I do not own Fullmetal alchemist. In fact, I don't even own any anime DVD or Manga – I borrowed those from my friends. All I has is a scrapbook of all the Fullmetal Alchemist pictures I've found that I pathetically stare at every day…

And we all know that Ed's language isn't the best, hence the rating. Kairi Angel would have killed me if I ended up bringing this down a rating because no one (including Ed) swears. So Kairi, this is for you.

PpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPp

The New Neighbors, Part One

Chapter One – Modern Alchemy

Robyn glanced at her watch and swore softly enough so that her dad wouldn't hear. Her dad wasn't old-fashioned enough to get home at a reasonable hour at night, but he was old-fashioned enough to wash her mouth out with soap. Well, if he had enough time before work. Robyn quickly threw her copy of Fullmetal Alchemist to the side, and then quickly gave her hair a quick comb over.

Her hair was black, and shorter than the hair of some boys at school. It was short enough that she couldn't really pull it into a ponytail, but long enough that people didn't think she was a boy from behind. Robyn liked her hair short, even if she couldn't get it into an out-of-the-way ponytail. Besides, it looked cool to have hair falling in front of her face. Robyn gazed longingly at the cover of her Fullmetal Alchemist. As far as she knew, Ed never did much more than look at his hair, and his always managed to be perfect. Robyn had once tried to get a flip in hair like Ed's but it had never really worked. As the TV commercials would say, her hair was 'too bored to bounce.'

Robyn would have liked to know what the TV commercials would say about her. She as a classic tomboy – and she liked it that way. Most of the time, Robyn herself looked like she was 'too bored to bounce,' or to put it more accurately, 'too annoyed to bounce,' or even, 'Bounce? How about I bounce my fist into your eye?' Robyn chuckled softly to herself. Maybe she would use that one someday. The kids at Robyn's school hated any Goths or any person associated with them. Luckily, Robyn fell neatly into the category of 'I have several friends who are Goths, and I wish I was cool enough to be a Goth!'

Robyn looked in the mirror quickly before she slung her backpack over her shoulder. She was wearing a baggy gray hoodie that hung past the zipper of her slim jeans. Her hair hung loosely around her face, and on her feet were skater shoes that she hadn't even bothered tying. Tying shoes was a pain, anyway. Robyn wasn't going to spend five minutes every morning to make sure her shoes were tied just right so that she could kick them off when she got home. Robyn looked closely at her face and realized that she hadn't put on any eyeliner. She quickly reached for the small black pencil and put a thin line around her purple eyes.

Robyn gazed fondly at her eyes before she grabbed her backpack and slung it over her shoulder. She had only seen those eyes on the faces of two people, and one of those faces was her mother's, who she would never see again.

Never see again.

It was amazing how much those words could sting even years after they had put Elizabeth to rest. To rest for eternity in a cold, hard box in the ground.

A tear fell from Robyn eye and she rubbed at it angrily, smudging her eyeliner as she did so.

"Shit," Robyn mumbled and quickly reapplied a thin line of black underneath her eye. It amazed her how some girls would spend hours on makeup, only to have that sort of thing happen so that they needed to do it all again. Robyn had enough problems with eyeliner, which she swore was the only makeup she would ever wear. Robyn took one last look at herself and walked out into the living room. Her dad was asleep on the living room couch, the TV still blaring in front of him. Robyn looked at him sadly, turned off the TV, and walked out the door.

Once she was outside, Robyn breathed a sigh of relief and leaned against the door. It was a nice late August day, the sun shining brightly in the sky. It wasn't cold enough that Robyn was cold with her sweatshirt, but she was glad for the warmth it provided all the same. Robyn glanced at the vivid blue sky and the green grass spreading in all directions. The last thing she wanted to do right now was walk all the way to school. Robyn sighed, and took one last glance around before she left. There was a moving van in front of the house to her left. It was about time too, that house had been empty for who knows how long now. Hopefully these people would be better neighbors than the Gurps. Robyn shuddered at the thought of the Gurps, and quickly crossed the street.

Robyn walked confidently across the street to the pavement paradise in front of school, and looked back at her house. It really was a pain to walk to school every single day, especially in the winter. It was only the third day of school, and Robyn already hated it. She slowly trudged into the school, dragging her feet every step of the way. Her day improved slightly when she noticed an anime club poster hanging by her locker. It said that Anime club would be starting next Monday. Robyn grinned and made a mental note to herself to go next Monday. She quickly grabbed her Chemistry book and her sketchbook and slowly walked down the halls. She still hadn't memorized her schedule yet, so she had to check the numbers next to the doors as she walked by. Whose idea was it to have Chemistry first hour anyway? Robyn hated starting the day with a class that actually required thinking. Her brain wasn't working until at least second hour.

