A/N: I'm updating HOORAY! I am extremely sorry for the complete and utter lack of any updates for a very long time. I won't go into details about my three week imprisonment in a Canadian fishing camp without a computer. Neither will I complain about immediately being dragged from Canada to Stone Mountain in friggin Georgia, once again without a computer. And, I most certainly won't say a word about how when I finally came home I had to spend weeks without internet access because my dad disconnected it.

Please excuse my ramblings. Thank you to all the people who actually enjoy this story enough to write me reviews. They are much appreciated.

Oh, and has anyone else noticed the increase of chaos/Shion stories lately?

Disclaimer: I do not own chaos or Shion or anything else I have borrowed from Xenosaga.

And now on with the story…

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(¯'·.¸(¯'·. Shion .·'´¯)¸.·'´¯)

"No bug spray!" I cried in exasperation. Bug spray is something so simple yet extremely hard to find. The product has become obsolete in modern society. There is no longer any use for it since civilization inhabited space. Needles to say, I knew that the probability of finding a store that sold some was slim to none. I conveniently forgot this, however, as I glared at the nervous woman standing behind the counter.

"I-I'm sorry miss, but we don't sell that item," the woman dark haired woman squeaked as she quailed under my gaze.

I let out a growl of frustration and turned on my heel away from the counter. I felt the familiar twang of my conscience as I waded through the piles of old, rusted junk and made my way to the exit. I had been rather short with the woman. She wasn't much older than me, actually. I couldn't help but feel sorry for her luck, working at a place like this. I always had never been much of a morning person; my temper was even shorter in the mornings, and, seeing as it was six o'clock, I thought I had a very good excuse for my actions. But, all the same, my over active conscience was having a hay-day. I made my way past one last dilapidated droid before exiting under a blinking neon sigh that read "Talk to Me."

"'Everything from toilet paper to AGWS.' What a load of bull," I muttered glancing around at the rest of the Dock Colony. The colony, much like the "Talk to Me" store, was a dingy, old, rusted place that looked like it might be on the verge of crumbling into nothingness. In fact, the place was very reminiscent of a junk yard. Beside the ships that were docked to do business or refuel, I doubted that there was anything of actual value in the whole colony. Oh well, the people were nice enough.

I began to slowly walk past the rows of docked ships and glanced at the slip of paper that was clutched in the hand that wasn't occupied by my very small duffle bag. According to the memo, which I had received shortly after my chat with the COE, I was looking for dock 6. I looked around at the nearest ship and noticed from a pealing sign that it was docked at dock 12. Well, at least I was close. One of the few good things that has happened to me this morning, I thought darkly, remembering my breakfast. I shuddered involuntarily at the thought.

I continued walking in the same direction and the next ship I came to was docked at what another faded sign said to be number 28. I stopped and looked around in frustration and bewilderment. I knew this place was old, older than most modern technology. But, come on, was it older than logic too?

I continued to glare at the flaking sign, but I wasn't seeing it. I had begun going through a mental list of all the obscenities I knew and sorted which ones would be most effective on the next person that crossed my path. I had already been in a bad mood, and the knowledge that I would in all likelihood be spending the rest of my morning lost in a maze of illogically numbered docks had, surprisingly, done nothing to brighten that mood. In other words, I needed to vent, and soon.

"Hey Shion!" squealed an excited, high pitched voice from behind me.

That was certainly quicker than expected, but I wasn't going to complain. I turned, ready to spout a few of those obscenities, but I stopped short.

"Miyuki?" I asked in disbelief.

The girl in front of me beamed and vigorously bobbed her mousey brown head before throwing her arms around me in a lung crushing hug. I gingerly returned the hug and quickly detached her arms to prevent the fracture of my ribcage. I stood bent over, gasping for air and smiling in spite of myself. Miyuki was one of the few people that I could call a friend, or at least I hoped a very close acquaintance, albeit an exasperating one.

"Oh, Shion, I'm so excited," Miyuki told me cheerfully. "I haven't seen you since graduation two years ago. Hmm, that reminds me. You never answered any of my e-mails."

