Non-stick frying pans, zucchini, Russian Chocolates, flashlights, broken pens, mute swans, dead mice, and the CIA. What do these things have to do with eachother, you ask? Well, then, you all must have never had a day like I have. Try and find out what these things have to do with eachother. If anyone gets it right, I'll write whatever you want, as long as it's not yaoi or citrus-y. Plus, I might type out my story that is taking up 141 sheets of loose-leaf…so far. -.-

I never mentioned this, but this is after Hughes gets killed. That's it.

You know, if you think about it…Kikyo is kinda like a pot…a clay pot. And all the Inuyasha characters are pessimists until one person says something optimistic…then they're raging optimists. That's annoying and they always point out the obvious. WHEE!

You know that commercial about the nicotine patches and stuff like that? With the little black creatures? My dad says that that is my commercial, that I am those little black things when they're freaking out. I don't know how I feel about that. For those of you have never talked with, me through email or other, that should give you a good idea of how I am. Nice and crazy. And cynical…fundamentally.

Disclaimer: Poo-ding? .

Chapter Twenty Five

So Tired

Inuyasha leapt in front of Ed, Al, and Miroku, facing the direction where the fire and snap had come from. Through the smoke, a man emerged. He was tall and had dark hair and eyes. He was wearing a blue uniform of some type, Inuyasha wasn't familiar with it, it didn't look like the ones the 'poll-ice' wear from Kagome's time, but it had a certain likeness. The man lifted his hand in front of his face. "Who are you?" His voice was deep and Inuyasha could tell he was trying to be threatening.

Inuyasha scoffed. "That's a hell of a question to ask! We're here fighting and you come out of nowhere! What's wrong with you?!" Inuyasha held his blade in front of him. "Don't piss me off, sparky, or I'll cut you in half!"

"General…" Inuyasha looked back to see Al walking toward him and the man. Inuyasha looked back at the man to see him smiling in recognition. He turned back and saw Ed stand on wobbly feet. Ed looked at the man, who Inuyasha turned to face. The man glared and crouched down and drew something, he touched the drawing gingerly. Inuyasha turned back to see Ed being enveloped by ropes that sprouted from the ground. Inuyasha looked back at the man to see him glare, but the man's eyes showed pure rage and he started to walk quickly towards Ed, Yelling.

"WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?! I HAVE BEEN LOOKING ALL OVER THE GODDAMN COUNTRY TO FIND YOUR SORRY ASS! I HAD AGENTS GO OVER TO XING, DRACHMA, AND AERUGO IN SECRET TO SEE IF THEY COULD FIND YOU THERE!!! I'M GONNA KICK YOUR ASS THEN MAKE SURE YOU NEVER LEAVE CENTRAL! YOU REMEMBER HOW BAD IT WAS TO HAVE BROSH AND ROSS FOLLOW YOU? WELL, IT JUST GOT WORSE!!! DON'T JUST SIT THERE! SAY SOMETHING!!!!!" He was panting and glaring at Ed.

Ed looked at the man and managed a weak smile. "Nice to see you, Roy." The man swung his fist, hitting Ed square in the jaw and causing him to fall. "THAT'S A HELL OF A GREETING!"

Roy smirked. "You little bastard, you're mad at me when you've been missing for two GODDAMN WEEKS!!!" His voice grew louder and he turned to Al. "Your brother's a frickin' idiot! Why didn't you try to get him to come back to Armestris?"

Al squeaked. "I-I tried, General Mustang, I really did, so did Brother! But, we couldn't get back, so we're still working on it."

Roy turned to Inuyasha and the comatose Miroku, who everyone seemed to be forgetting, and turned back to Ed. "Who the hell are these guys?"

Ed sighed. "Our captors…" Inuyasha growled and Ed laughed. "No, no, no. They're Inuyasha and Miroku, they're friends."

Roy turned to Inuyasha and the passed out lecher. "What's wrong with that guy?"

Ed looked at him. "SHIT!"

Inuyasha picked him up and put him onto his back. "We gotta get to Kaede's village; Miroku got infected by saimyosho poison."

Roy looked confused. "Sah ma o shi?"

