GW: Here's the next chapter of "CPIS," where we'll focus on Bunnie Bellstone and Iris Reinheart. Enjoy the first part!

Mission IV, Part One

Love Can Find Anyone-Even a Monster

It was a nice summer day in ToonCity as two girls walked out of an automail store, paper bags filled mechanical parts in their hands.

"I don't know how Ed and Iris go through their automail so quickly," Winry sighed to her companion and apprentice Bunnie. It was obvious both girls were making an automail run for their friends and clients, Edward Elric and Iris Reinheart.

"Well, they're always breaking our masterpieces with their jobs," Bunnie shrugged. She began to fume, "For Pete's sakes, I wish they wouldn't treat artwork like crap! Geez, I wish Iris would just take things easy for once."

Winry chuckled a bit before saying, "Iris means a lot to you, doesn't she?"

Bunnie shrugged. "Yeah; I helped installed her limbs when she lost them and she supported me after I got back from Ishbal. She's my closest friend, ally, and client." Bunnie then smiled slyly as she teased, "What about you and Edward, huh?"

Winry blushed crimson as she said in a rush, "He's just my friend, client, and partner. I mean, he's like my brother."

Bunnie chuckled. "Sure, Winry." She then sighed, "Sometimes I do wish for a boyfriend, though."

Winry looked at in sympathy. "Well, look at me; I'm happy and I don't have a guy."

"I know; but I keep getting this feeling it's because of-well…" Bunnie motioned to her rabbit ears that were poorly hidden by her bandanna. "At least guys look at you, Winry. You're not a hybrid, or a chimera, or anything."

"Bunnie…someday you'll find someone you can be with," Winry told Bunnie calmly. "Just you wait. He'll fall into your lap one day."

"Well, well, well; what do we have here, Banzai?" a smooth voice hissed. The two mechanics soon found themselves surrounded by three hyenas. The one who spoke was Shenzi.

"Uh, I don't know, Shenzi," the second hyena, Banzai, growled. "What do you think, Ed?"

The last one, Ed, just laughed insanely as Banzai growled hungrily, "Just as I thought; lunch!"

"Um, we don't want any trouble," Bunnie gulped as she and Winry pulled out wrenches. "This is bad," Winry gulped.

Suddenly, Ed yelped as he was grabbed by the tail by someone. The figure was a very large and beefy boy around Bunnie's age. He had thin dark brown hair, tiny black eyes that shined brightly, and wearing a black hoodie over a red shirt, jeans, and boots. The odd thing about him was the pig nose and oddly shaped ears.

The pig-boy swung the dumb hyena around as he used Ed as weapon, knocking down Shenzi and Banzai. The hyenas were so shocked they couldn't fight back as the boy grabbed each hyena by the tail and hurled them to the other side of town.

Both girls were in awe literally. The boy turned to them both and asked in a gruff voice, "You two okay?"

"Y-yeah," Winry stammered when she got her senses back. Bunnie was still in awe.

"Well…um, should I walk you home or are you okay?" the pig-boy said unsurely.

"No, we're fine," Winry was about to say, but Bunnie, with a mad blush on her face, said in a rushed tone, "I'd like you to walk us home!"

The boy shrugged as he held out his hand. "I'm Buta."

"Rebecca Bellstone, or just Bunnie," Bunnie greeted, shaking his hand. Soon, the group was off back to their home. Winry was smirking at Bunnie the whole way, noticing the young mechanic was watching Buta.

"So…are you a chimera?" Buta asked Bunnie. Bunnie paused as Buta added quickly, "I-I don't mean to be rude. It's just…you have interesting features…and…"

"I know; my rabbit ears freak you out," Bunnie sighed. "I'm not a chimera exactly, but I'm close to one."

"Cool." Bunnie looked at Buta, who was smiling at her. "I'm a chimera myself. You can probably guess what I'm merged with."

"Wow…I never thought I would actually meet a chimera," Bunnie said in amazement. Winry gave her a nudge and an 'I-told-you-there-was-someone-in-this-world-for-you' look. Bunnie gave her a 'shut the heck up' look.

