Chapter 2: Three Is Company
Hinata bit her bottom lip as she pressed her index fingers together. Both Al and Hinata were in between Sakura and Edward as they walked their way to the Rush Valley streets. Once again the two argued about nonsense on the train ride to Rush Valley. Hinata was unsure why Sakura decided to comment on Edward's height since he was obviously … touchy about the subject. It was true that Sakura was just a few inches taller than the blond boy, and the fact that she was younger than him and taller angered the young alchemist to no end. Sakura just decided to poke fun of his weakness a bit, but Edward was not someone to keep his moth shut as people tease him. The boy bit back hard, harder than he should have really. The way he commented on her forehead was something Sakura would not forgive him anytime soon. The Hyuuga heir could not figure out how to tame the two that have such colorful personalities. She heard the metallic armor give a sigh as they continued their walk. The two once more began their trash talk.
"I hope Winry hits you really hard," muttered Sakura, the pink haired kunochi. "Maybe you'll…become shorter than usual."
Hinata and Alphonse groaned as they knew what would happen next.
"What did you say huge billboard brow?" hissed Edward as he gave a maniac facial feature. "I didn't quite catch what you just said since your forehead is so huge that…that Al can fit into it!"
"Brother!" cried Alphonse in protest. "Do not put me into this!"
Hinata quickly grabbed Sakura from behind trying all her might to calm the pink hair beauty. "S-Sakura-san! H-He is merely jesting!"
"Forget Winry!" cried Sakura trying to give a good swing at the alchemist, but she was held back by Hinata who tried all her might. "I will beat you into a pulp myself!"
"I'd like to see you try!" cried Edward going towards her, but he was stopped as his brother picked him up. "Ugh! Let go of me Al!"
"Byakugan!"
"H-Hinata?"
"Wait…what is she doing? !"
"Hinata!"
It did not take long for the navy blue hair girl to poke a chakra system on Sakura's legs, and throw her to the blond alchemist to catch her. Hinata puffed out her cheeks before she turned to a corner, and yelled out: "I'll find Winry-san myself!"
For the first time, Sakura saw the Hyuuga Heiress storm out in annoyance. Who knew the girl had such guts to pull that stunt off? Her emerald eyes blinked a couple of times before she realized she was in the arms of her semi-enemy. Sakura let out a snarl at the alchemist who could only blink his eyes in confusion. She let out a hiss before she gave him a slap in the cheek.
"Let go of me!"
The slap could be heard from such a great distance, but the Hyuuga girl could only ignore it as she continued to walk. Her Byakugan was inactivated, so there were no civilians that gave her the look of interest. Just as she continued her walk, she slowed down her pace. Hinata stopped once she was in the middle of the busy street.
"I-I…what have I done?" she whispered to her self as she gave half a glance back to where she had come from. She began to do the bad habit of hers: poke her index fingers together. "I should go back and apologize…"
"M-Master!"
Hinata turned to her left to notice a figure in black with a unique mask calling out for their 'Master'. Feeling a bit bad for the figure, Hinata decided to get closer to the person and ask what was wrong with them. It couldn't hurt could it?
"U-Um excuse me," she said frightening the masked figure. "I-Is something wrong? Would you like some help?"
The figures' hands trembled and they were now on Hinata's arms. "I…I can't find my master!"
In the other side of town things did not look as good as it should have been. Sakura, Edward, and Alphonse finally found the store that Winry was currently being trained. It was expected for her to go on a rage mode once she saw the busted automail from Edward from his fight with the man known as Greed. Of course no one said a word how exactly Edward managed to get his automail half broken to Winry, but Sakura knew that the girl had some knowledge that he had gotten in a fight with someone.
"So," said Winry carefully wrapping the automail with tape roll. "What happened to Hinata? Is she with your teacher?"
"N-Not exactly," stuttered the blond his gaze not fixed on the other blond next to him. Winry could only frown, and her eyes then were on Sakura.
"What happened?" questioned the automachanic. Her blue eyes took notice of the way Sakura was rubbing her legs. "To tell you the truth it was odd to see Edward giving you a piggy back ride and no Hinata in sight. Did something happen?"
The light blond haired female could tell that Edward and Sakura were glaring at each other. Winry rolled her blue eyes, and her hands were now on her hips. "Alright what happened."
"Well…" This time Alphonse decided to speak up while Paninya stare at the scene with curiosity. "Hinata got frustrated with these two bickering."
Winry crossed her hands. "Not surprising, do you guys have any idea where she could be?"
