PART I

Six months. Where did the time go?

Slowly I read the document in front of me trying to put the words together so I could have some semblance of an idea of what I was reading. Why did there have to be so many big words?

"Do you understand?" That was Lieutenant Colonel Mustang. He was probably a bit peeved at me. I'd been standing there for the last five minutes staring at the same sheet.

I nodded and handed the document back. I didn't really understand but I'd probably find out sooner or later. I just hoped this wasn't one of those things that came back to bite me in the butt.

"Good. They should be here on the next train if Fullmetal didn't decide to take a detour." He tossed the paper into the 'out' box on his desk.

Ah, so Fullmetal was a person. I'd thought it was just a typo. "When will the train come?"

He shrugged. I sighed. In all honesty I think Mustang's a pretty good guy. I mean, I have to; he's helped me out a lot since I got here (him and Major Hughes). It's just that sometimes I have absolutely no idea of what to make of him… actually that's probably for the best.

"So, do you want me at train?"

He got his evil look. "No, I'd rather give them a surprise."

A knock sounded at the door to the shared office and Riza Hawkeye stepped in. I didn't have to look back to tell. Mustang was trying to look busy, it was a dead give-away.

"Sir, we have confirmation the Elrics will arrive on the next train."

"Well," Mustang raised a brow ever-so-slightly, "What do you know? Miracles do happen."

---

"What the hell do you mean you're assigning us a partner?!" Edward Elric: child prodigy, loud, short tempered, and vertically challenged. Guess that brain of his weighed him down.

"Brother, please, calm down." Alphonse Elric: the only thing keeping Edward from wringing Mustang's neck.

"You heard me. It's exactly what it sounds like." Mustang's gaze landed on me. "You've been searching for over two years now with no progress. You need a partner."

"No we don't damnit and how the hell could you go and tell someone about what we're searching for?! I thought we had a deal!"

He reminded me of another short, loud, blonde headed kid I once knew.

"That wasn't part of the deal. I never said why you were out for the stone only that you were."

They needed to speak slower.

"That's-"

"Brother," Alphonse cut him off, "He is right."

"Hey, whose side are on you on?" Edward turned on his brother.

"I'm just saying that Lieutenant Colonel Mustang is right. He didn't-"

"You're not actually agreeing with him that we need a partner are you?"

Mustang stood up at his desk, obviously his patience was running short. "You don't have a choice whether you like the decision or not. I am your commanding officer!"

"I don't give a damn! We don't need a partner!"

I rolled my eyes. "Thank you for the welcoming." I hoped that my sarcasm came through on that. Communicating sarcasm in another language was hard. All eyes turned to me since it was the first time I'd spoken. "My name is Abura Aya."

"I don't care what it is."

"Brother! You're being rude."

"Yeah, and why should I care!?"

"Brother!"

"What?!"

This was a nice little show of course for the rest of the officers sharing the room.

"Edward Elric, if I hear one more complaint about this I'm stripping you of your title as State Alchemist. Understand?"

"You can't-"

"Understand?" Mustang asked again.

The debate was over. With a nod the alchemist left the room his brother in tow. It didn't take a genius to figure out he was pissed; the sound of his teeth grating was enough of a clue.

---

Finding the Elrics was pretty easy considering that the only chance they thought they had of finding the Philosopher's Stone was at the Central Library. I wasn't a State Alchemist but that didn't matter. There was more than one way to enter a building.

Lowering myself to the floor quietly I shut the window I often used to enter through. It led me into an obscure section on alchemy. Rarely anyone came in here. Probably because all the books were so full of bull even I could tell.

Making my way past the shelves and aisles upon aisles of books on alchemy and kami-knows-what I found my new and not-so-permanent team surrounded by countless books pulled off the shelves. Edward reading a rather thick volume and Alphonse debating between two different ones- I decided to give him a hand.

"That one is no good." I pointed to the one written by J.D. Arham.

He looked up at me. "Ah, oh thank you. Have you read it already?"

