Author's Note: Kay... so this chapter is reaallly late, and reallly short, but I have a good excuse *cough*cough* reason . I was at Fan Expo all weekend and was fixing up my costume the previous week and didn't have much time to write. So I apologize to everyone who's been waiting. And wow, the chapter title is so random XD


IronClaw Alchemist -11- Shrimp Race Anyone?


T minus 72 hours to exam

"Would you stop pacing already!" Ed ordered in annoyance.

"You would be nervous too if you were me!" I defended as I continued pacing around my room.

Ever since the one week mark before the exam, I've been feeling nervous about the whole thing. If you think about it, if I fail- knock on wood- both Dai and I would still be jobless. Plus, we still owe Mustang quite a sum of money that would be impossible to come across. Of course I could always win a few bets against Breda and the guys, but that would only get me so far.

"Why would I be nervous? I would ace that exam!" Ed boasted proudly.

I ignored him and continued pacing, but I immediately froze when Al started talking.

"But brother, I thought you didn't finish the last page."

"What are you talking about? Of course I finished the exam," Ed defended quickly- too quickly.

My nervousness just turned into panic.

"You didn't finish the exam? Is it too late to get a new trainer?"

"What!"

"I'm gonna fail! I'm gonna fail!"

I ignored the protests of the guys and dropped onto my bed face first; quickly throwing a pillow over my head.

"Don't worry Riku. I'm sure you'll do fine," Al reassured, placing a metal hand on my back.

I lifted my head and look up at Al with a wounded gaze. "'Fine'? That's it? You don't even think I'll do good."

I heard three exasperated sighs from the room, but it didn't change anything. Maybe I was going crazy from lack of sleep... But I couldn't help but feel unprepared.

"Riku, relax," Dai instructed calmly. "You're smarter than Ed anyways."

"What was that!"

"I said Riku's smarter than you. Geez, why are all you little guys so jumpy?" Dai stated shrugging.

With a sigh, I sat up and crossed my legs in front of me. Eventually, if I was lucky, my legs would fall asleep and I'd be able to distract myself from the exam. Until then, I'd have to deal with this annoying feeling. Back at the lab, I never had to worry about anything, minus them finding a reason to take Dai away. Other than that, I was usually rather easy going- only living in the moment. That change in lifestyle ticked me off a bit.

From across the room, Dai continued sending smartass comments at the fuming alchemist. It was quite amusing at first, but as the feeling drained from my legs, the scene lost its fun.

"Nii-san, give it a rest, would you?"

He looked over at me and wrinkled his nose, but I ignored his 'protest'. Instead, I turned my attention towards Ed.

"Can we go outside? I wanna spar a bit."

His annoyed scowl turned into a grin at my suggestion. Getting my answer, I excitedly jumped off the bed, stumbled a bit on the landing, then grabbed my gloves from the bedside table. Luckily I could feel the tickling sensation of my nerves waking up.

"Weapon sparring?" Ed questioned with a smirk.

I mirrored his smirk and slipped on my gloves. I had cut the fingers off a few days ago, giving me more freedom. Plus, it looked cooler.

"Last one out's a shrimp!" I declared as I raced to the door.

I heard a muffled protest along the lines of I'm not short! as I made it to the hall. It was a smooth run for a while, until I had to start weaving through multiple soldiers. Ed was quick on my tail- figuratively- and was receiving the resulting anger of the soldiers. When I had passed them, they had been surprised, but by the time Ed made his way through, they were able to process the situation and react. It only made the race that much more fun.

After shoving open the heavy doors and running another ten feet, I took a quick glance behind me, only to find Ed clapping his hands. A second later, I felt the ground beneath me crumble and I instantly knew I was going down for a crash landing. I tried to prolong it though- stumbling across the broken debris. It didn't last long and I soon found myself falling to the side roughly.

To my surprise, I didn't land on anything hard, or sharp for that matter. Instead, I landed on something soft- something comfortable. Though, when I saw what- or rather who- it was, I wouldn't have admitted it.

As quickly as I could have, I pulled myself off of Ed and scampered backwards, immediately bringing my arms up to protect my face- Ed seemed like he would want revenge for me punching him earlier.

When the retaliation didn't come, I warily lowered my arms and watched him curiously.

"I won," he pointed out with a grin.

I noticed a slight pinkness to his cheeks, but I pushed it aside as I watched him. I couldn't help but find him intriguing. Why I did- I wasn't sure just yet.

"You're not a shrimp..." I mumbled as I fumbled with a piece of broken concrete.

"Faster than you thought, huh?"

I looked up at him and tilted my head slightly. "Not because of the race..."

A confused look washed over his face, but I could see a faint glitter of happiness pass through his eyes.

"I mean, I'm shorter than you after all."

His jaw dropped suddenly in surprise and I felt myself let out a soft chuckle at his response. I guess he didn't hear something like that too often, but it was nice to see him happy like he was- genuinely happy. I went to reassure him, looking for a smile this time, but stopped when Dai and Al appeared from HQ's doors. It seemed like I'd have to wait a while longer.


Foot Note:Once again, sorry if you were waiting for me to update. And unfortunately I can't make any promises for the next update. It'll happen, I just don't know when ^^; But, you guys can check out my DeviantArt (xcas92x) when I upload my cosplay pics ^^