Disclaimer: Fullmetal Alchemist is the legal property of Hiromu Arakawa, Funimation, and Amniplex. None of the totally super-special-awesome characters used (Ed & Al) belong to meh. Don't sue me, bla bla bla...Al is not a robot...yada yada...I'm not an Ed fangirl!...and stuff. "-_-

A/N: I tried to get this one in quick so if there are a bunch of mistakes then sorry. Anyway, if you reader dudes like it then that's great! But if it sux then so srry T_T. I'll keep on trying my best! Yosh! (tee-hee Rock Lee)

Disclaimer: Narutos' not mine either...idk how strict this site is so that was just in case.


Chapter 8: Our Destination

It was already sundown by the time the four of us and our guide got to the small rural town of Arinda. It consisted of mostly wooden cabin looking homes, a lone central well, an old looking inn, a bar, a small town doctor's office, and several modest little stores. Even though it was only 7:00 p.m. all the places of business were closed, the homes had their lights out, all doors were shut and I'm guessing heavily locked.

"We'll there goes our chances of getting a room for the night." joked Ed.

"A room! You better have meant a couple of rooms buddy!" contended Erica.

"N-no! I didn't mean it like that!" Ed said becoming bright red. "I had intended for one, yeah, so we could keep an eye on you both, but I was thinking two of us could use it one night, then the other two could go in after the first-"

"Excuse me!" She exclaimed hands on her hips.

"Hang on! I'm not- we won't- I'm trying to say that we could take turns using the bed and-!" again Ed attempted.

"Sicko!" she spat loudly.

"Stop twisting my words woman!"

"Oh." We shifted our attention to the mystery guy. He'd turned around to face us, "I didn't introduce myself earlier, I'm Jeremy Trenton." (A/N: I made him up...just sayin) He greeted.

Ed went first. "Well, I'm Edward Elric, and this is my brother- "

"Alphonse Elric." Al finished.

Erica spoke for the both of us, "I'm Erica Deluna Rosa, and this is Aaliyah Josephine." She pointed to me.

"Nice to meet you all." He shook each of our hands. "Now, if you folks don't mind me asking, why did you travel out to Arinda. Especially at a time like this. Most people stopped coming after hearing about the creatures."

"Actually that's exactly why Ed's here. He's a state alchemist sent here to investigate it." Erica told.

A flash of surprise washed over Jeremy's face. "You! A pip-squeak like you became a state alchemist? I thought those guys were top-notch but, letting some little kid join their ranks, they must be loosin' it!"

Ed got that look in his eyes, and before you could say 'Oh-no he didn't'- "WHO YOU CALLING A PINT-SIZED MICROSOPIC DWARF SO SMALL THAT HE CAN BE MISTAKEN FOR A LEPTON!" I held him back before he could kill Jeremy. Usually, his short rants would crack me up, but I started getting frustrated with him when his struggling started hurting my arms.

"Cut it out Ed! Being short isn't the worse thing in the world! Heck, your 5' ft 3"! I'm just 4' ft 11" and were only one year apart!" This must've peeked his interest because he turned around and eyed me closely up and down. He then, took his hand and held it flat over the top of my head then slid it over to him. I was just about under his nose. "Yes! Yes! I'm not the shortest person in the entire world! Someone is actually SMALLER then me! I'm not a midget! You are!" He cheered.

"Ed, you suck..." I said getting gloomy (sad dark chibi cloud over head). He continued with his content happy dance until Jeremy piped up again.

"Anyways, if you were hoping to get a room then you wouldn've been out of luck either way."

"Why is that?" Erica asked.

"The inn keeper here wouldn't have taken you in even if he was open. He hates the military. Especially state alchemist."

"Just great! What are we suppose to do now?" He scratched his head, trying to thinking of a solution.

"(Sigh) Say what, since you don't have anywhere to go, you guys can stay the night at my house."

At this Erica's face lit up. "Thanks dude! You're so nice, how could we ever repay you?"

"It's the least I can do if your really gonna stop these creatures. Besides, you wouldn't last a minute out here. Those things would'a had you for lunch kid if I hadn't come around." He boasted looking in my direction.