I nodded. "I have been visiting here for a while. That is how I found out about the Fillopifer's Stone."

"Do you mean Philosopher's Stone?"

"Fill-aww-so-pher-zzzz?" I probably looked retarded trying to pronounce it.

Alphonse chuckled a bit. "More or less."

I grinned and took a seat on the floor as well. "Awesome." Then I looked to Edward who was giving me a strange look.

"Brother, she looks familiar." Al spoke.

"Yeah, I was just thinking that."

I quirked a brow at him. "I thought you hated me."

"I don't hate you I just don't want to have anything to do with you."

"Brother-"

"Don't worry about it. It is one of the nice thing I have heard." I picked up a random book from the floor and opened it. "I do not remember you but if you met me it was in the past six months."

"Why's that?"

I had the book upside down. "Because I came then."

"You're that girl," Edward looked over at Alphonse, "Remember her Al? She came out of nowhere and almost knocked your head off."

"Ah, yeah you're right." He looked down at me.

That caught my interest. "What happened?"

Edward gave me another strange look again, like he wondered why I could possibly be asking such a question. "We took you to the infirmary here."

I couldn't help but feel peeved. Was my Amestrian that bad that they couldn't understand what I was asking? "No, how, err… what- oh, never mind."

I ignored the looks they gave each other.

"What did you say your name was again?" Edward asked.

"Abura Aya."

"That's a different name."

"Aya means colourful and Abura means oil."

"Colourful oil?"

I sighed. "Well when you say it like that it sounds funny."

"Have you found anything on the Philosophers Stone while you've been here?"

I looked up at Alphonse. If he made me feel short when we were sitting how did Edward feel when they were standing?

I shook my head. "Nothing helpful- have you found anything?"

"We've read most of the books in here for over two years but we haven't found anything that doesn't lead to a dead end."

Over two years? They'd been searching for that long, even when Mustang had said it I hadn't wanted to believe it. If it's been over two years for them how long would it take for me? How long would it take to get what I wanted? Besides that there was no guarantee that this thing would even work.

"Abura?"

I shook my head. No, what kind of shinobi would I be if I gave up? I had a promise to keep and I was going to keep it if it killed me. "Yosh! Let's do this! I will never give up!"

I ignored the strange looks.

---

"Uhn." Okay, so maybe this wasn't as easy as it seemed but at least I wasn't alone in it. Two weeks and reading had become my newest hobby. I don't understand how those two can just sit there and read one book after another. More than half of this stuff was useless. What we needed was name or a place or even instructions on how to make one ourselves. I mean, it can't be that hard can it?

I tossed aside the book I'd been reading. It didn't matter if I wasn't done it because there was absolutely no way I was going to sit here any longer.

"Alright, we aren't having any luck," My Amestrian had improved a bit though thanks to the reading and conversing, "I say we uhh ask around?"

"Who do you plan on asking if we don't even know where to begin?" Ed didn't even miss a beat.

"Brothers right. We don't have a start."

I stood up and worked the feeling back into my legs. "Sitting here won't give us a start. We need to go out and look."

"Yeah, why don't you go and look and we'll stay here?"

"No," Both of them looked up at me then, "We are a team and teams work together. Sitting and reading books all day will not get us any closer. Books are deaf but people aren't and they hear things-"

"Following gossip only leads to dead ends."

"Gossip is all we have. Books won't help us, their dead."

"Books are the greatest tools we alchemists have!"

I glared at Ed, "I'm not an alchemist!"

"If you're not an alchemist then why the hell are you looking for the stone if you can't even use it?!"

"I'll learn alchemy!"

"Alchemy isn't that is easy. You can't just say you'll do it. You have to understand it and have the skill for it-"

"Abura," Al cut his brother off, "Have you ever tried to transmute something?"

That was a difficult question. Sure, I'd "transmuted" things but not with alchemy. Hell, I hadn't even known alchemy existed until I came here. I shrugged, "More or less."

