blink I dunno, but I think that I'm under a fanfiction curse. All of my chapters in my InuYasha fic are five pages, and the prologue for my Fullmetal fic is also five pages. O.o This is quite odd. Just watch. This next chapter, it'll be five pages, too. -;

Phantom Alchemist: Well, yes, the note could have been done without, but that's just my writing style. I tend to write things that way. - I will act as if no one has ever read or seen the Anime or Manga, and put as much description in it to form my own plot, and not just depend completely off of the original. But that's just me. XP Thanks for the advice, though.

Unlucky

Chapter One: Neko

"Clause...hey, wait...What did you call me...?" Ed didn't finish his question as pitch black darkness swept over his unconscious mind.

Bringing a nearby cat next to the unconscious alchemist, the tiger-bird chimera removed Ed's red coat, and then removed the automail, quite forcefully, from Ed's severed limbs. Now more blood, since the chimera tore the base automail from his flesh as well, seeped from his body.

Clause drew a transmutation circle around Ed and the feline, placing her hands on the ground. As Nina followed suit, the ground glowed, and there was a flash of light. Now, there was nothing in the Renseijin but a pile of clothing and smears of crimson blood.

Without a sound, the two girls and the chimera left the warehouse, and a sound shuffled from the far corner of the room. Footsteps could be heard as the creature approached the vacant garments. The pile stirred slightly, a small mew coming from the inside. The human picked up the cat in a bundle, taking it into another room in the back of the warehouse building.

Ed blinked, slowly coming back to the world of the conscious. Golden eyes remained behind narrowed lids, examining the environment around him. Yes, he was still in the warehouse...

'Wait a minute!' he thought, trying to leap to his feet, only ending up falling over again as he fell over. 'My automail! Where's my automail? And...' he glanced down at his feet. No, not feet. Paws. 'Why...and Clause and Nina! Where are they?'

He was a cat, missing two limbs, and in a warehouse in who-knows-what part of Central. Great.

Ed examined the stumps, seeing that the bases to which the automail is usually attached to had been torn clean out. The wounds have stopped bleeding by now, for someone wrapped his in white bandages. His chest wounds have also been treated.

Whiskers shuffled as he sniffed the air, by instinct rather than thought, smelling the scent of the human that had helped him. Apparently, they had already left...

With a groan, the cat got to his paws as best he could, using his tail to help balance him on the left forepaw and the right hind paw. He resembled that of a tabby, though his fur was an odd color. His coat was crimson red, black shadowing his back, resembling the Elric brothers' symbol, in a way. A brown splotch covered his nose to between the eyes, and white tipped his paws, tail, ears and underbelly and muzzle. With ears erect, he grabbed his belongings into his mouth and stacked them onto his coat. He no longer fit in them, and so he has to hide them somewhere.

Dragging the garments, among his book and pocket watch, over to a shadowed corner and pushing them behind a crate, he had left the place, looking for someone he could recognize and get help from. That is, if anyone can recognize him, a runty cat limping with two missing limbs...

A man walked down the street that the peculiar red cat was traveling along. Whistling, he thought of what he could get his daughter from the store. She has been the most excellent little angel today!

The man had a rectangular-like appearance to his head, topped in short black hair. Golden eyes hid behind rectangular glasses, and he was garbed in the typical blue uniform of a State Alchemist. This was Major Hughes.

'She had read her first book, today!' he thought smugly, eyes brimming with cheer. 'Wait till the Colonel and Lieutenant hear this...'

He paused slightly and blinked as he saw a cat turn into an alleyway, a red feline, limping. Apparently, it was wounded, seeing how droplets of blood followed it. Deciding to be a good samaritan, he followed after the creature, and get it to medical attention.

He turned the corner to find the cat lying on its side, breathing heavily, the bandages on its body stained with fresh scarlet blood.

"Poor creature," he muttered as he scooped the cat into his arms. He rushed from the alleyway, running as fast as he could back to his own home.

"Hang in there, little fella..."

Ed kept wandering along, blood slowly oozing from his reopened wounds, finally collapsing in the shadow of a dark alley, away from the threat of being trampled or run over. He panted heavily, feeling the strength drained from his tired muscles. Not only this, but he felt out of line. His bones felt awkward, as if they had been rearranged, his head was sore from a headache and the collision with Clause's chimera's claws.

