Spoilers: None in this chapter

Warnings: More introspection...yes, there is fighting coming up, I'll get to it...lol

Notes: I've been asked what truffles are...so here is a short explanation. They are the most (in my mind, at least) delicious chocolate confections ever created (right up there with chocolate souffles and creme de pots...lol). Most consist of a harder chocolate outer shell with a smooth creamy ganache (beaten chocolate, similar to mousse one could say) inside, and the classic type is dusted with bitter cocoa powder. Trader Joe's carries them in bulk (these are so-so) but if you're a real hedonist (guilty look), get the good kind...there are many, many varieties out there. Ethel M's mint truffles are a favorite of mine although I don't believe they fit the classic truffle definition... Damn, I love these things... I imagined Mustang enjoying one of these sensuous little chocolates and went ooooh (inner squeal) so therefore, in my fic, he hoards them. LOL! Okay, that's my 2 cents...now on with the story...

Next chapter up in a day or two...

Felis Catus: Circle Nine
"Okay cat - here's the plan," Edward muttered as he slunk along the shadows stretching between the alleyways. "The minute we spot a chimera, I'll fight it while you run."

Roy hissed. Stupid Edward. As if he'd run while Edward was in danger! He had claws and he damn well intended to use them!

"No no no! I meant, you run and get HELP, you stupid cat, ow ow ow stop biting my ear!"

Roy let go, feeling slightly mollified but still having no intention of running off. Hawkeye was in the tower. She'd notice the ruckus and radio all the other members of his team to help.

"Well, what are you gonna do then? Hiss at the big bad chimera and make it go away?" Edward whispered back to the black cat perched on his shoulder, scowling all the while. "Maybe it'll die laughing and save me the problem of killing it..."

Roy didn't feel that such a comment required any sort of an answer from him. He had his pride, after all.

"Stupid, stubborn, cat..." Edward continued muttering as he patrolled the darkened streets, golden eyes sharp and every sense alert for any movements. "You're exactly like the bastard Colonel...you don't listen, you don't give in and you don't know what's good for you...and you won't ever, ever admit that you're wrong or have a weakness..."

Roy, if he could, would have adopted his infamous "not listening" pose at this point - arms crossed, nose in the air, bland expression on his face, aura of deafness firmly in place...a pity that wasn't possible now.

He satisfied himself with a languidly waving tail, implicitly conveying in not too subtle terms - "whatever..."

"See? That's exactly the sort of thing I mean..." Edward griped, peering around a corner and promptly dismissing the small alley as a hiding place. "Stupid Roy...with his stupid masks..."

Roy? Since when were they on a first name basis? And masks? Hmm maybe Edward had gotten into his stash of truffles after all...some of them did have rum in the centers...and Edward was definitely not the type to be able to hold his liquor... Roy smirked inwardly.

"Hmm, I remember the time he sent me and Al on that mission to Drachma..." Edward mused, slinking down another narrow alley and quietly scaling the low wall to land lightly on his feet on the other side, Roy a silent passenger on his shoulders. "He actually had to come with us on that mission. It was hysterical, you know? He'd never been to Drachma either, and he kept pretending it was nothing new to him, the oh-so-mature and knowledgeable adult..." Edward had to snort before continuing, to Roy's annoyance.

"You could totally tell - well I could at least, Al thought I was hallucinating - that Roy was absolutely tickled silly to be out of stuffy old Central and his stuffy old office on a trip to somewhere NEW. By the Gate, he was practically trying not to bounce in the train seat!"

Roy was chagrined. Was he that obvious? Here he thought he'd manage to completely cultivate an impenetrable aura of authority despite his inner excitement...damn it all! Okay, either he was too obvious, or Fullmetal was making a rather nerve-wracking habit out of studying him...and either option did not bode well.

"He kept getting up to 'inspect the train like a proper military officer'" - here Edward mimicked Roy's voice almost perfectly - " and I could swear he only did that so he could walk around the train and look through all the windows..." Edward went on, peering into a dimly lit doorway and trying the door to be sure it was locked. It was. He walked on, continuing his soliloquy to the now bemused cat.

"And once we got there, he had ALL the hosts eating out of his hand," Ed snickered, passing by a streetlight and giving it a wide berth. "But then, the problem came when we had to eat dinner..."

Roy cringed. Oh, now he knew where this was going...

"He swore that the food was okay to eat...he SWORE..." Edward complained, remembering. Roy winced. "I couldn't get out of bed for three DAYS after eating their food...and he was FINE, the bastard!"