"Yeah, like what?" Not only was Ed a curious guy he was also one of those who tended not to believe things unless he saw it.

"Like," Great, yeah, I'd obviously tried alchemy but it wasn't that easy to do. I'm used to drawing energy from myself not from nowhere; so trying to not use my chakra while trying to do something that I would probably normally use my chakra for was difficult. It was like trying to kill a bad habit except I couldn't exactly quit the habit going cold turkey. I needed chakra. "Alright, fine. I haven't exactly transmuted anything with alchemy but I did try."

"What happened when you tried?"

I looked down at Al. "I passed out."

Surprising me; Ed was taking this seriously. "What happened?"

Like I was going to tell them it was because I'd cut off my chakra for too long. I shrugged. "I woke up."

"That's not what I mean. How could you have passed out?"

"Too much reading."

He gave me his pissed off look.

Al just chuckled. "You really don't enjoy reading do you?"

"My brain hurts trying to read and translate and understand. I have headache before I even wake up knowing what I do every day."

"Translate?"

"Yosh! Enough sitting around already. We leave and find this Fill-aw-so-fers stone…ne?"

The brothers looked at each other and through the means of silent communication came to a decision.

---

I stuck my head out the window and took it all in. I'd finally convinced the two brothers to get out of Central. Sure, that was three days ago but as long as I was out I was happy. Though, I didn't really trust this thing I was on. The closest thing I'd ever ridden was a horse and that was only for about a minute and at least that was alive. This thing was made of metal and ran on coal for Kami-sama's sake. That didn't make any sense. They called it a train. It wasn't the first one I'd seen since I'd shown up here but it was my first time riding in one.

Still, it was a nice change of scenery from central. The colours out here seemed more vivid, welcoming compared to the city and out here I might be able to get more training in. I hadn't stopped training when I was in Central, sometimes I'd skip sleeping but it was difficult to train using jutsus and not attract unwanted attention… It was sort of strange that they called this weird contraption a train too…

"Get back in here before you get your face ripped off and I get blamed for it!"

Obviously Ed cared for me deeply.

"Where are we going?"

"To Emmeltown, just past West city."

I raised a brow. "What's there?"

"How should I know? You're the one who wanted to get out and leave."

"I didn't mean just to leave anywhere."

"There's an alchemist there by the name of Wilheil Eiselstein. We've wanted to visit him for a while now but he's been hard to get a hold of."

I looked at Al. "For your own reason or to ask about the stone?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

I looked over at Ed now. "I read about him too. He sounds interesting."

"Yeah, what'd you read?" He never really did believe me, ever.

"He was an original alchemist. He did work on humans to heal with alchemy… he failed at it too and went into hiding and took his research with him. You want to see if his work can help fix you."

"You make it sound like we're broken, Abura."

"Well, why else would you want to visit a failed healing alchemist if you weren't…broken?"

Great, and now Al was laughing at me. "You're really funny Abura."

Well, I guess that would be considered a compliment. I grinned. "I have a question. If this man can heal that is like…like connecting things right?"

"Connecting things?"

"Yes, like when I cut myself it heals naturally but if alchemy or something else is used then it's not natural and the skin connects or the- or the- " I ran a hand through my hair trying to figure out the word, "Like a…like a heart? or a lung or the muscles? They connect right?"

Ed raised a brow. "You're going to have to explain this better."

I sighed. "Kusso, kami tasukete."

"I think she means the tissues connect."

"Hai! That's it! The tissues! So its human alchemy right because its transmuting… well humans, right?"

"You couldn't have just said that from the beginning?"

"Baka. Damare." I was getting closed to my point. "Does that not mean, because it is alchemy, and the equivalent exchange thing that people had to be sacrificed?" That caught their attention. "The tissue had to come from somewhere right but," Now this is where talking to Sakura-chan came in handy, "Bodies…reject other foreign…pieces so this man had to get the right pieces to make everything fit, ne?"

"It's different with medical alchemy. I heard that Drachma uses alchemy but only under the strict laws of healing purposes." Al informed me.

