"Liutenant," Winry began slowly, unsurely, not sure if it was her place to ask this, but knowing that she must. She already knew the answer for the most part, but she needed to know more, besides that.

"You can call me Riza," the soldier replied with a soft smile, not looking up from her lap, where she was fixing her gun with a tiny screwdriver.

"I was just wondering," the teenager paused, considering her words. "Have you ever shot someone before?" Winry asked, her blue eyes gazing down at her hands on her lap. Riza gasped, and stopped working on her gun for a second, but quickly regained herself. She continued to adjust the springs and bullets.

"When I had to, to keep the peace," Hawkeye replied calmly, glancing up quickly at the girl who sat diagonally across the compartment from her. Winry paused for a second, then asked her second, more important question.

"Did you know a pair of Doctors?" the girl asked, blinking back tears as she continued. "The Rockbells?"

Riza thought for a quick moment, considering her answer, wondering if she should really tell the truth to this poor girl. "Yes," she finally decided.

The two women remained silent for couple awkward seconds, then Hawkeye (being the impatient woman she was) decided to give the girl more than what she had asked for. It might help the child, for all she knew, and for the most part... she would be defending him.

"I don't know what you've been told," she began cautiously, taking a deep breath. "But there are times when a soldier has to take a life... even when he doesn't understand why... when the orders may not even make any sense at all. That's the way it is when you're a soldier; it can be a stupid, and terrible life."

All this time, Winr temper had been getting worse and worse, so finally she spoke up. "If you hate it so much then why don't you get out?" she looked up angrily at the side of her escort's face.

"Because there's someone I have to protect," Riza replied, not looking up. "And it's not something I was forced on," she slid a cartridge into the cavern. "It's a decision I made by myself. I take full responsobility every time a fire a round," the woman refused to look over at the girl; whom she could see was glaring at her from the side of her eye. "He's the reason I squueze the trigger."

The woman raised her pistol and pointed at the opposite seat a foot from Winry's head. "And I won't ever hesitate to do it until he accomplishes his goal," she finished, holding in a sigh.

"But how can you be certain? What if he isn't worth protecting?" the young engineer asked, wondering how this woman could be so sure of herself and her objective.

"That's another call I have to make for myself," Hawkeye answered. Winry stared at the woman for a few more moments, feeling bad. And just then she was about to accuse her of knoing her parents in Ishbal. How dedicated, what a sense of companionship... whoever it was she was protecting (and Winry assumed that it was Mustang), was a lucky man to have a friend like this.

0oo0oo0oo0oo0oo0oo0oo0oo0

"Boy, I'm beat," Hawkeye mumbled, stepping into her apartment at headquarters later that evening. Black Hayate trotted up out of the dark to meat her, nearly knocking her over in the almost deserted hallway. Flicking the light switch on with her left index finger, she bent down and patted the dog on the head once she could see in the once dark room.

"Wow, you're getting fat," the liutenant commented, feelign the dog's midsection.

"I told you that would happen if you kept feeding him so much," a man's voice said from behind her in the hallway. Riza was caught off guard, and almost jumped before righting herself and turning around to salute.

The woman dropped her traveling cloak and bag to the ground, where they landed in front of her dog. "Sir!" she saluted with her right hand, the one that had held the luggage. Her obedient pet picked up her bag and cloak in its mouth and dragged them into a corner, where it sat on them as if to guard.

"Liutenant Hawkeye, you escorted Miss Rockbell back to Central safely, I presume," Mustang asked her, stepping past into the apartment as if he needed no invitation.

"Yes, sir. But, excuse me for saying this," she turned to watch him as he knelt before her dog and shook hands with him. "I'm a bit tired, and I need to feed Black Hayate. If you like, I'll give a full report in the morning, but now is not the best time."

"Oh, whatever," Mustang sighed, standing up and looking down for a second. Hawkeye raised an eyebrow. "I had something to ask, but I guess it can wait," he shrugged.

"Are you sure? Is it... is it important?" she asked, frowning a little.

"Nah, anyway, have a nice sleep," he smirked as he passed by her into the hallway.

"Thank you, sir. You, too," she replied politely. Waiting for him to turn a corner before shutting the door, she sighed, watching as his head didn't turn and look back once.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

A.B. So, what d you think of my first story? HoshiToTsuki and I wrote this together, so I give a whole bunch of credit to her!!!

H.T.T. Yeah, Right, Booger girl. More like I wrote THE WHOLE THING!!!

A.B. Now, let's not get carried away.

H.T.T. Carried away? I'm just stating what's mine!!!

A.B. Anyway (sits on Hoshi's head while typing) please review, it'd mean a lot!

H.T.T Mmph, urgh mmph!

A.B. Wait, what's that? (Get's off head and sits on back.)

H.T.T. I SAID Get OFF, fatty!

A.B. Who you calling fatty?

H.H.T. Anyway, before this gets ugly... See you next Update!!!!!!