The four visitors from Amestris met up in the lobby of the hospital after getting dressed in their usual garb; one exception being Alphonse. At first, Scar and Mei Chan were a little leery about him, but after much assurance from Edward, they calmed down a bit.
"Okay, now that you three are dressed, it's time for you to be assigned a guide." Tsunade announced as they walked out the doors. "You will spend time with these ninja and they will be showing you around, getting used to your new surroundings."
"Ninja?" Mei Chan questioned.
"Yes," Tsunade answered, "A majority of the people here are ninja, and they are all trustworthy and loyal. Now, if you all will stand side-by-side here, we'll begin the assignments."
Before them stood four people: One adult with a majority of his face covered and silver spiky hair and a girl about Edward and Alphonse's age with short pink hair. The other two were boys and about the same age. One had a spiky ponytail and the other had long brown hair and very pale purple-ish eyes.
"Okay, we'll start with Mister Scar; your guide will be Kakashi Hatake. Mei, your guide will be Sakura Haruno." Sakura smiled at the young girl, making her feel less defensive, but a little leery.
"Edward," Tsunade continued, "you will be with Shikamaru, and Alphonse with Neji. Now, I have to go and do… Hokage-related things, so, why don't you all get acquainted?" She suggested, walking away to her office.
When she was finally out of sight, Edward spoke up. "I don't care what anyone says. Alphonse and I are not to be separated!"
"Nii-san…"
"No, I don't want you out of range; we still don't know if we can trust these people."
Shikamaru sighed. "So troublesome… It's fine, but I am your guide and Neji is your brother's. That's just how it is, but if you two want to stay near each other, so be it."
Neji nodded in agreement. "Follow us; we'll give you a tour. Come on, Shikamaru."
At that, the two ninja guides began walking with their charges following close behind.
The pink haired ninja walked over to the young visitor, kneeled down to eye level and introduced herself. "Hello, Mei Chan, I'm Sakura Haruno, and I'll be your guide until we can get you home. Before we begin, do you have any questions?"
"Yeah, aren't you too girlie to be a ninja?" Sakura was taken back by this. "Oh, and don't worry about me; by the looks of things, I'd be better off taking care of myself."
Kakashi walked up to the Ishbalan and spoke. "Hello, Mister Scar. My name is Kakashi Hatake; it's a pleasure to meet you." He said, offering his hand for a handshake.
"…" Scar didn't move or say anything.
"…Okay…" the jonin said, lowering his hand. "Well, let me show you around." He turned and walked toward town with the Ishbalan following him.
(Back with the alchemy brothers)
Shikamaru turned and faced their charges as they stopped at the end of the main road. "Okay, this is the main street some call 'market square', mostly because of all the shops and restaurants." The boys nodded at him.
"I'm assuming Lady Tsunade exchanged your money?" The boys nodded again. "Good. There are plenty of places to shop for things like clothes, trinkets, food or what have you."
The boys looked at each other, then back at their guides when Edward spoke. "Where will we be staying?"
Shikamaru sighed. "You'll be staying at the local motel."
Suddenly, Alphonse's stomach growled. "Brother, brother! I'm hungry!" He said, smiling and acting all happy.
"Oh, right! Good, then let's get you something to eat. Hey, you, long-haired girly man, what's the best restaurant here?" Edward asked, pointing at Neji.
Girly man? He thought to himself. "I don't eat out much. Ask Shikamaru."
"Okay then, Shikamaru, what do you recommend?" Ed demanded, pointing at him. "Well… do you like ramen?"
"Yeah, let's try-" Alphonse liked that idea, but he was interrupted by his brother.
"No, not ramen! I want my brother to have the best first meal money can buy! Not some cheap ramen."
Alphonse finally spoke up. "Brother! I'm fine with ramen." He turned to the annoyed ninja. "If you don't mind, just take us to wherever you think is good."
"First meal?" Shikamaru questioned. "Were you anorexic or something?" Alphonse got a slightly panicky expression on his face.
"Oh, n-no, it's just… it's complicated." He didn't say any more because he knew his brother would be unhappy if he gave away too much information.
"Okay, well, whatever, let's just go to Ichiraku's." Shikamaru turned and continued walking with Neji and the others to the Ramen shop.
When they arrived, they saw that one of the five seats were taken by none other than…
"Naruto, how's it going?" Shikamaru greeted his blonde friend, sitting down next to him, followed by the Elric brothers. Neji just stood with his back against the wall, not wanting ramen.
"Oh, hey, Shikamaru! Come to get some Ramen, too?" Naruto broke his focus from his food long enough to return the greeting. He looked over his genius friend's shoulder at the two visitors as they placed their orders. "Hey," he whispered, "who're they?"
"Oh, Tsunade-sama didn't tell you?" Shikamaru questioned. Naruto shook his head and continued listening. "These two and a couple others were brought here from another dimension."
That sounded weird; so weird in fact that even Naruto couldn't believe it. He absorbed the information from his colleague, and then burst out laughing, catching Ed and Al's attention.
"You mean these little kids were brought here from space?! You're funny, Shika."
"Who are you calling little, you yellow-headed jerk?!" Ed, once again, lost his temper at that statement.
"Nii-san, please calm down." Alphonse pleaded. "Just, let it go."
"I won't 'let it go', not until he apologizes!" He was fuming at this point, staring the blonde ninja down, who has just begun to collect himself.
"Please, young man, don't fight in my stand; it's bad for business." Teuchi said, trying to calm the young man down.
"Brother, he's right; let's just calm down and wait for our food. I'm sure he didn't mean it." At that, Ed calmed down a bit and sat down, eying the blonde ninja suspiciously.
"By the way," Shikamaru turned to Alphonse, "this is my friend Naruto. Naruto, these boys are Alphonse and Edward Elric." The boys nodded respectively. "They'll be staying in our village until we can find a way to get them home."
"Do you guys like the village so far?" Naruto asked. Edward shrugged, but his brother smiled and nodded.
"You all have a very nice village, and it's a pleasure to be staying here."
Edward, Shikamaru, Naruto, Neji, Tenten (who had spotted Neji and started talking with him earlier), Ayame and Teuchi all stopped what they were doing and stared at the young boy.
Everyone was silent until the shop owner spoke. "That is a very kind thing for you to say." His daughter, Ayame, nodded in agreement as she handed them their food with Edward digging in once the bowl hit the table.
Seeing that kind of eagerness to eat the noodles, Naruto nodded in approval.