"If people are willing it's different but why would someone go into hiding if people were willing to be used as tests?" I was always getting strange looks from the two of them. "Human alchemy is forbidden, ne? But it is in a book in Central where people from government go and read."

"What are you saying, that book was planted for us to read?"

I leaned back on the hard seat and crossed my legs, resting my head against my arms behind me. "I'm not sure. It just feels funny. "

"Aya, I have a question for you."

"Hmm?" I wiped off some dirt from my blue sandals. I had decided to keep the outfit I'd come here in. Loose dark green Capri's and a white tank top with two white sleeves added and held on with thin dark green ribbon. That and of course my kunai, shinobi kit, and most important: my forehead protector; currently tied around my head much like Sakura's, only off to the side a bit. I'd kept my short white unruly hair tied back and what couldn't be tied fell around my face in another mess. This is of course attributed to my dad who has the exact same hair as me. The forehead protector helped keep it in place besides doing the obvious: stating I was a shinobi of Konohagakure.

"Why are you looking for the Philosopher's Stone?"

"Why are you?"

"I asked you first."

I sighed and gave Ed my fine-be-that-way-but-you-better-tell-me-your-reason-too look. Then I changed my gaze over to Al who I had chosen to sit beside even with the lack of space. This way I got to look out the window too.

"Well, what is it?"

"You're such a patient soul Edo-kun. I don't know how you manage to sit on a train for so long." I grinned triumphantly on the inside. That had sounded perfect and I knew my sarcasm came out too.

"Don't change the subject and don't call me Edo-kun, that's not my name."

I chose to ignore the last part. "I'm not changing subject. I'm looking for the stone because…"

"Naruto, what are you doing?" I sat on the desk at the front of the room and watched as Naruto decided to stick a board eraser in-between the door. Team Seven, the last ones left in the classroom. Apparently our sensei didn't own a watch.

"That's what he gets for coming late, Aya-chan!" I couldn't help but stare at the trap. Too bad the door didn't swing inward. If it did we could stick a bucket of water there instead. Where we'd get the bucket and water from was another question.

"Our teacher is a Jounin, an elite ninja; you think he'll fall for that?"

"I'd sure laugh if he did." I grinned at Sasuke-kun and received a 'hmph' in reply.

And that's when we saw the first sign of our sensei- with an eraser mark on his head.

Naturally, Naruto had to laugh. I did too, on the inside. Sasuke-kun never really had much facial expression but judging from the comment from before it was probably utter disbelief.

"Hmm, how can I put this," Our sensei closed his eyes and a thoughtful expression passed over his face, "My first impression of this group- you're a bunch of idiots."

Greeeaat, this was the beginning to a beautiful team relationship.

…………

"Alright, why don't you introduce yourselves, one at a time?"

I laid back on the stone steps we were sitting on as our sensei took his at the metal guard rail. We were on the roof of one of the buildings surrounding our academy and our apparent sensei seemed to want double check if we really were all idiots.

"…I am Hatake Kakashi. Things I like and things I hate: I don't feel like telling you that. My dreams for the future: Never really thought about it. As for my hobbies, I have lots of hobbies."

I snorted. Yep, snorted. Was this guy for real? "That was totally useless."

I got an agreement from Naruto and probably more or less of one from Sasuke.

"Okay, your turn. You on the right, you're first."

"Believe it. I'm Uzumaki Naruto. I like instant ramen in a cup and I really like the ramen Iruka-sensei got me at the Ichiraku noodle shop but I hate the three minutes you have to wait after you pour the water in the ramen cup. My hobbies is eating different kinds of ramen and comparing them and my future dream is," Here it comes, "To be the greatest Hokage! Then the whole village will stop disrespecting me and start treating me like I'm somebody important."

Mentally, I was cheering him on whole-heartedly.

"Alright, next."

Nobody said anything.

"Next."

