Hello my readers! Welcome to the first chapter of Daughter of Compassion's rewrite! There are quite a few changes to the story and I hope you all enjoy it. The Gatekeeper Saga will be finished!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Fullmetal Alchemist series or the Naruto series, nor any of the characters that belong the their respective anime. This story is written merely out of personal enjoyment and a need to better my writing. I supplied the bar tender with a name but he is still a character from Fullmetal Alchemist, therefore I DO NOT own him.

Chapter 1

The night was calm and still, Hinata breathed in the midnight air from her place on the roof of the Hyuga Compound. This would be her last night in the Elemental Nations; she wanted to treasure it.

The twelve year old genin wrapped her arms around her legs, thankful for the warmth her jacket provided against the occasional chilly breeze. There was so much for her to think about; her mother's letter, the responsibilities that awaited her, and how much she would miss her friends here.

There was also the fact that her situation still felt unreal.

Hinata had already said good-bye to her team – in a way. They were under the impression she was traveling with her father and sister to a diplomatic meeting with another high influential family. They thought she would be gone for a few days at most.

They didn't know she might not be coming back.

Sighing, the young Hyuga made her way off the roof, climbing back into her room through her window. The Compound was eerily quiet and Hinata felt as if every sound she made was amplified tenfold.

After changing into nightwear Hinata lied in her bed, her thoughts coming full circle and heading toward her mother again.

Her mother, how Hinata missed her so.

Himiko Hyuga, Hinata's dearly loved mother, had passed away some years ago when Hinata had barely turned four. In that time, due to politics, her father had remarried and had a second child by his new wife. Another daughter they named Hanabi.

Hinata's stepmother Hitomi, was a kind woman and the motherless child had formed a shy attachment to her that persisted for years. Hitomi herself had died two years ago when Hinata was ten, leaving Hiashi Hyuga a widower once more.

In the aftermath of his second wife's death Hiashi had grown a little more cold, and a little more strict as a way to hide and deal with his feelings. Hinata couldn't help but notice after Hitomi's death that her father did not have much of a problem looking at Hanabi, unlike when Himiko died. Hiashi didn't look at Hinata for several weeks after the funeral.

Of course Hanabi greatly resembled their father, something Hinata had to consider. She herself was the image of her late mother with the exception of the eyes, and the girl couldn't guess how hard it must have been for her father to look at her and see who he had lost.

Hinata fingered the ruby gemstone hanging from the black cord that had been in the same envelope that held her mother's letter. The ruby was a chunk no bigger than a toddler's fisted hand.

The girl had always known she wasn't normal – well above having eyes that could see through a person's body to view their inner organs and such – and never felt like she belonged in the Leaf Village. She was always on a different page from everyone else – and when she looked at the world she realized that her sight was different from even her fellow Hyugas.

It wasn't literally her sight that was different however, it was more about how she saw the world; her perspective of it that is. That was the best way she could describe it, and yet the explanation still felt short at times. It was a constant battle inside of her with Hinata wrestling with her feeling of isolation and the thought that she was just being too sensitive. This inner war did not help her low self-esteem.

With these thoughts Hinata fell into an uneasy sleep.

XXX

She woke up at the crack of dawn, her feelings of uneasiness coming full force as she stepped off her bed and quietly dressed.

Hinata's new outfit had significant differences to what she usually wore when on duty. Instead of a somewhat heavy jacket that concealed her torso and made her look smaller than what she really was Hinata wore a cream colored shirt under a jean jacket. The shirt itself had sleeves that went to her elbows, there was also a strip of ribbon sewed into the shirt just under her breasts that encircled the whole thing. The shirt flowed down to her hips, covering the top of the light colored jean capris Hinata had on. Hinata's shoes were simple cream colored ninja sandals.

The only thing retained from her old outfit was her ninja headband, the metal engraved with her Hidden Village's symbol was attached to the right sleeve of her jacket.

