A/N: Thank you very much for the reviews! I hope I haven't lost any readers due to my long absence from this fic (a mix of writer's block and busy schedule). But I hope you'll enjoy this installment! (Although I admit, this story is getting to be quite boring, but I still like it anyway.)

To recap: Rikku wakes up in the temple where Gippal persuades her that her only choice is to hand over the box and stay/work for him at the Faction. Rikku sees this as a ploy of Gippal's just to make a quick buck off of her, and refuses to be nothing more but a profit to him. She ends up leaving the temple after their fierce argument, vowing to never come back.

Djose Days
Ch. 3: Guessing Game

Gippal

It's Thursday, and two days since I've last seen her. For the first day or so, I hadn't really cared about where she went off to or who she was with. Her stubbornness and bratty attitude blinded any feeling of remorse I had for her, and I was frankly angrier than anything for missing out on a great deal.

My crew came back last night, and we immediately went out to retrieve the box full of machine parts that Rikku had said they'd left behind. I had little hope of finding it, because I knew that she probably already went ahead and took it the day she left. But apparently, she hadn't. And when we arrived, the box was still there, worn-out, soggy and wet, tightly wedged in between a couple of large rocks near a small cave, just like she said.

And for the first time, I admittedly felt worried. No, not worried. Agitated. No… troubled. Yes. I felt troubled because the location of the cave was a mere couple of hours away from the temple, and she should've already taken the box of machine... So why didn't she?

It hasn't been a week yet, so I don't expect to hear anything from her. She's got too much pride and is too stubborn to admit she made a mistake by walking out of here. But she'll come back; somehow, sometime, someway she'll come back. I'm not going to wait out for her. My faction is – and always will be – my top priority.

With a couple of new discoveries brought back from Zanarkand and the box of the fourth shipment of machine finally in our hands, there's plenty of work to do around here. The temple is finally filled with a familiar feeling of purpose and activity that's been lacking for these past few months.

But despite the sudden change in atmosphere, my concentration typically leaves me astray, my eye wandering to the solemn weather outside, and I can't help wondering if she's really not coming back.

- - - - -

Rikku

This time I wake up to a pair of deep crimson eyes, brown hair cleanly spiked and blond bangs draping over his face in an unbelievably gorgeous way. He asks me if I need a place to stay, because his father owns an inn on Luca's east side.

I can't help but get a little nervous and shy, knowing clearly well that I have no way of paying him (I hadn't been able to find my precious box in the midst of the rain and sleet that had occurred on the afternoon in which I left Djose Temple!). And I highly doubt that my one gil coin will suffice.

He senses my predicament – my tattered clothes and skinny limbs making it quite clear – and he offers to drive me into Luca on his spankin' new shiny silver hover. He tells me if I'm having financial problems, I can come and work for his father at the inn. They'll pay me a decent 70 gil per hour and even cover living expenses.

I ask him what he wants in return, and he tells me a date.

- - - - -

Gippal

There's a knock at the temple door, and I quickly stand up and jog out of the busy workroom. I pull off my goggles, strip off my gloves, and a sickening feeling is all bundled up and itchy in my chest immediately before I recognize a male's frame standing outside instead. I slow down my pace after that.

I head toward him, realizing he's got some mail for me, his customary uniform easily giving him away. I take the envelopes he holds out for me, and before I can say a single word of thanks, he turns to leave. As if I wasn't even worth his time. I begin to flip through the envelopes.

Tye.

Rin.

Rin.

Nhadala.

Tye.

There's no blank envelope. And no cursive purple ink.

Sitting down, I clumsily tear open Nhadala's letter. She tells me about a new discovery in the Southern Expanse, and that I should send over the faction's transportation airship right away. That the diggers are growing a bit restless with nothing much to do but bake in the sun all day, and are worried about getting laid off.

I toss the rest of the letters to their usual spot behind the door, and slump down on the floor, leaning my head against the cool, cold wall. I think about firing another round of diggers. It's not like they're making miraculous discoveries everyday. After about six years of searching (alongside other new, contending groups), it's not really that much of a shock that new machine are getting hard to find.

There's the sound of footsteps approaching from outside and I glance out, half-hopefully and half-hopelessly for something blond or something caramel. But there's something black instead, holding a familiar folded sheet of paper with the faction's logo in the corner. The female holding it gives me an optimistic look, opening her mouth to speak, but I interrupt her.

"We're not hiring."