I glanced at Sasuke-kun. "You or me?" He didn't reply. "Why, thank you Sasuke-kun, I never knew you could be so kind. I will go first then if you insist." That rewarded me with a snicker from Naruto and an infamous Uchiha death glare. "My name's Abura Aya. I like sleeping in that one spot of sunlight that comes in through an open window, especially when there's a soft breeze. I hate trying to find my dad because he has a tendency to disappear for long periods of time and whenever I try to look for him I get a headache," Not to mention he's usually doing something perverted, "My hobbies include doing whatever I feel like doing at any given moment and I have no future dream yet."

Kakashi-sensei nodded. Probably just glad I wasn't drooling over Sasuke-kun.

"Last one."

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I hate a lot of things and I don't particularly like anything. What I have is not a dream because I will make it a reality. I'm going to restore my clan and destroy a certain… someone."

It didn't take a genius to figure out this guy had a lot of pent up rage. Maybe that's why all the girls drooled over him…I mean he is good looking…and angry.

"Good," Kakashi-sensei continued, "You're each unique and you have your own ideas, more or less. We'll have our first mission tomorrow."

"Uuop. What kind of mission are we going to have?"

I gave Naruto a strange look. What kind of noise was uuop?

"It's a task that the four of us will do together."

"What? What? What? What?"

"Yeah, what he said." I pointed to Naruto.

Ooh, the suspense. "A survival exercise."

"Huh, survival exercise?"

"What are we surviving and didn't we do this before?" I asked.

"…This is not like your previous training."

"So uhh, so uhh, what kind of training is it then?"

UH-OH. Our sensei was laughing. That cannot be a good sign.

"Of the twenty-seven graduates who just came here only nine will actually be accepted as Genin. The other eighteen will be weeded out and sent back to the academy. In other words this is a make it or break it, pass/fail test and the chance that you'll fail is at least sixty-six percent."

I knew it wasn't a good sign.

"See, didn't I tell you you wouldn't like it?"

"That's crazy we worked hard to get here! Believe it! What was that graduation test for anyways?"

"Oh that, that was just to select the candidates who might become Genin or not."

"Whaat?"

"That's how it is. I decide whether you pass or fail. Be at the designate training spot at 5 am and bring your ninja gear."

Naruto was getting pissed.

"Hey, Naruto, Sasuke-kun." I gave them a small peace sign. "Don't worry about it. That still means there's a thirty four percent chance of us passing which is only sixteen percent away from fifty. We're smart and determined, we'll make it."

I missed the look our sensei shot me before he began to walk away. "That's it. You're dismissed."

Looking back on our beginning I couldn't help but feel as if my very life had been ripped away from me. It wasn't fair. Why did our team have to suffer so much? Why did Sasuke have to get the Curse Mark from that bastard Orochimaru? If he hadn't then he wouldn't have left, even if he was an avenger, he would have found another way to gain power or maybe he would have asked for our help. And how was Naruto doing now? I hated to think about it. He probably thought I was dead. His whole team gone. All of us separated. But, even so, I couldn't help but laugh at the fate of the ninja who did this to me. I know he paid with his very life.

"Abura? Abura, are you alright?"

I felt Al place his hand on my shoulder and I took that as my cue to return to the real world. Nodding, I plastered a smile on my face. "Yeah, sorry, I was just thinking."

"About what?"

I really was going to have to begin opening up more if I wanted to fit in with these two. Keeping everything to myself wasn't going to get them to trust me. Still, I wouldn't become an open book and spill my guts and tell the details. There was a line between trust and complete idiocy. "I was thinking about home, about the people there. My friends, comrades, and family." I looked over at Ed. He had a look on his face I was more than familiar with. "I never had one," That's when he looked up at me with surprise, "For a long time I never had a place to call home. I was always moving. Everywhere. I never stayed in one place for long. I understood why but," Bringing my feet up onto the seat I hugged them with my arms and concentrated on the empty space between Ed and the window, "It hurt and I hate it. Finally, I found a place where I could stay. I miss it. It wasn't long enough. Only four years." I stayed quiet for a while. I couldn't believe that in such a short time I could miss Konoha so much.

