Chapter 14: Problems can't go Away

She had been literally thrown into the ground as if she was a sack of potatoes or something similar. The thirteen year old girl clearly didn't like the feeling of pain rushing through her body. She was groaning in pain, her whole body was sore, she could barely move a muscle. Opening her eyes slowly, all she could see was white scenery surrounding her everywhere. Not caring about the aches in her body anymore, she immediately sat up.

Her eyes widen as she stared at the door in front of her. It was like a stone wall with many kinds of drawings and letters she could not recognize. She carefully studied the texture of the door, and wondered why in the world it was doing in the middle of nowhere.
A cough suddenly caught her attention. Her head snapped towards the sudden sound. What she saw caused her to immediately turn back to face the door in front of her. A blush spreading from ear to ear. She couldn't believe what she had just seen.

"Eep!"

Feet trembling with embarrassment, and the pink blush turning even pinker each second. She couldn't help, but ask a question. "A-Ano... D- daijoubu ka...?"

Because she was facing the other way she was not able to see the person slowly turn its head around. The person with dirty blond hair let out a small gasp. The girl with dark navy blue locks turned her head slightly to glance over at the naked person. Her eyes were in state of shock as she saw the malnourished body behind her.

Turning her whole body to face the person, she couldn't help but stare. She couldn't say it was a disgusting scene in front of her, she had seen much worse, but she could say it was a pitiful sight. The body had barely any muscle, and rib bones could be seen. The girl winced and looked down.

"A-Anata wa..."

"You're not my soul..." the boy replied roughly, as if he had not talked in years."I cannot go with you because you're not my soul..."

The girl blinked, and took a step forward. "So-u-ru?"

"I'm sorry..."

The girl blinked a couple of times. "He*?"

Too busy looking at the boy with a malnourished body; she did not take the time to realize that the door behind her had opened. She was too late to realize that hundreds of black hands were pulling her towards the open door. The girl narrowed her eyes, and soon veins could be seen.

"Byakugan!" she cried out. She struggled to get free from those creepy hands that were pulling her. She cried in protest, and the her gaze landed on the boy. He did nothing of course; all he did was just stare at her sadly. As she was pulled inside, and the doors were closing, all she heard from the boy was something she could not understand.

"I'm sorry."

Perhaps someday she would be able to understand those words.

"Hurry up Ed, Al!" cried the blond female as she placed both hands on her hips, and gave them an annoying facial expression. "We promised Sakura that we were going to eat breakfast with her! I don't want to be late because of you two!"

"She's so demanding," muttered Edward Elric as he was walking next to his brother. "So not cute," he mumbled looking to the side opposite of his brothers' sight. He was able to hear his brothers' soft giggles. The male blond glared at the metallic armor next to him.

As they were walking they were getting closer to the hotel they had paid for to stay for two days at the least, but the armor had decided to stop instantaneously causing the two blonds to also stop. They turned their head curiously staring at Alphonse Elric. Edward was the first one to question his brother. "Al?"

"Why don't I get breakfast for you guys?" he asked. It was mostly directed to his brother more than his childhood friend. "I mean so …"

Edward sighed. "Yeah go ahead Al. Here take some money though."

Digging into his pockets, Edward gave a few coins to the armor in front of him. With a smile, he said. "Just get something simple, nothing fancy."

"Okay!"

Edward Elric could sense that his brother was actually happy doing such chore. Turning around, he noticed a blond female frowning. "Why are you…?"

"Fore-" He shivered at the sight of a death glare. "Erk. Sakura will question again, why he can't eat remember?"

Winry warily nodded, feeling almost guilty for questioning their actions.

"So he's going to make up a lie that he ate something on the way," he finished briskly passing by his childhood friend. "C'mon, he'll catch up."

Winry sighed in defeat. She knew they were right, after all they had not told Sakura about their past event. They probably wouldn't, so it was best to keep pretending that there was a body in Alphonse's suit of armor. She nervously glanced to where Alphonse was heading, and then back to where Edward was going.

"Man…" she muttered before catching up to Edward. "Hey, Ed."

"Hmm?"

"What if Sakura found out?" she questioned, carefully looking at his expression.

His golden orbs looked up at the sky, having a thoughtful expression on him. "Then we'll tell her what she needs to know."

