How it began: Zig and Izumi.
By:Twilt-ninja
Disclaimer: I do not own Full Metal Alchemist or any of the characters… if I did, I would probably not be posting fanfictions based on my own anime… on this site.
Chapter 1: Perhaps a Friend?
Eight year old Zig was sitting in his room, crying silently. Warm salty tears poured form his eyes and wrapped around his chin until they dropped onto his lap.
It seemed like he would be used to other children making fun of him. It did happen almost everyday. But still, Zig would enter his room after school, sit on his bed, and let his mind visit back to the terrible things those people had said to him; then come the tears.
Zig stood up and left his room, his eyes still blurred with the tears. He turned left into his father's rooms and looked at himself in the big mirror.
"Fat!"
The voice of the child echoed in his head… and tears continued to fall.
It wasn't his fault that he was big. His father was big, as was his grandfather and all the men of the past generations. Zig just figured it came with the genes, or perhaps from the family business of selling meat.
Zig turned his head to the old vanity; left there by his dead mother (his father had never been able to remove it after she had died). He saw the old picture of his very large father, his face was hard and strong, however, the gentlest smile rested on his lips. On his lap, a woman was sitting: Zig's mother. Zig's mother was nothing like his father. She was thin with a soft gentle face. In all of Zig's memories, his mother had the same big smile that she wore in the picture. The smile showed not only happiness, but love, so much love. His father's arms were wrapped around her lovingly. The pair looked so happy.
The sight and thoughts of his mother only made Zig cry harder. Zig had loved his mother ever so much, and he missed her.
"Zig!"
Zig jumped at the sound of his father's voice and quickly wiped the tears from his face. Zig's father was standing in the door way.
"What are you doing in here?" His father's voice was low, but friendly.
Zig shook his head and walked toward his father. "Nothing."
Zig turned his head in an angle that wouldn't give away the fact that he had been crying. He could not imagine the shame he would feel if his father found out that a son of his had been crying.
Zig's father gave him a concerned look as Zig walked out of the bedroom.
"Hey boy, could you run down and deliver some of this meat to Miss. Chez?"
Zig nodded.
Miss. Chez lived quite a ways from Zig's house. Zig thought it would be a pleasant walk. His father had given him a little money as a payment for his errand, so Zig thought he would stop by the candy store and pick up some chocolate.
Zig turned into the store once he had reached town and started walking up and down the isle. Two other children, girls, were standing in the isle, whispering.
"Did you here about the new girl?"
"Yeah, she is staying with old woman Dante isn't she?"
"Yep, and she isn't going to be attending our school because Elder Dante is teaching her alchemy."
"Alchemy!"
"Mmhmm!"
"Gosh I'm jealous! Alchemy seems so much more interesting than our stuffy old classes. What's the girls name anyway?"
"Izumi"
"Maybe if we become her friend she can teach us some alchemy!"
Zig looked at his feet. That did sound like an idea. Not only would he learn something cool but he would get his first ever friend. It was an impossible thought though. What kind of person, a girl especially, would ever want to be friends with an unattractive fat boy.
Zig grabbed a candy bar at random and walked over to the counter and paid.
Back in the street, Zig opened up his candy bar and began to nibble as he looked around at the surrounding town. Zig had always found the town very dull. The roads were dirt and few cars ever drove down them..
The only buildings that could be seen were the school house, grocery store, meat store, doctors office and a few homes. Off in the distance, you could see houses beyond the green fields. Zig turned his head left and stared at the group of trees that hid Elder Dante's house and where the new girl was studying alchemy.
The old forest was peaceful looking. Zig tried to imagine a young, pretty girl sitting beyond the trees, doing something amazing with her alchemic powers.
Zig didn't really know what to picture when it came to alchemy. All that he knew was that it was a kind of scientific power that could make something come out of nowhere. He didn't understand it at all, but that didn't matter. It sounded amazing to him.
"Stuffing your face as usual, fatty"
Zig jumped, smushing a bit of his chocolate into his face, leaving a streak of brown across his cheek.
Turning around, Zig noticed that the voice had come from Jet, a fellow student. Embarrassed, Zig stuffed his chocolate bar in his pocket and whipped his mouth.
Jet was two years older than Zig and took great enjoyment in humiliating him in front of all the other students.
Unfortunately, Jet was surrounded by tons of other students, his "followers" as Zig called them. Hanging on Jets arm was a short pretty girl that Zig had always secretly admired: Tyra. Unfortunately, she was Jet's little girl friend.
"Stay back you guys, you might get his cooties!" Tyra yelled out to the small crowed. Her voice was high pitched and taunting. Her words seemed to stab into Zig with amazing force.
The little group laughed and pointed at Zig, calling him terrible names.
Zig felt the tears coming but he held them back. The names kept coming, and so did the impulse to cry.
"Just leave me alone." Zig mumbled, trying to turn away.
"Come now Zigy don't get mouthy with us!"
The children giggled and pointed, saying things like. "Look at that slob!" and "I wonder if he will fit down the old well!"
The small group was now forming a circle around Zig. He heard one boy say he would pay a dollar to the one that dared to poke Zig in the stomach. One boy did, having a kind of spasm after ward, shaking his hand as if he had just stuck his finger in a rather stinky pile of dung.
Zig heard Tyra squeal as another girl jokingly pushed her into Zig. He caught her and set her back up kindly, but she gave him a disgusted look and had a similar spasm as the boy before her.
