An adorable little scene that has been bouncing through my head for a while. I finally decided that the FMA characters would play it out nicely. It actually started out as a tiny snatch of memory in another fic I'm writing, but I've decided that that particular story is never gonna be anything more than a sketchy idea. But this little part always made me smile, so I finally decided that it deserved a story of its own.

Disclaimer- I am expecting Ed and Al in a package from Argentina any day now, and stand by my mailbox every morning in pathetic anticipation. But until then, I own nothing.

Enjoy!


Two children sat on a grassy hill, looking down at the landscape laid out before them. The girl had a distant smile on her face as she studied the houses and winding dirt roads that made up home. She loved being on top of this hill, loved being able to see the place where she lived from up here.

The boy, on the other hand, loved the hilltop for a different reason. It gave him immense pleasure to be able to see all that lay beyond the borders of his tiny village. It was thrilling to imagine all that could be found in the places he could see only from up here. It reminded him that a whole world lay out there, and the view from the hilltop gave him a small taste of that.

They didn't know how long they sat like that, each lost in their own world, but soon they were brought back to reality by the setting sun. The little blond girl looked over at her companion and nudged him.

"Hmmm," he said, blinking at her.

"Edward, we should get home," she said. The little boy just looked at her, still dazed from being roused out of his thoughts.

"You think so?" he asked. Winry nodded, but Ed just turned his head back to the valley below him. Although Winry didn't know what had come over him, she somehow understood that it was better to stay silent. So she too simply looked back out over the breathtaking view of her home.

They sat in the descending twilight for about five minutes when it happened. Without warning, Edward leaned over towards Winry and placed his lips lightly against her cheek.

Winry's eyes went wide and she froze as Ed sat back and stared at her. A thousand thoughts and feelings ran through her head in an instant, and her eight-year-old mind could barely make sense of them all. Finally, though, she latched on to one single emotion and turned to Edward.

With a strength one wouldn't expect from a girl of her size, she pulled back her arm and slapped Edward across the face. He stared hard at the ground for a moment, face set in a look somewhere between hurt and confusion, "Winry-?"

"How dare you!" she glowered at him as he straightened, "You think you can kiss any girl you want, whenever you want!"

"Uhh..."

"Don't you think you should have found out if I wanted to be kissed! Heck, how do you know I would want to kiss you at all!"

Winry was getting to her feet, still fuming at Edward. The small, golden haired boy was looking at her with a faintly frightened look that for some unknown reason gave little Winry Rockbell immense satisfaction. She stood there for another minute or so, ranting and raving, before she finally ran out of things to say. Edward was speechless, simply staring at the fierce little female standing before him.

Winry looked down at him, seeming to be considering something. Suddenly, she bent down. Her lips met his firmly and she shut her eyes for a moment. But before Edward could do more than register the fact that her mouth was on his own, she pulled away. With a sparkling laugh, she turned and walked away.

"Wait!" Ed called, scrambling to his knees, but she was already halfway down the hill. Without turning, she laughed once more and offered up a small wave. Ed watched her go in disbelief before falling back onto the soft grass with a scowl. If he thought he'd been confused before, he was absolutly dumbfounded now.

"Stupid Winry," he mumbled unconvincingly as he rose from the ground. His mother was going to be furious at how late he was, but he didn't care. His nine-year-old mind was mulling over much more important matters at the moment. Namely, girls.

Maybe they calm down as they get older, he thought hopefully as he began the long walk home. But that didn't seem right, as an image of the terrifying Pinako Rockbell came to mind. After all, you couldn't get much older than her, and she was still crazy.

Edward's house came into view, and he finally decided to simply discard all thoughts of girls for the time being.

Oh well, he said to himself as he saw his mother at the door She didn't look happy, and as Ed ran towards her his final thought on the matter was simply, I suppose I'll get it when I'm older.


But we all know that that's never going to happen. Poor, naive Ed. How long do you think it will take him to realize that he'll never understand?

Now, I am a strange creature. We all know the type. The kind of creature who writes fanfics instead of english reports, and has never gone a math class without writing at least one new poem. That's right, I'm a writer, and this strange brand of human survives and flourishes off of reviews! So please, do it for the emu's!