There was silence for quite a while as I stared out the window, watching the sun beginning to set on the horizon, changing the colours in the sky and also the landscape. Shadows began to lengthen, trees caught in the direct rays looked as if they were on fire, and lights turned on in the rural houses

"Then why are you here?"

I shrugged at Ed's question. The train began to slow down but neither of them made a move to get up. If it was ours I had all my stuff already packed in my black backpack and sitting above me on the metal rack beside the Elrics suitcase. "Is this our stop?"

"Yeah, we have a transfer but it doesn't come until early tomorrow morning." Thankfully, Ed dropped the subject.

Gathering our stuff together we hopped off the train with a few other passengers. Otherwise the place was practically deserted. I was just happy to be on solid ground.

"Doesn't look like there's any place we can stay at."

"Aw, sorry princess," I couldn't help but tease Ed, "You'll just have to rough it."

"Don't call me princess."

I gave a small chuckle before my stomach growled. "Eh, I need to eat."

"Aw, sorry princess. We haven't got any food."

Ed's stomach growled too.

"Heh, baka."

"What'd you call me!?"

"You don't even know what I say yet you yell. You're funny shorty."

"DON'T CALL ME SHORT!"

"Brother, please. People are looking at us."

I took advantage of that attention and stepped on the bench nearest to us. Raising my hand in the air I yelled out. "Excuse me passengers! We are in need of food of any kind! We pay! Our train does not come until morning and the idiots I am with ate it on the way here! Please help!" It was quiet for a moment before someone from the train stuck their head out the window.

"Over here! I got a couple sandwiches I can spare if you'd like."

Grinning in triumph I ran over and pulled out my wallet. "Thank you, sir. We appreciate it very much."

"Ah, it's no problem. Just be sure not to let your friends over there to eat 'em all." I nodded and tried to hand him some money. He refused it and thanking him I bowed before someone tapped me on the shoulder.

An elderly woman with half-moon spectacles was standing behind me. "With those sandwiches you'll need something to drink. My nephew came earlier than expected so we won't be needing these anymore." She pulled a few juice boxes out of her purse. "I hate to ask this but we will be needing some money-"

"It's alright. I don't need to know. How much?"

"Oh, well thank you. Just a few crowns."

I pulled out a five hundred. I wasn't rich. "Is this enough?"

She looked at me surprised. "Well, yes, thank you but are you sure this much is alright?"

I nodded. "As long as we can keep the juice."

She nodded. "Of course. Here you go."

I took the drinks and offered a small bow, "Thank you."

She nodded and walked away. The platform was now devoid of any life except myself and my two companions. The train slowly pulled away again and I waved goodbye to the man who had given me the sandwiches.

Turning back and making my way over to the bench I held out our late night dinner. "It's all I got. It is enough, right?"

"Uh, yeah." Ed took one sandwich and a juice box. "You didn't have to do that you know."

I raised a brow. "Yeah, but why wouldn't I?" I held the other sandwich at my side as Ed took his first bite. "Any good?" He finished it in three more bites. "I will take that as a yes." He then drained the juice box.

"You can eat Abura, I'm not hungry."

I gave Al a strange look. "'Course your not. I never seen you eat…why?"

"Ah, well," He pulled off his helmet.

I came closer and peered inside. He was empty. Stepping back I unwrapped the sandwich and took a bite as he put his head back on. I'm not sure what sort of reaction I was supposed to have. I'd seen stranger. Actually, I saw something similar to this once before. Naruto had gone crazy and screamed about it being a ghost when it was really some girl trying to avenge her brother's death or something like that.

Placing one hand on my hip I managed to say the only thing that came to mind. "I was right. So, how'd you manage that one?"

"You were right?" Al asked.

"You knew?" Ed followed.

I gave them my peeved look. "You think I'm an idiot don't you? I know what sound hollow gives- I worded that wrong- I know what hollow sounds like."

"If you knew why didn't you say anything?"

