her eyes blazed and she stood with them narrowed. She looked at Gippal with so much anger it was almost scary. Before she knew it, her body was acting on its own she was so angry. Then, she surprised herself. She raised her hand in the air and let it fall quickly.

Smack!

"You," she almost whispered, growl in her voice. Her hand was in the air again. "You self-centered, egotistical, cocky, low life, jerk!" she screamed at him, right there in front of everyone.

Everyone looked over at them, surprised at what they saw. She did smack him. Leblanc, sitting a row behind them covered her mouth with her fan. "That had to hurt," she whispered to Nooj, who was looking with confusion.

Gippal was left with his head to the side and his eye wide, cheek already turning red. He looked around, more shocked than anyone. It hadn't been the reaction he anticipated.

Before anyone could say anything, Rikku growled, not seeing anything but fury and stormed out of the box, running down the stairs.

The machine leader faced forward, noticing all eyes on him. Paine gave him the oddest look. "What did you do?" she asked, brow wrinkled.

He laughed nervously before his face returned to the expression he had before. "I think I deserved that," he said, a red hand print on his cheek.

He stood, everyone including those from other races knew what was going on. He laughed again and pointed in the direction she went. "I'll just—Rikku!" he shouted, running after her in her direction.

Everyone looked at each other, all completely spellbound by what just happened. "Okay," Baralai said. "That was...interesting."

When he finished, Yuna came back like nothing happened at all and looked around. She looked at them all, brow wrinkled in confusion. "Did I miss something?" she asked. Then she noticed something. "Where's Rikku and Gippal?"

"Rikku, come back!"

"Go the rimm away Gippal!"

To hide her words, she cursed in Al Bhed. Not many knew the language yet, so it was somewhat safe. Still, others did see them walking out of the stadium. Not to mention the little scene she made in the box.

Rikku was furious, down right angry. She was mad at Gippal, at her father, and more importantly at herself. She'd done all of that without thinking and now everyone would know something was going on. Not to mention her friends would want an explanation about that little scene.

At that moment she didn't want to talk to anyone, let alone who she was angry at. She quickly walked down the stairs outside, past the shop to th front and continued to walk—towards the docks that was.

But still, Gippal was following her. She hadn't a clue why, but she wasn't about to find out. Finally, she ducked into dock one, where no one was and no ships were every stationed, before whirling around to stare at him.

"What gives you the right to talk to me right now?" she asked, looking up to him with a cold stare.

He sighed and looked at her, scratching the back of his head. "Okay, before I say anything, could you calm down a little?" he asked. His look was almost a genuine concern. "You're scaring me."

She could have laughed, looking at him with sarcasm. "Oh, I'm scaring you? Well, I'm so sorry, that just comes with complete and total rage!" she shouted at him.

Gippal sighed. "Okay, yeah, you're mad," he replied. "I can see that."

"Good," she retorted. "Take that into consideration next time you try something like this. How long have you known?"

He looked around, licking his lips once and not staring her in the eye. "Right after Yuna walked into us in your office. Cid told me."

Rikku laughed, just laughed. "Well, at least you were honest the first time!" she shouted at him. "Why—what gave you the idea to do this to me? It was enough that I had to hide it from you with my job and everything going on. I mean, first I'm told all of this, Paine's getting married, Yuna's pregnant, what else is gonna go on!" She waved her arms in the air to prove her point. "Who's gonna die, huh!" It was almost sarcastic.

He gave her a look that calmed her down a little bit. "Well, I'll ask on that all later, but Rikku, have you noticed something?"

She was so angry, she snapped without thinking. "What!"

"I called you by your name," he almost whispered.

Just as she opened her mouth to say something, she breathed out and noting else came out. She looked at him without rage, but shock. Her eyes were wide again. "What?" she asked in a whisper, this time sounding like she wanted him to clarify.

"I said 'Rikku', not 'Cid's girl' or 'princess'," he said to her, stepping closer to her. He looked her right in the eye. "Didn't you wonder why?"

She shook her head softly, not really paying attention to her answer, still shocked. He had been calling her by her name.

Gippal gave her a soft look, right in the eye. Before she knew what was going on, he cupped her face softly, other hand clasping her upper arm slightly. Then he reached down and kissed her softly.

