Chapter 15
Rikku did the first thing any girl would do in her situation. She screamed her head off. And while Gippal cringed, she grabbed the first thing there to cover herself with. That happened to be the decorative cloth that was laying on dresser behind her. Then, she grabbed her gun that was on top of it, whirled around and pointed it at him.
Her eyes were wide with shock and fury and her hand trembled. Her head spun with questions. First of all, how did he get in here? Why was he there? And what was he doing in her shower?
"What the hell are you doing here!" she screamed.
His eyes widened, yes, eyes. Gippal had taken off his eyepatch to reveal the eye that had always been covered up. His right eye had a scar over it that crossed over the entire thing. It also had a layering film over the eye itself. Clearly, it meant he couldn't see out of it. But she avoided looking at it—it being a result of an accident that was her fault. She concentrated on the matter at hand.
Gippal looked around as thought trying to find an answer. "I was taking a shower..." he replied. "And by the way, sorry about scaring you, so you can put the gun away now?" He looked at the weapon suspiciously.
She gave him a look as though she didn't believe him. He wasn't that thick. "Why are you even here!" she asked.
"I live here?" he tried, acting as though she were joking with him.
Her jaw dropped to the floor and she started to squeak like she did at the blitzball game. He wasn't serious. "You..." she whispered, swallowing. "...live here?"
An eyebrow raised. "You didn't know?"
Rikku thought she had swallowed her tongue. Gippal, living in her room? Sleeping less than a few feet away with nothing separating them but a light curtain? She didn't even want to know how it turned out this way, though she knew he had something to do with it.
"Would I be acting this way if I did!" she retorted to his question. Her eyes flared again.
"Not likely."
She growled and closed her eyes, the gun still pointed at him. "Alright, hands up."
At this, Gippal gave her a look as though she'd grown another head. "Excuse me?"
"You're not trusted." She nodded at him with the gun again. "Hands up!"
He sighed, but then did as he was told. Only when he did, the hand holding up the towel around his waist dropped and Rikku caught an eyeful. Not only did she turn ten shades of red, but her head whipped in the other direction and she squeaked another scream. Come on, he was standing there in his birthday suit.
"For the love of Shiva!" she exclaimed. "What did you do that for?"
Gippal let out a sigh. "You told me to, remember?"
"That doesn't mean that you're supposed to listen!"
He gave her a look. "Okay," he said. "I'll note that for later." But then he grinned mischievously and crossed his arms over his chest. "Really, though, I had no idea you liked it rough like this."
Rikku let out a frustrated growl, still not looking at him. "You have serious mental issues." She whipped her head around and tried to stare at his upper body. "If you think I've ever willingly sleep with you."
He cocked his head to the side. "Is that a challenge?"
Rikku made a face before spitting out her answer, "No!" she said. "It's a statement and don't forget that I'm the one with the gun here!" She closed her eyes for a moment before snapping them open. "Okay, I am going to go into the bathroom. When I come out, I want you to be asleep and in bed. Am I making myself clear?"
"Yes mom," he drawled.
She growled again. "Just do it!"
Gippal rolled his eyes before waving his hands in the air and turning. "Fine, I'm going."
Rikku thought her eyes would fall out that they widened so big again. She looked away, flaming red cheeks and a squeak on her voice. Yevon did he have to have such a great body? Come on, he was so chiseled it was frightening. Not to mention his ycc...
She shook her head. 'Get those thoughts out of your head, Rikku!' she scolded herself.
Then, before she did anything else, she grabbed her robe and pajamas and something off the dresser before running inside the bathroom. Slamming it closed, she heard a chuckle on the other side. She didn't even have the guts to yell at him, after what she saw. All she did was hold her face in her hands and shake her head. Why her?
"You saw him naked?" Yuna asked.
"That's what I said, will you stop repeating what I say?" Rikku retorted.
After some thought, Rikku decided to call her cousin. And by that, she meant using the new invention that Shinra had developed. It was similar to the thing they used to use, to communicate with the airship when they were on missions.
Except, this one you could take anywhere, and contact anyone, as long as they had another one. It was also changed so that the person one the other line was so quiet, that you had to put your ear it. It had two ends as well, one for listening and one for speaking into. It had no visual feed as well.
Over the other line, Rikku heard her cousin laugh. "Why are you complaining about this?" she asked.
She sat on the bathroom floor, talking frantically until that comment. As though the communicator was a foreign object, she took it away from her ear and looked at it. This was Yuna, wasn't it?
Rikku put it to her ear again. "This is Yuna, I'm talking to right?"
Again, she heard a laugh. "Of course silly. I just can't figure out why you're making such a big deal out of it. Tidus walks around like that all the time. Do you see me complaining?"
