Author's Note-- Gippal is not in this one. Maybe a bit at the beggining&end[Oops! Just gave away the secret kidnapper at the end Dx] but he does not appear until the next chapter, 'kay? Thanks :D

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I know all about,
Yea about your reputation
And now it's bound to be a heartbreak situation
But I can't help it if I'm helpless
Every time that I'm where you are

Rikku woke up and looked around. This didn't look like her and Gippal's room. She looked over, seeing Vincent next to her. 'Oh, no! I didn't...! Did I?' She thought. She looked at herself and then back over to Vincent, letting out a sigh of relief. 'Ok. So I didn't have sex with Vincent...But why am I in his bed?..' She fully sat up, softly wiggiling out of Vincent's grasp as she did so. She winced as she felt a sharp pain in her back. She ignored it and walked out of the room, her steps silent. 'Gippal should already be at work, so hopefully I can change..' She traveled down to the room at the end of the hall and stepped in. Walking over to the closet, she saw Gippal still asleep in his bed. She quickly, but quietly, grabbed some clothes and cahnged into them in the bathroom. Once done, she peeked into Yuna and Paine's rooms but didn't find them there. 'Probably went back home..' She then peeked into Vincent's room, seeing that he was still asleep. Not being able to resist the motherly urge, she walked over to him and layed him down straight. She then pulled the covers halfway up his body, stopping when she heard footsteps in the hall. Knowing it was Gippal, she ducked behind the open door, holding her breath. Gippal mumbled something that she couldn't make out, then turned and continued on his way to work. She let out a sigh of relief and slipped out from behind the door and into the kitchen. There, she started cooking breakfast, humming softly.

You walk in and my strength walks out the door
Say my name and I can't fight it any more
Oh I know, I should go
But I need your touch just too damn much

Vincent woke up and looked around his room. He had been layed down straight and his covers were pulled up halfway up his body. 'I don't remember sleeping like that...' He thought as he stood up. He blinked a few times to clear his vision. Once his vision was cleared, he saw that Rikku wasn't there. Even though he knew that he probably should worry about where she was, he didn't. He then walked into the kitchen, seeing Rikku fixing breakfast while humming. "Morning sleepy head," She giggled. Vincent wondered how she knew he was in the room without even looking back.

"Vincent?" Once again, her voice broke through his thoughts and he turned to look at her.

"What happened last night? We didn't...Did we?"

He looked at her, confused. Once he figured out what she meant by the last part of her sentence, he shook his head. "No. Nothing happened. I just held you while you cried."

Rikku nodded. "Oh. Alright. Sorry 'bout that, though. I probably woke you from your sleep, huh?" She rubbed the back of her head a bit, smiling innocently.

"No."

She nodded again then went back to fixing breakfast.

"Rikku, I have a question to ask you."

"Yes, Vincent?" She glanced over at him while turning a pancake over.

"How do you cheer up so fast?"

"What?"

"Well, you could be sad one moment then all hyper again the next. How do you do that?"

Rikku stopped what she was doing and blinked. "I...Do'nt really know. Actually, I don't think I even knew I do that."

Vincent nodded and Rikku went back to flipping pancakes. Silence filled the room, which made them both slightly uncomfortable. Soon, Rikku finished and got the table set, putting pancakes on both of their plates.

"There are only two plates, Rikku..Where are the others?"

"Gippal's at work, Yuna's back at her house with Tidus and their child and Paine's probably out with the Crimson Squad."

Vincent nodded and took a bite of his food. They both ate in silence.

Loving you, That isn't really something I should do
I shouldn't wanna spend my time with you ya
Well I should try to be strong
But baby you're the right kind of wrong

Rikku tugged on Vincent's cloak, trying to get him out of the room he had stayed in for a week. "C'mon, Vin!" Vincent stayed where he was, or at least tried to. He kept stumbling back each time Rikku tugged on his cloak. 'Damn, she's strong!' He thought to himself. "Rikku, I said no." Rikku let go of his cloak and stomped her foot on the ground. "Fine!" She stomped out of the room and went to her room, slamming the door loudly. Thirty minutes later, she opened the door to her room again and went back to where Vincent was.

"Viiiinnnceeentttt," Vincent both cringed and jumped as she said his name. How he hated it when she stretched his name like that.

"Gawd, Rikku. Why do you always sneak up on me like that?" He said, turning around. "And my answer is no."