Grabbing the dark backpack that held everything she would need the Hyuga took one last look around her bedroom before stepping out and closing the door behind her.

The journey was a short, but tense, one. Hiashi was as silent as ever and while Hanabi was just as quiet her emotions showed clearly on her face. The Hyuga guards that accompanied them gave no inkling as to what they thought of all this.

When the group reached the bent in the road Hinata turned to face her father and sister.

"Good bye Father, Hanabi. I-I'll miss both of you." Hinata said shyly.

Hiashi simply nodded, his face wasn't hard but it was also not emotional. Hanabi on the other hand, stepped forward and took her half-sister's hands.

"I'll miss you too," The seven year old said. There was conflict in her face; she didn't fully understand why her sister had to leave. She only knew that it had to do with something Hinata's mother had entrusted to her. Hiashi refused to tell Hanabi more, stating she would get the whole truth in a few years.

Hinata smiled and raised a hand to briefly touch Hanabi's face, brushing some hair out of the girl's face as she did so.

"Take care," Hinata said. She bowed once to her father who nodded again, and then went down the road that curved toward her right. She forced herself not to look back.

The road Hinata walked was not as traveled as the one her family was using so the path was not as define. Weeds choked the grass and flowers around her, and telltale signs of wildlife having crossed the path were everywhere.

Eventually Hinata found the indent in the tree described in her mother's letter and drifted from the faded pathway to venture into the woods. The giant trees' thick branches were covered in leafy greens that blocked most of the sunlight, only allowing the occasional ray of light to peak through.

Abruptly the forest thinned and Hinata stumbled into a naked clearing, devoid of any trees or flowers. Only ordinary green grass was abundant – however there were areas that they had seemingly been unable to grow on. Staying back, Hinata made out the bare lines and saw that they created a circle with strange designs inside it.

"This is it." Hinata spoke to herself, half hesitate and half disbelieving she walked to the center of the circle.

'If the books Mother left me are telling the truth, then to activate this transmutation circle I have to clap my hands and touch the ground.' Hinata thought.

Hinata took a deep breath, and then clapped her hands together.

As soon as her palms connected the ruby hanging from its cord started to glow. The young Hyuga swallowed hard but did not pull her palms apart. She took another breath and thought about her destination, willing herself to be taken there . . .

Then she leaned down and touched the ground with both hands opened, fingers splayed apart.

The ruby lit up to such a degree Hinata thought it might burst apart from all the light it was unleashing. She gasped when the transmutation circle glowed – and when she looked at her hands saw that they were fading away.

"W-what?" Hinata choked out. A foreign presence made itself known in her mind, and there was a deep chuckle.

The sound frightened Hinata but she did not feel threatened by it – there was no malice in the laugh.

"You've kept me waiting quite a while, little Gatekeeper."

Then Hinata was pulled out of the forest and out of the Elemental Nations. The girl screamed, and struggled to keep herself conscious but lost the battle. The last thing she saw before she blacked out was an endless expanse of white – and a pair of towering black doors opening for her.

XXX

The first thing Hinata registered when she started to regain consciousness was how soft the ground she was lying on was. When she recognized the feel of the softness as a mattress Hinata's eyes snapped open and she shot up, the blanket that had been put over her falling to the ground, instantly realizing she was in a nightgown that she had packed.

Her pupil less eyes scanned the room, seeing gold colored walls and daylight streaming into the room from an open window that was framed by rose red curtains.

There was a dresser of dark brown wood to her right and a full length mirror attached to the wall in front of her. Hinata's bed was pushed against the wall to her left, where the window also was, and so there was nothing more to that side. Upon further observation Hinata spied her backpack leaning against the wall next to the door, with her ninja sandals beside it.

Hinata raised her hand to her throat and felt the ruby hanging securely against her naked collarbone. With a sigh of relief she started to step out of the bed . . .

Then the door opened.