"We thought she would be here," said Edward looking away from the glare contest. "She did say she would be out looking for you."
"But she's not here," hissed Sakura finally being able to move one of her legs properly. "I knew I was right."
"Shut…!"
Before another argument could continue, Winry slammed her fist into the table next to Edward. "Alright, alright! No more arguing got that?" She only received quiet nods before she continued to speak. "First things first, I'm going to get the parts for Edward's automail right now. On my way I'll try to see if Hinata is anywhere near sight. Meanwhile you two." Her slender fingers pointed at the brothers. "Are going to take a long walk, and find her." Her attention turned to the pinkette. "Sakura you can stay here and rest up. Don't worry, I'm sure we'll find Hinata. Rush Valley isn't that big unlike Central."
Sakura warily stared at the group that went their separate ways. Paninya went with Winry while the two brothers went to a different direction. Looking around the store making sure that no one was in sight, Sakura quickly preformed her healing jutsu on her legs. With much concentration, her legs could finally move properly like before and it only took her around five to ten minutes to heal her legs in satisfactory. Without a second to lose she left the store in search of her Hyuuga friend. There was no way she would stay in the shop waiting for everyone to show up one by one. She took the direction to where the Elric brothers had gone. She sprinted her way down the streets.
'I can't lose Hinata right now,' she thought bitterly jumping down a few stairs with ease. 'We have to stick together and figure out how to go back to our world…'
She bumped a few civilians, and she properly gave her apologies. "Dammit Hinata, where are you?"
"Sakura!"
She stopped her tracks, and turned to the direction where her name was yelled. Alphonse and Edward were standing there with small curiosity in their eyes. The girl shuffled her feet nervously and she tried to look away from the two brothers. She took a mental note to use the roofs next time when searching for someone.
"Sakura I thought you couldn't move your legs!" exclaimed Alphonse in a worried tone as he checked up on Sakura's legs. "Are you sure you're alright now? It doesn't hurt does it?"
Sakura couldn't help to give a small smile at the metallic armor. "I'm fine now. I could move them not to long ago, and…wait aren't you guys looking for Hinata?"
Her emerald eyes narrowed at the sight of Edward who was holding a can of what appeared to be apple juice. "What are you doing being all sluggish right now? Hinata could be anywhere! And here you are drinking like no tomorrow!"
"Hey! I asked the guy at the store if he's seen a navy blue haired girl around with eyes that look as if she was blind!" cried out Edward in protest as he hugged his apple juice with protection, afraid that the pinkette might throw his drink to the other side of the city. "And he said he did!"
Her feet stopped going towards the blond and give him a black eye. "He did? Where is she?"
"The man said that she was with two masked people not too long ago," piped Alphonse unsure if this was good or bad news to the fourteen year old girl.
"Masked people?" questioned Sakura taking a glance at Alphonse with much intensity. "Could they be the Anbu?"
"Anbu?" said the two brothers in unison.
Her lips formed a smile. "Yes, the Anbu…" Without a second to think she grabbed Alphonse's arm and hugged it. "Both of us will be going back home now! I knew Shikamaru-kun would be able to figure things out! I can't wait to see Hokage-sama, that Ino pig, perverted Kakashi-sensei, and my parents!"
With glee, she let go of Alphonse's arm and began to skip her way towards a random direction. The two brothers could only stare at each other in confusion, and follow the pink haired girl. Sakura didn't notice their confusion because she was already thinking of Konoha, and all her friends.
Edward couldn't help to notice the big smile on her face as she walked with them. Her green eyes shone with merriment something he hadn't really seen coming from her. For an unknown reason he couldn't help to smile as well.
"So who are these Anbu guys?" he asked taking a sip of his drink. Alphonse was beside Sakura also showing inquisitiveness of the topic.
Hand behind her back, she answered the elder brother. "Well they are these guys that wear masks. They are top secret people that only obey our Hokage. They're like top secret military squad to put it simply."
"A secret squad?" inquired Alphonse looking up at the sky. "Now I do wonder how the Xing government is like!"
"Doesn't sound too foreign like ours Al."
Sakura hid her nervousness behind her smile as she continued the walk. She had forgotten that she had told them that she was from Xing. Does the Xing system have such things like Ninjas? Hokages? Probably not. Sakura just hoped that Edward and Alphonse never meet a native from Xing any time soon or else Hinata and herself would be screwed over. The only one who partly knew the truth was Sheska and her mother, Lily. "Heh, yeah. Not too foreign…anyway why are the store people looking at you so … hungrily Edward?"
