A/N: A huge thank you and big hugs to everyone who's reviewed so far! Hopefully this chapter won't disappoint you.

To rikkufan: Your question will be answered in this chapter :)

Disclaimer: I own nothing FFX-2 related- so bleh. .

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The strong wind was causing sand to blow all around, making it hard to see much of anything. I squinted my eyes and sighed. I was seven years old and lost in the humungous desert that surrounded Home. I was familiar with the terrain, but the sandstorm made it nearly impossible to decipher where I was. Being a stubborn kid, I refused to call out for help. Not that it would do much good anyway, but I figured if I were to ever be a brave adventurer I had to do this myself. It was just a stupid sandstorm, anyway. Nothing I couldn't handle.

I walked and walked and walked and it seemed like I was never going to find my way home. Tired, I collapsed on my knees and closed my eyes. My long hair whipped around my face and I just sat there, feeling defeated. Tears rolled down my cheeks and I couldn't stop them from coming.

I was lost, I was scared, and I was completely alone.

I must have sat there for about fifteen minutes like that before I finally found a sign of life. It was a voice, yelling and cursing into the wind. Curious, I turned around and yelled something back. The other person stopped cursing, and they started walking in my direction. They got only a few feet in front of me before I could really see them.

It was a boy, about nine or ten years old. His spiky blonde hair moved wildly in the wind, and he looked at me curiously with one bright, green eye. He had a patch on the other one. He was pretty dirty, and I had to keep myself from laughing because I thought he was really funny looking.

"And who are you?" He sounded like he thought he was really important or something.

"I should be asking you that." I said, trying to sound important too.

"You shouldn't be out here in this. What are you doing out here?"

"I was playing and I... um..."

"You got lost. You must be pretty stupid to get lost so close to Home."

I wanted to cry, but I couldn't seem like I was just a weak, lost little girl. I put on my best mean face. "If I'm stupid that mean's you're stupid cause you're out here too."

"No it doesn't because I'm not lost. I'm looking for a machina part that I left out here today. Have you seen anything?"

"If I did, why would I tell you?"

He frowned, apparently frustrated with me. "Why am I even wasting my time talking to a stupid little girl like you?"

"I'm not little, I'm seven."

He just laughed at me. "You sure are somethin'. The name's Gippal. Remember it, cause I'm gonna be famous someday."

"My name's Rikku, and I'm gonna be famous someday too."

"Really?" He raised an eyebrow, grinning. "Famous for what?"

"I want to go on adventures and explore places and defeat fiends. And I'm going to make lots of cool machina too! I'll be the best, just like my dad!"

"Who's your dad?"

"Cid."

Gippal's eye grew wide. "Cid is your dad?"

"Yup." I don't think my smile could have been any bigger.

Gippal just started laughing uncontrollably. Apparently he did not believe me. "How could a stupid looking girl like you be Cid's kid?"

I was growing really angry with him. I scowled and kicked a pile of sand. Unfortunately, the wind brought it right up into my face, which only caused Gippal to laugh even harder and cause me to get angrier.

What was wrong with this kid?

"You're not very nice," I said, still coughing up sand.

Gippal just gave me a cocky grin. "I should get going. Nice meetin' ya, Cid's girl."

"I have a name!" I yelled into the wind, but Gippal's back was already turned and he was walking away, laughing. My hands balled into fists at my sides, and I stuck my tongue out at him. What was wrong with him?

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Everything was black, but I could feel myself slowly coming back to consciousness. Slowly, I opened my eyes to see the wood planks of the ship wall. Yawning, I turned over gently in my small bed as not to wake up the little angel sleeping by my side. I was surprised she had not woken yet. She was probably tired from all the excitement of yesterday... and the fact that the sun had barely even risen. Ugh.

For a while I just laid there, thinking about my dream and watching Rei sleep. The dream was my first meeting with Gippal, back in Home when I was only seven years old. Seven.

It seemed so distant, but I could remember everything. It was probably one of the few things I do remember about being seven years old. After our encounter, I did eventually make it home to one angry dad, but I was fine. Several years later, when I was about eleven, I would meet Gippal again. Strangely, we actually remembered each other, and you can imagine how surprised he was to find that I really was Cid's daughter. Anyway, he was a sort of apprentice for some guys dad worked with, and he eventually worked with him on a few things. Cid, of course, thought he was some kind of young machina genius. He worked on and off with him for a few years before Gippal just kind of left. That was probably around when he did the whole Crimson Squad thing. The next time I saw him was in Djose when we were signing up for the dig. Turns out he did get his fame by becoming the Machine Faction leader.

I think when we saw each other in Djose was the first time we really noticed each other. I mean, we were friends for a while, but Djose was the first time we had seen each other in about three years- and let's just say that both of us did a little bit of, um, "growing up" in that time, if you know what I mean. Gippal was no longer the skinny, awkward looking young teenager. He had grown into, well, a pretty attractive guy.

My thoughts were disturbed by Rei moving next to me. I watched her slowly open her eyes, then rub them and yawn.

"Morning, sunshine." I smiled and ruffled her hair, causing her to giggle.

"Morning, mommy." She sat up on the bed, her bright green eyes moving over towards the door. "It's dark outside."

"That's because the sun isn't up all the way. Do you want to watch it rise?"