"SAIMYOSHO! THEY'RE THOSE BEE/WASP THINGS! Whatever, we gotta go; he's already got a fever."

Ed nodded. "Right, let's run!" Roy looked depressed by that. "What's wrong, Princess? Too much work?" He got a closer look at him, seeing the dark circles that seemed to be weighing down his eyes.

Roy smiled. "I…I'm ready, let's go."

Ed looked to Al, who nodded and picked Roy up and started running behind Inuyasha, with Ed following. Roy fought him off initially, but soon stopped and went into a trance-like state, which was probably caused by lack of sleep. Ed noticed this, but stayed quiet and focused on keeping up and blocking the recent incident. He didn't want to remember Al's face like that, only good things that his brother did. He was still freaked out, but that didn't really matter. At that currently mattered was the health of his friends, his health could wait.

Sango sat outside, leaning on the hut. She was waiting. She refused to go inside with the others, she didn't want to rest until she knew that Miroku was okay…and it would be good to know that Al, Ed, and Inuyasha were okay, too. But, her principle concern rested with the monk and his health. He was hers. She stood when she saw shadows coming toward her; there were three….only three. She ran toward the edge of the forest and let out a whimper when she saw Inuyasha carrying the monk. Inuyasha didn't stop at her side; he went straight to the hut to get some medicine for his wounded companion. Ed and Al stopped, but the man that was slung over Al's shoulder concerned her. They couldn't care for another wounded man, they already had too many hindrances as it was, but she would never dream of voicing this concern, it was cold and …tempestuous. She looked to Ed, in a panic, but he smiled sweetly.

"Miroku will be fine…" He bent his head to catch her gaze.

She choked back a sob and looked toward the hut, which was full of people talking in hushed, urgent tones. "What…what happened to him?"

"He sucked up some saimyosho." He looked toward the hut and then back at her, just to see her nod weakly and let her head sink, so she only faced the ground.

Al came up and put his hand on her shoulder, having abandoned Roy next to a tree. "He'll be okay, Sango, I know he will." She nodded a little and then started to cry. Ed looked over to see Roy attempting to stand, then falling and cussing, making it hard for him not to laugh, instead he just sweat-dropped and looked back to Sango and smiled. Al held out his hand and spoke sweetly. "Come on, Sango, let's go inside and wait until he wakes up. I'm sure Kagome wants to talk to you." She nodded and Al led her inside while Ed walked over to Roy and helped him stand.

"If you keep falling all over the place like that, people will think you're a lush." He smiled at Roy.

Roy scoffed and looked at the hut. "That girl loves the monk, I take it."

Ed nodded. "And there's another girl in there, but she loves Inuyasha. Winry's in there along with two more girls and two demons and an old woman."

Roy looked at Ed, who just scratched his head. "That's quite a posse you've got going on there. The demons…what are they? What do they look like?"

"One looks like a cat, almost, and the other looks like a chimera of a fox and boy…it's interesting, to say the least. Also, incase you have some questions later when your observation skills increase, Inuyasha and Payne, one of the girls, she has red hair, are half-demons. Inuyasha has dog ears," He held his hands up to his head and waved them near where Inuyasha's would be, not moving his wrist from his real ears, " and Payne has pointed ears." He grabbed the tops of his ears. He brought his hands down and looked at Roy seriously. "All are very good companions, I have no complaints. They have helped us, protected us and traveled with us."

Roy looked at him seriously. "Where are their parents?"

Ed turned toward the hut. "Let's go, they'll get worried if we stay out here." He started walking toward the hut without waiting for Roy.

"Hey! Wait! You didn't answer my question!" He walked into the hut, but quieted when he realized all eyes were on him. He waved and smiled. "Uh…hi…?"

Kagome stood and bowed a little and Inuyasha grabbed her hand and pulled her down. "Don't bow, you idiot!"

She pulled her hand away and yelled. "Don't be rude, Inuyasha! SIT!" His face slammed into the ground, which caused the little fox-boy thingy to start dancing on his head, which caused Inuyasha to grab him by the foot and shake him up and down in the air. When the little thing started to cry for help, Kagome looked at him and sighed. "You kind of deserve it, Shippo; I mean you did dance on his head."