Afterwhich, we continued following him down the seemingly lifeless street as he led us to the residence. The only sounds accompanying our footsteps was the wind rustling the trees of the surrounding forest. I peered over at Al to see if he was doing better. To my surprise he had been looking at me! Once our eyes met he hurriedly faced forward. I blushed a deep crimson from behind my mask. "Omg! He looked at me! I wonder why, maybe for the same reason I did." I felt a flutter in my chest at the possibility. "Then, why did he turn away so fast? Maybe that wasn't it. What if it's the total opposite! Is..is he mad at me?..." Recalling the incident from just a while ago I began to fret. "That has to be it! He was glaring at me and turned around before I could catch him!" I fumbled with my hands anxiously as I thought back to the akward way I reacted to his attempt to be a gentleman. There was no doubt that I'd again managed to hurt his feelings. "Everytime he's tried to be nice to me I end up repaying him by spazing out! Gawd, why can't I control my dang emotions! He's probabley really irked with me! He thinks I'm a big rude weirdo and hates me! Why? Why am I such a big jerk! Dumb Aaliyah! So dumb! Why are you so mean to poor Alphonse!" I continued to scold myself the the rest of the way.

(Alphonse POV) I spun my head back around when Aaliyah spotted me. I didn't want to make her even more uncomfortable than I already have, so for now I was keeping my distance. "Grr, what did I do wrong?" I inwardly chagrined. I know Erica keeps saying that she's just shy, but she'd only known Ed for a day before befriending him. And it seems like I'm the only one whoever causes those "episodes". Infact, every time I'm around her she becomes distressed. I barely speak to her and she starts hyperventilating, we come in close proximity to each other and she can't get away fast enough, we end up touching at all and 'boom', she passes out! It's all too coincidental. There's only one thing I've been able to surmise from all of this. Nothing else can explain it. It's so clear what's going on and it's that Aaliyah...is afraid of me. "It was bound to happen eventually I guess." I admitted sadly in my thoughts. "I'm stuck in a giant suit of armor, with big metal spikes, and glowing red eyes. Why wouldn't she be intimidated by that?" I gradually became more depressed at the realization. To think it was more than likely because of my appearance that she reacted so negatively to made me a great deal self conscious. "Some people just have a harder time looking past what's on the outside, it just can't be helped."

Unwillingly my mind conjured up the memory of her eyes in the moment she'd become aware how close we were after the monster was killed. In them I saw a maelstrom of many different feelings as she and I locked gazes for a brief second. As well, her breath became shallow and her hands trembled slightly against my armor. "(sigh) I don't mean to make her so nervous. But, she seems like such a fragile girl, at least emotionally. Physically, she is pretty impressive for her size. She's quite muscular. I can tell from the part of her legs that show that she has moderately built yet feminine calves. Then there's the size of her arms that can be seen when her sleeves lay just the right way on them. They aren't huge, but are still pretty good. Even if it doesn't show I'm sure she has great abs too, the physique you'd expect of a martial artist. Though, she still has a descent figure and...What the- when the heck did I start to notice any of this!" Embarassment swept over me. I'm sure that if I had a face, it would be turning a bright pink color. Shaking it off, I got back to the previous subject. The sadness returned as I continued thinking, "I'll just try to leave her alone for now and hope she gets used to me. And if she doesn't..." It was difficult to even ruminate that outcome. I didn't have long to consider it though because I'd beem brought back from my thoughts once we'd reached a stone and wood house with a nice looking wooden door.

(Aaliyah POV) "Here we are, my home sweet home." Jeremy stated with a hint of enthusiasm. Getting out his keys and unlocking the door we went inside. To my astonishment it was quite nice. There was an upstairs, a modern city kitchen, a nice comfy looking couch, and even a telephone. I didn't think they'd even get reception out here in the woods! "You can use the rooms upstairs. There's only two so I hope you can make some kind of arrangement for the beds."

I looked at Erica and we got the same idea. "I call dibs!" we shouted at the same time. We raced up stairs and pushed each other out of the way. I managed to make it first but when I turned the corner, she pulled me back and dashed in ahead of me. I hurried to get there before her but we had to find the room first. "Broom closet. (Next door) Coat closet. (Next door) Room!" But it looked plain, with only a small bed, a lighted desk, and one wood closet. Erica peeked in after checking the earlier doors. She must've been devastated that there wasn't a vanity for her. "Boys room!" We said at the same time and went to the last two doors. "OK on the count of three." We each took a door and took the doornobs in our hands. "One. Two. Three!" I counted. On three I pushed mine open and it turned out to be a...damn, a restroom.

