Title: Little wars
Author: Alasse Fefalas
Pairing(s): Roy/Riza
Rating: T
Chapter: One-Shot
Warning(s): OOC-ness galore!
Summary: Roy's a new student of Hawkeye-sensei! Will the current student comply to that?
Disclaimer: FMA no belong to me!
"Riza? Riza?" Riza's father called her from the door of their mansion, err… house.
"Yes father?" Came a soft voice from the study room.
"Come here, Riza. To the door. There's someone that I want you to meet," The man beckoned her.
The sound of a heavy chair being dragged rang through the house. From the study room, a girl with short blond hair of about 12 years slowly walked out, head bowed. She did not talk nor did she look at the door. She just kept walking until her legs stopped – in front of the door.
"Riza, this is Roy Mustang," He said, gesturing toward the teenager who was standing outside the door. The boy bowed and let Mr Hawkeye continue. "His father recommended me his son. He told me that Roy is a very talented boy. I myself have seen his skills and I want to take him in. As a student in alchemy."
Riza gasped in surprise, looking at the boy who was to be with her everyday. He was quite a handsome lad, black eyes complimenting his matching unruly black hair. He smiled at her, but she did not acknowledge him.
"As a student in… Alchemy, father? But why? You already… have me. Why do you need another one?"
"One is never enough, Riza. What you might not understand, he might and what he might not understand, you might. I want you two to learn from each other. Do you understand Riza? I am going to take him in as a student; whether you like it or not," Mr Hawkeye left it there. Riza knew she could not go against her father so she just kept quiet, even though her contempt for the person standing outside was growing even more.
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The next day, the door bell rang. The new student had arrived. A butler showed the boy in, and he was greeted with a not so happy Riza Hawkeye. Smiling nervously, he greeted her good morning but only received a glare in reply. The walk to the study room was not a comfortable one, which was why Roy was glad to arrive at the study room and start lessons, where he would learn from Hawkeye-sensei while the lady learnt from the books.
"It looks like your daughter does not like me much, sensei," Roy sighed halfway into the lesson when he received his umpteenth glare.
"Think not into it. She's just very competitive, that's all. She doesn't like anyone to take her place; but if your get to know her, she's really gentle and all," Hawkeye-sensei explained.
"Please! I'm not that kind of person! I'm very gentle! … Yeah, right," Riza mumbled to herself, knowing that all too well that the other two were watching her. She continued reading, ignoring the others.
This continued for the practical sessions that they had, and well over the first two weeks of Roy's arrival; and Riza wasn't the only one. Roy, too, started to respond. One day, Hawkeye-sensei declared that the both of them stop lessons until they could get along. He literally shooed them out of the house with a little present – a thick and hard yet light chain that held their one side of their wrists together. Try their best and it still would not come undone, not even with alchemy.
"Really! This is too much! Urgh!" Riza cried, kicking at her front door which was slammed shut.
"You know, we can really make this work. Maybe we should try getting along," Roy said.
"I don't approve of you! And I don't care if you're older than me!" Riza shouted in anger and started walking away… only to get stopped by Roy Mustang who held his ground.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Remember these, dear girl? You can't go anywhere without me, and I can't go anywhere without you, so how's about us working together for ONCE?" Roy spoke with weird gestures.
"And what do you plan to do, Roy Mustang?"
"How about… the park? The one beside the sea! The one with the cliff! I bet you can cool off there!" Roy teased, and got his head whacked.
"The park, huh? Better not do anything sleazy there, or you'll really get it from me!" Riza warned.
Nodding his head, they headed towards the park. It was not far from the Hawkeye mansion. They reached there in about fifteen minutes and started walking around while chatting. There wasn't many people there, only one or two other people. It was not long until they really got to know each other and started warming up to one another.
"So what do you want to do when you grow up, Mustang?"
"Actually, I wanted to be a soldier, not an alchemist, but then I heard of the 'State Alchemist', I didn't give up my dream," Roy answered, smiling.
"A soldier? But why of things a soldier? I mean, you could be carted off to some faraway place, not knowing that you'll die there!" Riza exclaimed.