The alchemist couldn't help to shiver from head to toe. "I hate this place…"
Sakura tilted her head to the side. "Why?"
"Well its because I …"
A short chubby guy with glasses appeared behind Edward, and he began to stroke Edward's automail lovingly. "Mi-Mi-Mister…wanna come fix it at my place…please…please…I'll make it cheap…please."
Sakura saw two veins pop out of Edward's forehead. He elbowed the guy in the head at least twice. "I hate it here because these kind of people target me."
Sakura couldn't help to sweat drop as the guy continued to pester Edward to get his automail fixed. She took a glance back at Alphonse who was now standing in front of a dark alley. "Alphonse?"
Edward took notice of Alphonse. "Al? What are you doing?"
"B-Brother…"
Sakura noticed the displeased façade that Edward had. She could only stare at the elder brother.
He took a sip of his drink before he spoke, "…when you're acting like that, you're usually picking up a cat or something right?"
There was a few silent seconds before Alphonse turned around holding a human with one arm. "Yup!"
Sakura gasped in surprise while Edward spitted out some of the juice he took a sip from.
"A wanderer?" asked Edward as he took a step closer. Sakura mimicked his actions.
Alphonse laid the person down on the ground for Edward and Sakura to examine. Sakura, being a medical nin, quickly examined the foreigners health status.
"Sakura get away from that thing," said Edward darkly as he glared at his brother. "Put him back where he came from."
"That's inhumane brother!" cried out Alphonse unable to think that his brother was such a cruel person.
"He's still alive," said Sakura looking at Edward and Alphonse. "All he needs is a little bit of food. He seems to be malnutrition, he needs vitamins this instant."
Sakura stared at Edward for a few minutes, lo and behold, Edward bought the foreigner food at a nearby restaurant. To Edward's aggravation the black haired foreigner ate at least nine to ten plates of expensive food just to bring the man back alive.
"Well well, I'm revived!" cried the foreigner giving a small bow after finishing his eleventh plate. "You guys saved my life! Thanks! That food was super yummy!"
Edward glared at Sakura who was merely smiling out of politeness. Sakura gave a fake laugh, and told the foreigner not to worry about it.
"I didn't say I was going to treat you," muttered Edward arms crossed together as he glared at the male in front of him.
The guy laughed with his heart content. "Haha! Don't mind such a small thing!"
"Don't say small!" cried out Edward up of his feet wanting to strangle the stranger, but his brother held him back.
Sakura ignored Edward as she gave the stranger a handkerchief to wipe of the crumbs of bread. The male only user the handkerchief to wipe off a small tear that came from the end of his eyes.
"Oh to be cared for in a foreign nation…I'm so thankful!" he said as he sniffled between the lines.
"A foreigner?" questioned the three as they could only stare at the man before them.
"Yep! I come from Xing!" he said enthusiastically.
Sakura's back stiffened as she stared at the foreigner with wide eyes. She looked at her lap, and began to think of how to get away from this situation. Nothing in her brain clicked.
"The nation of the east Xing!" cried out Alphonse excitedly as he turned to face the pink hair kunochi. "Sakura he's from the same country as you!"
"Man to come all the way here," said Edward surprised. "You sure love to travel."
"Oh?" the Xingese couldn't help to shift his attention to the pink haired girl. "You're from Xing?"
Xing couldn't be a small country could it? Maybe if she made up a hidden village then perhaps … no it couldn't fool a native from Xing. Sakura could only smile and nod at the native.
"Yes…"
She could see his shifty eyes open just a bit, and his cheerful oft-present grin caused her to shiver. "I see."
As Edward watched the scene, he couldn't help to frown. He didn't like the way Sakura was hesitating away from the gaze of the guy they picked up off an alley way. Becoming defensive, Edward decided to get the attention of the foreigner.
"Hey," he said in an uptight tone. "Wasn't it a lot of trouble passing the dessert?"
"Oh yes!" piped up Alphonse oblivious to the way his brother defensiveness. "It would have been much easier to travel by using the sea route!"
"Oh yes," said the male, his attention was now on the Elric brothers. "The dessert was hellish! It was all because the railroad got buried in the sand and it became unusable. So I had to switch between horses and camels! I was finally able to come to this country by taking the route that passes the Xerxes ruins." He gave a glance at Sakura before he continued his story. Edward wasn't too pleased to see the reaction of the frightened girl next to him. "The only reason why I traveled the dessert was to visit the Xerxes ruins first."
"Xerxes?" murmured Al with interest.
