Touka Koukan
Chapter III: Ignorance is Bliss
Author's Note: Once again, I am rushing ahead to write the third chapter before my writing ideas flow away and I can no longer keep my promise. I know right now I should be working on meeting that deadline (today, June 30) but, gods, it is so freaking hard when you can't think of anything but FMA! What a curse. Anyways, this chapter is completely Edward-central and surprisingly, he's a very hard character to write for. :sweatdrop: I can't get in character with him and give him a situation to act on. It's very difficult.
Anyways, thanks to all those who reviewed! I hope to read your fics as well and offer the same support. And if you flamed . . . :shrug:
"It's all right, really," Edward said, scratching the base of his neck nervously. What would he do right now to have Al with him? He adjusted his glasses to stop himself from the habit of doing 'that neck-thing', it was starting to cause a rash.
"Nonsense!" Mr. Hatanaka said. "I insist you spend the night with us! It's really only fair that you should after saving Shuichi."
The other woman smiled and nodded. There was a young man there too, probably the age he looked. His messy black hair was bleached in several streaks on his bangs. The house was relatively western, not a trace of the Orient in a normal looking neighbourhood. It was small and cozy. Not exactly the way Edward would like it, surrounded by a stifling amount of populus but who can complain? He couldn't pay for the hotel room anymore and God knew what manner of store was open to exchange currency at this hour of the night. The mix of foreign money felt burdening in his leather wallet.
"Please, Elric-sensei. Stay a while," Mrs. Hatanaka added to the conversation. "The least we can do."
"Yes, Elric-sensei, as thanks for saving my little brother," Kyouya Hatanaka finished.
Ed sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Oh, fine. But I'm only staying to look after Shuichi's injuries."
"Thank you," the father said. "Please come in."
Heentered after the family and surveyed the room. Stopping short, he took off his shoes and laid them in a corner before stepping on the tatami mats. "Where is Shuichi?" he asked. looking about the house. It was impressive. A mix of Eastern and Western styles to make a sort of caught-between-the-cultures look. It made some sense. The mother had blonde hair and jade eyes. Maybe she was the one who governed most of the decor.
Mr. Hatanaka smiled. "I'm happy there's a kind enough doctor to be so concerned. He's upstairs resting. I have a beeper if he needs anything," he explained.
Yes, he probably didn't need it though. All of the wounds were actually a lot better than Ed thought they were. They were healing fairly quickly, with proper treatment in the hospital, of course. Still, the mental trauma could be significant. Getting mugged by a bunch of guys and you're only thirteen? That's . . . not good.
"Oh." Ed forced a smile and followed Kyouya, who beckoned him to the kitchen.
"I'm sorry, we only have riceballs for now, since Mom wasn't expecting any guests," he apologized, handing Ed a plate of the food.
"Eh?" He took them and glanced at Kyouya. A bit young, but that face definitely resembled the Colonel Bastard. "Thanks, but I'm okay. Really."
Kyouya raised an eyebrow but said nothing, instead taking back the riceballs and wrapping them with plastic. Ed rolled his eyes at the dejected way the boy did it.His mother walked in and said the same thing Kyouya did. "So, did you give our guest some, Kyouya-kun?" she asked.
Beforethe elder Hatanakabrothercould answer Ed stepped in. "Yeah! Umm, thanks a lot! Tasted great, but I'm worried about Shuichi, 'cause he's been through a lot and lost a lot of blood. Can I go and change his bandages? Maybe now that it's a little cleaner I can check for more extensive damage that might have been . . . uh . . . missed." He grinned to try and convince her it was all right. His charisma was taken from his father, it seemed.
"Of course," she said, leading him up a flight of stairs. It was a rather narrow winding thing that creaked loudly if you got on the wrong step. The third, fifth, tenth, and sixteenth ones, to be exact. Edward filed the thought away. He probably would need to sneak out after leaving some instructions on how to take care of the injuries. It wasn't that he was cold-blooded and didn't care, because he obviously did care if he kept insisting on seeing the child, but he couldn't make an attachment any longer than he needed to. He travelled and worked under a different name anyways. Only special patients knew his birth name.