Roy hunched himself smaller. It was such a small thing, really. As usual, Edward had it blown all out of proportion. Roy hadn't known that Fullmetal couldn't handle spicy food...personally Roy relished spices; he'd grown up in a populated region where the hotter the food, the better, fitting with his fiery personality. Edward, on the other hand, had grown up in a mostly agrarian area where fresh fruits and produce were staples and spices were almost unheard of. He hadn't thought to warn Edward. He hadn't thought he needed to...but oh dear, was that an oversight...

Edward had inhaled the food as he was wont to do, and once the peppers and chili oil had hit his system...oh, Roy didn't even want to remember... The heat of the food combined with the humidity of the area had promptly caused Edward to drop in a dead faint. For the next three days, he'd run a dangerously elevated fever, actually caused by an insect of the region, according to the doctors, but Edward maintained steadfastly that it was food, not the insect, and that it was Roy's fault for not warning him the food was spicy.

"And would he admit he was wrong? Nooooooo, not HIM, never him, never wrong!" Edward went on, easily multi-tasking between watching the streets and continuing his ranting.

Roy winced again. Hey! He'd been properly apologetic, in his mind - he'd given up their hosts' offers of entertainment and dining and stayed by Edward's side along with Alphonse throughout the ordeal, he'd even spoon fed the irritable blond alchemist...granted the medication wasn't very appetizing, but heck, if it didn't taste bad it wasn't medicine...

"I mean, he did stay with me, and Al told me later than Roy was feeling really wracked with guilt and didn't leave my side and all that, but he didn't actually APOLOGIZE to me, " Ed complained.

What? Roy twitched. That was the only way he could describe it. He twitched. All that attention, care, and obvious apologetic motions...and all Edward wanted was a verbal apology? It was so...so...EDWARD. Roy sighed irritably. Why couldn't Edward understand that some things didn't need to be SAID, that they were meant through ACTIONS? Roy was just not a communicative person - he showed his emotions through his deeds. Words were, in his mind, largely unnecessary!

"Okay, okay, so I'm being childish..." Ed sighed, in response to the pointed look the cat on his shoulder was now giving him. "I know...the weird thing is that I wouldn't care if Al or Hughes or someone else did that, but for some reason, when it's the Colonel, I want to hear him SAY it!"

Roy almost fell off Edward's shoulder.

Edward didn't notice; he was snapping a silent salute to Havoc and Fury as they passed by on the opposite side of the street. As they disappeared back into the shadows, Ed kept talking. "I think it's probably some sadistic part of me that wants him to admit that he's wrong...just because he's always right! It drives me NUTS!"

Ah. Now Roy understood. With Al and Hughes, and the other members of Mustang's team, Edward knew implicitly that they were inwardly apologetic and he would magnanimously accept their gestures of goodwill as apologies. With Roy on the other hand, Edward couldn't really be sure of his intentions and was immediately suspicious, hence he wanted everything spelled out in black and white so he wouldn't think too much on the implications of Roy's actions.

It was...slightly - okay, more than slightly - flattering. Roy smirked. Ah - more ammunition with which to drive Edward out of his mind. This was good stuff.

"I'm never going to understand that man," Edward said, sotto voce, surprising Roy out of his gleeful contemplation of his next prank on Fullmetal when he was back to normal. "What I don't understand the most though, is why I WANT to understand him."

Hmmmmmm...now that WAS food for thought, Roy mused, intrigued in spite of himself. Why DID Edward keep trying to make him smile or laugh? Why DID Edward want to bother trying to understand him? Except for Riza and Maes, his two oldest childhood friends, Roy honestly couldn't think of anyone he'd met during his adult life who wanted to understand him.

Oh sure, he inspired loyalty and devotion among his men, and he knew that they would unquestionably die for him - but not if he could help it - but his men did not try to understand him. They obeyed him and gave him implicit trust, trusting that HE knew what he was doing. They did not question. Edward did. It set him apart immediately.

There's something I'm just not seeing...Roy thought, annoyed at himself. He'd always prided himself on being able to see the big picture - so now, why was it that he couldn't seem to move beyond the sad face he was looking at now?

Edward sighed, and stopped stalking along the streets to lean back slightly against the wall of a nearby alley to rest. "Well anyways, cat, we've circled most of First District...guess we're just in luck tonight; the chimeras must be in one of the other three districts."

Roy really wished Edward hadn't said that.

The wall Edward was currently leaning against chose that moment to move.

To be con't...