See what I mean when I say exasperating? I didn't know it was possible for moods to change that quickly, even during menopause.

I backed away slightly from Miyuki, who now had an accusatory glint in her eye and had her arms propped on her hips. Well, now isn't this awkward. Are you allowed to say, "I think you have the tendency to be annoying so I deliberately avoided you for two years?" Doubtfully a tactful response. I nervously scuffed the ground with the toe of my shoe and grinned sheepishly. "I was busy?" I asked hopefully.

To my great relief and bewilderment, Miyuki's face brightened and she seemed to accept my answer. "That's right," she said thoughtfully and looked as if she were trying to remember something. "Oh yeah, I think I remember hearing that you got a really good position at Vector immediately after graduation. And, judging from that uniform you're wearing, I'd say I heard correctly. No surprise though. You were always the top of the class, you know."

The brunette stopped talking and studied me intently, and I smiled nervously. I'm never quite sure how to react around her; her rapid mood swings tend to make her…explosive? Volatile? Unpredictable? All of those adjectives can be used effectively on Miyuki.

After a moment she continued her monologue. "Wow, Shion. You look fantastic now that I get a good look at you. I'm glad to see that you finally got rid of that childish braid you always wore and those ridiculous glasses. I did always say you'd look better with contacts."

I didn't quite know how to respond to that, so I resorted to looking somewhere between nervous and embarrassed. "Uh…thanks," I said uncomfortably. I'm positive I'm wowing her with my stellar intelligence. And now, I will show my renowned social tact. Hah. How laughable.

"Right…umm, so how have you been Miyuki?" I asked eventually.

Miyuki's expression was nothing short of shocked. She quickly tried to cover her shock with a hugely cheerful smile. But, I had seen it, and I had expected it. Last time I had seen Miyuki, I had been even more introverted than I am now. I would never have said anything at all and contentedly let Miyuki talk herself hoarse. I have improved so much that now I am actually talking. A big step, if I say so myself. I couldn't help but feel smug about her surprise. How utterly depressing. I am currently feeling a great amount of pride over an ability that most three-year-olds can accomplish with ease.

"Well, since you asked," Miyuki said, sounding pleased. Whether she was pleased with my new development of being able to speak or with what she was about to tell me, I could not tell. "Well, after graduation I got hired into Vector's 3rd division. I've been slowly trying to work my way up the ranks ever since and I think I'm doing I pretty good job. They sent me on this trip anyway, whether that's a good thing remains to be seen.'

She paused and looked wistfully at me before continuing. "But, I must say, my job doesn't seem to be treating me as well as yours is treating you. I just can't get over how good you look. I'll just pin it on your age like I always do. I am three years your senior you know."

I rolled my eyes inwardly. Miyuki was rambling again. Normally I wouldn't have minded, but when Miyuki rambled she had the unnerving habit of rambling about me. I don't ever think I'll understand why, either. For starters, Miyuki was always nicer than what was good for her. Secondly, she had always had a strange obsession for me that borderlined on being idolization. Combine those two together and you get an almost sickening conversation. A conversation filled with more compliments and praise than I could stomach. So…the socially adept person that I am tuned her out.

I stood there staring absently at Miyuki's animated face as she spoke to me. I'm sure that if I was in any other position I would have been assumed dead. My eyes had achieved that glazed over, unfocused stage.

When I hazarded listening again I found that she was back on the subject of her job. "Anyway, I do like my job," she was saying. "I've been promoted a few times, as I was saying earlier. I'm here to be on a team of researchers that are going to...what's the name again?... oh yes! Ariadne, or at least something like that." Miyuki looked rather proud of herself and I assumed that it was because she had actually remembered the planet's name. I could be wrong though.

I was rather surprised to hear that I had been sent on the same trip as Miyuki and as a result I let out an incredulous "What!" before I could think the better of it. I don't like to think of myself as a conceited person, but I have always aloud myself to maintain my pride in certain areas. Those areas are limited, I must say, but I am definitely of a whole different caliber than Miyuki. At least when it comes to engineering and science.

Miyuki was looking at me with a very strange expression on her face. "Are you all right Shion?" she asked eyeing me skeptically.