"I heard that there's nothing there," said Edward taking a sip of his unfinished drink.
"There's a legend that says that 'It crumbled in one night!'" said Alphonse as if he recited a phrase from a book. "Why would you go there?"
"I wanted to search some stuff up," said the Xingese as he crossed his arms together. "I wanted to find the 'rentanjutsu' of this country."
"Rentanjutsu?" questioned the Elric brothers together.
"The art or skill of purification," translated Sakura unsure if she gave a right translation.
"Yes! It's similar to Renkinjutsu also known as Alchemy in your native tongue," said the cheery man. "Rentanjutsu in our country was developed for medical purposes. Your alchemy is specialized as a scientific technique right?"
The brothers nodded while Sakura stared at the boys as they explained the uses of alchemy. If it was true that alchemy is being used as weapons for war, then why did Edward use Human Transmutation to revive their dead mother? Her emerald eyes were fixed on Edward's automail, and on the metallic armor next to him. Perhaps they were trying to evolve Renkinjutsu to the level of Rentanjutsu? Sakura bit her bottom lip as she thought of the lessons that her teacher had taught her. There was only one way to bring back the dead without using Orochimaru's Kuchiyose: Edo Tensei, and it was by using Kisho Tensei that was developed in Sunagakure. It was possible to bring back the dead, but her teacher specifically told her never to use such technique. It was after all a forbidden technique.
"Oh I want to know more about alchemy from you country," said Alphonse excited to learn something new.
Even Edward showed some interest in the topic. "I'm interested in that as well! Alchemy that is specialized in medicine!"
Arms crossed, the Xingese male leaned in a bit. "By any chance are you two alchemist?"
"Yeah! I'm Edward Elric, a state alchemist!"
"I'm Alphonse Elric, the little brother."
The boys turned to Sakura who merely bowed a bit. "And I am Sakura Haruno."
The Xingese grabbed her hand, and began to stroke her fingers gently. "I'm so lucky to meet such knowledgeable people!"
Just as Sakura was about to crack his hand for such a sudden bold move, Edward placed his flesh hand on top of his. The pinkette noticed the annoyed smile on his lips. Alphonse confused also place his hands on top of his brothers.
"I'm Ling Yao!" he said giving a Naruto smile. "It's a pleasure to meet you!"
Edward took of Ling's hand off of Sakura. "Well then what about the Rentanjutsu thing? Think you could tell me more about it?"
"Nope!" cried out Ling more cheerful than before. "I'm not an alchemist user!"
"Then what the hell are you doing here? !" hollered Edward quite annoyed with the Xingese foreigner.
"Umm," Ling crossed his legs and arms together. "Well I'm looking for something. Maybe you guys know about it…"
His gaze was once more on Sakura when he gave her another one of his smiles. "The Philosophers Stone."
The pink haired couldn't help to blink her eyes in perplexity. Tilting her head to the side she did not notice the serious face of the two Elric brothers (at least as serious as Alphonse could look like). "Philosophers Stone?"
Ling nodded. "Yeah I want it really badly. Do you know anything about it?"
Sakura innocently shook her head. "Never heard of it."
"Really?" asked Ling leaning a bit his chin rested on his hand. "Majority of Xing is looking for that stone."
Her body stiffened once more, and she gave her fake laugh. "Oh really? Well I could be one of those people that aren't aware of the latest news."
"Anyway," emphasized Edward drawing the attention from Ling once more. "We don't know anything about it. No business with each other anymore right?" Edward took Sakura's arm to pull her up from the chair. "See ya."
Once Ling snapped his fingers together, Sakura pulled away from Edward's grasp. She placed her hand on her kunai pocket that was hidden in her red kimono dress. Her emerald eyes glared at the dark figured that was holding a kunai that barely touched Edwards neck. The other figure with a similar mask held a sword inside Alphonse's armor ready to strike at the 'body' that was inside.
"It seems like you guys know something about it," said Ling interested in the two Elric brothers. "Can you tell me about it?"
"…What are you going to do with the Philosophers Stone?" demanded Edward with all stern in his face.
Ling could only give a smirk at Edward. "Its simple … to find out the way of immortality!"
Alright to put it simple here are the couples:
- Winry x Edward x Sakura
The rest will be super obvious you will see it without blinking your eyes. Anyway I'm posting once I'm finished with the chapter because well … school is going to start in seventeen days and I want to at least finish half of this saga. Hahaha…I wish. Oh please review, I love reading reviews so much. :D Makes my day! Thank you so much for those who do!