There was one good thing about Chemistry though. The desks seated two people each, and Robyn didn't have a partner. So every morning she was able to go in and stretch out her books over two spaces. If desks were houses, Robyn's would have been a penthouse. Luxury space, and not a single scratch or smudge of graffiti on it yet. Maybe Robyn would change that by adding a few doodles today.

Robyn swaggered into the room, reasonably happy for once. She was about to satisfyingly slam her books down on the empty space of her table when she noticed that a pair of hands was in her way. She was about to yell at the owner of the hands when she noticed that the person was wearing gloves.

White gloves.

Who wore gloves to school on any day other than Halloween? Robyn quickly hid the grin creeping across her face and dared herself to look up.

She nearly fainted in delight. The boy looked exactly like Edward Elric, only in a much less anime way. His bangs were a lot shaggier than they had looked when he was a simple, 2-D drawing, but it was definitely Ed's hairstyle. And of course if the boy had Ed's hairstyle, his hair was perfect. Not a strand out of place, all tied back neatly in a braid. And the whipped cream on Robyn's cherry pie was the fact that the boy was wearing Ed's trademark outfit. Red coat, black jacket, black pants, the whole outfit was there, exactly right down to an atomic level.

The boy seemed to feel that he was being stared at, and looked up at Robyn. Their eyes met and locked for a second or two. Robyn just stared at the boy. She knew her mouth was hanging open, but she didn't care. The boy had golden eyes.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer," the boy said in an annoyed tone.

Robyn was too stunned to catch the sarcasm in the comment and muttered, "I left my camera at home." She couldn't imagine what girls would do to get a picture of 'The Real Ed.' Robyn slowly walked around the desk and sat in her seat, staring blankly at the board. "My name's Robyn," she said in a monotone.

"Edward," came from her right. That brought Robyn out of her zombie state and she quickly turned her head to the side.

"Really? Your name's Edward?" Robyn asked quickly, her voice getting a little too close to a fan girl squeal. "Mind if I call you Ed?" Robyn asked excitedly. Ed just sat there with a stunned expression on his face.

"Yeah, I guess. Everybody else does," Ed said as he stared at the girl. Lost in the moment, Robyn happily giggled and grabbed Ed in a two second hug. After a second, Robyn snapped out of her mood, and seemed to realize for the first time what she said and did. She blushed a deep shade of crimson and quickly pulled out her sketchbook and furiously started sketching, her hair falling in front of her face. Ed stared at her for another second, then shrugged and turned to his own paper.

After a minute of not really drawing anything, Robyn looked back up at Ed. He was bent over his own paper, hair falling in his face and preventing Robyn from getting a good view of his eyes. Robyn tried to get a good view of what he was drawing, but it was hard to do with Ed in the way. She finally caught a glance of the paper and saw that it was covered in small circles with symbols inside them. He was drawing transmutation circles, and had already covered the paper in them.

Robyn grinned and looked at the complex shadows falling across Ed's face. He looked exactly like Ed, but also completely different. Robyn's fingers itched to start sketching. She glanced down at the blank paper in front of her, and then picked up her pencil and started sketching.

Robyn quickly got so absorbed in her work that she didn't notice the small trickle of students coming in through the door. A few kids said things about Ed and his outfit, and a few girls tried talking with him, but Ed was an expert at pushing people until they snapped, so no one other than Robyn really stuck around. Soon the bell had rung, and Robyn was still sketching. Ed looked around cautiously, then slowly reached out two fingers and poked Robyn in the shoulder. Robyn looked up in surprise, her short hair whipping behind her. She heard their teacher saying something about lab safety

Robyn was so absorbed in her work that she didn't even notice students coming in until the bell rang. Her pencil suddenly stopped and she looked up in surprise. She looked around and saw that the classroom was full of students. Then she looked to the right and saw Ed looking right at her. She felt a blush creep its way up her cheeks. She didn't know he had been watching her. But he didn't know she had been sketching him either, Robyn thought with a twinge of embarrassment. Cheeks still blushing madly, Robyn faced forward and started listening to their teacher, Mr. Duncan, start talking about lab safety. Robyn took out a sheet of paper and quickly wrote her name on it. She looked down at the small line in disgust. Her handwriting was always so neat and perfect. Even when she tried to write sloppier, it ended up looking neat anyway. Robyn sat through most of Chemistry in a zombie-like state. Every now and then she would quickly jot something down on her paper, but other than that, she didn't do anything.