He blinked slightly as a shadow engulfed him. Through his blurry sight, he could not see who it was, nor tell by scent. But as soon as the man spoke, he felt relief wash over him, somewhat. It was Major Hughes! He has found him!

Ed, now feeling that he was in safe hands and would come to no harm at the moment, took the chance to rest a bit, closing his eyes and falling asleep to the rhythmatic beating of the Major's boots on the ground.

Thump, thump, thump, thump...

Major Hughes had burst through his house door, and rushed inside, placing the cat down on his kitchen table. Pulling up a chair next to the walnut hued table, he began to examine the feline's wounds.

"Chest wounds, severed limbs...Who could torture a creature like this?" he inquired as he went along to find new bandages to wrap the bleeding wounds in. He rushed about here and there, his wife finally coming up with the bandages herself. With a kiss on the cheek and a thank you, he ran back into the kitchen and removed the sopping wet rags of blood from the red cat's body. Just then, he noticed the markings on the cat's back.

"My God..." he muttered, staring blankly. It was clearly the symbol of the Elric brothers smeared in the black of the neko's fur. Quickly, he tied the bandages securely, and wrapped the shivering cat in a towel, to keep him warm as he ran out the door again, straight for the main building at Central.

Ed mewed weakly, opening his eyes to reveal those blazing golden eyes once more. He pawed at the white cloth wrapped about him with his uninjured paw, moving the towel from his view so that he could see. He looked around at his familiar surroundings.

'So the Major has brought me to his house...' he thought, blinking. He noticed the new bandages on his severed stumps, and the fact that a pair of eyes was watching him from his side. He yowled in surprise as the little girl hopped up to him.

"Hello, little kitty..." the little four year old bubbled. "What is the matter wi' you' legs?" she whispered, gently caressing Ed's perked red and white ears. He shut his eyes with a hiss, then slowly opened them, the feeling of her caress quite nice. He began to purr involuntarily, another instinct that seemed to come naturally.

The little girl tucked her brown hair behind her ears, and then rolled up her sleeves. Grabbing the kitty-in-a-bundle, she carried him to her room, and she set him gingerly on her pink-dressed bed. She ran back to close the door, and then she tipped toed back to Ed's side.

"Kitty is sick. Do nah' worry, though. I'll take care of ya!" she smiled. "And just for luck...congratulations, congratulations, congratulations! People say that when you tella them congratulations, it brings good luck. So I said it three times for ya, kitty!"

Ed blinked, his eyes narrowed in pain. Inwardly, he smiled, purring gently. It was hardly a wonder why her father was always bragging about her at HQ.

She unwrapped Ed from the towel and tucked him into her bed, lying on his side. Then, getting a rag dipped in warm water, she folded it and placed on his head. She stroked his shoulder, kneeling next to the bed.

"Yer a nice kitty. Maybe daddy will let me keep you," she sighed, blinking tiredly. It was almost time to take her nap, as she did everyday. She nodded her head, blinking, coming to rest her head on the bed on top of folded arms. Ed, too, fell back to slumber. He seemed to fit the roll of the 'kitty' perfectly.

There was a knock on Hughes' front door, answered by his wife. In marched Major Hughes, as well as Colonel Roy Mustang, Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye, and a young girl by the name of Winry Rockbell. The group of four paraded down to where Hughes had left Ed last, only to find an empty space.

"Honey?" the black haired man called, puzzled. "Did you move our feline guest?"

"No, no," came the reply as she bustled about the kitchen, getting together some green tea for the guests.

"Well now..." the Major muttered, placing a finger on his chin. "Ah ha!" Just then, he looked up, having a good hunch of who had their young alchemist in their custody.

"Oh darling..." he muttered, going to and opening his daughter's room door. Peering in, he turned to the others and placed his fingers across his lips. "Shhh!" He pointed to the inside of the room, and then tiptoed in.

The other three peered around the corner into the room, watching as he removed Ed from the little girl's bed. Hughes came back and handed the mutilated neko into Roy's arms, and then went back to place his young daughter in her bed. With a peck on the forehead, he tiptoed silently back out of the room and quietly shut the door.

"Isn't she the sweetest little girl you've set eyes on?"