Tears were now starting to flow. He tried so hard to stop them. He didn't need another reason for them to make fun of him.
Too late. "Awwww! Ikkle Zigy is cwying!"
Zig turned his head around, somehow trying to hide his face from the tons of kids. The other children started to yell "Awwwww!' in mocking baby tones.
Blurred face after blurred face, Zig tried to escape the circle but couldn't. He attempted to push past an unknown boy but the boy just pushed Zig back into he middle of the circle.
For the first time since his mother died, Zig actually raised his voice. "Let-Me-Pass!"
The voice that escaped Zig's mouth was loud and filled with authority. Every child became quiet and they all backed off instantly. Zig even noticed that Jet looked a little scared.
Zig was full of rage. All the sadness he had felt after his mothers death and his lack of friends suddenly disappeared and was replaced with a pure hatred.
Zig leaped forward at Jet, grabbing the front of his shirt and throwing him backwards.
Jet hit the ground with a gasp but quickly jumped up and looked at Zig with a similar look of hatred in his eyes.
"Boys, I think its time we showed Zig where he belongs in rank!"
All the other boys gave out yells of agreement and fell forward on Zig. Some boys kneed him in the gut, others punched his face. Zig pushed some of them off, but there were just so many.
Zig closed his eyes tight, swinging his arms blindly. His whole body was in pain, so many people hitting him. One hit after another. Finally, Zig just gave up. He laid there on the ground between all the kicking children.
"What the …? Who the heck are you!?"
The kicking children stopped, Zig looked up.
He couldn't see much through the crowd of feet around him. All he could see was Jet, lying on the ground outside of the little circle and a new pair of sandaled feet standing in front of him.
"Just a girl passing through."
Zig guessed the voice belonged to a young girl, maybe a little older than himself.
"Well what business do you have grabbing me and yanking me to the ground?! Do us all a favor and just keep passing through!" Jet yelled at her as he stood up and whipped the dirt from his backside.
"It's a little hard for me to do that. What kind of low lives stand here and beet up on one single child?"
"It's none of your business what we do or what we don't do! This fatty deserves what he is getting! I'm showing him his place!!"
There was a sound like fist to stomach and Zig saw Jet fall to the ground again, holding his stomach.
"You should learn your place!! You think it is right to treat people like that!! I don't know what this kid did to you, maybe he did deserve a little beating but when it is at least fifteen children to one I can't say that that is right!!" The girl's voice was angry and harsh. Zig noticed all the children back off a bit.
"It's not my fault he doesn't have any friends to defend him," mumbled Jet as he stood up.
The girl's foot rose off the ground and Zig heard another sound like a blow to the stomach. Jet fell once again.
"You'll pay for that!" Jet yelled, his eyes closed tightly in pain.
On queue, all the boys ran at the girl, holding up fists. Zig still could see the girl but he did get glimpses of her feet and fists as they threw blows at the children. One by one the children fell backwards onto the ground. They tried to pull themselves back up but flopped to the ground in failed effort.
Finally, Zig saw the girls face. It was hard and fierce, but at the same time, very pretty. Her hair was black and was wore in long dreadlocks that was pulled back into a pony tail. She was wearing long shorts and a tank top, along with the sandals he had noticed before. Something about her made his heart leap, made him want to cry and laugh all at the same time. It was similar to the feeling he would get when he would visit his mother in his dreams.
Zig was pulled out of his thoughts as he noticed all the children finally able to get themselves to their feet.
"This chicks crazy! Let's get out of here Jet!" one of Jet's friends called.
Jet shook his head and took a dive at the girl. She smirked and threw her head back lazily and she shoved her fist into his stomach. Jet fell to the ground again.
"You should listen to your friend there, 'Jet', he seems pretty smart."
Jet stood up and looked around him, all of his friends were leaving, running off with scared looks on there slightly bruised faces. Even Tyra, who had been watching on the sidelines with the other girls, was walking away, giving Jet a disgusted look. Zig guess no boyfriend of hers was going to be beaten by a girl.
Jet looked at his friends in desperation and then turned his head back to the new the girl. "You're not worth my time!" He said arrogantly. And with that he walked off.
The girl shrugged and turned on her heals to walk away.
"Wait!" Zig yelled. The girl stopped and looked over her shoulder at Zig. After a moment of looking at him she smiled. "How did a big guy like you ever get into that mess? It seems like you would have enough strength to take care of those weaklings." She walked back and helped him to his feet.
"I…I… thank you."
"Meh, you owe me." The girl winked "So what's your name?
"Zig"
"I'm Izumi, nice to meat you. Now if you don't mind, I have to be going. Teacher will kill me if I'm late. I have to get all my stuff ready to move out." Izumi placed her hand on her forehead as if it was all a great nuisance.
"Moving?"
"Yeah, Donte wants to go somewhere quieter, more secret, so she can train me"
"Where are you…"
"Wouldn't be a secret if I told you would it?" She grinned.
"Take care of yourself, alright Zig."
With that, she turned and ran off, giving a small wave.
Sadly, Zig turned around and started to limp back to his house. For one, great moment, Zig actually thought he had made a friend. The world actually seemed to look up. But it was too good to be true. Happiness just didn't work for him.
Notes: I kinda felt like doing this. I always thought that Izumi and Zig were an odd couple but at the same time, really great. I just thought it was a story waiting to be written. Hope you enjoyed the first bit… thought it wasn't very interesting. Please please please R&R! I need to do something to ease my boredom. Either way thanks for reading.