A/N: for now, this shall remain a one shot. may turn into a full story, but as far as i'm concerned, it's done. oh, and also... when it says 'gold cross' think emulator shaped. for those of you who have seen Bleach, imagine the town as the section of Soul Society where Rukia and Renji came from. if you haven't seen Bleach... the closest i can give you is Agrabah from Aladin ((did i even spell that right?)).

Disclaimer: I don't own Xenosaga.

First Meeting

By Kaltmr

The sun rose. A cock crowed. Morning had come, and it was time to start the day. A young boy, with pure white hair awoke. Pulling back his shirt, he checked for his only prized possession, a necklace with a charm in the shape of a golden cross. Seeing that it was safely still on his neck, he got up and stretched. He examined the abandoned building he called home. It wasn't his true home, but it was home enough for him. Apparently, it was still as empty as he had found it, a few dusty baskets here and there, but other than that, blank. The boy jumped out a window and headed into town.

Even though it was still early in the morning, the town streets were already crowded with busy people. Some were preparing their stalls, getting ready to sell to the others who were rushing to wherever they needed to. Some had wheelbarrows full of food, while others had jewelry. No matter what they had with them though, everyone was busy. Everyone, expect for the boy. He walked the streets, looking at the various stalls offering breakfast foods.

"Get out of my way boy!" someone cried out, as they bumped into the kid. The man, who was balancing numerous boxes in his arms, nearly fell over as he kept walking. He didn't even stop, despite the fact that the boy had fell to the ground.

Coughing, the boy lie on the ground. Suddenly, something caught his eye. The man had dropped something. A gold coin. "This should be able to buy me some lunch." he muttered, pocketing the currency. Before he stood up, however, he swiped an apple from the nearest stand, and jogged down the street. Turning the next corner, he glanced behind him, and breathed a sigh of relief. No one had noticed him.

The boy continued his journey through town, and the further he went, the less people he encountered. Finally, the rocky streets began to disappear, and the ground became a field of endless grass. Tossing his apple to himself, the boy hummed a tune as he wandered through the grass. Finally coming to a river, he placed his apple on a stump and checked a nearby hollow tree. Checking to make sure no one was in sight, he took off his clothes and hung them on a branch. "What? Where's my soap?" the boy stuck his arm in a hole in the dead tree, but pulled nothing out. Sighing, he jumped into the river, splashing about. Although it seemed as if he was having fun, he didn't say a word as he swam about. He didn't even let out a laugh.

When the boy had finished his daily ritual, he jumped out and redressed himself. Munching on his apple, he began searching for sticks. Finding some sturdy branches and sticks lying around, he piled them up and lied down in the grass, as he finished his apple. The boy watched as the clouds flew by in the sky. "What a carefree life you live..." he suddenly said, reaching out to the clouds with his short arms. "Won't you trade places with me? Just for a day?" he stayed there, motionless for a moment. When nothing happened, he sat up, laughing to himself. "There I go, dreaming again... time to catch some lunch."

Tossing his apple core into the river, he rolled up his pant legs and grabbed his pile of sticks. Picking out a branch, he waded into the river, and waited. For a while, nothing happened. Then, his prey revealed itself. A fish swam down the river. The boy stabbed at the fish, but slipped and fell into the water, breaking his stick. Standing up, he grabbed another branch from his pile, and waited again. This went on for hours on end, with similar results. With the sun way over his head, and the pile of sticks gone, the boy finally gave up. Shaking the water off him, he reached into his pocket, and took out the gold coin. "I can try to buy something with this..." he said, as his stomach rumbled. Suddenly, he heard boxes falling... screams of people... and... the clash of swords? "Hmm..." the boy ran to town. "Maybe I won't have to buy anything just yet..."

Arriving at town, it didn't take a genius to figure out that something was wrong. Many stalls were overturned, and there were men brandishing swords everywhere. "What? U-TIC soldiers?" the boy muttered, recognizing the black clothes. He didn't pay too much attention though. The boy grabbed a loaf of bread from an unsuspecting vendor, and ran into an ally. He turned a corner, and was about to head back to his home, when someone ran into him.

"Ugh..." he groaned, getting up. "My food!" he looked at his newly obtained loaf of bread, on the ground.

"Oops!" the person who had ran into him was a young girl, about his age. "Ah! I'm sorry..." she picked up the bread, and handed it to the boy. "If you'll excuse me..." she was about to leave, when a large group of people appeared at the other end of the ally.

"There she is! Get her!" a black clothed soldier cried out.

"U-TIC? They're after you?" The girl gave a squeak, and ran to the end of the ally. Looking left and right, she appeared like she didn't know where to go though. The boy groaned, and grabbed her hand. "Follow me!"

He lead her through town, taking turns at the most obscure places, using all the secret passageways he knew. In no time, they had lost their pursuers, and were safely hiding in a storehouse.

The girl sat down by a wall, and breathed a deep sigh of relief.

The boy brushed off his loaf of bread, and was about to take a bite, when he saw the girl breathing heavily. He broke the bread in half, and tossed a half at her. "Here. Looks like you need it more than I do."

"Huh?" she nearly dropped the food, but saved it at the last moment. "Oh, thanks."

They ate peacefully for a moment, when the boy broke the silence. "So... why are they after you?"

"I... stole something." she whispered.

"What?" he moved closer to her. "I can't hear you."

"I stole this!" she nearly yelled out. Covering her mouth, she spoke again, more softly. "I stole this... from them." she pulled at a chain around her neck and revealed a necklace with a gold cross on it.

The boy stared at it. "That necklace..." he muttered, feeling it's strong power reverberate throughout the room as it was shown. Of course, the girl didn't feel it.

"Maybe they're around here! Check everywhere!" A voice suddenly yelled.

"They're back!" the boy said, grabbing the girl's hand. "It's not safe here! Let's go!"

—

Night had fallen. The two children were on the roof of an abandoned storehouse.

"We'll be safe here... nobody's ever found me here." the boy said, lying down.

"Wow!" the girl said in awe. "The view... is amazing!" she giggled to herself as she stared at the sky, admiring all of the stars.

"I know." the boy said calmly. "I like it here... it's very peaceful."

The girl suddenly looked down at the boy. "Oh, I almost forgot!"

"What?" he sat up.

"Thank you... for helping me today. I could've been killed... but you helped me escape. Thank you... uh... " she hit her head and stuck out her tongue playfully. "We haven't even introduced ourselves! I'm Shion. Shion Uzuki. You are...?"

The boy smiled at her enthusiasm. "chaos. Just call me... chaos."

---

A/N: and yeah. can you kind of see where this is headed? powerful emulator necklaces. ooh. ahh. haha. well, yeah, that's all for now, though i may include more characters, more emulators, who knows. but for now, this is all. review plz!