A/N I don't own FMA

Chapter Eight

"Wait a minute! You can fight?" Ed said to Chen as he knocked over three men with the staff he had just pulled from the ground.

"Yes well at least YOU can fight and aren't completely useless like my last couple of bodyguards." Chen replied as she slammed two heads together before catching the staff Ed threw to her and knocking over another two.

"Hey I'm not useless!" Ed said as he pulled another staff from the ground and rushed another man.

"That's what I just said." Chen replied, hitting her next opponent in the stomach with the blunt end before kneeing him in the forehead when he bent over. "Behind you.'

Without looking, Edward punched the man in the face with his metal fist. "Thanks. I'll have you know I've been training since I was a child."

"SO last week then?" Chen said as she knocked out a final man.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO SMALL HE SITS AT THE KIDS TABLE?!"

"… Not your best one. Was that all of them?"

"Looks like it."

They had been attacked halfway across the field by men who had jumped off a passing train. Ed guessed they must be with the group that had attacked the train they had been thrown from earlier this week. Chen had still been lecturing him loudly at the time, so any chance of pretending to be anyone else was lost.

Now that the fight was over there was still the matter of their own argument. Ed decided the simplest solution was to just grab Chen's hand and drag her back to his brother. After all, she may be… of equivalent height, but he outweighed her. Chen, for her part, went limp shortly after they could no longer see the cage he had trapped their attackers in. Ed stubbornly continued on, now dragging the girl behind him. She seemed to get heavier by the minute though she wasn't protesting or showing any resistance.

Chen continued on in this manner for nearly an hour, however her shoulder was beginning to hurt and Ed showed no sign of relenting. They were nearing the tree line when she decided that she had no desire to be drug over exposed roots. "Alright. You win! Let me go and I'll walk."

"Fine. No funny business." Ed said with relief as he let her go. He was tired of dragging her anyway.

Chen glared at him as she stood and rubbed her shoulder and wrist. "You're a jerk."

"C'mon. We gotta go find Al." Ed said as he turned away.

"No." Chen said as she took off running toward the field again.

"Dammit." Ed said with a groan. He didn't have time for this. He needed to find his brother. He sighed as he ran after her, catching up in just a few steps. He intentionally bowled into her, knocking them both off of their feet.

They rolled together down the hill, before landing at the bottom with Ed on top. He effectively pinned her legs by sitting on them, as she tried to push him off, so he pinned her arms as well. "Stop being a brat! We need to find my brother." Ed demanded with a frown, completely annoyed now.

"Get off! Don't you know it's rude to tackle a girl?"

"No it's not. That's just stupid."

"Do you even know any girls?"

"Yes. My best friend is a girl. I've tackled her tons of times and she never complained because she's a girl. That's just dumb."

"You're dumb." They both heard the clanging of Al's armor as he ran up to them.

"Brother! You can't just pull a princess around like that! It's rude!"

"She's being terrible Al!" Ed whined. " She was MAKING me drag her!"

"FULLMETAL! GET OFF THE PRINCESS AT ONCE!" Mustang yelled closing the distance. "What has come over you? That is no way to treat a foreign dignitary."

Ed grumbled as he stood up. Chen followed him to her feet, brushing off her filthy clothes. "You try dealing with her for a week Mustang." He said. "You'd probably catch her on fire. All I did was knock her down before she could get us in more trouble."

"You can't just force people to listen to you Brother." Al said with a sigh. "You could have really hurt her. She's a girl."

Chen had been annoyed at being pinned, but it was hardly her first scuffle with someone her own age. Already, she was finding parts of it rather funny, especially when the others arrived. "It's alright Alphonse, he didn't hurt me."

"Are you sure Chen? That tackle was pretty hard." Al asked, still concerned.

"Yeah. An hour ago she helped me take out twenty guys." Ed said dismissively. "Which wouldn't have happened if she ever freaking listened."

Chen stuck out her tongue at Ed who crossed his arms with a scowl. "You need to act your age Fullmetal." Mustang interjected.

"Sir, he's twelve." Said Fuery. Breda and Havoc had remained at the cage to await transport. Falman had followed a small dirt road that Ed had missed to the next town to call for backup. Fuery, and Hawkeye had continued on with Mustang. Al had lead them all back to camp during this exchange.

"He must act his rank then." Mustang said dismissively.

"Well, since when is babysitting in the job description of Major, Colonel? I didn't see that in the paperwork." Ed said with a frown.

"Fullmetal-" Mustang began but was interrupted when a screaming blur of pink and black rushed past him to tackle Edward from behind. Ed landed face down in the soft moss they had slept on the night before. His arms and legs were splayed around him as Chen landed on his back.

Ed managed to turn his head to look at the shocked expressions of his team. "Hey, I thought you said girls don't tackle?"

"No I said it was rude to tackle girls and you are NOT my babysitter!" Chen said.

"They only stop fighting for food and alchemy." AL said from the sidelines to Fuery. He sighed as he pulled a kicking and screaming Chen from the heap that was his brother with a forced calm.

"I ordered you to be polite Fullmetal." Mustang said as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I lent her my coat when she was cold. I kept her fed and took her shopping, and taught her how to camp. I WAS polite." Ed said as he rolled to his feet.

Mustang glared at Ed, as he tried to decide if the boy honestly thought his behavior had been acceptable. They had all been sitting at the kids' campsite for the last ten minutes while everyone rested and watched Ed rant.

Hawkeye and Chen had sat a bit away from Mustang and Ed. From the half formed snippets Roy overheard while Ed was taking a breath, he assumed Riza was dealing with a ranting teen of her own. Fuery was about to head back to Breda and Havoc to inform them they had found the children, Al had been sitting with the smaller man, and now had decided to just follow him back down the path.

Roy watched Fuery escape the angry children longingly, before he realized Ed had started complaining again." – and she doesn't follow orders worth a damn." Ed finished, before taking another breath. As he pointed wildly in Chen's direction. The final screw came out of the plate on his arm, and fell to the ground along with the plate when he lowered it.

"I understand." Mustang said dryly, as Ed stared down at the battered piece of metal now laying on the ground next to his foot. "After all, I gave someone- you- a simple assignment which someone -again you- managed to turn into a rescue mission and possibly an international incident."

"Oh. No." Ed said quietly.

"I am confident we will find a way to avoid this becoming a larger problem Fullmetal." Mustang relented as he reminded himself this CHILD was still new and had just gone through a major ordeal.

"Not that. THAT." Ed said as he pointed down at the missing piece. " Oh. No. Oh no no no. WInry's going to kill me! She just made me promise to be careful and what happens? I break my arm CAMPING. SHE'S GOING TO KILL ME! Where are the screws. We have to find them. I have to at least bring her all the pieces. Everyone! Help look for screws!"

Ed dropped to the ground in search of the missing pieces, to everyone else's confusion. Ed was frantically running his hand over the ground as he continued to mutter under his breath. Mustang sighed and decided to help the boy look. Hawkeye soon joined them as Chen asked what was wrong. "You decided to pick a fight with some idiots, got us thrown from a moving train, and cracked my automail! THEN you ran off, got us in another fight, and forced me to drag you back here breaking it the rest of the way. Now I'm going to die because you're a brat!"

"I don't see how any of this is my fault!" Chen said crossing her arms as Hawkeye wordlessly handed Edward a handful of screws. Followed by Mustang presenting his own handful. Ed quickly counted them, before realizing that he was still three pieces short.