They walked through the dark streets, the late-night drizzle dampening Edward's cloak and quieting the sounds of their footsteps. Their voices filtered softly through the night, bickering a little.
"Brother, you can't just beat up everyone who comments that you're…not particularly tall."
"Can too!"
Nothing new for the Elric brothers, apparently.
A tiny, sodden ball of fluff suddenly wandered out into the road in front of them, mewling pitifully. It staggered a bit, almost being crushed under Ed's feet.
"Brother! Watch where you walk! You could have hurt this kitten!" Al bent to pick up the little creature, completely entranced by how cute it was.
"What do I care, it's just a stupid cat!" Ed yawned, exasperated at his brother's soft-heartedness. It had been an excruciatingly long day, and all he really wanted to do was get back to their room and sleep, not worry about one of the stupid street cats that lived all over the place here.
The kitten wiggled its way out of Al's hands, jumping to the pavement and wandering over to Ed.
"What do you want, cat? Get out of here! Go annoy someone else!" Ed kicked futilely towards the animal, which stared up at him unfazed. As any cat owner will tell you, nothing will put you in your place like yelling at a cat. There's something…vaguely disdainful about them, like they could choose to listen to you, but they really don't feel like it at the moment. Ed deflated a little, but stood his ground.
"Edward! Stop it! Poor little thing, it looks so cold and wet…"
"Oh, no. No. We. Are. Not. Taking. That. Thing. Home." He could hear it in his brother's voice, he was just itching to take the kitten back with them. "Where would it live, anyway? It's not like we have any permanent home for it! And besides that, it annoys me. Look at it, trying to be so cute. Scat!"
Still undisturbed, the kitten wove around Ed's legs, leaving its black-and-white fur on his pants. It looked up at him with deep blue eyes, standing up on its hind legs and leaning its front paws on his shin.
"Go away! We don't want you!"
"Edward…please?"
"No! Absolutely not! Al, get this thing off of me!"
The kitten continued staring up at the Fullmetal Alchemist, who was trying his best to shake him off. Then it used its most powerful weapon of all- it opened its mouth, and from it emerged the most pathetic, hoarse, shaky meow in known history. Al immediately got down on hands and knees and tried to coax the little thing into his arms, but the cat would not be moved from Edward. Its victim, meanwhile, was having difficulty convincing himself that he was a hardened dog of the millitary who couldn't care about a lost little kitten. They couldn't take care of it, anyway. …Not that he wanted to take care of it or anything…it was annoying…and it would probably be just fine out here…it could dig food out of the trash, after all…and it could probably avoid the cars in the street…and all the people who never looked to see what they were stepping on…and all the big dogs around the alleys…
Crap.
"…Al…"
Disgruntled silence.
"…maybe we could see…if…"
"What, Brother?"
No use for it now… "Let's go see if someone at Central needs a cat…"
A/N: Someone did.