Hinata froze as the person blinked, and then realized that the young Hyuga was awake.

"Oh, thank goodness!" The girl said, a happy smile on her face. The girl's skin was darker than Hinata's and she was dressed in a simple sleeveless light dress. Dark brown hair reached her waist and pink bangs framed the girl's face. Her eyes were purple and examined Hinata from head to toe.

"You don't look any worse for wear; I was getting worried, you've been asleep for three days. Even Father Cornello couldn't wake you up!" The girl rambled.

Hinata's white eyes drew together, confusion evident on her face.

"Uh, I'm s-sorry?" She stammered, not knowing what else to say.

The girl blinked again before blushing.

"I'm sorry, here you are just woken up and I start rambling! Let's start again," At this she walked up to Hinata who was still sitting on the bed, "My name is Rose Thomas, you're in the desert village Lior. I found you collapsed outside town, can you tell me your name?"

Hinata processed what Rose had just told her and then responded, "My name is Hinata Hyuga," She leaned forward, bowing to Rose, "Thank you very much for helping me!"

"There's no need to thank me, I couldn't just leave you there!" Rose said, looking embarrassed, secretly she wondered at the younger girl's name – it sounded foreign. And those eyes . . .

Hinata straightened up again and smiled shyly at Rose who beamed back.

"You must be starving!" Rose suddenly said, "Wait right here, I'll be back with something for you to eat!"

With that she left the room and Hinata to her thoughts.

The Hyuga looked at her hands, and then to the window where she could hear birdsong and conversations taking place.

"Well," Hinata said to herself, trying to be positive, "I guess all that's left is to find that person."

xxx

The next day Hinata explored the town, having regained her sense of balance, which she had discovered was terribly off when she first tried to walk.

Rose had gone on some errand and Hinata, not wanting to trouble her, decided to simply get a look around and try to get an objective view on the "Father Cornello" Rose always kept talking about.

Hinata was too polite to voice it but she severely doubted that Cornello really held the power he claimed to. Things like bringing back the dead and performing miracles were complicated and often held a hidden price.

In her wandering the girl came upon a little bar that was more like a stall – the little structure housed the drinks and such while stools were situated in the outside right in front of the bar.

At the moment there were two people sitting there that caught Hinata's undivided attention.

There was a boy who was probably around her height, with gold colored hair tied into a braid that reached past his shoulders. He wore a dark red coat with a symbol in black on the back of the coat. As Hinata drew nearer she saw that the boy also had bangs that framed either side of his face and his eyes were also gold.

The second stranger was much taller than the boy and impossible to overlook or ignore.

Hinata could see nothing of his physical features because of the body armor he wore. It covered the stranger from head to toe.

The helmet had protruding conical horn from its forehead and a protruding chin. A long white ribbon hung from the top of the helmet to hang down the armor's back and a loincloth covered the groin area of the armor.

By the time Hinata reached them the two were preparing to leave, however as he was getting up the armored man's head bumped into the ledge above him and caused the radio broadcasting Cornello's preaching to fall and shatter when it hit the ground.

"Now look what you've done!" The bar tender groaned, "That's what happens when you wear armor like that!"

"I'm sorry!" The armored boy said – he couldn't be a man, his voice was so young. At most he couldn't have been much older than Hinata herself.

"Relax, we'll fix it." The blond boy said calmly.

The armored boy then started to draw a transmutation circle around the broken radio as the blond boy told the spectators to wait and watch.

The boy clapped his hands and the radio was once again whole, Cornello's voice emitted from it as if nothing had happened.

The bar tender gaped, comparing the transmutation to Cornello's "miracles" but the two boys corrected him, explaining that what he had just seen was alchemy and that it was a science.

"We're the Elric brothers," The blond explained as his brother brought the radio to the counter and placed it in front of its baffled owner, "Not to brag but we're pretty well known."

