Title: Quick Change

Pairing: Gippal and Rikku

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy X-2.

Dressphere: Samurai

…

Gippal really should have known better than to get involved with Rikku's schemes at this point. Better yet, he should've known better than to question anything she did and should've just turned around and walked out the door. But it was too late for that now.

Gippal shifted his weight, his knees screaming in protest from sitting with his legs crossed for so long.

"So…what is this again?"

Rikku lifted the teapot from the low table, pouring the liquid carefully into his cup and then into her own. He was actually sort of impressed by her grace since she usually lacked it.

"This is a traditional tea ceremony."

Gippal shifted again, finally just unfolding one leg and extending it. He could have moaned from how good it felt (but he didn't want to give Rikku ideas).

"Shouldn't there be more to it than just drinking tea?"

She paused. "…Irrelevant."

He rolled his eyes.

Rikku glanced up at him and immediately frowned. "Gippal, you're not sitting right!"

He raised his eyebrow and said dryly, "I think you only know the rules that benefit you."

"…Also irrelevant. But you look like an unsophisticated hobo!"

"You are just the queen of witty comebacks. Look, my legs hurt, alright?"

Rikku puffed her cheeks out. "That's because you were sitting wrong in the first place. You're not supposed to cross your legs."

"…You couldn't have mentioned that fifteen minutes ago?"

"Oh, you know I don't pay attention to you."

Gippal was about to make a comment about just how much attention she had focused on him and his manly sex-appeal lately, but decided that the sooner he complied with her demands the sooner he could get back to things that mattered (like, I don't know, running Spira's leading machine faction).

He mimicked her position and folded his legs under him. It still wasn't the most comfortable position, but it beat the heck out of the way he was sitting before.

"So, is there a reason you're dressed like some warrior Yevonite?"

Gippal was pretty sure she would have poured the scalding tea all over him if she wasn't trying to maintain an air of calm grace.

"This is my Samurai dressphere. I am a samurai."

The helmet she was wearing picked that exact moment to slip down over her eyes to her nose. He would have snorted if he wasn't Gippal.

She growled and ripped the helmet off, causing Gippal to repress another sound of amusement when he saw how mussed her elaborate hair-do was.

"Look, I am trying to do something serious here and you're kind of wrecking my concentration."

"I didn't ask to take part in this, kid. In fact, I tried to escape but you held onto my ankles and wouldn't let me leave."

"…Can't you shut up and let me win?"

Gippal sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Can we get on with this? I do kind of have a business to run."

Rikku puffed her cheeks out again before loudly blowing the air out. "Fine, you can go. I release you."

"…You relea-"

"Yes I release you!"

Gippal just rolled his eyes, decided to take her up on her offer and just let her win this one if it meant getting back to work and regaining the feeling in his legs. He rose from his spot.

"I should be done in a couple of hours, then we can hang out alright?"

Rikku just waved her hand absentmindedly, dismissing him from the room.

He shrugged and went to the door, pausing to look at her again.

She replaced the helmet on her head and picked up a rather large sword from the ground beside her, laying it across her lap.

He heard her murmur, "You were pretty tough, old man."

Gippal blinked.

…

Gippal rolled his shoulders with a groan. He hated days like this one. He spent more time on one machina than on any of the other work he needed to get done because the damn thing had one problem after another. He finally decided to scrap it and replace it with something he knew would work, but the wasted time set him back an extra hour.

Not to mention Rikku was still being weird. Well…weirder than usual. The thing was…she wasn't doing anything. He couldn't remember a day where she hadn't caused some sort of incident, but today, on a couple of occasions he had caught her just idly strolling through the faction or even sitting around. Sitting. He had never seen Rikku sit still for more than two minutes and that was only when they were kids and he sat on her.

He walked out of the workshop now, nodding to a few workers who passed while he scanned around for the petite girl. He didn't see her anywhere.

"You alright, sir?"

Gippal turned to see one of his employees who was wiping grease from his hands on a shop towel.

"Yeah. Hey, have you seen Rikku around?"

The man motioned towards the temple. "I saw her go in there about half an hour ago, but I haven't seen her come out."

Gippal's brow furrowed and he nodded. "Thanks, man."

He strode towards the doors of the temple. He hated to admit it, but he was a little worried. He grew up with Rikku and couldn't remember when he had seen her this solemn.

He paused halfway up the steps. He did remember her like this once, a year after her mom had passed away. It was a day where Rikku was thinking of her. A day where he knew not to tease her or pick on her. A day where they spent hours just sitting together in silence.

Gippal picked up the pace and began searching the temple for her.

…

Gippal had searched everywhere, slowing as he approached the opening of the chamber of the fayth. He heard someone talking. Normally he'd twitch and scold whoever was in there, but he stopped when he could clearly hear the voice.

"So…you know, it really sucks that you're gone. I mean, technically you've been gone for a really long time, but you were still walking around and talking. Speaking of which, how did you even do that without, like, smelling and having your body parts drop off in places?"