"Here it is, and sorry if it's a bit messy. Shuichi likes drawing," Mrs. Hatanaka apologized before hand.
"Really?" Ed asked, trying to keep the mood light.
The woman went in first. She was taller than him, to his dismay (he hadn't looked up at someone for a very long time), so he couldn't even see above her shoulder by craning his neck. "Shuichi, how are you feeling, dear? You shouldn't keep that hunk of metal, Shuichi-chan, it's been bad luck since you got it from the alley. No wonder they threw it out."
"But, you can't! It . . . ah . . . it looks nice in my room," he floundered, trying to convince his mother it was all right.
Ed raised an eyebrow but thought nothing of it, and instead looked at the ceiling. And he looked. And he looked. His eyes widened. Long sweeping lines, curving and twisting. Thick curves rounding into soft zig zags across the white surface. The color like midnight had been ripped from the Earth in a pattern and placed to stare at, morning and evening. A coal pheonix. The alchemy matrix. And it couldn't just be any kind. It was the circle. Death's design. One of the symbols used to make the Philosopher's Stone.
"It's pretty, isn't it?" Shuichi asked.
The Fullmetal stared at the boy. "Pretty?" he whispered. "Pretty?"
"I found it in my room one day and thought it looked so cool. I had to draw it and Mom said it was okay to do it on the ceiling." He continued rambling about something or other, probably lightened by the fact that Ed had saved him and he felt safe with the blond foreigner in the room.
Ed gave a weak smile and walked in, his mother already in the little boy's room picking up dozens of scattered papers. All with different alchemy symbols on it. Armstrong's, Tucker's, even Majihal's. He stared at them all, facination and a striking feeling that resembled fear in his being. A cloth was draped over a bulky thing in the corner of the wall. The mother must have covered the metal junk to avoid being further embarassed.
Mechanically, Ed walked to Shuichi and unraveled the bandages. "Hm," he spared, not concentrating on the wounds as much as he should have. The picture of Dante's crest on the boy's head board was just a little too overwhelming for him.
"Honestly! If you weren't a top student, I'd have taken all these things a long time ago," Mrs. Hatanaka muttered, piling all the leaves onto a wooden desk.
Edwardpulled a balm and put it on the wounds, rubbing so that it caused little pain or discomfort. All this was second nature to him, he moved to each bruise, while wondering how in God's name that kid could ever have gotten his hands on all of these symbols.
"Thanks," Shuichi said, grinning. "I'm sorry for causing so much trouble! Ah . . . I shouldn't have been walking there."
"That's right, what has your brother always been telling you?" Mrs. Hatanaka said. She flashed a smile at Ed and closed the door.
"Hmm," Edward answered. He closed the bottle and rummaged through his bag. Bringing out new strips, he gently wrapped them first around the right forearm.
The little boy cocked his head to the side. "Elric-san?" he asked. His eyes looked curiously at him. "Why are you so quiet?"
"Ah . . . no reason. Rough night," he asnwered, trying to keep his wracking nerves from creeping in to his voice.
Several minutes had passed, the quiet both comfortable and threatening to drive them both insane. "Ya wanna see it?" Shuichi asked.
"Huh?" Ed asked, hearing a double entendre. He smiled weakly again. "See what, Shuichi-kun?"
"The armor!" he chirped.
"Armor . . ." He felt like blacking out. His head spun as Al filled his mind. Al. God, he missed him. The armor. He felt like screaming. Just screaming and waking up all of Japan. Scream till his lungs burst or he died. He wanted to do something stupid. Something reckless. He wanted to feel alive again, because since he came here it felt like a half-way point between life and death. He wanted to go home. More than anything. More than life. More than this world. He wanted . . . he wanted . . .
Shuichi swung his legs off the bed and pulled off the curtain. There it was. Ed felt crestfallen. It was horrible. He shouldn't have hoped. He shouldn't have hoped that Al was here. That he was still an armor with a soul. Why had he hoped that? He was so selfish. He wiped his eyes with the prosthetic limb, tears starting to form in his eyes and threatening to break and crawl down his cheeks.