Inuyasha laughed. "Yeah, brat, don't be an idiot if you can't accept the consequences of your stupidity!"

"And Inuyasha, you're abusing your power over him!" He gulped and dropped the demon, causing him to fall on his head. "OOH! Shippo are you okay?"

Shippo started to rub his head violently. "Inuyasha, you jerk!"

Roy just stared at them in utter amazement of their immaturity. Ed laughed uncomfortably from his spot next to Winry. Roy noticed that they were holding hands and he smiled. Ed noticed his stare and let go of Winry's hand and crossed his arms, blushing. This caused Roy to laugh and Winry to get pissed. She stood and went to go sit next to Alphonse, to which Ed looked at her pleadingly and then glared at Roy, causing him to laugh even harder. But, all laughs stopped when Miroku groaned. Everyone turned to him. He was sweating and his face was contorted in pain. Sango grabbed his hand and squeezed it and started to coo into his ear.

Kagome stood and went to her bag. "There's gotta be something else I can give him!" she jumped up in victory, having found some aspirin for the pain that wouldn't conflict with the poison antidotes that she gave him. "Here," she said crouching down next to Sango, presenting two white pills, "give him these; they should help with the pain and the Benadryl I gave him."

Sango turned to her and smiled. "Thank you, Kagome."

Kagome smiled. "No problem."

Payne walked over to Kagome and looked at the bottle. "Is that the stuff you gave me?"

Kagome nodded. "Yes, they're called aspirin, well, these are Tylenol, but that's just the brand name. But, they help with pain."

Inuyasha stood up and yelled. "YOU'VE NEVER GIVEN ME THOSE!"

Kagome smiled and turned to him. "That is because you are a half demon…and you are annoying."

"You're so cruel! Everyone thinks you're soo nice, but that's just an act and I knew it all along, but you would lie and say that I'm mean."

"You are mean, I am nice, and I don't lie."

"See, that right there is a lie! You lie to your idiot friends from your school! They think you're sick all the time, when in reality you are rarely ever sick! …I'M NOT MEAN!"

"But you are slow…"

"SHUT UP, SHIPPO!"

"Inuyasha, you hate taking pills, I can't force you, you're stronger than I am and all that would do is make you mad. All you ever let me do when you're injured is bandage your wounds, nothing else; do you think I want to make you suffer?" Her voice sounded hurt at the end, causing Inuyasha to falter.

"Don't-Don't mess with my head!" He pointed at her and twitched a little.

Kagome looked at him seriously. "I know you too well for you to play these games with me and win, so don't even bother. You will lose."

Inuyasha sighed and sat back down. "Whatever."

Kagome looked at Roy and stood. She held out her hand stiffly. "Hi…um… I'm Kagome Higurashi. These are Sango, Miroku, Kaede, Shippo, Inuyasha, Kirara, Fumi, and Payne." She pointed at everyone as she introduced them but seemed a little distracted by his uniform. "You're a General?"

Roy nodded. "General Roy Mustang, Flame Alchemist, at your service."

Ed muttered. "He speaks it so arrogantly. He had to say his rank and title."

"Shut up, Fullmetal! I'll turn you into charcoal!"

Ed jumped up and danced in front of him, transmuting his arm into a blade. "Let's see you try, you damn pyro! Let's finish what we started at my last assessment! But, this time the Fuhrer won't be here to save your dumbass!"

Al jumped up and held Edward back. "Brother! The General hasn't even been here an hour and you're already fighting with him! Shame! And look at him; he's tired and that's obvious, be nice!"

Ed turned around and glared at him. "Why is it you never side with me?"

"I do so, it just so happens that I sided with you during the fight against the homunculi about an hour ago!"

"That doesn't count, that's against our enemies, I mean against my enemies!"

"Why am I your enemy?" Roy feigned emotional pain, grabbed his chest and spoke with a whine.

"Brother, that's stupid, General Mustang is not your enemy, he had helped us too many times for him to be your enemy!"

"Shut up, that's an act and I know it! Roy Mustang, you are a bureaucratic bastard with a god complex and nothing you do can show me otherwise. Didn't Hughes tell you I said that?!"

Roy looked away when Ed mentioned Hughes. He still didn't know and Roy didn't want to tell him. "Yeah, he did." His tone was quiet, and Al seemed to take notice of this.