Twenty minutes before the end of class, their Chemistry teacher told them to take out their books and turn to page eight. Robyn sighed and sank a little lower into her seat and closed her eyes for a second. She really didn't want to read right now. She was suddenly interrupted out of her thoughts by a call of "Hey, Birdie!" from her right. Robyn turned to face Ed.

"My name is Rob-yn," she said with extra emphasis. "Not 'Birdie.'"

"Whatever," Ed said with a roll of his eyes. "Can I see your book?"

Robyn narrowed her eyes. "Forget it, Blondie. I'm not loaning you my book just because you forgot yours."

"My name is Ed-ward, not 'Blondie.' And they haven't issued me one yet," he said almost smugly. Robyn's shoulders sagged, and she looked at Ed nervously. She then turned to her book and pulled it off her sketchbook, forgetting that her sketchbook was still open to the drawing of Ed she had done earlier. Ed looked at the drawing and his eyes widened, but he ignored it and didn't say anything. Meanwhile, Robyn was carefully flipping to page eight in her textbook. She finally found the page and laid it open on the desk space between her and Ed. Robyn looked back up at the front of the class, ready for a boring, stuttering read-aloud.

Suddenly, something clicked in Robyn's mind and she looked back down at the page in surprise. The title read 'Modern Alchemy.' Robyn grinned to herself and looked over at Ed. He didn't seem unnerved by the title, but then again, Ed was never unnerved by anything. He was just staring solidly at the word 'Alchemy.'

"Can anyone give me a definition of alchemy?" Mr. Duncan asked, facing the front of the class with his arms behind his back. Robyn grinned silently to herself again, and let her hand shoot up into the air.

"A process of transmuting a substance of little value into something of great value," Robyn answered curtly. She could feel Ed's eyes boring through the side of her head. "Depending on what is most valuable with the current circumstances," Robyn added in a soft whisper that only Ed could hear.

"Correct," My Duncan said with a slight nod of his head. He then continued, "Now, Alchemy has been used in many stories by authors. Can anyone give me an example of where they've heard of Alchemy before?" This time no one raised their hand immediately. Robyn heard a few snickers and looked around to se that a few kids were staring at her. She wondered why they were staring at her. Were they expecting her to answer the question again? She looked closer at the students and realized that they weren't staring at her, they were staring at Ed. Ed had noticed this too, and was slowly sinking deeper into his seat. Robyn looked at him sympathetically, and then raised her hand again. Mr. Duncan pointed at her, and Robyn stumbled around for something, anything other than Fullmetal Alchemist that had Alchemy in it. The task was a lot harder with Ed's exact duplicate sitting next to her.

"Uh," She stuttered, trying to buy herself more time. "Wasn't it in Harry Potter?" gaining a footing she continued, "Didn't Dumbledore and Flamel use it to create the Philosopher's Stone?"

"Of course," Mr. Duncan sighed. "How many of you have seen or read any of the Harry Potter series?" All the children's hands shot up immediately, except for Ed, who was still sunk deep in his seat and staring at the desk intently.

Mr. Duncan crossed his arms across his chest and began again, "Now, uh," he checked his seating chart momentarily, "Robyn mentioned something about the Philosopher's Stone, also known as the Sorcerer's Stone, and many other names in other books. Can anybody tell me what the uses of the Philosopher's Stone were in Harry Potter?" A dozen hands slowly raised into the air.

Mr. Duncan pointed at one girl, who curtly responded, "It can turn any metal into gold and produces an elixir which makes the drinker immortal."

Mr Duncan nodded. "Well put," he said, "And those two things, unlimited wealth and money, were exactly what every alchemist wanted to achieve." He was interrupted by a loud bell signaling the end of class. "Read pages eight and nine for homework," he called after the departing students.

PpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPp

Note: This is a rewrite of chapter one. I haven't rewritten chapter two yet, and it's very different. It will be rewritten soon, though!

Yea!!! Yeah, here's a list of all the FMA stuff I've read or watched: FMA manga #1-11, the art of Fullmetal Alchemist, episodes 1-4 of the anime, Fullmetal Alchemist profile book, (Not the anime one), the Fullmetal Alchemist calendar (One full size color picture every month! Woot!) and the movie. Anyway, I'm sorry if later I have some things that don't quite make sense 'cuz I haven't learned all there is to learn about FMA. I do however know that Ed is a cute little shortie! XD

Readers: Please review, it makes me happy! O.O - 5 pages - good beginning. Woot!