Xenogears is (c) Squaresoft. This story is for personal entertainment only. (Additional notes are at the end.)



Sunlight trickled down to the grass, twinkling like stars through the leaves of the trees above, and all was green... bright, and green, and drifting along the spring breeze without a care in the world. It smelled like grass and roses, warm, but not too hot - and every so often, the smell of freshly-baked bread would reach across the currents from the town, drawing hungry children in through the gates for their afternoon snack.

Those who felt they could sacrifice the idea of a full stomach for a few more hours of play wandered out of the way of the delicious smells, running through the sparse bushes and wood of trees to the hills beyond, dancing and running about in the warm grass fields that surrounded the newly-built city of Nisan.

A little girl led the way, leaping up the hill as if running a marathon, with her long indigo hair streaming behind her. The other children followed her, shouting and screaming like usual, and she turned around, stopping at the top of a hill.

"Can't catch me~!" she cried, cupping her hands to her mouth so they would all hear - and then she sprinted away down the hill, into a valley of grass almost as tall as she was, the others chasing after.

Tag games always started that way - someone shouted a challenge, and off they went until everyone was either exhausted or risking grounding for being late to get home. But she loved it - she didn't have any parents to speak of, because they had died in the Bad Things that happened after God fell from the sky... and the sisters never punished her for just playing.

But something was different today. She slowed to a stop, crouching down in the brush and peeking over the top to make sure none of the others were near yet, and bit her lip, gazing up into the sky.

Something was up there... not to see, but to feel. She knew the difference - she was ten years old, and her teachers always told her that she was very smart about spiritual stuff in school. She knew what feeling was... the kind that wasn't just touching something next to you. The kind where you touched something that wasn't really there - like a dream.

It felt like that - a dream. Like something she'd felt before.

"Gotcha!"

A blur of shirt and hair bowled her over into the grass with a scream of triumph, and she flew into the grass with a sqeal of surprise, tangled up with her new playmate and the sweater the sisters made her carry out when she played.

The girl immediately tried to tickle her companion, in hopes of escaping before the others saw that she had been caught, but he grabbed her hands with a grin and pulled her up to her knees. "That's not gonna work! You're 'it'."

She stuck her tongue out at him, but giggled in spite of herself. After taking a few seconds to let her breathing slow down, she started to rise, fully intending to surrender and play 'it' - at least until she could catch this boy again, and get back at him for the tackle. Boys were not supposed to do that to girls - especially not when those girls were wearing skirts.

But when she started to get to her feet, he held her there, and pulled her back down into the grass. Surprised, the girl complied with his unspoken request, and tucked her legs beneath her so she could sit more comfortably. Shouting in the distance indicated that, having grown tired of waiting, the other children had resumed the game on their own.

She didn't mind. Now that she got a good look at him, her companion seemed familiar - perhaps he was an orphan at the cathedral too? Or maybe someone from her hometown that she didn't remember - it had the feeling of something she knew from a long time ago.

"What's your name?" he asked hesitantly, releasing one of her wrists. He kept tight hold on the other one, as if he thought she would run away. He wasn't mean about it, but he shouldn't have been doing that either - not without asking, anyway.

She tilted her head to one side, studying him closely before she answered. Sun-darkened skin made his eyes stand out, especially in the sunlight; they were so light a brown they were almost gold, and they glowed with the sunset as if they held that mysterious power she had heard used to exist in certain people. Thick, tangled brown hair was pulled into a ponytail at the back of his head, and stray strands fell over his face, held back by a strip of a red bandanna, as was the current style among they boys in Nisan...

Yes... he did seem familiar somehow. She bit her lip and lowered her eyes before he could think she was staring, and pulled her dark skirt over her knees with a hand she was surprised to find was shaking. Why... she didn't know. "My name...? Mia. You?"

He seemed to think for a minute... and certainly had no problem staring. What was it with boys, anyway? Did they think girls were just there to look at? "Kahn," he said finally, his grip loosening on her wrist. But he didn't let go.

"...Kahn..." She knew that name. It was a bit different than it was supposed to be, but... it was still the same. Same thing, same person... "I... know you..."

Kahn's smile seemed genuinely delighted. "I remember you." He reached out with his free hand, entwined his fingers into a drifting clump of indigo hair. "I remember this... I don't know anyone else with hair like this."

Drawn as if by a dream, Mia leaned forward impulsively, and planted a soft kiss on the boy's cheek. She didn't know why, and could feel her cheeks burning bright red, but it felt as if it was something she should do. Something she wanted to do...

His hand there, fingers now entwined with hers, felt right, like the puzzle pieces she helped the younger children put together in the activity rooms. His eyes were eyes she had looked into a million times, and she knew this voice like he'd been by her side forever - a best friend, lost, and now found.

Kahn pressed his forehead up against hers, so close her eyelashes brushed his face. Though he was just as red as she was, he had a funny little smile on his face that she had missed...

"Gotcha."

***


Author's notes: This was written in September of 2001 (I think), just a little bit before Rune and I started on "Amethystine Dreams". I wrote it after a particularly depressing RP on the Xenogears MUCK, with the idea that, after everything was over with, Miang and Grahf would be given another chance to live and be together in return for their suffering. That's how we played it out there, anyway. We all know the MUCK storyline will never truly conclude, so this is just a random bit of fluff that I decided to put words to. When I told him this idea, it spawned our other fic, which is much bigger and more intricate than this silly thing. But... I like it, flaws and all.

I posted this now because it looks like it's going to be a long time before either of us can work on Amethystine Dreams again. Our schedules just don't want to work well together, and we're both pretty burned out on Xeno fanfics. It'll be finished... someday. ^^;