- - - - -

Rikku

"You're hired then!" he exclaims to me, shaking my hand excitedly. "Wow. Ex-Guardian, Lady Rikku, working at my inn!" He's all giddy and jolly and teary-eyed. And I feel a bit uncomfortable for not responding with equal enthusiasm. Instead, I draw back shyly, bumping into Crimson Boy.

Crimson Boy, who I've been introduced to as Frenny IV. But I don't like that name so I call him Crimson instead and he doesn't mind. Setting his hands around my wrists he explains to his father my unusual situation.

"Oh, well. We'd be glad to help you out anyway we can, Lady Rikku!" the old man tells me with a bright smile. "There's a free room on the second floor. Would that be alright for you?"

"Absolutely," I tell him, relief swarming over me as I realize that I finally have a bed now, and a steady job as well. No more smelly clothes and flirting with ridiculously creepy men at cheap restaurants. No more dangerous fiends and camping out in deep dark caves. No more of Pops nagging voice in my head – and I wish he could come and see me now! Just see me now! I smile appreciatively. "I'm very grateful for your kindness, Sir. Thank you."

"Don't call me 'Sir'! My name's Frenny III!"

I give him a nervous smile. "I'd feel much more comfortable calling you 'Sir', Sir."

He chuckles, rubbing his round stomach and I wonder how Crimson can be so lean and fit while his father looks like he'd just eaten all of Home. "Whatever is to your liking, Lady Rikku."

"'Rikku', is fine."

"Oh, but I'd feel much more comfortable calling you 'Lady', Lady Rikku," he replies with a wink.

I give another nervous smile before Crimson takes my hand and offers to show me to my new bedroom. I follow him eagerly.

- - - - -

"Sorry for that," Crimson tells me as we walk toward the elevator. "My dad doesn't meet famous people often." His toothy smile is all Gagazet-white and I get a funny thought as I picture a crimson Kimahri. "He's a big fan of yours… even though you're um… Al Bhed and all."

I look down, rubbing the back of my neck shyly. "Fan, huh?"

Crimson presses the elevator button. "Oh yeah. Used to always say things like uhh… how you helped gain recognition for your people and uhh… saving the world all the time and keeping the uhh, the Ex High Summoner safe and all that stuff, stuff."

I glare at him teasingly. "'Uhh, stuff, stuff'? I did a lot of 'uhh stuff stuff', y'know!"

"Yeah, I know. You're amazingly awesome. They should have an action figure of you." He gives me an sarcastic grin as the elevator doors slide open.

"You're so mean," I blurt out, the words feeling familiar on my tongue, but I don't really mean it this time.

He presses his hand against the elevator door, keeping it from closing. He looks down at me with a frown. "You're right. I am incredibly sorry. They shouldn't have an action figure of you."

I shove him playfully, stepping in. "Meanie."

He backs away, whining, "What? It wouldn't be good for little boys to see such a sexy doll on the toy shelves."

I give him a deadly glare, but can't hide my bashful smile. "Pervert."

He chuckles, "Seems I just can't win with you, Rikku."

I cross my arms over my chest, leaning against the wall as the elevator door closes and we begin moving up. "It's Lady Rikku to you, buster."

- - - - -

Gippal

It seems Nooj just doesn't want to live. I've replaced the motor, the wiring and even a couple of his body plates. But he's the same like before – spontaneously reviving and dying. And I decide that he's a waste to repair, so I take the new replacements back.

I can't destroy the machine, because I've already named him after one of my close friends and it's just wrong to destroy your friend without the excuse of a crazed spirit possessing you. So I leave the machine to wander by itself, and if it decides to randomly wander off over a cliff, into the mouth of a gigantic fiend, or be snatched up by an annoying purple female machine with large boobs, then, well, not my problem.

One of my workers finds me by the temple entrance, informing me that the repairs on at least two of the machines brought back from Zanarkand are complete. Apparently, they had been designed to fire on impulse, shooting with distinct precision at the detection of a moving body. The concept seems interesting to me, and I follow him into the repair room to examine the machines myself.

We decide to test their effectiveness and place them by a grove of bushes near the entrance of the temple, one machine on each side. No one usually comes by the temple nowadays anyway, so it's more likely that we'll hit a fiend.

After filling the machines with a couple of small rocks, we head back inside to finish the rest of the uncovered machines. I work on a strange looking one on my own, intrigued by its complex build and stimulated by the other two that'd been fixed. And although it gets a little frustrating at times, cleaning out the dirt and grime from the crevasses of the machine, and trying to untangle and reconnect all the loose wires, it actually becomes quite relaxing just simply working in the temple – with workers around with me.