Rikku giggled a bit. "'Cause it's fuun. And you don't even know what my question is yet so how can you say no?"

He blinked and shrugged. "Alright. What's your question?"

"Can I meet your friends?"

"What?"

"Your friends. I wanna meet 'em. C'mon! Pleaseee?"

Vincent hesitated before answering, then nodded his head. "Alright."

It might be a mistake
A mistake I'm makin'
Cause no one's ever made me feel
The way I feel when I'm in your arms

Rikku followed close behind Vincent as he lead her through Midgar. She had never been in Midgar before. Everything seemed so...Quiet. Unlike all the hussle and bustle in Spira. She looked around, amazed by what she saw. She bumped into Vincent, who had stopped. "Sorry," She looked up at the building that they were standing in front of. "'Seaventh Heaven'?" She looked up at Vincent, blinking. He nodded and opened the door. As soon as he stepped in, he was tackle hugged by a short black-haired girl. Rikku stepped back a bit and looked down at the girl on top on Vincent, giggling a bit. She stepped passed him, but Vincent grabbed her ankle to hold her back. She pouted a bit, crossing her arms across her chest. Vincent took the black-haired girl off of him and stood up.

"Yuffie, what did I say about tackling me?"

"Sorry." Yuffie said.

"Who's the other girl beside you, Vincent?" A brunette behind the bar asked as everyone else stared at Rikku and Vincent.

Rikku shrank back, feeling uncomfortable with all the stares she was getting. Vincent put a hand on Rikku's back and gently pushed her forward again. She winced as his hand touched her back; It still hurting from the whipping.

"This is Rikku. Rikku Highwind." Vincent said as a short-haired blonde man stood up.

"Holy shit! She has the same fuckin' last name as me!"

Rikku looked over at the short haired blonde, blinking. The brunette that was behind the bar walked up beside Rikku.

"His name's Cid Highwind." She told her. "I'm Tifa Loackhart. And that's Cloud," Tifa pointed to a blonde spiky-haired man who waved. "that's Barret," Tifa then pointed to tan skinned man with a gun arm, who also waved. "that's Yuffie," Tifa pointed to the black-haired girl who had tackled Vincent. "Hiya!" Yuffie said. "And that's Red XII, aka Nanaki." Tifa pointed to a red dog[At least it looked like a dog to Rikku]. "And you've already met Vincent." Rikku nodded and smiled. Tifa glanced at Rikku's back, which was still red from the whip.

"Rikku, why is your back all red...?"

Rikku blinked a few times. "Errr...Umm....Ermmm..," She shifted un-easily and glanced up at Vincent.

Cid stood up. "If Valentine did it, then I'll do unimaginable things to him. I'll--," He was cut off by Rikku gently pushing him back down in his seat.

"No, no, no. Vincent did nothing,"

"Then who did it?" Tifa asked, a bit of worry and concern clouding her eyes. Rikku sighed out of defeat. "Alright. I'll tell you all, but you might wanna sit down first...," Everyone did as they were told, except for Vincent who just stayed in the back, his arms folded across his chest while listening to Rikku's story, which he had already heard once.

I should try to run but I just can't seem to
'Cause every time I run your the one I run to
Can't do without what you do to me,
I don't care if I'm in to deep

After Rikku had told her story, she was always asked the same question; "Why didn't you fight back?" And her answer was always the same; "Because I didn't know he'd whip me!" She managed to go outside for a bit to clear her mind of what she had just told them. Obviously, she didn't want to think about what Gippal did to her, or even about Gippal. Soon enough, she felt a presence behind her. A very...familiar presence.

"Yer friends can be quite annoying sometimes, y'know, Vince?" She said, looking back at Vincent from the corner of her eye. "But they're still alright, not any better than mine." She smiled a bit and spun around on her heel, now facing Vincent. "Hey, wanna go for another walk?" She tilted her head a bit, waiting for a reply from him. The only reply she got was a quick nod and his cloak just brushing her arm. She followed after him, her smile never leaving her face. Once in the city, they passed a dark alley way. Rikku felt a hand over her mouth and was quickly pulled away into the dark alley. Before completely disappearing, she manged to tug at Vincent's cloak. Her hand was slapped away, though. Vincent had felt the tug, thankfully, and turned around, but saw nothing but the other people around him and the darkness of the alley. Rikku was no where to be seen.