"Not now, Major," Mustang growled, wincing. "Now's not the time to tell us about you're 'perfect little angel'." The man was quite tall, almost as tall as Alphonse and Hughes, if one considered it. Short black hair donned his head, accompanied with dark hued eyes. He, as well as the woman, Hawkeye, were both garbed in the blue uniform of State Alchemists, Mustang carrying the title of Colonel, and Riza, the title of Lieutenant.

"He's right, Major," the woman added. Riza Hawkeye was about a head shorter than Mustang, blonde hair tied tightly against her head. Brilliant brown eyes looked about her as she listened intently as to what was going on right now.

"That's...Ed?" the third guest muttered in shock. Winry Rockbell was a young girl from Resembool, and was also Ed and Al's childhood friend. Golden hair fell to just about her mid back, her cerulean eyes glittering in worry. She wore a bandana over her head, and dressed in a black skirt, with a cream hued t-shirt and ebony jacket. "Will...will he be all right?"

"It sure seems that way," Hughes commented, glancing back at the anxious girl. "Don't fret so much. I'm sure this little pipsqueak will be a-okay."

"Ow!" Mustang hissed as he felt little claws from the cat's left paw pierce him through his coat sleeve. "Fullmetal might be minus his real arm if he does that again," he muttered darkly, cursing. Hawkeye rolled her eyes and took him from the fuming Colonel.

"You men should know better by now than to pick on him," Winry sighed, shaking her head. "Idiots."

Hughes and the others had settled down in the man's living room, listening to the Major's account of what he had seen.

"It seems to me that someone just might be after Fullmetal's life," Mustang concluded, nodding.

"I apologize before hand, sir, but that was a brilliant deduction, Sherlock," Hawkeye muttered. She gave a hefty sigh and glanced at him with her chocolate eyes. "Look, by his condition, we're already sure that it is some alchemist that is after young Elric's life. And this is no alchemist we should underestimate. Apparently, he, or she, is one who is able bodied in the arts of the chimera."

"She has a point, yes, but what can we do about it? Elric can't tell us anything as long as he is a mangy feline," Mustang retorted.

The cat, lying between Roy and Winry, listened quietly, golden orbs hidden behind furry lids. That is, he was quiet until Mustang's last comment.

'Dammit, Colonel, it's not like it's my fault I'm a 'mangy cat' Ed thought sourly as he swiped at Roy again with a hiss and a growl. He flicked his tail with an agitated force.

"Well, we can really do nothing but wait until Major Armstrong and Alphonse Elric are found," Hughes added, ignoring the dispute between Mustang and Ed. "Therefore, in the meantime, you wouldn't mind taking Edward into your custody for a while, do you Lieutenant?"

She shook her head slowly, glancing at Winry. "We can take him up to my office, and then get you to a room to spend your night in Central, Miss Rockbell," Riza added with a friendly smile concealed from the Colonel and Major.

"Thanks," she whispered as the two got to their feet, Hawkeye picking Ed up into her arms.

"M...may I carry him?" Winry inquired, holding out her arms.

Rewrapping Ed in the towel, she handed the kitty-bundle over to the girl. Together, the two marched from the room, heading for the main HQ building.

"I hope we find Al soon," Winry mumbled. "He needs to hear what has happened to his older brother."

Hawkeye nodded in agreement. "The Colonel had already sent out soldiers to search for them. Until then, we have no choice but to wait."

Ed meowed, looking up at the girls.

'This is very...awkward...' Winry thought, smiling slightly. 'Ed as a cat? What the heck's going to happen next? And great. Just great. I'll have to complete that very complex operation again. Dammit, Ed, why do you always have to get into so much trouble? Now I have to attach the automail to each and every one of your nerves again!' She glared down at the cat, but her expression softened as the pitiful golden eyes looked back up at her. 'What's going to happen now that you're a neko, Edward?'

A/N: Here's chapter one! squee Yes, yes, he's a cat, but he's a very cute cat. - Plus everyone likes my design for him.

Most recently, I've made a handmade a poster of Ed and Al, with Ed in his realistic cat form on top of Alphonse's shoulders. Apparently, my friends all love it, and I am rather fond of it. If one of my close friends gets it into Deviant Art, I may be able to get a link to it. Think of it as a cover design to a book. - Well, here's another chapter. Please R&R! Advice appreciated!

Nekocat, but you should all know that. -