Gippal didn't know whether to roll his eyes or laugh. He couldn't deny the weight that fell off of his chest though.

He peered around the corner, trying to remain quiet and unseen. He saw Rikku, still dressed as a samurai with the helmet discarded to her right, laying on the floor in the middle of the room. She had her arms folded behind her head, one leg bent at the knee and the other raised into the air, her foot drawing idle patterns.

"I hope you know that we all miss you," she continued, staring at the ceiling. "I'd totally come to visit you at the far plane…but, you know, I'm an Al Bhed and all, and we don't do that. We believe that memories are better left as memories. And I have a lot of good memories with you, but I figured I could at least do something once a year for you, you know? Take a day to think about those memories. To talk to you like this."

She sat up then, a little smile on her face. "I hope you don't think I'm crazy."

Gippal decided to step into the doorway then. "For once, kid, you're not."

Rikku let out a shriek, doing an odd, backwards tumble roll across the floor. Gippal closed his eyes.

"For a supposed 'bad-ass fighter,' you're not very alert. Or coordinated."

"Yeah, well, you only have one eye."

"Which is an actual handicap where I lack depth perception, and yet I still trump you with coordination."

She narrowed her eyes at him and hissed. He just shook his head.

"Mind if I sit with you, kid?"

Rikku rolled her eyes. "If you can handle it. When I asked you to sit with me this morning you were a total wuss."

He sat beside her, bending his knees to lean forward with his elbows braced on them. "You didn't ask me anything. You grabbed my legs and refused to let go."

"I grabbed your ankles. If you're going to accuse me of something, do it right. And that is, like, a hundred points for me because that totally means I can take you."

Gippal considered praying for patience. They were in the chamber of the fayth after all.

Rikku scooted back to her position, now sitting a few inches beside him. He glanced sideways at her.

"Don't stop on my account."

Her cheeks took on a shade of red. "Why are you even here? And why were you spying on me?"

He fully looked at her now, causing her to look back at him. "I was actually worried about you today. You've been quiet, solemn, kind of sad. That's not you."

Rikku blinked at him. "You didn't crack a joke that time."

He shrugged. "What I said is true though. I mean, you usually cause at least one life-threatening incident a day. Today, though? Nothing."

She gave him the stink eye. "There it is."

Gippal rubbed the back of his head. "You were kind of moping around. Reminded me of that time back at Home a year after your mom…" He cleared his throat, looking at anything but her.

Rikku snorted and he looked up. "You are so emotionally constipated."

He made a rather unflattering face. "You've got to be kidding me. Back then I sat with you for hours, and I've handled you and your emotional roller coaster for the past couple of weeks. Not to mention I did just admit to worrying about you all day."

She laughed and shoved his shoulder. "But you're so awkward! You start stuttering or you don't say anything at all."

He spoke through his teeth, "I thought you needed a moment."

She looked him in the eye then with a genuine smile on her face. "I did…and you've always been there for me."

Now he blinked at her. Then he shivered. "Yeah, you're right. This is weird."

She groaned and laid back down. "And you always kill the mood."

He bit back his retort because he didn't exactly have a good track record to deny that, but he certainly wasn't about to admit it.

"So…who exactly were you talking to?"

He saw her hesitate before she said, "Auron…he's been dead for a long time. Dead even when he was one of Yunie's guardians. But he was still a good guy, and our friend."

Gippal nodded. "Right…I met him once. That guy's scary as hell."

"Dear Yevon, I know!"

He chuckled. "So why are you talking to him then?"

"Because! I told you he's still my friend! Besides…" She shrugged. "He didn't make a big deal out of me being an Al Bhed when we met. He gave me the stamp of approval to be Yunie's guardian even though he knew I had just tried to save her—"

"Didn't you kidnap her and get your ass kicked?"

"WHO'S TELLING THE STORY?"

Gippal shook his head and laid back beside her.

"He was kind of mean and scary most of the time, but he was a really good guy. He was tough. And he was trying to take care of Tidus and Yuna and his friend who was actually Sin when he already had to fight Sin once where he lost his other friend and now he had to fight the first friend who became Sin and that's a lot for one guy to deal with for as long as he did, okay!"

Rikku was out of breath now and panting. Gippal watched her as she recovered.

"It's just…the least I can do is think of him."

Gippal just nodded. Then he sighed and Rikku raised her eyebrow at him.

"I'm still trying to get used to you being grown up and how I wasn't there for it."

Rikku slid her hand over to take hold of his. "You were always there, Gippal."

And that was one of the good things about them, he mused. They always understood exactly what the other one meant, even when they didn't say it right out.

He squeezed her fingers and didn't let go of her hand as they both stared up at the ceiling. Rikku closed her eyes and sighed peacefully.

A smile came onto Gippal's face, and then morphed into a smirk.

"You're not going to start wearing that all the time now…right?"

Gippal paled a little when he realized that he regretted to take notice of the rather large sword that resembled the late guardian's preferred weapon of choice that was lying flat beside her.

She turned her head to him, still with that serene look on her face.

"I will cut you, cyclops."