"Sir, is something wrong? Did something happen to Lieutenant Colonel Hughes?!" Al stood close to Roy.

Roy looked at him and averted his gaze. "Um…no, he's just out of the military now and he took Gracia and Elicia out of the city and into the country, I just haven't seen him in some time."

Ed looked at Roy's face, he knew he was lying, but he didn't know why. "Fine, we'll further discuss this later." He smiled a little. "We need to set everything up so Roy here can crash…he looks like crap."

Roy glared. "Thanks, Ed." Ed shrugged and he sighed. He and Roy started firing insults at one another as they sat down near Al and Kagome.

Inuyasha stood and walked toward the door, causing Kagome to stand and call after him "Where are you going?!"

Inuyasha turned and looked at her seriously. "I'm going to either find or build another hut, there's nowhere near enough room in here for all of us, because we seem to keep collecting more people. Besides, the hag never said we all could stay here. I know that there are some friends of mine that will allow us to board in their shed…or I could steal Miroku's money and get a room at the inn. Either way…I'm gonna go look." He walked out nonchalantly; causing everyone to sweat-drop, save for Miroku, the comatose wonder, and Roy, who had fallen asleep after he and Ed had finished their insult battle.

Kagome looked at Roy and got a blanket from her bag, to which Ed snatched it and threw it back at her. "Don't be nice to him!"

Kagome put it back on him and glared at him. "Edward, you touch this blanket again and I'll make you cry." The sweetness of her words and the calmness of her demeanor scared the life out of Ed.

He paled and looked at Al. "Did that scare you, too, or was it just me?" Al seemed to be shuddering, but he answered by just nodding. Ed nodded. "I knew it…religious figures are creepy."

Kagome faltered. "I'm not a religious figure, Ed."

"I thought you said you were a priestess? Aren't you?"

She blushed. "I am, but I'm not like…an icon or anything…I've only had people pray to me like four times."

"WHAT?! That's freakish! Doesn't that strike you as a bit odd?"

She shrugged and sighed. "I never asked them to, they just did it on their own. It's not like I'm Kikyo or anything."

"Yeah, about her, when are we gonna meet her?"

Kagome glared at the floor. "I hope she doesn't come around until everyone is healed. She causes too much trouble."

Sango stood and rubbed Kagome's back. "Its okay, Kagome. I think Inuyasha knows how you feel and you acted very mature last time."

Kagome sighed and her face was obviously upset, but then she smiled. "I have to go help Inuyasha." She stood and left quickly.

Shippo looked after her. "Poor Kagome. It would help if Inuyasha wasn't so clueless. We all know that they care for eachother. Kagome is loyal to him, it would be nice if he showed her with the same respect and do the same for her."

Ed looked toward the door and sighed. "So, are they the same age?"

Sango shook her head. "Kagome's sixteen and Kikyo is in the body of a nineteen year old. But, I can see why Inuyasha loves her; she's distant, cold, enigmatic, and she-"

"-Was Inuyasha's first love." Everyone turned to see Miroku sitting, propped up by his left arm.

Sango ran over and smothered him in a hug, then realized what she was doing, just as Miroku grabbed her ass. "PERVERT! Why do you have to ruin something as pure as a hug? AND, why did you get hurt? I told you not to!"

Miroku smiled weakly. "I didn't get hurt, I just got poisoned, there's a… who is that?" He asked, pointing at Roy, who was unaffected by the commotion.

Ed looked apologetic. "Sorry, he's a friend of mine. He was the one that saved us from…from Envy." Ed looked to the ground by the end of the sentence, and then looked at Winry. "You lost your photo, huh?"

She groped her pockets, then freaked. "Oh no! That was the only copy I had! Aw, man." Ed smiled and pulled out a piece of paper out of his pocket. He closed his eyes in concentration, trying to remember the exact details and clapped, touching the paper lightly. The sparks died down, revealing an exact replica of the photo. He handed it to her and smiled. She smiled and took it. "Thank you, Edward."

Miroku looked around and tensed. "We have to get Inuyasha and Kagome." Everyone looked at him in concern. "I sense Kikyo's soul skimmers."