"Yeah, Yeah!" I said hurriedly. "I was just so surprised and excited to hear that you were on the same trip as I am that I kinda lost control of my vocals."

See, I do think I have developed some social tact. At least, now, I knew enough to be able to think up a convincing lie. Or maybe it wasn't quite convincing, but, come on, it's hard to lie about something like that.

Miyuki's eyes widened in shock. "Y-You're going on the same trip as I am?" she said slowly, almost to herself. "Omigod that's so awesome! Shion we're going to have so much fun!"

I eyed her warily, not sure if she was going to give me another one of those hugs. To my relief she didn't show any signs of it. "Yeah, it's going to be amazing," I said in a cheerful voice that made me cringe inwardly. "I heard our ship is really nice."

"The ship is soooo cool," Miyuki said, bobbing excitedly in place. "Wait, you haven't been there yet? Come on Shion, I'll take you to it. What on earth were you doing all the way over here anyway?"

I decided to not respond to her question, afraid I might blow up at her. Instead, I let her lead me to where our ship was. Cheerfully ignorant of my mood, Miyuki seemed to have absolutely no problems navigating her way through all the random dock numberings. For some reason I wasn't really surprised.

Miyuki came to a halt in front of an expensive, sleek cruiser. "This is it!" She exclaimed excitedly. "Come on lets go inside, I'll show you the Jacuzzi!"

And I found myself being dragged by an over-excited Miyuki. Boy, what an impression I'm going to make. I hope I don't meet anyone important while acting as the caboose for the Insane-Miyuki-Train.

(¯'·.¸(¯'·. chaos .·'´¯)¸.·'´¯)

I heard the excited squealing before I saw them. Truthfully, I was shocked that there would be anyone on this trip that would squeal. Jr. had told me that this was very important and all that other stuff. So, I was fully prepared to be around stuffy middle-aged scientists. And, from what I had seen up until this point, my assumption had proved correct. In fact, I had already made myself acquainted with most of the said scientists. These scientist types tended to be overly prepared and got here two hours before the intended time of departure. I unfortunately, though on Jr's orders, was here almost as early.

I had introduced myself to them in my calm, friendly way. I didn't want to make a bad impression or do something entirely stupid to point out right away that I was the engineer for the Kukai foundation. Though, I think my anxiety in that particular area may have been misplaced. I was the only person not in Vector uniform. My yellow and blue leather body suit (the one he wears in episode 2) made me stick out like a sore thumb in the tan mass that surrounded me. I assumed that was why I was receiving some curious stares, but then again they were mostly from the female demographic. Tony had told me my butt looked good in this outfit. But, then again, that was Tony.

Heh, maybe the tight leather wasn't exactly professional, but, come on; we are going to a rainforest. I for one was going for comfort over professionalism. To the untrained eye my outfit may look constricting and uncomfortable. But, I had worn it down over the years and the supple material had conformed to my body.

I raised my eyebrows as an energetic girl came hurtling around the corner and almost collided with me. I watched in amusement as the girl tried stopping herself quickly. She succeeded, only to immediately be knocked over by her companion, who hadn't been able to foresee the sudden stop. Needless to say the girl landed on the floor and a guilty looking friend immediately helped her up.

The disheveled girl narrowed her eyes and pointed a finger at me. "You should be more careful. You big jerk! Did you see what you just did?" she yelled at me.

The yelling girl's quieter friend looked mortified and quickly interrupted her. I got a sudden flash of recognition, then it was gone. I know I had seen her before…somewhere. I'm so bad at connecting faces to names. How do I know her…It'll come to me eventually. "I'm so sorry sir," she was saying, glaring pointedly at her fuming friend. "I'm terribly sorry if we caused you any trouble."

I looked at them with barely contained amusement and shook my head, smiling slightly. "It's fine," I told her. "Hmm, I'll just have to remember to watch out for people flying down the hallways."

I could see her groan inwardly, apparently humiliated by being seen doing something so inappropriate. On the outside, however, she remained stiff and proper, dignity maintained. Head up, shoulders back, almost militant. "It won't happen again, I assure you," ever businesslike, she turned to her friend and looked expectantly.