"What if she doesn't understand this whole situation?" Winry pondered, her index under her bottom lip looking thoughtful.

"Then let's leave it at that."

The female frowned, not exactly liking the idea at all. She couldn't say a word in anything though. It was after all their situation. She could however advise them, but would they listen? Most likely not. Winry sighed, and decided to just watch what would happen if the pink haired girl would find out about their bodies. Winry hoped that Sakura would take it well if she were to find out about the Elric's secret.

"Ugh…" muttered Asuma as he flicked away the cigarette butt to the ground. Tiredly he pulled out his secret stash of cigarettes that was on his vest pocket, and took out another one. He didn't light it though; he had left the lighter back at the hotel room they were currently reserving. With dull eyes he half glared and half stared at the boy in front of him.

"The spring of youth is among us Asuma-sensei! Let us catch up with Shikamaru-san and Hinata-san!" cried out Rock Lee as he was leading the way. He stopped shortly, and looked back. The fourteen year old frowned as he noticed that Asuma was lagging behind. "Asuma-sensei, are you alright? Is the great youthfulness of this city not enough?"

Asuma's left eyed twitched. "I'll get Gai for this…I swear," he muttered darkly passing by the boy with the outrageous green outfit.

"Yoshi! The Spring of youth is uplifting!" said the enthusiastic taijutsu user as he was catching up to Asuma. They both stopped at once carefully watching the scene before him.

"Shikamaru…?" questioned Asuma raising an eyebrow. Rock Lee instantly looked around trying to find some sort of distraction. Lee couldn't help but blush slightly at the words that came from Asuma's mouth.

"Heh can't believe he's actually dating that Suna girl."

All Rock Lee did was shake his head, not believing what had come out of the older man's mouth. Such a misunderstanding! Just as Lee's gaze was once again fixed at the couple that had come out of the library, he had briefly wondered what had happened to Neji's cousin, Hinata.

"We're back!" cried out a female voice.

Sakura stopped folding her washed clothes she had done yesterday, and smiled brightly at the people that had just come to the room. She placed her shorts at the table, and gave a slight bow. "Welcome back. Glad you guys came back."

She suddenly felt arms around her shoulders. Winry had suddenly hugged her with full force. "Oh Sakura! You don't know what I had to do yesterday!" Sakura had suddenly felt the blonds hand tremble slightly. "I was pretty scared actually," she heard Winry mutter.

Frowning a bit, Sakura looked back at the other figure that had just closed the door. Edward instantly looked away at Sakura's gaze, almost feeling guilty for some reason. She curiously kept her gaze at him wondering what he was going to do. Sakura felt the hug loosen, and was now face to face with a grinning Winry.

"Well anyway right now Al is getting some food for us right now," she looked back at Edward. "I'm going to go shower, Ed be good to Sakura."

Edward shrugged his shoulders. "Sure, sure."

Blue eyes glared at the blond figure. "I mean it Edward."

"We'll be fine Winry-san," assured the pinkette to the blond. "I think the water is warm right now."

Winry jumped for joy, giving a quick hug to the young girl, and a glare to the male in the room, she hurriedly went to the bathroom. Once she door shut, Sakura went back to was she was doing before she was interrupted. Taking a seat, she began to fold her red kimono. She knew that the blond was watching her; somehow he didn't trust her so Sakura was hesitant to actually organize her stuff that was inside her bag.

"So," began Edward taking a seat in front of her. "Xing huh?"

"Yes," the pinkette said finally finishing folding her clothes. She placed it next to her pants, and then with her green eyes looked at Edward. She gave him a hesitant smile. "Is something wrong Edward-san?"

"Why do you put '-san' in everyone's name?" he questioned. He leaned back, and crossed his arms. "Is it common in Xing or something?"

"Oh it's … a way to show respect, I think it's how someone would say 'Mr.' or 'Miss.' Very similar," Sakura said in a thoughtful expression. "Perhaps it's better to call it … honorific or suffix?"

The blond also looked thoughtful. Not helping, but be curious about the foreigner, he leaned in. "Think you can tell me more about these … honorifics?"

With a bright smile, Sakura nodded. "Un! I shall!"

Edward couldn't help, but give a grin. Maybe talking to this pinkette kid wouldn't be such a bad thing. Soon their first fairly well conversation started.

