Okay, just so you know when you get to the end, this is not a cliff-hanger. Sadly, but no it's not.
"Elhana!" Rikku shouted as she came into her office. "I have a lot to do and no one to—oh Vech."
The princess came into the room to find Vech at her assistant's desk. He was hard at work, and looked up with surprise when seeing her. He looked like he thought he was in trouble. "Yes?" he asked.
After hitchhiking with an airship, that involved paying for a way on, and making it all the way back to Zanarkand, she had changed her clothes. Realizing that she still had work and did not in the least want to stay with Gippal for too long, she hurried to get down to her office. Sadly, she came to find that her usual assistant was not present.
She looked around as if looking for an answer. She made a noise with her tongue, almost a clicking noise. "Where's Elhana?"
He shrugged. "Hasn't come in today," she replied, shaking his head. "I've been doing her job and she's been doing yours. Went home early, too."
She made a face and her brows wrinkled. "I wonder if she's sick," she said with concern. With another sigh, she went into her office and took out the work from the other day that she'd been working on. Then, she came back outside. "I'm going to go see if she's all right. I'll be back soon, so keep up the good work."
Rikku turned and went through the office door, and started down the hall. But when she did, she heard a discussion. "You haven't seen Sanron have you?" Gippal asked. "I mean you're his sister."
"I have no clue," Adedrea replied. "He hasn't come in all morning."
Turning, she looked at the two who were standing outside of another office, right down the hall. "Sanron is missing too?" she asked.
They looked to her as she walked in their direction. Adedrea was wearing her normal attire, a cut off shirt and pair of shorts with a belt around her waist. She too had longer hair, unlike most Al Bhed women, and wore it in a bun on the back of her head. With it, she had goggles as a headband along with some gloves and boots.
"'Too'?" Adedrea asked, crossing her arms as Rikku came over to stand with them. "Who else is missing?"
Holding her chin, she bit her lip. With a grin, she looked at Adedrea and took her by the arm. "I need a favor of you," she said, leaving Gippal alone to just stand there. Her smile was devious. "Could you please go and help out Vech a little bit?" she asked. "I'm going to be busy and since I know you'd much rather do something than stand and watch everyone work…"
Brightly, the taller girl smiled. "Of course," she said, eyes glistening with excitement. "I mean, if you need me to."
Rikku nodded, before patting her shoulder and sending her down the hall. She turned to Gippal, who had changed like she did after coming back. He wore his usual, but that day he wasn't wearing his large over armor. He just gave her a look. "Why did you—?"
"I need you to come with me," she said, seriously looking him in the eye.
His eyes just narrowed as he looked at her.
"Why did I just steal the janitor's keys?"
"You weren't the one who had to flirt with him."
"I don't know about you, but I'm straight. He was too, the way he stared at you. Most Al Bhed are, if you hadn't noticed," Gippal said in a hushed tone as they went through the hallways. He looked around, and seeing that no one was there, spoke up. "What are we doing?"
The two were in the housing building, and Rikku was holding the master set of keys to each of the rooms. They were moving at a fast pace, and she looked down each hallway before they crossed quickly.
Rikku rolled her eyes at his question. "Investigating," she said. "Believe me, I know what I'm doing." She shrugged. "Of course, it was Yuna who usually did the flirting and I did the stealing, but we're working on it."
He gave her a look as though she was out of her mind. "What did Paine do, knock out the guards?" he asked. It was her turn to give him a look. "I just mean we could get in serious trouble for this."
She looked over his shoulder; her eyes went wide and she pushed him to the wall behind the corner. Gippal had his back to the wall, and she was pressed up against him tightly as she looked down the hall. The two people who had been walking were gone and she backed up slightly.
Ignoring the weird feeling she got, she shook her head and looked up at him again. "Just listen to me," she said. "We're not doing anything bad, just a little bit sneaky. If we did these things, people would get suspicious, and I don't want that happening." She looked at her watch and then down the hall. "We have to get the room assignments from the front desk. I know where it is, but I can't just walk inside and take it."
"What do you want me to do?" he asked.
She rolled her eyes. "Guess."
He raised an eyebrow. "You want me to flirt with who's sitting there?" he asked.
Rikku shrugged. "Not exactly, just distract them while I get the lists," she said.
"Can't you just come up with an excuse that you need them or something?"
She laughed defiantly and crossed her arms. "Now that would be too simple."
The woman sitting at the front desk was no older than she was. At least, that's what Rikku thought about her. She had shorter hair, kind of like Paine's without the spikes and she wore a nice, knee-length skirt and covering shirt. She remembered this girl. What was her name? Tramyra? She had always had her nose stuck in a book back at Home.
And at that moment, she was too. Well, it wasn't like she had any work to do, other than to just sit there, sort mail and direct visitors. She seemed completely bored and stressed out at the moment.