"Wha - what's wrong?" the boy asked, looking fearful. Looking between Ed and the armor, he hastily put the cloth up and went over to Ed, who had covered his face and buried it in the folds of the bed. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" he repeated over and over. "I'm sorry!"
"No, no," Edward said, laughing. "I - I thought that was the armor I was looking for, and it's not. It's okay." He patted the boy's shoulder, being careful not to hit the tender spots. "It's okay."
To him, it was a mixed feeling. Not everything was okay, but it was all right. Alphonse wasn't here but back home. That was right. It was not okay for him, being so lonely, but it was right. Al had his body and he could feel and be. It was all right.
Wishing Shuichi good night, he headed into the guest room and took out his lap top, fiddling with the controls and turning it on. A tape recorder lay beside the mouse pad. He found the mouse easier than the built-in one on the portable computer. Flicking on the recorder, he documented the day.
"Audio journal, July the fourteenth, 2003. I found out today just how desperately I want to go back home . . . how much I miss Al."
Later that evening, Edward sneaked about the house. Tip-toeing out into the hall and down the stairs, avoiding the supremely squeeky stairs. He laida note and the materials and money for the wounds and for the night's stay. American bills, but that was okay. It was just past one in the morning.
A stray kitten meowed from a street corner, reminding him of Al's tender spot for the felines.
He didn't sleep all night, instead stalking the outside of Shuichi's room, seeing a yellow glow eminating from from his room. It lasted long into the evening before it was put out. Edward glared at the curtains and nimbly climbed up the wall, grabbing onto the window sill. He was used to this kind of thing, he had to climb into several attics of houses to sleep (even if he wasn't entirely in need of it, rest was a nice, calming way to remind himself that somehow he was human), but this time he didn't bring anything to scare away the insects or raccoons. Only a flashlight.
Prying open the window sill, he slipped in easily. His thin frame crept around the room, being as silent as he could as he shuffled papers and felt more and more tightening around his stomach, with every piece reminding him how he missed everyone. What he wouldn't give to see Envy again. The homunculus was a pain in the ass, granted, but he was also the only reasonable person he actually wanted to talk to. After Hohenheim officially died, his sons that had both gone through the Gate with brazen confidence were left to decide whether they wanted to slit each other's throats or patch it up. Envy was leaning more for the former than the latter.
"But it would be pathetic fighting you when you don't want to live anymore. I'll wait until you have more to lose, so your screams will be louder and your pain even greater."
Ed stumbled on Al's matrix and he choked up. Hugging the paper to his aching chest, he let the tears slip down his face. He could cry in the dark, when no one was looking. No one to ask why and no one to offer pity. That was good. Stuffing the paper into his pocket, he shifted around and found he knew all of them, every single one.
Every alchemist has their personal matrix. They start out with a standard one, and eventually make their own. Depending on what kind of matter they know to deconstruct, their symbols maybe be more curved or blocky. Some look almost alike, but rarely are there exactly the same matrixes. Though, there is always an inner and outer circle with lines touching or crossing the inner circle. With him, his clap allows the circle that alchemy's number one principle is based off of is completed.
There are plenty of alchemists in his world, and he has not met all of them, but every one of these transmutation circles were the ones for whom he has met.
It was unfeasible that it was a coincidence.
"Konbanwa, Elric-san."
Edward looked up at Shuichi, whose smirk widened as their eyes met. "Do you like them, Elric-san? Drawing them reminded me a lot of you."
"Oh," the Fullmetal Alchemist said, his eyes narrowing. "Speak of the Devil, I was just thinking about you, Envy."
"First name basis then? All right, Ed," Shuichi's form changed as the well-known Sin sat where Shuichi was lying. "Well then, I guess you're wondering why I'm here, right?"
"Always," Ed mumbled.
Envy shrugged and leapt off the bed. "Well, you probably haven't noticed but since we agreed not to go homicidal on each other, I've been tracking you to see when that time would come when the cease fire ends." He emphasized the sentence by snapping a pencil in two. "That time may never come, unfortunately."