"You're telling me to what?" hissed out the female Suna kunochi. Hand on her hips; she glared at the boy in front of her. "You just want me to leave all the duties I have here just to go to Konoha, and tell some revenge sucking blind eyed freak of a cousin that the heiress of his clan has gone missing?"

"He has to find out before anyone," said Shikamaru as his eyes narrowed. "If the Hyuuga Clan were to find out…"

"Tch," four pony tails crossed her arms. "Go tell my brother about it right now, I'll prepare for this stupid mission."

Shikamaru sighed. "Thanks, Temari."

"Yeah, yeah," she said as she was walking away from the Konoha ninja. "You just owe me a long tour of your village."

The male scratched his neck nervously. "Troublesome."

Just as the female left the hotel room, Shikamaru's gaze was currently on the sky. He banged his fist on the table, not being able to control his emotions at the time. Somehow he had literally screwed up this time. If the Hyuuga Clan were to find out about a missing upper member, who knows what might happen to his own clan. Right now he was playing a very risky game. Lying to the Hyuugas was not part of his plan to bring back the pink haired kunochi. Actually having Hyuuga Hinata inside his book was not part of the plan.

"Damn it."

He had to hurry; he didn't want his brother, Winry, and their new friend Sakura to starve because of his lateness. Running, Alphonse couldn't help but worry for them. It really wasn't his fault for his late timing actually. The line to get the food was pretty long, and he patiently waited for twenty people who were in front of him order first.

The metallic armor let out a sigh. He was currently carrying a pink box filled with what would be breakfast for his brother and his friends. "Sometimes I wish I had brother's attitude and impatience."

Running metallic footsteps were heard along with some people chatting along the way.

"What am I thinking?!"

A sudden flash of light in a dark alleyway made Alphonse stop his tracks. He stood still, and once he could have sworn the light disappear, he quickly headed that way. He passed by trashcans and random stray cats (although he was tempted to pick them up and stuff them in his armor). He stopped once he saw a laying body on the dirt ground. Alphonse gently placed the package of food down on the ground, and took a step forward where the body lay.

"U-Um…"

He bent down, and gently turned the body over, just to see a gentle sleeping face. A girl with navy blue hair that reached her shoulders was sleeping. She had weird clothing to begin with, but something wasn't right. Alphonse looked around the area; he could have sworn he saw a flash of light come from here. Going back to the girl, he knew he could not leave her here alone in the cold ground.

He noticed that she was starting to wake up since her eyes grimaced. Her eyes slowly opened, she blinked a couple of times but something bothered the metallic armor. The girl had no pupils which meant that she was blind as a bat. But what would a blind girl be in an empty alleyway in the first place?

"Excuse me, are you alright?" questioned Alphonse with worry in his voice. If she was blind then that meant she didn't know of his presence.

Again the girl's presence disturbed Alphonse as veins began to surrounding her eyes. It freaked him out a bit, but what caused him to be disturbed more than the veins around her eyes, was the way she was looking at him. It was as if she was seeing through him which was something he did not like at all. The metal armor took not of her shocking facial expression.

"A-Anata wa…karada o m-motsutteinainodesuka…?" she whispered. He could hear fear in that tone of voice she had used.

Hesitantly Alphonse tried to keep his calm. "I-I'm sorry I…oh no!"

The girl had fainted. Instantly Alphonse carried the girl to his arms, went to get the box filled with food, and dashed out of the alley. He had to get some sort of help.

Alphonse was currently blaming the thought he had previously before finding the unconscious girl. He couldn't believe that he had wished he had his brother's personality. "It's all brother's fault!"

I leave you there now. (: Enjoy the chapter!

He – It's actually pronounced "Eh", I learned that the hiragana "Ha, Hi, Hu, He, Ho" were mostly for distinguishing laughs or types of sounds. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I was told that by my Japanese teacher. Blame heeer! D:

Anata wa karada o motsutteinainodesuka – You hold no body? I was actually going to use 'nikutai' which I think means 'flesh meat' but I think the kanji was too difficult, so I used my level two Japanese vocabulary. Sorry! This phrase could be wrong though, I was having trouble using the kanji "Mo(tsu)" a lot. Bleh!