The guys start talking a bit about where they think would be the next best place to go excavating, recalling places they'd already been, and asking me if I think they deserved a raise for all their honest hard work. I tell them I think they deserve it, but that doesn't mean they're getting one.

And then one of them decides to remind me of 'that time' when they brought back the Al Bhed Princess – and oh, what ever happened to her, boss?

I tell them she left.

And was she feeling better and was she mad about us forgetting the box and is she coming back, boss? Huh, boss? Because we could sure use some help from an expert like her around here.

I tell them to shut up and get back to work, but one of the guys says I'm just upset that I couldn't charm her into staying. I end up putting him on cleanup duty for a month.

There's a bit of tension in the air after that order, but as progress begins to show on the various machines, conversation stirs up again and we begin laughing and joking like before. One of the guys mentions we should all go into town and celebrate, drink, and maybe bring back a girl or two.

Suddenly, BAM! BAM! BAM! from outside; and we realize the machines have detected something.

- - - - -

Rikku

The room isn't as fabulous as I had thought, but it isn't any less than decent. There's a queen-sized bed (which is quite nice!), a wooden nightstand, a large window, one comfy sofa and a coffee table in front of it. There's a picture of a large yellow flower hanging over by the bed.

Crimson leads me into my own personal bathroom, complete with tiny, cute bottles of shampoo and conditioner and lilac scented soap. There's even a little kit for a completely Rikku-orientated bubble bath! And there's gigantic bathtub (I bet no icy water will be trickling out of here)!

He suddenly dips his hand down my waist, running his smooth fingers over my skin, and I shiver slightly at his touch. "How about that date?" he asks with a sly smile.

I slip out of his grasp, checking myself in the mirror and grimacing at how scary I look. I tell him I smell, and my clothes are in horrible shape, and my hair really needs a good wash. But his face isn't in protest and he answers each one of my problems simply and quickly – no complicated dealing and no embarrassing comments. He tells me to take a shower now, report downstairs to start work (because I do want to make a good impression on his father, my boss!), take a nice long bath afterward, and when I come out he'll be ready with an outfit for me to wear on our date for tonight.

I tell him I don't want a green shirt. And he tells me, no green shirt indeed.

He gets me my uniform and lays it on my new bed while I'm in the shower. When I actually start work, I have to get a few lessons from one of the other maids, Dia, on rearranging bed sheets and presentation is key! It takes me a long time to figure out how to stuff the large mammoth pillows into the paper thin pillowcases.

- - - - -

Gippal

At first I think the machines have shot a fiend, but then I realize it's just Brother.

He's shouting and swearing in Al Bhed, inserting my name wherever he feels appropriate as he tries to shield his head from the bombardment of rocks being fired at him. We tell him to stand still but he doesn't, so we finally get the machines to stop by turning them away from him. As soon as the machines shut down, he runs up to me and yells angrily, "Fryd dra vilg'c fnuhk fedr oui?"

I apologize because I know that this time, it really is my fault, and offer him a drink or a snack or something to compensate. He punches me across the mouth instead.

"Where's Rikku?" he shouts at me, grabbing the neck of my shirt as he speaks, ignoring the watchful eyes of my workers. "The old woman said she'd come up here a few days ago, so where is she?"

I shove him off of me, irritated, but don't want to rush into a fight with him. "I don't know, and I don't care." I press the back of my hand against my lip and a bit of blood comes off. I glare at him. "Syh, fryd dra vilg'c fnuhk fedr oui?"

He doesn't move, and his furious expression doesn't change. "Rikku hasn't been home in weeks."

I smirk. "And you're worried about her. Aww, how sweet."

"She's my sister," he growls, looking ready to take another swing at me. "Of course I'm worried about her."

I turn away from him, walking back into the temple as I make a shaking gesture with my hand. "Yeah, well, can't help you. She left two days ago, and I don't know where… Kid's a stubborn brat."

Brother balls his fists, following after me. "You do know where she is. Tell me now, Gippal!"

I raise an eyebrow at him. "I told'ya I don't, and I don't care, so quit botherin' me."

He sudden pushes past me and marches into the temple shouting, "RIKKU, LUSA TUFH RANA HUF!"

"She ain't here," I tell him in a firmer tone.

He still doesn't believe me, and instead marches up the temple steps – heading straight in the direction of my room. And before I am able to stop him, he's found it, unlocked and wide open. He walks in without care and begins examining everything in it. "Why'd she come here for?" he asks as I enter.

"I dunno, she tried to sell me some stuff," I reply, watching his every move.

His eyes and ears don't miss a single thing. "Sell you what?"