The people gathered said they had never heard of him or his brother, however one man said he fixed things for a living and offered the boys a job if they wanted it.

Hinata watched, detached him the small gathering and observed as a beautiful woman with dark hair spoke up. She had been sitting on the last stool to the right and wore a shawl like cloth over her head, shoulders and back.

The woman's smile made Hinata feel wary, as if she should put, and keep, her guard up.

"They don't need a job, that's the Fullmetal Alchemist Edward Elric, he's a real celebrity in D city. It's said that he's a child prodigy." The woman said, her smile unchanging as she talked.

The blond boy, Edward, simply smiled.

The people reacted immediately and surrounded the armor man, mistaking him for his brother. They were all talking and making observations out loud, one man asked the boy if he would come to his daughter's birthday party.

"I'm not the Fullmetal Alchemist," The boy said, "He is!"

The people turned their attention to Edward who looked less than pleased about the case of mistaken identification.

"That shorty?" One man asked.

It was if the spark of anger in Edward flared and turned into an inferno. He roughly grabbed two men by the back of their shirts and swing them around and around, hurling verbal abuse as he did so.

Hinata took a step back as he shouted.

"SHORTY HUH? CAN A SHORTY DO THIS?! WHAT ELSE DO YOU WANNA CALL ME?! I'M STILL GROWING YOU BACKWATER DESERT IDIOTS!"

"Someone has a temper." A voice behind Hinata commented. She turned and saw Rose, bearing a grocery bag in her arms.

The older girl smiled.

"Let's go take a look." She suggested and walked toward the chaos. After a moment Hinata followed.

"It looks like there's a lot of excitement here," Rose said, drawing everyone's attention.

"Rose," The bar tender said, his eyes lighting up.

Rose smiled warmly at everyone before speaking again.

"Don't mind me, I'd hate to spoil the fun," She said.

Hinata, hiding behind Rose, saw that Edward had stopped swinging the poor men around and that he and his brother were looking at Rose with surprise.

Well, at least Edward was surprised – Hinata couldn't quite tell with his brother.

"That's alright, I'm Alphonse Elric." The armored boy said, bowing politely.

Ed released the two men he had been swinging, and the unfortunate targets of his earlier rage dropped to the ground. Edward introduced himself as Alphonse's older brother, the Fullmetal Alchemist.

"Older, shouldn't it be the other way around?" Rose asked innocently.

Edward trembled with anger and Alphonse tried to placate his brother.

The bar tender chuckled before turning his attention to Rose – and noticed Hinata. He blinked as the young Hyuga shyly looked away from him.

"Rose, who is the young lady hiding behind you?" He asked.

Rose smiled and stepped away, leaving Hinata completely exposed. She blushed red, the color standing out against her fair skin, and bowed slightly.

"Hello, my name is Hinata Hyuga. I-It's a pleasure to meet you," Hinata managed to say to the curious listeners.

"She's the girl I found collapsed outside town a couple of days ago," Rose explained.

"Ah, is that so? Well it's nice to see you up and about," The bar tender said, "My name is Tom Lark, call me Tom, everyone does."

Hinata nodded. Everyone present politely tried to refrain from staring at her white eyes for too long.

Tom then turned his attention back to Rose, as they talked Hinata once again observed the Elric brothers.

Alphonse's helmet had two openings for the eyes shaped like half-moons, there were two glowing 'lights' that Hinata took for his eyes. Edward regarded her as she stood there, hands folded in front of her, his eye resting on the ruby like gemstone hanging around her neck.

Tom and Rose then finished talking, and it was decided that the brothers would follow her and Hinata to Cornello's "temple" since the prophet might know something about what the brothers were looking for. There was also the fact that the temple had rooms for travelers.

Alphonse seemed hesitate at first but Edward quickly said that he and his brother would be happy to take the town up on its offer.

With that the group headed toward Cornello's temple.

Hope you all liked the first chapter!

Sign

Snowlily246