She simply went up to her and smiled. "Hey, Tramyra?" she asked.
The girl looked up. "Princess?" she asked, seeming a bit surprised.
"The elevator seemed a little rickety, so I took the stairs all the way down from my apartment," she explained shyly. She smiled sweetly. "Can I get a cup of water from in the back?"
Tramyra blinked. "Sure," she said. "Go ahead."
Behind the desk was a room filled with files. There also happened to be a small bathroom and sink, since it was converted from a regular room. Rikku nodded with another smile. "Thanks," she said. "Can I use the bathroom too, if you don't mind?"
After her nod, Rikku went behind the desk casually and inside the backroom. The moment the door shut, she went over to one of the windows, and looked through the closed blinds to see what was going on.
From behind the corner, Gippal came out with a smile and talked to Tramyra for a moment. Then, she stood and he gave her a folded piece of paper with a grin. Smiling graciously, she took it, and even put down her book before leaving the building.
Her jaw dropped. He was good. Instantly she went over and started going through the filing cabinets. "Room assignments, room assignments," she muttered under her breath as the door opened.
Gippal came in. "She'll be gone five minutes at the most," he said quietly, closing the door so that it didn't make a noise.
"How'd you get rid of her?" she asked as he came over. She opened a drawer and glided her fingers over the folders.
"I gave her a note to give to one of my workers who's been after her for years," he said. He grinned. "Did them a favor."
She raised an eyebrow. "What did the note say?"
"Take a day off and take her to dinner."
Rikku just looked at him. "You are bad," she stated bluntly.
He huffed on his knuckles. "I try."
Rolling her eyes, she finally found the folder she wanted. She took out the papers and found the one with the top floor and ran over to the copier. Gippal looked nervously to the window, as he was standing right behind her. "I gotta go. She might think something's up if I'm in here. See you around the corner." She nodded with understanding and he went outside again.
She finally got the page copied and folded it, making sure it was a small size before putting it in her bikini. But then she looked up when hearing something. They were footsteps, and ones that were coming closer. Quickly as possible, she grabbed the folder and put it back in order, running over to the cabinet and put it in its place. Then, she closed the drawer, but it made a thud.
Rikku cursed under her breath, but then heard the person outside move. She looked around for something, anything.
The handle turned and Tramyra opened the door. "My lady, are you all right?" she asked. "I heard a noise."
Turning with a cup in hand, Rikku smiled while drinking from it. "Noise?" she questioned, cocking her head to the side, lowering her cup. Her hand rested on the sink, as she leaned on the counter. "I didn't hear anything," she said.
Tramyra blinked. "Okay," she said, leaving the door open for her.
Rikku put the cup in the sink and casually went past her. Staying, the younger girl looked around, but found nothing out of the ordinary. Shaking her head, she closed the door,went over to the deskand sat back down.
"You never cease to amaze me."
Rikku gave him a look. "And what else did you expect?" she asked, taking out the piece of paper.
She unfolded it and looked over the list of names. She laughed when seeing the room the two of them were assigned to. Yeah, she did approve this. But then she looked at something. "I recognize this handwriting," she said.
"Isn't it yours?" Gippal asked, hovering over her shoulder. "What are you looking at anyway?"
Eyes wide, she shook her head. "It's not mine." Then she looked up with narrowed eyes, aimed at nothing in particular. "Come on."
"We have two options to choose from," Rikku read off, as they walked down the halls on the top floor.
There really weren't that many suites, but enough. They got to a point where two doors were facing each other, and the only suites in that hallway. Their own suite wasn't too far from there.
The blonde faced the first door, then looked back to the paper in hand. "Elhana, Adedrea and Nhadala share this one," she said, and then looked at him.
Gippal had the ring of keys in his hand, holding it up by only one. There had to be at least a few dozen on it to begin with. He looked at it funny. "This thing is evil. How do you match the door to the key?"
She sighed and rolled her eyes. "Men," she muttered under her breath as she grabbed it from out of his hands.
Rikku shoved the paper in his face and he raised an eyebrow as she bent over to look at the key more closely. "What did that mean?"
She looked over her shoulder once, before going back to her work. "What did what mean?"
"The long sigh, followed by the 'men', under your breath," Gippal retorted, arms crossed. "Are you saying that my gender makes me incapable of doing something like this?"
"No, I'm saying that it makes you take everything the hard way," she replied, not even looking at him.
He gave her a sour look. "I won't respond to that one."
With a click, the lock opened and the door swung on its hinges. Rikku was the first to go in, keeping the keys in her hands. "How do we know they aren't in here?" Gippal asked.
"Nhadala is in Bikanel, and Adedrea I sent to my office," she said. "Elhana is the one we're looking for remember?"
