Hey! This is my first fic, so reviews are appreciated. Trust my, I’m an avid reader, so I know it’s not that hard.

Disclaimer: Okay, since it’s the first time, I’ll be nice. I do not own Final Fantasy X/X-2 or any of its characters. I do, however, own the plot.

Rikku's POV

I sat in my room, door shut, listening to the clock tick. It was almost soothing, the constant tick, tick, tick sounding throughout the nearly-empty room.

Sitting up, I stretched my arms up above my head, hearing the satisfying crack in my arms. I curled my legs up onto the bed beneath me, wrapping my arms around them.

I set my chin on my hands, staring out in front of me blankly. I let out a sigh of frustration, and stood up, pacing around the room.

Being grounded was relatively new to me. I mean, my dad never really cared what I did. But, I guess this one time just broke his restraint. I mean, I was home ten minutes past curfew and he nearly jumps down my throat.

Sighing again, I flopped down on my bed, going over the scene my father had caused.

Flashback

“Where were you?” Cid growled, placing his large hands to his waist. An abandoned beer can lie at his feet.

“I-I was just out with Yuna!” Rikku stammered nervously, her voice becoming a little higher pitched out of nerves. This was a lie; she had been out with Gippal, but that fact wouldn’t help her cause.

“When’s your curfew, Rikku?” Cid waited for a response, his foot tapping on the floor.

“E-Eleven,” Rikku squeaked, looking at the clock. Her heart barely fell; she was only ten minutes late.

“And what time is it now?”

“Ten past,” she admitted softly, looking down at her feet.

“Exactly. So, starting tomorrow, you’re on house arrest for the week. No going out. And, to be sure, I’m having Brother call every hour, on the hour, to be sure you’re not sneaking out. Kud ed(1)?”

Rikku nodded meekly, her spiral eyes focused on her shoes.

“Now, get outta here!”

End of Flashback

What brought on the sudden change of heart? I wondered, placing my hands behind my head. I shut my eyes and was almost dozing off when I heard a sharp knock on my window.

Curious, I opened one eye and peered into the direction of my window. The sight was enough to open my other eye; there was Gippal, struggling to remain supported on a tree branch. He motioned with his free hand to unlock the window.

I sat up and walked to the window. I unlocked it, and slid it up.

“Hey, there,” I said casually, resting my elbows on the sill. “What’re you doing up here?”

He positioned himself safely and replied, in a determinedly calm voice, “Just hanging out.” The wind began to blow, shaking the branches a little, and Gippal clung to it desperately.

“Wait a second...” I laughed a little as a memory hit me. “You’re afraid of heights, right?”

He tried to scoff, but the effect was lost when he still hung onto the tree, not daring to look down.

“Okay,” I said, a little softer (c’mon, I felt bad!), “what’re you really here for?”

“I’m here to save you from house arrest,” he announced proudly, holding his head up as high as he could.

“You serious?” I asked, excitement beginning to course through my veins. He nodded.

“C’mon,” he said, motioning with one hand. “Let’s go.”

I was halfway out the window when I remembered Pops’ words the night before; “I’m having Brother call every hour, on the hour, to be sure you’re not sneaking out.”

“I... I can’t,” I said, giving him a small, apologetic smile. “Cid’s got me on house arrest. Brother’s due to call every hour to make sure this doesn’t happen. I have chores to do as well. It really sounded like fun, though,” I added at his somewhat crestfallen expression.

He sat there, head down a little for a moment, before his head shot back up, his visible eye shining. “Then I’ll just have to come in and keep you company!” he said happily, grinning. He looks really cute when he smiles like that, I found myself thinking.

No way! I mentally smacked myself on the forehead. I did not think about Gippal like that. I mean, he’s like my brother. We’ve been best friends for waay too long. That’s just... weird.

At his words, I laughed. “Are you serious? You’d stay all day just so I wouldn’t be bored?”

He began to lean toward the window, reluctant to let go of the tree. I held out a supporting hand, and he gratefully accepted it.

“And in answer to your question,” he said, shifting to the side so I could sit next to him on the windowsill (it’s a big window), “yes, I would stay.”

I grinned. He smiled as he continued, “...because I have nothing better to do anyway.”

I punched him playfully on the shoulder. “Gee, thanks,” I said semi-sarcastically. “You sure know how to make me feel nice.”

He grinned. “So, are you gonna invite me in, or are we just gonna sit on the window ledge all day?” I sat in mock thought for a moment before swinging my legs in and standing up, stretching my arms again.

“C’mon,” I said cheerfully, motioning with my hand over my shoulder, “we’re making cookies!”

Gippal's POV

I allowed Rikku to lead me into the kitchen, where she began to pull out ingredients. I stood there blankly until she said, “You can help, too, ya know!”

“I dunno what to get,” I replied smoothly, and she retrieved a folded-up list from a drawer. I took it from its place on the table and read through it, pulling out the ingredients as he read through them.

“Eggs,” he said under his breath, placing two eggs on the counter. He looked at the list again, then at the counter. They had everything.

Rikku began to hum a tuneless song as she began to mix the ingredients, only pausing occasionally to add a little sprinkle of this or that.

“Um, Rik?” I asked, not wanting to distract her from her baking.

“Hm?” she asked, looking up at him briefly before cracking one of the eggs in, careful to keep the shells out.

“Don’t you have to look at the directions?” It was a fair question. She hadn’t looked at it since she’d started.

“I know it by heart,” she replied, cracking the other egg.

“You make cookies that often?” I asked a little surprised. Rikku didn’t strike me as the type to be a baker.