"First of all, he's your husband, that's allowed. You are pregnant after all," she said. Then, something struck her and she made . "He walks around naked?"
"After he showers and while he's dressing," she said. "And only in the bedroom—like he is now. But hey, I could care less. I actually like it."
Rikku blinked. This was her cousin, was she sure? Then, over the line she heard some noise. There was rustling and then a 'let me talk to her' and then more movement. "Hey, Rikku," said the voice of her cousin's husband.
"Oh, hey Tidus," she said. "Where'd Yuna go?"
"No where. I just wanted to say that don't think anything if Yuna says anything weird. She's been acting strange for a while. And she's been saying things bluntly," he told her.
"Oh," she said. That would explain a few things.
"Tell me though, I heard some of the conversation and I wanna know something. Why is Gippal even in your room?"
Rikku thought for a moment. "You know, I have no clue," she replied. "He just showed up in my room this evening."
"Hm, you did give up half your room because of all the reconstruction right?"
"Yeah..."
"Maybe he volunteered for your room."
That news hit her like another sinspawn. He actually did this willingly. How in Spira did she not find out? She had access to those files, with the room assignments. She looked them over before giving them to Elhana to give out to everyone.
"I'm gonna kill him!"
"Oh, come on Rikku," Tidus went on. "Don't be like that."
She blinked. "Well why not?"
"Rikku, have you ever stopped to consider why he does what he does?" (A.N. He knows that Gippal likes her and he and Tidus are buds.)
The blond opened her mouth to reply, but nothing came out. Why did he go to all the trouble of getting a room with her? Why did he keep kissing her? And why did he lie to her about knowing that Cid wanted them to marry? She thought back to the conversation they had at the Luca docks. What did he mean?
"Look, I gotta go. Yuna has been trying to get just junk and I have to make her eat some fruit," Tidus said, breaking her line of thought. "See you later?"
"Yeah," she said, half-heartedly. "Give Yunie my love."
With that, the line went dead and she looked out in front of her. She sighed and bit her lip. "What am I gonna do?"
After Rikku disappeared into the bathroom, Gippal did get some clothes on, like she told him to. Hey, she did tell him to put his hands up and she was holding a gun to him. He was not supposed to do what she said?
Besides, the look on her face had been priceless when he did drop the towel. She was so easy to fluster. Her reaction had been a little bit funny, but he held back his laugh to save her the embarrassment. He was human after all and he already knew how uncomfortable she was around him these days. Making fun of her would not put him on a good list.
Okay, so he did volunteer to be her roommate, and give up his other room. That didn't mean that he had asked to bunk with her. He'd been given her place as an room assignment, though. It was funny how she didn't know, only she and that assistant Elhana of hers had access to those files, the ones with the assignments. He was sure she knew because she had to have seen them before clarifying them.
Well, he didn't question luck. This only gave his plan some more ways to work. Hopefully, it wouldn't take too much longer to get her down the isle. After his little display at the game, Cid asked him and he told. Now, the guy was breathing down his neck to speed it up.
Seeing her without a shirt hadn't exactly been painful. Okay, so he did hear her come in, so he sped up to get out of the shower. He knew what she was like before bed and a when she needed to gt things done. He didn't want to mess with a cranky Rikku. A homicidal one was worse, but a still, it was worth it. Even if it wasn't planned.
He dried off and put some underwear on—his pajamas—and went over to his things with a towel still around his neck. He went through the contents of his dresser drawer and took out a small box. He dusted it off and grinned at it. It was a start.
Opening the door, Rikku poked her head out and looked around. The room was dark and Gippal was asleep. At least, he was in bed and his back was rising and falling softly, as he lied on his stomach. Plus, his eyes were closed. He did always sleep like a rock.
She swallowed and licked her lips before shutting off the lights in the bathroom and closing the door. She tip-toed over to her bed and jumped inside the curtains. She got under the covers quickly and lied down, placing her head down on the pillows. Only when she did, she felt something hard hit her head.
Sitting up, she reached under the pillows with a wrinkled brow and took out a small box. It opened on a hinge and when she saw what was inside, she almost choked. Inside, was a beaded bracelet, that usually was worn like an arm brace, since thee beads were all joined together at one point. The beads were very expensive, with jewels on them. There was nothing else inside, but she knew who'd given it to her.
Rikku looked in the direction that Gippal was sleeping. When she was twelve, this very arm band had made its way to a shop Rin owned, in Bikanel. She fell in love with it, and the only other person that knew was Gippal, since he was there when she saw it. She'd never told him, though.
She sighed. Now she owed him another apology.