Fullmetal said nothing in reply, but he did let it sink in that Envy thought right now he was a worthless piece of shit compared to his former self.
"Aw, what's the matter? Can't stand to think that I was watching you. All the time. While you served in the Army. While you killed endlessly with your experimentation. While you fluctuated from riches to poverty in a matter of months. While you wasted away your life, reading and theorising and making rockets and bombs that helped to make a war escalate. While your genius was used in conventions and you shared your knowledge. While you weer being outsmarted and current science became a drag and you ran from one subject to another." Envy passed his hand through Ed's hair in an affectionate and ridiculing way, changing his appearance to that of Alphonse Heiderich. The blond slapped it out of his way.
"Son of a bitch," Edward hissed. "Keep your hands to yourself and have some respect for the dead."
"Yes, your temper always was as short as your stature, wasn't it Ed?" Envy mocked, shifting back to his usual appearance.
Ed rolled his eyes. "If you were watching me all this time then you'd know that doesn't work anymore."
"I know," Envy answered flippantly, falling back onto the bed cross-legged. "But I thought one more for old times sake wouldn't hurt."
"Old times sake?" he snorted. "Sure. Old times sake."
"That's why you're here though. Am I right?" Envy asked, his I-know-something-you-don't-know smile bigger than ever.
"Cut the crap. What are you getting to?" Edward growled. The sin was more annoying than he remembered him to be. Maybe letting Envy out of his sight to look for the Gate was a bad idea after all.
Envy regarded him with cold violet eyes. "Al," he said simply.
"Al!" Ed leapt on the homunculus and pinned him to the bed, arms digging into his shoulders. "What about Al!"
His eyes went from Ed's to Fullmetal's right arm. "Keeping up that thing, eh? Even with the glove, it's easy to tell it's not real."
"Quit bullshitting, Envy! Where's Al!" He felt like he could tear off Envy's arms and fling them straight into the sea. The Sin's legs were pinned down and he struggled under Edward's grip. Ed tightened his grasp even more and Envy's arms started turning red. "What do you know about him!"
"Scare tactics don't work, Ed," Envy breathed. "You can't kill me any more than you can do your alchemy."
"What! You want a deal!" Fullmetal demanded.
"Don't raise your voice, shorty, or the family will wake up," Envy warned, his body changing to Shuichi's. Edward felt the change in body mass and he could barely adjust to the difference in size. Envy must have planned it from the beginning.
"Elric, what are you doing here!" Kyouya asked, a horrified expression on his face. This charming blond doctor . . . on Shuichi . . . like that . . . "Get off him!" The black-haired boy charged at Edward and pulled him off Shuichi. "Are you okay, bro?" he asked.
Tears quickly filled 'Shuichi's' eyes. "Niisan . . ." Shuichi threw himself on Kyouya and the older brother hugged him tightly.
"You lying con artist!" Edward roared, pointing an accusing finger at Envy. "You deceiving bastard! Stealing people's faces! Do you enjoy destroying my life?"
"I could say the same thing to you! Mom! Dad!" Kyouya called his mother and father and they came rushing into the room.
"Kyouya!"
"What's going on?"
Edward was out the window in an instant. The three humans never saw him come or go.
-To Be Continued-
End Notes: Envy, I had to put him in. Cliche, maybe, but that was fun. The heated conversation was closed in a way the made it seem very . . . overdone. It was inevitable, though. I mean, when Edward gets worked up about something he can't keep his voice down. What he misses in height he makes up for in lungs.
Ah, anways, I made the chapter short so I could put it up faster. Shortest so far, but I'm thinking about making the chapters shorter for easier reading. Not so short you don't have to scrolll down. but not so long it's a novel all in one chappie. Also, plot holes in the story. I hate plot holes but what I hate more is fixing them. Please, please if you noticed one ignore it.
Again, thank you so much for the reviews! I like having them because I tend to get motivated if people bother to write one and more motivation means faster chapters up which means this fic won't die and go in the recycle bin! Ain't it great?
Next time; Chapter Four: Deception Well Meant
Alphonse: How will I know for sure what truth is, until I know that lies are easier to take.