"Just a box of-"

"This is Rikku's!" he suddenly exclaims, holding up her customary blue headband. He glares menacingly at me. "What's her headband doing in your room?"

"I dunno! She probably left it when-"

"-when what?" He takes a step toward me, grabbing my shirt collar again. "What was she selling you?"

This time I forcibly shove him off and he stumbles backward, crashing into the wall with a thud. "Man, calm down!" I narrow my eyebrows. The words easily slip off my tongue, "You know she's not like that."

His fist tightens around the blue headband. "She does a lot of stupid things. And you do a lot of stupid things. And y'put two stupid people together and something stupid's gonna result!"

I shake my head as I turn away, my eye unintentionally falling on a familiar green T-shirt lying crumpled on the ground. I hesitate briefly. "Drah oui zicd kuddy dnicd ran suna."

- - - - -

Rikku

I'm not a professional pillowcase-stuffer, so Crimson's father assigns me the job of vacuuming the hallways of the inn. After I've run the vacuum a little too close to the edge of a customer's pants, he tells me to wait on the people in the inn's restaurant. Apparently, I find out that trying to balance five trays on two arms doesn't work as well as one would think, so he resolutely decides to make me the official inn-greeter. I greet guests and show them to their rooms. This, I'm good at.

It's evening by the end of my shift, the sky half blue, half red and sun's almost set. Crimson returns to my room just as I get out of the shower, makes a couple of flirtatious comments about the towel around me, and then gives me a large pink bag with fluffy thin tissue paper sticking out.

I'm a bit nervous as I peek in and pull out the garment he's bought for me for our date, but it turns out to be a gorgeous, ivory white cocktail dress with frilly lining around the edge. He offers to help me change into it with a mischievous grin. But he eventually steps out of my room, rubbing his cheek where I had smacked him.

The dress is a bit tight on me, which I guess is a compliment seeing as he doesn't think I'm fat, and dips a little too low down my front for comfort. I untie my braids and use my hair to help conceal any cleavage showing.

When I'm ready and down, he's there waiting patiently. Takes my hand and slides his other one around my waist as we wave good bye to his father and head out into the romantically lit Lucan streets. I ask him where he's taking me, and he tells me to the best restaurant in town.

- - - - -

Gippal

Brother buys a couple of machine parts for the Celsius and then leaves, since there's nothing here for him in Djose anyway without his sister in sight. My workers suggest we go into Luca and celebrate the new machine finds and our first purchase in weeks. I'm a bit hesitant. They ask me what reason do I have for staying? We've already done a lot today and we deserve a break.

My eye drifts to the temple entrance.

"Fine," I ultimately answer, walking up the stairs as I hear them laughing and talking excitedly behind me.

I head to my room where Nooj's banging itself into the wall repeatedly. My hands eventually finding themselves wrapped around Rikku's soft, blue headband. I start to feel… troubled again. A little guilty maybe for partly being responsible for her leaving and out lord knows where, instead of in the temple. Instead of where I can watch over her – y'know, if I wanted to. Because she's… She's just a kid. A spoiled, bratty, immature little kid. And she needs to be taken care of.

The boys start calling from downstairs, and I grab my jacket from the chair and quickly smooth on some gel onto my messy strands. I jog down the steps into the main room, where they're all standing by the temple entrance, trading grins and punches and maybe I feel a little proud that I can afford to take them out tonight.

"And it ain't gonna be some sleezy, cheapo restaurant either!"

"Naw, man. We're going to the best restaurant in Luca."

They're amused at the surprise in my face, because Luca's kind of far and that would mean having to rent a room at an inn… and more time away from the temple. Suddenly, I'm not feeling as excited anymore.

I hesitate, reaching into my pocket and pull out a couple of paper gil from my wallet and giving it to them. I tell them I think they should go on their own, that they really do deserve a break. And that I can't leave the temple unattended for that long, plenty of work to keep me busy anyway.

No, Boss. C'mon Boss, this is our night, they say. But I tell them I've got a stack of paperwork to finish – which I honestly do anyway – and this would be a good time for me to do it.

A few minutes later, they're gone. Boarded the airship and nothing more but a bright, moving dot in the sky as I slump down on the temple's doorstep. I'm not really sure why I had refused to go. It's not like I actually plan on doing any work, my body mentally and physically exhausted.

Nooj whirls behind me, stepping outside and limping down the cobblestone steps. Walking down the dusty, empty road, clumsy and bouncy, like a certain Al Bhed I know. Leaning my head against the building, I close my eyes, a lonely wind sweeping around me as I listen for footsteps. Waiting, just in case she's coming back.

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