"Alright! I get the bed! In your face!" She bragged.

"Shut up and let me in." I said defeatedly.

She moved from the door way and I was able to look around, it was a lot more feminine then the other one. It had a vanity, a closet big enough to hold our things and a very large bed. "The bed looks like it has two matrices, we'll just take one off and put it on the floor."

"(Sigh) Fine, but I'm sleeping on the bed, okay."

"Sure." I shrugged. I took the backpack off my shoulders and unzipped it. I went to the doors of the closet and was about to take out my stuff when I realized, "There's...already clothes in here."

"Eh?" Erica asked peering into it. "Yeah, weird."

"Definitely," I stated. I took notice that they were all girl's cloths.

"Woah, never wouldn've taken Jeremy to be a cross dresser." she joked.

"It's probably someone else's, so don't wear them." I instructed, Erica nodded and helped me to put away our things around what was already there then headed down stairs.

To thank Jeremy, Erica and I cooked the food for dinner.

"Wow, this looks good!" exclaimed Edward. "You girls sure do know your way around the kitchen."

"That better not be a sexist comment." I whispered to Erica who decided to repeat it aloud.

"Yeah, your not trying to be sexist now, are you Ed?" she said accusingly.

"No not at all! I just meant that you're good cooks! Geeze put me in the hot seat why don't ya." He complained.

Erica and I laughed at his ruffled composure, which was cruel I know, but the anime faces Ed made were hilarious! Soon after, we served the food. Erica managed to make steak and mashed potatoes. I baked bread and cooked some rice. "It all seems so tasty. I bet you two worked really hard on it." politely said Al when Erica mistakenly put a plate in front of him.

Ed stopped cramming things into the black-hole on his face, I mean, his mouth, seeing her flook. I nudged her in the arm to get her to notice. "What is it?...Oops! Al I totally forgot you couldn't eat it! I am so sorry!"

"Why, is he on a diet or something?" Our host inquired between bites. Ed was about to make an excuse when I spoke up instead.

"He's allergic to potatoes, grain, and rice! Also he's a vegetarian." Everyone's eyes were fixated on me, I guess surprised that I had spoken in such a broad tone, or spoken at all really. A few seconds of staring made me regret my actions. I slowly slumped down in my seat.

"…So you cooked everything that your buddy couldn't eat, smooth move kid." Patronized Jeremy to Erica.

"I forgot OK! Sue me!" The brothers didn't say a word and let peace be eventually returned to the table.

After dinner I was about to go upstairs where the others were when I noticed Jeremy looking intently at a picture on his wall. I was unseen from up on the stairs and at the moment no one else was down there but me. (A/N: The others were still dressing for sleep) He sighed sadly then mumbled something incoherently to himself. After he went to his room I waited a moment before going down and looking at it myself. It was of a little girl about 7 to 8 years old next to a boy I presumed to be him, about 10 or 9 years old. I wondered who she could be, then remembered the dresser in our room that had all the girls clothes in it. "Are those her things upstairs? Who is she?" I'd took a second before considering, "They look kinda the same...Could he have a sister? If he does then why haven't we seen her around?" I could see how happy the two of them appeared in the photo. "They must've been really close." I sensed another presence directly behind me.

Turning around I discovered it was Edward. "Aaliyah. I just wanted, to say thank you." I was unsure to what he was referring to. When I didn't respond he elaborated. "I don't know how you knew about Al, but…thanks for covering for him. It was real nice of you." He patted me on the shoulder, "You should get some sleep. You'll be exhausted if you don't rest." I nodded compliantly then walked upstairs beside him and we went to our separate rooms for the night.


A/N: Well hope it was OK, like I said it was a rush job. Though if you found something that could use alterations then feel free to tell meh, K. I'm so thankful to all of ya who had reviewed lately. You guys are the bestest! ^_^ Laters fanfic-ers