The Al Bhed Meeting

Rikku stood on her tip toes, trying hard to get the banner she was trying to hang up straight.

"Yeah, being short is sooo great. Stupid banner." Rikku muttered as she pulled a chair over to stand on. Finally her banner looked perfect. She bent slightly to reach for the

tape that was beside her feet on the chair when, suddenly, the chair toppled over, bringing both the banner and Rikku down with it. She landed on her butt with a loud thunp. "Oh

poopie." She grunted as she rubbed her insanely sore backside. Of course, the hurt in her bum wasn't enough. She had to be punished by having her pride hurt too. A low snicker

came from behind her. Wanting to know who found her pain so funny, Rikku spun around to see who the joker was. When she did see who it was though, her face flushed a deep

red.

"Aww, did poor wittle Rikku fall and go boom." Gippal drawled as he looked at her red face.

"Wow! Gippal, you can almost speak real English now. I guess that hooked on phonics is improving your speech too." Rikku replied to his teasing and turned her back on the ridiculously cute guy.

"Stop slacking you two!" Cid's voice boomed over all the noise in the room. Rikku turned back to Gippal and shrugged. He gave her a last smile before easily placing the banner where she couldn't. When he turned to give her his triumphant victory grin, she was gone.

xxxxxxxxxx-xx

Where did she go? Gippal wondered as he quickly scanned the room for that bright yellow top. Soon enough, he caught a flash of yellow. She was standing by the stage that had just been set up. This great meeting, as Cid called it, was being held in the top room of Djose temple. After his men had filled up the hole made by Ixion, they turned the whole room into an auditorium. Gippal kept lookng at Rikku, entranced by the way her little braids swayed and that ponytail danced. He was having difficulty looking away from her but he knew that most Al Bhed men were having the same problem as him. Her good looks and short skirt drew all guys eyes to her. The fact that she's short is a bonus. Gippal thought happily. He loved his girls short. The sudden urge to cover her from the eyes of all the men in the room was almost unbearable. He had to slowly breath and remind himself that she wasn't his. Besides, if Cid or Brother, especially Brother, knew exactly what he wouldlike to be doing with Rikku, they would decapitate him without a second thought.

"Sir Gippal! The meeting is about to start. It's time to sit." A youn girl said as she tugged on Gippal's pant leg. He just nodded and took a seat in the back row. The little girl quickly took the spot to his right and tried to have an animated conversation with him about her doll.

"That's great." Gippal acknowledged her talking.

"...And then we had a tea party and Mr. Snuffles came and he drank all the tea and didn't share any so Mrs. Pookie got angry and left so me and Cindy had to..." After listening to way too much about her tea part, Gippal excused himself from the conversation and turned to the person on his eft. To his surprise, he came face to face with Rikku.

"How's your backside?"

"Shut up." She hissed.

"No really, how's it going?"

"Disasterrific." She grumbled as she glared at her father who stood at the podium, preparing to begin his speech.

"Why?" Gippal tried to keep a conversation with Rikku so that the little girl wouldn't tell him what happened to Mr. Snuffles, even though he could tell that, at the moment, Rikku wasn't in the best talking mood.

"Pops won'tlet me help rebuild home with everyone. He says that I'm too young to help out and that I would just get in the way because I'm a girl."

"Did you point out to him that you've saved Spira? More then once? And that you've traveled around a lot?"

"Many times." she replied. "He won't listen. It's gong to be sooo boring with everyone else gone, working on the new home, and me, working on the airship all alone." Alone eh? Mmmm. Thought Gippal.

"The Celsius doesn't need work."

"Tune ups." Rikku sighed. The two sat in silence for awhile, pretending that they were insterested in what Cid was droning on and on about. Gippal was thinking about how he could use the new information to his advantage when he suddenly got an idea. He would be able to be near Rikku all the time and be able to keep other guys away from her.

"Hey Rikku." He whispered.

"Hmmm?"

"I just had an idea. Why don't you work for me while everyone is rebuilding home? I will be short men since they'll be helping out and I haven't seen Nhadala in awhile, so someone needs to do her job while she's gone..." Gippal let the thought hang in the air.

"...And further more, we should help anyone who needs help. Not just our own kind. That's how war starts..." Cid continued on with his speech.

"I'd love too." Rikku finally said perkilly.

"Great. You start as soon as this never ending speech ends." Rikku giggle, then quickly covered her mouth when the lady in front of her turned around and glared.

xxxxxxxxxx-xx

Rikku looked up at her father and wondered if she made the right decision. What would he say if he knew she would be working along side Gippal? The only guy she had ever truly loved. What would Brothr say? Oh, it's fine that you're working with my mortal enemy, Rikku. Keep up the good work. Yeah right. She thought. She let out another sigh. Oh wellIt's her life and she should be able to do whatever she wanted with it.

