A Series of Usagi

Summery: It was a simple exchange, made from a silent understanding, nothing more

Crossover: Crisis Core FFVII

Characters: Usagi, Genesis, Angeal

Pairings: none

Usagi liked watching people, was obsessed with it even. From a very early age she had had nothing much to do because of her life as a social outcast in her old backwater village, and had taken to watching people originally to figure out what sort of people were the best to look to for help if need be. This had in the end led her to figuring out the art of manipulation and masks.

In learning how to manipulate her own emotions and project only what she wanted others to see she learned how to manipulate the reactions and thought process of others. This was what had allowed her to catch the eye of a traveling merchant, insuring of her escape of the village, and train her to be a merchant, thus giving her a way of surviving on her own. As she grew she manipulated her teacher to give her more than most in lessons and thus obtain a way of finding the holes that let her look outside the box. When she had gained enough of his trust and respect as a merchant her teacher agreed to follow her plan of setting up a trade with the backwater town of Barona for their relatively unknown dumbapples. Within half a decade she had become one of the richest produce merchants in the continent.

One year she decided to visit the village again out of bordem. She went anonumously and silently, just another traveler who was curious about the town. And she watched.

For three days she watched the town. The elders who both scorned and accepted the apple market, the adults who worked in either the fields or the apple groves, the children who ran in care-free abandom or went to school like it was a prison. It was all the same. Nothing was different.

Then she saw them. To her it was like a solarflare amongst candles. Two young boys, one dressed well and carrying fresh school materials, the other rugged with his books held together with a belt. They were walking side by side and conversing in a manner only friends could have. She watched as the two boys, looking no different from any of the other children, seemed to form their own world that no one else dared to step within. She became curious and watched them for three more days before coming to a realization.

They were outsiders. It did not matter that they had family, they were outsiders both not of their own making yet reinforced by their own minds. They were special. Too special. She decided to see how special.

The next day she waited by the road that they always took. When they appeared she waited till they had just passed her before asking them one question. "Will you make a trade?" They stopped and turned to her with gazes that only she had ever seen from one person, herself. Approximatly ten seconds later the red-head replied.

"What will you trade for?" She smiled to herself then. Taking out a simple book, one that she had never read but had kept as a reminder of her history, she presented it to them.

"I only have this book. I have never read it, never even opened it, but I have held it because it represents a past that humans no longer believe. It is only a book yet it represents a power that has driven men mad searching for answers within it. What have you to trade?" The black haired boy was uneasy, his eyes gave it away, but his compainion was intrigued. The red haired boy smirked and reached into his bag, pulling out a single apple.

"I only have this apple. I have never eaten it, never even placed it to my lips, but I have held it because it represents a piece of the whole. It is only an apple yet it represents a power that humans have never been able to control, only contain and cultivate. Will you trade?" Usagi gave him a rare smile.

"A book for an apple then." Extending her book-holding hand she watched with satisfaction as the boy in turn switch her book with his apple. Standing with silent and deadly grace she walked away from them, and the town, and smiled in victory when she heard the boy read the title of the book.

"LOVELESS."