“Yup!” she chirped, measuring out the flour. She blew on it to level it out and it was sent in a cloud over her, settling in her hair, and on her face. The effect made her look as though she had gained about 20 years in a few seconds.

Seemingly oblivious to the flour, she poured it in the bowl, and took out the egg beater. She plugged it in and began to turn it in the bowl, the contents frequently coming dangerously close to the edge.

She looked kinda cute, cooking, covered in flour. For a second, I contemplated taking a few pictures with my phone, but decided not to at the last second. I wanted to keep this a little secret.

I tried to stifle a laugh, but it didn’t work. I was soon laughing softly at Rikku. The flour had settled on her nose, and she had yet to notice. At my laugh, however, she turned, raising her white-powdered eyebrows.

“What?” she asked, looking down at her shirt. “Did I get something on me?”

I chuckled. Leaning over, I tapped her nose with my finger, sending small sprinkles of flour down her shirt. “Yeah. You do now.”

She huffed jokingly and dipped her hand into the flour container unnoticeably, a sweet smile on her face. She lifted her hand and flung it into my face, where it fell all over my t-shirt and into my hair.

“You’ve got a little something on you, there,” she said sarcastically, grinning. I faced her with a dead-serious expression.

“This,” I said, taking out a bottle of whipped cream from the refrigerator, “means war.”

She squealed and tried to dodge the stream of fluffy white cream. After a second, though, I had her covered. She licked some off her finger. She suddenly got an idea, her face brightening.

“Hey, Gipp-al!” she said happily, coming closer to me as I began backing up. She held out whipped-creamed arms and said, “How ‘bout a hug?”

I began to walk backward and flipped over a couch. I stood up and was surprised to see Rikku standing right beside me, arms poised to give me a large hug.

Before I could get the chance to run, she smothered me in a huge bear hug, making sure to just about cover him in the whipped cream. You’d think that being hugged by someone covered in an ice cream topping would be bad. But, strangely, I was enjoying it.

Finally, Rikku seemed to decide that I’d had enough, and let me go. I looked down at my newly-white clothes and said, in a very scary voice, “Oh. You’re gonna get it.”

I dived over the couch, and back into the kitchen, grabbing a chocolate syrup bottle from the counter. Her eyes lit up at the sight of it until she realized I had it.

“Heh, you don’t really have to do that, Gippal,” she said, backing up slowly. I smirked when she reached the wall. She walked into it, and her eyes grew wide.

“Oh, yes, I really think I do,” I replied innocently, before squirting her all over. She squeaked and moved to the side, trying to miss the flow of chocolate, but I had really good aim. Pretty soon, she was covered.

She was about to go to the refrigerator and get something to retaliate when the phone rang. She froze and then picked it up.

“Hello? Yes. I’m still here. Why didn’t I pick up? I was... sleeping. And I guess I didn’t hear it. But, I swear, I was here. I’m making cookies! Okay. Okay. Bye.”

She breathed a sigh of relief. “He believed me. Now, where were we...?”

She stealthily withdrew a bottle of pancake syrup from the fridge. My eyes widened, but I continued to douse her in chocolate syrup.

Rikku's POV

After the whole “war” was over, I looked over at Gippal. He was covered head-to-toe with syrup and chocolate syrup. I looked down at myself, and found it was the same. I began to giggle.

“What?” Gippal asked, looking confused, like, Did I miss something?

“We both look... so funny,” I managed to choke out between giggles. He looked at his reflection in a pan and said in mock indignation, “I do not!”

A second later, he and I were full-out laughing, holding our sides. I looked over at him, then took the container of flour and dipped my sticky finger in, then tapped Gippal on the nose, so we were equal.

“There,” I said, grinning, “now we’re even.”

He laughed. I began to laugh, until I saw the clock. The mirth instantly died from my mouth, and I gulped.

“Tysh(2),” I managed to say, “I’m dead.” He looked up in confusion as I shot up and pulled out a washrag from a drawer, running it under the water. He stood up as I began wiping it over the counter, cleaning frantically.

“What?” he asked, pulling out a towel and helping me mop up the sticky mess.

“Cid ec kuhhy pa rusa yho sehida yht E's cibbucat du pa knuihtat, nasaspan(3)?” I said quickly, reverting to Al Bhed in my panic.

“Calm down,” he said, placing a soothing hand on my shoulder. “I’ll take care of it with you, okay? I’ll help you clean this place up. Then, when they come home, you can truthfully say you made cookies and that you were taking a shower.”

“Thank you so much, Gippal!” I exclaimed, giving him a big hug. I could’ve sworn I saw a small flush on his cheeks.

Gippal's POV

Rikku hugged me and I could feel myself blushing. I hoped she didn’t notice as I hugged her back, my arms easily wrapping around her thin frame.

“C’mon,” she chirped, breaking the hug, “let’s get cleaning!”

We set to work, washing all of the counters and the floor. We were done in about 5 minutes, and then she said, “Okay, let’s just—“

A click from the doorknob froze her. I grabbed her hand and ran her upstairs, pushing her toward the bathroom.

“I’ll be gone when you leave. Just go,” I hissed. She nodded, and closed the bathroom door behind her.

I ran into her room, and gulped. Then, gritting my teeth, I launched myself out the window and onto the tree. I nearly let myself drop and ran off, but not before looking back at her room, where she was standing at the window, mouthing, “Thank you.”

Al Bhed Translations:

(1): Got it?

(2): Damn.

(3): Cid is gonna be home any minute and I’m supposed to be grounded, remember?

Reviews are appreciated.

DiamondxXxDust