Unlike his other one, teasing and playful, this one was was soft and comforting. His lips caressed hers tenderly, as he tilted his head to the side and explored her mouth. Then, before she could help herself, she responded. Her eyes fluttered closed long ago and she just felt without thinking.

Her toes curled in her shoes and her hand found its way up his chest to the back of his head, where her fingers curled into his hair. Her other one came up and her arms just rested in a circlet around his neck, as she returned his kiss with the same tenderness. It was almost as if he was a healer, and she the patient.

But, then he parted and kept his face a centimeter away from hers while talking. "Have you ever thought about what I want?" he whispered. "Ever take into consideration that I did what I did for a reason?"

She looked up to him with a little shock and he let go of her slowly, pulling away. He didn't head back, but went to the other docks. Rikku only stared off in his direction, just staring with a little shock. Then, she stared at the floor, knees giving way as she slid to a sit on the ground.

Then, she heard voices and Paine came over with Yuna in tow. They knelt down to her, Paine making her look at them. "Rikku, look at me," she said, while Yuna was looking her over. "Where's Gippal?" she asked.

Rikku looked behind the two. Not only was Baralai there, but Nooj and Tidus. Lulu, who was without Vidina for the moment, knelt down next to her. "Rikku, are you alright?"

She nodded blindly. Then, she pointed to the way Gippal went. "He went that way," she said softly.

The men followed in that direction, while her close friends stayed put. Yuna turned her head to look at her. "Rikku, what's wrong?" she asked. "You were angry a minute ago, weren't you?"

Rikku nodded. "I'm fine now," she whispered, weakly, as though she ran out of energy or something. She looked up at them. "Shouldn't you be at the game?" she asked, trying to sound cheerful. It didn't work.

Paine gave her a look. "Okay, spill, what did he do?"

She sighed, closing her eyes. "He knew," she said, then looked at them again, "that Pops wanted us to get married."

When the trio found Gippal, he was at another dock, leaning against a stack of crates and hitting his head against them. He mumbled a few things to himself, in Al Bhed. While doing so, he punched the crate as well. Tidus grimaced at the curses he threw towards himself. It sounded a little like, 'Huf E ghuf cri redic si.'

They came over and the blitzer put a hand on his shoulder. "Come on, Rikku doesn't hate you," he said.

Gippal sighed and turned, looking at them while rubbing his temple. "Yes, she does," he replied. "At least right now. I shouldn't have done that."

"What exactly did you do to make her call you all those names and slap you in front of everyone, then run away?" Nooj asked, leaning on his cane patiently. He smirked in interest. "Really, I want to know. It sounds interesting."

The machine leader gave him a look. "Cid came to me a few days ago," he said. "He's thinking about handing over his title—to Rikku. But, since she's a girl, he can't do that unless she's married."

They gave him a shocked look. "He didn't...ask you to marry her did he?" Baralai asked.

He looked to the side, moving around a little to blow off some steam. "In different words," he replied. "He said he'd like it."

"Well, he does think of you as a son, right?" Nooj asked patiently. "He was probably thinking about making it official."

"Exactly," he replied.

"But, that leaves something important out," Tidus mentioned, looking between them all. "Rikku. She should have a say in who she marries."

"I know," Gippal said. "But, you see, before Cid told me, he had me at Zanarkand. He kept me there for some reason, I didn't know at the time." He shook his head with a sigh. "I asked Rikku why he was, and well...you know how bad of a lier she is." He pointed to Tidus and he nodded. "So, to get it out of her, I teased her a bit."

"She's mad about that?" Baralai asked, brow raised, sounding like he didn't believe him. "Isn't she used to it by now? I mean, you did it all the time when younger right?"

"Not that kind of teasing."

He gave them all looks and they glanced at each other, catching on and nodded. "Afterwards, I don't know if Yuna told you, but she broke it up and Rikku ran off," he continued. "The next morning, I asked Cid, he told me. Then she started acting weird—she kept disappearing, lied to my sister, and to me, not to mention Cid when he walked in on us the second time," he counted off on his fingers.

"Whoa, whoa whoa," Tidus said, stopping him. "If you already knew, then why did you do that to her again?"

He sighed and looked over to the water. "I realized something," he said, running his fingers through his hair and then scratching the back of his head. "I want to marry her."

Rimm -- Hell

Huf E ghuf cri redic si -- Now I know she hates me