The first room looked like their own, with different personal touches. There also seemed to be a bit more in the kitchenette. She went over to the bedroom door, which was seemingly open, and then looked inside. There were three regular beds inside, all with feminine patterns on the bedspreads.
Gippal came inside and looked around. "Hate to break it to you, but she's not here," he said with a smile.
Rikku just gave him another look. "I know that," she said. She went into her bag and took out something. "Hey Vech," she said into her communicator. Unlike her other, this one was only connected to a box on her assistant's desk. The entire time she was looking at Gippal with amusement. "Has Elhana come in yet?"
There was a pause. "No, my lady," he replied, though his voice was unclear. "Not that I know of."
"Thanks, Vech. You can go back to work."
She put it away and Gippal sighed. "Okay, this is a little suspicious," he said, nodding. "She's not in her room or the office."
"And her communicator is right here," she said, going over to the side table.
"That means…?"
"Why do I have to see if the coast's clear?" Gippal asked over his shoulder. "I thought you said everyone's at work."
Rikku, who was bent down on one knee, with the keys in hand, looked up with annoyance. "You want to do this?" she asked.
Gippal was facing the other way, arms crossed as he looked down both hallways. His job was to make sure that no one was coming. In other words, he was the lookout, which was a very boring job if you asked him.
But he didn't exactly want to do what she was doing, so he shook his head and muttered his answer, "No."
"Thought so," she said. "Just relax a little."
"A lookout is not supposed to relax."
"Then just cred ib," she replied with venom. (Shut up) Her tongue was poking out of her mouth as she stared at the lock in front of her with concentration. "I'm almost done."
Again he sighed. He wondered why he put up with this sometimes. Gippal then turned to look at her, with that expression on her face. When she worked really hard, that was how she looked. And seeing her like that, well…
Oh, that was why.
He just looked at her quietly, and then her eyes lit up. "Got it," she said, standing up again. Then she looked at the ring of keys. "This could be a problem."
His eyebrow went up. "What?"
She sighed and looked over to him. "Well, we do want to be sneaky, right?" she asked him innocently.
"That was my interpretation," he replied flatly.
"That can't happen with these," she said, shaking them. Even if it was lightly, they made quite a lot of noise. "I don't have anywhere to put them."
He looked her over. That day, Rikku was wearing one of her…more revealing outfits. Her shorts were the definition of 'short' and her top was nothing more than a bikini top. With it were gloves and boots coming up to her elbows and knees. There was also one of those belts she owned with all the pockets on, and some jewelry, but that was about it.
It wasn't as if he hadn't noticed; he was just used to it that's all. Yet sadly, there was no way she could hide the keys in her clothes, not even her cleavage. He smirked recalling the gil-hiding incident the other day. Normally he would have said something about this, but since she wasn't exactly in a teasing kind of mood at that moment, he didn't want to risk it.
He sighed. "Well, then I suppose you're asking me to do something about this, aren't you?" he asked, almost making a face.
Rikku smiled innocently. "Oh, he read my mind."
He held out his hand and she simply dropped them. Then he stuffed them in his pocket before he looked at her. "Better?"
She shrugged while closing her eyes. "Well, I suppose."
"Can't we just get going already?"
With a slight nod, she put her ear on the door, attitude changing dramatically. Now she decides to do this? They might have heard them—if they were in there. After about a few seconds, she lifted her head. "I don't hear anything," she said quietly.
"Well, that's sort of good," he whispered in reply.
Slowly, she put her hand down to the door, and turned the handle, making sure not to make any noise as she opened it. It swung open a bit and she poked her head inside. "Well, there's no one in the front room," she said, looking back at him.
She opened it entirely and went inside. He followed, and watched as she stepped over one of the many things that was out of place in the room. One of the chairs was on its side, the sofa was on its back, and there was a lamp on the floor, still on. It even made a large circle on the wall. Curtains were on the floor and there were all kinds of things thrown around.
They just looked at each other, stepping over everything to make it to the bedroom door. "What in the world happened in here?" Gippal asked.
Rikku shook her head. "They need a new housekeeper," she said with a laugh.
He shook his head. She was always one to joke at awkward times. But then she reached over to the bedroom and put her ear against it, like she did with the front. "Who shares this room again?" he asked.
"Buddy, Vech and Sanron." Her words were short, but then she put a finger to her mouth. "Sh!"
He stayed quiet for a moment, as she listened. Then she made a face. "I don't hear anything," she whispered. She stood up straight and took a deep breath. "I'm going to open it," she said. "Be ready."
Gippal nodded, before she reached for the handle. And then she turned it, and swung the door open quickly.Rikku's eyes widenedasshegasped and covered her mouth.Gippal just stood there with wide eyes.