If my heart is a house you'd be home

Where were you?!

Gippal could usually tell what was on Rikku's mind...in fact usually she was really predictable. But occasionally she did some crazy thing that took him by surprised. Like for instance, randomly tackling him and holding a knife to his throat...that was unexpected and only a lot scary.

"What the heck are you doing?!" he shouted in horror as he stared into her deadly green eyes.

"I want an answer!" she exclaimed "And I'm sick of you ignoring the question!"

"What are you talking about?" he asked with a shrug of his shoulders (or an attempt at one for she was currently pinning him to the ground.)

"Ugh" she rolled her eyes "You are so thick!" she exclaimed. "I see you for the first time in two years and all you say is 'Hey Cid's girl, how you been?'" she mimicked his voice in a disgusted tone. "Haven't you realized I've been asking you this question since I saw you!?"

Gippal stared back at her like she'd gone mad...but no, this was how she usually acted...unfortunately. "I have no clue what you are talking about!" he exclaimed.

"OOH, sometimes you make me want to...want to.." she fumed at his stupidity.

"To what?" he asked "Kill me? Go ahead! It'd be a mercy killing!" he exclaimed "At least I wouldn't have to put up with you any more."

Tears welled up in her eyes. with a deep breath and a sigh she tucked her knife besides the matching one in her belt. Then without another word she stood up and began to walk away unsuccessfully fighting back her tears.

Gippal found himself staring at her back as she walked away. With a sigh he stood up and called out to her. "Cid's girl I..."

Before he could finish, and with greater agility and force than he ever remembered her having, she launched herself at him and forced him to the sand covered ground. With a scream she punched him in the face...since when did she stop hitting like a girl? Suddenly he felt his good eye starting to swell....meaning a black eye. A few more rapid fire hits gave him a bloody lip and a few bruises that he would be feeling for weeks.

"Enough!" he shouted "I'm sorry!" he sighed "Rikku....I didn't mean it...I'm sorry."

Rikku sighed as more tears filled her eyes. She dropped her hands to her sides though they still trembled with anger.

"Now, what the hell are you talking abou..."

Before he could finish she grabbed his shoulders and shook him as hard as she could. "WHERE WERE YOU!" she screamed at him letting more anger out with each word.

Gippal's eye widened in horror and he cringed. How could he be such an idiot? "drec.....vilgehk drec!"

Rikku's face turned red in anger. "IS THAT ALL YOU CAN DO?! SWEAR AT ME?!" She took a sharp breath and let it out "I WANT AN ANSWER!"

Gippal sighed his eye closing for a minute before opening it again to look her in the eyes. "I was late." he said as simply as he could.

Rikku's face turned as Crimson as Paine's eyes, and in the moment he feared he'd give her a heart attack. "YOU WERE LATE?!" She asked incredulously. "I SAW MY WHOLE WORLD CRUMBLE AROUND ME! I...I SAW MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS, MY FRIENDS, KILLED ALL AROUND ME! I HAD TO WATCH AS WE BLEW UP OUR OWN HOME! THEN I HAD TO TURN RIGHT AROUND AND GO SAVE THE WORLD....I FELT SO ALONE! I WISHED THEY WOULD HAVE KILLED ME TOO! AND YOU WERE LATE?!" Tears filled her eyes. "THAT'S THE BEST YOU COULD COME UP WITH!?"

Tears filled Gippal's eye....did she really think those things hadn't phased him the same way? "I was late because I fought off Seymour and his lackeys! I tried to save Yuna from them but I failed! I'm lucky I survived at all!" he exclaimed. "By the time I got there...I thought...I thought..." he stumbled over his words and his voice cracked. "I THOUGHT THEY'D KILLED YOU!" He exclaimed and he started sobbing out his good eye.

Rikku's expression softened then, and her skin turned back to it's normal coloring. Tears had filled her eyes and this time instead of standing up she wrapped her arms around his neck. She rolled over so that they were laying on their sides and pulled his head onto her shoulder so he could cry into it...something his mom used to do before she died.

"It's okay." Rikku said patting his head gently. "I'm here for ya' pal. And I promise not to threaten you with my knife again...we can be normal..ish okay?" she soothed as she ran her hand through his hair in a comforting way.

"Thanks, Rikku" He whispered and for the first time in forever between them everything was okay....and things could only get better from here.

A/N Hi everybody! ^_~ This one-shot is a sequel to my one-shot 'Things both different and the same' and it takes place like maybe an hour later as Rippal starts to leave the ruins of home. If there was any confusion I'm sorry, basically Rikku wanted to know why Gippal wasn't there when the Al Bhed home was destroyed (Since like based off of the sphere in FFX-2 you find out that Gippal knew it was happening and went to go help except he wasn't actually in FFX...so this is why I think he wasn't there....) Also "drec.....vilgehk drec!" are swear words translated into Al Bhed (Because I don't really like to cuss for real......) anyway I hope you guys enjoy this One-shot series I am writing for Rippal. I was just going to post this on FF net but @AttGrace wanted me to post it here as well. So thank @AttGrace for this one-shot series. Anyway stay tuned because I will update this somewhat frequently and feel free to comment with any ideas/requests for one-shots because I am ALWAYS up for story ideas. ^_' Love y'all , Mata-na -Reibun. ^_~