"Okay." I could tell she was still a little bit sleepy because she kept yawning. She took my hand and we quietly walked up some stairs and onto the ship's deck. It was slightly cool outside, but not uncomfortably so. I picked Rei up in my arms, and walked over to the edge of the deck. The sun was just barely rising, and sparkles of orange light danced across the ocean. Rei's bright eyes grew wide at the sight. "It's soooo pretty!" She told me, clutching her bear Datto to her chest. We watched the sunrise together, my mind far away from everything that was bothering me.

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It was late afternoon when the first stretch of land began to appear on the horizon. We made a stop in Luca, which Rei thoroughly enjoyed. She couldn't get enough of the city. I took her to the Luca Stadium, and we watched some blitzball players practicing for the upcoming season. The only blitzball she had ever seen was "Uncle Tidus" coaching the Besaid Aurochs. She liked watching them, but it was nothing compared to sitting in an actual stadium. Rei was so enthralled that she professed she was going to be the world's "bestest blitzball player ever", and that when we got back to Besaid she was going to make Uncle Tidus teach her how to play so she could be as good as him.

After spending a nice afternoon in Luca, Rei was heartbroken when we had to return to the ship. It was another couple of days before we got to land again, and we still had a long travel across land in order to get to Home. By the time we reached Sanubia desert, Rei was nearly going out of her mind. I don't blame her. A good thing, though, was that they had hovers at the edge of Sanubia, and it wasn't as deserted as I remembered it. There were other Al Bhed traveling with us, and I just then realized that the celebration was going to be tomorrow. There was going to be a huge party, and it was certain that pretty much every Al Bhed in all of Spira was going to be there.

At this point, I was beginning to get really frightened. Gippal had absolutely no idea that I was coming, although my family did. I wrote to them the day I knew I was going, and they were supposed to meet me when I got there. I wasn't really looking forward to that either, but I guess it would be nice to be back with my family again... if they still wanted me, that is.

Adorable little Rei was having the time of her life in the hover. It made me feel bad that I had so much going on in my mind that I really wasn't paying that much attention to her. This was her first time experiencing all these Al Bhed things, and she was going to be visiting her homeland for the first time. I should be relishing this time with her, it was such an important thing in her life.

I could only smile weakly at her as she pointed at the city appearing on the horizon, her eyes full of excitement. I was happy to be going Home... but as my nervousness grew a part of me really wished I had remained in Besaid.

I don't think I had ever been so scared in my life.

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After the defeat of Vegnagun, I was thrown back into the whole "making public appearances thing." I went through it after Sin's defeat, and it was no different this time. I basically had to accompany Yuna and everybody else involved to parties in Bevelle, Luca, and pretty much everywhere else in Spira. I think Yuna was a lot happier this time around because she had Tidus. This left me with pretty much nobody I wanted to hang out with. Every event was the same; Yuna makes a heartwarming speech, people start drinking, I attempt to socialize but always end up feeling bored and lonely, sitting at a table by myself. Gippal came to a few of the parties, but we never exchanged more than a few words.

After all of the celebrations and publicity had died down, everyone seemed to know where they were going. Tidus and Yuna went back to Besaid, Paine did her own traveling, and so on. I didn't know what to do with myself. It seemed like everyone knew where they were going except for me. I felt like the lost little girl again.

Not knowing what to do, I decided to return to my family for a while. I guess it was the only place I had to go. I didn't like staying there much... it felt like I was always arguing with somebody. To make matters worse, my dad kept bugging me to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. He even suggested getting married. I got him to stop bugging me about it eventually, however. I guess he figured his independent little girl was going to stay that way.

I ran into Gippal one day when he came to the Bikanel desert. I was helping Nhadala with some repairs, and I guess he was there on some "important Machine Faction business" or something like that. We exchanged the usual teasing and insults, but before he left Gippal invited me to come visit him in Djose. This threw me a little off guard, but after a few days I decided to go anyway. It's not like I had much else to do.

The one visit eventually started turning into other visits, until I was pretty much spending all of my time there. It was weird, but we were actually becoming pretty good friends. We talked about nearly everything, and Gippal even mentioned something about leading a team that was going to help rebuild Home. He wanted me to be in it.

I can't pinpoint the exact moment when I fell in love with Gippal. I think it was more like a series of events that I had to go through before I could start seeing the fact that I did indeed love him. We shared our first kiss on a humid summer night in Djose. I would like to tell you that it was horribly romantic, but it wasn't exactly a fairytale event. Gippal had never beforehand told me that he loved me, or even remotely liked me. He just grabbed me and kissed me. Most girls would have been appalled at the way he did it. That was Gippal for you; actions, not words. After that event the whole "boyfriend/girlfriend" starting happening, and we were doing all those cute things like holding hands and such. We had to hide it from everyone, though, which was difficult. The media would be on us and my dad would probably want to hurt him. It didn't matter that he knew Gippal, I was still his little Rikku.

It all happened one late summer evening. Gippal and I went to a party of some friend of his. We both had a few drinks, and our judgment was a little impaired. It's not like we were completely wasted or anything, because I still remember everything. We should have had enough reasoning to know better. Before I knew what was happening, I was in a small, moonlit room in Djose- Gippal's room. Before I could stop myself, I was being whirled into a frenzy of love, passion, and lust. My body was being overwhelmed in new sensations as we explored each other in ways we had never dreamed. I remember all the little details, things like the scent of his hair, the feel of his silk sheets against my body, of mine against his. There was nothing but absolute love between us, and as we fell asleep in each other's arms, I felt the world was perfect.

I was seventeen years old.