"Does it matter?"

"You're not scared?" Al asked in surprise.

"Eh, no." I scratched my head. "Should I be?" I took another bite of my sandwich.

"Well…I don't know. It's not-"

"You tried to transmute something, didn't you?"

"It's nothing." Ed spoke up, the pain evident in his voice. "Stay out of it."

"This is why you are looking for the stone?"

"I said stay out it!" Ed was now off the bench and trying to glare me down.

"No! You cannot hide everything from me! I am here!"

"It's none of your business!"

"So de gozaru ka?" I glared back.

"Stop speaking in that freak language! We can't understand you!"

"Why should you care!? You don't have to understand me you- you-" I threw my sandwich in his face to emphasize my anger before grabbing my bag and leaving the platform.

---

"Abura," She kept walking away as Al called after her. He then turned on his brother. "Why'd you say that brother! Now she's gone!"

He peeled the half eaten sandwich off of his face and gave his brother the same seething look. "Why are you standing up for her!? It's none of her business what happened! She never even told us why she was looking for the stone!"

"No she didn't. You're right brother. But she did tell us at least something about herself and she's been trying to work together with us. Which is more than I can say for you brother." Ed growled something incoherent. "You should go apologize."

"Apologize?!"

"You know it's the right thing to do."

Again Ed growled some incoherent jumble before giving in. "Fine. Let's go."
Heading in the direction that Abura had taken the Elric brothers left the station platform. The sun had set fully and the roads were dark. There were no electricity or gas lamps out here. The area was too rural for any of that. Still there were a few people out and about and the Elrics used that to their advantage to figure out which way Abura had gone.

"She's about this tall," Al lowered his hand to a foot over his brothers head, "With really white hair and green pants and carrying a black bag."

"Uhh, nope, sorry I haven't seen anyone like that. Maybe my buddies have." The boy turned around and called his friends over. "Hey, any of you guys seen a girl with white hair 'round here?"

"Nope."

"Sorry."

"White hair? Weird. Woulda noticed that."

Both the brothers sighed in unison. What'd she do, disappear off the face of the planet? This was the only road leading the way she'd gone, of course that wasn't to say she wouldn't leave the road to do whatever.

"Hey, wait a sec." The original boy stopped and scratched his chin. "I think I did see someone with that description but they were running too fast for me to tell exactly."

"Really?!"

"Where!?"

He pointed off to the east where a brush of trees was standing. "They were going that way. I tell yeah, if that really was your friend she sure can run. You might wanna hurry up of you'll never catch her at the rate she was going."

The two brothers were halfway across the field already. Ed complaining the whole way as to why someone would go out so far in the first place.

---

Training is an important part of shinobi life. It's a given. If a shinobi didn't train they might as well lie down and play dead. It didn't matter to me that I wasn't in my world. I still had to train. That and this was a good way to get out all my frustration and anger without hurting anyone…namely Ed.

I badly wanted to create a new jutsu. Something similar to Naruto's Kage Bunshin no Jutsu so that I'd have some way of sparring against something other than air. That and who better to train against then yourself? Well, a stronger opponent but I didn't have one of those at my disposal. At the moment I was just using one tone weights on each my arms and legs but it was getting too easy. I'd made this training exercise with Lee-kun over nine months ago and the weights felt like nothing now; I even kept them on during the day.

But, besides the point of creating a new jutsu I wanted to hone my other jutsu's into perfection. I'd picked up a couple my dads and had them down to a fine art (much to his dismay) but I had a couple of my own that could use some work or tweaking. I just couldn't risk it because there wasn't that much wood around here and someone could come along and see me perform something that was obviously not alchemy.

Speaking of which...

I stopped my taijutsu practice and took out one of my kunai, carving out a simple transmutation circle in the ground. Then taking out some materials from my bag I placed them in the middle.