"...Us Al Bhed have the technology to help out others. We should use our knowledge for the greater good. We shall rebuild home and open it up to anyone and everyone is Spira who feels that they have no place to go. It will be free of charge. Soon everyone in Spira will know that they have somewhere they can always go no matter what. So, let's get to work gentlmen. YEE-HAW!" The room exploded into applause and a couple other simlar yells. Rikku clapped gently, hoping that pops thought she listened to every word. The room started to empty so Rikku turned to go with Gippal, but he was no where to be seen. She found Cid instead. "I saw you talking to him."

"That was a great speech pops. I think you've really got them pumped up. Home should be built in no time."

"Stop trying to change the subject young lady. And you didn't even listen to a word I said, as usual. You were to busy chatting up your brother's enemy." Cid declared.

"I did too listen!" That wasn't a complete lie. She heard little bits throught out the speech and the ending.

"So, what did you and Gippal talk about?" Cid asked in a sugary voice, which is amazing that he could achieve that with his booming voice.

"Not much." Too much

"Rikku, you're going to tell me. I don't want you to do something stupid that will get your brother excited. When he's excited he becomes an animal. A very loud, smelly, ugly, annoying animal." Rikku snorted. Pops got that right.

"He asked me to work with him at the machine faction because a lot of his men will be helping out with home..." Rikku watched her father shift uneasily from foot to foot. "...And since Nhadala hasn't been in for awhile, he needs someone to command down in Bikanel."

"And?"

"And what?" Rikku asked innocently.

"What was your answer?" Cid continued to rock his feet which made Rikku really uncomfortable. Usually he was such a stable man, but today...

"I said yes, of course. You won't let me do anything to help with home so I can at least help Gippal out." Cid shook his head, afraid of the drama that was about to happen. She was seventeen and she didn't understand what guys like Gippal wanted yet. She raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to answer.

"Well, I guess I can't stop you but please be careful. Oh, and one last thing." He said as she was about to leave him. "You have to tell Brother."

"POPS!"

"You got yourself into this Rikku, not me. Now you have to deal with Brother." Cid didn't want to leave her alone with an experienced man like Gippalbut she was leaving him with no choice. He knew how she felt about him and this would be an eye opening experience. He can't protect her from everything anyway. He had already tried with the home thing. All those single, Al Bhed men working on reuilding home, and his little Rikku and her sunshine attitude helping out. It spelled disaster and the last thing he wanted was an unexpected grandchild.

"Hey pops, hey squirt." Brother said as he walked up to them. When Rikku didn't reply by pushing him or sticking out her tongue, he looked at Cid questioningly.

"Hi Brother." She said quietly.

"Rikku has smething important she needs to tell you." Cid informed Brother. He looked at Rikku expectantly. She glared at him, then suddenly, her eyes widened into large green pools. Gippal had joined them.

"Gippal." Brother said coldly.

"Brother." Gippal nodded. "Ready to go Rikku?" She wanted to hit him so bad.

"Go where?" Brother asked, suddenly apprehensive to what Rikku had to tell him.

"I, uh, well you see, I, um, it started like this..."

"She's working at the machine faction with me now, starting immediately." Gippal declared with a flourish. It went deathly silent and Rikku was afraid of what would happen next,.

"Is that true Rikku?" she just nodded to Brother's angry question. "I see. You're choosing love against your own family."

"BROTHER!" Gippal still didn't know how she felt. She hoped he hadn't noticed what Brother had said. It didn't look like it. "It's not like that. I'm just working with him while everyone else helps rebild home. It's only for a little while and-"

"I don't care." Brother voice became colder by the second. "Go with your pretty boy. But remember this, I am no longer there for you, just as you are no longer there for me now and you are nothing to me. No sister of mine will run of with a man whore.

"HEY-" Gippal cut in.

"Brother! I'm sorry! Please don't do this. We can still be siblings even if I'm working with Gippal." Brother just walked away. "DON'T WALK AWAY FROM ME BROTHER!" He didn't listen, just kep walking away. "BROTHER!" Silent tears started to roll down Rikku's cheek as she watched her only sibling walk out of her life. Pops and Gippal were all she had left, and she didn't really have Gippal. "Please..." she whispered.

"Bye baby girl. Don't do anything stupid when you're with him." Cid said as he hugged his youngest kid. "Don't overdo it in the desert either. Remember to drink penty of water." Rikku just kept nodding to what her father was saying, only half listening, her eyes were still on Brother's back as he strode out the door.

"Come on. Let's go." Gippal pressed his hand to the small of her back and led her towards the door that Brother had just went through. Once they were going down the stairs, Rikku was sure she would never see her brother again.

"Bye Brother." She whsipered into the stairwell. If Gippal heard her, he never let on.