'Buta…maybe Winry was right after all…" Bunnie thought shyly as the threesome continued back to the base.

"WHAT!!?" Winry and Bunnie literally had to cover their ears along with everyone else as Edward Elric gave his friends a fit about them being in danger. Buta stood near the door, looking uneasy about whether to leave or go.

"You were attacked on your way home!!?" the tiny alchemist scolded. "I knew you should've taken someone else!"

Winry retorted, "Lay off, Ed! We're not some frail ladies; we can take care of ourselves!"

"Actually…Buta can take care of me-uh, us!" Bunnie chuckled nervously, glancing at Buta, who smiled back sweetly.

This made Iris' eyes narrow. 'I don't trust this guy. Why the heck is he moving in on Bunnie? There's gotta be a reason.'

"Um…Buta?" Bunnie asked nervously. The poor girl looked ready to hyperventilate.

"Yes?" Buta asked. Bunnie sighed deeply and said nervously, "Well, before you go…you're a pretty cool guy and…wouldyougoonanoutingwithme!!?"

Everyone was silent as Stitch said uncertainly, "Uh, Bunnie; not even I could hear you with my super-senses."

"Yeah; speak slowly," Kazumi said as she held a tape recorder to Bunnie. She was immediately knocked down by Asuna. "Give the girl some space!" Asuna scolded.

Bunnie sighed once more. "Buta…will you go on an outing with me?"

Complete, awkward silence. If you've ever been in a situation where this silence occurs, I would suggest you hightail it out of the room as fast as possible. But that's just me. Back to the story at hand.

"…Whoa," the CPIS members gawked except Iris, whose mouth was so far on the ground that she couldn't even utter the words to express this moment.

Buta's eyes were wide open and he couldn't say anything. Bunnie added some more, "It's just…I've never met a chimera and you're the first guy to ever accept my ears and tail and look kinda like me…and Winry said one day a guy would fall into my lap that would be perfect for me! Well, I believe today is that day!!"

"Nice job giving up false hope," Calvin said with an eye-roll at Winry, who chuckled awkwardly.

Buta looked calmer now as he said softly, "You…You're not scared of my looks?" When Bunnie shook her head, Buta went over to her and said with a smile, "Sure. Would tomorrow be good?"

Bunnie smiled as she nodded her head so hard that it might fall off any minute. Buta nodded once before he waved and said, "Bye. See you tomorrow, Bunnie." Then, he was gone.

Bunnie squealed with delight as she hugged Winry. "Thank you so much for your advice, Winry!!! I'm so happy!!" Bunnie shrieked as she let her friend go and rushed to her room.

"I think she broke my lungs," Winry breathed. "I'm happy for Bunnie," Hero smiled.

"Yep. Looks like her luck is here!" Fei smirked along with the rest of the gang. All except Iris, whose eyes had now narrowed.

'I still don't trust that guy. I have to keep an eye out for Bunnie tomorrow.'

Buta and Bunnie's 'outing' had come. The two were strolling happily down the streets of ToonCity, completely unaware of their surroundings. Or the girl with automail limbs with a bunch of other pre-teen girls spying on them from a nearby bush.

"Aw, for crying out loud, Iris!" Chisame scolded as Iris watched the two freaks go to a café nearby with binoculars. "This is ridiculous!"

"I agree. How the heck you brought us into this, I'll never know," Makie sighed.

"Simple; I said Negi was going to be involved and you blockheads fell for the bait hook, line, and sinker," Iris deadpanned, not moving her position.

"That was a dirty trick!" Yue snapped as Nodoka sighed, "I can't believe I fell for it."

"Iris, are you sure Buta's some creep?" Kaede asked uncertainly. She watched as Buta laughed at something Bunnie said nearby. "I mean, look at him."

"Yeah, Buta's a nice guy," Konoka added. "Maybe you're just scared because he's a chimera and he looks mean."

"Or maybe it's the fact your jealous that someone's with your best friend and you feel she's being taken from you," Sayo suggested, only to he bonked on the head by Iris, though the alchemist's hand went right through her. "It does no good; I'm a ghost," Sayo sighed dismally.