"Yeah, sorry," the girl mumbled. She turned to continue down the hallway, but she was stopped. Apparently Miss Professional felt the situation hadn't been amended satisfactorily.

She primly extended her hand saying, "Shion Uzuki, a pleasure to meet you."

AHA! That's how I knew her. I remember reading an article about her becoming Chief of Vector's First R&D Division. There had been a picture and everything. Hmmm, I must say though, she either isn't very photogenic or she has changed a lot in the last two years because she looks very different standing here in front of me. In a good way. She seemed to have matured more into her womanly graces, so to speak.

I grasped her hand and shook it gently. "Just call me chaos," I said smiling at her. I could tell, regardless of what she just said, she was anything but pleased with the circumstances of our meeting. She raised an eyebrow slightly at my name, then immediately retracted her hand. Man, she needed to lighten up.

"Well, where were you two off to in such a hurry?" I asked trying to make pleasant conversation with them.

"Shion just got here so I was going to go show her the pool and Jacuzzi!" the apparently bi-polar girl said excitedly. Then as an after thought, "Oh, and the name's Miyuki."

Miyuki didn't extend a hand in greeting like her companion, and instead just looked at me, taking in my appearance I assumed. She didn't say anything for about a minute and I started to feel a bit uncomfortable. Does she do this often? Weird.

Suddenly Miyuki turned and whispered something to Shion who blushed furiously and immediately averted her gaze to the ceiling. Wait…now that's interesting. What in Zohar's name could Miyuki have said to get that reaction from the stoic chief? Oh well. Not really any of my business.

That perky Miyuki girl was grinning about something and Shion had finally brought her eyes back down from the ceiling. She looked at me in the eye as if she were daring me to say something, then, in the curtest voice yet, "If you'll excuse us, chaos. We need to be going."

And Shion was off walking briskly down the hall with a Miyuki scampering after her. Dignified to the last, if not a little rude Shion was definitely an interesting person. She could, of course, use more humor in her life. But, compared to all the other scientists on this ship, she was by far the youngest. I could tell, whatever the maturity difference, Miyuki was her elder by a few years.

Interesting. I continued down the hall and branched off down one of the residential hallways and slowly made my way to my room. The automatic lights exposed a bare room with no personal touches. I had packed little to nothing and my bag was tucked out of sight in the closet. I had had a hell of a morning. Being woken up at 3 am is never fun, but, when the waking up is done by Hammer, it was torture. There was nothing I wanted more than to lie down on that bed and sleep, but I held myself back.

I glanced into my bathroom and saw a stack of fluffy white towels. Ah. Yes, a shower is just what I needed. We would be departing in less than a half hour and there was a short debriefing in the mess hall directly after we left port.

I slid out of my leather outfit and immersed myself in the stream of steaming water. I let out a content sigh and let my mind wander. I found myself replaying the strange scene in the hallway.

Man, those two definitely weren't what I would expect. Especially that Shion Uzuki. She was quite different than most people her age. Real reserved. Then again, maybe she was just under strain from having to be around the Miyuki girl. That girl seemed like she could push anyone to their limit. They didn't seem the type that would be friends. Well, opposites attract right?

I stepped out of the shower and pulled one of the towels off the shelf. I was rubbing my head down when the floor lurched beneath me. I shot a hand out to steady myself on the counter but my feet still slid on the moist floor. My head banged the counter as gravity worked her magic and had me flying to the floor.

Ouch. I rubbed my tender head as a cool female voice came over the intercom. "Time of departure 7 o'clock. Please head to the dining area for a brief synopsis of your journey."

I mumbled a few incoherent curse words at the emotionless voice and quickly finished my drying job. I was out of my room and walking quickly to the mess hall in under two minutes.

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A/N: Please Don't kill me! I did my best to get this thing out on time, but that obviously didn't work out to well. I know the few people who actually read this are going to be like, "What, we waited forever for THAT piece of crap." I'm so sorry. Read and Review? Please, Pretty please with chaos on top? Anyway, thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far. I 3 you guys hardcore.