Kneeling before the transmutation circle I closed my eyes and concentrated as controlling my chakra here was necessary. I needed to lower it to non-existent levels. I wasn't sure what would happen if I came in contact with the array if I didn't but I also wasn't willing to find out. From what I understood, a transmutation circle took energy from the world around it and circulated it within the drawn lines. If I kept my chakra circulating in me then I supposed that would mean the transmutation would take my energy as well and that wouldn't help me in any way.

Taking that into account I placed my fingertips on the edge of the transmutation circle. It began to glow an eerie yellow and the fabric began to take shape. I kept pushing forward although my body and mind were beginning to shut down. If I could at least get a basic shape I could bring it with me and then maybe I could-

"Kusso!" I pulled back and landed on my butt, breathing heavily as chakra was restored to my system. There was no point in fainting again. I couldn't let myself get carried away. Sometimes I really hated being so level-headed. I waited a couple more moments before I repeated the process.

This time I was able to finish my creation. A brown teddy bear the size of my hand with two small button eyes and a black stitch nose. One ear was bigger than the other but other than that it weighed out well. Yosh, now I could really being my training.

"Abura! Hey, where the hell are you!?"

"Brother!"

"What!? Ouch! Damnit, I can't see a damn thing out here!"

After much crashing and swearing from Ed they made their way over to where I was standing and waiting for them. My teddy bear held out in front of me in triumph.

"I did it. I transmuted a bear."

Of course Ed had to inspect it first while Al congratulated me.

"One ear is bigger than the other and it doesn't have a mouth…"

My eye twitched. I'd really like to see this guy attempt half of what-

"Otherwise it's pretty decent for a beginner."

"Huh?" I took it back from Ed's outstretched hand.

"You heard me. Besides the few minor problems it's pretty good."

I grinned. "Thank you."

"At least you didn't pass out this time."

"You just love to piss me off, don't you?"

"That's just because it's so easy."

"Brother." I heard Al sigh in exasperation before turning his attention to me. "But Abura what are you doing all the way out here?"

I looked down at my arms, where the weights were covered by my sleeves. I brought my free arm up and flexed it beside me. "Exercising."

"Doesn't look like you have much there."

I smirked. "Looks are deceiving."

"Really, care to spar then."

"No, I'd be too afraid of hurting you."

"WHAT!?"

Al ignored our bickering. "Abura, brother came here to tell you something."

Ed shot Al a dirty look before staring at the ground. "I'm sorry for yelling at you andwetriedtotransmuteourmotherandAllosthisbodyandIlostmylegandIusedmyarmtobringAl'ssoulbackandattachittothesuitofarmour."

Surprising myself I actually caught all that. "You're really skilled if you can do that." Anything those lines in my world would be known as a kinjutsu, a forbidden art, one that you could lose your life over. For Ed to be able to accomplish that a couple of years ago is a feat in itself. Of course, kinjutsu's were also considered something that only rogue shinobi had a desire for.

I was just glad Orochimaru hadn't got whim of this somehow. He'd be thrilled at the prospect of being immortal like Al…well more so than he was now.

The bastard.

"Abura?"

I had drifted off again. "My family name is Abura. My name is Aya."

Sometimes I doubted they knew what to make of me.

"Uh, well," Ed was looking uncomfortable.

"Yosh." I pulled my forehead protector off of its place and retied it around my forehead. Then doing the pose that I'd seen Lee-kun, Gai-sensei, and Naruto do themselves and that I'd done once I stuck my thumb out. "On my word as a shinobi from Konohagakure I will help you get back your bodies no matter what."

Ed raised a brow in confusion and Al tilted his head to the side also in apparent confusion. "Uh, well, I don't know what a shinobo is or a Kono-what'cha call it but I guess it's a good thing."

I nodded. "I'd translate but I don't know what shinobi is in Amestrian but Konohagakure would be…ah, well konoha literally mean leaves of tree but I think a so-so translation would be something like…The Hidden Village of Leaves." I lowered my arm and picked up my bag. "Something like that."

"I don't think I'll ever understand you." Ed was still looking at me strange.

I shrugged in reply and we made our way back to the train station.