"No! I know something's up!" Iris said stubbornly, remembering to keep her voice down.

"Iris, we're going back," Ayaka sighed as the schoolgirls stood up. "There's nothing to say except your jealous and overprotective and Bunnie's in good hands with this guy."

"See you," Asuna and Setsuna waved as the girls walked off. Iris sneered at them, "Fine, who needs you?"

Throughout the day, Iris spied on her friend and Buta as they shopped and chatted. Soon enough, Buta dropped Bunnie back at the base.

"Thanks again for today," Bunnie said as Iris, sitting in a tree, looked ready to keel over. "I had a lot of fun."

"Can…" Buta looked unsure what to say next, but he said in confidence, "Can we do this again? Tomorrow night, maybe?"

"Sure," Bunnie said happily as she gave Buta a peck on the cheek. "Bye. See you tomorrow." With that, the rabbit girl went inside.

Iris groaned. She couldn't catch Buta doing anything that would make him suspicious of her. 'Maybe I should follow him to where he lives…though I guess I am being weird…but, what do I have to lose?' Iris thought.

So, Iris traced Buta almost across town and finally stopped as he went into an abandoned and run-down club.

Iris panted. She was tuckered out from trailing this guy. "Man, I really must be crazy!"

Iris snuck to a nearby window and peered in. She couldn't believe what she saw or heard next.

Buta was standing in front of three women. The first was a beautiful teenager with ebony eyes that looked like they should belong on a bored cat, long dark chocolate hair, and was wearing a black skimpy dress under a matching cardigan, black tights, leather boots, black fingerless gloves, and 6 bangles with 3 on each arm.

The other two were standing behind the sultry teen girl like they were guarding her. One had pixie-cutted rusty red hair, large fire red eyes and a skinny build while the other had a more fleshy build with stringy blond hair, cream-colored skin, and soft blue eyes.

"Well, Buta; who'd your date go?" the sultry teenager said in a smooth voice. Iris could hear the venom underneath it.

"Excellent. The target told me everything, how she could break into a super-computer if she had to, just pointless chatter," Buta informed. "Plus, she accepted my invite for tomorrow night, so we can proceed with the operation immediately."

'Operation? The target? What the heck is going on?!' Iris thought. Suddenly, her doubts about Buta flooded back to her.

"Good. Who knew that kid was stupider than she looked?" the rusty haired girl chuckled, though it sounded like a choked meow to Iris.

"Now, Neko; be nice to Buta's girlfriend," the cream skinned girl laughed mockingly, which sounded like a soft whinny to Iris. 'Those two are cat and horse chimeras,' Iris gulped in fear. She didn't know about the other one, but assumed she was the leader of this ring.

"She's not my girlfriend, Uma," Buta scolded her. "She's just part of the plan."

The beautiful girl and her associates, Neko the Cat and Uma the Horse, chuckled as the girl got off the couch and walked a bit closer to the window Iris was at. The alchemist slid off darker in the shadows as she heard the girl say, "Tomorrow, that little rabbit will help us break into ToonCity's weapons safe like a skilled burglar and we can rob it. Then, all of ToonCity and its scummy citizens will bow to me, Luna Kisura; The Dark Kitsune of Japan."

"What about Bunnie?" Buta asked with a bit of worry traced in his voice. Luna told him, "Oh, don't worry about her; if she's a good little girl, I'll let her join. If not…I've always wanted to taste rabbit blood."

Iris gasped in silence as she darted off into the night, barely hearing Luna's ice cold laughter behind her.

'Oh God…Bunnie's in trouble!' Iris thought. 'What the hell do I do?!'

GW: Oh, this is bad. Iris knows the cruel Luna is going to use Bunnie's crush on Buta to get her weapons.

Iris: Like hell I'll let that trash get Bunnie!

Luna: "That trash…?"

GW: Anyways, next part will have Iris going to two friend and three assassins to save Bunnie. Read, review, and suggest 'til next time!