"Yeah, I know, but I really feel like having this sense of responsibility of… protecting someone, get me?"
"Protecting someone… That's a huge responsibility, Mustang," Riza noted, walking to the railing that separated land from water.
"Yeah, but I want that. And I'm prepared for that," Roy said, following slightly behind her.
"Mmm… 'I'm prepared for that'… But what will happen if there's a fork in the road? In simpler words, will you be prepared for that person's death, Mr Mustang?" Riza asked seriously, leaning on the thin metal railing.
"I-- " Roy started, but could not finish as the railing that supported Riza broke, sending her down the high cliff and dangling there, connected to Roy. "Riza! Are you okay?" Roy screamed down.
"Urgh! Mustang! Pull me up! Pull me up!" Riza shouted.
Trying his mightiest, Roy could only pull Riza up a few inches. He could not wind against the gravity that wanted to take the girl away from him. Screaming down, he told Riza to grab a foothold and propel herself upwards so that he could pull her up quickly. Following his instructions, she stepped on a rock which was jutting out from the cliff and pushed herself upwards. Roy reacted quickly and successfully pulled her up. Tired from their 'exercise', they lied on the ground and panted hard.
"At least there's one good thing about these stupid chains," Roy laughed, soon joined by Riza, but her laughter was short-lived. Wincing in pain, she clutched her forearm. "Riza! Are you okay?" Roy asked, alarm.
"My wrist… it hurts! I think it's broken…" Riza trailed off. Suddenly, she was picked up by Roy, who started running towards the Hawkeye mansion. "What, what are you doing?" Riza exclaimed.
"Getting back to your house as soon as possible. I can't have you running in this condition!" Roy explained, not stopping.
"Only my wrist is hurt! Not my legs! I can still run, Mustang!" Riza wriggled, blushing slightly.
"I'm already running! Anyway, we're nearing your house already! Just stand with this for a moment more and I won't touch you again, I swear!"
Riza did not have any sharp replies to that statement and kept quiet. They reached the mansion quickly and Roy banged on the door.
"Hawkeye-sensei! Riza's hurt! Open the door!" He screamed, and the door promptly opened. A concerned Hawkeye-sensei loomed over the doorway. He got rid of the chains that bound the two together and relieved Roy of the girl. An ambulance was called and Riza was rushed to the hospital.
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"Is Riza okay…?" Roy asked slowly, two days later, when she did not attend lessons for the past two days.
"How about you ask her yourself? She's in her room," Hawkeye-sensei pointed to the room on the second floor.
Nervously, Roy went up there and knocked on the door. A small voice asked who it was and Roy answered. The door opened with a click of the door handle, revealing Riza with her hand covered in plaster which was in a sling.
"Umm… are you okay?" Roy asked nervously.
"Just a few scratches on my knee and a broken wrist, that's all. Other than that, I'm fine… except…" Riza said sadly.
"Except?" Roy asked, touching her shoulder. Riza looked reluctant to answer, but she did. "Except that father did not let me do any alchemy anymore. He said that if I really want to, I can only learn the theory, but he prohibited me from doing any practical. He said I've had enough already…" Riza said, tears rolling down her cheek.
Wiping the tears away, Roy said, cracking a small smile, "At least you can still learn the theory. It's the most important part of alchemy, after all…"
"Yeah… I guess that I'll really have give up my position as father's student to you, Mustang, however much I don't want to."
"Still griping about that eh? So that means I won't see you much anymore, since you'll be sent to school…?" Roy asked.
"Yeah. You won't have me as a hindrance anymore," Riza said, trying to be happy.
"Damn, and to think that I just got to know you better…" Roy said.
"Me too, Roy. Me too," Riza agreed.
After a few more minutes of talking to each other, they bid each other goodbye. "Oh, and a parting gift," Roy smirked, and kissed her on the cheek. Surprised, Riza touched her cheek and froze there for a moment while Roy waved and went off for the day.
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Little wars
The End
4/10/06
A/N: A little fic that occured to me... finished it in an hour. As for my other fic, Blinded, please be patient because I'm still in the midst of writing the next chapter... Review please!